Christmas Decorations

So it is that time of year again when everyone pulls out the old decorations and makes the neighborhood glow. It's the time of year when people wear more red than what should be legal, and snow is manditory. The time of year when SANTA is literally calling you wanting to go catch a movie. Well...what do you do when it's your first time having Christmas with your wife?


You Decorate!

Jess and I spent date night decorating our apartment. Ok lets be honest...Jess decorated it and I did homework, but then when I was done WE decorated. Here are some final snap shots of some of our handy work.

PS: Anyone and Everyone at the Landmark at Heritage Fields Apartment, bring on the Christmas Decoration Competition. The Bells will take you out!

This is OUR tree all lit up, I love how it all fits nicely in the apartment.

Here you can get a good feel for our gold and red theme (notice the themed stockings!)

Even our menu board is festive

A Classy look from the outside

Mini ornaments on our Nambe/Willow Tree table

-Ryan

Jello

Plain and Simple. Jess left her phone in Austin while on our road trip. BUT we got it back, and when I got it back I thought I would play a small prank on Jess before she got home...So I bought Jello and did a famous Office prank.   

-Ryan

Balloons Balloons Balloons!

So being a good husband I start asking Jess what she wants for her birthday at least two months in advance. So the usual, "I don't want anything" it what I was expecting. But oh no was I in for it! She looks back over her shoulder and says, "I want to go to New Mexico and hang out with my parents and go to the Balloon Fiesta"....OK. So October 1st rolled around and we drove...and drove...and drove. We had a blast in New Mexico. It was great because we got to spend great time with both our parents, spend time with friends, and of course look at balloons!

Side Note: We did attend the Fiesta two separate times, but unfortunately the photos from our morning session have been lost. (Sorry Josh iPhoto crashed uploading them)

Easy with the Brakes

Just because I consider myself a tad bit childish does not mean everything comes with a child like price tag. Jess and I recently noticed an annoying squeaking noise in her car. So what does every responsible newly wed do? We went to the local mechanic. And after a brief panic attack we left the local mechanic. What did we learn that day. Brakes are not cheap! But a "starving broke college student" and genius grad student put their minds and muscles together and got it done. That's right! we got it done ourselves! Lets just say that we did NOT spend $400 dollars to fix two brakes like the mechanic said it would.

Mission Accomplished:
-Ryan

It's Been Awhile

Well if you follow either Jess or me  on twitter you can understand why we haven't made a blog in awhile. But, just because school keeps us busy does not mean crazy stuff doesn't happen. I will release a few quick stories about what has happened in the last two months. Stay Tuned!



-Ryan

Happy Birthday

Hey gang!
So I figured I would wait and hit you all with something cool for my next blog. I understand my birthday isn't for another month, but hey you don't always get to see your favorite band on that day so I had to settle for a little early. Jess and I went and saw Incubus live in Dallas. The rain postponed the show by about an hour, but because the hassle they Pavilion let us sit in reserved seating instead of the grass. Here are a few clips of the show, sorry no pictures.
The show was pretty awesome minus the lack of sleep he are having and suffering from today, but it was totally worth it.

I have to say a big thank you to my wife that bought the tickets and stood next to me and sang the words as loud as she could. Jess is the best concert buddy anyone could ever ask for. She was up late with me and we both battled rain, drunks, and lots of smoke (some cigarette), but most of all she put up with some people (and some songs) that get on her nerves and she did it for me. Thank you Dessi (Jess' new nickname)


Pardon Me (The Encore)
Talk Shows on Mute (Acoustic)
Are You In? (Jess' Favorite)


Incubus thank you for continuing the show even after some serious rain. You guys put on an amazing show that can bring people to tears, laughs, and brand memories in our hearts. Please keep up the hard work for many years to come.

It's Been A Long Time Coming

You’ll never guess where I am…

Fine. You win.

