Archive for the 'Holidays' Category

Idaho Visit - July 2008

Published
by
james
on July 15, 2008
in Holidays and Travel
. 1 Comment

This is a long one! Thanks for reading.

We took a trip to Idaho earlier this month to spend some time with family and to go to our baby’s ultrasound. Luckily, all of this fell around the 4th of July so we were able to celebrate up there and got the chance to light some fireworks.

4th of July

Fireworks are really expensive these days but I love to set them off. When our little guy gets older I’d like to visit a state that allows fireworks because I enjoyed them so much as a youngster.

On the 4th we enjoyed some BBQ (put on by my Bro) and then watched my brother and his friends try to blow each other up. Once it got dark outside Chanin and I set off some fountains, ground bloom flowers, etc. We also helped the kiddos with their sparklers. Later in the night my bro and his buddies lit a bunch of mortar shells off, which looked pretty cool.

I don’t really have any good pics but I did take some video with our new videocamera. BUT, that won’t be up for a while.

Mark’s Birthday

While we were up in Idaho it was also Mark’s birthday (July 6th) so my Mom threw a little BBQ party. It was nice to get to hang out with the family and have some good eatin’. Mom made an angel food cake and Chanin decorated it all fancy. Mmmmm…

Lucky Peak and Idaho City

Since this was Chanin’s first chance to spend some time in Idaho I really wanted to show her some of the scenery. My Mom and Mark recommended the drive to Lucky Peak Park and Idaho City. We headed up there and made our first stop at Lucky Peak State Park. Just as we were driving in we saw a deer running around looking really scared. Then, as we pulled in we saw another and we were able to snap a picture. That was really cool, especially for us city folk.

The park had a nice little lake for swimming and a park area to hang out in. We strolled around a bit and Chanin shot some pictures (below) and I shot some video (again, won’t be up for a while). We’d love to head back to this area again the next time we’re up in Idaho.

We continued our drive to Idaho City along a road that followed the river. The scenery was beautiful and changed from dry rolling hills to very green mountains with lots of trees.

In Idaho City we stopped at a restaurant for a little bit to eat. On the outside it looked pretty normal but when we walked in we discovered that it was really small and very much a locals hangout. Initially, we felt a little uncomfortable because we didn’t know the routine. But, once we sat down and ordered our food we settled in just fine. Luckily, we never heard any banjos playing!

Here’s the route we took. I had the GPS record our path.

Grandma’s House

No trip to Idaho would be complete without a visit to Grandma’s house for some good ol’ home cooked Mexican food.

Grandma made:

  • - Chile Verde
  • - Chile Colorado
  • - Beans
  • - Grandma’s Special Macaroni
  • - Homemade Tortillas
  • - Salsa and Pico de Gallo

We hung out at Grandma and Grandpa’s house for a while and picked some fresh fruit from the trees. We’d love to have a bunch of fruit trees like they do but we just don’t have any room!

Easter 2008 & Carrot Cake Cupcakes!

Published
by
james
on April 12, 2008
in Cooking, Food and Holidays
. 2 Comments

OK, just catching up here. So here goes a few posts that we’ve been too busy to write!

————————————————————————————–

So, we ended up back in Southern California for Easter, partially because I had some customer work to do in San Diego. We figured we would just drive out there so we could spend some time visiting our families and hanging our for a bit.

We celebrated Easter at Chanin’s parent’s house with lots of family and food. Of course, I forgot to take pictures of all of the food but we had ham, potato cheese casserole, yams (with marshmallows), corn, deviled eggs, and lots more! I can’t seem to remember what else we had but I assure you it was a FEAST!

Easter_Eggs__Large_.jpg

I was charged with making dessert and decided to make carrot cake since it seemed “Eastery.” I love carrot cake and hadn’t made it before so I scoured the ‘net for recipes and found one that looked good on Chowhound. My bro and sis in law suggested cupcakes since they’d be easier to eat so I went with that approach. I must say they turned out really good. I think I outdid myself! Even Chanin said that if she liked carrot cake then she would’ve liked mine!

Here are a few pictures of the cupcakes. I’ll post the recipe further below.

Carrot_Cupcake_1__Large_.jpg

Carrot_Cupcake_2__Large_.jpg

Carrot_Cupcakes__Large_.jpg

Continue reading ‘Easter 2008 & Carrot Cake Cupcakes!’

Pre-Christmas Dinner

Published
by
james
on December 20, 2007
in Food and Holidays
. 0 Comments

To celebrate the holidays, Chanin and I went out to a very nice dinner on my company’s dime. Because my company has employees located in different parts of the world, it’s virtually impossible to get everyone together and have a “normal” Christmas or Holiday party. So each year Chanin and I celebrate on our own. This year we decided to have dinner at The Melting Pot.

The Melting Pot is a fondue restaurant with many locations all around the country. We went to the Ahwatukee location just south of Phoenix. To get the full experience, I think you need to get the “Big Night Out” deal. This includes your choice of a cheese fondue, salad, main course, and chocolate fondue. We chose and ate all of the food below!

