Valentine's Day

I have been house/dog-sitting at the Flanigan's house this past week, so for Valentine's Day Colson and I decided to cook dinner together. We made an awesome chicken and pasta dish as well as homemade eclairs. Here are the links to the recipes...the chicken dish was definitely one of our favorite things we've made.

Just a few hints--don't worry about getting fresh herbs if you don't have them; we used the stuff in the cupboard and it worked fine. I used chicken breasts instead of thighs. Also, I made a bit more marmalade sauce than she calls for because I usually like more sauce. It's also really good if you sweeten the pecans a bit in a pan with some sugar or honey (I actually used maple syrup). And I used more cheese on the pasta and served the chicken on top of the pasta. Serving the chicken over the pasta made the flavors of the two dishes blend really well and it was really really good.

Orange-Balsamic Chicken Thighs with Pecans and Sage Butter Pasta

Eclairs



We had to share our Valentine's Day with Tippet, the Flanigan's dog.


The finished product---homemade eclairs...And one in the shape of a heart. Yeah, we're cheesy like that.


Dipping the eclairs in chocolate...yum!


The main course masterpiece...note the wonderfully folded napkins (Colson did that) and the roses that Colson bought for me. :)




The master pastry chef at work


Making some dessert

"Who am I?"-An excerpt from a poem by Bonhoeffer

“Who am I? This or the other?
Am I one person today, and tomorrow another?
Am I both at once? A hypocrite before others,
and before myself a contemptibly woebegone weakling?
Or is something within me still like a beaten army,
Fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved?

Who am I? They mock me, these lonely questions of mine.
Whoever I am, thou knowest, O God, I am thine.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison, 348

Even though I don't have fun pictures to post right now, I ran across a few quotes that I had used for a project a while ago...I thought I'd start sharing some of them...

My life so far this year...

So I haven't posted anything on my blog recently--and not because I don't want to...it's just...well, all I've been doing is studying for the last month. So, if you really want, I can take pictures of me falling asleep on top of my books, but I thought I'd spare you.

Oh yeah...and I'm also addicted to caffeine again.

But on a good note, I could tell you all you ever wanted to know about ancient Greece and Rome from about 100 BC to 100 AD. Exciting, huh?

I have taken some fun breaks from studying that included visiting the rest of the Chicago family (and playing Rock Band for a whole afternoon), going out to dinner and a movie with Colson, seeing Wicked with Colson (I forgot my camera so I don't have pictures of us!), and planning a Valentine's Day Competition with Colson (we're getting a bunch of people to do somewhat of an Amazing Race type competition in Chicago). So there definitely have been REALLY fun things in the midst of all the studying. But even in the middle of the movie Colson and I went to, I made a comment like, "Oh my gosh! They totally got that idea from ancient Roman practices!" And the worst part was...it was a cartoon and I was making that comment.

I am such a dork.

Okay, I'm off to write a paper...and it's on ancient Greece and Rome. Go figure. This class is going to be the end of me...

Christmas Break with Colson

We went to a Rock and Roll Museum that is in conjunction with the R&R Hall of Fame in Cleveland.


Before Colson arrived, I stayed at Matt and Jess's to watch the girls for a little bit. Ella, Sparky, and I snuggled in the morning. :)


Meeting Bonnie for dinner...




Lunch at Lombardi's Pizza in Soho--supposedly the 1st pizza place in NYC

Chicago with Aniela

Aniela was in town before school ended and we went downtown to see Dirty Dancing (which, to those who do not know is NOT a bad/dirty show...I just want to make that clear. It's a musical based off the 80s chick flick movie).

We also went out to dinner beforehand at the Berghoff and walked around the city and looked at the Christmas window displays.

December Grad Dinner

Colson graduated in December and they had a dinner for all the grads...