This time, I am accompanied by grande cups of Tazo peppermint tea, as Ryan so graciously keeps them coming to comfort his sniffling wife. I was honestly expecting to get sick, because I nannied for two runny-nosed, congested, and coughing little boys on Thursday. Even though I washed my hands thoroughly every time they simply looked at me, the effort was not enough to keep me well. I always get sick after such encounters (yes, this has happened multiple times at my job—usually over holiday weekends where I would love to stay sick in bed), but I was feeling generally hopeful all morning because I still felt pretty good. I called my adorable twin late this afternoon to giggle over silly stuff and catch up on her life, and as soon as I got off the phone — BAM — it hit. Suddenly, my nose was running and so stuffy at the same time that I lost all ability to say my ‘m’ and ‘n’ words I am so fond of. [Side note: I’m not exactly sure which words these are… you can use your imagination to come up with any fun words that involve either a ‘m’ or ‘n’].

Anyways, as I went to the bathroom to blow my nose for the fourth time tonight, I was struck by a desperate longing for some TLC in the form of one of my comfort foods… Gru. [Side note #2: to fully encompass the greatness of ‘Gru,’ you must pronounce it with a heavy grunt—even if you are reading this in your head… just do it.] I sincerely think it should replace chicken noodle soup as the healing remedy for the common cold.

I was first, and only, introduced to Gru by my father-in-law Paul. Apparently, as the stories go, Gru began its remarkable heritage as a simple ‘Campfire Stew’. Paul has a very strong opinion about what belongs in this dish, and rightly so because it is incredibly addictive. All I know is that green chile, potatoes, browned pork, green chile, some kind of broth, possibly diced tomatoes, and more green chile go into this stew. There are, of course, other ingredients… but I fail to remember them as my focus is primarily on the green chile involved. My poor Papa Paul naturally gets teased about the inordinate amounts of hatch chile he includes while cooking, but I am convinced that this is the secret ingredient to his success. I love it!

With time, and possibly assorted beverages, ‘Campfire Stew’ changed to ‘Campfire Gruel’ (possibly to accentuate the hearty and filling nature of the stew), and eventually was just shortened to ‘Gruel’ when we decided to cook it over coals in the side garden instead of an actual campfire (yes, you guessed correctly… this intoxicating concoction reaches its full potential in a dutch-oven). For some reason unbeknownst to me, ‘Gruel’ was suddenly dropped like a burning piece of pork fat and the shorter, more enticing name ‘Gru’ was adopted. So was the grunt.

That leads us to the present, where I sit in a Starbucks comfy chair… my head filled with snot and Gru Grunts. I have had this delectable dish twice in the past while sick and it has cleared my sinuses remarkably well. Maybe because of all the hot chile? Maybe because it is, indeed, a stew? Maybe because all the care that goes into making it cannot but help come out? For whatever reason, it is the only food I am craving right now and I am hoping someone who reads this will possibly get me the recipe. While I do not have a dutch oven, hopefully the green chile in my freezer will help the Gru make its debut in Texas. 

Second try

Its been about 1.5 months since my (Jess') last writing. And first writing. I am pleased to announce that I am in fact, still sitting at Starbucks—though I'm now in the Arlington one—and I also still have no idea what to write about. I thought improvement was inevitable with age. Maybe I should wait longer?

Another thing that has remained constant in my life: roaches. I called my mom to complain about this very thing the other day, to which she reminded me that roaches are a fact of life in Texas. In fact, I should be grateful that they are only the size of small beetles and not huge, mice-sized cretins. Although true, I still don't like them. When my sisters, Nick, and my mom came to visit in July, I furiously cleaned the house before and during their stay, desperate to keep the little buggers at bay. I woke up before anyone else to make coffee and squish the retreating roaches before anyone else saw. This was effective until Nick discovered one in the bathroom... and then I sent Ryan in to kill it. Now that he's proven his agility and fearlessness against them, I graciously let him slay roaches by calling for him every time I see one.

It's not that I don't keep the house clean—I'm constantly taking out the trash, wiping down the counters, rinsing dishes to put in the dishwasher, mopping the kitchen floor, and spraying pink grapefruit cleaning solution on every hard surface I find. In fact, if you were to walk in our apartment right now, it would be spotless... except for the occasional roach scurrying back to it's hiding place. Until today, I had no idea what I was doing wrong.

