Fantasy Fudge

I successfully made fudge!! Woo hoo. I decided to try my hand at regular fudge after my disaster this time last year. I followed the instructions to the T on the back of the jiffy puff marshmallow cream jar. I also used my candy thermometer. Let me tell ya, having one of those helps a lot...ha ha.

December Meal: Garlic Lemon Broccoli Pasta

I did it! I made 12 different meals this year!! I wanted to use my new bowl and plate set so bad that I decided to make pasta as my last new meal of the year. It seems like over the holidays I don't get very many veggies into my diet (I mean who chooses veggies when there are cookies to be eaten?!?!) so I decided to pump up the veggies for this meal. This is also my first meatless meal! I was surprised I actually stayed full without any chicken.

Garlic Lemon Broccoli Pasta (with a side salad of spinach topped with ranch)

1 serving spaghetti noodles
1 head of broccoli
2 cloves of garlic
zest of 1 large lemon
juice of half of the large lemon
1 - 2 T of olive oil





Start by boiling your noodles. Halfway through add your chopped broccoli. While that is cooking zest your lemon and grate your garlic. When the noodles and broccoli are to your liking drain the pot. Put your noodles and broccoli back into your pot and add the olive oil, garlic, lemon zest and lemon juice. Stir everything together and enjoy!

BA, Argentina Part 3

For our last real day of touring, my mom and I took a tour of the river delta. The tour bus picked us up and took us to Tigre city (Tiger City) to catch the boat. The tour started on the Tigre river and took us out into the delta. This is the 3rd largest delta in the world.

Tigre city

When you live on the river you have no running water and this is your grocery store...

Some of the river houses were really colorful

Along with a floating grocery store you also have floating garbage "trucks"

Men collecting the reeds to make baskets and what not

There is one point on the delta where you can see BA in the distance

There was also an amusement park right on the water...how cool is that?!?!

After our tour on the delta we stopped at a fruit and craft market...

The fruit stands were so pretty to look at, but I got the feeling they didn't really want you to take pictures if you weren't going to purchase anything so I quickly snapped this one...ha ha

Scenic view point overlooking the delta on our way to lunch

That night we went to another tango show...this time at La Ventana

This place put on a smaller production, but was still amazing! The entire place felt like it was right out of the 1920s

This was by far the best dessert I had the entire trip. It's a dulce de leche panqueque or a caramel crepe ha ha

The last day we were there we did a bit of shopping and went to the Evita museum to check out all her clothes, shoes and hats. The museum was really cool, but unfortunately I didn't take any photos. Overall it was a great trip and 4 days was a perfect amount of time. I would love to go back to the country one day, but not to the city...I want to go further south and play with the penguins!!!

BA, Argentina Part 2

Our first full day in the city we woke up around 9 a.m. (6 a.m. back home) to catch our city tour. This was probably one of the best tours I've been on! We went to several of the neighborhoods in the city from the wealthiest to the poorest and everything in between.

The President's pink house, legend has it that the pink color comes from the mixture of limestone and cow's blood

You can see the massive size of the pink house

The balcony where Evita addressed the her fans/where Madonna sang in the movie

The plaza/street was named after a date...several streets were named after dates

The soccer stadium...the coca cola signs are black and white because their rival team is red and white and they didn't want those colors on their stadium

La Boca...where you don't want to be out after 6 pm

The most taken picture in La Boca

La Boca

Part of La Boca was paved in wooden tiles

There was lots of art/graffiti around the city

El torso and tango dancers. There is actually a face in the torso

This flower opens and closes with the changing of the seasons

The cemetery in La Recoleta where Evita is buried

Where Evita now rests

Cemetery

One of the most famous Cafes in the city, they also have a tango show at night

The Obelisk that looks like our Washington Monument

La Faena...this is where Madonna stays when she visits the city

The cutest way I've ever seen of telling how done the steak is...well done for moi

BA, Argentina Part 1

I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Buenos Aires, Argentina with my parents right after Thanksgiving. My dad has had to go there many times for work and it just so happened that my mom and I had enough vacation time saved up that we could join him. We originally had 4 days to explore the city, but our return flight home got cancelled so that gave us another day...ha ha. Get ready for a picture overload (again) over the next few days...

BA is considered the Paris of South America and I could see why...everything is very European. From the people to the architecture, you would never know you were in a Spanish speaking country. Most people thought my mom and I were Spanish speakers until we gave them confused looks and tried to speak back in our broken Spanish...ha ha. The area we stayed in was called Puerto Madero and is considered the Little Miami of BA. It is home to lots of skyscrapers and high rise apartment complexes. There are also lots of people rollerblading in the swim suits. 

