Honeymoon Day 1

Hello Everyone! We're Back!

The trip was spectacular and everything I hoped it would be. For this week I'll share with you the day-to-day activities we did while on our trip to Mykonos Island.

 

Flying over Switzerland

 

 

Roughly around noon we arrived at our destination. We traveled up north of the island to Panormos Village which sits next to Panormos beach.

 

 

the view from our room

 

Our room had a balcony view of the beach that was just walking distance. It was breathtaking.

Look at that BLUE ocean! Just simply amazing.

 

 

Right after we settled in we got hungry and decided to stay put at our hotel and have lunch. I forgot to take a photo of my lunch but let me tell you: it was the best meal I had during the whole trip. I chose the seafood risotto and it was a large portion so J and I split it. It had giant shrimp, fresh clams, and mussels. It was to die for! Definitely a great start of the trip.

 

 

 

After lunch we changed into our swimsuits and lounged at the pool for the afternoon.

The hotel owner's sweet dog, Amos.

My husband took the last two photos.

 

Late in the afternoon we walked to Panormos beach to check it out.

 

 

The water was so clear! There were some areas that you have to pass through larger rocks like these to get to the deep part of the water with soft sand.

Look, a lizard! You don't see him?

 

See him now? I've said it before but I'll say it again. I LOVE the zoom on my camera!

 

 

After swimming in the beach we took a short nap before dinner. While we showered we discovered that the water was not the greatest quality. It still tasted salty. We knew we needed to get bottled mineral water for drinking purposes.

 

 

For dinner, again, we stayed at the hotel and had a wonderful view of the beach in the evening.

 

Every meal starts off with bread, butter, a special sauce, and of course some olive oil.

We picked out a local-made wine. Very refreshing wine!

 



For appetizer we shared grilled vegetables with parmesan. This was not all of it. There was a plate full of them and J-man and I split them up.

We shared the stuffed chicken with feta and spinach with a delicious sauce and rice.

"sunset"

 

And we finished off the night with chocolate soufflé with ice cream. The sparklers were a surprise from the owner. A wonderful dinner to finish off the first night in Mykonos.

 



Honeymoon Destination

The clues you were give were 1) island, 2) Mediterranean Sea, 3) Cyclades.


The answer is Greece! More specifically Mykonos Island. I will be sure to take photos of this beautiful island and share my adventures (and I promise to keep it PG too).


Unfortunately I will not be able to post anything for the following week so we'll have to play catch up.

God Bless!

Dinner of the Day

Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana

1 lb Italian Sausage (spicy if you prefer more heat)

5-7 slices of bacon                            5 medium russet potatoes

2 C kale, chopped                             1 C heavy whipping cream

1 qt water                                          (2) 14 oz cans of chicken broth (24 oz. total)

1/2 large onion                                  2-3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tsp red pepper flakes                     Salt and pepper

 

 

I LOVED this soup when it came out at Olive Garden. They wanted to try out a new recipe and served it for a limited time to see how people liked it. It was warming and had a nice heat with the kale and the spicy sausage. It disappointed me that it was only for a short period of time and not many people enjoyed it. I was so pleased when I found this through this blog. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

 

1. Crumble the sausage onto a baking sheet. Bake the sausage in the oven at 300 degrees for about 30 minutes or until no longer pink. Place on paper towels to drain.

 

 

2. Cook the bacon and crumble into small pieces. Meanwhile slice the potatoes between 1/8 or 1/4. I would recommend using a mandolin.  Just make the slices about the same size so they cook evenly. Dice up the onion and mince the garlic. Throw the potatoes, onion, garlic, chicken broth, and water into a large pot on medium heat until the potatoes are cooked through.

 

Is there anything better than sizzling bacon? Bacon is a blessing from God.

 

Love me some garlic. I practically use minced garlic on all my pastas. Lots of good vitamin C.

 



 

3. Prepare the kale by chopping into bite sized pieces. I substituted the kale with spinach to give it a try.  Add the sausage, bacon, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

 

4. Turn the heat to low and add in the kale (or spinach in my case) and heavy cream. Let the soup heat through and serve. It is recommended to top it off with lots of parmesan.

Make sure you pat the sausage with paper towels because if you don't you will get that orange-y fatty stuff at the top of your soup. It doesn't make it look appealing.

I also recommend to NOT use spinach as I discovered it wilts (duh) and doesn't taste as good as crunchy kale. Trust me, stick to the recipe on this one.