This afternoon, I came to the conclusion that the roaches were not taking me seriously. After all, how could they if I was allowing their little nests to survive? So I went to Target, bought 24 little poison boxes to hide around Latte Love, and waged all-out war. Apparently, the poison smells just like food (I'll admit, it does smell like garlic butter... but a sick, twisted garlic butter), which the roach eats and then carries back to the nest to share with the others. I guess there's tons of this poison too, because I only have to replace the traps every six months. After I placed the first eight little boxes I just stood there and stared at one—hoping a roach would hurry out, eat the poison and then flip over dead in front of me. No such luck. Maybe they knew I was watching? Or maybe it's just too morbid to want to watch something die (even if it is just a roach). Anyways, I gave up after about 65 seconds and moved on to bigger and better things... like putting away the rest of the groceries.

*Side note* Ryan just passed by on his way to show something to a customer and asked what I was writing about. I told him "Roaches" and involuntarily shuddered. His response was "Really?" as his smile turned into more of a concerned grimace. This has given me new insight—maybe I shouldn't write about things that disgust me, as it might disgust you too. Hmmmmm.

Ok, happier things. I am going home to make cake-pops for church tomorrow. The sugar content might be the only happy thing about it though... I'm making them because our executive Pastor and his wife are leaving to Oklahoma. We'll miss them, but at least we'll bid them adieu with delicious balls of cakey goodness. I've never made cake-pops before, but I've heard there's a first time for everything. Except for diets... they never work long enough to constitute a "time".

I hope there's a dead roach when I get home.

-Jess

Books

Books have never been a fancy of mine. I remember as a teenager that my Dad would read non-stop. Even on vacation he would read. If we were driving in the car to Arizona and my mom was driving my dad was reading. I think it has become less of a hobby, and more of an obsession for him. With this said let us move on from starting point A into journey point B.

Something I have also noticed is that ever since I went to college I have grown more and more understanding of my father. I have learned that he works harder than anyone I have ever known, is smarter than most people I can name, and has read more books than Library of Congress contains. Without him knowing I have started a little project. Try to read 2 books a month. For me this is a serious feat, but my dad that is like a Saturday afternoon. But hey its a start. So far I have read my two books this month, and I am starting to see why he does it all the time. If I am at home I just was to read my book, and at work all I talk about is the current chapter of George Bush's memoir, or how Amy Chua is a crazy insomniac piano Nazi Chinese lady. Either way reading I think is my new thing. Moving on from Journey point B to "Books" conclusion point C.

So far I have read 4 books this summer and it has been enjoyable so far. I am really excited to talk to my dad and tell him all I have read. I think it will really blow him away, and not to mention it will give him some ideas on what to read next. Strangely enough the books I have avoided my whole life are the ones I am enjoying the most. Although the newest book I have recently started is "tricky". But then again I have a month to read it.

Post Script (P.S. see reading does make you smarter.)
It may be my luck, or New York times knows how to pick books, but So far I have learned two important thinks from the books I have read. The first is determination. In the book Decision Points written by George Bush I learned that no matter what hand President Bush was dealt he handled it well and with determination. He never gave up even when all around him in Washington D.C. people were telling him to throw in the towel. It was eye opening. I think that he really did do a good job as the president. not because I am republican, but because he tells the reader why he made the decisions he made, and proves he really was looking out for the country's best interest.
Second is my parenting when I have children. Even though I don't have children yet there will be two rules as soon as they are born. The first: If they want to play an instrument it will be either the Piano or Violin. Second rule: THEY WILL play either the Piano or violin. The book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother is about a Chinese mother raising her children the traditional Chinese way. And first I want to say I love my parents and need to call them as soon as I am done posting this, but I am going to raise my kids a little more strict than they raised me. Amy Chua, the author, explains how and why she raised her two daughters so uptight. By pushing your kids to the limit they learn how much potential they truly have. And that they really can accomplish anything. If my kid is going to play sports, not only are they going to play sport, but they are going to get an Olympic gold metal. Why? Because they are my kids and they are the best musicians, or actors, or athlete the human body can physically allow. Pushing your kids has been taboo in the last decade, but my kids will learn that a 2 hour piano practice will be just a warm up...lets see who's kid plays Carnegie Hall first!

For kicks here is a quote from the book that I enjoyed very much.
Amy is responding to her youngest daughter while practicing piano, "if the next time's not PERFECT, I'm going to TAKE ALL YOUR STUFFED ANIMALS AND BURN THEM!"

