Food, Finals, and DIY Fun

Food first (those two words may or may not be a way of life in the Lanier/Heinrich household). I mentioned in a previous post that Terry and I are partaking in a 10-day challenge to eat all real food and no processed food. We started Wednesday, and we love it! So far, we have eaten these new recipes:

• Whole wheat crepes
• Whole wheat French toast with real maple syrup (our favorite so far)
  
• Whole wheat macaroni and cheese
• Spaghetti sauce with whole wheat noodles
• Peanut butter and jelly smoothies
• Caprese salad sandwiches
• And tonight's dinner: whole chicken in a crock pot

Macaroni and Cheese

Crepes

Vegetable Stir-Fry

All recipes are from the 100 Days of Real Food blog - check out the idea behind it and all the other yummy recipes! It's surprisingly easy to eat only real food, and in only a few days we've eaten more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains than we would in two weeks. For bread, the blog recommends buying bread from the Great Harvest Bread Company. I found one in South Pasadena, not too far from my work, so we have been completely spoiled with delicious (and healthy!) bread all week. I highly recommend the honey wheat!

In addition to our food challenge, Terry has had to study for two finals this week, and today he's finishing up the second one. What a stud - almost done with his Master's! He'll graduate in June, and we are both very excited for him to be done. Working full time and doing a graduate program is ridiculously difficult - but he's ridiculously awesome, so it all works out. :-)

This week, between the new recipes and receiving my pink slip (you like how I just slip that in there?), I found some time to relax with some fun projects. We're starting the invitation printing and assembly process tomorrow, so I focused on our guest book for the wedding. We played around with a lot of different ideas that we've seen at various weddings - a framed picture with a large matte that guests can sign, a regular guest book, a giant wine bottle with silver Sharpies, postcards, but ultimately we decided that we want to use our gorgeous engagement pictures from our wedding photographer, Rhee, and our good friend Roxanne. Between the pictures at Point Dume and UCLA and in downtown San Jose, we have over 200 pictures we can use. So we're making a little keepsake book that guests can sign and we can then place on what will hopefully be a new coffee table. :-) We're still in the design process, but if it works out and looks good I'll share all the details and make a recommendation!

Fat Tuesday and a Busy Month Ahead

Tomorrow marks the beginning of Lent, so today is Fat Tuesday. Terry was raised Catholic, and we both really believe in the idea of Lent, so now we both observe the 40 days of giving up something important or indulgent. Tonight we're going out to ice cream (well, frozen yogurt, at our favorite add-your-own-toppings shop, Twist) to indulge before we dive into Lent. Our sacrifices for the next 40 days: chocolate (for Terry, although I am cutting back also), cheese crackers (for me, because I love Cheez-Its and the like), and soda.

Tomorrow also marks the beginning of our 10-day real food challenge. Today I cleaned out our fridge and pantry to purge all the processed food and make room for the loads of groceries (from THREE stores, plus a bakery to buy real whole grain bread) that we bought today. I planned out all ten days to make sure we have plenty to eat, and the fun begins during breakfast tomorrow (on the menu: whole wheat toast and fruit). We love participating in these kinds of endeavors together to challenge ourselves, improve our health, and grow closer to each other. Terry has been very patient as I've explored the 100 days of real food blog and thrown out endless facts about the food industry, but he is on board for some healthy eating! Wish us luck!

Meanwhile, between the food challenge, work, and Terry studying for his final, real life must continue. We are planning to move to a new apartment at the end of the month, and we've (hopefully) found a place we really like - more to come if we actually decide to live there. So the packing process will begin soon, and my parents will venture down to LA to help us move (they owe Terry's parents big time for all the times they helped us!). We are so excited to find a lovely new apartment that will be our first married home! On a down note, I will be let go from my teaching job at the end of this school year (again) - the budget cuts are hitting us along with everyone else. While that puts a damper on things, we are grateful to have plenty of warning and the opportunity for me to apply for other jobs. While dealing with that, we're also shopping for a new (used) car, which we'll purchase after we make a decision on an apartment.

And finally, oh yes, that whole wedding thing. Last night I added stamps to all the reply envelopes and continued work on one of our DIY projects - the place card holders. Despite the minor battles with the glue gun and X-ACTO knife, we're well on our way to finishing one of our first big projects! Terry has promised me a wedding work day (well, a few hours) this Sunday after his finals to get our invitations underway and to finish up the designs on the response card and information card. It'll be nice to finally have something wedding-related to report on the blog! I'm trying to take pictures along the way so I can come back and document it all later, and I look forward to posting those in a few months.

So, tomorrow is March 9th - the first day of Lent and four months to the wedding! I'm looking forward to reporting our progress on the things we are giving up for Lent, the 10 day challenge, our new apartment, and the invitations!

Boun Appetito!

Terry here! It has been a long time since I've posted. Sorry to everyone about that; I know how much people have missed my blogging, and I apologize that you've had to suffer through Julie's continuous posts (love you, Jules!).

