Tahoe

Our third day we woke up and surprise, surprise, there was hot water. Jon took a nice long hot shower. We were ready to go by 8:30. At 9, surprise, surprise father-in-law was still not ready. After breakfast, Jon had wanted to take me to Yosemite Falls. The rest of the family wanted to come. We had to hit the road early, so Jon suggested driving, which was quickly vetoed by everyone else who had all day to spend and a 2 hour drive home.

We hiked up to lower Yosemite Falls. They were so beautiful!

After we walked over to Yosemite Village so Jon could go to the Ansel Adams gallery. Unfortunately, by the time we got there it was time to hit the road so we had to turn around and run back to the lodge.


Then we were off for South Lake Tahoe. As I said before, I've been wanting to go for a long time. It did not start out well. Due to weather, we weren't sure if we were going to be able to stop in South Lake Tahoe or if we'd have to push all the way through to Mammoth. So we hadn't reserved a hotel room in advance. We pulled into a place by the lake called "Fantasy Inn." Basically it was a bunch of sexually themed rooms with vibrating mattresses, mirrors on the ceiling.....we decided to pass.

Next we came to the Hacienda Inn. See the sign? Spa Units? Fireplaces? Sounds nice right?

I didn't take a picture of the inside of the room, because, well, frankly, I don't think they allow pictures of jail cells. There was a single shower head protruding from the wall and the curtains were ripped off. No spa. No fireplaces. When we complained we were shown another room that was only a smidge better. It had curtains, only they had scratches all through them. Still no spa. Still no fireplace. We didn't stay very long. Jon got our money back and we booked it out of there before the wardens noticed we were gone.

Instead we found this lovely hotel, right down the street. Jon talked to the guy at the front desk who quickly became our best friend. He gave us a huge discount on the room, and it was a spa room! So much nicer.

We took his recommendation for dinner and went to a Chinese restaurant called "Sesame" where we had some of the best Sesame Chicken ever!

The nest morning we woke up and walked down to the lake. It was seriously one of the most gorgeous places I have ever seen. We had to bundle up (I wore 2 pairs of pants, 2 shirts, a sweater, and a jacket), but it was still worth it.

After we sat and stared out at the water we headed on our way to Mammoth. We had to stop and take some pictures, because it was just too pretty not to.

This is Mono Lake.

We got into Mammoth too early to check into our condo, so we went and grabbed lunch at Giovanni's pizzaria. Sometimes there is nothing like Pizza and Beer. And there is NOTHING like Mammoth Brew Co. beer. So good!!! Then we headed to the store, but were sidetracked by something shiny......

Jon decided my neck looked warm and he needed to cool it off. He stopped into a jewelery store and got me the most beautiful Alexandrite pendant. Happy Valentine's Day to me! Alexandrite is a stone discovered in the Ural mountains and it thought to have supernatural qualities because it changes colors all the time. It's green in natural light, but come inside and it turns red-purple. As you can see in the photos, it can also take on various shades of blue. It's beautiful!

After our short detour, we stocked up on supplies and headed to the condo where we made dinner and started wishing for snow.

Was our wish granted? Find out tomorrow!

Yosemite

Yosemite Day 1
We packed up the car, and boy was it packed! First thing was to drop Ringo off at "camp" and then we were on our way. I have always loved car trips with Jon. We have the best time, making random stops, listening to music, and just enjoying each other's company. The drive up to Yosemite was beautiful and uneventful.

We got to Yosemite and checked into our room at the Yosemite Lodge. Do you see all that snow?

After checking in, we went to find the ILs.....but they weren't there. We checked with the front desk, and they had checked in, but they hadn't bothered to wait for us or leave a message as to where they were. Nice. So glad we drove over 6 hours to see them. So Jon and I took the opportunity to play in the snow.

We also admired the scenery - niiiiiiiice! I really do love the snow.

And check out the view from our room! That's Yosemite Falls, the tallest waterfall in the US.

