Master Chef

One of the most amazing things about my husband, in my opinion, is that he shares in my love for all things food.

We are total foodies. 

I'm pretty sure that if we didn't have to be responsible adults and have jobs and the such we would just go to cooking school and travel around the world finding new places to eat. 

We love food. Cooking it, eating it, discussing it, we love it. One of our favorite things to do is order a meal and try to break down the ingredients that are in the dish.

Lately though, Logan and I have been looking for a new hobby we could do together and we happened upon a brilliant idea. 

Master Chef.

We LOVE this show and decided to do our own little mash up of it.

The break down:

1. The pickin's.

     -There are 3 options: 

              1-Pick one ingredient to be the star of the dish.

              2-Pick an assortment of ingredients that will be the only ingredients that are allowed to make the dish.

              3-Pick a specific dish which the both parties have to attempt to make.

2. The prep.

      -Once the objective is revealed 15 mins of prep time is given to come up with the idea, browse through recipes, etc. 

3. The process.
     -When all the prep is through, the fun stuff starts! One fast paced hour of cooking time.

4. The pressure.
     -Our meals now complete we critique the dishes and score them on presentation, creativity, use, taste, and technique. 

This round was Logan's choice, he decided on Option 1: One star ingredient. . . BRATWURST!

The dishes turned out fantastic! Logan made a middle eastern take on toad in the hole with grilled broccoli, garbanzo beans and an amazing brown gravy. While I made peach glazed brats with roasted vegetables and cous cous.

Logan accidentally made his look like a smiley face without meaning too, and it wasn't till after time was up that he realized it so I squeaked by with a win this round. 

All in all it was a fantastic experience and I suggest you give it a try if you are as die hard foodies/cooks as Logan and I are. 

Someday I will pretend I am profession cook. Check.

California Trip

Sooooo, I'm in love.

Cali.

I was completely ready to pack up and move over to this gorgeous place, that is until I saw the price tag of everything. Yeah that threw a wrench in my plans, but I still love Cali. 

Logan and I went down there about 3 weeks ago for 10 days with Logan's best friend, Riley and his family.

Funny story that, a few months back Logan and I were having dinner with Riley and his wife, Trez and they mentioned a family biannual trip to Carlsbad. Their description made it sound like heaven (rightfully so), and Logan and I, having been vacation deprived, may have tried to invite ourselves to come along. . . yeah, we were kind of desperate for a vacay at that point and Riley and Trez being as fantastic as they are were actually ok with us joining them.

Angels, they are freaking angels.

Logan and I haven't been down to California for a really long time, like when we were 5 "long time", so I don't think we really knew what to expect.

We started out by driving down and staying two nights in Vegas. We played around on the strip, saw a movie, and just relaxed.

Our view from the hotel in Vegas.

We then met up with Riley and Trez and drove down to Carlsbad and end up at the South Carlsbad State Beach. . . It was surreal. We pulled up to the campsite just before sunset to the sights, sounds, and smells of the ocean.

Our camp site

The view.

Again, THE VIEW. 

There were stairs that connected the cliff campsite to the sandy beach below. When we finally stopped gawking and made our way down the scene was picture perfect.

The sun was setting, it was a perfect 75 degrees, and waves were crashing on the sand.  The beach was isolated with only a few other visitors on it's shore, and we could see dolphins swimming not even a few 100 years off.

The days that followed were just as picturesque. We went down to the beach almost every day, Logan and Riley surfed and boogie boarded. We ate smores and played games by the campfire and fell asleep to the sounds of the waves crashing on the beach.

We also got to explore San Diego, saw the zoo, sea world, went shopping, ate some fantastic Indian food, explored balboa park, and Logan got to eat a burrito the size of his arm.

Sea world!

San Diego Zoo

It was a blast! And we owe Riley and Trez big time for letting us tag along.


Some day we will be tempted to move to Cali. Check.