Shane's 4th Birthday

We drove up to Fullerton on Sunday to celebrate my nephew Shane's 4th birthday. It was a lot of fun.

Who needs a babysitter when you have one of these?
My big kid.
By this time Shane and Val were sick of their costumes. They started the day out as Batman and Superwoman.
Val will probably hate that I posted this picture.
Shane thanking everyone for his presents.

4 Things Tag

Meg "tagged" me in her blog so, here goes:

4 Random things I like about my husband:

1. When he explains things or answers questions he always has to list his points by saying "Well, either A.... or B.....".
2. He takes the garbage and the recycling out.
3. He doesn't mind answering weird questions for my family at random times of the day. My brother says that he is better than Google.
4. He plays the drums in his sleep. (This just happened last night. We bought a Nintendo Wii and the game Rock Band and the last couple of nights he has been dreaming about drumming. Last night he woke me up because he had his hand in the air and he was drumming away like crazy. It was the funniest thing I've ever seen someone do in their sleep.)

4 Jobs I've had:

1. Housekeeper (When I was 14 my dad's friend paid me $20 every Sunday to clean his house.)
2. Accounts Payable Clerk
3. Sales Associate

4. Server

4 Movies I have watched more than once:

1. Amelie
2. The Darjeeling Limited
3. Raising Arizona
4. Stranger Than Fiction

4 TV Shows I watch:

1. The Office
2. The Daily Show
3. Jon and Kate Plus 8 (I can't help it.)
4. Cold Case Files

4 People that email me regularly:

1. Grandma Hartwell
2. Deryk Forbush
3. Aunt Pat
4. Dave

4 Favorite foods:

1. Green grapes
2. Imitation crab
3. Sushi
4. Buffalo wings (Had to throw 1 unhealthy thing in there.)

4 Places I would like to visit:

1. New York City
2. Thailand
3. England
4. San Francisco

4 Things I am looking forward to in the coming year:

1. Trip home for the holidays
2. Halloween
3. Dave's graduation
4. Moving home

People I tag:
-Anyone who reads this.

Interesting Read

For some reason I forgot how much I love to read and for the last few weeks I haven't been able to keep my head out of books. I picked this book up from the library a couple of days ago. I thought that even though it has some sad stories it was a really interesting book.

Today

By Ken's suggestion

I remember Ken talking about cow tongue and how good it was. I never had tried cow tongue but when I think about it I don't think I have ever had the opportunity to try it. So when I asked a small Mexican food restaurant what type of meat is in the "lengua" burrito and they told me it was cow tongue, I had to try it. Tender, juicy, and slightly oily, but tasty. Thanks Ken for your commendation. 

Foreign Cruise

Ok, so we just went down to the tip of the Baja peninsula but I got a much more foreign experience then I was planning on. For those that have never been on  cruise before, something you may not know is that the service staff are all foreign. Their name tags list the country they are from and they work on the ship for an extended period of time. It didn't take long to realize how many of these service women were from Thailand. Seems they hire a large group so that they can have some of their own nationality on the ship together. And it didn't take them long to remember who I was. I told them my name is "Somsak," which is the Thai equivalent to the name David or Richard over here. They thought it was so funny. Fortunately for me my Thai has remained fairly strong despite my lack of using it. I even had a discussion with one of the women about Thai politics and the problems they are having right now. Thai political words are ones that I haven't used in a long time! At the end they each came up and gave me a special goodbye, and I hope I made that cruise a little bit more fun for them. They certainly added to the fun experience for me. -Dave

Tonight's Dinner

Chicken Salad With Taco-Ranch Dressing (Serves 2)
From the "Bride and Groom: First & Forever Cookbook"

Taco Ranch Dressing
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoon fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons taco seasoning
1 teaspoon onion powder
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Chicken
2 teaspoons taco seasoning
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (6 ounces each)
1 tablespoon canola oil

Salad
1 can (15 ounces) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 small ripe avocado, peeled, pitted and chopped into 3/4-inch pieces
1 plum tomato, cut into wedges
1 teaspoon taco seasoning
4 cups chopped romaine lettuce
1 cup crumbled tortilla chips, preferably ranch style
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves
2 lime wedges

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
To make the taco-ranch dressing: Whisk together all the dressing ingredients in a medium bowl. Refrigerate until chilled, at least 30 minutes.
To prepare the chicken: Mix the taco seasoning, onion powder, and kosher salt in a small bowl. Season the chicken on both sides with the spice mixture and brush with the canola oil. Place the chicken on the prepared baking sheet and bake until opaque in the center, 15 to 20 minutes.
To make the salad: Combine the beans, avocado, tomato, and taco seasoning in a large bowl and toss gently. Add the lettuce, chips, and cilantro. Add 1/2 cup of the dressing and toss, adding additional dressing if necessary. Divide between 2 plates. Slice the chicken and fan on top of the salads. Garnish each with a lime wedge.

I really loved this recipe. I used hot taco seasoning instead to add a little more spice. I also added a little more cilantro in the dressing because I love cilantro. Scrumptious!

SHANDIE

October 1, 2008

Hello everyone! September went by in a flash and now that it's over I finally have some time to write about everything that happened last month.
Dave and I went on a cruise on September 15th with my mom, Cal and their friends Carl and Chris. We had such a good time! It was a 5 day cruise with stops in Cabo San Lucas and Ensenada.
On September 26th I flew out to Utah to surprise my brother for his 30th birthday. My family rented rooms at the Snowbird Lodge and we stayed there for 2 nights and went to Oktoberfest. It was so much fun to surprise my brother and to see the rest of my family. It was also really nice to see the beautiful fall colors on the mountains and to smell the pine trees. Dave stayed in San Diego and surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers when I got home.
Here are just a few of the pictures from Jarid's birthday:

Me and Jarid

Pat, Me, Charlie, Dad, Riley
Jarid & Mom
Jarid & Charlie
My lovely flowers (There are little pumpkins in the bouquet... I love them!)

Now that September is over things are back to normal for us and will probably be that way until Christmas rolls around. I hope that all is well with everyone.