Sometimes I get Overwhelmed...

... and last week was just such a time. You know that point in time where excitement meets reality and you feel all tangled up inside? That's me, I'm tangled. I guess it all started a couples of weeks ago when I ran into some stress at the peak of quarter papers and signing up for winter classes. I'll confess, 99% of the time, signing up for classes breaks me. It's always a stressful ordeal... but the reality that I'm speaking of is our moving away from this place, graduating, planning our dreams... its a lot to think about. In fact, I have officially reached the stage in which I start to get all choked up anytime I even think about moving (yes, even now as I type). It's true. I'm starting to feel like we are at the top of a very fast slippery slope. While 7 months sounds like I a lot, my adult self knows that it'll go by so fast, especially with this holiday season right in the middle of it. Anyway, just holding myself together, one cup of coffee and a good night's sleep at a time. And as I was crying to Wes all about it, in the midst of all of his wonderful validation, support, and encouragement he sang this:




How perfectly fitting. Hope the song puts a smile on your face like it did for me! I'm excited to put one foot in front of the other and head on home for Thanksgiving!!!  (Sorry that was SUPER-cheese). But seriously, we can't wait to see you all!

Hoping to post one more blog before we make the drive on Tuesday. We shall see. Happy (almost) Turkey week to you!

To Eggnog, Or not to Eggnog. That is the Question.

Happy Monday to you! This weekend I feel like I officially allowed myself to start thinking about the holiday season. It has just felt too early to be thinking about Christmas trees and all of the other festivities that come with holiday territory. However, now that thanksgiving is (dare I remind you?) ten days away, I figure its about that time. Last year I discovered the yummy-ness that is soy eggnog. I've never truly been a fan of the regular stuff... it's just too sweet. I take one sip and then I'm done. But this... this my friends, is yum. Just plain: YUM.

So, I'll confess, I've been stalking it at the grocery store. Ever time I pass by the dairy items I peek to see if it has arrived, and I am happy to report that it has. Now, I'm determined to wait until after Thanksgiving to purchase it. It just seems too early right??? (Says the girl who just ordered an eggnog latte' at Powell's -- I guess you can forget everything I just said.)

My point here is simply to say: I'm trying my hardest to wait until December to purchase this soy-goodness. If you have a hankering I strongly recommend it.

10 days until Thanksgiving and 8 days until we make the drive home. We can't wait to see you all!!!

Sexy Snotty Nose

I'm not sick again.
And I definitely don't have a pile of used tissues sitting next to my computer right now.
And I most definitely don't sound like Pheobe in this clip.

Dear Santa,

Some people have been asking us about what we would like for Christmas this year. I thought maybe you'd want our list too.

 Wes's List: 
Patagonia Men's Nano Puff Hoody, Medium, Black
REI Venturi Quarter-Zip shirt, Medium, Black
Band of Brothers DVD Series (Whole Set)
Road to Perdition
Whiskey: The Definitive World Guide (hardcover book)
Merrel Trail Glove Cross-Training shoes, size 11, Red
V for Vendetta Graphic Novel
Regions of Scotland Whiskey Tasting Set 
Bushmills 16 Year old Irish Whiskey
Amazing Grace (movie)
 

Katie's List:
 Wildfox Couture, Beach Jumper, black, small
Women's half dome hoodie, medium, black, or navy 
Madewell braided friendship bracelet,  black and white

Hue Travel slippers, size 2, black, red, Red space dye, or planet space dye 
Deborah Lippmann Nailpolish, "happy Birthday" 
Butter London Nailpolish, "The Black Night"
Onitsuka Tiger "Serrano" Sneaker, Size 8, Grey/Coral
Color by Jane Packer
Flower Design by Judith Blacklock
Stella (Perfume) by Stella McCartney (any size)
Fluxus Nomad Scarf in any grey, olive, or blush toned color
 
Gift Cards: Nordstroms, Powells, Sephora, REI, VISA

Wes & Katie's List:
Outdoor Dry Ditty Sacks set of 3 (2 please!)
Nalgene Travel Body Kit Medium
Rick Steves':
Florence and Tuscany 
Amsterdam, Bruges, and Brussels
Spain
Provence French Riviera

