Summer in Ok...

Wow, I really didn't mean for it to be almost 2 months before I blogged again! Needless to say though... we have been ridiculously busy this summer!

The weekend of June 20th we drove cross country to Omaha to attend the wedding of our friends Adam and Natalie. Their wedding was held in the beautiful St. John's Chapel on Creighton University campus. I LOVE old traditional churches!



The reception was held in large beautiful foyer of the Durham Museum
It was great to hang out with our friends that we hadn't seen in several months.

The Girls


The next Friday we decided to explore Tulsa's minor league baseball scene, The DRILLERS!

It was very hot but luckily we found a breeze, hot dogs and the beer stand! I don't know if they are a very winning team but they lost when we were there! :(

The next weekend was July 4th and we headed down to Dallas for Chad's brother's fiancee's wedding shower (got that?!). It was great to spend some time with the family and celebrate! We also did the traditional grill out and watch fireworks thing... that's what Independence Day is for right, blowing fireworks all night long!

The next weekend Chad's parents came in town which was nice. We didn't really have anything planned which was nice so we could just relax! Of course we did find many yummy places to eat such as Hideaway Pizza and Copeland's New Orleans restaurant! Know this: whether I cook or we eat out, you will eat GREAT at the Felderhoff's!




Mitch and Aubree (the soon to be wedded couple) came in town the next Friday to attend a financial seminar that weekend. Those plans fell through so we just made the most of the weekend and cooked out. The Porter Peach Festival was that weekend so we headed east to get our fill of the bounty. Yes, this was your idyllic festival with a Peach Queen and local cookbook fundraiser! We got to the fair and although the food vendors had plenty of peach products there were no actual bushels of peaches! Crazy I know! Apparently you have to get there early on Saturday to buy the peaches. Then they save several bushels back and auction them off for the city. Local small town politicians pay a premium to show how much they love their community... I just wanted to buy some PEACHES! Anyway, we found out we could head down the road to the orchard and get them straight from the truck. Sounded easy... nope, there was a line of 50+ people! I was patient and finally we left with our goodies and boy were they delicious!!

Again, we did a lot of traveling this summer as we headed back to the Dallas area for Chad's cousin's wedding. It was of course beautiful and a lot of fun. Lemme tell you, these full-blooded, small-town German people know how to put on a party! It's not unusual for a reception to last from 3p to midnight! Drinks, snacks, dinner, more drinks, cake and more drinks makes for a festive night!

On our way home that Sunday we had a very exciting event... we picked up our new puppy DAISY!

She is a West Highland White Terrier and adorable. We have really been trying to work with her on potty training and obedience... I think it is getting better as she gets older!

Last weekend we headed back to DFW for bachelor/bachelorette party. I would post fun pictures but I really don't think they are appropriate for public viewing! We had a great time staying at Hotel ZaZa (gorgeous) and hitting the town! It was so much fun and I am really glad that Aubree is joining our family!

That's about it for now, just glad that this weekend isn't packed with stuff to do!

Savor

Here is a post light on reading and heavy on drooling... this is what we have been savoring this week complete with pictures and recipes!

Grilled Flank Steak, Portabellos and Green Bean Salad




Ingredients
1/4 cup olive oil
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon chili flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 1/4 pound flank steak, trimmed of all visible fat
4 large portobello mushroom caps (about 3/4 to 1 pound), wiped clean with a paper towel
1 tablespoon water
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
3/4 pound green beans, trimmed
1 (5-ounce) bag baby spinach leaves (5 cups baby spinach, lightly packed)
4 vine-ripened tomatoes (1 pound), each sliced into 8 wedges
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced

Make marinade:
Directions
Combine 2 tablespoons olive oil, 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, orange juice, 2 teaspoons minced garlic, chili flakes, and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper in a bowl and whisk. Place steak and mushrooms in a glass baking dish or sealable plastic bag and pour marinade on top. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 or up to 4 hours.

Make dressing:
Combine remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, 3 tablespoons vinegar, 1 teaspoon minced garlic, water, mustard, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Whisk until incorporated.

Place green beans in a steamer basket over a few inches of boiling water and steam until tender-crisp, about 3 minutes. Allow to cool in the refrigerator, or to cool quickly, drain and plunge in a bowl of ice water for 2 minutes. Drain and reserve.
Spray a grill or grill pan with nonstick cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat. Remove steak and mushrooms from marinade, and discard marinade. Grill steak until medium-rare and mushrooms until cooked through but still juicy, about 4 to 5 minutes per side for both steak and mushrooms. Remove to a cutting board and let rest about 10 minutes. Cut steak across the grain into 1/4-inch slices; cut mushrooms into 1/4-inch slices.
To assemble salad, toss steak slices, mushroom slices, spinach leaves, tomatoes, green beans and onions with dressing. Divide among 4 plates.

