Call it Whatever You Want

Snow Jam 2014, Snowtlanta 2014, Snowpocalypse 2014. All I know is that I was snowed in at home for 2.5 days and Norm was snowed in at work for 2.5 days. No, he did not have a change of clothes. Yes, he pretty much worked around the clock with a nap in the middle of the night.

What I am amazed at is the gridlock that this city became. Here are some traffic snapshots taken by yours truly.

Tuesday, Jan 28 1:07pm 

Tuesday, Jan 28 1:23pm

Tuesday, Jan 28 2:32pm

Tuesday, Jan 28 4:27pm

Tuesday, Jan 28 5:33pm

Tuesday, Jan 28 10:47pm

Wednesday, Jan 29 2:04pm

Wednesday, Jan 29 6:49pm

Thursday, Jan 30 6:46pm

And there you have it folks.

Now here are some fun pictures!

Whole30

Since January 5th, Norm and I have been doing the Whole30. More info here. Basically, it is a 30 day "cleanse" where you commit to absolutely no sugars, no carbs, no grains, no legumes, no dairy, no alcohol and overall - no processed foods. "So what do you eat, exactly?" Well, we eat all sorts! It basically boils down healthy fats, proteins and veggies. 

We started by making ghee! All it is, is clarified butter... you melt butter and boil out the water...

Remove the solids:

 And then you have healthy fat! Use it just like butter...

We eat lots of spices - that we get for ridiculously cheap prices at YOUR DeKalb Farmer's Market. Cumin, curry, thyme, sage, coriander, paprika, cayenne, ginger, oregano, other types of curry powder, fennel... 

Because the Whole30 involves meal planning (lots of it, we always have a meal ready to go in the fridge, so we don't find ourselves with "nothing to eat" and end up making dinner out of sweet potato fries. So on Sundays, we cook!

We sometimes follow recipes like this one - for Turkey and Blueberry Muffins - don't judge. They are delicious. Get the recipe here.

And this Sweet Potato and Pork Breakfast Casserole. Recipe here.

Asian meatballs! The Kindle has come in very handy during this process, because we "Pin" the recipes to Pinterest and then we can easily reference them when it's time to cook.

And for drinking, we have water, black coffee, teas that don't involve sugar and this marvelous drink (Kombucha) we just discovered... can't wait until we are able to mix it with Gin - just kidding... well, not really.

So during this process, we are learning to read labels and leave "not real" food on the shelves. We are also learning to be quite self sufficient by making our own mayo and our own ketchup among other things. We are also discovering amazing flavors and sauces such as the Sunshine Sauce. And through this, we are sleeping better, have more energy, have clearer skin and (drum roll..................) Norm is eating breakfast... which involves kale. WHAT?!?!

Today we are on day 21 and already have developed habits that will stick in this household, like cooking with coconut oil, eating hearty breakfasts and always having a meal ready to go!

It's Not the Big Scary One

Nope, he is quite seldom the guilty one. It's the sweet smaller one that's the troublemaker.

The neighbors have chickens. They have had chickens since we've moved in. The chickens "don't go near your fence" and the chickens "can't jump the fence". Well, Cali proved those stories wrong and tonight, the neighbors have one less chicken. I think they are okay with it though.

Get home. Let dogs out. Bring dogs in. Feed them. Let dogs back out.
Start cooking, leave kitchen door open.
I hear noise, think it's wind.
I realize it's not wind. It's chicken noise.

Go outside, Pellet is by the fence, prancing around, I call him and he comes to me.
Can't find Cali.
Then I find Cali, she's behind a tree, laying in the ivy, hugging what appeared to be a dead chicken.

It's dusk, so I can't see very well, not to mention I was on the phone and lost my complete ability to multitask. So I had to hang up the phone, run inside and bring the big flashlight.

Yes, she is laying with a dead black chicken. And Pellet? He's prancing around a live chicken.

So, quickly due to the urgency of the second chicken being attacked (and me watching it) and due to the urgency that I was not appropriately dressed for 30 degree weather, I called Pellet over and he came to me. Since he had no collars on, I pretty much had to bear hug him and walk him all the way across the yard, up the steps, through the patio and in the house. And move the pan from the stove, so I wouldn't burn the onions that were caramelizing.

