Thursday, December 31, 2009

Old Age

I feel like we are slowly getting older, or we have always been like this and it is just getting worse.  Tonight on New Years Eve, I do not plan on staying up until midnight.  Jeff and I went to a very nice dinner at Il Posto, one of our favorite restaurants in Denver and we were home by 10pm.  Soon after this post is finished I will be heading to bed to get a good nights sleep.

Tomorrow we plan on going to Eldora to ski/board for the second time this season.  Hopefully it will be good, we have never been there before.

Recently we took a trip back to good ol' Lee's Summit.  We saw many people, all of our families and friends that were in town.  It was a little long and exhausting but good.  I was very happy to see Garozzo, my parents new kitten.  He is very sweet and cuddly and slept with me while I was there.




But it is very good to be back to our routine and our cats, MJ and Heath were very glad to see us.  They need lots of attention.



Good night, Happy  New Year,

Megan

Friday, December 18, 2009

A-Basin

So on Tuesday, a day we both have off, we went to A-Basin to enjoy the slopes.

We both had a lot of fun since we haven't been to the slopes since Spring of 2005.  A very long time.

Jeff just went skiing like he usually does and he had fun going all the way to the top and perfecting his moves.




























At the top.

I on the other hand decided to try out snowboarding.  I took lessons for a couple of hours in the morning and they went great.  I really like it! I enjoy it a lot more than snowboarding and can't wait to go again.  I did fall a lot but it was worth it.  I tended to fall mostly when I was going too fast and I didn't know how to slow down except to fall, haha.  I am still working on turns but I did go down my first green pretty well. 


We plan to go again on New Year's Day to Eldora, a slope a little closer to us.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Dinner time!

Here are a couple of recent very good meals that have been made in our household.

The first meal is butternut squash ravioli and spinach ravioli with roasted butternut squash and sauteed sage in butter.  Very winter themed and very good.  It is also very simple when you buy pre-made ravioli.

This meal was paired with some white wine that we bought on our trip to California.  It was a very good match. 




Te second meal is sauteed peppers and onions with black bean tacos.  Topped with sour cream, feta cheese, salsa and red cabbage.  This meal was very good also, I wish I had some avocado to add on top but all the avocado we had was way too ripe.

The toppings



The peppers and onions



The final product.


Coming up... Christmas cookies! Molasses and Chocolate Crinkles are a definite but I would like to make more varieties.  I need to think about what kinds are best for traveling so I can take them home on the plane. 

Megan

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Food, Inc.


 We watched Food, Inc. last night.  And I feel that everyone should watch the movie and listen to its message.  I find the topic of this movie so fascinating.  I feel like I can never learn enough about it.  I would only hope that the average person would watch this movie and take something away from it.  Decide to make some change in their diet for the better.  If I hadn't already bought Christmas gifts I would buy this movie for everyone.

So I recommend this movie to anyone and everyone and I hope you would feel the impact I have felt from this movie.  I would also hope that it would make you want to change some aspect in your current diet.

Megan

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

First Year Anniversary Trip- Bay Area

For our 1 year anniversary of being married we decided to take a trip to the San Fran area to see some sights, taste some wines, see some friends, and relax.  And so that is what we did and it was great!  Here is a breakdown of what we did while we were there.

Day 1(Thursday 22nd) : 

We arrived rather late and then we needed to rent a car for the next day so we didn't get to Becky and Rylan's until around 11pm.  But since it was Becky's birth week and happened to be her actual birthday on Thursday we went to a bar to celebrate. So this trip started off to a late but good start.

Day 2 (Friday 23rd) : 

Jeff and I made sure to wake up somewhat early this day so we could get an early start at wine tasting.  We decided to go to Healdsburg, CA which is 1.5 hours north of San Fran on 101 North, which is a beautiful drive.  We got to Healdsburg and starting tasting around 11 am.  In Healdsburg there are many local wineries that have tasting rooms so that visitors do not have to drive to each vineyard to taste wines.  We went to four tasting room in town and then visited one vineyard. 

