1. I started knitting. Yaay! You read about my first knitting project and how I started the process.

2. The Hubster and I had our first Christmas as a married couple. It was truly a wonderful feeling.

3. I created a budget, space, and slightly eco friendly Christmas tree. Also, my friend and I discovered the joys of pin/sequins decors and wreath making.

4. The Hubster and I finally painted our bedroom. Most of the furniture is back in. It still needs some reorganizing prior to revealing it so hold on for this one.

5. I got my first bridesmaid dress! I need to make crinoline slip, which meant I needed a sewing machine. So I now am a proud owner of a sewing machine!

I can dream about it being one of those antiques right?

6. Before and after our wedding, we had one room dedicated to gifts that were being shipped and those we got on the wedding day. That room became a monster closet for boxes and was more commonly know as the “box room”. Being stuck at home for the weekend, due to the blizzard we had, I cleaned out the room and created a craft room for myself. It now houses all my craft supplies and my new sewing machine.

7. I’ve taken an old salwar suit that was ripped and created it in to a top. This was my first sewing project. I’m very pleased with the results.

And because seven is a lucky number and I would just keep rambling, that’s it for now, but be sure to come back and visit to see full posts on most things listed.

Have you ever wondered how your mom could do all these things and make it look so effortless?! Since becoming a wife, I feel more responsibility in keeping the house up and running, unlike my single days where things just had to work, not work beautifully. And I’m still adjusting and finding new ways to get all my responsibilities and interests fit in to one day. Maybe it is the "I WANT IT NOW" personality in me that makes me impatient.

But enough side tracking and back to knitting. Yes, I miss the sound of the metal needles clicking when my mother would knit. I missed it so much that I went to Michaels and bought some yarn and my own pair of metal needles. I also headed over to the library and picked up a dozen books, no literally, a dozen. The Hubster asked if I was really going to read them all! 

Then one day, I sat myself down and tried to follow the book so that I could learned to knit! Boy was I in for a surprise .. I didn’t understand what they meant. The illustrations were confusing at best and the descriptions left me scratching my head. I was thinking, is knitting really this hard?

Well, I wasn’t about to give up there. I headed on to my lovely computer to see what I could find on the interwebs. I was in luck, people had spent some time making excellent videos that explain how to do the basics and some more!

My fun didn’t stop there; let me tell you that even have seen many videos I had to start over 4 times before I had a good handle on the scarf I started to make. On one try I made the scarf too wide and after about 4 inches of knitting I noticed holes EVERYWHERE!! It was like orange colored Swiss cheese! I bet my friend, Miss Cheesemonger would have a heart attack when she saw such a thing!

All was not lost because after a month’s time I finally made it through my first scarf!! I made it especially for the Hubster and he loved it! Yaaay!

Project Info:

• Started: November 5 2009
• Completed: December 7 2009
• Pattern: Mini Mochi Tripled Rib Stitch Scarf
• Yarn: Red Heart Soft
• Color: 9275 Paprika
• How Much: 1.5 skeins
• Modifications: The yarn called for a size 8 needle and I used a size 5 instead.
• My Comments: The yarn was difficult to work with as a beginner (there were two fibers wrapped together). I kept mistaking each fiber as a stitch which initially created an increase in stitches. But it was good to get that sorted out on the first few attempts. The pattern was easy to follow; would recommend for beginners.

Let me explain to you what caused me to stop blogging after only a few posts.

1. I’m a writer (not professionally), I like to write. But there’s a down side. I spend lots of time perfecting my writing.

2. Daily posts became a bit too overwhelming for me. Yes, many people do it, but between working full time, cooking meals, crafting, spending time with the hubster, living life, and trying to get enough sleep I found it far to taxing.

3. A bit about my personality: once too overwhelmed it takes me a while to come back and give a clean start.Hence, after two weeks of blogging, I stopped for four months.

Sooooo .. to make this easier on me but still be able to share thoughts and findings with all of you here’s the plan:

For now, I will post at least once a week. Once I get a handle on things, I’ll increase the frequency and we’ll go from there.

One thing I do want to tell you before I leave is .. I have TONS of things planned to share with you.

Thanks for understanding!

I won’t tell you just what they are but I’ll give you a hint. One involves a sombrero and the other Arabian horses. No, not literally.

Preparation:
If you have ever had the sandwich, its ingredients are:

* Pulled smoked chicken
* Mozzarella cheese
* Chipotle sauce
* Onions
* Tomatoes
* Foccocia bread.

I needed the smoked chicken, foccocia bread, and chipotle sauce. I knew I was going to make the chipotle sauce by getting some mayonnaise and chipotle chili powder. My worries were the bread and chicken.

When I got to the store, I went to the meat section and looked and looked with no luck. Proceeding to the meat counter guy (butcher), I asked if they had any smoked chicken. The reply, a laugh as if I was crazy, followed by a “Nope, but is real good.” Trying not to let that get me, I asked if he knew where I could find some, only to be suggested to go to the farmers market. It was 8 PM, there is no farmers market open!

A bit down with disappointment, I continued on my search for foccocia bread. Here again, I had no luck. I went home with deli sliced chicken and chipotle pepper powder and some tiramisu for dessert to brighten me up again.