Have a wonderful Thursday!

 

Book Worm Wednesday

"My God, cooking meat is a hassle! Give me a block of tofu and let's call it a day!"


"I place Paul's plate in front of him and take my seat across the table. Paul is looking at me with the grin of a Cheshire cat. If he weren't married, and if we weren't the best of platonic friends, I would think he had designs on my virtue. But it is not me that has him hot and bothered.
     'That smells good.' There's a tone in his voice I've never heard before-we're not that sort of friends."


"I'm trying to give this meat thing a fair shot. I haven't noticed that eating it has made me feel significantly better. I haven't noticed much of a difference at all, but perhaps I haven't been eating enough of it. I decide I am up for a challenge. Tonight I am going to dine like a gaucho, on flank steak with chimichurri."

One Week From Today

J-man and I are heading out for our four day honeymoon trip in just one week. I cannot tell you how excited I am. Let me just say that I'm the type of person who gets excited about any kind of trip.

Whenever my high school band had a 'band trip' I would pack at least four days ahead. I would make a list and be crazy control-freak about it. I'm not as bad as I was then but this momentous trip is putting me back on the control-freak ride. I have a list, I have packed all my stuff just to make sure it fits the small suitcase, and I've made an itinerary of what to wear on what day.

http://youtu.be/9esdsRlQiM0

I have even researched the location for good restaurants and entertainment ideas. On top of all that I've been looking for inspiration on what I should wear and here are a few looks.

*photos found in Pinterest*

Oh you want to know where we are going? I'll give you three clues and I'll post the answer Friday, before we leave.

1) island


2) Mediterranean Sea


3) Cyclades

Growing Up

Lately J-man and I have been looking at apartments and houses for rent in Fort Worth to get the ball rolling. We're very excited, hubby especially. It's a warming thought that we will back home starting a new chapter in our lives together. I will be working again, hopefully. I've been looking around at options. I'm praying that a city as big as Fort Worth and Dallas that it won't be too hard to find something. Fingers crossed.

The other day we've been looking at a particular house for rent. It's four bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms for $1000 a month. That's awesome because that's under our budget. But I've been a bit skeptical about it because of how big it is; it's bigger than my parents' house. I'm not used to owning/renting a place that big. We don't have a lot of furniture.

Shoot, the house doesn't have a fridge or washer and dryer so if we decided to rent this house we'll have to buy all that right away. That's not cheap either. J-man and I have been back and forth about it. He's in love with it! I mean I am too; the kitchen is BEAUTIFUL but I'm just scared. I've talked to my husband about how I feel we don't deserve such a big house especially when we don't have kids to fill it up. If we had a couple it's understandable.

This is part of growing up though. Making decisions with your life partner. There are some choices that are going to be made: some good, some not so smart. I have to admit it's pretty daunting.

A Revelation

I've discovered something a long time ago when I was dating and thought I should share it with you. Not only is it something I will be sharing to my future (possible) daughter(s) but to other women in general.

Well, now that I think about it I think it can work for both men and women, but I feel it speaks more loudly for girls.

When I was dating, from my teen years, I realized that there is no such thing as A PERFECT PARTNER. I've learned that Prince Charming does not exist because P.C. is perfect in every way. You can hope all you like but there isn't one.

I've learned that no matter what your husband/wife will fail you. That's a fact. There will come a point in time that they will screw up royally. It will break your heart into little pieces. You will think for a moment 'but you were everything I could ask for and more. What happened'. You will ask yourself 'is it me? or is it them?'

WHEN that time comes you need to ask yourself one question: What am I going to do about it? Will you forgive and move on or will you hold that grudge until it tears you apart inside and out?

I had to have my heart broken in a terrible way and never expected it from that person. I thought he would never in a million years hurt me like he did. "He's never done it with other girls so why did he had to do it while dating me" I have thought. A few days after the initial heartbreak, something changed in me in the midst of the storm of anger, bitterness, depression, and loneliness.

I've realized I still loved him. I learned to forgive him and moved on. It was a hard lesson for me but to this day I'm glad I had experienced it. I've learned that REAL love is forgiving and continuing to love someone despite the hurt they've caused you. Real love is loving the person, all of them. I mean the good and the bad because everyone has flaws. You just have to choose to accept those flaws and still love them or if they are too great and you cannot deal with it anymore, then maybe it's best to fall apart. 