We got some good food at a French bakery and then began the tasting at Toad Hollow Vineyards tasting room.  And let me just say it was bad, terrible.  I was just hoping that the rest wasn't going to be this bad, which it wasn't thankfully.

Next we headed to Kendall-Jackson tasting room.  They had some great wines to taste!
From them we bought 6 bottles: 2  Highland Estates Voignier ' 07, 1  Highland Estates Chardonnay '07(we actually found some Chardonnay's that we liked!), 2 Highland Estates Seco Pinot Noir, and 1  Grand Reserve Zinfandel.  These were their wines that they don't sell in stores. 

The next tasting room was La Crema tasting room.  We weren't going to buy anything since we have just bought a lot from Kendall-Jackson but their Pinot Noir we tasted was so good we couldn't not buy some.  So from them we bought 2 Los Carneros Pint Noir '07 and 1 Los Carneros Pinot Gris '08.  We didn't actually try the Pinot Gris but we are a big fan of all Pinots so we figured it would be a good choice.  We also didn't want our red:white ratio to be too skewed.

After that we took a water break and walked around the town and square a bit.


Jeff sitting under a Redwood












  This car drove by during the picture.

Then we went to our last tasting room before venturing out to a vineyard.  We stopped in at Muprhy-Goode.  They had decent wines but nothing that we had to have, so we left there shortly after with no added purchases.

We headed over to a market place to grab some lunch.

It was an excellent lunch of French bread, homemade garlic brie, and granny smith apples.

We headed out to Armida Vineyards, and the vines looked so gorgeous since their leaves were changing colors.

Armida had some pretty decent wines to taste also, the best was their Cabernet Sauvignon, so we bought a bottle of that, which is their Reserve from '05.  We also bought their signature wine Pozin from '07, this is a really good Zinfandel.

At this point we could have kept tasting but we knew we wouldn't really be able to taste much more so we called it a day on that.  We took the scenic route home down 116.  It was a very nice drive.

That night once we got back we went out for sushi for Becky's birthday with some of her local friends.  It was very good sushi!

Day 3 (Saturday 24th):

In the morning the rental car had to be turned it and Rylan had a great idea that I turn it in and he follow me on his Harley so we could take a scenic ride around the area.  And it was awesome!  I love riding on motorcycles but Jeff does not so the rides are few and far between but each time they are awesome.  This was my first Harley experience and it was the best ride I have ever taken.  After we dropped it off at SFO we headed South on 101 until it met up with 92 west.  Then we ran into 1 North that ran along the Pacific Coast.  It was just awesome, there really is not other way to describe it.  It was cool and foggy but there were still terrific views.  Then we stopped in San Fran for a cup of coffee and then headed back on the Oakland Bridge, where you could see some more great views.  Overall it was awesome and I am so glad I did it.  I think I must own a Harley now.



After that we meet back up with Becky and Jeff and headed back to San Fran to go eat some Mexican food on Mission.  We both got burritos and they were so good that Jeff now describes his hunger in how many of those burritos he could eat.

They also had real Coca-Cola with sugar, it was great!

Then we went through some neighborhoods in San Fran and headed over to Haight and Ashbury.  We saw the Grateful Dead House and walked around the area.  Went to Amoeba Music and bought 11 used CDs for $28.00, we thought it was a pretty good deal.  We then went to the beach area to see the Golden Gate and an awesome sunset.
And then we went to a really good Italian place for dinner.  We then we to buy some more wine and rented a season of Curb Your Enthusiasm and stayed in for the night drinking wine and relaxing.  Another great day in the fantastic trip.

Day 4 ( Sunday 25th):
That morning Becky made us all breakfast, scrambled eggs with veggies and cream cheese and peanut butter sandwiches with strawberry dipping.  It was very good!  After that Rylan had to go to work for a few hours so the rest of us headed up to Berkeley to hang out.  And that is all we did, hang out and walk around.  It was nice.  Then once Rylan got off he met up with us and we went on a hike to hopefully see some good views.  Unfortuately the sun was setting and we weren't able to get to the very top of the spot to see everything but we still saw an awesome sunset.

