DIY Culinary School

Because of the recent virus going around the school called Fifth Disease, I've been parkin' it safely at home for the baby's sake. The past few weeks I have been going to culinary school. I stand up, turn on the Food Network, and soak it all in. Who needs to go and pay for a cooking education when I can get it for free everyday! But seriously, I get so many cooking and baking tips from just watching a little (or a lot depending on the day). And they work! For example:

1) Baking is so much better when everything is at room temp. Okay, except in pastries.
2) Roasting veggies gives them better flavor than boiling, and all you need is olive oil, salt, and pepper (and a little parm. cheese doesn't hurt).
3) The combination of olive oil AND butter is best when cooking on a pan because together they control burning. Plus, butter means flavor!
4) Meat needs to rest after cooking/grilling. If not, it loses its juices!
5) Pasta needs a LOT more salt than you think to cook in.
6) Cook it less, and season it more.
7) Quality ingredients really do make a difference.
8) Cook with love.

Etc., etc...

I even get exercise tips. Ina (my favorite) just informed me that grating cheese is exercise. If so, I'm in great shape!

Christie and James Sittin in a Tree...

k-i-s-s-i-n-g.

1st comes LOVE

Then comes MARRIAGE

Then comes Lil' P in the baby carriage!
(more specifically October 21st)

A couple more weeks until we find out boy or girl, but I have a feeling our baby could look something like this based on the home video of James as a baby and the curly hair that runs in my family...

...and that would be awesome.
(PS - This is a random picture I found on the internet... I don't know who she is.)

I Love Paint, Not Painting

We've spread out our little paint projects over time, but we're happy with the colors for all of them. The only unfortunate thing is that now we really know which supplies to get, which paint to get, etc. and we're pretty much done painting in our house. Oh well. It was a learning process. Here are a few of the updates.

Kitchen - a tan/olive color

Master Bath - grayish & darker cabinets

Bedroom - hard to tell the color, but it's kind of a tannish, mauvish, something...

Thanks to James for taking off a day and painting our bedroom (which you can't see the high walls on the other side that are a pain) by himself for my birthday. 7 hours of labor for me! I like that kind of present.

After looking at the pictures, I realized the new paint colors all kind of look the same.... but they're not. Anyway, it's fun to play house!