Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I took the picture on the left exactly one year ago today (ok, so for some reason Blogger doesn't post the pics the way appear in my feeder or in my preview- but in my world, there are two pictures side by side and not on top of each other).  Well, maybe not EXACTLY given the fact that we are a day ahead of most of the rest of the world and also last year was a Leap Year, but it's close enough...  The picture on the right is him today.  Can you believe how much he's changed? How much our life has changed?

St. Patrick's Day is actually a pretty big deal around our house.  Don and I are both Irish (with a few other things thrown in for good measure).  We celebrated our Irish heritage by wearing green; sharing a dinner of brisket (the closest I could get to corned beef), mashed potatoes, cabbage and several bottles of Guinness with folks from Don's office.  It was a good day.

I have been thinking about our heritage, who we are and where we come, from quite a bit lately.  I've always been interested in my family's genealogy (and really regret not paying better attention to taking notes when my grandparents told me stories about my relatives).  But my recent interest has been spurred by the shows Who Do You Think You Are?   and the less commercial version of Henry Louis Gates' Faces of America.  Both of these shows reignited my desire to find out where I came from, where Don came from.    

So Sunday, Don and I sat down at the computer, signed up for a free trial at Ancestory.com and started looking at our family tree.  I immediately found ACTUAL copies of my great grandfather's draft registration and we saw the Census records for his paternal grandparents.  We spent hours, just looking for the next set of relatives.  Unfortunately, we have hit dead ends for almost everyone, but that just makes me want to try harder to see what I can find, who I can find.

Here's the brisket recipe I used, adapted from something I found on AllRecipes.com...

• 1 (4 pound) beef brisket, trimmed of fat (I left the thick layer of fat on top of brisket)
• Tony's (creole seasoning, could use salt and pepper instead)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) bottle dark beer
• 1 apple, cored and chunked
• 3 tablespoons worchestire sauce + 1 tablespoon
• 3 tablespoon brown sugar 
• 1 can of beef stock
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 2 teaspoons chipotle chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 tablespoon mustard
• 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup (could substitute ketchup, mustard and syrup with equal amount bbq sauce)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Heat olive oil in large dutch oven (must be able to use on stove top and in oven).  Cover the beef brisket with Tony's Creole seasoning.  Add brisket to hot pan and brown all sides (about 4 minutes per side).  Remove brisket from pan.  Keeping pan on heat, add beer and beef stock, bring to a simmer, stirring with wooden spoon to remove brown bits from pan.  Add all remaining ingredients, reserving half of apple, onion and garlic.  Place brisket fat side up in pan, cover with remaining tablespoon of worchestire sauce, apple, onion and garlic.  Cover pan.
3. Bake for 6-8 hours in the preheated oven.  Brisket is done when fork tender.  Cut fat off (it should come off very easily), shred brisket with fork.  Serve on bun, use drippings as sauce.

Due to the seasonings, this brisket has a little bit of kick to it, but not super spicy.  I made two briskets tonight, one in the oven and the other in the crockpot.  They both cooked for the same amount of time and were cooked using the same basic method.  The brisket done in the oven was definitely the better of the two- better flavor, moist and delicious. I cooked it for about 6 hours and it probably would have been even better with another hour or two.  

What We're Eating This Week

Here's this week's menu.  I'm about to go and get caught up on recipes- wish me luck!

Monday- Leftover tuna casserole

Tuesday- Slow cooker lasagna

Wednesday- Irish Heritage Appreciation Night at the Michaels'- beer soaked brisket, mashed potatoes and cabbage

Thursday- Brisket Soft Tacos
Friday- Terrell no cook on Friday!

Someone's In the Kitchen With Momma

As Price stumbles towards the terrible twos, I find that he's into EVERYTHING.  He's currently happiest when crawling into tight, dark spaces such as the depths of his closet or laying under his bed with dust bunnies and who knows what other creatures...  So, I try my hardest to keep him in my line of vision.  Something I've recently started doing is trying to get him to "help" (I use that term verrryyyy loosely) me cook.  He has a pretty short attention span, but he really enjoys getting to stand on a chair.  Thanks to him, I will become an expert at mis en place, rather than pulling ingredients as I read need them.  The other day, Price helped me make Pepperoni Pizza Pie.

Turning the food processor off and on was a big hit!

My dough boy!  He was covered in flour.

Teamwork.  

In full disclosure, we weren't able to actually roll out the crust, we ended up just pressing the dough into the pie plate.

Luckily, the pepperoni provided a good pre-lunch snack.  Don't worry, no eggs had been added yet.  Don't you want to snack on those cheeks?

Pepperoni Pizza Pie, adapted from Carnation Recipe published at lynnskitchenadventures.com (my changes are in italics)

1 unbaked (9 in) pie shell (I made my own crust, but a store bought would work fine)
8 ounces of shredded cheese
2 ounces of sliced pepperoni (I used about 30 slices)
1 (12 ounce can) Carnation evaporated milk
3 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder salt
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
a dash of crushed red peppers

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sprinkle 1 cup of cheese and half of the pepperoni onto the bottom of the pie shell.  Whisk together the milk, eggs, flour, basil, and garlic powder.  Pour into pie shell. Sprinkle remaining cheese over top and carefully lay pepperoni on top of cheese.  Bake for 40-45 minutes or until done.

