The Adventures of a Calamari Queen – Page 51 – Christian, Wife, Mommy, Homemaker, Retired nurse, Fur-mama,living a simple and minimal life!

Dinner with Friends!

We had our friends over for dinner last night. It was just nice to have them over and have fellowship before the busy Thanksgiving week (we are hosting btw,and it’s a little busy in our house already!). We prepared steaks and have the usual steak side dishes like mashed potato (we made our favorite smoked gouda mashed potatoes), mushrooms, salads,caramelized onions. I wasn’t able to take pics because I got busy and forgot! It was all delicious, especially the steaks! You can never go wrong with filet mignon. I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving week with family and people you care about. I wish I had all my family with me this time of year (my mom and siblings, nephews). Even if I’m not going to share a Thanksgiving meal with them, I’m so grateful for them. Happy Thanksgiving week. Bring on the holiday cooking!:)

Birthday weekend!

Saturday was my birthday and hubby wanted to know what I wanted to do. A weekend getaway with him would be nice especially with the holidays ahead of us (we are hosting Thanksgiving this year,so it will be a little chaotic around here). I wanted to visit the Oregon coast but with the weather we have here in the Pacific NW, I don’t think we’ll like it this time of year. So we decided on San Diego because of the nice sunny fall they have there. We loved it there, I can’t believe the weather we had last weekend close to 80’s. So opposite from Seattle. Anyways, we did the tourist things like Seaworld, SD zoo, SD safari, Coronado Island, Mission Beach, Old Town. It was a great 4 days with my Hubs, exploring a new city and enjoying the warm weather and eating yummy food. My kind of Birthday Celebration. Thank you Lord for another year you gave me.

Birthday Dinner at Fleming's — Birthday Dinner at Fleming’s

Filet mignon,lobster mac and cheese, Rib eye!

afternoon latte at Little Italy! — afternoon latte in Little Italy!

Today!

It’s been a busy day of shopping for me today because most of the stores are having sales this week especially in the baking sections. So I’m stockpiling the basics like sugar, flour and butter. My favorite store this week was Fred Meyer (Kroger affiliate) because of their cheese and butter sale. I also stopped at target to check their clearance for their halloween candies. They normally will have 70% off after halloween, I did score a lot of candies and I will send them to my family and friends back home in the Philippines. I don’t buy “junk food” unless they’re on sale. I believe it’s fine to have these treats in moderation. I’m not a big fan of chocolates/candies unless it’s Kit-kat (they’re my guilty pleasure). I used coupons on my Fred Meyer trip (mostly store coupons) ,didn’t use any on my Target trip.

Fred Meyer: Retail Price:$40, I paid:$20! I've been wanting to try this new starbucks coffee but I find it too pricey and I know that they will go on sale so I waited and today was the day to get them(i had a good coupon). I also wanted to try the organic mascara.(i also had a coupon for this.) — Fred Meyer: Retail Price:$40, I paid:$20! I’ve been wanting to try this new starbucks coffee but I find it too pricey and I know that they will go on sale so I waited (for 3 weeks) and today was the day to get them(i had a good coupon). I also wanted to try the organic mascara.(i also had a coupon for this.)

Fred Meyer (i have to take another picture because they will not fit in one pic) Retail price:$60, paid 30$ — Fred Meyer – Retail price:$60, paid $26

On a more serious note: I would like to ask for prayers for my home country, the Philippines. They just experienced Super typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) . It’s so heartbreaking with what happened in the last 2 days; hundreds died, lots of missing people, millions of homes damaged. We Filipinos are resilient and we’ll get back up again. Prayers for healing and God’s protection for the country. Deuteronomy 31:8.

Apple-Pie Cake!

With all of the apples we got from our Apple Picking adventure, we had to do something with them (aside from apple juice, apple sauce) we decided to look for a recipe thats easy and quick. This recipe was from marthastewart.com, and I’m gonna save this recipe because it was really good (according to my husband and In-laws) and will probably make this again in the future. I’m not really into baking but Zach’s been encouraging me to try it and expand my cooking skill. I really don’t like measuring things. If you have extra apples, I would recommend that you try this recipe. Happy Baking!