Inception (movie)
Any of the Madmen seasons
I Love Lucy Seasons (any except for season 2)
Friends Seasons (any except for seasons 5 and 8)

much love, milk, and cookies,

Katie & Wes

Chicken Chasseur Recipe

Listen up friends! I'm about to share with you one of the best chicken dishes you'll ever have. Whoa, that's a bold statement. But really... I think it might be true. It has all the right qualities of a chicken dish. And we got two different meals out of the amazing sauce. It is simple, only has like 5 ingredients (ok more like 10, but! you are guaranteed to already have at least 4 or 5 of the ingredients in your kitchen), and you cook it all in just one pot. Still not convinced? Let me break it down for you:

 The word "Chasseur" is a french word which usually means a brown sauce consisting of mushrooms, shallots, white wine, tomatoes, and herbs. The recipe Wes found required red wine and I don't believe we used shallots. Anyway, here is the recipe and seriously TRY IT! Super easy and the flavor is divine. 

Curious on how to pronounce it? Have no fear, we'll tell you exactly how: (click the video below. You aren't suppose to be able to see anything. Its just an audio).

The Ingredients Needed: 

1 tsp Olive Oil 

2tbsp butter

4 chicken legs

1 onion chopped

2 garlic cloves crushed

1 to 2 cups (based on preference) of small Crimini or button mushrooms sliced or quartered

225ml of red wine

2 tbsp tomato paste

2 thyme sprigs
500ml chicken stocks

Directions: 

1. Heat the oil and half the butter in a large lidded casserole. Season the chicken, then fry for about 5 mins on each side until golden brown. Remove and set aside.
2. Melt the rest of the butter in the pan. Add the onion, then fry for about 5 mins until soft. Add garlic, cook for about 1 min, add the mushrooms, cook for 2 mins, then add the wine. Stir in the tomato purée, let the liquid bubble and reduce for about 5 mins, then stir in the thyme and pour over the stock. Slip the chicken back into the pan, then cover and simmer on a low heat for about 1 hr until the chicken is very tender. And serve! We served it with mashed potatoes and green beans. 

Because this recipe serves 4 people it made great leftovers for just the two of us. After we ate the chicken we still had a bit of sauce leftover. So we decided to make a soup out of it. It was delicious!! I don't know about you but we love a recipe that can be so versatile. This is what we did to transform the sauce into a soup:

Ingredients:
1 cup veg stock
2 1/2 cups water
2 carrots
2 parsnips
1/4-1/2 lb of this type of egg noodles
2 stocks of celery

Directions:
1. slice your carrots, parsnips, and celery. Saute your celery in a pan with butter until almost tender.
2. Add the stock and water to your pot of leftover sauce and bring to a boil.
3. Once boiling, add your carrots, parsnips, celery and noodles and cook for 7-8 minutes. Or until noodles and veggies are fork tender.
Enjoy!

Wes Cooking

So, as most of you know Wes is no longer in school (he graduated a year ago) but this is the first quarter he hasn't been enrolled in classes. Its strange and so much fun all at the same time. It's amazing what relief I feel just knowing that Wes is more available and that we aren't both in dire need of study time or both stuck with a pile of homework. Life has eased up a bit, our life is still busy but in many ways much less pressing.

And because my school schedule has me on campus until 7pm Mondays and Wednesdays, I come home ready for some food. What does this mean? Well, as you know Wes and I pretty much cook meals together. However, I would say that I am the dominant meal preparer. However, now that I am getting home so late on some of the days Wes has come up with this beautiful thing where he cooks for me. Not only has he offered to take care of the meals (shopping, planning, and preparing) he is so excited about it that he has been looking for recipes on his freetime and has them all bookmarked on his computer in categories. The way it works is I get to choose what type of food I want: Italian, Mexican, German, American, etc and he grabs a recipe from his bookmarked "categories" and I come home to a fun meal.

LUCKY ME! :) Although I unexpectedly didn't have class on Monday (canceled, lucky me!) Wes still took the lead with dinner and told me he was planning on making Chicken Chausseur.

Say Whaaat??

Chicken Chausseur.

Come again??

Chicken Chausseur.

That's right. We had the most amazing Chicken and mashed potatoes dinner the other night. Wes did an amazing job. We ate chicken, gave candy to 4 kids, and watched the first Harry Potter on Halloween!! TALK ABOUT FUN! Recipe and pictures to come!

 our neighbor did some serious decorating.