Thursday Night Recap: February 8

Eats: Porketta (seasoned pork roast) with green beans and rice

Dessert: Small dish of chocolate and vanilla mix ice cream

Drink: One glass of pinot noir

Entertainment: Mr. & Mrs. Smith
(I know, I know. We had to dig really deep for entertainment this time.)

Oh How the Tables Have Turned

If William were to write the post that I wrote last week for this week, I suspect it might sound something like this.

This week has been a tough week for me and my mama. The weather is finally above 20 degrees but my mama has yet to take me outside to play in the snow. Remember that bad cough and cold I had last week? Well I shared that with my mama.

She brought me to ECFE on Tuesday anyway because she figured it would make the day go by faster. When we got home we both took a long afternoon nap until daddy came home. Thankfully daddy came home a bit early that day. He made me dinner, gave me a bath and played with me a lot.

Yesterday I was a really good boy in the morning and then I took a REALLY long nap for my mama in the afternoon. But when I woke up I did not want to go to church for Ash Wednesday like my mama and daddy told me I had to. I just wanted to practice walking since I'm getting really good at it. So after communion my mama took me in the back of the church so that I could stretch my legs. I think she felt better back there too because she had to blow her nose every two minutes.

But this morning I am being a really good boy and I think my mom is feeling better so I bet we will get to play together a lot more today!

Ash Wednesday

It Was a Dangerous Thing to Teach Him How to Say Please

Like Linus and Lucy

On Saturday Brian surprised me with an unexpected date night. He even lined up a sitter unbeknownst to me. We headed to downtown St. Paul (our preferred downtown spot even over Minneapolis) and started the evening with a drink at the splendidly classic Kincaid's. It was the last weekend of the St. Paul Winter Carnival so there were quite a few people there but we found a cozy spot at the bar and were delighted to find out it was happy hour.

After our drink we went over to the Wells Fargo Ice Skating Rink to test out our lutz and triple sow cow. It's been a while since I've been on figure skates but I soon found out it's just like riding a bike; it all comes back eventually. Brian, a bit more inexperienced on skates, did just fine. It was a lot of fun. Props to Brian for a fun and original date idea. We finished out the evening with a few slices and beers at Pizza Luce. Here are a few action shots from the date.

Thursday Night Recap: January 31

Eats: Hoppin' John Chowder

Dessert: None

Drink: One glass of Meridian Pinot Noir 2005

Entertainment: Filing our tax return. Warning, this is only considered entertainment if you are entitled to a refund, which we were. Yay!

Hoppin' John Chowder

4 cans black-eyed peas, undrained
2 cans diced tomatoes and green chiles, undrained
1 can beef broth
1 lb smoked sausage, sliced
1 cup water
1 cup finely chopped onion
3/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 cups uncooked rice

1. Combine all ingredients except rice in a 6-quart slow cooker.
2. Cover and cook on LOW 6 hours.
3. Cook rice according to package instructions.
4. Stir rice into chowder.

Recipe courtesty of Southern Living Slow-Cooker Cookbook.