Apple-Pie Cake (http://www.marthastewart.com/341316/apple-pie-cake)

INGREDIENTS

2 cups flour
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
5 pounds (about 12) tart apples, such as Granny Smith
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

DIRECTIONS

STEP 1

In a large bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Using an electric mixer or a pastry cutter, cut in butter until the mixture forms pea-size pieces. Press 2/3 of the mixture onto bottom and 1 inch up the side of a 9-inch springform pan.
STEP 2

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Peel apples, cut into thin slices, and place in a bowl. Pour off any accumulated liquid. Toss apple slices with remaining teaspoon cinnamon and lemon juice, and put them in the prepared pan, pressing down gently as you pack them in (they will mound above the edge of the pan). Sprinkle remaining crumb mixture on top.
STEP 3

Put the pan on an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet, and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until golden brown on top. Run a knife around the edge of the pan, and let the cake cool in the pan to set. Serve at room temperature.

Apple Picking!

I’ve always wanted to experience Apple Picking for the last couple of years since I’ve been here in WA, but for whatever reason Zach and I didn’t do it. This year I was determined to do it as part of our “fall bucketlist” and we are so glad we did, because it was so much fun. It’s safe to say it’s going to be a fall tradition for us. Zach found a family owned farm in Sedro-Wooley WA (Jones Creek Farm) and their apples are organic too. We had to travel for almost 2 hours just to get there, but it was worth it. It wasn’t that bad and Riley was so good the whole time. We are so proud of him! He loves it whenever we bring him with us. He had so much fun at the farm, sniffing everything, running around and helping us pick our apples. We picked 20 pounds of Apples, and we already baked some (we just made Apple Pie Cake last night) and we are thinking of making apple sauce also, and will probably juice the rest of our harvest.

Slow-Cooker Beef and Potato stew!

It’s officially fall here in the Pacific North West, with the rain and the wind out there, summer is gone. With the weather like this, I for sure will make a lot of stew and soup dishes in the coming weeks. I subscribe to Rachael Ray’s magazine, ‘Everyday with Racheal Ray’ and this recipe looks so easy and has basic pantry ingredients. The Hubs thinks the dish was okay and didn’t care for the stew so much (he likes thicker stew) but I liked it and will most definitely make this again. I used my Le Creuset instead of my crockpot. I had a busy day yesterday and it was just too late to use the crockpot.

Recipe from Everyday eith Rachael Ray (october 2013) — Recipe from Everyday with Rachael Ray (october 2013)

Seattle Sounders!

A couple of weeks ago the Hubs and I watched The Sounders vs Chivas USA soccer game in Seattle. Zach used to play soccer but not anymore. Before the game, we had dinner with Zach’s co-workers at this yummy beer and sandwich joint ( I can’t remember the name now, but it was a really tasty place). It was our first time to watch a Sounders game and it was so much fun. We totally had a great time and we decided to watch another game next month. I wish we still had the NBA/ Sonics playing here. I would be watching their games for sure! Basketball is my favorite sport to watch. BTW, Sounders won!

Thank You to Zach’s co-worker that gave us this sounders scarf!:)

celebrations after the game — celebration after the game

Washington State Fair!

Washington State Fair (formerly known as The Puyallup Fair) is the biggest fair and the busiest fair in the state. We always try to visit every year, and it’s always so much fun every time. We made it a family affair with my In-Laws. It’s always nice to do that kind of thing with them because they enjoy walking around the exhibits too. As usual, we ate too much fair food for the day! We watched some dog and horse shows (dogs were too cute, too bad Riley couldn’t join us). Until next year WSF!

Today

It was a beautiful summer day today here in the PNW, and I spent some time in our small garden, and “harvested” some of our tomatoes, kale, strawberries, and basil that I plan to use this week. This is my second year in gardening and I’m happy with how my tomato plants are producing (last year was a fail). I don’t eat raw tomatoes but I don’t mind eating tomato based dishes (weird I know!). I plan to use it for pasta or mixed it in salads for my husband.

The Hubs and I went to the seafood market today and got some crabmeat, blue marlin and my fave umami sauce (mixture of mayonnaise,sriracha,lemon,soysauce). It was one tasty dinner we had!

Grilled blue marlin reminds me of the Philippines so much. We eat a lot of this fish back home (malasugue in bisayan)

Summer 2013!

I finally have the time to blog after the crazy and fun filled summer we’ve had here. I had my sisters visiting us from New Zealand and Hawaii (different times though), with their visits we also travelled but I’m not complaining because I like to travel. We went to NYC, Vegas, and Canada. I’m so glad my sisters were able to see Seattle with some beautiful weather, it was sunny and blue skies. I will be sharing more of our family vacations in the coming weeks. I miss my family so much, so it was great to be spending some quality time with them. I thank God for the opportunity that our families were able to travel and get to hang out with us.

Wicked with my sisters! Love the show so much:)

Our family from HI also visited us, we went to Leavenworth and Vancouver Canada!

INGREDIENTS

STEP 1

STEP 2

STEP 3