DC

This past weekend we went to DC to hang out with Ben's brother. We left on Thursday (my birthday) and got back last night. John, Sara and Simon picked us up from the airport. We ended up taking a "detour" on the way to the hotel to stop at the Melting Pot for dessert. So thoughtful of Ben to think of that.

Friday we spent the day in DC. We had gotten on the list for a "tour" of the White House and of the Capitol building. Our WH tour was "scheduled" for 8:30 am. We got there around 7:45 and got the pleasure of waiting in the rain for over an hour to get in. And it turns out that it is a self-guided tour, so you were with a mass of people filing through the 6 or so open rooms. I was not impressed. The highlights were seeing secret service walk around with big guns and walking out the front door of the WH. But without anyone telling me why I should care that this room is green and that one is blue, I didn't find the tour all that useful.

The Capitol tour, on the other hand, was great! Our Congressman likes to make sure his peeps get a personal experience. So it was Ben and me and three others with one of his aides on the tour. It was great! She was funny, and knowledgeable. She shared with us the history of the building, rooms and art. We even witnessed a proposal in the old Senate room. So cool!

Saturday night we got together with our friend Chris that lives out that way. He took us to a great Thai place and to a movie (Hot Tub Time Machine). It was a wonderful way to spend the evening! We all laughed throughout the night. It was fun to be able to see Chris between cruises.

Other than that, we hung out with John, Sara and Simon. I thought Simon was super cute. And fun to be around. He's 6 weeks and doing great.

Get So Busy

I'm not sure who sings it, but there is a song that was on a tape that I used to listen to as a kid. The song goes,
Well, I know it sounds funny, but it's true
I get so busy, I forget I'm in love with you
And every now and then
We need to get away to get close again

It is so true! Ben and I were talking last night and we both can't really figure out what we've been doing with our time. Sometimes we are just in our separate worlds. We are making it a point to make sure to spend actual time together on a regular basis. And I love it.

Busy Weekend!

This week/weekend while Ben was away, I was able to keep myself pretty busy.

Thursday night I went to poker. Not to play. But to eat. It was at James' house last week and he always has great food. This time was no exception. He made Japanese Fried Noodles outside on his propane wok.

Saturday I helped my friend Andrea move. And don't worry - no heavy lifting for me. I helped pick up the moving truck, disassemble furniture, empty the fridge... The best part was to see her new house. It's is very nice. The only thing I don't like about it is that it's not as close to me as her old place was. Oh, well. I'm still happy for her.

Saturday night I went to my sister's place to celebrate her husband's and step-daughter's birthdays. It feels like I haven't seen them forever, so it was nice to spend some time with them. Before they move to Chicago. Yep, they're moving. Their house will go on the market next Monday. I'm excited for them, but also sad... this will be the first time in my life that we won't be in the Minneapolis area together.

Sunday, a group of us girls headed out to Red Wing to visit a friend that moved to a farm out there. The drive was beautiful. And the lunch and conversation were fabulous! I had so much fun.

And today, Ben comes home! So excited.

Someone's in the Kitchen

Oats - A few weeks back, I finally got around to remember to put some steel-cut oats in the crock pot before I headed to bed. I was expecting a different texture, but the different taste kind of surprised me. But amazing things happen when you add chocolate chips...

Polenta - I decided to give polenta a try. I had a recipe where you cooked it with water and then added milk and cheese to it. For the most part we liked it. The cheese didn't fully melt down, so Ben wasn't thrilled with the globs. I would try it again without the cheese.

Things That Make You Go Yum!

On Friday, I decided to make oatmeal for breakfast. Mainly because we were out of bread, so the usual eggs and toast or French toast was out. I made it on the stove with milk and strawberries. Before serving it, I pulled out some homemade whipped cream and put a dollop on top of the oatmeal. Yum!

Yesterday Ben and I caught the last half of "Everyday Food" on PBS. The one recipe looked pretty good and easy, so we went to the store to buy the ingredients. It was for Steak with Brussels Sprouts and Almonds. I will admit, this was the first time that I have made Brussels sprouts. Or eaten them. But the recipe was pretty good. **Note** Skirt steak may be folded in half. Check before you cook. - Yep, we didn't know. So we didn't check. So when Ben went to turn the steaks over, they fell into two pieces. Still worked just fine, but the cooking had to be changed up (shorter time, flip again to cook the uncooked exposed parts).

