What we’ve been up to

Sorry we’ve been so quiet lately. We have been unintentionally unplugged and and to be honest, it has been kind of nice. Less time behind the computer screen and more time grilling out, watching Friends, going to the beach, jogging, entertaining visitors, etc.  Sort of just getting done what needs to get done and then relaxing until bedtime. Most weekends I can’t seem to get any posts written, any pictures downloaded from my camera, or any blogs read, but the laundry gets done, dinner gets cooked, trips to the beach are had, and I'm becoming okay with that—especially since summer up here is so short.

We apologize for keeping everyone in the dark for so long; here’s a little summary of life lately.

Lately we have been… 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note—We learned a very harsh lesson about bringing compost into the house. We tried to learn from last year and start our seeds earlier in the year. Unfortunately, us rookies didn’t think through bringing compost soil into our apartment.

We went through phases of insect hatching. First, there was the round of gnat-like bugs. Dozens if not hundreds of them. The vacuum and I became quite chummy. I had the vacuum out regularly and sucked them up morning and night. (I don’t do bugs).  It turned out to be great for the cleanliness of our floors though:)

Then there was round #2. Giant house flies. Less in number and more tolerable than the gnats. But still, I vacuumed them up. But then round #3 came. It was the last straw. Bees. Some type of flying stinging-looking insect. This was when I freaked out, panicked, and told Andrew “These plants are going outside today. I don’t care if there is still frost and we are throwing away two months of prep. Out.” And so they went.

 

 

 

 

 

That’s a quick summary. More to come later! No promises on timeliness—I’m still hoping to re-cap California;) And since then we’ve been to NYC, Philadelphia, and Maine. Not to mention parent visits, weddings, or future summer plans. Wheew. I just can’t keep up. In fact, tonight Andrew was basking in summer 2011 glory and telling me about how much he is enjoying it and we’re technically only a 5 days in. My first thought was: “We better document this! We haven’t taken many pictures this summer (aside from trips). We’re going to need some proof to carry us through winter!”

Hopefully this weekend…

I’ll finish uploading pictures from our recent trip to California.

Adorable Cookies

If Andrew and I were able, we would totally be having a Mardi Gras party to celebrate Fat Tuesday—the feast before the beginning of Lent. We thought in honor of our year of holidays it would be fun, but then realized we aren’t available Tuesday.

I saw some adorable ideas online, so in case you’re interested in carrying the torch, here is a tutorial to make some adorable cookies and some downloadable print outs for your party.

We would definitely be making the mask cookies, although I realize they wouldn’t be nearly as pretty. Decorating with icing is hard. We learned that lesson with our Christmas tree cookies. It’s okay though, we’ll just have to keep practicing:)

photo source

Soup Recipe

Andrew made some rockin' soup last week. The recipe looks a little crazy (evaporated milk, bbq sauce, etc.), but it turned out great. All the interesting ingredients came together to create a unique flavor and great consistency. It was the first soup we’ve ever made from scratch to have a thick and creamy consistency. It's usually difficult to produce thick soup at home, but this recipe nailed it! I think it had something to do with the evaporated milk, but I may be wrong.

We followed the recipe to the T with the exception of using a green pepper instead of a red one and we cooked chicken breasts instead of using a rotisserie chicken.

Smoky Roasted Chicken and Corn Chowder
Prep/Total Time: 30 min.

Source: Taste of Home Healthy Cooking Feb-March 2009 Issue
 

Ingredients:

• 4 slices bacon, chopped
• 1 cup diced onions
• 1/2 cup celery, diced
• 1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced
• 2 teaspoons garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 tablespoon fresh thyme, minced or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1 (12 oz) can evaporated milk
• 1 (14 1/2 oz) can diced tomatoes, well drained
• 1 (14 3/4 oz) can cream-style corn
• 2 cups roasted chicken breast, chopped
• 1 tablespoon hickory flavored barbecue sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

 

Directions:

1. Cook chopped bacon in a large, non-stick soup pot over medium-high heat until lightly browned but not crisp. Stir in onions, celery, red pepper, and garlic. Cook and stir until vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes.
2. Add thyme and flour. Mix well. Stir in broth and evaporated milk. Bring mixture to a gentle boil and stir continuously until soup thickens slightly.
3. Reduce heat to medium-low. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover and let simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve hot.

The Year of the…

Back in January, Andrew and I were discussing our hopes, plans, and dreams for 2011.

