My boss gave me an idea for dinner tonight, and it turned out awesome. All I needed were some chicken thighs, maple syrup and Dijon mustard. Weird, huh?
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, mix together some maple syrup (about a quarter cup) and maybe a tablespoon of mustard. Spoon the glaze over four chicken thighs and cook for 45 minutes to an hour, or until the internal temperature of the chicken is at least 165 degrees.
My oven gets really hot, so two thighs were done in less than 45 minutes. If you decide to make it sometime, you might have to experiment since I didn't follow an exact recipe.
We ate the chicken with mashed red potatoes and mixed veggies. The thighs were moist, and they had a really good flavor. While it's cooking, maple syrup will overpower your sense of smell, but it really doesn't taste so sweet.
Try it!
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Mila Turns 2
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| It's Mila's 2nd birthday today, so she got a special treat of beef for dinner. |
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| Loki got some, too. |
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| Mila's dessert was a rawhide stick with gooey stuff inside. |
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| Look at that little pink tongue! |
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| Loki was very curious. |
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| She went at that thing forever... |
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| ...and ever. |
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| "Don't bother me! I'm busy at the moment." |
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| She really went to town on the thing. |
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| We even brought it outside for a little while tonight. |
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| Loki's looking awfully naughty. Wonder what she's been up to... |
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| ...That's what. I forgot my dinner plate on the table, and she just couldn't resist. |
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| Just a little bit more... She didn't stop until she was done. |
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| Loki got a stuffed cow for her birthday, too. She just just wasn't going to have it. |
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| "Aw, fine. I'll snuggle, but you can't make me like it." |
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Mila Learns to Shake
Mila doesn't know many tricks, even though she is almost two years old (her birthday is this coming Saturday!). She has a very short attention span, so it's questionable whether she will obey the few commands she does know. Mostly, she just recognizes some words, such as "outside" "treat" and "hungry".
Mila is also a creature of habit. She watches and learns. She knows just when it's time for bed--I've mentioned before how she practically flies to her kennel after her last trip outside at night. I don't know if she has an internal clock, or if she just knows that, when it gets dark and we're settling in for the night, it means it's bedtime. Mila and Loki have also learned to come running when they hear certain sounds in the kitchen. (That doesn't always mean they'll get something, but it doesn't hurt to try, right?)
She's a pretty smart dog, even though she doesn't know many "tricks". Mila is a very quick learner, although her attention span is short. She learned to sit right away, and now she's pretty good at lying down. She still has a hard time rolling over, but I think that might be because of her luxating patellas (rotating kneecaps). She is getting better with practice, though.
Mila recently learned how to shake. At first, she just didn't get it, so I gave up. Then I decided to try again. I started by grabbing her paw, then telling her to "shake". Each time, I would give her a little treat and a LOT of praise. Eventually, I just told her to shake and she started lifting her paw for me to hold. Now, she practically shoves her paw in my face, even when I don't want to shake. She just really loves treats.
I did start teaching her (and Loki--cats are pretty smart!) how to recognize shapes, but I actually just remembered that I didn't get very far. Maybe I'll start working on it again, and let you all know how that goes. :)
Mila is also a creature of habit. She watches and learns. She knows just when it's time for bed--I've mentioned before how she practically flies to her kennel after her last trip outside at night. I don't know if she has an internal clock, or if she just knows that, when it gets dark and we're settling in for the night, it means it's bedtime. Mila and Loki have also learned to come running when they hear certain sounds in the kitchen. (That doesn't always mean they'll get something, but it doesn't hurt to try, right?)
She's a pretty smart dog, even though she doesn't know many "tricks". Mila is a very quick learner, although her attention span is short. She learned to sit right away, and now she's pretty good at lying down. She still has a hard time rolling over, but I think that might be because of her luxating patellas (rotating kneecaps). She is getting better with practice, though.
Mila recently learned how to shake. At first, she just didn't get it, so I gave up. Then I decided to try again. I started by grabbing her paw, then telling her to "shake". Each time, I would give her a little treat and a LOT of praise. Eventually, I just told her to shake and she started lifting her paw for me to hold. Now, she practically shoves her paw in my face, even when I don't want to shake. She just really loves treats.
I did start teaching her (and Loki--cats are pretty smart!) how to recognize shapes, but I actually just remembered that I didn't get very far. Maybe I'll start working on it again, and let you all know how that goes. :)
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Wedding Plans: A Sneak Peek
The planning is coming right along. In the beginning, it was stressful to think of all the things that needed to be done, but we've figured out most of the main details, so we can breathe a little now. There is still a lot to be done, but we have almost six months to pull it all together.
