Much to Celebrate!

A LOT has happened in the last few weeks!

#58: Order fish 5 times.
So...I turned 25 two weeks ago! For my birthday dinner this year, I chose to go to Ramsi's, this great multicultural restaurant in the Highlands. And when I say multicultural...whoo, boy. It's the perfect place to go when you're with a group of people who all want different types of food. There was Italian, Greek, Moroccan, Indian, Chinese, Thai, Mexican...you name it! Personally, I was in the mood for Italian that night, and I ordered the Salmon Sonesta, which was salmon (duh) served over mashed potatoes, with a sun-dried tomato cream sauce (and Asian stir-fry vegetables on the side...random). So, so good! And it was fish dish #5, so consider this goal complete!

#63: Go to 5 concerts.
This is on the list because I looooove going to hear live music, but the last year or so has been pretty dry in the live music department. Well, we try to do something fun and musical every year at Christmastime. Last year we went to hear the Louisville Chorus, and they were fantastic. We're not exactly music critics or anything, but we were both in choirs all through college...speaking of which, the LC actually performed a piece that Tom and I did in college: Rachmaninoff's Ave Maria, which was always one of my favorite pieces that we did. We sang it in Russian, and the LC sang it in Latin. Just beautiful.

#14: Host a themed party.
Last Saturday was the Duttweilers' First Annual Christmas Extravaganza Party! (Tom shot down my original title.) We were talking maybe a month ago about how it would be nice to get together with all our friends here in Louisville before we all part ways for Christmas. Well, I honestly didn't think that idea would become a reality, but sure enough, there we were on Saturday afternoon, chatting with our friends, exchanging gifts White-Elephant style, and snacking on a whole lot of food...! (And wouldn't you know, I brought my camera to the party, but forgot to make sure the memory card was in it...doh.) I think a good time was had by all...and Tom and I are already coming up with ideas for next year!

#1: 100 new recipes.

Our party gave me a reason to try five new recipes! In Tom's family, it's not Christmas without buckeyes. This was the first year that he wasn't going to be with his family during "buckeye season," so I got the recipe from his mom and made a HUGE batch of them for the party! For the next treat, I found a P-Dub recipe for these little chocolate cookies, halfway dipped in white chocolate and crushed peppermints (we used candy canes). I made the cookies, and Tom took care of the dipping. Cute and delicious! Next came this cranberry chutney that we served over cream cheese, to spread on crackers. It was probably the easiest thing to make, but I think it was my favorite! And what's a Christmas party without Christmas cookies? I made them waaaaay too big, so we only ended up with 19 instead of 36 like the recipe said...but they sure were tasty! In keeping with the finger-food/bite-size theme, I got a recipe for tomato tarts from my Christmas with Paula Deen cookbook (found it online too though, so the link is posted!).

#28: Watch every Best Picture winner from 1961-2013.
I had Tom's laptop with me in the kitchen this week, mainly so we could listen to Christmas music while cooking. While I was dipping the buckeyes on Wednesday night, I thought I'd put on a movie instead. So I wandered over to Netflix to see what BPWs were available for instant viewing. Well, to my surprise and delight, one of them was Rocky! Not exactly a Christmas movie, but a great one nonetheless.

Didn't get a chance to send cards this year, but definitely next year! I recently started a Pinterest account, so I'm already getting some good ideas...! Merry Christmas, everyone!

Something Fishy

#58: Order fish at a restaurant 5 times.
I think I've crossed a threshhold with this fish thing; this evening, I had my first real sushi experience. Tom had sushi for the first time about three weeks ago, and he loved it. Not long after that, we got a Groupon for Osaka, a Japanese restaurant and sushi bar. I figured that I could order sushi as a last resort...you know, if I didn't see anything I liked on the other menu. See, my only experience with sushi up to that point was at the food court in the student center at college...not the best representation. But the sushi menu at Osaka was a far cry from that. The regular menu sounded great, but nothing really jumped out at me. So, sushi it was.