Andrew said, “I want to read more this year. I want 2011 to be the year of the book!” And I said, “What? Read more? [Pause. Look at him funny.] Okay.” And with that the Year of the Book was born. Andrew’s goal is to read 10-12 books this year.

Me? I didn’t really have a goal. And I wasn’t interested in reading 10 books. But on Martin Luther King Day it dawned on me. As my Google Reader overflowed with MLK quotes and references to spending the day “on” and not “off”, I decided that I wanted to spend 2011 celebrating holidays with an awareness on their original intention. Holidays honor someone or something; I want to understand and appreciate that. I often spend these days eating hot dogs and playing Wiffle ball without regard to the significance of the day; without celebrating the purpose we were intended to celebrate. So in 2011 I want to focus a little of my attention on the dreams, the causes, and the fights that people gave their lives to. I want to be cognizant of the reasons why I get to sleep in and spend extra time with family and friends.

So throughout this year I’ll post recaps of what we did to celebrate holidays. Some will be more exciting than others. And I know that some holidays have varying traditions or have changed over time, so don’t judge us too harshly on the tribute that we pay.

And to honor the year of the book, Andrew will post reviews and recommendations of the books he’s read.

Nothing too exciting, but a little window into our life in 2011.

 

First up: President’s Day

This weekend for President’s Day we went to the JFK Library in Boston, MA. 

 

And then we drove past the birthplaces of former presidents John Adams, John Quincy Adams, and George H.W. Bush. While the Adams were born in the same town (later named Quincy), Bush 41 was born a couple miles away in Milton, MA.

And we even tried to eat a few favorite presidential meals. Unfortunately, our detour to Ikea set us back a little and all that was open was Panera. But we didn’t let that stop us! Andrew had macaroni and cheese a favorite of Ronald Reagan and I had a grilled cheese, a favorite of FDR. Panera’s macaroni is amazing. The grilled cheese was pathetic. I think they generally make them for kids meals so it was terribly lame and cheeseless.

And we may or may not have watched the Presidential DVD series my mom gave Andrew two Christmases ago. And we may or may not have watched all three DVDs.

Happy President’s Day!

Election Day 2010

This may be shocking…but it definitely made me chuckle when I was voting.

This morning as I stood at the voting both I cracked a smile, particularly when I read the names of some of the parties listed under Lieutenant Governor and Congressional Representative. And then I laughed. Out loud. Really? Is that legal?
Only in Rhode Island. 

Oh, and yes, that is a straight party voting option. In Rhode Island you can check a box at the beginning of the ballot to vote for all candidates of one party. It’s quite controversial to say the least. 

In the Meantime…

Okay, so it seems that I’m struggling with regularly updating two blogs.

I think it’s safe to say you should check in on our 365 blog more regularly than this beloved one:( Hopefully soon I’ll be back and full of zest and fabulous stories. But in the mean time, stay in the loop at http://portraitofthepiersons.blogspot.com/
[Note: Yes, I realize I’m over a month behind. I’m working on it.]

Spotlight on Shephard’s

Check it out!

Our photographer did a fun little overview of our reception site. You might even see yourself in the pics:)

http://pilsterphotography.blogspot.com/2010/05/outside-ballroom-shephards-beach-resort.html

Quick Update

My mom came into town for the weekend. We had a great time tasting lobster rolls, enjoying the sunshine, and relaxing.

Hope your weekend was fabulous as well!

Check out the 365 blog for more updates on our daily happenings. And eventually a weekend recap from this weekend:) I should mention there is a multi-week delay in postings. My goal is real-time postings, but I'm not quite there yet.

Day Trip through RI

(Day 71)

Saturday.

Adventure day.

We’re working on being more adventurous and spontaneous.
Last month Andrew had to work in the morning at a conference at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston. So we spent the afternoon driving around southern Rhode Island and exploring a few towns.

We had heard of Point Judith on the Discovery Channel’s Lobster Wars and wanted to check out the lobster boats. We also wanted to visit two towns named Galilee and Jerusalem. Who wouldn’t?

So we did. We took pictures. Searched for good seafood. And hung out at the beach. And froze:)

New England beaches are very different than Florida ones. Lots of rocks and little sand.

 

Andrew played with the camera.

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We drove around checking out the cottages, summer rentals (trailers), and restaurants. We found a lighthouse (not pictured; it was behind fencing and a Dept of Homeland Security sign) and parking area and took some more pictures.

