A Cook in the Works!

When I was growing up, cooking was a way a life. I came from phenomenal cooks! I spent many, many days at my Grandmother Davis' house cooking with her. Making a spread EVERY day for EVERY meal was a bit of an understatement. My mom fell none-short of her own mother - everything is great (Well, except for that oniony-spaghetti you tried to feed me and Scott!)! Growing up, my mom even made cakes for a side job. My Grandmother Stryker was also a great cook too! My Dad learned a lot from her and I can remember growing up and having a spread pancakes or biscuits and omelets and fruit and fresh squeezed juice on Saturday mornings! Many men can't cook, but my Dad was great too!

So, keeping in the tradition, every time I cook I try and include Haley in some fashion. Even though I'm not able to do all of what they did, every bit of exposure she gets I hope will encourage her to love it as much as we do! I had her an apron monogrammed for Christmas and she got a chef's hat from Publix!

Here's a picture of her learning to use a ....KNIFE!!! AHHH!!

Rules of Not Losing a Thumb:

(1) Hold it in the opposite direction that you cut.

(2) Don't hack at it.

(3)Don't ever use a knife unless you are cooking.

(4) No, you cannot use my sharp knife.

I also try to use cooking as a "reward system" for Haley when she goes out of her way to do something good. So, in honor of her doing so this past week, I made Puppy Chow with her! Get the recipe HERE! It was too funny, both her and Scott had never heard of it. They kept calling it "Dog Food".

Haley did pretty good until the chocolate chips and the peanut butter came out, then I lost her attention! She transformed from a chef into a taste tester!

Looking forward to teaching her more over the years!

Two Sweet Peas in a Pod

A few weeks ago, I was hanging out at my sister's house and I got the pleasure of playing with these two sweet peas!! They are 14 months and are both so much fun! They are completely different in personality and looks and I look forward to seeing how their personalities continue to bud over time!

Connor is a cuddle-bug! He won't give up on the baby-ways though! He will have nothing other than a bottle and won't walk yet! He's a super-fast crawler and is jabbering NON-STOP! He's got fine, straight hair and thin feet! We think he's going to have the "Stryker-Gap" in his teeth! He's super cute!! Everyone in the family says he resembles me when I was a child. What a compliment!

Excuse the hazy picture of Colton because the child won't sit still long enough to take one! Colton is always 90-to-nothing! He's a big walker, drinks out of sippy cups, and won't sit still long enough for anyone to hold him! He's got curly, curly hair and thick, fat feet! He's definitely a charmer too! His smile will brighten a room! We call him "Junior" because he looks JUST like his Daddy as an adult! But, we see some of his Mommy in him when she was about his age!

I love these boys so much! And their big brother Hunter (who won't take pictures!). I always said I wanted girls growing up until all the boys became a part of my life! I really, really hope I have boys now! There's nothing like a boy and their momma! But, just because I said that, I'll probably have a litter of girls! :)

Cute new pics, better late than never!

A few weeks back, Haley had her year-end program with her pre-school. They sang: The New ABCs, The Months of the Year, Trust and Obey, recited a poem called "Right Hand, Left Hand", and quoted Psalm 118:1. She did great and was quite into it. She even pulled a funny, I told about previously HERE!

Here are the only good pictures I got from the night because my camera is so bad!

Pretty Little Girl!

A Trip to the Bayou

Two weekends ago, Scott and I took a quick trip to Baton Rouge, LA to visit with some of his Dad's side of the family, as well as buy LSU merchandise. Seriously!

As soon as we got into town, we headed straight for the campus!

Mike the Tiger (The Fifth) has a new cage on campus (right by the stadium), so we went to visit him!

Come on Mike, you won't even say "hello" to your biggest corndog fan? He really wasn't up for visiting because Baton Rouge was suffering from an extreme heat wave.

We headed to find some LSU merchandise! Scott was desperate to find a new sticker for his truck and I was ever-so-kind to find Haley a pretty cute seer-sucker LSU dress. I mean, I GUESS I'll let Scott have ONE Tiger cub!!

Scott was on the search for a Fleur-di-lis. OF COURSE, he had to pick the most obnoxious one out...EYE OF THE TIGER!

I mean, come on. I like a pretty, black, gold, or silver one...but Eye of the Tiger? Ha!

Scott's cousin was so gracious to host us for the weekend! We met him at a little hole-in-the-wall bar/restaurant called, "Sammy's". Now, for the Birmingham locals, when he told us to meet him at "Sammy's", I was a bit concerned. See, Birmingham has an oh-so-famous "gentleman's club", by the same name. So, when we rolled up and saw bars on the windows, we peeked in the window, and to our pleasure it resembled the "Cheers" type of establishment!

Wow!!! Sammy's Grill was incredible! Check the link out HERE! The homemade fried cheese...YUM! And I could have drank their house salad dressing....Parmesan Vinaigrette!!! Oh man...I mean, I tried to buy this recipe! It was SO good, that Scott and I went back for dinner that night!

We also ventured over to a little sports bar not far from the new baseball stadium called "Walk-Ons". Check it out HERE! We didn't eat, but we were able to watch some Alabama baseball (YES!!) and enjoy talking. Scott even discovered his new drink of choice..

..Rumple Minze.

