Rain, Rain, Go Away

Hola from rainy, gross Dallas. We even lost power for a while today. But no worries- right after I called Brian wailing about how I couldn’t use the hairdryer, the lights miraculously came back on.

But my hair still looks like crap.

Decided to surprise Bri with a birthday breakfast this morning. He loves french toast, but I’ve never actually made that before (isn’t that sad?) and we’re trying to eat healthier- so I found this recipe in my Ellie Krieger cookbook for Peach French Toast Bake. The only change I made to the recipe was adding 2 tsp of Penzey’s Baker’s Spice to the egg mixture. Although not nearly as good as standard french toast, I was able to assemble the dish last night (score), dragged myself to the kitchen at 6 this morning to toss it in the oven, went back to sleep for an hour, and then hopped up again at 7 to pull it out of the oven and serve…

Minus one piece:

Oh, there it is. Along with some Morningstar Farms veggie breakfast sausage and blackberries.

The rest of the day was spent staring at a hole in our bathroom wall with a contractor (don’t ask), hitting the gym, and taking Chloe to the vet (eye infection… yucky). Had a quick lunch of last night’s kale and potato soup, along with a sandwich- veggie chicken patty on an Ezekiel english muffin with field greens, jalapenos and miracle whip:

For the big birthday dinner I decided on another foray into the world of red meat. And what goes better with beef than coffee and beer? What, no? Well, this Guy Fieri (not usually a huge fan) recipe for Java Crusted New York Steak with Stout Glaze sounded good. It’s really easy. You just combine ground espresso beans with brown sugar, salt, pepper, paprika and garlic powder and use it as a rub. Sear the meat (I used sirloin) on both sides in a cast iron skillet and then throw it in the oven, skillet and all, for a few minutes.

For the sauce I found this Stone Smoked Porter at Central Market. If you make this recipe, be forewarned: the sauce is thin and doesn’t taste that great on its own… but it works really well on the meat.

For the first time since our wedding 3 1/2 YEARS ago, we actually used our china/crystal:

The steak, along with a baked potato (rubbed with olive oil and sea salt- NO FOIL!!!) and some microwaved asparagus. That’s right. I’m not too proud to zap my veggies.

Dessert? Cupcakes, bien sur! Once again Ms. Krieger came to the rescue with Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Lemony Cream Cheese Frosting:

The birthday boy approved.

And so did the pug. We let her lick the icing off of one of the cupcakes…

But then she pushed it too far away with her pug tongue. And then she had to reaaaaaaaaacch (notice how clean the top of that cupcake is):

Don’t worry, she got it eventually.

*Survey Time!*

This one’s from Brian (movie trivia boy-genius):

What’s the best movie you saw in 2008?