 

You can’t really tell from this picture, but this is a steep cliff into the water.

 

Then we hit the jackpot. Point Judith fishing boats and lobster pots.

 

The streets had hilarious and nautical names.

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After we ate a seafood snack at Champlin’s in Galilee we embarked on the drive home. We decided to take the scenic route US 1 (which runs from Key West to Maine). And we decided that Andrew should practice his driving skills with the manual transmission, so he drove.

 

I was the worst navigator because I was paying too much attention to teaching and not enough attention to the map. We got lost. US 1-A took us a bit too scenic for our liking. We needed to go north, not due east. And we got frustrated. And hit traffic. So we switched drivers.

 

But not before passing through the famous Narragansett brick arch. Okay. So it’s probably not that famous. Just to us. When Andrew was visiting a while back we were driving down a road in Providence at night and he insisted that we drive straight. He said he saw a brick arch and wanted to know what was under it. So we drove. About 500 feet later we realized it was just a dense tree canopy and not actually a brick arch. Unfortunately, being new to the city, I didn’t realize the road I was driving on immediately merged onto a highway and bridge crossing over to the next town. We got lost. And now we have a new found fondness for real brick arches.

And that was our Saturday. Nothing too exciting, but we got to explore some new territory.

Time for A Change

 

Let’s play a game called….

 

What is this?

 

 

A hint.

 

 

Yep. That’s my ponytail. Pretty gross, huh?

 

I cut off 10 inches to donate to Locks of Love.

 

 

I’m not sure why it seems so gross when it’s not attached to your head anymore, but it does.

 

The new do.

Sometimes it’s okay to dump it

This conversation just occurred:

[Kim walks into the kitchen]

Andrew: “Bad news. The milk went bad.” [Referring to our two week old chocolate milk from the local dairy via the milk man. The milk that’s not supposed to last more than 7-8 days.]

Kim: “Really? I thought it might have. Did it smell bad?”

Andrew: “Foul.”

Kim: “Oh… I’m sorry. Wait, didn’t you just drink some last night? Was it bad then?”

Andrew: “Don’t know.”

Kim: [Looking into the sink at the empty milk bottle] “So did you pour it down the drain?”

Andrew: [Pauses] “No.”

Kim: “WHAT?! Did you drink it?!” [Assuming the obvious answer is no]

Andrew: [Sheepishly] “Yes”

Kim: [Silent shock]

Andrew: [Proudly] “Hey, you’re living with a man now. We assume every meal is our last”

Kim: “Seriously? I have to go blog about this.”

Andrew: “Tell them I drank rancid milk.”

Much About Nothing

So I just got home from work.

Andrew is still working.

I don’t feel like starting on the stir-fry.

So I’m eating chocolate chip cookies and milk. Yep. That’s right. And to be honest, I’ll probably not be hungry when it’s time for dinner. Good thing it’s not Tuesday. I feel fine eating this tonight. But on a Tuesday, before an episode of Biggest Loser, not a chance. I’d be eating my cookies with a big fat slice of guilt on the side. Who could watch people work that hard to get healthy and in shape while nibbling away at greasy wafers of sugar and chocolate?

Yea. Wafers. That’s right. The cookies are pretty thin. We had a bit of a baking mishap last night. We’re still not sure what happened. We’ve used the recipe many times before. I’m sure a picture or two will make it up on the Picture Blog. And we’ll be the butt of your jokes, but it’s okay. They taste good.

Well, when I get caught up that is. I’m super behind on my blog postings and I hate that. I have all these pictures and no time. But that’s a good thing. We’re busy getting the apartment ready for Andrew’s parents’ visit this weekend. Gotta make a good impression with the in-laws, right? Can’t let them think they married their son off to a woman who can’t clean or cook! In which case, these cookies should be hidden or destroyed. Nah, just eaten:) They deserve to be loved just like everyone else.

Traffic is a nightmare. There is a new traffic light between my office and our apartment and it’s all the rage. Road rage, that is. Well, to me at least. I told myself I’d start walking again just so I can get home and not want to run someone over. I stopped walking. Did I mention that? No. Of course not. Well, between the cold and the rain and meetings, I haven’t walked in weeks. But this new light. It’s enough to get me walking. Plus it should be warming up soon.