This recipe was easy and delicious!  I will definitely make it again.  However, notice the cook time (mine was done at about 35 minutes, but my oven cooks hot).   I had originally planned to make this for dinner on Wednesday, but Price and I got an unexpected dinner invitation and then I planned to make it on Thursday, but I overlooked how long it would take to bake.  So, we actually made it for lunch on Friday, then munched on the leftovers for several more meals.  This recipe is super versatile- it would be so easy to change up the meat and cheese or even leave the meat out all together and add some veggies.  It has a slightly different texture than quiche, but is the same general idea, which also makes it a great any time meal- we ate it for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

It's Official

I have decided that there is no use in trying to squelch my inner beach bum, the one who was latent for the first three months of our time here.  I think after being dormant for so long, it's knocking on my soul to break free and hit the beach as often as possible. Luckily, according to my laminated map of Guam, there are 29 named beaches on our teeny, tiny island.  My mission is to visit each one of them at least once.  As of today, I have been to 7.  As of today, I have a new favorite beach.

Today my fellow beach bums (Amy and Price) and I went to a new beach.  We traversed over pot hole (pot hole is really an understatement, more like small craters) laden roads and descended down a narrow, cliff side road into the jungle.

We parked under a canopy of coconut trees and were greeted by hundreds of butterflies.

After a brief coconut distraction,

we stumbled out onto this-

A look to the right,

We quickly settled into our hard day's work of bumming it at the beach.

Oh yes, the water really is THAT clear.

 

We enjoyed a few sunny hours on a practically deserted beach.  Then it was time to pack up and head home.

The End.

(In case you were wondering, we spent the morning at Ritidian Beach, a wildlife refuge at the northern most tip of Guam where the Pacific Ocean and Philippine Sea meet.  It's open 8:30-4:00 every day except federal holidays.  It's more than worth the bumpy ride to get there.)

Mondays, Movies, Monkeys and Menus

Today has been a good day.  So much better than the last Monday when Don was out of town.  He's off Island.   That's Guam lingo for saying he's gone again.  He traded our little island for the bigger island of Oahu.  Poor guy...

Anyway, back to me.  I'm sitting here watching the Oscars.  I'm not really sure why.  I have only seen one movie that is nominated for anything- Up.  By the way, if you haven't seen it, you should- unless you're hormonal or really miss your grandparents.  Even then you should still watch it, just bring extra Kleenex with you.  I digress AGAIN!  I guess I continue to watch the Oscars because I like the pageantry, I LOVE to see the dresses, I like hearing the winners' speeches, the In Memoriam segment makes me feel nostalgic.  Tonight's tribute to John Hughes made me feel kind of old.  Do I look as old as they do?  God I hope not.  (Ok, just checked Wikipedia, The Breakfast Club came out when I was 10, so they've got a good 20 years on me).  I know I'm probably only about the billionth person to state this, but I grew up with John Hughes movies.  They gave me some insight into what to expect from high school and maybe even instilled in me the fact that it's ok to be on the outside looking in.

Earlier today, Price had a hearing appointment down at the Naval Hospital.  Since we were so close to Big Navy, I decided we would head down there after the appointment, walk around the Exchange and then have a picnic on the beach.  It was a lovely morning.  I'm just bummed that I forgot my camera.  As we were sitting and feasting on our subway sandwiches, toes being tickled by the sand, hair blowing in the breeze while watching the little waves tumble onto shore, I couldn't help but feel happy.  Happy to be here, happy to be.  The other day when I met my two blogger buddies for coffee, Tessa asked me if I liked it here.  And I answered honestly (something like this), "I do. I like it more and more each day.  Whenever I get a chance to sit outside on the beach and take in the beauty of where we are, although I own my feelings on bad days and think it's ok to have them (psycho babble much Terrell?), I really am reminded that life is good."  Good thing Amy was there, cause pretty sure an answer like that to a simple question three minutes after meeting me should have scared her off.   But, that's really how I feel.  Even when I have a down day, and we're all entitled to have those every now and then- even if you know someone whose life is harder than yours, I just have to remember the good.  And then probably should hit the beach just to get re-centered.

Speaking of Price, we have always called him  Monkey.  It's probably the most used of the one million nicknames we have for him.  Over the past few days, he has decided to truly embody this word...  The other day while fixing his snack, I knew he was in the laundry room, but when I went to look for him I could n't find him.  Then I heard a faint rustling and saw this,

After cracking up laughing and doing what every good mom does, I left him to go find the camera so i could more pictures like this,

Then on Saturday he was being just a little too quiet (never a good sign for a 19 month old boy), and I found him playing dump truck.

He's not actually supposed to sit in that part of the truck.  But then again he's not really supposed to sit in our entertainment center either...

All I can wonder is, why was I in such a hurry for him to be super mobile???

Now that you've read all of that, you're probably dying to know what I'm eating this week...

