Why are they called "deviled eggs"?

In preparation for Easter Brunch, I signed up for Deviled Eggs. Not really what I wanted to make, but Tyler asked if they were on the menu and since no one had claimed them, I decided to try something new.

As I predicted, deviled eggs are not the easiest to make. There are multiple steps, all of which are quite easy, but for me peeling the eggs was the hardest part. Normally peeling hard boiled eggs is fun, but seeing that these eggs need to look presentable it was quite time consuming and by time consuming I mean pain in the butt! Plus the eggs were being stubborn and not peeling very easily. Which after doing some googling,  I learned that was because the egg white was sticking to the shell. 


I was becoming quite frustrated and thankfully Tyler decided to help.  It took us 45 minutes to peel 15 eggs and as each minute passed I thought, "now I know why they are called Deviled Eggs, they are devilish to make"!

As you see below they ended up turning out ok. They were tasty enough, but if you look close you can see a lot of imperfections. All in all, I don't think I will volunteer to make this dish again!

Oh and in case you were wondering  below is the official definition of deviled eggs: "the term deviled, in reference to food, dates back to the 19th century, it came to be used most often with spicy or zesty food, including eggs prepared with mustard, pepper, or other ingredients stuffed in the yolk cavity".

P.S. Not sure how I feel about the term "yolk cavity", it's a bit graphic when describing food!!

Presidio 10K

Last year I completed my first "race", the Susan G. Komen 5K Run in San Francisco. Tyler and I were pretty good about our training, but it's pretty easy to fudge your way through 3.2 miles. We were somewhat inspired and thought we would try out a 10K run! We signed up in February thinking that 2 1/2 months would be plenty of time to get ready for the10K, but life kept getting in the way. We would have a really good week and run 3 times and then nothing the next week. I also realized while "training" that I HATE running outside! And I know hate is a strong word, but really I HATE it! I can run inside on a treadmill without a problem, but for some reason you stick me out in mother nature for a run and I just can't wait for the run to be over!

As the race was approaching Tyler and I couldn't decide what to do, but we knew we wouldn't be able to fudge our way through 6.4 miles. Bryn and Lisa also signed up for the race and after realizing that none of us were quite as ready as we hoped, we decided to do our own thing and made it Ladies Day! Bryn was going to run/walk, while Lisa and I decided to power walk. Bryn, the trooper that she is ran the whole thing!

While Lisa and I managed to complete the race in about 90 minutes, not too shabby! Plus, there were still 100 people behind us! All in all it was a pretty productive morning, woke up early, walked 6.4 scenic miles, caught up with Lisa, and enjoyed a breakfast burrito with Bryn afterwards :)

Getting ready for the race!

Just a typical Sunday walking the Golden Gate Bridge and wait, is that Bryn?!?

Yup that's her!!!

Lisa let me take a quick photo break to capture these shots, but it was back to business once I put my camera away!

Bocce Ball

This Friday we did something new and different, we played Bocce Ball! A few months ago a new restaurant opened in Livermore that incorporates Bocce Ball during your dining experience, it called Campo de Bocce. We were celebrating Lisa's bday and had a great time drinking, eating, playing bocce ball and enjoying each other's conversation.

Tyler and I had never played bocce ball before, but thankfully each court has their own referee. Our referee looked like he was 12 years old, but was an "old soul" at heart. He was very entertaining while he was explaining the rules, telling us while he wasn't a legit bocce ball player, he did own a few sweat bands!

The entire object of the game is to get your team's ball closet to the little silver ball, the pallina. We played boys vs. girls and I'm pretty sure the girls ended up winning! By the third game we were a bit chilly, hungry and got distracted when our food arrived. All in all it was a great evening filled with good friends, food and fun! I'm pretty excited to take our next Nor Cal visitors there, any takers?!?

Our ref, making the call.......

Scoreboard

Giving Lisa a pep talk!

Bryn and Raf taking measurements to see who is closer!

Worst Idea Ever

This weekend Tyler and I finally decided that after four years, our $90 grill was done for. On Sunday we spent the day price shopping grills. We went to Orchard Supply Hardware, Target, Home Depot, Lowes and even Wal-Mart. Even though Tyler thinks Wal-Mart is the devil (his words, not mine), we decided to check it out. They actually had a decent grill selection. Much better then Target's selection which was rather disappointing, especially since I just learned that a recent report found Target's prices to be better then Wal-Mart! Anyways, I digress......we ended up buying a nice 3 burner grill from Wal Mart.

