Eggnog Snow Cream

These ingredients are on my Snowmagedon 2011 grocery list. Birmingham is expected to get four to six inches of snow on Monday!

Eggnog Snow Cream Recipe:

• 1/2 cup eggnog
• 1/8 cup sugar
• 4tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 4 cups of fresh snow
• cinnamon to taste

*Use milk or a can of evaporated milk instead of eggnog for regular snow cream. Also you can use banana or apple puree, cocoa to make chocolate cream, Bailey's, etc! 

Here is a picture of Nathan making snow cream last year. 

Merry Everything!

Here is a preview of our first Christmas. I had fun using my new china!

The menu included

• Shrimp & Grits 
• Sweet Potato Biscuits with Karo and Butter
• Bacon
• Fresh Grapes

Here is the recipe for the Shrimp & Grits. They would be great for dinner too.

From Southern Living

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 21 minutes
Yield: Makes 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients
2 bacon slices
1 pound unpeeled, medium-size raw shrimp
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
2 teaspoons canola oil
1/2 cup chopped green onions
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup low-sodium, fat-free chicken broth
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon hot sauce
Cheese Grits- Chee Chee helped me make the cheese grits, which means there were no exact measurements. Get out your salt, pepper and garlic powder and season to taste.

Preparation

1. Cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat 10 minutes or until crisp; remove bacon, and drain on paper towels, reserving 1 tsp. drippings in skillet. Crumble bacon.

2. Peel shrimp; devein, if desired. Sprinkle shrimp with salt and pepper; dredge in flour.

3. Sauté mushrooms in hot drippings with oil in skillet 5 minutes or until tender. Add green onions, and sauté 2 minutes. Add shrimp and garlic, and sauté 2 minutes or until shrimp are lightly browned. Stir in chicken broth, lemon juice, and hot sauce, and cook 2 more minutes, stirring to loosen particles from bottom of skillet. Spoon shrimp mixture over hot Cheese Grits; sprinkle with crumbled bacon.

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000001704038

Bringing Home the Gold

While Nathan has been away at Nun camp* this week, I have had plenty of free time to plan Oliver's future as the Dock Dog champion. Dock Dogs holds competitions all over the country where dogs gracefully leap 20+ feet into a pool. There are several different categories, but Oliver will be participating in the Big Air competition. The dog that leaps the farthest into a pool of water wins the competition. It is pretty neat to watch and Oliver loves the water and fetching his ring. 

Instead of cooking dinner this week, I have been scouting the competition. We will be traveling to Charlotte, NC to on Oct. 23rd for Oliver to bring home a trophy and sponsorship from Kibble N Bits. Today started training, with a 4 mile run (Oliver has been helping me train for a half marathon I'm running with Mary Jane. I think this will really give him an edge over his competition.) and we have been doing practice runs in the backyard off our three foot high retaining wall. 

Here is a sneak preview of his mad skills. Notice his form and the way he tucks his back legs in. I haven't found any other dogs on YouTube with as much style as Oliver.

And here is a clip of some of the competition
http://www.dockdogs.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1506&Itemid=269 


*Oh yah, Nathan isn't really at Nun camp, he is at camp for work to learn how to become a mentor. And I just mentioned this whole dock dog competition to him, so this will probably be a surprise to him. :)  

We're Back!

We're back from the honeymoon and back from the blogging hiatus. Nathan and I had so much fun at the wedding festivities. Thank you to all our friends and family who could celebrate the special day with us! After many trips to Lowe's and Bed Bath & Beyond, we are all settled in our house in Homewood. Oliver has adjusted well to the move after our neighbor (an older lady) convinced Nathan that Oliver did NOT need to stay outside while we were at work. I think Nathan was trying to toughen Ollie up.

We went to St. Lucia for the honeymoon. It was beautiful and very hard to come back! We went zip lining through the rain forest and took a catamaran to the Piton mountains and volcanic sulfur mud bath. We also participated in a Carnival the resort had on Thursday night. We dressed up in native costume and paraded around the resort. Nathan even showed off his mad dancing skills some unsuspecting ladies... poor things. Here are some of our pictures.

And last but not least here is a preview of some of the wedding photos. Thank you to Heather Hester, wonderful photographer and friend! Click here for wedding pics.

Ruffner Mountain Birthday Adventure

For our birthdays Nathan and I decided to go hiking. Even with all the tornado warnings, we were determined to go. We went to Ruffner Mountain in Birmingham and what a find it was! We discovered a cave, hiked through mine ruins and took in a beautiful view of downtown Birmingham. Oliver of course came and he had a great time to! Here are some pictures of our adventure.  

Nathan about to go into the cave we discovered. I made him go first and Oliver sat at the top and cried for us. He must have known something we didn't.

Nathan was scared inside the cave. 

Me and the pretty view of the city. 

On top of the mine ruins

View of the old quarries

A really big tree used to be in this hole. 

We had to document how hard core we looked after hiking through the monsoon. I gave Nathan a dry pack for his Birthday and it definitely came in handy! 

Our first Birthday Adventure was a success! Next year we are turning the big 5-0! (Since we will each turn 25)

Nathan has a job!

Nathan is growing up! He has a job with St. Vincent's as  their Administrative Resident starting in June.  I know everyone at my house is very excited for him, since this means we won't be living in my parents' basement and we get to stay in Birmingham!

This past Sunday we began looking at rental homes in Homewood and Crestwood. If you know of anyone renting let us know! Must come with fenced in back yard, be dog friendly and preferably a front porch, but we aren't picky.

Congrats Nathan!!!

Hurricane Oliver

This Saturday we went to the Exceptional Foundation Chili Cook Off 2010. It was a beautiful day and the event was packed with people, strollers and dogs. Oliver was on his best behavior all day...he didn't jump, steal anyone's chili or pop a squat in the middle of thousands of people.

To reward his good behavior, we took Oliver to the nearby creek. Labradors were diving into the water all around us, and Oliver jumped right in after his toy. Lots of little kids were playing across the creek, and my mom suggested Nathan throw Oliver's toy so all the little kids would get splashed. (Just a side note: If you know my mom, you know that this was her idea. She loved scaring my brother and I.) Oliver was leaping into the water splashing the kids as the adults around were egging us on. Meanwhile, an unsuspecting little girl and her fluffy friend were happily playing by the water. Here is a picture of her Yorkie puppy.

As this little girl was walking her puppy along the bank, Ollie leapt into the creek for his toy. A tidal wave drenched this poor puppy and little girl. I'm sure the dog had a no idea what hit him. The little girl ran off with her not so cute, drowned-rat looking puppy. This is what the puppy looked like post Hurricane Oliver.

This Yorkie will probably never get close to the water again.

P.S. Oliver had a wonderful day and was the cutest dog there!