Monday- Cheeseburger Buns (I was supposed to make these last week, but life got in the way)
Tuesday- Pork chops with black beans and pineapple rice
Wednesday- Pepperoni Pizza Pie
Thursday- Tuna Patties and Slow Cooker Mac n Cheese with Peas (or as I would call it if I were a contestant on Top Chef, Deconstructed Tuna Casserole)
Friday- Leftovers

The Blogosphere

I love blogs.  I like reading them and I must admit, I really like writing this one.  You are introduced to all kinds of amazing things when you read blogs.  Today, the introduction was tangible!  After months of living down the street from each other, I FINALLY got to meet one of my blogger buddies, Tessa.  She invited my other blogger buddy (and real life beach buddy, we met in person a few months ago and have hit the beach and other Guam sites together several times) Amy and me to coffee this morning.  It was so nice for the three of us to get together.  It's funny meeting someone in person after months of reading their blog.  I know I got ready for our coffee date with the anticipation of a real date- what will I wear, what will we talk about?  Will we like each other outside of words and pictures?  Will we have anything in common other than our blogs and living the life of a military wife on this crazy little island?  Will we talk about our blogs?  The answer to most (I say most because "yes" isn't a good answer to what will I wear or what will we talk about, unless of course we decided to talk about the musical group Yes, but they never came up in conversation) of the questions was, at least from my perspective, yes.  Luckily, Tessa and Amy are good conversationalists and I batted down my shyness and was just myself.  I figured after baring my soul on this blog for so long, I really couldn't be anybody other than who I  am.  I think we already felt like we knew each other or at least knew what each other had been up to in recent weeks because of our blogs, but that didn't seem to deter our conversations.  We just got to know each other better.  I had a really nice time and am hopeful we will get together again soon, maybe without my child and with some wine or other adult beverage, a girl can dream can't she?

Speaking of blogs, I thought I'd share a few of my other favorites with you (in case you don't have enough to read already).

I read these 4 blogs every night before I go to bed (thank you  iPhone).  Three of them are new additions to my roster:

Jessica Watson  Yes, I'm still slightly obsessed with her solo sailing trip around the world.  Maybe it's because there are times I can't even go to the bathroom by myself, I'm just intrigued by the notion of spending 8 minutes months alone anywhere at sea.

The Livesay (Haiti) Weblog  I began reading this blog shortly after the Haitian earthquake.  The blog is sad, hopeful, wonderfully written.  It also helps me keep things in perspective, sure our clinic may close for a day or two when I have a sick baby, but I still have access to decent healthcare elsewhere on the island.

One Girl  Debra Parker, is a Houston based photographer who recently adopted a Haitian orphan.  You may have seen her family's story on the news when her husband and son were not allowed to leave Haiti.  Her pictures tell many stories and her blog reminds me that good always comes out of bad.

BooMama Have you ever been on a blog and the author mentioned another blog (oh wait, i guess even if you haven't before today and you've read this far down you have yourself been in a similar situation), and you visited that blog and something about the blogger's witty tone or topic keeps you coming back?  Yeah that's what happened here.

These blogs are in my Reader.  I try to catch up with them every few days or so, the problem is my Reader list keeps growing, it seems like I'm adding new blogs on a daily basis.

Cooking/Meal Planning (I have mentioned several of these blogs in previous posts)

Five dollar dinners

I'm an Organizing Junkie I am absolutely NOT an organizing junkie, but she has great menu planning ideas and suggestions.  If one day, Hell freezes and I become truly organized I may look at her site for something besides food.

Smitten Kitchen food porn, that's all I need to say

Cooking During Stolen Moments

Crafts and Home Decorating

Nesting Place  dreaming of a non-Flintstone House, inspiring me and at the same time making my current abode feel somewhat inadequate

Mad in Crafts This is a girl after my own heart, she is creative and frugal.  Her series "The Dollar Barn" made me drool over the fact that she could redo Pottery Barn looks on a Dollar Store budget, well just the fact that she had a Dollar Store close by made me drool, but her inspired looks are great too.

Laginappe (that's Cajun for a little something extra. these blogs are all made up of this and that, mostly mommys blogging about life, food, photography)

Confessions of a Pioneer Woman probably my hands down, all-time favorite blog

She Wears Many Hats  She really does and she takes beautiful pictures and cooks delicious looking food and she's from the South, so we speak the same language.


Oops... the boy is awake (I guess I got more than 8 minutes alone today :).  I'll post more links to other sites I love soon. Do you have any good sites you'd like to share?

Short and Sweet

I bet with the title of this post you were expecting to see something like this,

That picture has nothing to do with this post, I just know a few of you can't get enough of this kid.

The post is just short..  Don finally made it home (after a bit of a tsunami warning induced flight delay).  I am getting back into the swing of things and trying to break all the lazy habits we got into last week...

The first wrongs to right, meal planning and cooking.  Now that Don is home and Price is feeling better, I have no excuses.  So here's what is on the menu:

Tuesday- Spaghetti and meatballs
Wednesday- Kelly's Waffles
Thursday- Cheeseburger Buns
Friday- leftovers or out to dinner (the latter gets my vote)

I am off to make my grocery list, pull my coupons and brave the crowds at the Commissary.  Wish me luck!