We finally caught up with the inlaws just in time to head to dinner. I apologize for not taking pictures of dinner, but the inlaws don't know about this blog and I'd like to keep it this way. We had dinner at the Mountain Room of the Yosemite Lodge and it was wonderful. Jon had the Sierra Nevada Beef Stew and I had the Duck Confit and pasta (shredded duck, goat cheese, spinach, and pasta). Both meals were excellent, but rich! Neither of us could finish.

One of the things I hate about eating out with the inlaws is when the bill comes. We always split it 3 ways (parents, brother in law's family, us). The problem with this is, the parents usually order the most expensive thing on the menu, soups or salads, and multiple alcoholic drinks. Brother in laws family is made up of four people and they are also big drinkers. This means that although our "portion" of the bill is usually around $40, we end up paying over $100 because we're just splitting it in thirds. Bleh. Nothing like paying for someone else's dinner.

After dinner we headed back to the rooms. No one had made any plans for the next day. That's convenient. Mother-in-law wanted to go Cross country skiing. Father-in-law vetoed that idea. Jon and I suggested snowshoeing and that was better received. We decided to meet for breakfast at 9AM. Father-in-law announced this meant we should all set our alarms for 7:30. Thanks Father-in-law, but I don't really need you to dictate my rising time. Especially since it doesn't take me an hour and a half to get dressed.



Yosemite Day 2

We got up at 8 AM and went to take a shower. No hot water. It was about the temperature of a pool. Jon assured me it would warm up and ushered me into the shower. I started crying. Mostly because it didn't get warmer - it got colder. It was turning to ice as I stood in it. How is that even possible? Poor Jon felt so bad he stood holding a towel over the heating lamp so it would be warm for me. I exited the shower teeth chattering and shivering. Jon didn't even attempt to shower. Needless to say we were ready to go well before 9 AM.

9AM comes and goes, and there's no sign of father-in-law. We're playing in the snow with niece and nephew and just waiting. Finally Father-in-law shows up and watches us play for a moment before gruffly asking "Are we going to breakfast or what?" Look guy, we're here waiting FOR YOU! How on earth does it take you over an hour and a half to get ready?

Walking to breakfast we learned we were the only ones without hot water. Everyone else enjoyed lovely showers. Bah.

After breakfast we discovered the bus to Badger Pass didn't leave for another 45 minutes, so we all headed out for a walk, except father-in-law who went back to the room to finish getting ready(?????) and wait. Glad we came to Yosemite because they wanted to be outside.

The snowshoeing was great fun! Well, for everyone except father-in-law. The kids especially loved it because we kept stopping for snowball fights. And Jon taught them how to make snow angels. I loved being in the middle of the wilderness. There were quite a few people on the trail, but there were times when we had the place to ourselves.

After lunch we had an hour to kill before the bus came to take us back to the lodge. FIL decided to sit and wait in the Badger Pass lodge while the rest of us split up. Jon and I found a great hill and created our own sled trail by sliding down on our butts. We started a trend. Can you see our path?

The niece and nephew went tubing. Jon, ever the great uncle, joined in.

Then it was back to the bus and back to the lodge to get ready for dinner.

Dinner was at the Ahwannee - one of the finest hotels in the country. I wish we'd stayed there. It was absolutely beautiful!

All the candlelight was definitely complimentary for some of us:

Although it didn't help if you didn't help yourself.....Apparently nephew is at the age where he likes to dress himself, but probably shouldn't. When I saw where he had gone wrong I made him pose for me. Can you spot his mistake?

