the goose loves easter

Now that it's been a week since Easter, it's probably a good time for a short recap, right?

When we were little, Easter was a big deal. We had the dresses, the white tights, the white shoes, the coloring of eggs, and the Easter baskets with candy. Lots of candy. And then a whole week off of school.

These days, in our inbetweener years (we aren't kids, and we don't have any kids), Easter is less of a big deal. We don't even get Good Friday off of work. Heathens.

But we did a little celebrating anyway, starting with a few cards for family. My parents got the one that says "Isn't God Amazing?" on front. :) 

 And I took this opportunity to use the free dog-themed address labels I got in the mail. I should probably send the Guide Dogs for the Blind some money now... 

 And we got a lovely egg-shaped card from Holly and Daryl, Billy's aunt and uncle! They're super sweet. 

As we did last year, we drove up to Seattle on Friday night and came back on Sunday afternoon. Once Billy returned from his drum competition in Canada, we cooked up an Easter feast. We picked out the smallest ham we could find, which turned out to be 8.5lbs for four of us - not too bad. 

And some candy, of course. Not exactly the spread from our youth, but we're also not quite burning off the sugar and fat like we could in our younger days. :)

 We made deviled eggs, too. Yummm.

 Along with our eggs and ham, we had asparagus, scallopped potatoes, and rolls.

Here's the whole spread.

On Monday (back in Portland), we decided to have some fun family time and throw Bentley an easter egg hunt. Yes, for the dog. Here's all the eggs (24 of them!), each filled with a dog treat or a few pieces of kibble.

We "hid" them around the house in fairly obvious places, all at dog-height. 

 Two made it into Moose's orifices.

 And one in the couch.

 Oh and one in SharkBait's chewed-up head cavity. 

 As you probably guessed, Bentley didn't really get it. For being a beagle with a "super" nose, he's not really good at smelling out treats. We pointed the first few out to him, and made a big deal of giving him the treat in the eggs he found, but he didn't get the idea of looking for more eggs.

Like at this point. He had just found the egg in SharkBait, but couldn't find the purple egg literally in front of his nose. He's waiting for me to help him. 

 And when I don't point it out, he gives up. 

Look Ma, no hands paws!

This one, though, he got. Look at that blur heading toward the egg! 

 He eventually found all of them, even though he spent most of the time going back to the places he already found eggs, expecting new ones to pop up there, I guess! 

Egg hunts are probably more fun with kids. And chocolate. But that'll have to wait a few more years, still.

the goose loves new recipes

Happy Thursday, Friends!

I think it's time for me to change things up a bit - instead of boring you with ten things on a Tuesday (or Wednesday, since I'm a procrastinator), I'll update you on what we've been cooking/eating recently. That's fun, right? It's really that I didn't want to waste my ten Tuesady things on food items, so I'm sticking them all in the same post. You can drool on your keyboard along with me.

We're trying to be very economical with our shopping and cooking, so we're meal planning every few weeks and then buying the appropriate groceries that will lend themselves to several meals. We're also working through our pantry items and being creative with what's on hand. Of which there's plenty. The idea is that the less we go to the grocery store, the less we spend on groceries. Clever, right?

Probably 10 days ago, we took these things...

added them to these things:

poured this stuff on top:

and came out with this! Salmon mac n cheese. Yes please.

 We use the non-seasoned frozen salmon filets from Costco, and let me just tell you, for a moment, how much those things rock.

They thaw super fast, so if you're one of those people that gets home at 6pm starving, with "nothing" to eat in the house, you can just grab an individually wrapped (sorry environment) piece of salmon from the freezer, stick it in a bowl of warm water while you rip your work clothes off, and then grill it in a pan for about 3 minutes on each side.

Not that I have personal experience here - I always plan ahead for dinner and I'm never that excited to get into sweats and comfy t-shirts immediately when I get home. Right. If only they weren't $25/bag.

The weekend before Easter, I whipped up some mini quiches for breakfast. These are super easy - you basically take whatever meat (optional) and veggies and cheese you have in the fridge and throw them together with some eggs. I like putting them in the mini cupcake tin for bite-size perfection.

Just don't forget to spray your pan with a little PAM action first, lest you pour all your uncooked-quiche-batter-stuff back into the bowl before baking because you forgot to grease the pan, only because you know that if you bake them ungreased, those suckers will never come out of the pan.

Again, not that I have much experience there.

