Buckley

Buckley, the loving, cute as a button, carrot loving, hound-dog-eared pooch that Latin Teacher and I have, is setting an odd sleeping pattern for everyone. During the week he's fine. He will get up (mostly) when we get up in the morning. When the weekend comes around, he seems to go on an odd schedule. Lucky for me, Latin Teacher "says" he doesn't mind getting up that early (meaning sometime 2 and 3 am). So I get to sleep in while Latin Teacher is sleeping on the couch with Buckley on his stomach, legs, face, and who knows because Buckley will think it's time go to potty and then play.

He's so good to me :)

This along with some other reasons (to be discussed later) is why we are going to look at a house today. Our lease in our wonderful downtown apartment doesn't end until October, but we're getting a head start on the home buying idea. Some people are trying to push the tax credit, but I think we're going to get another chance at that anyway. I'll give you the details when I get back.

Sushi Thai and then some

My first experience at Sushi Thai was pretty memorable. And it wasn't just the sushi that will have me thinking about the night for a while to come. We went to the restaurant and within 25 minutes we had ordered, eaten and left. And it was a great meal. We sat at the Sushi bar and saw them making the sushi right in front of us.

Latin Teacher got his hands dirty!
The main excitement didn't happen until we got into the car and tried to drive out of the parking lot. Once we discovered that we had a flat tire, we tried to decode how to put the jack under the car and get the tire off. After two me (Latin Teacher being one) tried to remove the tire unsuccessfully, we called AAA. All the while this is happening there are fireworks going off behind us. The other man (lets call him iphone sporter) was telling us about how his cute little three year old scared the prom goers by asking them if they were getting married. Too Cute!

Once AAA was called I ran into the Rite Aid that was in the strip mall attached to Sushi Thai, and got some reinforcements for the potential 42 minute wait, and then came out to a little sprinkle of rain. Within 20 minutes the AAA guy (Marcus Peake from East Coast Towing) came out and had to use a rubber hammer to get the tire off the axle (something iphone sporter had previous told us), attached the dinky spare, and sent us on our way back to our apartment and Buckley

Diamonic Concert

Latin Teacher was lucky enough to attend the World Beer Fest today, which ended around 4. At 5:30 we left to go see my cousin Robby and his metal band Daimonic play at The Brewery. It was a great show and brought Latin Teacher back to his middle school days of going to little holes in the wall to see metal bands play. It was great to hangout with my extended family a little and see Robby do his thing on stage. I am really fortunate to have such an interesting and fun family. Latin Teacher is lucky to be marrying into such a fun group.

Dinner with Dogfishhead

I surprised Latin Teacher with a beer dinner that I stumbled along through the Busy Bee Friday afternoon. I had never been to a beer dinner, but I know they are filled with good food, great beer, and friendly conversation.

It started with the entire restaurant being shut down for the event (something the Latin Teacher had never seen before at one of these events) and then once we were in we met the other couples at the table and started tasting beers.

The First course was Dogfish head (DFH) Red and White. It was accompanied by liver pate', jalapeno cornbread, peperoncini, and kalamata olives. I, along with the other ladies at the table, was not impressed with the pate'. But I'm just not a big pate' fan.

The next course was DFH Black and Blue (my favorite of the night). It was served in a wine glass which reminded me of wine... and that's my real favorite. It did have some wonderful fruit infusions and was very summery and light. This was pared with seared pork, NC sweet potatos, yuzu (an Asian citrus) lavender basil and oats. This whole course was the best of the night for me.

Course 3 was the DFH Olde School '04. This was an aged (6 years) beer with some accents of fig and honey that really lingered with each taste. This was served with a NC grouper, also seared, with a country ham "powder" and sherry with a grilled pineapple and a pineapple foam. This wasn't my favorite, only because I was a little confused by the foam and powder stuff, and the grouper was a bit hard to cut.

Dessert started with a "Randall the Enamel Animal" it was a machine that took beer and ran it through a thing that added more hops into it. It was really "Hoppy" but was still pretty good. The food was awesome vanilla ice cream, ginger flan, a banana sponge cake, and some peppercorn. I was a big fan of the ice cream (no surprise) but not the flan so much.

The final beer (I know it was a LOT of beer) was a Chicory Stout. I was pretty "done" with both beer and food for the night, so I didn't finish this one. But I think everyone was the same.

It was a great night, Latin Teacher got a surprise dinner, although thinking about it afterward he is going to the World Beer Fest this morning, so it's going to be a big beer weekend for him.

Hopefully he can survive the whole thing.

Wish us all luck.

- Latin Teacher's Wife

Dan Good Chili

When it's cold/ cool outside Latin Teacher likes me to make some good hearty chili. Being the health minded wife that I am, I like to stock it with lots of veggies. Dan Good Chili is no exception.

Fortunately, it's getting warmer now and I don't have the "Chilly" excuse to make this chili, but it goes so far with just the three of us, that I'm going to make it anyway.

Dan Good Chili
4 1/4 cups canned tomato sauce
1 cup canned diced tomatoes with green chilies
3/4 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed
3/4 cup canned red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup canned jalapeno slices, chopped
1 cup canned sweet corn kernels, drained
1 1/2 cups chopped onions
1 large red bell pepper, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
1 3/4 cups chopped carrots
1 1/2 cups chopped mushrooms
1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons crushed garlic
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Optional: salt

Place the tomato sauce, tomatoes, jalapenos, chili powder, and cumin in a large pot. Stir over low heat. Once the mixture is heated, stir in the garlic and continue to cook for about 5 minutes.

Add carrots and continue to cook over low heat. Meanwhile, over medium heat, cook onions, peppers, and mushrooms for 3 to 5 minutes in a large pan with just 1/2 cup of water (and some salt if desired). The onions and peppers should still be a little crunchy. Using a slotted spoon to drain any excess water, and the veggies to the pot.

Add beans, corn, and Worcestershire sauce to the pot. Mix Well. Everything should now be in the pot.

Cook over low heat for about 2 hours, stirring every 20 minutes or so. Chili is done when carrots have lost their crunch.

Makes 10 servings.

Number of Servings: 10

Some extra jalapenos really make the chili HOTT, just how I like it :)

The Beginning

Latin Teacher and I live in a little apartment in downtown Raleigh with our puppy, Buckley, and our big dreams of moving to a new home with lots of land. Living downtown is great, lots of things to do, lots of noise, and great food and drink. We love downtown, but we have big dreams of living somewhere with land to have a garden and let our puppy run free.