Then we began our night time hike back, which was pretty fun and reminded me of old SEA prairie runs.  Once we got back into Berkeley we ate at a very good Thai place.  That night we watched more Curb but this time with some local beer.

Day 5 (Monday 26th):
Our last day.  Once we got up and packed Jeff and I said our goodbyes and went to San Fran to be tourist before catching our plane.  First we ate some paninis at a small cafe in North Beach. Then we walked over to Coit Tower and went up it to see some views.  We then walked to Pier 39 to see the seals and walked down the bay.  We bought some sourdough bread along the way.  And then continued over to Ghiardelli square.  So pretty much we walked a lot and saw some good stuff.  Then we walked back to the BART station, so we could go to the airport and catched our flight back to Denver.
 

So it was a great trip, very relaxing and a lot of fun.  I hope all of our future trips can be this good.  And I look forward to another year of marriage.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

French Apple Pie

As a part of me updating more frequently, I am going to try and post recipes that I make that are delicious. 

Yesterday I made this recipe of French Apple Pie which came from my Betty Crocker cookbook. 
It is amazing, one of the best apple pies I have ever had.




Here is the recipe...

Ingredients for Pie:
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Dash of salt
6 medium thinly sliced peeled tart apples (I used Granny Smith)
Honey

Ingredients for Topping:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup firm butter
Dash of cinnamon


1. Make your favorite pie crust recipes for a one-crust pie. (I prefer ones that use all butter and no shortening)
2. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
3. In a large bowl, mix 1/2 cup sugar, the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.  Stir in apples.  Spoon into pastry-lined pie plate.   Pour some honey over the top of the apples.
4. Make pie topping, in a small bowl mix flour, sugar and cinnamon.  Add in butter with a fork or pastry cutter until crumbly. 
5. Spoon topping evenly onto pie. 
6. Bake pie for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve warm.

Note: In the last 10-15 minutes of baking it may be necessary to place foil on top of the pie to prevent the topping from browning too much.  I personally did not need to do this so just make sure to check on the pie during that time.


Enjoy!



Thursday, October 15, 2009

Sorry for being absent so long

I am going to try and be better about updating this, try is the key word.

Much has happened since the last update...
  • Megan quit her previous job that she was not happy with and got a new job at Vitamin Cottage, the same company Jeff works for but at a different location.
  • Megan also applied to three different graduate schools in the hopes to attend next fall. All three are in Colorado, so we can stay in the area.
  • We have visited KC twice! Once for some family time and the other for some football games.
Those are the major highlights.

Coming up is our one year anniversary and for that we are going to the Bay Area in California.

So hopefully I will update soon with items we are cooking, reading, doing, etc.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Vegas

Recently we went to Vegas ( over the 4th of July weekend), it was a lot of fun. We arrived Thursday evening and proceeded to try and go out for the night, but it ended somewhat shortly for being so tired, I tried my best to stay awake.
The next day we went to the pool for a little bit, which was very nice. The Excalibur had four different pools! The best, in my opinion, was the adult pool. It was also nice how they had waitresses serving drinks. Later that day we made our way down the Strip toward Bally's so we could go eat at Battista's, a really good Italian restaurant right off the Strip. After dinner, which was fabulous, we headed over to The Orleans to see Bill Maher! The Orleans was nice because they have super cheap drinks, three Fat Tires for $7.50! Bill Maher was also awesome, he went on for almost two hours. After that we headed back to the Excalibur and called it a night.
The next day was the 4th, so we proceeded back to the pool for a few hours. Eventually we got ready and decided to walk around again, ended up not doing a whole lot. Ate dinner at Tender in the Luxor which was very tasty. That night Jeff and I went down to Bellagio to watch the fountains and we were in luck that there was also a fireworks show in that same area. There were also too many people.
Sunday finally came, our last day. We went downtown to Fremont St., the cheap part of Vegas. We gambled a little and drank a little, of course. Eventually we went back to the hotel in order to head to the pool just a little bit more before we had to head back to Denver. Overall it was fun, nothing too exciting, but a good time. Hopefully it won't be too long before we go back again. Pictures are on facebook.
Megan