If you like drinking peppermint Colgate, this one is for you!

We also went by the Mall of Louisiana to browse some more! I was tickled when I found these....

...Bahaha. (1) At least they know they smell like corndogs and (2) I LOVE that LSU fans have a great rivalry with Alabama! RTR!!!

We ended the trip by going back to see Mike the Tiger and much to Scott's liking..he was up!

Cool random fact about Mike the Tiger - one of my Dad's nurses when he was in the hospital trained 2 former Mike the Tigers! Small world!

I must say, Baton Rouge is a cool town! They have some incredible houses and great shopping! And of course, great eating! I also enjoyed watching Scott get so happy to be in a town he loves for so many reasons! We are looking forward to going back for some Alabama vs. LSU football and baseball games in the future! And, I'm looking forward to sporting some Crimson in the Bayou!!

Happy Memorial Day 2010!

Happy Memorial Day Friends!! I hope you all spent lots of time with family and remembering the true meaning of the special holiday!

Scott and I decided to get out and visit with his Mom and Step-Dad! They live in Jemison, which isn't far from Clanton, which isn't far from the..

We decided to load up and go get some...

..peach ice cream...

...peach turnovers..

...peaches and strawberries too! And I never can visit Scott's family without getting a bag full of his step-dad's Boiled Peanuts! DELICIOUS!!! (I wonder if you can have boiled peanuts at a wedding reception....)

We had a great time visiting with Scott's family and Scott even enjoyed getting to see a bus full of Tennessee Titan's cheerleaders on their way back from a camp..

(I opted not to look like a complete weirdo and snap pictures of these girls. I mean, the little redneck boys throwing stuff at them were traumatizing enough, I'm sure!)

We picked up Miss Haley and started to grill out!

Scott did an excellent job manning the grill!

We ate hamburgers, grilled corn..

..mixed fruit..

..and Parmesan new potatoes!

I think it was a success! Scott was so impressed with his grilling skills that he told me we are eating something grilled tonight and tomorrow! Woohoo! FINALLY!

And who doesn't finish up any good holiday without.....

..a holistic ear wax candle!!

Scott has wanted to try this because he heard from some other people how the treatment really helps! Haley was really amused...she kept saying, "I can't wait to see Daddy burn his ear!" 

I was really concerned about catching the couch on fire! It wasn't as exhilarating as I thought it would be, but entertainment, none-the-less!

Bottega Cafe - 2 Thumbs Up!

Saturday evening, Scott and I were in the mood to try something different and possibly sit outside. So, I hit Google and found a list of places you could eat outside! I had never been to Bottega or Bottega Cafe, so we were excited to venture that way for an early dinner!

We didn't opt to eat outside ( I think because the inside was so pretty!)

I don't eat any seafood, so the menu options are usually fairly limited at nice restaurants! But, we lucked up on this appetizer!

Homemade chips with a charred onion dip! YUM! If you like Barber's French Onion Dip, you'll love this!! (I hate to compare Bottega to Barber's, very different but both good in their own respects!)

I have to be honest, I looked the menu up before I came and knew we HAD to come when I saw this on the menu...

Cafe Macaroni & Cheese with a salad! YES PLEASE! The pasta was penne with three cheeses! The salad was simply greens tossed in their vinaigrette! DID THEY CREATE THIS FOR ME? I could go back everyday and eat this!! AWESOME!

Scott will eat just about anything, so he opted for...

The Pork cutlet sandwich. This came with a "green tomato mostarda, arugula, and caramelized onion". It came with some more of the delicious homemade chips!! I took a bite and loved the pork!

Scott and I NORMALLY do not get dessert (unless he is stalling trying to propose to me!)... but we couldn't pass up dessert after how great everything else was.

Strawberry Cake - featuring Alabama grown strawberries! AWESOME! The sauce was to die for! Scott and I had NO trouble finishing that off!

We were also very impressed with the price! I would have thought with an appetizer, two entrees, and dessert, we would have racked up a ticket. But, all that was $41! I think that's just about as expensive as Zaxby's!

Click here to learn more about Bottega and Bottega Cafe! I am so glad we ventured out and tried something new! We cannot wait to go back again!

I'm in Love with a Corndog!

Scott and I took in A LOT of baseball over the long weekend! We were excited to see LSU and Alabama both go undefeated throughout the SEC Tournament and face off on Sunday!

Sunday morning started out VERY rainy, so we weren't even sure that the game would go on as scheduled. Well, it did! There were a TON of people there..so many that we weren't even able to use our reserved parking spot. So, we hopped on the shuttle...

There ended up being two rain delays! We came back after the first, but ended up missing the last of the game. We found ourselves in the Publix parking lot listening to the last inning! It was such a great game! Bama came back and tied up the game in the 9th, sending it to 11 innings.

LSU came back and won it! It was a great game, despite the outcome!

And yes, I'm in love with a big ole' Corndog!!!!!

(For those of you that don't know the Corndog story...http://www.trackemtigers.com/2008/9/17/615889/it-s-still-true-lsu-fans-s)

And for those of you that want to hate on me for pulling for LSU baseball when they aren't playing Bama....one word..Mikey...

Looking forward to more games next year! The tournament is up for bid and I hope Hoover doesn't lose it! It's great entertainment right in our own backyard!