Boston

Another post by Jason!

Last weekend, Kaitlyn and I headed to Boston - her for a work weekend, and a scenic trip for me (plus time away with the lady!). Before she had to work on Saturday we walked around a good bit. We were heading to an art museum but after dealing with the crazy T, Boston's metro system maze where some trains are actually buses, we gave up and walked until we found the Faneuil Hall Marketplace (aka Quincy Market). As you can see, they got plenty of snow.

While walking from the art museum area to the marketplace we came across this sign (I'll admit I'm nerdy and got a kick out of it).

Kaitlyn had to go to work so I walked around Boston for the next few hours. The Freedom Trail was blocked in several places by the massive amounts of snow so I didn't get to see a lot of the historic areas but there was plenty to see just walking around every which way. Plus I had lunch at Cheers! (Not just nerdy, but old and nerdy now.)

Above and below are some random pictures I took, along with a Holocaust memorial I came across that was rather interesting, and with the steam coming up in every glass structures, slightly disturbing. Every inch of the glass was etched with numbers, 6,000,000 to be exact.

Now from Kaitlyn: Boston was a blast. Even though I had to work, it was a fun weekend away with my hubby even if I didn't get to see him all that much. However, we did have a wonderful Indian dinner with my coworker (and dear friend) after a very long day of work. By the time we walked a mile to the restaurant, all of our feet were wet (some more than others) because each time we had to cross a street we had to go over huge puddles! Boston certainly got dumped on with snow.

Right before we left on Sunday, we met up with two of my Australia girlies! I was so excited to see them. I hadn't seen Cailin since we were in Australia in 2007 and I hadn't seen Meredith since my wedding in 2009. It was soooo good to catch up with them. It was like no time passed at all even though it's been years since we've all hung out together. That's the true definition of good friends, isn't it?

It was truly a wonderful weekend. The event I was working on was a track event that was actually quite fun to be a part of, so even my working hours were enjoyable. I'm all about vacations, however short they may be. It can be so cathartic to step away from the day-to-day routine of life and explore a different place. I felt refreshed when we came back home on Sunday night. It makes me very excited for the warmer days that are soon to come so we can spend more weekends at the lake!

Remember Last Year?

Today we are remembering the Snowpocalypse and how much fun we had.
Snowed in - and it felt so good!

Mmm... muffin.

The past couple of weeks have been a tease. We thought we were going to buy a house. We got further in the process than we ever have before, but the inspection report made us back out of the sale. Sad. Anyway, while we were in the midst of the tease, I was making an effort to deplete the contents of our shelves and freezer full of food in anticipation of eventually moving. I thought about making banana muffins since we had about six bananas frozen in the freezer and clearly frozen bananas will not travel on move day.

By Tuesday we knew the house wasn't going to happen, but I still had banana muffins on the brain. My mother-in-law celebrated a big birthday last week so I decided to bake some muffins for her. A couple for Jason, a couple for me, and the rest for her (she got one for every decade she was celebrating). Of course mine were full of chocolate chips while the others were plain. They wound up with a little more chocolate than I originally planned on, but I'm not sure there is such a thing as too much chocolate.

End result?

Slightly crispy tops and perfectly cooked insides.

Delicious.

I am of the mind that chocolate chips can make pretty much everything better but Jason does not agree. So answer me this: do you prefer chocolate chips in your baked goods or do you like 'em plain? Or with nuts, perhaps?

Five guys? Nope just one.

This blog was originally one that Jason and I both wrote in.  Now I call it my own, but here's a post from him! -K

We've been better about making food lately and although I'm not a blogger nor much of a writer I told my wife I'd try to do some posts about food here and there.

Her burger habit is still in full swing and she takes any chance she gets to try a new burger place. She's tried Five Guys, but this time around she tried One Guy. I rolled out some small burger patties added just a bit of salt and pepper, caramelized onions for 40 minutes and sautéed some baby bella mushrooms with a bit of balsamic glaze and vinegar (not that I like either of those but my wife sure does, so it was well worth the time). She seemed very happy with the results and informed me that she would purchase burgers from One Guy again. On a side note, I'm not sure I understand the fascination with breadcrumbs in a burger, that is more of a meatloaf, but I see so many recipes calling for them these days. I can understand the Cajun/blackened or seasoned burgers those add a nice twist to the flavor, but really is there anything better than just a bit of salt and pepper (besides the obvious cheese and make-everything-better-bacon)?

We also have been trying to do some crock-pot recipes because let's face it, sometimes it's just nice to throw everything in and come home from work not having to cook dinner. We tried a chicken parmigiana recipe from a site by a woman who did crock-pot dishes every day for a year. It wasn't bad but I don't think we'd try the recipe again, I'm too much of a chicken parmigiana snob thanks to my Italian side.

Some salmon currently marinating in the fridge will be up next, though since it's still cold out and we've already done chili recently it might be time for some chicken and dumplings the Jason way soon...