Picky Cooking

One thing not everyone knows about me is how picky of an eater I am. I try not to be... But it's been this way since I was young. I've gotten better over the years, now liking most vegetables and seafood, but I still have some issues with meat.

Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnjWZT3yWWc

Settle down. I eat meat. I just don't eat red meat, pork or lamb. Seafood, chicken and turkey and eggs are all fair game, though.

My sweet husband has gotten used to my culinary preferences and doesn't complain much when I alter recipes to fit my needs. Don't get me wrong, it took many attempts to find the perfect Turkey meatloaf and other recipes (yes, i will post this recipe soon, but with me doing 99% of our cooking and grocery shopping... He gladly tries all my attempts with grace. OR ELSE! ha...kidding...kinda.

There are few menu options Trae dislikes, but one that has never been a favorite of his is Pesto. This hurts. I LOVE pesto. So instead of kissing my beloved sauce behind, I decided I would find a version Trae loves as much as I do. A culinary challenge, if you will.

Giada-I-over-pronounce-all-Italian-words-de Laurentiis had a Pesto segment on the Today show last week that demonstrated different pesto options.

I made the Grilled Chicken with Spicy Pesto tonight for dinner. Super easy and very fresh. The whole dinner took about 40 minutes and considering I served it over a bed of spinach and walnuts tossed in a bit of the Pesto...it was a full meal thrown together in 1 bowl. The best kind!  This would be really good over all kinds of meats/dishes.  I have a bunch of pesto left over and am popping it in the freezer now for future meals.


http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/47801909/ns/today-food/t/pesto-perfection-giada-shows-three-ways-make-it/#.T96N4e17xG5

** The only difference I would make to the recipe is I would add another 1/2 - full jalapeño.  We didn't think this was spicy at all, and we love spice. Test it as you go and see what you like!

So... Was this version a success?! Clean plate and all thumbs up. He liked it first and second helping.

Back on the Blogging bandwagon!

I don't know why it's so hard for us to keep up with this blog thing. I mean, I LOVE reading other blogs during the day and I would be upset if they never updated their blog... so what's the deal??  I'm jumping back on the bandwagon, friends. Here we go.

If we're catching up from my last blog, let's hold me accountable for some activities I said I would be trying out this year.
1. Photography: I've been spending some good, quality time with my camera and the editing tools that we have (i use lightroom currently). I've even spent some time going on newborn shoots with my good friend and professional Austin baby photographer, Jenni Jones. *plug alert*  (jennijonesphotography.com)  She is so good she makes me want to be good IMMEDIATELY. Like now. Have you ever met anyone like that? Bottom line... I'm working on it.  I need to learn photoshop.. that's still on my "to-do's" for a weekend/few weeks that I make free.
2. Sewing Machine:  I got one for Christmas from my Husband!!! I took 3 introductory sewing classes and haven't touched it since. Having that said, I am glad to have it and look forward to pulling it out and planning projects with it soon...very soon.
3. Train Dogs: Oh man... we hired a trainer and they were good for like 3 months. Now it's like they've digressed and are doing it smugly. For instance, we've had George almost a year now and he's successfully ruined landscaping lights, several potted plants, a hot tub cover + 1/2 (the second is on its way), 2 inside shutters, a coffee table, our new outside patio furniture... yep all of it, some A/V cables that our contractor was using, an arm chair, and many many dug holes in our backyard. It's a little discouraging.

All in all.. a decent start.

In true Schultz fashion, things have been VERY face paced for the past few months leaving little extra time for hobbies.  We are still fixing up Misty Brook, making necessary changes to make this a home for the next 3-5+ years.  This deserves its own special blog post featuring before/after pictures. To be continued...

We have managed to fit in a few fun times with friends, though!  For St. Patty's Day we went up to Dallas to see the Ratliffs, Shepherds and Hubbards.  In fact, it was Tessa that asked us to blog more and suggested we post more about George!

So without further adieu ... Meet George Schultz.