I got the Tornado Roll; that's the one in the middle. Pretty, isn't it? It had salmon, crab, masago (the eggs of some kind of fish), sesame seed, green onion, and cream cheese, with a "special chef sauce" on top. And the verdict? It was delicious! I loved it! Tom and I also split the Zacking Roll, the one at the top: fried red snapper, cream cheese, tempura flakes, and chef sauce. Yum!!

#59: Learn to use chopsticks.
I've had opportunities to use chopsticks in the past, but what always seemed to happen was that I'd try using them for about two seconds and then give up and use a fork. Well, you know how some people learn to swim by being thrown into a pool? When we got to Osaka, we sat down and realized that the only utensils we had were chopsticks. It was sink or swim...eat or not eat. So, Tom gave me a lesson, and, after several minutes of adjusting and readjusting my fingers...

Success! Now, I should be honest: after this picture was taken, there were several more minutes of adjusting and readjusting...but by the end of the meal, I think I really got the hang of it! I definitely need to practice more, though, which means we need to go out for sushi again sometime soon. ;-)

Oh Brother!

Look what we brought back from the family reunion!

Here's a hint: it wasn't the cake. Tom's younger brother Patrick flew back to Louisville with us and stayed for a week! Originally, he was going to come stay with us so he could help us move, but as it turns out, we're not moving quite yet, but Patrick came anyway just to hang out. :) And we had a GREAT time with him!

#1: 100 new recipes.
I can't believe it's been over a month since I tried a new recipe, but I think I made up for lost time this week because I tried three new ones!

Patrick turned 25 the day after we got back from San Antonio. I thought it might be nice to make him a cake instead of buying one, to maybe somehow make him feel better about being away from home on his birthday. He requested chocolate, and Allrecipes had a highly-ranked recipe for something called Black Magic Cake. Sounded good, so I gave it a go. I flipped through the pictures of some of the finished products, and one of them had Oreo frosting! That sounded like the only thing that could make this cake even better, so I looked up a recipe for that too! I'm pretty sure it's the first time I've made frosting from scratch. It was delicious, not that you could really go wrong with something like that...! And the birthday boy was very happy, as you might have guessed from that very first photo up there.

The last recipe is one that my mother-in-law sent me awhile ago: overnight baked apple french toast. I made it in a bundt pan instead of a 9x13-inch baking dish...mostly because you have to invert it onto a serving dish when it's done baking, and we didn't have one long enough. Anyway, who cares about its shape?! It tasted great! And isn't it pretty?

***By the way, I've finally done something else I've been meaning to do for quite awhile: every recipe I've found online so far now has a link on the Tracking page! Thought I'd share the wealth. :)

#28: Watch every Best Picture Oscar winner from 1961-2013.
Patrick had Gladiator on DVD, and he was nice enough to bring it with him. We watched it Thursday night. Fantastic...such a manly-man movie. Saturday afternoon, we watched Unforgiven. Good movie, also pretty manly. But I was outnumbered 2-to-1 in that area this week, so I guess it's to be expected.

#85: Volunteer at Jeff Street once a month.
We took Patrick along for this month's visit, and he really enjoyed it, even though we had to get up really early on a Saturday morning. The three of us were in the kitchen, handing out toiletries; during the slow period, Tom and Patrick provided the entertainment...or at least came up with interesting things to talk about. Those two together are really something to see.

#58: Order fish at a restaurant 5 times.
On Patrick's last night in town, we went to Cracker Barrel for dinner, and I ordered lemon pepper grilled rainbow trout. It was really nice! I think I'm starting to appreciate how fish can make you feel full without feeling heavy, because I felt pretty good afterward...though I could've done with a few more biscuits...! But isn't that always true at Cracker Barrel?

Another Crazy Week

#28: Watch every Best Picture winner from 1960-2013.
I watched The Silence of the Lambs on Sunday afternoon. I wanted something to watch while frosting cupcakes for a party we were going to that evening. I know, not your typical frosting-cupcakes-on-a-Sunday-afternoon kinda movie, but Tom was in another room reading for his class, and that was one movie he was pretty adamant about not seeing...plus I didn't want to watch it at night. But it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be...just really twisted and weird.

