2010 in Photos

This year has been filled with lots of celebrations, love, and memories that will be near and dear to my heart forever. We've made some progress on our house both inside and out with a guest room re-design, a new garden, and some landscaping. My lovely friends threw the best bachelorette party I could dream of and my supermom put together the sweetest bridal shower. And then we topped off a very lovely (and windy!) Spring with the most beautiful and fun wedding and an exciting honeymoon to Japan! What could get better than that??  I am so thankful to everyone who came together to help us start this new chapter our our lives and I am  anxious to find out what will happen in 2011! I hope to be back on my feet in February and we will be planning a trip to visit my family in Seattle, a Hawaii anniversary, and Helya's wedding in August! I think it will be another great year!!

Music: Sufjan Stevens - The Tallest Man, The Broadest Shoulders (this was our recessional at the wedding!)

A Christmas Gift

Steve got me a wedding band for Christmas! It is tiny and perfect!

Friday Favorites: Survival Essentials

All I need to survive. Merry Christmas Eve!

A sweet birthday message from my lovely mother!

Nice things Steve has done since surgery

I have THE BEST husband in the world. He is a super caretaker! These are just some things that he has done for me since I am stuck on the couch. It's the little things that really make me thankful for him!!

• carried me to the bathroom every day for 4 days
• called tech support for my ice machine because it stopped working
• turned on the christmas lights every night
• made me soup
• got me raspberries because he knows how much I love them
• brought me water 144,543,958 times
• drove me back to LA for my post-op, over 6 hours round trip of rainy driving
• made a nice bed in the back seat
• fixed my pillows 49,494 times
• wrapped the ice pack around my leg 7,339 times
• did laundry
• made coffee every morning
• loaded and ran the dishwasher
• emptied the dishwasher
• slept on the couch in the living room with me every night
• re-filled my prescription
• bought me tampons
• got me the prettiest bday card from Papyrus (can you imagine how cute he must have looked browsing around Papyrus??)

I got a new foot for my birthday

Today, Steve and I drove back down to LA for my post-op appointment. They took off my cast and oh, the freedom! It was like a breath of fresh air. 

Then they unwrapped what seemed like 20 layers of gauze and tape and ta da!!!

Look! My foot is straight!! No more bump! We got to look at the x-rays and all of my bones are perfectly in line and there is no more bunion. WAHOO!!

And, introducing a brand spankin new, PINK! cast to prance (lay) around in for the next two weeks!

Roasted Red Pepper Soup

The annual American Chemical Society Wine Tasting Event was held at Firestone Vineyard this year. We always top off the wine tasting with warm soup, cheese, crackers, and fruit and I offered to make one of the soups. I decided to try something new and found a recipe from Everyday Italian with Giada de Laurentis for Creamy Red Pepper soup. It was a big hit and all of the women came up to me afterwards and raved about it. I'll definitely make it again, as Steve and I love soup on cold, winter nights. 

A trick for transporting hot soup from one location to another: Put hot towels in the bottom of an ice cooler. Transfer the hot soup pot directly from the stove to the cooler and wrap more warm towels all around it so that it is stable. This keeps the soup hot for a few hours believe it or not! Plus, if there's any spill, it is captured inside the cooler and not all over your car!

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 2 (12-oz) jars roasted red peppers, drained
• 1 russet potato, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• baguette slices (I baked my usual biscuits instead)
• mascarpone cheese

Directions:

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onions, carrots, garlic, and thyme and saute until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the broth, bell peppers, potato, wine, and sugar. Bring to a simmer over high heat. Decrease the heat to medium-low. Partially cover and simmer until the potatoes are very tender, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. Cool the soup slightly.

Using an immersion hand blender, puree the soup in the pot until it is smooth. Alternately, working in batches, puree the soup in a regular blender, taking care while blending warm liquids. Season the soup, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add the bread cubes and saute until they are crisp and golden, about 8 minutes.

Ladle the soup into bowls. Dollop a tablespoon of mascarpone in the center of each bowl and top with croutons. Sprinkle with pepper and serve.