George's story:
Last July while on our anniversary trip to Seattle & Portland, Trae and I started discussing getting Colbie a doggie "sibling".  We felt that she was bored and needed companionship while we were gone. .. or at least I thought she did. :) Trae was pretty unsure about adding a second dog, but when we saw George's face on Austinboxerrescue.com we were in love.  George was around 6 months and was a little underweight but otherwise friendly living with a foster family.  He got his name "George" from a young boy, named George, who chose to donate his birthday money to ABR to sponsor a dog, rather than accept gifts.  We thought the name suited him perfectly, so didn't change it.
While George has managed to successfully ruin several hundred... possibly thousands of dollars worth of our home in our first year, he has also warmed our hearts with his sweet face and loves his big sister Colbie so much he cannot bear to not be by her side.
We look forward to George's puppy years to be over and are glad he's part of the familia...most days. ;)

Give it to Cyndi... Cyndi will Try it!

I find the older I get (the more MATURE I get) I become more interested in honing in on hobbies.  The challenge is finding time for said hobbies.
This year I am writing it down and holding myself to trying new things. I mean, if I write it down and profess it to all my closest friends and family.... ok, the 3 people that actually read this blog.. still, I will probably have a better chance of following through.

Here are my goals to work on in my 31st year:

- Get more comfortable with photography and editing. (EDITING IS REALLY THE GOAL HERE)
- Buy a sewing machine and start on little projects around the house
- refinish guest room furniture rather than buying new to fit into new shabby-chic-retro theme
- TRAIN DOGS (this should really be priority #1)
- Pick back up Guitar ( I very much have dreams of sitting at home and having a little kum-bay-ya session with kiddos... very amish of me, i know. And very uncool in a kids eyes too.. gonna have to prep them to my musical craziness from a young age. )

And as if those weren't enough to keep me busy... Trae has mentioned similar goal - oriented hobby desires. He is so sweet though.  While all mine are solo hobbies, he has desires to do hobbies WITH me! What a guy. He wants to :
- Take a cooking class (uhmm.... is he trying to tell me something?!)
- Take a country dance class together
- Work on starting to frame our photography around the house (see my goal #1)

So there you go, folks.  Some Schultz goals to make us more well-rounded future parents!  ... Or to at least make us busy.

                                                    (Because every blog deserves a picture)

1 Year Anniversary

July 3rd marked our 1 year wedding anniversary.  After celebrating with the obligatory bite of year old wedding cake (We had a LOT of cake left over so even Colbie got a bite), We saved up enough points with Southwest that we had 2 free flights and decided to use the long holiday weekend to go on a trip somewhere in the US neither of us had been before.

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Trae and I have both mentioned wanting to take a trip to the Portland Seattle area and thought this weekend would be the perfect time to get away to cooler weather and explore a little!

We flew into Portland and stayed at a cute little boutique hotel called Hotel Modera in the university district.  Immediately we were impressed with Portland and felt right at home.  To us, Portland seemed very similar to Austin in many ways... just cleaner, greener, and with WAY better public transportation.  We took full advantage of the city and all it had to offer: great food, great shopping and beautiful scenery.

 We took Trip Advisor's advice for our anniversary dinner at a place called Andina.  It is a Peruvian restaurant known for tapas and ceviche.. two items we don't ever pick when at home..but it proved to be a really fun dinner full of trying new things!

After several "tastings" of local Oregan beers, at the Widmer Bros brewery and some shopping at H&M and Niketown it was time to head to Seattle!  We had originally planned to rent a car and drive to Seattle, but after a quick chat with the rental car representative we realized taking the Amtrak was the way to go.

  The 3 hour beautiful ride through the Washington Mountains and Puget Sound while sharing a bottle of Oregan wine turned out to be the perfect travel option for us.  I'm so glad we didn't rent a car!When we got to Seattle, we didn't waste any time- we checked into the W Hotel and  walked to dinner.  Trae found a great restaurant overlooking Puget Sound and the mountains that had authentic Italian food for dinner and a comedic Burlesque show at night. The perfect date night!

We started the next day with  brunch in  the Seattle farmers market.  The menu was a little fancier than the standard Austin brunch and Trae thought he would follow suit with a fancy order of liver pate.  After 1 bite of liver pate... he learned that he would rather share my French toast than have any more fancy pate. A funny typical Trae story!   We loved Seattle and all it had to offer. We walked and ate our way  through all the markets.  We had to stop by the famous gum wall and add our piece of history.. as gross as it was. We got so wrapped up with the market that we even shipped home some King Crab to steam up here on Misty Brook! (Still trying to figure out how to do that in a normal persons size pan.)

On July 4th we took a sailing trip around Puget Sound then headed up to Lake Union to get a good view for fireworks.  We ended the evening watching fireworks under a blanket (it was cold!) overlooking Lake Union.  