#57: Keep a new plant alive for a month.

Well, the month of June is over...and my plant is still alive and well! I decided to take her to work, because she can actually get more sunlight there. Here she is! (Excuse the lack of quality produced by my phone's camera.)

I named her Dorothy, by the way. :)

And I recently found out that Dorothy is a golden pothos. Good to know; I've been calling her "you know, one of those plants that lives forever."

#12: See a doctor about my incessant heartburn.
Those of you who've known me for awhile know that heartburn has been a constant part of my life for several years. I've tried lots of different things on my own, and I've been to doctors and had different kinds of tests done and been prescribed different medications, and nothing's ever seemed to work. Plus, I get heartburn from just about everything, including bread, cereal, bananas, and yogurt. Weird, right? Well, I went for my physical on Tuesday. I asked the doctor what could be done about it, and she referred me to a GI specialist. We'll see what happens. Prayers would certainly be appreciated, though!

#51: Choose walking over driving 5 times.
#58: Order fish at a restaurant 5 times.
This great new place just opened up practically across the street from where we live. It's called Bluegrass Burgers, and everything they serve is local: the beef, the chicken, the bison (yes, bison)...everything except maybe the ahi tuna steak burger. Well, we walked there this evening with our friends Scott and Amanda (and their sweet little baby girl, Cambria), and I got the tuna steak. I had it with lettuce, tomato, and some wasabi mayo from the kerazy toppings bar. It was great! My hopes of liking fish continue to rise...!

My Nickname in High School

#51: Choose walking over driving five times.

I totally forgot Tom and I did this a few weeks ago! There's this great place nearby called the Homemade Ice Cream & Pie Kitchen (the lack of creativity in the name is not reflective of what they serve...that's all I'm gonna say about that). The weather was so nice, we decided to go for a walk after dinner. It didn't take long for us to choose the Pie Kitchen for our destination, which sort of defeats the purpose of taking a walk, but oh well. It was deeeeelicious!

#28: Watch every Best Picture Oscar winner from 1960-2013.
So, we finally stopped procrastinating and signed up for Netflix! Our first DVD by mail? The Godfather: Part II. I highly recommend seeing it, but just be prepared: it gets pretty sad toward the end (don't worry; I won't give it away). This Netflix thing is great; I've already put some other Best Picture winners on our queue, as well as a few seasons of ER.

#10: Read 30 non-academic books.
Well, Mere Christianity turned out to be a bit too...cerebral for me to read on the treadmill. I am going to finish it, though! I just decided that it might be easier to read something a little lighter while at the gym, so I started The Phantom of the Opera. I am loving it so far! It's been awhile since I read any fiction; I didn't realize how much I missed it!

#25: Eat at a famous restaurant.
#58: Order fish at a restaurant 5 times.
We were going to do a "staycation" with our tax refund this year, but instead we decided to just go out for a really fancy dinner and use the rest of the money for something else (Tom wanted a flat-screen TV...what a tough life). We chose the English Grill at the Brown Hotel, one of the oldest and nicest restaurants in Louisville and the birthplace of the famous Kentucky Hot Brown (insert my "nickname in high school" joke here). AAA has given this place the illustrious Four Diamond Award several years in a row, and it's made an appearance on Throwdown with Bobby Flay; Bobby challenged them to a Hot Brown throwdown and lost miserably. Now...I know the recipe for the Hot Brown is available online, and you can even buy Hot Browns at some of the grocery stores around here, but when I looked at the menu, I couldn't think of ordering anything else. But for our appetizer, we ordered smoked salmon. I was a little unsure about it because I'm not a huge fan of fish (which is why #58 is on the list, to challenge me)...but it was delicious! More details about the English Grill to come in my restaurant blog, but for now, suffice it to say that it was a fabulous experience!