Cooking:
The first thing I did when I started in the kitchen was to cut my salad veggies and place them in a bowl. This would take the longest part, and I didn’t want to have my sandwich getting cold waiting for me to cut veggies.

Next was the chipotle sauce. I took about 4 tablespoons of mayonnaise and mixed 1 teaspoon of chipotle powder in to it. It should looked something like this.

Chipotle sauce

The sandwich was ready to be constructed. My white baguette was cut to sandwich size. The chipotle sauce spread on to both sides. On the bottom slice, I added my tomatoes and onions. I pulled the chicken slices to look like it was “pulled”, then added it, topped with mozzarella cheese.

Next step, grilling to make panini… I don’t own a panini press. What do I do? I make one out of the items I do have! As a wedding gift I received a stove top grill/griddle. The sandwiches went on that and were pressed down by a large lid. You have to make sure it is large for two reasons. One to keep it from burning your hands while you hold it down, and two to keep as much of the heat in as possible. I pressed each side on medium to low heat for about 6 minutes.

Homemade Panini Press

Served with a side of Greek salad it was an awesome dish! My husband said he liked it BETTER than the Panera ones!!! I was so excited. I told him that I think I preform better with challenges. My next challenge.. tofu, general tso style! The story on that will wait for another post. In the meantime you can see the pictures of how our dinner came out.

Frontega Chicken with Greek Salad

Frontega Chicken

As we settle in together, I’m rearranging and redecorating. My first challenge will be our room. The room is 15′x13′ with a tray ceiling and 8′ walls. So what’s the problem right? Well, the way the room is laid out, I only have two walls that I can work with. The other two are full of doors to either the bathroom, hallway, or closets. Yup, that’s right, we are lucky to have two closets. (Naturally, I get the bigger one. )

I’ve had the house for a year and 6 months now and have had an Ikea Malm bed (black-brown color). I also had a dresser which was over flowing and just wasn’t cutting it anymore. It has been replaced with a Ikea Pax wardrobe, as of a few weeks ago!

Malm Bed & Pax Wardrobe

I also wanted a storage bench so that I could sit next to a window and relax. I got the Ikea Effektiv Wall Unit that works out great for us.

Effektiv Wall Unit

So there you have it. That’s what we’ve accumulated so far. Next is painting. The color choices are hard to decide on. Stay tuned for the updates on our room!

My challenge was on. I had to make those two dishes now. I tackled the easy one first. Tonight I made Greek salad with turkey sandwich on the side. And as with most recipes I get, I make modifications. This recipe was from is from a site dedicated to healthy living, That’s Fit. Well, if you have ever had Greek salad, you know it is not the healthiest of salads, so it was actually good that I found it!

(Serves 2)

Dressing
* 4 tablespoons olive oil
* 1 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
* 1/2 teaspoons fresh chopped garlic
* 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
* 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
* 1/2 teaspoons dried dill weed (I don’t like dill so I opted out with this one)
* salt and pepper, to taste

Salad
* 1 large plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped
* 1/2 cucumber, coarsely chopped
* 1/3 red onion, peeled, chopped
* 1/2 green bell pepper, coarsely chopped
* 1/4 cup pitted black olives, coarsely chopped
* 3 cups romaine lettuce, chopped
* 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

1. Whisk olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, vinegar, oregano and dill weed until well blended. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

2. Combine the salad ingredients, minus the cheese. Toss with dressing.

3. Sprinkle feta cheese over top and serve.

Now for the turkey sandwich, I used honey smoked deli turkey slices. I used the leftover wheat baguettes from the night before for the bread (toasted), along with pepper jack cheese, lettuce, onions, and mustard.

All in all, took me 20 minutes max to fix it all up. Next up is frontega chicken!

Here’s how mine turned out.

Greek Salad for two

Greek Salad

So before dance class, I headed to the store for the ingredients I was missing. When I got home, it took all of 30 minutes to make the whole thing. I was impressed with the turnout and the fact that it didn’t take long or much effort to make. Don’t you love it when things work out so nicely!? So here’s the recipe, with some modifications.

(Serves 4)

* 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons butter
* 2/3 onion, cut into medium dice
* 1-1/4 teaspoons garlic powder
* 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
* 3/4 of a broccoli bunch, chopped
* 1 potato, cut in squares (optional)
* 2-2/3 cups chicken broth
* 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
* 1 cup whole or 2% milk
* salt to taste
* 5 ounces shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
* 2 ounces shredded Pepper Jack cheese (optional)
* 1 teaspoon Parmesan (optional)

1. Melt butter over medium heat in a stockpot. Cook the diced onion in butter until softened. Add garlic and pepper; cook for 1 minute. Then stir in broccoli and potatoes, and stir in chicken broth. Bring to a boil and simmer until broccoli is tender, 10 to 15 minutes.

2. Toast your favorite bread on the side (I used whole wheat baguette)

3. Meanwhile whisk flour into milk until dissolved. Stir into soup stirring frequently until thickened. Reduce heat, and stir in cheese until melted and heated through.

3. Season with salt to taste. Stir for about 5 minutes longer for a thicker soup.

4. Serve in bowl with sprinkle of Parmesan cheese. Add salad and bread for a complete meal.

Wasn’t that simple?!

Here’s how it turned out.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Broccoli Cheddar Soup - close up

Thanks for reading.

- A