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Update from the Front Range

We recently returned from Wakarusa Music Festival. This year it was located on some private land in Arkansas on top of Mulberry "Mountain". It was a great location, much more compact and I think it helped the whole festival run very smoothly. Normally we stay after the help clean up and get paid but this year I got paid during the festival for my work on the Recycling/Trash crew.
(me taking a quick break before heading back out)
Each year for Recycalusa gets better and better. We all just fall into sync so easliy at the beginning and get our work done more quickly. I am already looking forward to next year! I plan on staying longer like previous years instead of just during the festival. I feel like we are one big happy family when we are at Waka, it is just great. It was wonderful seeing K-State people we haven't seen in a while. I actually saw more music this year than usual. Jeff only volunteered so he had plenty of time off to relax and watch plenty of bands he wanted to see. I think that is all on the Waka front.
(Some of the Recycalusa gang)

We recently found a great hiking area on the SW side of Denver, near Morrison. There is a trail that leads to Mt. Falcon but we have not made it to that peak yet, just the surrouding trails. One trail leads to a Summer Home for Presidents that was never fully completed. This summer we plan to climb at least one 14er along with some other smaller peaks. Along with lots of camping and getting use to carrying our new backpacks. Further updates will come once these plans are completed. Unless we plan somethine else in June our next adventure will be going to Vegas over the July 4th weekend.


Megan



(Jeff at the Summer Home)

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Summer

It feels like summer so I am going to call it summer. We went on a 5 mile hike today near Morrison, it was great! It was one of the best hikes we have done since moving out here. We hope to continue our hiking streak. We recently bought backpacks for backpacking so we are going to start working on carrying the packs and then hopefully climb some peaks this summer! We also are looking forward to some upcoming trips.
Memorial Day weekend we will be going to Estes Park with my parents.
June 4-7 we will be in Arkansas for Wakarusa! June 8th we will be in KCMO for the day, I am sure it will be hectic with us trying to see as many people as possible.
July 4th weekend we will be in Las Vegas! with my parents.
Labor Day weekend we will be back in KCMO for the entire time! So clear your schedules
Ocotber 2-4 we will also be back in KCMO for a KState football game and a Chiefs game.

We are looking forward to our upcoming trips, hopefully there will also be some camping and baseball games added to the summer schedule.

We are still loving it out here and doing great. Hope all is well with everyone else!

Megan

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Life goes on

Jeff and I have now been in Denver for about 2.5 months. Life is great here! We love seeing the mountains everyday. We love being able to go on hikes on Sundays and only driving 30 minutes to get to the trail head. Both of our jobs are going okay, they are jobs and are good for now. We can pay our bills plus have extra for some fun.
We are currently working on our outdoor collection. We recently bought hiking boots, and a tent. We hope to soon add some sleeping bags and backpacks to that collection.
I have been getting into yoga, there is a studio very close to our apartment which is very nice.
We have had some visitors since moving out here and those visits have been very nice. My parents came out for a weekend, same with Christine and Ryan, also my cousin was in Denver for a day. Jeff's parents will be making a trip soon too. We love having visitors, so anyone reading this, don't be shy!
I am really looking forward to going to Wakarusa this summer, it will probably be my only real vacation, but it will worth it.
I think that is all for now, I will try to update this more often and start updating our picture site too.