Our neighbors downstairs are Swiss. They speak French. They have three little boys. We have a French school in our neighborhood so they don’t speak much English. They try to talk to me in English and I try to talk to them in French. But I don’t know French. It doesn’t always go so well, but we tell each other our names about every other day. It’s sweet. Right now they are singing at the top of their lungs in French. Not sweet. 

What else? We went to a Red Sox game this weekend. The Rays swept the series. It was fun to see my hometown team and my current town team. Except everyone in the stadium was a Sox fan. And I was stuck in the middle.

Oop. Andrew’s home. Gotta run! Time to pretend I was cooking all evening:) JK. He sees me sitting here. With the cookies and milk. Busted.

Bye!

PS He brought home donuts! Stolen from work probably. Yay! Now we’re really gonna feel guilty next Tuesday.

When Emy Was In Town

(Day 64)

When Emy was in town we kept her entertained, fed, and busy.

We:

 

Relaxed.

 

Made delicious homemade waffles (actually Andrew did).

 

Played Wii.

 

Visited a Cape Verdean Museum.

 

 

Walked the cliffs along the beach.

 

Played in a tunnel.

And by we, I mean, we told Andrew he looked like a rapper and had to entertain us.

 

  

   

 

Then I played on the rocks while Andrew took pictures.

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Spontaneous

This is quite out of character, but yesterday morning (a work morning in the 6:00 or 7:00 hour) Andrew and I sat across from each other with our dueling laptops and spontaneously bought tickets for two concerts.

One is Michael Bublé, which was less spontaneous and much more in character for us. We love him. We used to play his CDs in grad school while cooking and eating dinner together. We played lots of his songs at our reception. And we're excited.

The other: Three Dog Night. Yep. That's right. We'll be the only ones under 55 there. And that's okay. We're still excited. I saw they were coming to RI and had been to a concert of theirs as a kid with my mom (probably kicking and screaming the whole way) so I threw the idea out there. Andrew and I have major problems when it comes to music, so this is a big deal! I like country and 80s. He likes disco and blues. We can basically just agree on oldies and big band stuff, which isn't always ideal to listen to. It's tough for both of us to go on a long ride together. We should get a second car just so we can caravan and jam to our own music. Or use headphones with iPods. I guess that would be the cheaper option, but not terribly safe. Isn't it illegal to drive with headphones on or something? Anyway. Three Dog Night kinda falls in the middle for us. I'm familiar with it. It still meets Andrew's pre-1979 criteria. And we both might enjoy ourselves. Now I just have to convince him that he'd have the best time in the world at a Kenny Chesney concert.

I think we should do a little research and dress for the Three Dog Night concert so we can fit in. What type of followers do they have? Hippies? That could be fun.

And I should note, both are at casinos. One in Rhode Island. One in Connecticut. For some reason all of the venues in Southern New England are event centers at Casinos. Oh well. Maybe we'll just have to play a hand or two of Blackjack:) Ha. Who are we?

Our life as of late

What have we been up to and where the heck have we been?

Andrew has been working a lot. His projects have kept him busy. We’re pretty thankful about that because his job started as part-time and now he’s working over 30 hours a week.

He also turned a year older and a year handsomer so we celebrated for a whole week (well, almost). The week started with good intentions. Food. Lots of food. Particularly, food that Andrew loves.

The theme of the week was:
The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach

It’s his favorite thing to quote to me so I took him literally and wooed him all week with his favorite foods.

We had breakfast, lunch and dinner plans daily. Bacon & eggs, homemade blueberry muffins, Swedish pancakes with lingonberries, etc. But by the time Friday morning rolled around it took all I had just to roll out of bed, let alone make a fun breakfast. (Andrew gets up way earlier than I do so I had to get up early all week to get the breakfast made on time.) He also got a different present each day. Nothing too fancy—lamps, throw pillows, a giant clock, tools—mostly stuff we were going to get anyway for the apartment, but it saved him from making the dreaded trips to Target and Home Goods. What a kind wife:)

And then we got a Wii. That was the big present on Friday. We were planning on getting one, so when I saw one I just snagged it up. For some reason, they’re still hard to find and it’s not even December!

Emy came to visit. That was fun. We ran around Rhode Island and made lots of food and kept her distracted from her thesis by playing Wii all the time. But that will be covered in another post. Probably a photo essay on the Pierson’s Blog.

And me? What have I been doing? Trying to catch up. I seem to always feel behind. I’ve been trying to catch up on sleep, my BSF homework, reading, writing blogs, relaxing, etc. But hey, that’s life. If I was all caught up I’d be bored.

