Make-Do Fondue

WOW, okay so Granny got me a fondue pot for Christmas. It needs a sterno but since Hawaii apparently doesn't have any I just made it over the stove. As everyone knows my FAVORITE place to eat is The Melting Pot. I love their Mojo cooking method. The fondue I made tonight was way better in Tyler's opinion as well as mine. Heres the recipe if you want it: I didn't measure anything so bear with me here.

16 oz Chicken broth. (2 cups)
3 garlic cloves, grated (I used my zester to do this)
Zest of 1 orange and 1 lime
Juice of half an orange
Juice of 1 lime
2 carrots, sliced
2 yellow squash, sliced
1 zuchini, sliced
6 red potatoes cut in half
5 button mushrooms

Sautee the garlic and zests in a little bit of olive oil.
Add everything else.
Cook over medium hest until everything is tender

For the meats I just used steak cut up into little pieces and marinated a third with spicy hot mustard, a third with barbecue, and a third in dales. I also got a qtr lb of shrimp at the commissary and seasoned that with old bay.

Cook each meat 1 marinade at a time so all of the flavors don't meld. Cook until done and eat!!

We ate ours with a salad. Cheese fondue another night.

I'll do another blog later and put pictures up.

Ryder's First Christmas

Hey Everyone!

Thanks for all of the presents. They were all so great. Ryders favorite presents were the ball activity center, his monkey mat, and his chair. I LOVE my coffee pot and fondue set. The gel mat is the best too. Can't wait to make a cake now! Tyler really needed the TomTom. He was beginning to take too many detours. And the BlueRay has the clearest picture. Thanks again! Here are a few pictures of Ryder opening presents.

Just some pictures

Haha he was trying to run away

Under the Table

His first tater sack race. jk. haha

Hot night. Tryin to eat the camera.

He decided to decorate the living room.

Here are the pictures we've taken of Ryder. We know you all miss him. ENJOY!!!!!

Luke

So we have been looking for a puppy for a while. We already have a shar pei coming on Valentines Day. The link to the breeders web site is http://www.kauaisharpei.com/. The mom thats pregnant right now is Prissy. If you click on Shar Pei for sale you will see her. The dad is a lilac color. Hes not on the website yet but if you google lilac shar pei you will see. They are both very beautiful. She is due in the middle of December. We are hoping to get one of Prissy's colors. She is a blue shar pei but to me she looks violet. Very unique. We plan to name the puppy Lilly. Well so then Tyler didn't want to wait so he has been looking online all the time. We heard of a puppy swap meet in Honolulu so we went today and came home with Luke. He is an AKC Beagle. Ryder loves him. When we first brought him home Ryder watched him like he does TV. Very cute. Even got a picture of them kissing.

On the way to the puppy swap meet we missed the first turn so we went for a while. We were going to turn around until we started seeing HUGE houses and after that we got the the most beautiful part of Hawaii I have seen so far. The pictures arent great because we were riding in the car. But I will be going back .

Love you all!

The Day Before Thanksgiving.

OMG. Never EVER will I go shopping the day before thanksgiving! The commissary had no regular flour, no sugar, no turkey gravy, and the most important thing on my list, Martha White Cornbread mix. Had to go with the off brand. I got home, realized I forgot eggs. So Tyler is at the store now getting some. He better find them too. Applesauce is a great egg substitute for cakes but NOT cornbread. Been there, done that. GROSS!!!! It looked like extra firm pudding.

We moved into our new house today. It's a little bigger than our old one. I FINALLY have a dishwasher. That's the best part about the house. I've already used it. I also have a separate wash room. That's nice for me. Plus its right in the kitchen. The bathroom is bigger which is also a plus. Three people in one small bathroom isn't going to work, especially if two of them are boys. The kitchen is a little smaller but there are more cabinets which I like. The whole place is really old but its perfect for us right now.

Tomorrow will be the first Thanksgiving without my family. Plus I am cooking everything myself. Tyler and I are having what we love with some traditional things. Our menu consists of: brown sugar ham (I am doing the glaze myself), a small whole chicken (rubbing it with ranch mix and butter), Granny's dressing (aka the best food ever to go in my mouth. Tyler agrees), broccoli casserole (Tylers favorite), twice baked potatoes (T's concoction and everyones favorite), and an angel food cake with sauteed strawberries and pineapples (sauteing it with sugar will make the juices come out and taste so delicious). One of Tyler's buddies that is also new here is coming and he is bringing ice cream. I will post pictures of the food later.

Oh and the furniture. Picture an 80's style beach house theme. Haha. Love you all. Happy Turkey Day!!

First thoughts of Hawaii

Well, from the moment we stepped off of the plane it has been beautiful of course. The weather is constantly comfortable. Since it is wet season though we see a few light showers throughout the day. I heard the jelly fish were bad on the south shores right now and the waves are too strong on the north shores. The waves are supposed to get 40 ft in January. Thats when all the surf competitions are held I suppose.

The ride to Schofield Barracks from the airport was about 25 minutes. The traffic was the worst I've ever seen but the driver said it was a lot better than normal. The hotel on base is nice. There is a banana tree outside the door, birds of paradise along with other beautiful flowers EVERYWHERE, and everything is in walking distance. Thanks goodness too. I have walked more here than I have in a long time and I don't even mind it. Tyler and I always argued on where we were going to move when we retired and the kid(s) moved out. I want the mountains and he wants the beach. Somehow we lucked out on this one. We got both. Loving it so far!!

Ryder is doing fine. Loving the walks. He is adjusting to the time difference really well so far!