First and foremost, we needed to figure out a place and date. The two kind of go hand-in-hand when you have less than a year; many venues book over a year in advance. We found a couple options and, in the end, the price tag (and, in part, the location) was the determining factor as far as the venue goes. After that, we only had three dates of choice, and we decided on August 25, 2012.
We went to take a look at Northern Pines (which is just outside PR) a couple weeks ago, and it should be very beautiful once the snow has melted. Because there is such little indoor space, we decided to have the ceremony outdoors in front of the lake and the reception indoors. Pray that the weather cooperates that weekend....
Next, we wanted to figure out the food situation. We found a caterer that doesn't charge a small fortune and has a fairly decent choice of menu to start out; we haven't decided on an exact menu yet, but have mailed in a deposit to book them. That isn't the only deposit we've had to pay, and we're nowhere near the end of all the wedding expenses.
Fortunately, I've been able to do quite a bit of writing to help pay all these expenses. For anyone who wants to help make my writing pay off a little more, you are welcome to check out my articles. I have a HUGE library of work available, having been at it for over three years now :D My profile is right here. Please don't feel obligated to read unless you see something you are interested in, but I do get paid every time someone views an article.
I'll stop the self-promotion now, I promise.
It's not easy to pick and choose the people you want to be part of your wedding party, and that is why we are having such a large one. We have a couple people left to ask, though, so I won't list everyone just yet. We're very excited to have some of our best friends there with us for our day.
The next step was to find my wedding gown. Unbelievably, it can take an extremely long time to get it if you have one special ordered, and since I don't have that much time, I decided to buy something off the rack. Luckily, there are plenty of options; you just have to make sure there is enough time to get alterations, dry cleaning, etc.
I was so happy to have Dawn and Chaka there to help me find the perfect dress. They provided an honest opinion, and didn't tell me that everything looked great when it didn't. Aaand....I found it! The One. It wasn't easy, because there were lots of great options but, in the end, none of the others quite measured up. I decided to just pay a deposit on it, rather than taking it home right away. I still have plenty of time to pay the rest and have alterations done.
That's the gist of our wedding planning so far. There are still tons of details to plan, but I don't want to spoil the surprise for everyone by sharing every little detail. There is a tab above, where you will find a link to our wedding website, but here it is again. We will continue to update it as we go along....
First and foremost, we needed to figure out a place and date. The two kind of go hand-in-hand when you have less than a year; many venues book over a year in advance. We found a couple options and, in the end, the price tag (and, in part, the location) was the determining factor as far as the venue goes. After that, we only had three dates of choice, and we decided on August 25, 2012.
We went to take a look at Northern Pines (which is just outside PR) a couple weeks ago, and it should be very beautiful once the snow has melted. Because there is such little indoor space, we decided to have the ceremony outdoors in front of the lake and the reception indoors. Pray that the weather cooperates that weekend....
Next, we wanted to figure out the food situation. We found a caterer that doesn't charge a small fortune and has a fairly decent choice of menu to start out; we haven't decided on an exact menu yet, but have mailed in a deposit to book them. That isn't the only deposit we've had to pay, and we're nowhere near the end of all the wedding expenses.
Fortunately, I've been able to do quite a bit of writing to help pay all these expenses. For anyone who wants to help make my writing pay off a little more, you are welcome to check out my articles. I have a HUGE library of work available, having been at it for over three years now :D My profile is right here. Please don't feel obligated to read unless you see something you are interested in, but I do get paid every time someone views an article.
I'll stop the self-promotion now, I promise.
It's not easy to pick and choose the people you want to be part of your wedding party, and that is why we are having such a large one. We have a couple people left to ask, though, so I won't list everyone just yet. We're very excited to have some of our best friends there with us for our day.
The next step was to find my wedding gown. Unbelievably, it can take an extremely long time to get it if you have one special ordered, and since I don't have that much time, I decided to buy something off the rack. Luckily, there are plenty of options; you just have to make sure there is enough time to get alterations, dry cleaning, etc.
I was so happy to have Dawn and Chaka there to help me find the perfect dress. They provided an honest opinion, and didn't tell me that everything looked great when it didn't. Aaand....I found it! The One. It wasn't easy, because there were lots of great options but, in the end, none of the others quite measured up. I decided to just pay a deposit on it, rather than taking it home right away. I still have plenty of time to pay the rest and have alterations done.
That's the gist of our wedding planning so far. There are still tons of details to plan, but I don't want to spoil the surprise for everyone by sharing every little detail. There is a tab above, where you will find a link to our wedding website, but here it is again. We will continue to update it as we go along....
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