Dinner was excellent. Jon and I shared the pork oso bucco and white truffle pasta - like a grownup macaroni and cheese. That was followed by a flourless chocolate torte. Yum! The only bad part of dinner was having to be with the inlaws. Everytime we go out with them they order whiskey sours - with Jack Daniels. Now I won't even start on the fact that its a waste of good liquor in a mixed drink. I will say that every time they order this particular drink they send it back because they can't taste the whiskey. Really? The MIXED DRINK isn't strong enough? Really? Perhaps that's because its one of the weakest drinks on the market, favored by sorority girls and old biddies. Everytime they get irate at the server for daring to bring them a weak drink and cause a big scene. We begged father-in-law not to call over the manager to complain and he got very upset with us for not allowing him to have his say. How embarrassing. I hope the wait staff put some "additives" in his food.

Jon and his brother had arranged to split the cost of dinner since it was to commemorate their parents anniversary. Well, I should say that Jon had arranged to split the dinner with his brother who had to be guilted into it. What a sweetheart. The inlaws were notably surprised, which makes sense, since they don't think of things like that. Although, after thinking about it for a minute, mother-in-law announced this made sense since she was paying for part of our room the first night. I almost punched her. I was going to ask if she would chip in for the rest of the room, the expensive dinners, the gas, and the cost of boarding the dog that we had to do to join them at their mandatory party, but I knew it would upset Jon, so I held my tongue.

I didn't want a repeat of the shower situation the next morning, so when we got back to the room I jumped into a hot shower - yay for hot showers!!!!! before heading to bed.

Our Valentine's Day Feast

Well we're back, safe and sound. There were some serious weather situations on our drive home, but I'm happy to report we are all home and exhausted! Ringo's been sleeping ever since we picked him up from camp!

I've spent the past hours just uploading our gazillion photos from the trip - Snow lends itself to some pretty spectacular views. I really miss the snow, and trips to snowy areas are the best because you get all the benefits and none of the negatives (like shoveling snow).

I'll start posting trip highlights and lowlights tomorrow (and boy do I have some great stories). But tonight I'll catch you up on our low key Valentine's Dinner.

As I mentioned before, this was a low key dinner because we were leaving early the next morning and we were eating at home. We had already celebrated the week before, so the "deal" was that we were just supposed to exchange cards on Valentine's Day. Of course that never works out. We're both just to into getting things for each other. I got Jon some of his favorite lip balm in a bag filled with Hershey kisses. He surprised me with a beautiful flower arrangement from the local florist (you gotta love going local) and a box of Godiva cherry cordials (which are my favorite chocolates). Look how much they brightened up the table!

We went for a "green" themed Valentine's this year for two reasons. First because the next morning we were headed for the snow. Second, because on our first Valentine's Day together we did a "red" themed dinner and although Jon enjoyed the chicken with brandied cherries, he couldn't help but feel the chicken was bleeding all over the plate. Which is far from romantic. Add to that the fact that the red wine ensured his date passed out shortly after dinner (or possibly during), we weren't too keen on a repeat performance. So green it was.

As I mentioned before, lamb is a special occasion dish for us, so I made lamb for dinner. Given that Jon doesn't like mint jelly with his lamb, I thought the recipe for lamb with mint mustard sauce from the B&G cookbook would be an excellent compromise. It was. Jon LOVED the mint mustard sauce and couldn't believe it even had mint jelly in it! I served the lamb with couscous with leeks (couscous being my favorite starch) and some roasted broccoli and our green meal was set. The sides were light enough not to compete with the richness of the lamb yet definitely could stand on their own. Jon was very impressed, and it was an easy enough dinner to throw together after a day at work.

As for Ringo, I gave him a Valentine's Day treat of a raspberry. Ringo has this adorable habit of rolling in things he thinks smell good. It's quite a laugh when I spill a spice in the kitchen...or drop a shrimp shell....or put detangler in my hair.... Well Ringo thought the raspberry smelled incredible. So incredible, that rather than eat it, Ringo decided to gingerly place the raspberry on the ground and roll on it. All over his face. Once we explained to him that raspberries are for eating and not rolling he got very embarrassed. But I still managed to snap a picture before cleaning him off.

I got one more belated Valentine's Day gift, but I will leave you in suspense so that I can explain the gift in the context in which is was received.