The Salt Lick

There are times in a man's life that are monumental. The first time he kisses a girl, first time he gets in a fight, his first drink with his dad...etc. well I had a monumental moment last weekend. Jess and I were in San Antonio, and we were visiting Kelly and Eddie, Jess' aunt and uncle. So we get down there on Saturday morning after waking up before the sun and drive for a bit. Needless to say we stopped at Starbucks to get caffeinated.
So we get to SATX and we hang out with Kelly and Eddie and their kids and needless to say we hang out with Joey and Ashley (Eddie's son that just got engaged). And we eat some Vietnam food called "pho" which is rice noodles with some beef in a broth. That's when we get around to driving back up to Austin. Why? Don't I always tell you people why? So we get to Austin to meet some other relatives of Jess. Her Uncle Sean and Aunt Carol and their kids. We hang out at there for a bit and then we decided to go to this place called "The Salt Lick". I heard that Sean and Carol had their reception here and this makes me to believe this is a upper class steak joint. I was wrong....Kinda

We drive maybe ten minutes down a road near Sean's house (which is not really in Austin, it's more like on a farm) and we get to the Salt Lick. And this BBQ place has a vineyard. I don't know what kinda BBQ places you go to, but this was a first for me. This place is in the middle of nowhere and the amount of cars out number Paris Military.....ok bad example. but needless to say there are a ton of people here. And we sit down. Sean comes and tells us it's going to be an hour wait. No big deal. They make lemonade on site. Like serious squeeze lemons into a cup, sugar, water...booyah achieved lemonade! Now the place is doesn't serve booze, but it was BYOB, so that didn't stop many members of our group from having a fun time. An hour of picture taking, dancing to the live music, and making faces as Jade (Sean and Carol's daughter). We go into this cabin like building and we see this grill covered with ribs, chunks of brisket, and sausage links hanging above the flames. That's when it hit me, this place does not mess around with food. We sit down and after ordering a 4 meat dish for myself my food comes out. Nearly falling off the plate is by far the most tender and moist brisket that has ever entered my presents. It's sweet soft taste on my palate offset by the sharp mustard BBQ sauce. Then the links. Nothing can explain sweet, spicing, and enticing like these sausage links can, after that I start shoveling potato salad in my mouth as fast as my hands can get it there. I am in culinary-utopia. After about 4 spoon fulls of potatoes I realize there is a  pork rib on my plate. After one bite, followed by me inhaling the rest of the tender meat covered in sauce there was no longer a rib on my plate. It took us a whole 30 minutes to eat our dinner. Mainly because there was so much food. I will never forget the amazing food that I ate that night. A lot of places I have taken people, or vice-versa  the second time around the food was not that great. But Jess didn't stop talking about this place once we left SATX on our way to Austin, and I see why.


 

Carol and Jade

Jade camera happy

Sean and Luke Soaking up the live tunes

Kelly and Taylor

Luke was trying to meet some ladies, we had to restrain him. :)

Austin, I thought you would like this one the best.

I wasn't lying

They are serious about food

I was overwhelmed.

Jess and I pre-BBQ Sauce

Eddie this is the only picture of you we had from this event.

"The Little's" Pizza

So going back in time from my "Pythetic Pyrex Moment" trying to get you all back up to date on current cafe events. Two weeks ago we had the privilege of having our first real non-family guest at our apartment. And it was non other "The Littles". Who is this you say...Do you really think I would leave you in the dark for more than a few sentences. Well I should but I love you too dang much! So "The Littles" is non other than Madison Camp. She is our close friend and our even closer friends daughter of  Scott and Gina Camp. We had a blast mainly involving in a serious game of Scattergories in which I lost, swimming, Shrek, and Pizza making. Not to brag but I think I am pretty good at that. Anyway here are a few pictures to show you two things. First I am not lying and we actually did the things I write about and second that "The Littles" really is Little. Seriously she is like 2 foot 12. :)

-Ryan

Bye Bye Pyrex

So I think this will be a quick blog. Mainly because it is just a picture. I am still being lazy with editing videos. Anyway the reason we are here. Destruction, carnage, and glass all over our kitchen. In the words of Tucker Max, "I used to think Red Bull was the most destructive invention of man kind...". Well I am here to tell you Tucker Max is wrong, electric stove coils are. I used to think Pyrex pans were indestructible; they're not. I was boiling water today to make some pasta for my left over Alfredo sauce and I was browning some vegan sausage to make a nice pair. As I put the water to boil I adjusted the Pyrex pan side ways to make room to set the pot on the stove. I mistakenly turned on the back burner (where the Pyrex was sitting) instead of the front. I know Pyrex can go through a lot. But electric stove coils is not one of them, Learn from my hour long clean up duty...DONT PUT PYREX ON THE STOVE!!!!!

