1.Being able live in a city where i can go solo to a musical, walk there and home and have a great time!

2. My pups

3. DM’s on twitter from my hubby who is away

4. Eating my yummy veggies this week

5. Hearing from an old friend yesterday. ok, well i started the whole interchange, but it was nice.

On our trip to WA we skipped our favorite winery in favor of getting there without an extra day. We decided to hit it on the way home. It ended up adding an extra 2 hours… and since we weren’t trying any other wineries.. probably not necessary, but it did break up the monotony of the drive!

We got 4 of our favorites and then splurged on another one we tasted and really liked!

The rest of that day was just getting to Boise – to sleep in a king size bed! Ahhh! MIL and FIL have a double bed, and with 2 people that spread out and the pups… oy!

So we pulled the block out curtains and enjoyed the night!

The next day was trying to get to Moab so we could visit Arches the next day before heading home!

We got there too late and too pooped to enjoy all that Moab had to offer! Breweries and fun restaurants!

The next morning we did the “if you have 1 and 1/2 hours to spent” trip thru the national park

From there we scooted home as fast as we could!

We were tempted to hit our favorite wineries in Grand Junction again – but decided a side trip was not what we wanted to do, so our next order of business is to find them in the big liquor stores locally!

It was a fun trip – not very many fights, or getting lost!

We are considering doing the same this to my parents this coming year…  we’ll see!

We had a nice day on Christmas! Lots of great presents from Grandma and Grandpa, and SIL and BIL

One day while we were there we took a trip to a local winery – English Estate Winery

It was an adorable little place with interesting “Bag” distribution and adorable bags to hold the bags in!

We enjoyed some tastings with my MIL and took a couple home to enjoy later!

On our last day in town – the day it rained ALL day – we finally decided to take a jaunt down to Portland!

We started with Voodoo Donuts

I went with the maple bar with bacon – yes, i did it! It was great! The hour wait – was not worth the results. It was fun and we were just chatting the whole time, but i think i would visit the second location that is less popular!

Our next stop was the 24 Hour Church of Elvis

I mean really, how could we not take a peak at this one??

We ended the night with dinner with friends!

It was a great trip!

We took a road trip with the pups to see grandma and grandpa in Washington state!

We cruised thru Grand Junction and picked up some of our favorite wines – Carlson Vinyard and Colorado Cellars – also some jalapeno mustard… Super yummy!

That night we decided we weren’t feeling like wine tasting since we were both feeling the affects of our cold – why bother to taste something when there isn’t any taste going on…  So we decided to cruise thru to grandma and grandpa’s with a quick stop at Shoshone Falls!

This place was absolutely amazing! They said it was the Niagara of the west and it was so beautiful!

The mist from the falls left an amazing layer of ice all over the parking lots and sidewalks and it sparkled!

On the way into finding this little midwest treasure we stopped at a little view point to check out the snake river. We were amazed!!

This bridge did not look quite as scary going over as from below!

From there it was drive drive drive to Washington State!

We got there before Grandpa went to bed, and got to catch up with everyone before we hit the hay!

Me: What kind of beans do you have?

Answer: Black and White

Me: Great northern?

Answer: I think so, but there are a lot more black beans

Me – inside: guess i need to make something with black beans then

Me: do you have any roasted red peppers?

Answer: No

—————-

It went on from there and so i decided to find a small ingredient list on CL with the main ingredient being black beans…

I finally stumbled across this one: Tex-Mex Black Bean Dip – from 1998! But after we tried it – it’s a keeper!

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil Orange Olive Oil
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup diced tomato
• 1/3 cup bottled picante sauce Salsa
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained $
• 1/4 cup (1 ounce) shredded reduced-fat Monterey Jack cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice bottled lemon juice

Preparation

Heat oil in a medium nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, and sauté 4 minutes or until tender. Add tomato and next 4 ingredients (tomato through beans); cook 5 minutes or until thick, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; put in food processor. Add cheese and lemon juice, stirring until cheese melts. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Verdict:

I would use “hot” salsa, double, possibly triple the chili powder, add some cayenne and red pepper flakes, maybe some hot sauce, add a whole Serrano or jalapeno.

All in all it was a very good taste and texture!

With time limits and drive times, possible snow routes, puppie travel illness etc…

I found Twin Falls – and the “Niagara of the Midwest” and knew i just HAD to see it!

There was some doubt if we should make the time or if it would be open as we started our trip. Turned out hubby and i caught a cold and we decided to turn our 3 day meander into a 2 day – let’s get the hell there and rest!!

We decided to do the second day of the trip full out- but also take 1 hour to see this place!

Boy am I glad we did! The snake river area is AMAZING!!

The mist from all the falls left a sheer coating of ice on just about everything, and the dogs were a little unsure of this crazy place we had brought them! But it was really cool to see!

On the way there we crossed over a gigantic bridge and stopped at a “historic” view point.

It was a really great side trip!

Cheers to spending time with your friends, family and those important to you!

Winston

Paco

Winston and Paco Snuggling

Me and Hubby – wishing you a merry christmas!

An egg slicer – been wanting this baby for years! A rolling pin with auto thin-ness measuring disks, a cake froster, some more glass measuring cup – they always wear off in the dishwasher! and…  a dutch oven!!

The dutch oven was something new hubby and i decided we needed to try. We have friends that have a baby one and bring it camping and make wonderful yummies on the fire. We’ll be attempting wonderful – less butter and less cheese (they tend to add flavor in ways my big old bootie can’t handle) cooking light recipes in the oven and on the stove top! So far i have found a spicy orange beef recipe and intend to spend much of our road trip searching for delicious things to try! Now i just need to be home and work from home to cook up these 1-5 hours dishes!

If anyone has any favorites for the dutch oven, let me know!

This year: It’s a year that ends 9, right before a year that sounds and feels pretty old to me.

I’ve noticed a couple more streaks of white in the front – luckily i’ve seen how it looks on my sister (kinda like stacy london i say)- and i’m waaay to lazy to do anything about it, so i’ll guess i’ll just embrace it!

I’m looking forward to another interesting year.

I’ve got a wonderful hubby

Some amazing pound puppies

A roof over my head, a job, and food in my belly!

Cheers for another decade or 5!

Being some place with “on demand” is kinda weird. Last weekend my friend Kim and I wanted to catch up on our missing harry potter movies! Pretty sure it was part 1 and 2 of the hallows. Well – this on Demand thing had every harry pottery – BUT – part 1 ….  really? part 1 was missing?

Long story short i found part 1, in all 3 version – blue ray, regular dvd and digital as Best Buy for $10. More than i hoped to pay, but i got it and we finally finished the series that we started together (AGES ago), yup we finished it together!

While i was checking out this on demand thing, i came across some season items – including an “on demand” fire place! Cracked me up so much!

Wanna come get warm by my TV?

Tee hee!