This bridge was designed to resemble tango dancers...the man is leaning the woman back and her leg is sticking out

Puerto Madero used to be the main port of the city and now all the old brick buildings have been turned into restaurants and shops on the first level and lofts, condos and offices on the top levels

BA has a ton of random artwork throughout the city. This sculpture represents women surviving cancer

Our very first Tango show at the Carlos Gardel theater. Carlos Gardel was a founding father of the tango.

This was the best picture I could get...they move so fast!! This show was more of a Broadway production and was amazing to watch!

This was the hotel's Christmas tree! It was huge! It was weird seeing all the Christmas stuff out when it was summer weather outside

Ornament Wreath 2012

I made this one as a Christmas gift for the Barrett's mom and I love it so much more than the one I made last year! Instead of stringing the ornaments on a wire hanger, I glued them on to a Styrofoam wreath form (that I had covered in red ribbon) with hot glue. It might have take me longer this way, but at least the ornaments aren't falling off!!!

Merry Christmas 2012

I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!!

Review of my Fall Bucket List

Well hello there! I know I've been a little MIA lately, but with being out of the country, getting ready for Christmas and dealing with a computer with attitude problems my blogging time has just vanished. For all those waiting to see my pictures from Argentina, I promise they are coming soon!!

Since it is offically the last day of Fall, I thought I would do a little recap of how I did with my Fall 2012 Bucket list :)

1. See a scary movie  I went and saw Paranormal Activity 4! (recap here)

2. Make pumpkin cookies  Click here to see my cookies!!

3. Plan a vacation Planned and went to San Francisco (day 1, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5) and Buenos Aires, Argentina

4. Try a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks I'm not a coffee drinker at all, but actually enjoyed my Soy Pumpkin Spice Latte no Whip...ha ha...and I added a dash of cinnamon.

5. Make caramel apples Click here to see my Falling Leaves Caramel Apples!

6. Go to a pumpkin patch Sadly this is the only one I wasn't able to check off the list. By the time I could find a day to go, I was a weekend too late and the last of pumpkin patches had closed. I guess I'll just try again next year :)

7. Get a caramel apple cider from Starbucks Turns out it's no longer called cider...it Caramel Apple Sipce

8. Put out Fall decorations

9. Make a fall craft Click here to see my Fall Burlap Wreath!

10. Decorate a pumpkin Click here to see my pumpkin!!

I'm pretty proud of myself...9 out of 10 ain't too bad :)

My Legs are Shaking!

So I'm no fitness expert...like at all, but I do like to pretend from time to time I know what I'm talking about. I've tried lots of different programs...such as P90x, Wii Fit and Live Fit Trainer. Live Fit is probably my most successful attempt, but towards the end life just got in the way and I wasn't able to keep up the gym days. One thing I found out about myself, is that I like circuit training. I'm not a runner and I get bored on the ellipitcal. So doing circuits helps me stay alert I guess.

I started doing the above leg circuit a while ago and actually saw results! My thighs looked toner and were slimming out a little yay! I noticed after doing the same routine 4 mondays in a row my body was used to it so I stopped and tried other stuff. I was missing my old routine so I gave it a go again and let me tell ya...my legs were sore!! It hurt so good. By the second round I was already shaking, but pushed my way through the third and final round. I finished my workout up by getting on what I like to call the "lazy man" bike (the one that has the full chair on it) and just moved my legs for 10 minutes in hopes that it would help work some future soreness out.

If I come up with any other circuits, I'll gladly share them with y'all. For now this is all I got...ha ha.

November Meal: Mexican Shepard's Pie

This is very similar to my first Shepard's Pie except this recipe calls for taco meat and I added peas and carrots to the mix :) I really enjoyed the Mexican spices mixed with the veggies and potatoes and will probably be making this version of Shepard's Pie from now on...I just wish it would photograph better.

Mexican Shepard's Pie

1 lb ground beef
1 package taco seasoning (I used the rest of my homemade seasoning from this post)
1 small can corn (drained)
1 small can peas and carrots mix (drained)
1 package Idahoan instant potatoes (if you have the time homemade potatoes taste better)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Brown your meat. Drain off any grease and then add the taco seasoning per the package's instructions. Once the taco meat is ready add in the corn, peas and carrots. Continue cooking on medium low heat until the veggies are soft. Scoop meat mixture into 8x8 glass baking dish. Prepare the instant potatoes (I do mine in the microwave) and spread over the meat. Try to make some peaks if you can. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes. The potato peaks should turn golden during this time. Let cool for a few minutes then serve.