We get home and start the grill assembly process. I voted to partake in Wal-Mart's Free Assembly, but Tyler wasn't so sure about the assembly quality that Wal-Mart would provide. We actually assembled it quite quickly. In fact we were just under the hour mark when we put in the last screw!

That is when we realized that the ever so intelligent people at Wal-Mart (or I suppose it could have been the grill company) had placed two labels on the grill, one on the side and one inside the grill! We carefully start peeling the labels, but they began to rip.

My hubby to be decided to MacGyver a solution! Tyler boiled some water and then placed the pot inside the grill, hoping that the steam would help to "peel" off the sticker, but that didn't work. So we resorted to good 'ole Goo Gone. While we didn't want all of the chemicals inside the grill we didn't have many options. Finally after about 30 minutes of srapping Tyler was able to get the last of the sticker off. To be safe we cranked the grill up to 500 and let the chemicals burn off.

Ending on a good note, we grilled steaks that night for dinner and the grill worked GREAT!

244 Days

Yes, 244 days! No, I didn't repost my entry from a couple of weeks ago, but Thanksgiving is only 244 days aways! Thanksgiving happens to be my favorite holiday and not just because of the amazing meal.

When I was little Thanksgiving was always close to my birthday, which was always exciting. Who doesn't love pumpkin pie and birthday cake on the same day? In college Thanksgiving Break was a great excuse to leave Big Rapids, spend time with my family and not have to worry about my International Finance class for a few days. These days, I love Thanksgiving because of Nick and Bryn!

Tyler and I moved to Nor Cal about the same time that Nick and Bryn moved to Nor Cal from Seattle. Working with Nick at Ford it only seemed appropriate that we should spend our first Nor Cal Thanksgiving together, I mean cripes who wants to make a Thanksgiving Feast for only two people? Bryn and I worked on the menu and by the time we had everyone's favorite "Grandma Dish" on the list we literally had enough food to feed at least 10 people. Over the years, the feast has expanded its menu and could now probably feed at least 14 people ;)

Mind you we don't let it go to waste, we have 2 rounds of helpings, then go for a walk (to relax the stomach muscles), come back for round 3 and dessert! Sure, its a lot of food, but Bryn and I work off most of the calories while we are out bargain hunting on Black Friday!

In just 244 days, we will be celebrating our 5th Nor Cal Thanksgiving Feast!

Pen Pal

Tyler and I have been busy scoundering the web looking for key items to put in our Welcome Bags. Tyler happen to find an item that he especially liked, but the seller was based in China. We decided to take a risk and make this over seas purchase.

After 45 days (good thing we're planning in advance) our package arrived safe, sound, and in great condition. To my surprise the package even arrived with a greeting card. A nice note from Nancy Chen, thanking me for my order and letting me know that while we order 72 pieces, she gave us an extra 3 for a total of 75 pieces! Better yet, she referred to me as her new friend in the US! She was so sweet, I decided to email her thanking her for the extra pieces. One email turned into an email chain between Nancy and I. Not really sure why and I kept writing back to Nancy, but if Tyler and I decided to go to China for our honeymoon, I will make sure to meet my new friend from China!

244 Days, 21 hours, 27 minutes, and 6 seconds (now 5 seconds, now 4 :)

That's right we are only 8 months away from our wedding day! Hard to believe that just a few weeks ago, I was on wedding stress overload. Just like my friends said, once you have the venue booked its all down hill from there and they were right. After Tyler and I got back from Mexico all of the details fell into place.

Venue? Nuevo Vallarta, Dreams Resort....check!
Date? November 6th, 2011....check!
MI Reception? December 30th in downtown Grand Rapids, check!
Wedding Website? www.tylerandcaresse.com......check!
Dress? check!
Tyler's suit? check!

Hmmm, now I guess it is just a waiting game until November. This should give me plenty of time to scout out some great deals for the welcome bags! Not to mention the fact that I should have all this free time to blog ;)