Tag: what we cooked

Since We Last Spoke

Lauren4 Comments

Joey turned 30!  

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What can I say?  We did a bike bar tour through RiNo the Saturday before and OMG it was fun.  We made a playlist of songs that came out in 1987 (the year Joey was born) and who would’ve known “La Bamba” would be such a hit!  Both of our mothers were in attendance, I took a shot with my sister, smashed into a photo booth with Jenn, hugged my bestie lots and forgot it wasn’t MY birthday.

We also had a killer dinner at Acorn, — that 24 oz. prime ribeye though! — I gave Joey a mini fridge specifically for bombers — he’s been wanting one since we visited my aunt and uncle in Ohio last year and saw their bomber collection — and capped it all off with the traditional birthday dinner (and sombrero) at Los Arcos.

Baseball started!

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I live for Opening Day traditions — aka Biker Jim’s and a beer for lunch — getting to the game early, watching them set those balloons free into the sky, taking that Opening Day portrait with Joey, getting that accidental sunburn.  Okay, I could probably do without that last part but I’m starting to think I’ll never learn.  In other news, we beat the Dodgers and the weather could not have been more perfect.  Feeling good about this season already 🙂

I pampered myself.

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Ugh, sorry for that awkward selfie.  I don’t normally take them but when you get  your nails done — Joey made the appointment for me and I’d like to publicly announce that I’d be more than okay with more of those surprises in the future! — and your hair cut (and curled) you definitely go back to work, take a picture of yourself and hope none of your co-workers were walking by while you did it.

And because feeding myself delicious things also feels like pampering to me, there’s also been cookies, peanut butter oatmeal bars, breakfast sammies, quesadillas + sweet potato fries, honey-Dijon salmon, linguine in a creamy herb sauce, a weird but delicious bowl of fridge odds and ends and fish tacos because it’s already warm in Denver and my tastebuds are ready for taco season.

Spent a weekend alone.

Joey basically went straight from the Rockies game to the airport for a bachelor party in New Orleans so I had the weekend to myself.  I did all the productive things, aka cooked dinner for myself, went to the grocery, made pizza dough, did laundry, ran 5 miles (hi, Bolder Boulder, I see you coming up next month!) and did some filing for work.  But I also did all the fun things, aka read in the back yard, watched the Rockies take down Kershaw, had breakfast with my dad and sister and managed to feel relaxed.

Side Note: my mom also happens to be in NOLA so Joey met up with she and my uncle on Sunday after all the other guys of the bachelor party had headed home and I think that’s the sweetest and cutest and could only be better if I was also there with them.

Tell me what’s happening in your life! 🙂

A Dinner Diary

Lauren5 Comments

Now seems as good a time as any to tell you I’m keeping a dinner diary.  Not like a “Dear Diary, I had pizza for dinner.” thing, but a write-down-what-I-cooked-for-dinner thing.

You see, a few months ago, we were partaking it our favorite Saturday morning ritual of eating breakfast while watching The Kitchen on Food Network when guest Jenny Rosenstrach mentioned she’s kept a dinner diary since 1998.  Mostly, I think she used it as a planning tool, but as someone who loves listing things, the idea struck such a chord.

So a few days later, I went to Target, perused their entire collection of notebooks, planners, journals and finally landed on a simple black one with lined pages and “Notes” written across the front.  “Understated but timeless,” I hoped.  I was having visions of children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren thumbing through this little black notebook, imagining just what “Ginger Cashew Chicken Curry” tasted like when I made it way back in 2017.  Or maybe even of myself looking back through it, watching the evolution of weeknight dinners, holiday meals and cooking frequency throughout the years.

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The weird thing is, I’m a perfectionist through and through — I’ll seriously re-write my grocery list if I spell fettuccine wrong — but for some reason, imagining that diary looking all splattered in spaghetti sauce, pages rumpled, like only really well-loved things look makes me so happy.

I’ve been writing in it since mid-January and I kinda love it?  Yep, I’m a list-maker through and through ♥

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Are you a list-maker?

Do you keep a diary/journal of any kind?

Also, what are you doing this weekend??  We have snow in the forecast and a bike bar outing booked.  Should be very very interesting!