Rain Rain Go Away...

This past week graced us with nasty weather every day. This nasty weather being the weather we were expecting with our hurricane scare about a month ago. There was some flooding involved, but luckily for us, our house is on stilts so this was not a problem. However, the wind was strong on Thursday that our grill fell over. So our next mission, find a new grill, that is not rusted from rain and damaged from falling. 

Due to last weeks monsoons, I had more than enough free time on my hands since I was cooped up inside the house a lot. Therefore I watched a lot of cooking shows and HGTV. I am obsessed with the Martha Stewart website, so many cute/fun/creative ideas to be found on that website! Anyhow, I found a recipe for homemade baked potato chips.

Baked Potato Chips

Ingredients:

• Vegetable-oil cooking spray
• 2 pounds Russet potatoes, cut into 1/4 in. thick slices
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• Coarse salt
• Pinch of Cayenne pepper
• Freshly ground pepper

And here's how they turned out!

Very tasty, if I do say so myself

As these puppies were baking I was watching a cooking show trying to take notes on a Red Beans and Rice recipe that looked and sounded amazing! Thank you Jesus for DVR. I was able to rewind, over and over and over again to ensure I got all of the ingredients, measurements, etc. I do not have a picture for you to see how this meal turned out mainly because what turned out to be a disaster was not worthy of a picture. One piece of advice, make sure you take your time when you're cooking. I was quickly adding in all the ingredients, and instead of 2 teaspoons of thyme, I added 2 tablespoons of thyme. And let me tell ya, that is a HUGE difference. After doing so, I turned to Clif and said, "Well babe, hope you love thyme!". Needless to say, the meal was ruined. I now hate/loathe the smell of thyme. It is my enemy. I tried to water it down a little bit so it would be quite as strong, but I just could not bring myself past it to eat it. Clif however had no problem eating it (what a sweetheart right?). My meal that night consisted of just the rice. I also ended up throwing out an entire stockpot full of red beans (the rice was separate). I'll eventually heal from this traumatic exerience and try the recipe again somewhere down the road.

Friday I went and got my hair cut with a Christy and then headed to Wilmington to pick up Clif's bike. When we purchased my bike, we took Clif's bike in to be tuned up so we could ride this weekend. That night Clif and I went on a little date to "Just Baked" where he got the chicken and shrimp jambalaya and I got the grilled chicken with melted cheese, mushrooms, and peppers. Very tasty dinner. I absolutely love this little restaurant. It's really cute inside and very quaint. It is also a bakery, so after our meal, we ordered two cupcakes to-go. Their cupcakes are delicous! They pile the icing at least 2 inches high-good stuff. I'll be sure to take a picture of it next time we get a cupcake, which I'm sure won't be long.

Saturday, Clif and I got up around 9:00 and headed to Lejeune to bike. It was such a pretty day outside. Sun was shining bright and there was a nice breeze out as well. Biking is definitely a lot harder than I imagined. When we first got my bike I imagined me re-living my childhood days of riding my bike around the block at my leisure. No, this is not a leisurely ride, this is a sport. haha. Let's just say that I now have biking added to my daily agenda so I can get better at it. There is a lot more thinking involved in this activity than one would think. You have to think about changing gears depending on the incline or decline. Also, apparently if you ride a few inches behind the person in front of you, you get what's called 'drafting' which also helps you. I was a little leery in doing that, so I didn't. This 'hobby' is becoming a new challenge for me, which I like. 

Saturday night we were able to meet up with Jim and have a nice dinner at the good ol' Cracker Barrel. I forgot how good Cracker Barrel was! This time we weren't on a time schedule, so we were able to enjoy our meal with Jim and also take our time. Jim is just waiting on some paperwork and then he's off to Pensacola to see all of you! After dinner, Clif and I headed back to the house to catch the Alabama/Florida game-GREAT game...enough said. 

I'm super excited to watch the Colts play today, mainly because I got a new jersey, a REAL jersey! My original jersey was a kids jersey from Target (more like a belly shirt). If I'm going to watch the games and bet on them, I want the real thing! Is that asking too much? So, I went to the Sports Fanatic store in the mall and got a kids jersey there! The differences: it's longer and it's real jersey material. Now I feel like a true fan. Here is a picture of my new gear:

 Now that you are all caught up on our life over the weekend, if you'll excuse me, I need to watch the games I made bets on! Hope you all have had a good weekend!