After daydreaming about them for days, I finally made the Pesto Parmesan Scones from How Sweet Eats. And they were as divine as in my dreams. I'm sorry the picture does not do them justice.

They basically taste like buttery pesto clouds from heaven in your mouth. Never knew you wanted that, huh. But now you do.

We ate them with over-medium eggs over fried tomatoes. Two eggs for Billy, one for Lucy.

And finally, we are walking away from our comfort zone to tackle a few of the recipes in the free cookbook we got from UP awhile back. We've already made two of the curries in the book, so we only have about 598 left to choose from. Oh my, so few choices.

Most recently, we made a version of Chicken Vindaloo, which was mostly chicken, vinegar, coconut milk, and spices. We added some craisins for fun. And boy were they fun.

Currently on our food plan, we're targeting a potato-spinach curry, along with a white bean & ham soup to use some of our Easter bounty (yeah, the Easter post is coming soon, I promise) and pasta puttanesca.

Fun fact for you - Wikipedia (the ultimate source of accurate information) points out that literally translated, pasta puttanesca means "whore's style spaghetti", which makes it sound very fun to try. It uses capers, anchovies, olives, garlic, and tomatoes, among other things, which oddly enough, we have on hand. And it actually sounds kind of tasty. So we'll update you on that.

Anybody else making any whore food recently? (Sorry about all the whore-talk, Mom!)

the goose loves tuesday's ten (#7)

Well, friends, I've done it again. I've managed to post nothing for a whole week, and I haven't even been able to have a timely Tuesday post. But we'll pretend it's Tuesday instead of Wednesday and get to the good stuff.

"Today" is Tuesday, April 10th, and so I have Ten Tuesday Things on the Tenth for you! Yay alliteration.

1. Last Friday was Good Friday, and here is what made it good.



Shrimp Po'Boy at Miss Delta



I know that Good Friday is about reflection and quiet time and understanding the weight of the day - and don't worry. I did that all day. Work was busy and stressful and we were working hard. I was reflecting on strength and patience and sacrifice!

So then, by the end of the day, it was time to spend a few peaceful moments with the one I love over a tasty meal. And that's just what we did.

2. After driving up to Seattle on Friday night, I hung out with Monika while Billy went to Canada for a drum competition. Mon & I went to her friend's baby shower, and we wrapped up two onesies (one is below) and a little clutch/diaper case/pouch for the soon-to-be-mom-of-two.

3. On both Saturday and Sunday mornings, we walked Greenlake - a three-mile path surrounding a giant manmade lake in Seattle. The weather was gorgeously sunny, so we soaked up the rays and enjoyed the fresh air.

4. And it was Easter! So we said goodbye to Lent and ordered ourselves some delicious coffees - a latte for me and a (soy) mocha for Billy! Mmm lattes never tasted soooo good. (We got the regular 16 oz, even though I did talk earlier about getting a super-grande 64-oz-er...)

5. Here's your Easter post teaser - we celebrated with Monika on Sunday, and then had a little extra fun on Monday with the dog... details coming soon. 

 6. While Billy was still in Canada, Bents and I took a walk through Carkeek Park, a nice trail near Monika's house. LOVE the sun. 

I tried to get the dog to get up on the rock and lay down so I could photograph him, but he was way too interested in the bird/squirrel/leaf/stream noises to sit still. 

And why wouldn't I try again when we got to the field of daisies? 

 7. While I took pictures of the dog hung out in Seattle, Billy met his band in Vancouver, BC for the first competition of the season. He looked a little bit like this. Click here for his performance!

 8. One of these days, I'm going to get crafty again. And one of my first projects will be turning these beads into a gorgeous necklace for work. I'll add it to my long list of weekend projects.

 9. I made more cookies. Billy is a spoiled lucky boy! 

 10. Finally! Remember when I got that spraypaint (#10)? Well, here's the results! Spraypainted hampers. Those suckers used to be plain-old-ugly white. And now they're gorgeous!

I covered them with a layer of primer first, to make sure the paint wouldn't flake off. I covered the insides with plastic and newspaper to keep the paint only on the outside, and that worked well. I also let each of them dry for at least a week in the garage so they fully set. Oh and there's Billy's teddy and the art I made awhile ago that's waiting to go on the wall... 

So there you have it - another ten down for Tuesday. And I promise - food and Easter and Bentley posts coming soon!

the goose loves wednesday's ten

Okay so I don't really love Wednesday's Ten. I love Tuesday's Ten. But Tuesday was crazy, so we'll work on our Flexibility and post ten things on Wednesday. To make up for the delay, I've got twenty beautiful mostly focused photos for your enjoyment. Let's get going then.

