French Onion Soup Heaven

I set my alarm this morning for 8:00 am (which is completely uncharacteristic of me for a Sunday), and found myself already in the kitchen before my alarm went off. I have been planning and preparing for the last two weeks, and my excitement for this soups was beyond words could express. I gathered the ingredients...

Heated our stainless steel pampered chef cookware that I have waiting to use for the perfect moment...

Added the onions, and some salt to release some juices

And caramelized away for 15 min

20 min later

5 minutes after that it looked like this

Added about a cup and a half of Pinot Grigio

Reduced it until the alcohol was cooked out, and wine became thick and syrupy

We left it for three hours while we went to church. I thought about it the entire time! I actually got to the apartment before Zac since I left him in my excitement to finish the soup.

When we got back,

I added beef stock, chicken stock and apple juice (could not find the cider i wanted...so I used the only kind of apple juice I had...)

Shh! I know, I know this is probably not a very traditional ingredient, but it totally worked :)

I also added salt, pepper, and thyme

Then, I let it simmer for 20 minutes, while I grated some fontina, gruyere and parmesan

Scooped the soup into my ceramic soup cups, topped with toasted baguette and cheese and broiled away

Finally, we feasted!

Oh, happy, happy, day!

My next project? Lamb gyros. 

Later that night Zac and I went to his grandma's house in Mapleton for his cousin's son's birthday. It was nice to be with family. Cheers!

A New Addiction, and a Trip to the Liquor Store

I have been thinking about caramel popcorn for the last month. Though my belly was craving for the sugary treat, my fears of making a caramel popcorn similar to a the hard, crunchy and overly sweet type synonymous to a cracker jack discouraged me from ever executing my plans. But last night we had caramel popcorn and it was heavenly. It was chewy but still packed with texture and body and balance.

 I remembered reading from somewhere that I could just use caramel chews for the caramel part so I went with that and added some butter and Karo light corn syrup for some collateral. It was amazing, and Zac doesn't even usually like caramel popcorn (or anything that sticks to his teeth), but he ate this entore tray with me while we watched the BYU men's volleyball team demolish Pepperdine.  Anyways, these caramel popcorn clusters were just divine.  I think the before and afters speak for themselves :)

Before:

After:

the Recipe
13 caramel squares
1 Tablespoon butter
1/4 cup light corn syrup
4 cups HOMEMADE popcorn

Melt caramels in microwave 1.5 min
Add butter for remaining 30 seconds
Add light corn syrup
Combine with popcorn
Spread out on silipat (aka baker's/candied nuts maker's best friend)
Cool in freezer 10 minutes
EAT immediately.

YUM.

Zac also indulged me in my french onion soup obsession by going on a hunt for the all the ingredients after we went to the temple today. Can I just say cheese is so expensive!!

 We tried to find a good white wine at Walmart, Sunflower Market, and Fresh Market. We finally asked someone and found out that in Utah, wine is only sold at liquor stores! Good thing the State Liquor Store was only a couple minutes from our house. This was our first time ever buying liquor so we both actually bickered (in a very loving way of course) about who would get to pull out their ID for the buy. It turns out that they check all of the IDs on the people checking out so it was a win-win. We ended up buying a Pinot Grigio and a Merlot (for braised ribs).  I tried to find so cognac, which was also a popular ingredient but not necessary component of french onion soup, but it was almost closing time so maybe next time.

I went into Sunflower market while Zac stayed in the car so when I saw mussels (one of his favorite things to eat) for sale I grabbed some. I also ended up with a 70oz bottle of extra virgin olive oil on sale for 6 bucks! Major score.

Dinner was great, and it made me want to, once again, go for culinary school! Ahh, someday, someday.

The baguette was a perfect vehicle to soak that broth. Sopping is the best. Cheers!

Heart of the Sea

So I walked Zac to our car this morning since I wanted to check the mail and there it was. The heart of the sea. Zac's second part of my birthday present didn't make in the mail until last night. When I opened the box, and looked into the blue pouch, and saw the necklace my mind went back to our formals we took with Jarvie as one of our pictures was of Zac and I standing by the water amidst the sunset, my arms propped like Rose's in Leo's arms.  It is beautiful and I almost felt like Rose from the Titanic for a second being surrounded by heaps of iceberg-like snow and holding that necklace in my hand.