Did I mention the brownies you can see in the remains of the glass that were in the pan caught on fire.

Hope you had a good laugh and my misfortune.

-Ryan

China

So last night I posted something about what has been on my mind, and I don't know if any of you could tell, but, I kinda forced it out. My "Farmer Guy" post I was pumped, and I couldn't really wait to get home and blog about it. Well, I have some thing to say again. There is a place in this world, and let me tell you it is amazing. It is a place that is full of love, curiosity, laughter, and friends. Of course I don't really need to tell you. It is in the Title of the post! China is something that Jess and I have seriously been looking forward now to almost a whole year. In fact a year ago we were there! I am going to post some pictures up and you will see for yourself. But China is not just a place on a map, a destination, or the largest population of people on the planet. It is a living and breathing organism that has a field ready to be harvested. There are people in China that would do anything to know what I know. Now I am sounding conceded. If I were to take the love I have in my heart, and put it in their's. I wouldn't have to explain anything. Some people get this statement, while others don't. If your having a hard time email me. But none the less there is a vast group of college students that love to learn English, cook, eat, laugh, and most of all sing Hotel California (Calvin this is for you).


A few shout out...(because that went well last time)

Balita
Calvin
Kate
Ryan
Joel
Greg
Helen
Celeste
Wade
Dawn
Shawn
Thomas
Kattee


These people are full of joy and love. And that is why Jess and I will be going back. And in case you have been living on the moon the last 30 years here are a few pictures from our trip a year ago.

希望您能推测此。 直到下次…赖安。 或者，如果我们在中国我会签字作为没什么，但是，苹果计算机公司。


Haha good luck with that one...

Current Influences

So lately Jess and I have been saturated in some interesting influences. Movies, Music, and literature. I have to say I do have an addictive personality. It's who I am, it's in my blood, I get stuck on repeat, or what ever you want to call it, when I get a new singer, movie, or book in my hands Jess usually gets stuck with it for at least the next week. A couple of summers ago it was this song by Incubus "Are You In?", This summer it was been non stop John Mayer. I have to say he is an exceptional guitar player. I now have a new appreciation for blues guitar and acoustic rock. Although I must give some credit to Death Cab for Cutie. Their song, "You're a Tourist" is inspiring. But I don't want to bore you with me going on and on about some dude that gets paid too much to treat Jessica Simpson like crap. Why? Because I will let you see for yourself, John Mayer Playing "Gravity" Live.

Now that John is off my chest...lets move on into movies. I wish I could spout off about how I have practically lived and the cinema this last summer, but, I can't. In fact I can't really recall the last time I have been. But this last weekend I watched one of my favorite movies. I am obsessed with it. It has Johnny Depp in it, and it's not pirates, or any other real "new" movie really. The movie is called "Blow". I will pause here and allow everyone to raise their eyebrows and second guess what I am really watching. Ok. Blow is a movie based on a true story about a guy named George Jung. Here is his link...Info on the Film. It doesn't matter if I watched it Monday I can watch it Tuesday. It is the perfect film for anyone that likes drug movies, action movies, drama movies, mafia movies, and more.

Lastly and probably most time consuming for me is literature. I am lost in the book that everyone raved about and I caught on the band wagon post fame. Decision Points by George W. Bush is incredible. And very eye opening. I recommend it to anyone even you Alabama Grizzly Adams (my old roommate that hates politics). In fact I looked up the presidents current mailing address, and I intend on writing him a letter as soon as I am done with the book. Pick up the book and tell me what you think. Decision Points



-Ryan

Craziness!

So things have been crazy around the cafe. Food, Friends, and LOTS of coffee! Here are few pictures that will require further explanation later on.

Our Red White and Blue pancakes that our master chief Jess had made on the 4th of July

Nick's Birthday Brownies!

 

Nick's birthday dinner. Steak, wine reduction noodles and more!