Mediterranean Salmon Salad




Ingredients
1/2 cup uncooked orzo
2 (6-ounce) salmon fillets (about 1 inch thick)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
Cooking spray
2 cups torn spinach
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped green onions
4 kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons crumbled feta cheese

Preparation
1. Preheat broiler.
2. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat.
3. Sprinkle salmon evenly with salt, oregano, and black pepper. Place on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Broil 10 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness. Let stand 5 minutes; break into bite-sized pieces with 2 forks.
4. Combine pasta, salmon, spinach, and remaining ingredients in a medium bowl; toss well.

(Can you tell we like fresh spinach salads?!)

Cheddar Biscuits



Ingredients
1 C flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cream of tarter
1/4 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 C cold butter
1 C shredded cheddar cheese
1/3 C milk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Mix flour, baking powder, cream of tarter, sugar and salt in medium bowl. Cut in butter with pastry blender or two knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in cheddar cheese. Add milk, stir until mixture forms soft dough.

Place on a lightly floured surface; knead 8 to 10 times or until smooth. Pat out dough into a 6-inch square. Cut into 9 squares. Place on a greased baking sheet

Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 9 servings

Make one of these recipes this weekend and ENJOY!

A Musical and Celebrations

So since moving to Tulsa I have really been trying to get to know this city and find the fun things to do and great places to eat. Randomly one night we decided to buy tickets from the Tulsa PAC for "Ten Tenors" which is an Australian group of singing men. They were SO good. ... not bad to look at either!



In mid-May Chad and I headed south to College Station, Tx for my brothers college graduation from Texas A&M and his commissioning in the the United States Army. Luckily we were able to stop off in Georgetown for a night to visit our friends Mary and Kevin and their new baby girl Claire. She is adorable and I was so glad we got to visit. We were all in each others weddings back in the day and I love getting the chance to get caught up with each others lives!

Chad and I being Red Raiders have to make sure that we only allow our snide comments against A&M outside of the earshot of my brother. It is not a friendly rivalry... Anyway, here are the pics of my brother looking all grown up and official in his uniform.

Aunt Janie, Dad, Mom, Matthew, Me, Chad, Grandma



Getting his stripes pinned on by Mom and Dad


Commissioned

Next up was my 25th birthday on the 21st of May and our 2nd Anniversary on the 26th of May(got that?)! For dinner we went to this great little restaurant in the Brookside district called Sonoma Bistro and Wine Bar. It is a amazing. I loved just sitting on the patio drinking my pinot noir and enjoying the people watching. For our anniversary we went to Whole Foods and got all the ingredients for a delicious picnic and headed to Woodward Park and the Tulsa Rose Garden. It was a beautiful night and perfect! The roses were beautiful and I think we'll head back there later in the summer when Chad's parents come into town.



Last weekend we headed to the Tulsa PAC again to see the musical The Drowsy Chaperone. It was hilarious and we had a great view of the show. The musical was about an agoraphobic man who lives by himself and obsesses over the Broadway show The Drowsy Chaperone. As he plays the record (LP) of the musical pieces of the show, the performance begins with the music. The show itself is pretty simplistic and about a couple who is getting married. Unfortunately the brides chaperone is a drunk and she ends up seeing her husband to be on their wedding day and all sorts of craziness ensues. If you love all the old-timey musicals this show is for you. It references The King and I which is one of my all time favs!


Up next... fabulous recipes and photos of the results!

Busy, busy bees!

Wow, I can't believe it's been almost two month since I blogged... I guess that shows how dang busy we have been!

At the end of April we decided to check out the local farmers markets. Spending a Saturday morning wandering around the booths of local vendors is my FAVORITE thing to do. I love all the tomatoes, greens, breads, honey, meats, eggs, CHEESES (sigh), salsa and of course a million different herbs. I love this probably because I have the far off dream of eating totally fresh and "whole".



We also attended the Jenks Herb Festival which was great. I was expecting a mini-farmers market but this was a full out Fair! To me... if you have funnel cakes and corny dogs then it's a fair and I LOVE the fair (however my allegiance will always be with this one).

In early May we headed down to Texas to visit with Chad's parents and be there when his Mom got back from her retreat this weekend. The ACTS retreat has really been sweeping the Catholic community and I could not be more excited. In the last year and a half I have lived in 3 different states and attended countless Catholic parishes trying to find the right one for us and I think this retreat gives an amazing renewal for all who attend. I have not been yet but I did attend a similar college oriented retreat while at Texas Tech (I apologize for the horribly designed website).

I have also started to get into the obsession called "couponing". What I understand so far is that the idea is basically matching up store sales and promotions up with the coupons you have clipped in order to get the cheapest price for whatever you need to buy. The key is stocking up on things so you will have it when you need it because it may not be on sale when you need it. There is even a woman here in town that is making a living teaching others her money saving secrets, and I commend that! I have gone to a class she teaches and I plan on going to one she is teaching about saving at Whole Foods. I think this is especially timely right now when a lot of families are now trying to live on one income or are trying to prepare in case they do have to live on one income. Everyone likes to save money and for me it is more about getting a good deal so I don't feel extravagant by buying my specialty coffee, spices etc.



