Sunday, March 30, 2014

Happy Anniversary!!!!

Omid and I are celebrating 25 years of marriage today. Happy anniversary to us!

25 years ago today, we borrowed a friends car, drove the 8 miles to Moscow, Idaho, applied for a marriage license and got married a few minutes later.

It's been 25 years of fun adventures and I can't wait to see what the next 25 years hold for us.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Happy Nowruz 2014!

Happy Nowruz!!!!


So full from our Persian feast!


Omid made a traditional Nowruz dinner for us last night. Herbed rice packed with 4 cups of freshly chopped parsley, cilantro, chives, garlic, dill weed & green onion. So fragrant! The fish is smoked King Salmon he caught last August. It was like candy. So sweet! The tahdeeg turned out pretty delicious as well: crispy/crunchy!

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Hired!

I've been on the hunt for a full time job for the last year & a half. I have applied for probably 150-200 jobs and have had two interviews. While I love my ELL team & the students, it's just part time. With Matty going off to college soon (& some recent home emergencies), I need to help out in the $ department.  My friend Karen, who is an HR professional, took a look at my resume and called it 'very 90's.' Whoa! Karen spent two hours helping me edit my resume, giving it a more modern look. ☺


The same morning, I met with Karen, I prayed, "God, I have applied to every place I can think of in Clark County...please put an idea in my head or let a job fall into my lap."   Then this happened: my friend and former ELL coworker, Donna called. She is a licensed broker for John L. Scott and was looking for a part time assistant. Could I help her? Yes! Thank you, God!

While I am still looking for full time employment, Donna's call was a God send! Not only am I learning something new (real estate lingo), but we are two friends helping each other out. Thanks Donna!!!

By the way, if you are in the need of a realtor, Donna is the girl to call! I've only been on the job with her a short time, but have known her for 11 years. She is amazing!
First day on the  new job!

Friday, March 7, 2014

Make This!





I wish you could smell my kitchen right now. It smells so spicy and alive. This mix of roasted cauliflower & spices is simply amazing.

For research purposes, I sampled the cauliflower when it was finished roasting. After one bite, I thought: "Wow! This is a perfect on it's own." Since I was already committed to making the soup, I carried on. The result: delicious as well.

What we have here are two winners. Make one or the other. Either way, you can't go wrong!







For the recipe, click this link. Everything I have ever made from Joy the Baker has been fantastic!☺

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Make This!!!

  
Banana Cake with Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting!

It's no secret that we love banana flavored desserts in our house: banana bread, banana cream pie, banana tarts, monkey bars. These desserts are all on a regular rotation here.

While looking for a new way to incorporate bananas in our dessert line up, I came upon this yummy sounding cake on Pinterest. It was everything I hoped it would be and more!

We are not big fans of buttercream frosting. We either scrape it off or eat the cake around it, leaving a frosting shell on the plate. The cinnamon buttercream intrigued me enough that I was willing to sacrifice a cup of butter for the cause. The result: GOOD STUFF!

Make this cake! It's delicious and everyone will be oohing and ahhing over how delicious it is; and also wonder why didn't they think to bake banana bread in cake pans and frost it with cinnamon buttercream!?

Note: The cake batter is very dense, even more so than banana bread batter as there is no milk in it. I used cake flour instead of all purpose flour to give it more of a cake-like consistency.

Banana Cake with Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting by Shugary Sweets

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
3 bananas
1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Frosting:
1 cup butter, softened
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
2-3 T milk

Preheat oven to 350*. Grease two 9 inch cake pans.


Blend butter and sugar until creamy. Add egg and vanilla, beat until combined. Blend in bananas. Add in flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.



Divide batter in half and pour into cake pans. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes. Remove and cool. Let cake cool in pans 10 minutes, then flip onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

For the frosting, beat butter until fluffy. Add in powdered sugar and cinnamon. Add milk. Beat for 5 minutes until desired consistency.

Frost, eat & enjoy!