Megan

Friday, January 9, 2009

Honeymoon to Puerto Rico


Megan and I had a great trip to Puerto Rico. We didn't do a whole lot, but we thought we'd post what we did each day the best we can remember. Please visit our shutterfly site for pictures:
http://stilleyphotos.shutterfly.com/

Thursday December 25:
We spent all day flying from KC to Dallas, from Dallas to Miami, hung out in the not-very-exciting Miami airport during our delay, and from Miami to San Juan. By the time we got a taxi and checked in to our room, it was 3:30am San Juan time. I had a bad cold that day and was pretty miserable the whole time. My ears were clogged the entire day, and could not hear much.

We stayed at a beautiful little inn east of Old San Juan in the Condado area, a short block from
the ocean.















Friday December 26:
We were thankfully able to utilize the mass transit system to get to Old San Juan which was free for the last week of the year. During the day we just walked around Old San Juan to get acquainted and see what was around.

In the evening, we rented a little car, got some groceries, and ate at a great Puerto Rican restaurant, which I was severely under dressed for. We wore jeans and pants everyday like the locals do, but I was just in a TShirt. Locals seem to like to look nice all the time.














Saturday December 27:
We woke up at around 6:30am in order to hit the road in order to meet up with a guide to explore a canon in the middle of the island. After 40 minutes of driving, we were still in San Juan and very lost, so we gave up and went back to the inn to get back in bed. Driving in Puerto Rico is very interesting. Signs are inconsistent and often confusing. Drivers tend to create more driving lanes than there are painted.

During the day, we went back to Old San Juan to take some pictures and visit El Morro, the 1500's fort on the tip of the island that Old San Juan sits on.














At night, we got gussied up and had a very nice dinner at the Marriot hotel.

Sunday December 28:
We spent most of the day exploring more of Old San Juan. We watched some football during lunch at a bar, then headed to the Castillo San Cristobal, another fort just east of El Morro. This place is not as famous of El Morro, but was at least as interesting.














For dinner, we walked to a bakery down the road from our inn. We were definitely the only tourists there and had a little bit of difficulty communicating, but this was about the only problems with language we occured the whole time.

Monday December 29:
We woke up semi early to drive to the El Yunque rain forest, about an hour's drive east of San Juan. This is the only tropical rain forest in the US Forest Service. Megan was not feeling too great, parly from a cold and partly from car sickness (the road through El Yunque was unbelievably narrow and curvy). So we took it pretty easy, but did hike to a waterfall. Very neat place.














After the rain forest we drove to the area of Fajardo, a pretty dull and dirty town on the north eastern tip of Puerto Rico. We ended up finding a pretty good seafood place in the area, then headed to a lake near Fajardo (we got lost on the way of course). All through the area of Fajardo were dozens and dozens of dogs roaming around. Many were seen napping in the middle of roads, and one was even on top of a house.

At the lake we had an unbelievable experience kayaking at night with bioluminescent microscopic plankton. This was Megan's favorite activity of the whole trip. We could see green on the oars, on tree roots and on fish! We even put water on our hands and could see individual creatures light up, even though you need a powerful microscope to see them otherwise. Here is a cheesy computer generated picture from the website, since there is not really a good way to capture it on film:












Tuesday December 30:
We drove to the Bacardi Rum Factory in the morning and took their free tour, which included a couple of free drinks. It was kind of a neat place, but the tour basically just consisted of going through a seperate building from the factory to get indocterinated with their propaganda. In the afternoon we went to some mall, then attempted to return our rental car. We were lost for a good hour, even though we were very close to the car rental place for most of the time. We somehow made it onto a bridge, which had a $2.00 toll on it. Fun times.

Wednesday December 31:
We walked around the area of our inn for the morning and had a really great lunch with lots of margaritas. We then caught a taxi to the airport, where our plane was delayed by quite a bit, so we had more drinks and bought some sunglasses.














We had a quick lay over in Chicago (we literally sprinted to the plane in order to make it). We got to sit next to Leah and Jake on the flight back to KC since all flights to KC are mostly empty. We had no idea we would be on the same flight until Megan and I stumbled on panting.

All in all it was a great trip to a beautiful place. We highly recommend Puerto Rico, it's very nice not to have to deal with customs or money changes, or language problems and so on.