A very happy anniversary trip we will always remember!                                                                    

Summer Flies no matter the age!

Remember when you were young and summer break seemed to fly by so fast it made your head spin?! I distinctly remember feeling the freedom of last day of school and feeling like we were shopping for back to school clothes WAY too soon thereafter. 

I thought as an adult that feeling would wash away in a whirlwind of responsibility and scheduled vacations throughout the year...but alas.... I was wrong. 

Our summer has seemed to FLY by this year!  Of course, we still have the blistering 100+ weather with us, but we are starting to pull out the calendar and plan the quickly approaching football schedule, Thanksgiving and ...CHRISTMAS!!!  

Planning is of the upmost importance to us... it's literally the only way we would make sure to see our friends and family remotely regularly and fit in other important traditions like ACL, SXSW or celebrations like weddings.

Having that said, I need to be much more diligent on posting updates to our blog. We stay extremely busy and have lots to share with those we can't see often.

For instance, this summer alone we have been to 3 destination weddings: Jamaica, South Padre and Florida, we've both celebrated our 31st birthdays, celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary with a trip to Portland/Seattle, made a trip to Glen Rose with friends and added a brother to Colbie in our family.

WHEW!!  

I will work on catching up on posts throughout the week on our summer escapades + pictures of our fun.

For now, I'll leave you with a picture of "Hip, Hip....JORGE!!!!"

(George)

It's March!

My Gosh!! HOW is it March already?!

While we are somewhat shocked that March is already upon us... I have to say I'm not sad to see all that cold, wet, YUCKY weather in our past for a while. And March brings us Daylight Savings time which means MORE SUN!!! YYAAAAAAAYYYYY!!!!!!  This pale skin needs some of that sunlight!!

In true Schultz-style, we have been keeping busy since our last blog entry.  I finished my half marathon and decided that while it was a great accomplishment, I'm not signing up for any full marathons in the near future. :)  We did some additional renovations on our home adding functional kitchen cabinet space and a nice additional granite serving counter just in time to host a close friends wedding shower this weekend.  Oh, and in the process of planning this shower.... I cleared up the plural spelling of my new last name!!!! HAHAHA

Did anyone notice the blog name changing slightly to add the "E" in "Schultzes"?   Coming from a last name of "Young", I  didn't know the "z" rule in formal names until the invitation company corrected me when planning our invitation to our friends shower.   Needless to say, I won't forget THAT one!  Rookie Schultz mistake. (and very funny)

March brings a busy work month for Trae and I.. lots of business meetings and dedication to the grind.  April brings our friends wedding in Florida that we are so looking forward to attending over Easter weekend and some family time.

Happy 2011!!

Happy New Year to everyone!!

WOW, 2010 was great to us. We are so thankful for all our dear friends and family who helped make 2010 the most special year of our lives.

While 2010 was amazing in so many different ways, it gave us a few challenges to overcome and kept us VERY BUSY in the meantime. Both mine and Trae's new jobs are a complete blessing- we love our jobs and the companies we work for but WHEW! we are busy!!!
Trae now works for Morgan Stanley and I work in for Warner Chilcott, a Pharmaceutical company that specializes in womens health. Our work hours are long, but we are learning a lot and enjoying our careers.

In addition to the new gig, I decided in October to train for my first 1/2 Marathon. I have never liked running... in fact, I've hated running and have avoided running more than 3 miles at a time for several years. Several fit friends talked me into trying it and after a motivated moment and an $80 entry free later.... I'm signed up. I'm currently up to 8 miles and on a 6 day hiatus with a strained hamstring. Let's pray I can stay on my strict ice/stretch routine to get this thing back in working order! Jan. 30th is the 3M 1/2 Marathon. Prayers appreciated.

As busy as we seem to be, we are sure to plan out special moments for each other. Since next Thanksgiving's UT game is in College Station, Trae decided it would be a good time for us to take a trip together. I've never been over seas and we both agree we need to get some exploring under our belt before we are toting any babies with us. While we are still researching, Spain and Portugal are main contenders and I'm already VERY excited.

As Trae and I approach our 6 month anniversary, we feel very blessed. We have been asked to be a part of 3 of our dear friends weddings in 2011 taking us to Florida, South Padre and Jamaica. We wish you all a blessed 2011... we promise more blogging updates from us on all our world travels!