Our fish Moby is doing really well. He is very friendly. Whenever Zac puts his hands close to the surface of the water of his fishbowl, Moby will swim up. We think it's because he always wants to be fed. Tonight we are planning on heading to Petsmart to get Moby a friend...But really, I think we're going because Zac want's to convince me to get a bigger tank. 

Also, my easter happy-birthday balloons are still floating in the living room. I like them a lot :)

7 months and counting

Zac and I have been married for about seven months now! Crazy. We are just about half way through our winter semester at BYU. Zac is studying neuroscience and getting ready to take the MCAT in April. I am working on finishing my undergrad in Public Health with plans to go to nursing school after I graduate next April (that is if I can stop myself from going for culinary school). We are attending a family ward in Provo that is OVERCOME with babies, toddlers, and rowdy children. I am serving in the primary teaching the CTR-4 class, and it is tons of work. Zac was called as the Young Men's secretary. Without fail, our weeks are hectic and busy, but it always ends with the much abated Friday "date-night." Last week we went to Petsmart and bought a goldfish we call Moby. He is crazy smart...we think.

February was  a busy month for us. Zac's birthday was on the 4th. I made a chocolate cake that I think, was a once in a life time success. I didn't measure, I didn't use a recipe, and I most definitely don't remember half the things I put in it, but it was so good! That night, we went out to dinner with his family at the Cheesecake Factory and Zac got a super warm, poofy down coat. He looks great in it, and I can finally wear my down coat without feeling like a giant marshmallow next to my husband (we even match color-wise). The 28th was my 21st birthday. This time his family took us to Red Robbin the Saturday before, and many of my easter fantasies were fulfilled with the new easterly cooking gadgets I got (clearly, I have wonderful in-laws). Since my birthday was on a school day Zac and I went to the Happy Sumo after my shift at work. We left very full on sushi and noodles and very happy!

Thanks to a primary lesson that required me to bake a loaf of bread, my obsession for baking homemade bread is expanding. Most of my free time has been spent looking up bread makers and bread recipes. It is so addicting! I found a recipe for a sourdough bread starter that I am contemplating on making--the apprehension may be stemming from the idea of growing bacteria in my refrigerator. We shall see.

All in all, life is good. We are happy. Plans are rolling, and we are excited for..... EASTER.... Okay, maybe its just me, but really, you can never be too prepared for the bunny-blessed day. Cheers.

Its Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas

Break...Hallelujah! We are so happy that school is out. We stayed a few days in Provo so that I could work some and then we jetted to his parents' house in Mountain Green for Christmas. We had a great time, as is always expected with family. We watched Mission Impossible 3. Zac finally got his flat screen T.V. He had been waiting for. It was so nice to just relax and enjoy Christmas. His family had a program which reminded me a lot of how my family did things on Christmas. We also played some board games. I played Ticket to Ride for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed it. The day after Christmas we drove to Dallas. Zac amazed me and drove all the way without stopping the night. I loved being at home and seeing my aunts and uncles. We spent a lot of time eating, drinking Taro Bobas, catching up and just relaxing. My uncle Engkuan took us to Sherlock Holmes 2. I really enjoyed it. Uncle Engky also came with Sabrina. Since most of our family didn't get into town until after Christmas, my parents decided to wait on opening presents until everyone was there. They got all the families a really nice clock that had the inscription, "Familes are Forever." My favorite part was when my parents took us to an international foods market so that I could buy all the things Utah lacked. It was good fun. Driving back took two days and we spent a night in New Mexico. I even contributed about 5 hours of driving.

Oh the Gingerbread House

Since traditions are an obsession of mine, Zac and I started one this Sunday; gingerbread house decorating. Growing up, I don't remember ever making gingerbread houses until my brother became a cubscout and one of his activities was to build and decorate a gingerbread house. His den mother went crazy with the candy options and filled the inside of my brother's house with tons of whoopie cookies, chocolate covered marshmallow Santa Clauses, OREOS, gummy bears and plenty other sugary goodies. When he brought it home I was convinced gingerbread house making had to be a future tradition of mine, and thankfully, Zac surrendered and thus began our gingerbread house escapade...on a married-couples budget. The decor only consisted of 10 cent boxes of mike n' ike's, hotamales, gumdrops, and jelly beans. All in all it only cost us 4 bucks to make. I was pretty excited about that. Oh, and since my baking is iffy, we got a pre-baked house from IKEA, which I HIGHLY recommend. Anyways, we had limited supplies but it turned out great, and we love our gingerbread house. Next year will be big.