In early May we closed on our house! I spent the entire morning before trying to get the sellers real estate agent to make sure the house was in good condition for our closing. There was still nasty q-tips and broken deodorant etc. in one of the bathroom drawers, the floors needed a good sweeping, the garage still had a couch and washer and dryer inside and the backyard had a pile of rotting wood. I was NOT buying a house where this crap was my responsibility to get rid of. Luckily about 4 hours before closing someone showed up the clean up and haul everything away and I breathed a long sigh of relief. I suppose that is what happens when the owner is out of state and has to do everything from long distance! We have since moved in and have all of the essential boxes unpacked. The remaining boxes are being sorted through slowly as they are actually a lot of crap that just needs to be either donated or organized and stored in the attic. For some reason my husband has the need to save about 40 legal pads of his notes from random classes in college. The worst part is that all the pads only have about the first 20 pages written on and the rest is blank! The neat organized freak in me wants to rip out all the written on pages and put them in a 3-ring binder and then we can use the blank pages.

Anyway, this is getting pretty long so I'll just leave it at this for now. Coming up later... the Felderhoff's explore the Tulsa night life!

When I play "my make-believe future"

... I live in a house like one of these...

All of these homes are located in the historic Swiss Avenue district of Dallas. I drove by several of them today on my way to meet my aunt for lunch and was in awe of their beauty! My husband and I just bought a house (near Tulsa where we live)and I love it, it's great and it fits our lifestyle right now but... eventually I would love to live in an old house or build in a classic design.

I usually tend to go for Craftsmen style or Tudor.
Since I am pretty sure the husband wants to live on some acreage one day, it'll probably have to be a craftsmen style. A huge brick Tudor would look silly on 300 acres in middle of the prarie!
















Photos from www.ArchitecturallySignificantHomes.com website.

Big (Old) News...

Did I forget to mention to big news that has been happening around here? The earth-shattering, life-altering news? Oh yea, well we're now moving from Omaha to Tulsa... Yes, the same Tulsa where we spent 2 months last spring. Funny how life is cyclical that way....

The story is that Chad received an enticing job promotion and we decided to accept it. So, since mid-late February (see OLD news...)we have been making plans and getting the move rolling. I put in notice at work, we put our house on the market, we both drove back and forth from Tulsa to Omaha on the weekends and within 10 days of listing our house sold HALLE-FREAKIN-LUJAH!!

I say Hallelujah with reservations though... We bought this house in October and up until mid February put never ending work into updating. We sanded, we painted, we sanded, we put in new fixtures, we sanded, we put in new ceiling fans and door knobs and I fretted about the state of our ugly mint green kitchen. It sucks to think of all the hard work, blood, sweat and tears that we put into this house that we still love just to have to sell it in 4 months of ownership. HOWEVER, we had to look at our improvements as "things that will help the house sell quickly" instead of "things that will bring us truck-loads of cash" when we sell.

So, that brings us to the current state of things... The packers just left, the movers will be here tomorrow. We are living just outside Tulsa in a furnished corporate apartment until we can find another house (hopefully to own a little more long term).

Chad is working hard and enjoying his new position and I am searching for a job. I have been a media buyer and account executive at a few different ad agencies so hopefully I can find something along those lines. I've actually done a lot of different things at the agencies!

Oh and by the way... this is NOT an April Fools Day joke. I WISH (kinda).

Happy St. Patrick's Day

There are good ships, and there are wood ships, the ships that sail the sea. But the best ships are friendships, and may they always be. Irish Saying

Have a great day everyone!

Nothing is constant but change...

Below is a link to a great article by Seth Godin. Our companies and jobs might be changing but that can be a good thing!

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/03/pivots-for-change-swords-and-plowshares.html

Go Texas (uh, the state... not the University)!

Just have to say... this post says it all for me today!

http://www.jasonandshawnda.com/foodiebride/?p=1134

New Things

So I am always wanting to try new foods and I never have more inspiration than from a trip to Whole Foods.
This weekend I bought some white quinoa from the bulk aisle and I plan to make the Warm and Nutty Cinnamon Quinoa from the 101 Cookbooks blog later tonight for my breakfast tomorrow. I will probably exchange the blackberries for raspberries (plus a little more honey), and the pecans for almonds.

Here is the recipe from her site:
Warm and Nutty Cinnamon Quinoa Recipe
I used a red quinoa here, but you can use whatever kind you like, white/buff colored seems to be the most common. Also, a few notes and tips from the book: low-fat soy milk may replace the low fat milk, blueberries may replace the blackberries, dark honey may replace the agave nectar, and walnuts may replace the pecans.

1 cup organic 1% low fat milk
1 cup water
1 cup organic quinoa, (hs note: rinse quinoa)
2 cups fresh blackberries, organic preferred
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup chopped pecans, toasted*
4 teaspoons organic agave nectar, such as Madhava brand

Combine milk, water and quinoa in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and simmer 15 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed. Turn off heat; let stand covered 5 minutes. Stir in blackberries and cinnamon; transfer to four bowls and top with pecans. Drizzle 1 teaspoon agave nectar over each serving.

Serves 4.

*While the quinoa cooks, roast the pecans in a 350F degree toaster oven for 5 to 6 minutes or in a dry skillet over medium heat for about 3 minutes.