Finished Kitchen Walls

So, days later, painting the kitchen walls are done. I think I like it. It turned out good, and exactly the way I pictured. Thats a good thing.

So me and Jade and his cousins went snowmobiling yesterday. Just a few pictures. Off the trail, cause the cousins wanted to go climb a hill.

Casey getting stuck trying to high mark, and Jade coming to the rescue, as Jared, Caseys little brother was way too busy climbing the hill to come help out.


It was a good day for the most part, but the cousins like to run the trails really fast, and even on the new sled, with the really, really, really good suspension, my body got really tired. We stopped at the Pines to eat lunch, they have really good food. Anways about 2 weeks ago they had the old ladies race up in Island Park, and all the establishments build some form of snow structure, and this is the one in front of the pines. It's slowly melting away.

All in all it's been a very eventful week, and promises to be an even more eventful next week, as hopefully the new floor will go in, and taxes will be sent off. Happy January people.

PAINT!

I have been procrastinating finishing my kitchen for almost a whole year. How bad is that?! Anyways, I was watching HGTV the other day, and got the bug. So I have finished texturing and patching, and the next step is of course, the paint. So off to the Wal-Mart for paint.
A little background: about 8 years ago, right after we bought the house, Jade and I went shopping for curtains. Sounds so mundane and easy, right? Not at all! I had the biggest anxiety attack in Fred Meyers.....they have to be the right curtains cuz they'll be in the house forever type of thing. There I was, poor me, sitting on a futon, crying about curtains. 8 years later though, I still LOVE those curtains. Well, I have learned from that experience, and paint, is just paint after all. I bought 3 little quarts, just to try out. I am going to try for that venetian type of thing, cuz I wanted my kitchen to be old world, and NOTHING, and I mean nothing else in my kitchen looks old world, sigh......I just have the first coat on, in a small area (just in case I hate it the most), and I hate it the most. It's just to dark, I think.

I haven't added any other colors yet, and I will do that later on, but I am sure I won't like it. Also, I still haven't bought my trim color either, as I wasn't hundred percent what color I actually wanted. I have to constantly tell myself that it's just paint! I bought the red you see on my wall, just cuz I liked the color, with no plans to do anything with it. Jade was off sledding, and I got bored and painted that whole big long wall. No planning, nothing, and I love it. The one good thing about this whole painting the kitchen thing is that, I hardly have any wall in there now. And whenever the backsplash gets put on there will be even less. Waawhoo!

We have received a bit more snow, and have gone on one or two snowmobile rides. Jade sees the neat stuff when he goes ridding , like these two bull moose. He actually had the time to pull the camera out and take pictures.

Potato-Bacon Torte

Melissa d' Arabian is/was the Next Food Network Star. I love the show. This was a recipe Jade wanted to try, and so we did. All around good recipe, just a little dry, which is why I would increase the cream.
Recipe courtesy of Melissa d' Arabian
Potato-Bacon Torte
Ingredients
4 strips bacon (I used more)
3 sprigs fresh thyme ( i used 1/4t. dried, and just put it into cream and left it)
2/3 cup heavy cream (would maybe use 1 cup next time)
2 Pie Crusts, recipe follows (very good crust)
3 medium baking potatoes, peeled
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup grated Gruyere cheese (swiss cheese is acceptable)
1 egg yolk, whisked with a splash of water (I use the whole egg)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In a skillet over medium heat, cook the bacon until just crispy. Drain on paper towel lined plate and set aside. Crumble the bacon when cool to the touch.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, heat the thyme and cream over low heat to a bare simmer. Turn off the heat and let steep for about 5 minutes. Remove the thyme sprigs.

Remove the pie pan from the refrigerator. Slice the potatoes in half lengthwise and then finely slice the potatoes. Working in circles, arrange the potato slices in the pie crust, stopping to season each layer with salt, pepper, and about 1/4 of the crumbled bacon. Continue layering until the pie pan is nearly full. Top with an even layer of the cheese and gently pour cream around and over the entire pie, allowing it to seep down between the potato slices. (You may not use all the cream.)

Roll out the remaining disk of refrigerated dough. Cover the pie with the dough and crimp the edges closed. Brush the top and edges of the crust with egg wash. Make a few slits in the center of the top crust, for the steam to escape, and put the pie pan on a baking sheet. Bake the torte until the crust is browned and crispy and the potatoes are cooked through, about 50 to 60 minutes. If the crust edges get too brown, cover them with some strips of aluminum foil. Remove the pie from the oven and let rest at least 15 minutes before cutting into wedges and serving.

Pie Crust:

1 cup butter (2 sticks), cubed and chilled
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
8 to 10 tablespoons ice water
Put the butter, flour, and salt in the food processor, and pulse lightly just until the mixture resembles wet sand. Add the water, 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing briefly after each spoonful of water. Keep adding water until the dough just begins to gather into larger clumps. Transfer equal amounts of the dough into 2 resealable plastic bags and pat each into a disk. Let rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Remove 1 of the disks from the bag to a flour coated surface. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to a 10-inch round. Gently fit the rolled dough into a 9-inch pie pan, and refrigerate while you prepare the torte ingredients.

Parkers Penne Pasta

I made this friday from a recipe I got off the web...I didn't have some stuff so I substituted. Below is the recipe the way I made it. Oh my heck it was sooo good, poor ole Jade ate so much, made himself very, very uncomfortable. I served this with a Caesar salad, and made rosemary french bread. YUMMY!
SAUCE
3 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons minced garlic
3 tablespoons marsala wine 2 cups heavy cream
1 cup grated parmesan cheese 1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup chicken broth 1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon Dijon Mustard 1/2 teaspoons dried rosemary
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper


1 lb penne rigate, cooked
2 skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup bacon chopped, and cooked
Preheat bbq grill to high
Prepare sauce by melting 3 tbls of butter over medium/low heat. Add
garlic and sweat it for about 5 minutes. Be sure the garlic doesn't brown. Add the
marsala wine and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients for
the sauce and whisk until smooth. Bring mixture to a simmer and keep it there for
10 minutes or until it's thick. Cover sauce and remove from heat.
Cook pasta following directions on the package. You want the pasta tender, but
not mush (al dente). Strain pasta and set it aside when it's done. Pound the thick
end of your chicken breast a bit to make them a uniform thickness. Rub chicken
with olive oil, then sprinkle on a bit of salt and pepper. Grill chicken for 5 to 6
minutes per side. When chicken is done, slice each breast into strips. Toss pasta
in sauce, top with cooked chicken, cooked bacon, and a bit of parm. cheese.
NOTES: I add veggies to this dish, also the marsala cooking wine can be found in the vinegar section of your local store $2.99 for 12oz

A New Year

As we all are welcoming in a new year, we will be welcoming a new member, Durango, to our household. 2 new members really if you count his momma. Her name is Brittany and is attending BYU-I this semester, maybe the whole 4 years, we don't know. She couldn't keep him where she'll be living, and so we are keeping him. He arrives tomorrow afternoon. I'll be gone to work, but Jade will be here to welcome them in. I'm very excited. Here is a picture of Brittany and Durango.