For the First Time.

Hello everyone! Hope you all had marvelous weekends! I had a pretty great one, and it ended on an extremely good note:  I did something for the very first time! As for what....you will have to wait until the end of the post.

Sunday Night. Tonight I decided to make a berry/peach crisp, I started out with peaches, strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. Then added sugar, a pinch of flour, and mixed together.

When that was complete, I popped the fruit mixture into the oven until the fruit started to bubble.

While the fruit was cooking, I mixed up the topping:  brown sugar, ginger, cinnamin, flour, and unsalted butter.

Next, I peeled potatoes for the loaded mashed potatoes I planned on making with dinner. I absolutely LOVE mashed potatoes of any sort, and was delighted to have finally made them since I moved to Stillwater. A first, but not the first you are waiting for. I made extra mashed potatoes....for taste testing, dinner, and, of course, left overs. I also used half and half to make them creamy.

While I was peeling potatoes, my crisp finished baking. It smelled delicious and the topping was a beautiful golden brown. It was all I could do not to grab a spoon!

 Then I started the potatoes....

While the potatoes were softening, I chopped up some onions to saute, and got out the butter and the minced garlic.

Then it was time to get the steaks out of the fridge. I had "fixed" them earlier before I went to work with a mixture of raw onion, minced garlic, pepper, seasoning salt, and olive oil. They smelled delicious!

I got everything all set up and ready to go and starting grilling on the new George Foreman. 

One steak down! One to go!

And finally....a colorful and delightfully smelling meal! Seasoned rib eye, garlic broccoli, loaded mashed potatoes, and cheesy bread. Yum!

And for dessert.....Berry and peach Crisp with vanilla ice cream! A wonderful compliment to the meal and the leftovers will make for several great breakfasts later in the week. 

It is safe to assume that I am very much enjoying having a kitchen and someone to cook for. As to my first? Well, this was my first time to cook a steak. I was actually a bit surprised with how well the steaks turned out, they weren't dry or chewy, and didn't require a ton of sauce to taste ok. C.J. didn't have to put on a fake smile and choke down his steak and then grudgingly ask for seconds--They were good! Next time I am going to try some steak seasoning, but knowing me I will probably add something extra.

Have a wonderful Monday and don't forget to enjoy things like kitchens, bubble baths, and candles...all things that I took for granted before moving into a dorm. Oh, and what kind of day would it be if I didn't remind you to remember, it's the random reasons...

the Uglies. the Do-ables. the Pretties.

Monday. Monday. Monday. The oh-so-dreaded day of the week. The day that kind of sort of tells one of how the rest of the week is going to turn out. Usually anyways. Hopefully your Monday has been splendid thus far. Mondays for me are pretty busy, with classes all day. Today was no different, including a critique in design....so much fun. Sure. However, despite my fear and anxiety that always stems from critiques of my artwork, the class seemed to love my photo grid, a project that presented many firsts for me.  while I hate this class at times, I can't help but love and enjoy it. So far we have had three art assignments/projects, they have been interesting and have gone through many stages, ugly, do-able, and then...with a lot of work and effort, pretty, but nonetheless I have enjoyed all of them.Working on the assigned projects tends to make me want to pull my hair out, but I am absolutely loving the creative outlet that has found its way back into my life.

Behold.... A La Fruit Salad?

Well, short of a catchy title, my goal was to embrace the roundness of the fruit, which my professor had commented on with some of my "rough draft pieces."

 I received a package today which weighed about 18 pounds. Its contents? 150 ties. It was a joke gift for my boyfriend which never really soaked in, until today. That is A LOT of ties! Wow...but at least there is a fair balance between the uglies and the do-ables and the pretties.

It may be a Monday, but even on the most mundane of Mondays, a smile can be had, so just remember, it's the random reasons.