More tomorrow!

I am excellent!!

I always new I was excellent, but its nice to hear it from someone else!

Ruth from Ruth's Kitchen Experiment has awarded me an "Excellent Award" which recognizes just how amazing I am. Or at least, how excellent this blog is. This is especially cool, because Ruth herself is in the running for an Irish Blog Award - a real honest to goodness award. Its so neat to read her blog and realize she's oceans away.

In turn, I get to pass the award on to five blogs which I consider excellent.

Erika of Bean's Bistro has an amazing sense of humor and it comes through in both her cooking and her writing. She is the founder of Homegrown Gourmet, which I promise to get back into. She is incredibly adventurous in the kitchen and she inspires me to try new things!

BriannaNichole of The Fabulous BriannaNichole loves to play with photoshop so she is my go to girl when it comes to graphics. I already told you she designed my kickass title, and if I need anything else, I know exactly who to turn to.

BellaGourmet of Bella Lately is from my cooking board I frequent. I loved her from day 1, far before she had a blog. Then she disappeared for a while. When she reappeared, she came back with a blog. How exciting! Now I can stalk her to my heart's content. And you should too - she's fantastic.

StephanieDeanne of The Good Life is one of my many twins. Married the same year, graduated law school the same year, looking for jobs at the same time. She's always going through the same things I am at the same time which makes her a great support/sounding board. Hopefully this award will get her back onto the blogging wagon since its been over a month!

Trisha of Twentysomething is smart, funny, and incredibly talented - which are my top requirements for friends both online and IRL (in real life). I'm lucky enough to have met Trisha IRL and she's just as funny as on her blog, and possibly smarter - it's hard to say since everyone sounds so smart online. Trisha is also one of my "celebrity blogger" friends since she has an alter ego on a prominent wedding planning board.

Sneak peek

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Whether you're dating, married, or single, Valentine's Day is an excuse to let someone you love know how much you love them. This should be a daily thing for all of us, but unfortunately its not. Too many of us are busy and don't take the extra few minutes to tell someone what they're feeling. And I'm not just referring to a romantic situation. When's the last time you told your family you loved them? How about your friends? Valentine's Day is a little sticky note to remind you - tell someone you love them today.

I probably won't be posting much for a while, the Inlaws have found yet another way to ruin a holiday for me. Normally on Valentine's Day I get a break from cooking and Jon and I splurge on a fancy night out. However, the Inlaws have decided to celebrate their anniversary early. On top of that, they've decided everyone should spend their anniversary with them. If that wasn't enough, they've decided to hold their anniversary in Yosemite, a 9 hour drive for us (and no, there is no airport within 6 hours of the location). And even more, we're only celebrating for one day. To add to the festivities, they've chosen the hotel, and are not paying for it. So instead of having a nice Valentine's day dinner/weekend with Jon, we are eating dinner at home tonight and trying to pack so that we can get up at dawn tomorrow and drive 9 hours to spend Saturday with the Inlaws. I am beyond excited.

The positive spin, is that we're heading straight from Yosemite on Sunday to Mammoth for a ski week. Well not straight exactly, we're staying Sunday in Tahoe - a place I've been dying to visit since seeing pictures online from Lindsay's wedding. I don't know what internet access will be like, but I promise to take loads of pictures and update you when I get back.

Until then, here's just a sneak peak of my Valentine's Day treats:

Cookies for Coworkers

Almond Panna Cotta with Raspberries for dessert

Shortbread cookies for my sweetie

And readers - I just wanted to let you know how important you are to me. Even if I've never met you in real life. Happy Valentine's Day!

Love,
Kate

Healthy? eating

I grew up in a VERY healthy household. Jon always complains when we stay at my parents that there's nothing to eat - which isn't exactly true. There's lots to eat, just nothing that's not fat free/low fat/diet...

