Weekend Story - Labor Day

3 day weekends are always a double-edged sword. If you work in an office setting you come back on Tuesday and realize you have to squish 5 days worth of work into 4. If you are me and campaign season is gearing up you are slowly starting to get flooded with work and you want to panic. Yay!

Oh and it's SEPTEMBER! In honor of September... 

 

 

My in-laws were out of town this weekend which means Tony and I had the house to ourselves. Most importantly, I had the kitchen to myself to cook anything my heart desired (more about that in a bit). I was ridiculously productive and did so much this weekend!

Friday

Friday my boss let us go home early and I went home and cleaned the bathroom then we met up with my Dad for dinner. After dinner I had coffee with my good friend Jessica. It was so cool catching up with her and hearing about her new students and classroom (she's a 1st grade teacher).

Saturday

Saturday my Momma invited us to breakfast in Santa Rosa! I barely touched my food and I was stuffed. The thing about me after surgery is that if my stomach is really empty before meals I fill up drastically quicker than if I am snacking and munching all day.

Afterwards we came home and did chores! Have a mentioned that I love doing laundry? I love it. When I was single I felt so accomplished seeing all my clothes folded and digging my face in my fresh laundry taking in the aroma of clean cotton. Now that I'm married, that feeling is only intensified because the domestic woman in me takes pride in fulfilling my wifely duties. Okay enough of that, you get it.

Then I cooked, cooked some more, then mixed, waiting, and baked followed by dish washing-kitchen cleaning fun. Let me elaborate:

I made these Sloppy Joes and these Cowboy Beans and I made the BEST Oatmeal Raisin Cookies ever. Everybody that tried them agreed they were fabulous, I will be sharing this recipe soon.

Sloppy Joes? I actually had never had a Sloppy Joe in my life, so naturally, I scoured the internets to find a good Joe recipe and raided my Mom's pantry because Adrian (my Bro) has any possible spice you could need for any recipe. The verdict is in! Although these Joes came out good, Sloppy Joes are not my thing.

Cowboy Beans? They had to cook for so long because I didn't have the burner on hot enough that the Bacon and Jalapeno slices disintegrated by the time I was FINALLY able to get the beans tender. Errrggh. Next time I am making these beans in the crockpot. I'll spare you a picture of the final product.

 

I added Jalapeno Slices to give these a kick

 

We had some pals/neighbors come over for dinner. I also made boxed Annie's Mac and Cheese and a Digiorno pizza. So we had Sloppy Joes, Annie's Mac and Cheese and a frozen Digiorno pizza. Just look at me being such a good hostess and making a super gourmet classy dinner. They ate it all though, so I did something right. Also, I have to reiterate, we had Oatmeal Raisin Cookies and they were the best I've ever had. Have I mentioned they were good?

Our friends left and after cleaning up we watched Dirty Dancing on Netflix.

I've... had... the time of my liiife...

 

 

Sunday

Sunday I woke up early to make Belgian Waffles. I've had a waffle iron that was purchased upon impulse a while ago and only used once. Well I put that baby to good use and made my love and I Waffles and Bacon for breakfast before we headed to the city to check up on my pal Crystal who just had surgery. We stopped by Petaluma to pick up my other pal Connie who was going to carpool with us to SF. After arriving we had Chinese and the food was really good. Yum! Then we went to the beach for a while before going to Crystal's to hang out with her.

We came back from the city in the evening and stopped by my Momma's house before heading home. We watched a few episodes of this before going to sleep:

Monday - Labor Day!

We were up early to hike up Taylor Mountain in Santa Rosa with my Momma. After grabbing Starbucks and Bagels we went home and my Momma made Chilaquiles for lunch. I should have taken a picture of these but I was too busy scarfing them down because they were so freaking good. I would post a picture off of Google images but that just won't serve my Momma's Chilaquiles justice so here's the Wiki definition.

We came home in the early afternoon and I binge watched a few episodes of Revenge. I needed to catch up and finish watching all the episodes in Season 3 before Season 4 starts in a few weeks. Revenge is a good show, it's a little intense and has a LOT going on all the time but if you have some time to kill all 3 seasons are on Netflix right now.

 

After some Netflix action Tony napped while I went to Safeway and then this happened:
 

I made 4 kinds of fried rolled taquitoes: Beans, Chicken, Beans and Queso Cotija and Mozzerella. Topped with shredded lettuce, sour cream, spicy green sauce and a crumbled Queso Fresco... DIVINE! I love when I make magic happen. I'm so amazing.