At the same time, there are some flaws that are still unacceptable like physical, mental, and verbal abuse. If you are ever in a relationship like that-RUN! Get out as quickly as you can because the longer you stay the harder you get stuck in it.

Now that I'm married I'm blessed with a man who has accepted the person that I am and I too have accepted him. I'm not trying to say I know what I'm talking about when it comes to relationships and I'm a know it all. Believe me I'm far from it but I thought I would share this little revelation with you and I hope you can learn from my experiences.

God Bless!

Never Forgetting Our Loss

Book Worm Wednesday

More excerpts from The Butcher and the Vegetarian.


"I'll take a pound and a half of the shank and a pound and a half of bones," I say. Look, Ma, I'm talking meat! It is exhilarating and terrifying at the same time.
        "Bones are in the freezer behind you."
I walk to a low freezer that I have never noticed before. It is marked with a sign that reads Dog Bones. I pick up a bag and return to the counter where Isaac is weighing my shanks.
   "Are these things okay for humans?" I feel like an idiot.
   "Yeah, those are good for stock," he says as he rings up my total-$16. Vegetarianism is certainly more economical.
I pay the bill, and, as I walk out the door, I begin to feel a sense of accomplishment. I talked the talk and got (mostly) what I asked for. I swing my bag, delighting in this feeling of having surmounted a challenge. There is something almost primal about it. I haven't actually hunted dinner myself, but I set my sights and claimed the prize I sought. I'm not about to beat my chest and howl, but it feels pretty good. I have bought meat!"


"The marrow is just as soft as it looks, and I can't resist the urge to touch it with my fingers. It feels a little greasy, like butter or shortening. I press harder, and blood begins to seep out from certain spots in the bones. When I snatch my hand back, the bleeding stops.
   Ugh, do we have veins in our bones?
That's when it dawns on me: Shank means 'leg.' This was someone's leg. I suddenly feel more vegetarian than ever before.
   I steel myself and begin to scrape the marrow out of the bones. Some of it is nice creamy pink; other bits are mottled, a little gray. These I throw away, fearing that the gray marrow might be stale or rancid and could make me sick. This is the problem with meat. It goes bad easily, and it is hard to tell when it takes that turn, at least for a  meat novice such as myself. I scrape the marrow into a small dish, working away at it until the hole that pierces the bone is empty and I can see through the plate below."


"Beef wrapped in bacon? Um, sorry. I can deal with only one type of meat at a time."

A Day at the Beach pt. 2

While we were traveling to Brighton we made a stop in London for the surprise J had for me. He took me to see Windsor Castle.

 

 

 Me posing next to Elizabeth.

So regal!

 

 

Shots of outside the castle.

 

 

 For those who don't know, if the British flag is flying over a castle that indicates that the Queen is in. I was very excited that I had a possibility to see her. The shot above was interesting because I wanted to capture the whole flag but for first two shots of it the flag was not moving. I thought, "God can you send me some wind right now." Sure enough the wind picked up and moved the flag to where I could get this.

This phone booth made me smile.

 

The moat garden

 

 

 It was very hard not to try to pose next to this guy but I have to admit I was intimidated.

 St. George Chapel. Unfortunately no one was allowed to take photos INSIDE the chapel but I will tell you it was beautiful and breathtaking. Incredible marble statues dedicated to the royal dead. I looked around the internet to see if there are any official photos of the inside and found one in particular that I loved.

 

This is princess Charlotte, daughter of George IV. She died while giving birth. If you notice on the left an angel is holding a baby, Charlotte's baby. This is all made of marble and it is incredible how detailed it is with the draping of the shrouds and dresses. I was almost moved with tears because it was just absolutely breathtaking.

 A view below the castle.

 

Hubby was not amused.

J-man thinks it's supposed to be a lion but it looks like a mean dog to me. What do you think?

 

The beautiful Windsor Garden in the back of the castle.

 

 

After the tour we went to the beach and had our fun but after that J-man had another surprise for me.

 

This is Bodiam Castle, East Sussex.

 

 Here is the front with the moat bridge.

Ducks, everywhere! And they weren't scared of us.

Unfortunately we showed up when it closed so we couldn't go inside. It looked like the majority of this castle is still intact. The fact that it has a moat made this castle even more cool. Who doesn't like a real castle with a real moat?

 

 

J and I had a lot of fun on this trip and it has made us look forward to our honeymoon in two weeks (where we will go is another surprise). My husband certainly spoils me and I can't thank him enough for this small memory I will treasure.