While putting the recipe card away for the above recipe, I came across Strawberry Shortcake. Hmmm... We have strawberries. We have some whipped cream leftover. Why not? But instead of following the recipe card, which calls for Bisquick, I found another one from scratch. Mainly because of our 1899 fetish, but also because we don't have any Bisquick on hand (because of our fetish). Ben was a little worried because he is very much attached to the way his mom makes shortcake. But it turned out great! He must have liked it since that's what he asked for for breakfast. :)

V Day, Then and Now

One of our first Valentine’s Days together there was really bad weather. When Ben was bringing me home we did a 180 on Highway 7 due to the ice on the road. That was pretty exciting. This Valentine’s Day the weather was bad again. On the way to dinner we saw an SUV on its side and several cars in the ditches. But unlike the days of old, we didn’t have any excitement in the car.

We started off the day making breakfast together. The plan was to make waffles with strawberries, whipped cream and some hash browns. Our waffle maker had other plans. The first waffle stuck so badly, that we couldn’t get it out to try again. So we made pancakes instead. Still very tasty.

Since it’s our last Valentine’s Day sans kids, we decided to go out. Ben wanted to try an organic or locally sourced place, so I picked out Brasa Rotisserie in Minneapolis. They happened to have a V-Day special so we went with that. We had guacamole with veggies and chips, shrimp and smoked trout for our appetizer. For our meats we picked pork and beef. Both were so tender and tasty. We both liked the pork the best. We got to pick three sides so we picked collard greens, fried plantains and rice and beans. I wasn’t crazy about the greens, but the other sides were fantastic. We ended our dining experience with dessert… raspberry cheesecake, truffles and lavender caramel. The caramel was interesting. Better than I would have thought. I would recommend Brasa!

All in all, it was a great day. I’m so thankful for my Valentine.

Recap

Wow. It's been a while since I posted anything. Quick recap in order of events: Ben came home, Zoey ate a stick of butter, we went to maternity leave Q&A at work, I'm an aunt again, we had our first appointment at the new clinic. Whew. And of course, those are just the things that popped into my head.

When Ben went to India he had asked if there was anything I wanted him to buy for me. Since I've been there several times myself, I couldn't really think of anything. He bought me something anyway. He is so sweet! He bought two cute outfits... a baby boy and a baby girl outfit. They are so cute! The little girl outfit even came with a little scarf. How cute is that?!

It still amazes me what Zoey can eat with no effect on her system. At least nothing obvious. The other day she had a stick of butter. I think if I ate a whole stick I would be sick. Not Zoey. Everything was normal. But, if you give her a taco from Taco Bell, that's another story. We'll be weighing her this weekend to see what her weight looks like.

The maternity Q&A was interesting. I got to find out how much paid time I get once our baby comes. Too bad it's only 6 weeks. I would LOVE for it to be longer. I'm trying to extend my leave. We'll see how that goes.

Yesterday, Simon James was born to John and Sara. He is so cute from the one picture Ben was sent of him. We're planning on going to visit the new little guy either the last weekend in March or first in April. We can't wait!

Yesterday was also our first appointment at the new clinic. The only thing I didn't like about it is that the elevators are SO SLOW!! And there aren't stairs, except for emergency stairs. But anyway. The clinic seemed very nice. It's a new building, so it wasn't very clinic feeling. And one of the reasons I picked it (aside from delivering at the new hospital) is that it not only has OB, but also pediatrics, so I won't have to find another clinic for the baby. The way they work is that for my appointments I can either see the WHNP every time (unless there are complications), pick a doctor to see, or rotate doctors (there are 4). The nice thing about being able to rotate is that then I will have at least met the doctor once that will deliver my baby. That's another reason why I picked this clinic versus a big one (because then it would be a random doctor to deliver). And unfortunately, they weren't able to get us in for an ultrasound until 2/22, so it's a bit longer before we can get a visual on our little person.