This is my lunch today, I forgot the Queso Fresco at home!

Tony went to the gym while I drafted players for my Fantasy Football team: 98 DeBrees. I'm the only girl in my Fantasy Football league, I'm going to have to sharpen my smack talking skills if I am going to be playing Fantasy with a bunch of dudes. This is how I felt as I drafted:

Here's my Lineup:

Drew Brees, QB

Joe Flacco, QB

Jamaal Charles, RB

Trent Richardson, RB

Larry Fitzgerald, WR

Jordy Nelson, WR

Martellus Bennett, TE

Anquan Boldin, WR

Seahawks Defense

Phil Dawson, K

Bench

Danny Amendola, WR

Danny Woodhead, RB

Tim Wright, NE

Darren McFadden, RB

Rod Streater, WR

Brandon Pettigrew, TE

Rams Defense

Football season is starting! Oh man oh man, I am so tickled :)

~Mely

 

Weekend Story

Friday
Friday work was such a drag! Not because work sucked but because I was tired and moved at the speed of molasses. I had asked Tony to defrost some chicken breasts and put some butter out to soften because I had grandiose plans for a culinary and baking experience that night. This wasn't sounding so appealing around 3 PM. A Starbucks iced coffee was in order? Perhaps!

 I got home and was super tired. I went upstairs and layed down for a bit. I ended up not even cooking anything. I did whip up two batches of cookie dough. More on this on my "Cookie Adventures" post that's coming soon. I baked about a dozen cookies and Tony's pal and his little brother came over for some hanging out and cookie eating. I went to bed at around 11:45 and I was out!

Here they are! I actually don't eat much of the cookies I make. Although they get great reviews and I make them with lots of amor I tend to only eat 1 or 2 at a time. In my eyes, it's the baking of them that is the true pleasure.
 

Saturday

Saturday Tony was up bright and early to go take his P.O.S.T test for the Santa Rosa Police Department. He is in the middle of applying and this is just the second hoop to jump. I'm praying that he does great on it. I know if he gets to the in person interview portion, he has a pretty good chance of being hired. He is very qualified and according to my friend who knows the former Police Chief, he is everything the PD is searching for in candidates. Please send good vibes our way so Tony has a smooth and successful application process.

Images of a hot police officer husband come to mind ;)

 

 

Not exactly my husband. Tony's much buffer, taller and tanner. Close enough. Swoon.

I was up early as well to sip on coffee and make Tony some breakfast burritos. After Tony got home we got ready to head out to a birthday party. The birthday party was for a family friend's grandson. Let me just say she can really get down with hosting parties. She offered a couple different types of tacos. You lined up at the Taco grill and ordered whatever tacos you wanted and topped them off with toppings to your liking. Delish!

We came home early from the party and went to lay down for a bit. Tony headed to the gym while I baked up more cookies from the remaining cookie dough. We went to bed and I attempted to watch an episode of "Who the Bleep did I Marry" but I quickly dozed off.


Sunday
Sunday we woke up late at 9 AM. I headed downstairs to have coffee with my MIL. I had a bag of Potstickers in the freezer and made potstickers, yes potstickers for breakfast. Tony's aunt and My Momma and little sister came over later and we had Salsa de Nopales, Beans, Chips and Cheese for Lunch. Nopales are cactus and are a common vegetable consumed in Mexico. You can whip them up with Tomato, Onion and Cilantro and enjoy with chips or you can sautee them and serve them as a hot dish. My Mom likes to cook them with eggs. I know this sounds unappetizing if you aren't used to it but they are tasty and good for you! I guess it's a Mexican thing.

Nopales unpeeled. These suckers are a real task to peel. Look at those thorns!

 

 

Peeled and Cut

 

Enough of that... So we had lunch and chatted a long while until dinner time. My Mother in Law helped me make Green Enchiladas. Sorry, I just wanted us to finish them and I didn't take pictures for a recipe post. Soon my dears, soon. We also talked about my current favorite subject to talk about. YOSEMITE!!! T-minus 18 days before we leave :) Tony's aunt had left earlier and my Mom and sister left after dinner. I cleaned up the kitchen and Tony did the dishes and we went upstairs. Later on I wanted something sweet so we headed out to Baskin Robbins and I got me a mini Oreo Cappuccino Blast. Bad, so bad. At least I get the mini, right? RIGHT?!

 

 

And that's all folks. Next weekend my Pals will be joining us for a little weekend fun. We are going to the river and they might join us for a little county fair action! Can't wait! Is it Friday yet?

 

~Mely