Anyway, between work, school (I'll be done in June!), running (taking part in a Ragnar relay - www.ragnarrelay.com), I haven't made time to get to the ol' blog. But now I get to talk about the really important part of the wedding: the food!

On January 19th, Jules and I had a whirlwind day that ended with us flying from LA to San Jose, and driving out to Pleasanton for our tasting. We would have much preferred to have gone up another day, but we would have sacrificed getting to try the whole menu. We arrived at the Palm Event Center a few minutes early and were greeted with glass of champagne. The tasting itself took place in the Estate Room, which is the room in which our ceremony will be. We were seated with three other couples, all of whom are getting married the holiday weekend before us. It was really nice getting to chat with these couples and we ended up walking away from the night with several new ideas and things to consider for our big day.

The tasting started with a sampling of the passed hors d'oeuvres. Laid before was a platter with an eggplant caponata on crostini, a crab salad with preserved lemon, a smoked sausage stuffed mushroom, a mini Reuben sandwich with sauerkraut and Thousand Island dressing, and a chorizo and date wrapped in bacon. The eggplant crostini was very light, prepared in a vinaigrette without a heavy flavor of eggplant. Julie and I were big fans of this appetizer and thought that this would be quite nice on a hot summer day. The crab salad was prepared in a little wafer, so it's still a finger food treat. This, too, was light, but lemony and refreshing as well. I love seafood, so I was already gung-ho on this one, and thankfully Julie didn't need any convincing. We had one more appetizer to choose! The sausage stuffed mushroom did not make the list. It wasn't just the right flavor for our liking (I thought there was a little too much cumin). So it came down to the Reuben and bacon wrapped chorizo and date. The mini sandwich was very tasty, and I was actually surprised Julie liked it as she's not a fan of sauerkraut. But the chorizo and date in bacon? Wow! I was sold on it. It's spicy and sweet, with the right amount of bacon (and how can you go wrong with bacon?). Julie and I talked it over, and though the Reuben was good, it's a Reuben. Compared to the chorizo and date, it just didn't hold a candle. So our passed hors d'oeuvres will be the eggplant crostini, crab salad, and the bacon wrapped chorizo and date.

In addition to the passed appetizers, we will also have an appetizer table. We weren't served any of the food for this as it all comes with our booking of the venue. So our guests will all get to enjoy cheeses, salamis, peppers, artichoke dip, and Spanish meatballs! Yum yum!

Onto the sit down portion of the meal. We began with three salads: a caesar, a classic wedge, and mixed green and pear salad. All were great, but the one that stood out was the pear salad. In addition to the greens and pears, the salad was topped with candied walnuts, crumbled blue cheese, and a balsamic vinaigrette. It was delightful!

The entrees were definitely a feat to finish as there were 9 and we'd already had plenty for starters. First came the fish and vegetarian choices: a basil and brown sugar salmon, a seasonal white fish with chili ponzu and scallions, and a red chard and sweet onion ravioli with carrot-nutmeg beurre blanc. The white fish was light and flaky, and the chili ponzu had a nice kick to it. The salmon was oh so buttery with a light crust of brown sugar. But the surprise of the night was the ravioli! The sauce was sweet and complemented the red chard and sweet onion perfectly. I think it may have been the only dish that Julie ate the entire thing of (I polished off her other dishes). The dish was also the talk of the table well past the other entrees.

The second course consisted of chicken and pork. We had a chicken saltimbocca with onion soubise, pan-seared chicken with wild mushroom and sweet wine butter sauce, and Carloina-style BBQ pork loin with crispy onions. Again, everything was delicious. We particularly liked the chicken with wild mushroom and sweet wine butter sauce. To give you a better picture, the chef referred to it as the butterscotch chicken. It was definitely sweet, but the taste was so unique! At the end of the course, that was the front runner.

The third, and final course had the red meat: a grilled New York with brandy and green peppercorn sauce with buttermilk shallots; braised beef short ribs with upland cress and fig demi; and marinated tri-tip with red wine demi, sauteed mushrooms, and crumbled blue cheese. Everything was good, but we felt the New York was a little over done. The short ribs were super tender, and the tri-tip was prepared to perfection. At the end of the meal we were torn between those two dishes.

Well, in the end, we had to choose two of the nine entrees. We absolutely loved the ravioli, so that was in. Now we had to choose between the butterscotch chicken, short ribs, and tri-tip. After talking it over on the way home, we agreed that the ravioli and the chicken would be too much sweetness for the night (and we hadn't even gotten to the cake). Between the short ribs and tri-tip, it came down to the fact that the tri-tip had that little something extra to push it ahead of the competition. So we will be enjoying the ravioli and tri-tip.

A few things. If you're concerned about what you're going to choose to eat because everything sounds good, don't worry! Julie and I have decided that we're going to serve a family style dinner, so the food will be brought out on platters to the table for all to share and enjoy! Second, if your mouth is already watering over the menu, just remember that the menu may change ever so slightly as things go in and out of season, but that really only applies to the small details of the dishes.

So that was our tasting. Phew, I'm out of shape when it comes to typing. I'm winded from writing this, and now I really need to eat something.

Until next time!