Catch-Up

I needed a little hiatus from blogging.  I have been quite busy, between visiting friends, putting some finishing touches on our new place, and catering to my spoiled dog-child's every need.  And of course, job hunting.  Job hunting can be both exhausting and extremely frustrating, as I'm sure everyone knows.  I think it was the mental exhaustion that left me with no desire or energy to write a post at the end of the day!  I have a few bites from a couple vet hospitals, so I'm crossing my fingers and hoping one of them will work out sooner than later.  (I am DEFINITELY not cut out for stay-at-home dog mom). 

Now on to the catch-up:

Valentine's Surprises

I did in fact decide to be a good girlfriend and cook up some Valentine's surprises for BearFace.  For dinner, I made:

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

I decided to substitute sweet potatoes for regular old potatoes, and they came out great.  I did purchase 3 sweet potatoes but only ended up using 1 since it was kind of a monster.  I had some rolls in the fridge from another dinner, and toasted them up for dipping.  BearFace was pretty excited that we were having beef for once, although steaks would have been nice (if only we had a grill!)

Perfect warm dinner for a cold winter night.

While the stew was stewing in the crockpot, I set to work making our Valentine's dessert:

Strawberry Valentine's Cake Balls

1 box strawberry cake mix

1 container strawberry frosting

2 containers Baker's dipping chocolate

Sprinkles for decorating

1. Bake cake according to package instructions.
2. While cake is still warm, crumble cake into a large bowl.  Mix in entire container of frosting until combined with cake.  Cover and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.  
3. Form 1 inch balls with cake mixture, placing on wax paper-lined baking sheet.  Reserve a small amount of cake mixture for decorations.
4. Melt dipping chocolate in microwave, following instructions on package.
5. Roll cake balls in chocolate using 2 spoons, then place back on baking sheet.
6. Decorate with sprinkles or remaining cake mixture (I shaped polka dots and hearts out of the cake and placed them on the chocolate.  Make sure to add decorations before chocolate hardens!)

Some of these cake balls have the chicken pox. 

Our bellies full, we spent a cozy and lazy night on the couch.  It was nice to relax before I was off to NYC on Friday for a fun-filled weekend!  (BearFace opted to stay at home on the couch for the weekend.  Not really the city type).

I was amazed at how simple it was to get to the city from our new mountaintop home....just an hour drive to the train station, where I hopped on the train for a $4.00, 10 minute ride.  Easy peasy.  I cabbed it to Mad Dawg's apartment, where BeenBag was waiting for me, fresh off a plane from Louisiana!  We spent the afternoon snuggled up on the couch, catching up on our lives and waiting for Mad Dawg to arrive home from work.  And then we were all 3 off to meet up with Miheer, Seamus, and Colleen for dinner at Uva.  We started off with some wine and appetizers, and then Miheer and I shared the scallops and gnocchi for dinner.  For some reason, gnocchi has always been on my "do not order" list...not sure where the bad connotation came from, but I haven't eaten it since I was about 5.  MISTAKE.  I was overwhelmed by its dense, pillowy deliciousness.  Definitely back on the "order" list!  

From dinner, we went to a nearby karaoke bar for a night filled with creepy old men, random one-liners (What if I tapped in right now?), and cheering Miheer on while he killed it singing Adele's Rumor Has It (he was in an a cappella group at Uconn...he's no joke!) 

No one is safe from blog pictures.  No one. 

After lunch at Tia Pol with Mad Dawg's mom the next day, I took the subway to my brother's apartment where we grabbed dinner at BareBurger, and then waited for the troops to arrive.  BeenBag, Mad Dawg, Miheer, and Joe's girlfriend Chrissy came over to his apartment for some drinks before we hopped in a cab and went to Red Lion for the night.  Another great night for the books.

After brunch at Docks with Joe and Chrissy the next day, (I had the smoked salmon frittata...unreal!) I hopped on a bus back to the train station and headed back to New Jersey.  In addition to an amazing time seeing friends and family (hadn't seen Mad Dawg in a loooong time), I also made great strides conquering NYC's public transportation system all alone (with step-by-step instructions from the experts).  But seriously, I was quite proud of myself!  And since it's so easy to get to the city now, I'm sure I'll be back to visit soon enough (maybe I'll be able to drag BearFace with me next time). 

Home Sweet Home

When I finally arrived home Sunday evening, I was pretty much running on empty!  BearFace and I grabbed a pizza at one of our local pizza places and then called it a night.  He had Monday off of work for President's Day, so we did some grocery shopping the next morning and then spent an hour at the YMCA.  He signed us both up over the weekend, and we have been enjoying the pool for doing laps, and I have been using the treadmill as well.  (I established pretty early on that I will not be running on our mountain road).  Time to get back in shape!