Silent in Starbucks

Tonight is my first time writing in this blog. It's also the first time I've been at this Starbucks where everything seems totally dead. Well, that might be a bit of an exaggeration... when I used to come at 6 am to do homework it was pretty calm. Or maybe I've just always been so engrossed in my computer screen that I've never paid much attention to the traffic flow. Not that any of this matters - I would wager that none but Howard Schultz care much about my recent Starbucks observations. I guess people just don't want large amounts of delicious caffeine this late at night. I do though. But then again, I didn't wear jeans in high school.

I'm not really sure what to write about. Ryan gave me tons of awesome advice before I started:
"Write to one specific person, even though everyone will read it"
"Write about your day - or anything interesting"
"Look at my blogs"
"Give shout outs to people who are close, or even people you barely know"
If it was a research paper I would already have a great intro paragraph done. Unless it was due in a couple weeks. In that case, I would still be on facebook.

I guess I can tell you what I'm doing tomorrow. I'm waking up at 5, hitting the snooze a couple times, scrambling to get dressed so I can hit the road by 5:45, heading to Dallas to start housecleaning by 6:30, working for 5 hours and then going nanny for the afternoon. After that fun I'm getting to meet up with the love of my life and we're going to try the yummy and oh-so-healthy double-double at Dallas' new In-N-Out burger. It's a great way to end my first day being a vegetarian. I'm not too good at diets...

Saturday is really going to be great though. After seeing my Bible Study girls and rescuing my man from the grip of death (aka work), I get to go home and see my mom and sister who will be here visiting from Albuquerque. That night, Missie and Nick are coming all the way from California. It's Nick's birthday on Saturday... happy early birthday fab friend!!! This weekend will be great- I love hanging out with my husband and family. I wish my dad could come, but hopefully I'll get to see him soon.

Wow- for nothing to write about this is kind of turning into a long blog. Hahaha. Poor Ryan... this is what I do to him everyday (unfortunately, in his case, I occasionally have things to talk about). Interesting update: Starbucks just closed. So I moved outside to wait for Ryan and Mr. Farmer came by. He gave me three peaches. I really like peaches because I can cut them up, put them in a bowl of milk and sprinkle sugar on them for breakfast. Any breakfast one can sprinkle sugar on is a breakfast worth having. But, again, I'm not too good at diets...

- Jess

Missie, Nick, Kristen, Cecil, and Jackie

We were just blowing off some steam. We are excited we are going to have some family over this weekend! Can't wait to show you guy all the up coming pictures!

My Tomatos

This is a video of our tomatoes and balcony. don't mind my appearance. I was about to go run and I wasn't really looking forward to it.

Thank You Farmer Guy

So I work at Starbucks. This is no strange or unknown fact. But there are some people, "regulars", that come in and make my day, give me a story to tell, or just make me laugh 'til it hurts to breathe. To give a few "shout outs":
Les (iced quad venti mocha)
Ted (venti caramel frappaccino with raspberry, with the leftovers from the pitcher going to Scooby the dog)
Rebbecca (venti skinny cinnamon dolce with soy)
Espresso Guy (quad espresso and a cheese danish)
Eddie (Venti caramel frappaccino with 2 shots)
Oatmeal lady (Oatmeal with extra water)
Cintas Delivery Guy (Grande Passion Tea Lemonade)
Crazy Ex Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader Lady (Venti Carmel Macchiato with whole milk, whipped cream, 3x's as much caramel top and bottom, and 15 extra pumps of vanilla)


While all those people are cool, well, some aren't but most are. I shared a few with you because a few people on that list are just ridiculous and are planning on giving themselves and their children diabetes before they all hit 30. There is one guy, however, that has officially made my day today. He is the Farmer Guy. He always comes in and drops like $15 on frappaccinos, and every time he comes in he is happy to pay for it.(no big deal) But the thing is he never asks for a free drink. Why am I bringing this up. I will tell you. Because every time he comes in he drops off at least $100 worth of fruits and vegetables. One time within one week he brought 40 pounds of asparagus for us to take home and enjoy! I mean this guy is AWESOME!!!!! Why does he do it? I don't know. All I know is he is a local farmer that is bringing me onions tomorrow. Why? Because I requested it! That is a serious culinary hook up! Here are some pictures of some things I brought home today.(And saved a few bucks when we did our weekly shopping at Tom Thumb). If you can't tell  this is all organic and natural stuff which normally people pay the big bucks for. I brought home red potatoes, green tomatoes,  red tomatoes, eggplant(which I used in our eggplant parmesan that was out of this world.) and pickled/jarred okra. Farmer Guy if you read this, and you really do bring me onions...I don't care who is at work tomorrow, your Venti Mocha Frappaccino is on the house!