Typical breakfast in my house growing up was a bowl of "no sugar" cereal like grape nuts or cheerios. Lunch was a fat free yogurt, apple, and possibly a bag of pretzels. We didn't really do snacks, and desserts consisted of fruit or fat free ice cream.

However, just because something is low fat or fat free, doesn't make it healthy. The process used to remove the natural fat and retain any semblance of flavor involves the use of other non-healthy supplements and strange chemical preservatives. Take diet soda for instance, 0 calories, 0 fat. However, if you're really looking to be healthy, diet soda is a bad choice of drink because of all the sodium in it. Sodium, the leading cause of hypertension. It's also got chemical sweetners in it which have been tied to many medical issues.

The answer to eating healthy does not therefore mean only using diet/low fat/fat free products, but rather using the regular portions in moderation.

With the start of the New Year, everyone vows to eat healthier. And my cooking board is no exception. We decided to do a "healthy recipe" exchange. When I got my recipe I got really excited (2 fist pumps in the air)
1) It was from Cooking Light (which is, as you know, my cooking bible)
2) It was a fritatta! Okay. It didn't say it was a fritatta, but come on, what IS a crustless quiche if not a fritatta?

But then I looked at the ingredients. It uses all my arch nemises in cooking to acheive a "healthy" meal. Imitation Eggs (which aren't even really a food product), reduced fat cheeses (see imitation eggs), and fat free cottage cheese (again, not sure this is actually food either). However, it also called for "simply potatoes" which are loaded with sodium! So I had to make a few adjustments. Jon loved this. It was so good! Another cooking light success. I love having the zucchini in it, because I love zucchini and would never have thought to put it in an egg dish, but it works so well together. I'm also not usually a huge fan of potatoes in an egg dish, but between this and my winter fritatta I may be a convert! So whoever you are out there in recipe exchange land - thanks!Garden Vegetable Crustless Quiche
Cookling Light, September 2006
1 1/2 cups egg substitute (I used real eggs)
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded reduced-fat extrasharp cheddar cheese, divided (I used real cheese, but only 1 cup)
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded reduced-fat Monterey Jack cheese, divided (I used real cheese, but only 1 cup)
1/2 cup 1% low-fat milk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour (about 2 1/4 ounces)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (16-ounce) carton fat-free cottage cheese (I used low fat - that's as low as I'll go with cottage cheese)
Cooking spray
4 cups sliced zucchini (about 4)
2 cups diced potato with onion (such as Simply Potatoes) (I just diced some fingerling potatoes and threw them in with some diced onion)
1 cup finely chopped green bell pepper (about 1)
1 (8-ounce) package presliced mushrooms
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 tomatoes, thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 400°.

Beat egg substitute and eggs in a large bowl until fluffy. Add 3/4 cup cheddar cheese, 3/4 cup Jack cheese, milk, flour, baking powder, salt, and cottage cheese.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add zucchini and the next 3 ingredients (through mushrooms); sauté for 5 minutes or until tender. Add the zucchini mixture and parsley to egg mixture. Pour mixture into a 3-quart casserole dish coated with cooking spray. Top with the remaining 3/4 cup cheddar cheese and 3/4 cup Jack cheese. Arrange tomato slices over cheese. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350° (do not remove dish from oven), and bake for 35 minutes or until lightly browned and set.


And the true test:
Original recipe My Modifications
CALORIES 230 157.8
FAT 7.7g (sat 4.6g,mono 1.3g,poly 0.3g) 4.8 (sat 4g, mono .7g, poly .1g)
PROTEIN 23g 20g
CHOLESTEROL 84mg 151 mg
SODIUM 716mg 576.2 mg
CARBOHYDRATE 18.1g 9.6 g


NOW who's healthy?

It's been forever since I've done this, so...

time for another meme. I've been tagged by Kylee, and this meme's a short one - only 5 things about me. Now I can go on about me for days, so 5 things is pretty easy.
google
Before we begin, let's go over the rules, shall we?
Rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

My 5 things:
1) I have had 6 sprained ankles in my life. 2 times I have had 2 sprained ankles at the same time. According to my friend Des, it's because I walk on the outsides of my feet and on the sides of curbs. The combination of these two is apparently hazardous to my health.