Puerto Vallarta

Zac and I just got back from our honeymoon. It was so much fun we almost did not want to come back, which I contribute mostly to the fact that school starts TOMORROW.

So here are the top 20 highlights of the trip. 

20. Zac's Dad dropped us off at the airport and we talked about being careful since we were going to Mexico and to look directly for the people in the green shirts who were set up to meet us at the airport. As we walked off the plain and through customs things got crazy and we got snagged by a man named Alfonso. We thought we were being conned into signing up for a free breakfast and business presentation for time-shares....He gave us some pointers on where to go in town and how to get there. We totally thought he was just fooling us and trying to get our money since he asked us to make a fully refundable deposit of 20 bucks as collateral for attending his free breakfast and time share offer. We gave him the 20 simply because we just wanted to get to our hotel...more of this later.

19. Our room was amazing. It was 1,200 square feet of luxury goodness. We had a huge california king, jacuzzi, patio, hammock, an amazing view and a huge T.V. (this was a plus since there were rentals at the concierge desk). It really was beautiful. 

18. Even though we thought it was all-inclusive and it turned out we only had 100 dollars in credit for food, the services we did choose from were great. The first night we chowed down burgers and fries. (I know, I know that was what we had at our reception the night before, but we didn't even get to try them!).

17. So Alfonso was no con after all. He came to our hotel at 8:00 in the morning as we "agreed" to take us to our breakfast and presentation. Unfortunately, we were not ever planning on seeing him or our 20 dollars again so didn't go for breakfast or the presentation. Instead, we booked the same deal with our hotel concierge and got our free papas frances, frutas y jugo de naranja at 11:00 am instead. Oh, and a timeshare presenter tried really hard to convince us that we should invest 300 dollars a month for next few years so that we could have timeshares in Puerto Vallarta. Painfully, we said no. 

16. That afternoon we went to the city of Malecon. It was amazing. We had tacos at this shack and loved it. (We actually had breakfast there the next day too...) After that dinner we walked the board walk and got caricature artist to draw us for 150 pesos. While we were being drawn a very clever salesman tried to sell me bracelets. HE even figured out that we were mormon and told us how much he liked his mormon friends. But no, I did not buy a bracelet. 

15. The pool was great. We swam in it a couple times, laid out in the sun to tan and played connect four.

14. When our 100.00 credit started running dry we went back to town to find a grocery store. We decided that breakfast and lunch would have to be off of cornflakes, bread, butter, jam and cheese. It was the cheapest things we could find. 

13. I had a cold at the beginning of the trip and passed it on to Zac. He spent plenty of hours sleeping to get better. It worked really well!

12. One of the days we went to the city and bought some souvenirs. Zac got a sweet chess set. It was 85 bucks, but according to him it was worth it since the original price was 200 dollars. I got a purple dress. 

11. Our bargaining skills were increased 10 fold. 

10. We walked through a TORRENTIAL rain storm. It was crazy. I haven't seen it rain like that since the Philippines. 

9. We ate at the restaurant in our hotel it was pretty good but not as good as...

8. El Senor. That place was amazing. Zac got carnitas and I got the carne asada. The flan, was, according to Zac the best flan he had ever tasted in his life. 

7. We went to "Rhythm of the Night." Everyone recommended it. It was a night that started with a boat ride to a place were they had a show about a Mexican love story. Then there was a buffet dinner. 

6. The entertainment on our boat ride home was interesting. The crew on the boat dressed up as Michael Jackson, the Mask, and Elvis Presley. It was hilarious. 

5. We went zip lining. I was so nervous! I thought we were going to die for sure. But it was so much fu and worth every minute.

 

4. We watched a bunch of movies...for some reason the only one I can remember is entrapment. It was nice to just relax and not have to be stressed about anything.

3. On our flight home we stopped by some souvenir shops at the airport.  We decided we would buy a bowl from every place we visited and started our tradition by purchasing a clay bowl with ancient writings on it.

2. I got me some real Mexican vanilla :)

1. We got home safe and... real life began.

We had a great time!