  • Cheddar Cheese fondue (Cheddar and swiss, beer, garlic, and other seasonings)
  • Salad
    • Mushroom and Spinach for me
    • Athenian for Chanin
  • Fondue Fusion (main course)
    • Lobster tail
    • Filet Mignon
    • Balsamic-marinated Sirloin
    • Garlic and Herb Chicken
    • Citrus Pork Tenderloin
    • White Shrimp
    • Wild Mushroom Ravioli
    • Roasted Red Pepper Rigatoni
    • Fresh Vegetables
  • Chocolate Fondue (Dark chocolate and caramel)


If that sounds like a lot of food, that’s because it is! You definitely want to bring your appetite when you go to The Melting Pot. Of course you can skip some of the courses, but we choose to starve ourselves beforehand so we could enjoy everything. So, if you’re looking for a nice dinner out and a fun time, give The Melting Pot a try. Most of the seating areas are relatively private and it’s a nice place for a romantic meal.

Our Christmas Tree

Published
by
james
on December 5, 2007
in Holidays
. 4 Comments

If you’ve been reading the site you may already know that we’ve been contemplating which type of Christmas tree to buy. Real or Fake. We thought about it and eventually decided to go with a fake tree because we were just too worried about a real tree drying out and burning our house down. We spent a few hours this past weekend traveling around to some local stores to see what they had in stock. We had also looked online but the sticker shock was too much for us. Artificial trees can get really expensive so we were pretty surprised.

If you’re looking for an artificial tree we’d suggest looking at Michael’s (craft store) and Lowe’s since that’s where we had the best luck. We also looked at a few other stores including a pool store (Paddock Pools) but decided we weren’t ready to spend $600+ on a fake tree!!! Our tree from Lowe’s wasn’t exactly cheap but it looks real and nice and full.

Setting up the tree was pretty easy and it was nice to have a clean floor when I was done (no more pine needles!). We spent this evening decorating the tree and we’re really happy with how it turned out. The biggest downside is that it just doesn’t smell like a Christmas tree. We bought some special spray, which helps, but nothing can really replace that real tree smell. A few pictures are attached below and you can click them to enlarge them. This pictures don’t really do the tree justice but you get the idea.

Our_Tree_1__Large_.jpg Star.jpg

Hawaii_Honeymoon_Ornaments__Large_.jpg Glass_Ornament.jpg

Santa_Ornament.jpg

Christmas Movie: Polar Express

Published
by
james
on December 3, 2007
in Holidays
. 6 Comments

We just finished watching The Polar Express (it was on ABC and we recorded it on our DVR) and we both really liked it. I was never that interested in it because when it came out I thought the animation looked kind of cheesy but I think we were both pleasantly surprised after watching it. We’re suckers for Christmas movies and we both really like to get into the spirit. The movie was made well and during many parts it really felt like we were a part of the movie. I’m sure all kids would love this movie as well. So if that sounds good to you then you should definitely check out this movie. It may be playing on ABC again sometime before Christmas but I’m not sure.

If you don’t believe in Santa you just might after watching this movie!

Have you seen it? What did you think? What are your favorite Christmas movies? To leave comments click on “Comment” near the title of this post.

polarexpress.jpg

Fake or Real?

Published
by
james
on November 26, 2007
in Holidays
. 1 Comment

First of all, we’re talkin’ about Christmas trees here, not the “assets” of Baywatch stars. Since Christmas is around the corner and we’ve been thinking about what type of Christmas tree to get this year. In the past we always had natural (”real”) trees and last year we even went to a tree lot where you pick the one you want and they cut it down for you. The problem we have with real trees is that they dry out so quickly. And now that we live in a really dry climate we’re worried that our house might burn down if we get a real tree. So, we’ve been looking at the artificial (”fake”) trees online and have found that they’re really REALLY expensive. Like $500 expensive. Sure, we could buy one at a local retailer but to us they just don’t look “real” enough.

What do you think?

[poll=2]

Thanks for participating! For more details about the pros and cons keep reading.

Continue reading ‘Fake or Real?’

Thanksgiving Dinner

Published
by
james
on November 23, 2007
in Cooking, Food and Holidays
. 1 Comment

This year we enjoyed our Thanksgiving dinner at the Rodriguez residence (aka Chanin’s parent’s house). We had all of the usual dishes which included a roasted turkey, cornbread stuffing, spinach salad, yams (with marshmallows of course), green bean casserole, mashed potatoes with gravy, homemade cranberry sauce, and biscuits. Oh yeah and of course the pumpkin pie for desert. Mmmmmm….

Chanin and her mom spent a lot of time over the past couple of days prepping and cooking and everything turned out perfect! My favorites were probably the green bean casserole, yams, and the turkey. Chanin lovingly placed an entire row of mini marshmallows completely over the top of the yams and they came out nice and toasty. And the green bean casserole is always one of my favorites. We offered to bring it to the Carr Thanksgiving but were denied by the boss because it contains artificial ingredients, canned ingredients, etc. Who cares about that stuff on Thanksgiving anyway?!

(click on the pictures below to see a larger size)
Turkey.jpg Yams.jpg
biscuits.jpg cornbread_stuffing.jpg
green_bean_casserole.jpg salad.jpg
pie.jpg plate.jpg

So, enough about the food. What am I thankful for anyway? Well, I’m most thankful for my loving wife. She always takes care of me and she’s the best cook in the entire universe. I’m also thankful for our families who are always there for us and always welcome us. And lastly I’m thankful for our health. I just had a big surgery and am doing well and Chanin is also doing well and has found a great doctor. Of course I’m also thankful for all our material possessions (house, TV, etc.) but those are definitely secondary.

Does anyone read this blog? What are YOU thankful for? Remember, you can always leave comments if you feel compelled!

Happy Thanksgiving!

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