Then, I came back to get Cali. Yeah right. That stubborn dog was not moving, not a single twitch to all the key words:
Treat!
In the House!
Food!
Cali, let's go!
Cali, come!
.......................................................
At least I was keeping her from EATING the chicken. Although I am pretty sure she had the chicken's foot in her mouth at one point. Yes, gross.
.......................................................
Finally I got smart and grabbed the leash and then she came to me. Since she too had no collars on, I had to bear hug her just like Pellet. But it was so much harder with her because 1. she is shorter than Pellet and 2. she squirms, unlike Pellet.

Norm got home and we called the neighbor to let her know that one chicken was found dead.... we offered to buy (the daughter) a baby chicken. The neighbor denied the offer and actually came across as relieved that she had one less chicken to deal with. She actually told us that a couple of weeks ago, another chicken jumped the fence opposite from us, and those neighbor's dogs ate it. So, no big deal. Life goes on.

Unbelievable

You are going to read this blog post and think "really? you don't post in 10 days and you write about this?" But I am blogging about this on purpose because I think I just broke some sort of record.

It just took me 55 minutes to travel 3.7 miles from work to home. I am thankful for my mom for being around so I could talk to her on the phone during my journey. If it hadn't been for her, I am pretty sure I would have fallen asleep sitting in my driver's seat. Going 1 mph.

On a lighter note, here are some pictures from back in the day when Cali was a baby...

Time Off

The end of 2013 was quite crazy in this house with lots of company from family and both of us applying for new jobs - which we both got! I will be an Event Manager here and Norm will be the new Executive Chef here. So before embarking in these new adventures, we decided to take some time off. 

We spent the first few days of the year doing nothing (well, relaxing and eating) in Fairhope, Alabama. Right across the Mobile Bay from Mobile. Cutest little town ever was still decorated for Christmas.

We stayed here, the grounds were beautiful and the service was outstanding! We need to go back in the Summer...

This was the view from our room... 

 We went out for a nice dinner one of the nights... right there in Fairhope!

We only picked just about the coldest day in the history of the South for sightseeing in Mobile.. so needless to say that our time outside was quite limited.

Cathedral of Mobile

Warming up at one of the oldest hotels in downtown Mobile

And with this beautiful sunset, we closed our mini vacation and headed home the following morning... ready to start the new year!

Ultimate Birthday Dinner Surprise

One of Norm's favorite restaurants is Abattoir, however, he had never been there for dinner. I know, it's weird, just go with it. So for his birthday this year, we celebrated the Sunday prior with Eric and Kerrie and on Birthday Day, we were going to play it low key. I told him we had dinner reservations at 8pm, but didn't tell him where. So to carry on the surprise factor, I blind folded him on the way to the restaurant. Because the restaurant is pretty much all by itself in a certain part of town, so he would've figured out where we were headed right away.

I just absolutely adore this picture. He is like a little kid in a toy store! He was reading over the menu again and again - couldn't figure it out! Everything looked amazing.

So we started with spicy hotdogs - and chicken liver toast with onion jelly, but the picture didn't come out -

Spicy dogs, apple cheese relish

Then Chef sent this hamachi with grapefruit slices out... another amazingness.

Hamachi crudo, grapefruit, lemon, peppercress

Check out that face, if he were a cartoon, his mouth would be watering.

 "Get on my fork, I am going to eat you"

Then we had our entrees

Duck meatballs with apples

Wagyu beef with pears and grapes

 Because all that wasn't enough and neither was the Chocolate Chess Pie we ordered or the Torta de Santiago chef sent out, he got a birthday cupcake!

 Can we say "stuffed"?

Christmas Mischief

Hello, my  name is Cali and I like to do mischievous things around the house. 

The other day I attacked the Nativity set and ate the cow:

This is what the Nativity looked like for a few days

Before I decided to attack it again... can you tell the difference?

I also like to eat things off the counter at random, like the other day I ate a blue pen and mom found ink all over the floor, and my foot and my mouth... she called me Smurfette for a week:

I know it's hard to believe I am so bad unattended, because when my humans are around, all I pretty much do is this:

I still wish you a Merry Christmas!