Well, that’s our quick Saturday update. We took the day off from all things stressful and have lounged around all day. It was glorious. Now we’re off to finish Lawrence of Arabia. Yep. That’s right. We still haven’t finished. You try to watch a 4-hour movie and see if you can stay awake:) Just don’t tell the Savage’s. It’s their movie. We borrowed in in August. Oops!

Friday @ 9pm EST

Have you seen the ABC show Food Revolution?
Andrew and I saw this TED video about a month ago and were really impacted by it. It caused us to evaluate our knowledge, understanding, and views towards food. The video is very interesting. It’s about 20 minutes, but worth viewing.

Jamie Oliver (former TV chef) won the 2010 TED Prize for his desire to transform the way Americans eat. His goal is to educate youth to prevent obesity and his project in Huntington, West Virginia, is the impetus for the show.
It’s so interesting to Andrew and I. We’re interested in food and health and we can totally relate since it wasn’t that long ago that we were in school. I remember high school having two options everyday: pizza and something else. 4 out of 5 times, I would choose pizza. It just tasted so good. The most popular items at Andrew’s high school were cheese fries and giant chocolate chip cookies (which were only $0.40—he got one everyday).
I’m also excited to see such an important issue resonate with people, cause them to evaluate their lives, and create a little buzz on both the Associated Press and on blogs. 
Food Revolution. Think about tuning in this Friday.
Jamie Oliver’s Wish
“I wish for your help to create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity.”

Coming soon!

Plan for tomorrow: update both blogs:)

Stay tuned!

Birthday Blues

Andrew has a birthday coming up and I'm not sure what to get him.

I had seen a really cute sketch from a photo on a blog a few weeks ago and thought it would be the perfect post-wedding present. I even founds tons of other people who do exactly that on Etsy so I could choose my favorite medium and give him an original piece of art of one of our favorite wedding pictures. But I panicked. I didn’t know which picture to choose and I wanted to pick his favorite. So I told him. And I'm back at square one.

Plus, I put a lot of pressure on myself. He's such a thoughtful gift giver. Do you remember the gifts he’s given me? The 12 Days of Kimberly. The milk box I wanted for months. Paper dolls with my head super imposed on them… Um, did I ever tell you about that? No I didn’t. I intentionally kept it to myself for Andrew’s protection. This past year for my birthday he wanted to buy me clothes, but he didn't know what to get. So instead he superimposed my head onto a paper doll and printed it out. Then he went to all these websites and downloaded pictures of clothes options for me, cropped them and shrunk them to fit the paper doll. It was so thoughtful and adorable. I still haven’t taken that shopping spree, so he really won with that deal!:)

Then there is the wedding gift. Did I ever tell you about that? Probably not. I try to keep my bragging to a minimum. No one likes reading a blog and then feeling crappy about their life afterwards. He made me this picture:

He walked the cold streets of Providence in the dead of winter to find these “letters” and make this collage! Again, thoughtful.

And then there are my gifts. Books. Shirts & ties. A baseball hat. A robe. So lame, so un-original. I feel like I'm flying through life by the seat of my pants and can’t find the down time to come up with something fantastic. Now it's even tougher to find time to be creative, thoughtful, and sneaky because we're married and always together. And don’t get me started on buying it. I’ve added more pressure to myself in that area. Now that our money is our money I feel anxious that I’ll spend too much on something he doesn’t really want, which ultimately comes back to kick him in the butt because it’s his money too! Ha. All the petty things I worry about.

Well, I think I have an idea of what I’m going to do for him. Obviously, I can’t tell you yet since he reads this, but I’m sure it’ll be documented with photos on our other blog. His birthday is Wednesday.

Coffee Filters

Are you aware of all the uses for a coffee filter?

For Christmas, Andrew’s grandparents put on a little show called Our Favorite Things. It was very similar to what Oprah does and was hilarious. They listed off some of their favorite things from 2009 and then at the end each grandkid/couple got one of everything!

This list included things like a face scrub brush, digital meat thermometer, Footsie roll slip-ons, a baster brush, electric wine opener, etc.

And coffee filters accompanied with a list of 25 uses for coffee filters.

# 7. Recycle frying oil. After frying, strain oil through a sieve lined with a coffee filter.

Andrew and I remembered and filtered our fondue frying oil.