1. It's been rainy here - no sign of the Spring that's showing up around the rest of the country. I'm more than ready for Spring, but the dog isn't. He's perfectly happy going exploring (in the backyard) in the rain, getting his shiny coat wet and getting his cute little paws muddy. Some days, the paws aren't enough. He decides he has to get his beak muddy too, so he goes digging for treasure. In the mud. But then we get cute photos like these.

2. When he's not playing in the mud, he's playing neck-warmer-slash-ice-cream-guardian with Carolyn. Check out their matching eyes - they both look guilty, but for very differnt reasons. Haha. It's all fun and games until Bentley's tongue gets close to the spoon...

3. How's Moose, you ask? Doing just fine. Slightly less fluff-ful, but that's never hurt a moose. These days, Bentley  has been going moose-diving through the head, where there's currently a big gap (where the eyes used to be). We may or may not be encouraging him by putting peanut-butter covered treats in the moose's belly...

After a few days hours, when the floor is covered with fluff again, we pick it up play with it. Bentley especially likes the extra warmth of his fluff-scarf. Looks like a Lion!

Then Bentley gets tired of de-fluffing Moose and goes to sleep under his giant moose arm.

4. I promise we do things besides playing with Moose. Like on Saturday, when we took a stroll down Hawthorne and stopped by this retro thrift store. You probably had to be there to appreciate this awesomely ugly shiny green couch. And yes, that's Billy cradling the bag of yukon gold potatoes we got at the farm stand a block away for $1. Yes, 5 lbs for $1. What a steal.

5. After all the excitement at the retro store, we were planning a quiet night at home when we got a call from Billy's coworker. UP was taking a group of donors to go see the musical Wicked, and they had three extra tickets! Would we like to go? Of course! Those are my polka-dot-covered-knees in the bottom of the picture there. (Those tights are awesome, and remind me of the white tights with the blue velvet bears I used to have when I was 3 - right Mom? You still have those for future granddaughters, right?)

Yeah, I dragged Billy out in the cold for a photo at halftime. Or intermission.

And we brought our good buddy Carolyn! This was only her fourth time seeing Wicked...

6. Sunday afternoon was spent celebrating our friend Caryn's birthday! We went over to her house for some eating, drinking, and fun. She's the one in the purple, dead center.

Carolyn and I got her a mug that says "Bobby Newport, 2012" - get it, you Parks & Recreation fans?? All you others, start watching that show now. On NBC. Go.

We also spent some time hanging with Caryn's adorable baby boy, Brennan. The baby's practicing his boob-grab in this photo. (Sorry for being so graphic, Mom!)

I even changed a diaper. Or two. Three actually, because he decided to pee in #2 while we were mid-change. That's okay, better in the diaper than on me.

7. Billy won his work's March Madness basketball bracket! The picture is a little hard to read, but Billy's name is there at the top, with the team name of "Winning." At least the boy doesn't lie. He brought home $52, which we agreed he could spend on anything he wants, regardless of our budget. Sounds like $52 worth of beer will be joining our home soon.

8. And now, three things from yesterday - the REAL Tuesday, to make up for posting on Wednesday instead.

I woke up to some double-rainbow action on Tuesday morning! Can you spy both? Followed almost immediately by 12 hours of rain.

9. And in the evening, instead of posting my Tuesday post, I spent about 25 minutes emptying all of our plastic bags of bulk grains (etc) and putting them into the appropriate tupperwares. Let's go through them, class-picture style. Starting on the top row, we have arborio (??) rice (for risotto), dry garbanzo beans, dry white beans. Middle row - cous cous, unsalted- unroasted almonds, and basmati rice. Bottom row - whole flax seeds, unsalted-unroasted peanuts, and pumpkin seeds.

And to make Billy mad for fun, all stacked up in one tall stack. As you can see, very productive things kept me from posting yesterday.

10. Finally, I also spent Tuesday night making 40 chocolate chip cookies for a work meeting on Wednesday (today). Except somehow (BILLY!) only 36 cookies made it onto the plate. Hmm.

 

That's all for Wednesday, folks. Next week, we'll include a photo or two on the excitement of Easter. Mostly how I'll be drinking a 64 oz latte on Sunday, with FULL-FAT milk, to make up for all the lattes I've given up during Lent. What will you be gorging on Sunday to make up for lost time during Lent?