 This is not eggplant. That is what your thinking. And your right! It is some of the red tomato Farmer Guy gave me. Fresh Diced tomatoes that went right on top of eggplant parmesan right before in went in that oven made this dish incredible!

So what did we learn fellow bloggers, family, and friends? TAKE CARE OF YOUR BARISTAS!!!
            Because in return we will indeed take care of you! We don't care what you give us. Cereal, Socks, Belts, Cool bags, pillows, coffee related stuff, stuff to read, Mac 'n Cheese, vegetables, tips, funny facts (all of these things I have indeed received from Sbux customers) We don't care what you give as long as we know you think of us as more than the people that pour your triple grande whole milk latte with 2 raw sugars (Les' other drink).


Thank you Farmer Guy, and all those people at Starbucks that make waking up at 4 A.M worth not sleeping in.



-Ryan

Cooking Class

So Jess and I went to a cooking classes that was given to us by my mom. It was a stellar wedding present. Jess and I talked about it the whole way home and we can't wait to try the recipes with a little twist of our style. Both of our favorites were a pan seared New York strip with a red wine reduction and pancetta sauce. But the tiramisu, scallops, and squid ink noodles were a big hit...sorta. We weren''t a fan of the shallot sauce for the scallops. (it needed more body) I wish we took a camera but hey we can't document everything. But for fun check this out.


http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=grz&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1280&bih=621&q=squid+ink+noodles&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi




-Ryan

The Cafe is up and Running

So finally we are completely unpacked. All of the stuff we wanted to buy and assemble for the rooms put into place I figured I would slap a few pictures up here so people can see the final product.

Israel Pictures

Ok so many of you know that Jess and I went to Israel...it was like a secondary honey moon, but there was no strawberries and champagne. We did however take a lot of pictures and learn a lot about Biblical History. So instead of posting all 873-ish pictures on facebook.com we decided to upload them here, and give you guys a complete description on each one. Plus its easier to ask questions about them and easier for us to answer.

 

So this was our first day waking up in Israel. I snapped this photo off on our balcony of our hotel room.(which was AMAZING by the way) I think She looks very lovely even as soon as she wakes up, and if you are wondering that is the Mediterranean sea behind her. We had an spectacular view.

So this is an over shot of our first site we visited. It is Caesarea. A city Herod the Great build and named after Cesar. It is interesting because it a place that naturally does not have a bay or harbor of any kind. But Herod took the "new" invention of concrete and build a bay. You can read more about it and see an aerial view at this website. -> http://www.basarchive.org/sample/bswbBrowse.asp?PubID=BSBA&Volume=33&Issue=5&ArticleID=4

 But if you don't want to go and see what is under water this is what is kinda left from the bay. It is not the original structure but its in the same location and roughly the same size as a portion that was there.

And this was one of the coolest things as Caesarea. this is Herod's Palace. (not too shabby huh?) The area that is closer to where we were was actually Herod's swimming pool. Where this was taken place was his public quarters and then past the swimming pool was his private quarters. I gotta say even though the man that tried to kill Jesus as an infant was crazy, he had great taste in housing locations. P.S

If you look very closely at the bottom of the picture you see two flat smooth surfaces. Those were two mosiacs that I will talk about in my next Israeli post.

Welcome To the Latte Love Cafe

Hello and welcome to the Latte Love Cafe. Although we are not a 'real' cafe we are a family. Jess and I got married exactly one month ago. And I gotta tell you its awesome. We are finally moved into our new home, which is what this blog is named after, because our home is designed to look like a coffee bar. This blog is going to keep you up to date with all of our activities, events, and just cool stuff that goes on in our lives and home. Here is a quick tour of our small apartment. I will be uploading a second one probably later today after it is all cleaned up and looking good.

-Ryan