2) Because I grew up all over the country, I have a very strange accent. Because I lived in New York and Massachusetts I didn't pronounce my "r's" until 2nd grade when I was put in speech classes because they felt my accent was a speech impediment. I don't have an accent any more because of this...untill I get really tred. Then you may hear me ask you to pass me a "bax of crayons." The southern accent was harder to break and still invades my long vowels. And I still say y'all, because really? There's no other word that serves the same purpose.

3) My parents believed in treating my brother and I equally. They took this to ridiculous extremes. When I got chicken pox from preschool, they made my brother drink from the same glasses as I did and finish my leftover food so he'd get them at the same time. When I had to get my tonsils out at age 7, they sent my brother in to get his out too. I'm not sure if they were getting some kind of "buy one get one half off" deal, or if they just didn't want him to feel left out.


4) I was a theater major in college, and the crazy strict theater school wouldn't let you take a minor, so I took every class that would have given me a minor in South East Asian studies were I not a theater major. I know more about the history and development of the Phillipines than half of my Filipino friends.5) My first pet was a golden retriever. I got to name him. I named him Sam Oscar Junior. Sam Jr. because my dad had a dog named Sam when he married my mother. The dog hated my mother. He hated me once I was born. I thought we were best friends. Oscar was from Oscar the Grouch. Don't ask me why I named our dog after Oscar the Grouch. I don't know. Sam Oscar was the family dog. I considered him my dog. He considered himself my brother's dog. He adored my brother. Used to let him ride on his back, pull his hair...the two would conspire to eat my she-ra dolls.

Those are my five things! Now I'm tagging
Sugar and Rice
Michelle
Tater
Psychgrad
Amber

Go forth and multiply.

I'm not a genius

The melody for the song "Yesterday" came to Paul McCartney in a dream. He was positive he must have heard that song before and spent weeks humming it to people and asking what song it was and who it was by. Finally he came to the realization that it wasn't already a song, but a new composition of his. This is often a problem for musicians who aren't sure if the new tune they came up with is their own creation, or a melody bouncing around in their heads from somewhere else. Apparently this is also a problem for cooks.

I've been reccomending our new favorite pork dish a lot lately, and it made me think of using jam for another dish, a chicken dish. Unfortunately I was out of blackberry preserves, but we always have raspberry preserves on hand for Jon's lunches (PB&J). Raspberry chicken! However, worried it'd be too sweet, I thought I would cut the preserves with some vinegar, like a salad dressing - raspberry balsamic chicken! I really thought I was on to something here. A complete genius. Until I saw one of Cara's latest entries. Turns out I didn't create raspberry balsamic chicken, I was just channeling Cara.

At least I can claim that the chicken was a success. It was everything I had hoped it would be (or is that "read it would be"?) Sweet, but not too sweet. And with the nice dark red color, it'd be a nice easy Valentine's Day dinner for anyone still looking for ideas.

Raspberry Basalmic Chicken

1/2 tsp veggie oil
1/4 cup chopped red onion
3/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp salt
2 chicken breasts
1/6 cup raspberry preserves
1 Tbsp balsamic venegar
dash black pepper

1) Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add onion, saute 5 minutes.
2) Sprinkle thyme and 1/8 tsp salt over chicken. Add chicken to pan, saute 6 minutes on each side. Remove chicken from pan.
3) Reduce heat to medium. Add 1/8 tsp salt, preserves, vinegar, and pepper to pan, stirring constantly until preserves melt. Spoon sauce over chicken.
Serves 2.
Each serving has:
213 Calories
2.6 g fat
26.5 g protein
20.1 g carbs
.6 g fiber
.66 mg cholesterol
1.2 mg iron
370 mg sodium
22 mg calcium