I served it over jasmine rice that turned out perfect, if I do say so myself. Howie thought it was too tomatoey. Maybe I needed to put more spices in it. We, of course, left the onions out because Howie despises them with every fiber of his being. I don't mind them if their texture is the same as everything else they're in. But, I don't like crunchy onions in something like a potato salad. That's just wrong.
My second attempt was today. I tried out a recipe for Chicken and Corn Chili (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chicken-and-Corn-Chili/Detail.aspx). I wanted to try a slow-cooker recipe and this one seemed perfect for that. I figured it would just cook while I was at work and then I'd tend to it when I got home. Well, I went to work at 7am and Howie calls me at noon and says "Um, your chicken is thoroughly cooked and is drying out...a lot". Grrr. So frustrating. So, Howie put a little bit of water in it and added all of the other ingredients it calls for. Then he left it on low and let it simmer the rest of the day. When I got home there was almost NO sauce in it. You couldn't even tell it had salsa in it! Grrr again. I bought some tortillas and we made it into tacos. It was great for tacos, but I really wanted it to be a chili. I made a yummy quacamole with big chunks of tomatos in it and that was the best ingredient. Very good. I think I would give this recipe a second try and see if I can actually make a soup out of it. Howie gave this 4 1/2 stars.
Howie anxiously awaiting his gifts! Why he's wearing a blanket when it's 100ยบ outside is beyond me.
Here is an upclose shot of the bookmarks. We'll never have a shortage of bookmarks again!
Howie opening up his gift card to Game Stop. His boy-heaven store.
If you haven't heard what it's about here is a movie description: Sara and Brian Fitzgerald's life with their young son and their two-year-old daughter, Kate, is forever altered when they learn that Kate has leukemia. The parents' only hope is to conceive another child, specifically intended to save Kate's life. For some, such genetic engineering would raise both moral and ethical questions; for the Fitzgeralds, Sara in particular, there is no choice but to do whatever it takes to keep Kate alive. And what it takes is Anna. Kate and Anna share a bond closer than most sisters: though Kate is older, she relies on her little sister--in fact, her life depends on Anna. Throughout their young lives, the sisters endure various medical procedures and hospital stays--just another part of their close-knit family's otherwise normal life. Sara, a loving wife and mother who left her career as an attorney to care for her daughter, is sometimes lost inside the single-minded caregiver she has become in her efforts to save Kate. Her strong, supportive husband, Brian, is often rendered powerless and passive by his wife's strength and determination. And their only son, Jesse, drifts, at times all but forgotten as Kate and Anna take center stage. Until Anna, now 11, says "no." Seeking medical emancipation, she hires her own lawyer initiating a court case that divides the family and that could leave Kate's rapidly failing body in the hands of fate.
He took me to a yummy Thai restaurant downtown called Sawadee. I've been craving that place ever since the first time we went. It was delicious! After dinner we went to The Gateway to try and catch Transformers 2, but the movie is almost 3 hours long and we didn't have time for that. We went to The Proposal instead. I have already seen it but I thought Howie would enjoy it. I liked it enough to see it again! Such a cute movie. Howie baked me a cake earlier in the day and decorated it right when we got home. He said I couldn't see it until the masterpiece was complete. Here is what he made:
He makes me laugh. Here's me making a wish!
We drove up on Saturday morning and arrived around 3pm. The first thing we checked out was the Grizzly Discovery Center. They have a bunch of bears and wolves to see. They are all in captivity because they became a nuisance in the wild. These animals kept getting into trouble and finally had to be removed from the wild and kept in captivity. The center has tried to keep their natural ways in tact as much as possible.
The staff would hide food under rocks and bushes so the bears could dig and search for it themselves. It was so neat to see bears acting how they did. They are fascinating to watch.
They also have wolves. They weren't too exciting to watch. They all just laid around and slept. This was the only one that was awake.
Howie checking out the bears!
We stopped on the way to Old Faithful to check out some of the Hot Springs and Paint Pots.
Here's a Hot Spring. They reak of rotten eggs. That's due to the hydrogen sulfite.
Paint Pots.
Here is Old Faithful! It's eruption only lasted a couple minutes but it was spectacular to see! It got bigger than I had remembered.
The rangers told us that the animals were migrating north this time of year in search for food so it didn't surprise us too much that we saw the most wildlife when we took a drive around the northern loop of the park. We saw so many animals! I became a dumb tourist and actually got out of our car to take pictures of these Elk. You're told not to get out of your car, but it was so neat I couldn't resist.
Here is a massive herd of Bison. For the most part we saw one or two buffalos here and there, rarely seeing them in a herd. But then one day, BAM, here they all were. In a massive herd. I couldn't believe how close people were getting to them.
We were told that a lady had been gored by a buffalo just a week before we came. We didn't want to risk it, so we stayed in our little car. One of my favorite parts to visit in the park was The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Gorgeous views from every overlook! Here's me by one of the waterfalls.
We did an easy hike to Artist's Point. It was only about 2 miles. Here's Howie being silly.
This is a picture from Artist's Point. Worth the hike! The canyon is amazing!
Here is magnificent Tower Falls!
Here is the sad, and very very dry, Mammoth Hot Springs. There was nothing exciting about it at ALL. We didn't think it was worth the drive up there. I don't know if it's always this dry, but it was very disappointing.
Howie and I did a 5 mile hike to Fairy Falls. It was totally worth it! This waterfall was our favorite to see! It was beautiful.
We went home a different way than how we got there. We decided to drive down through Jackson Hole and take a peek at The Grand Tetons. Gorgeous. Breathtaking. The pictures don't do them justice. They were so pretty. You'd think I'd never seen a mountain range before.
This trip was really good for us. We really enjoyed it. We celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary on Sunday June 28th. We were going to take our wedding cake up with us, but I decided we'd just try it when we got back. We had some yesterday and it was delicious! I'm glad too because we had our doubts. I can't believe it's already been a year. It's been a year full of ups and downs. Some people say that "the first year is the hardest". If that's true then I think we'll be just fine. Our first year was really not that bad. The hardest part for us has been getting two independent people to start relying on each other. We both had our own lives before and now we're just trying to get them to mesh. We're working on it and in the meantime getting to know one another better. It's been a fun ride so far and I can't wait to see what's in store for us in the future.