A Catch up Post!

Hey World!

I'm back! And I'm blogging!

And I've got WAY too much to catch up on, so bear with me

First off... Clay and I rocked the festival of colors a few weekends ago

I completely lost my camera cord, and after a few unsuccessful attempts to get them onto the computer using various methods, I finally paid Walmart to put them on a disk, just because I wanted to blog them. So now... for your viewing pleasure... The festival of colors, round 2!

My husband is such. a. hottie.

Our buddies, Kinzie, Clair, and Ali joined us on our grand adventure

That chalk tastes like incense... incense tastes terrible. Good thing it's blessed by the hindu gods.

We make faces

Next up! One of the main reasons I haven't blogged in a few weeks... This lil assignment of mine

I've talked (bragged) about this on facebook, but I thought I'd add a little more of an explanation here! So this assignment is called "Big, Cheap, and Public" and the purpose was to make a billboard about something we're passionate about. We worked as partners and my buddy Callee and I decided to do a feminist piece (I don't hate men I promise) and society's views of women that was pretty conceptual. We also decided to take the BIG in big, cheap, and public very seriously.

After 3 straight days of work, many many ounces of mountain dew consumed, and little sleep received, we ended up with this beast. 20ft by 26ft. 12 panels, made up of 40 sheets of 11x17 paper each.

A HUGE thanks to my sweet husband, who stayed up with Callee and I all night long, taping this together, as well as putting up the panels the next day, and making us cookies during the long editing process. You do indeed deserve a grade for this. :)

So, I realized I never gave all of my readers the grand tour of the apartment! It took us a while to get everything put together, and we're still in the process but you'll get the idea.

First up, our front room! Clay didn't want to be in the picture..

The view from the couch

PS sorry for the weird colors on these pics. That's what happens when you put the camera on the auto white balance.

Our cute little kitchen... still trying to figure out what to hang on that back wall.

Btw, our mixer doesn't normally hang out on the floor. :)

Now, for what is probably my favorite room in the house... the bathroom. I think you can see why... :)

Yes, we have a skull and cross bones shower curtain. Making our bathroom the coolest bathroom, Anywhere.

And now, just because I felt like it, here's what we had for dinner tonight...

Parchment chicken

O. My.

Please do yourself a favor and make this sometime in the near future. It tastes like summer time. And if you're like us and survive on rice and chicken, this is a good way to mix it up.

WARNING: If you have any qualms about soaking your food in as much butter as you can, I'd avoid this recipe.

But if that is the case... I might cry for you.

And just because I love you all, here is the recipe!

First, you start out with some vegis.

Specifically a red pepper, some green onions, peeled medium carrots, zuccini, and some fresh parsley.

Julienne the carrots, zuccini, and pepper into pieces about 3 inches long. Mince the parsley, and cut the green onions into 3 inch long pieces. This will make the goodness that will cook with the chicken.

You'll need about 4 chicken breasts.

Next, the best part, the white wine, sage butter sauce.

Also known as heaven on earth.

The sauce will sound kind of tricky to make but it's actually really easy.

You'll need:

3 TBLS minced shallot (translated to tiny onion that makes you cry like a woman)

1 TBLS butter

1/2 cup white cooking wine (if you have issues with cooking wine, white grape juice works too)

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 tsp lemon juice

4 TBLS cold butter- cubed

1-2 tsp fresh sage

salt and pepper to taste (I think it's fine without it personally but whatever floats your boat)

First, saute the shallot in 1 TBLS butter in small sauce pan over med heat until sauce. (Yes, sauce. Make sure you cut that shallot up small). This should take 2-3 min. Add wine, broth, cream, and lemon juice. Simmer until liquid is reduced by half (8-10 min), whisk in remaining butter 1 TBLS at a time, stirring constantly. DO NOT ADD MORE BUTTER UNTIL PREVIOUS ADDITION HAS MELTED COMPLETELY. No one likes lumpy sage butter deliciousness. Stir in sage, salt and pepper when butter has melted.

Then keep your spoon as far away from that saucepan as you can.

I would eat the stuff like soup if my arteries would allow it.

Next is the fun part. Cut some pieces of parchment paper into 12x12 inch squares. Put a pad of butter (MORE BUTTER! YAY!) in the middle of each square. Then put your chicken on there, and spice it up with the vegis you cut earlier. I don't like leaving anything out, but some people are particular so you can pick and choose. Throw a little more lemon juice on the chicken and vegis, then pull the corners and sides up and tie it with 100% cotton string.

MAKE SURE IT'S 100% cotton, or it WILL set on fire.

Throw the lil packets of goodness on a cookie sheet and cook in the oven at 375 for 30 min

While the tasty deliciousness is cooking, throw some rice in your rice cooker (or preferred method of cooking rice)

When the chicken is cooked, pull it out of the parchment paper, pour all the goodness, juices and all onto your rice, and top all of it with LOTS of sage sauce

It looks like this when it's all finished.

So pretty

And it looks like you actually know how to cook like a champ

(I am definitely NOT that person btw)

Try it out, you'll thank me later.

Well, that's about it from our end!

Hopefully we'll be able to share some more awesome news shortly

No, we're not pregnant

I promise

We'll return to the blogging world soon!

Until then, have an awesome Tuesday!

XOXO