Birthday Weekend

Hello! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. For some of you, it was a three day weekend and for others of us, it was NOT!

We started off the weekend with my birthday :) Thank you all for the birthday cards, calls, and Facebook posts. You made me feel special! I was ready for some rest and relaxation after a busy work week. George, Sergio, Andi, and I celebrated my 25th at one of my favorite restaurants, Mama D's (you've heard about it before on my blog). Man oh man, I always forget how good their bread is.

After George got off of work on Saturday, we headed down to Anaheim for my work party. It was kind of our belated "holiday party". It was at the Embassy Suites in Anaheim...my work arranged for a nice room discount so George and I decided to make a little "staycation" out of it and spent Saturday night at the hotel. The hotel was right next to Disneyland and there were a lot of people at breakfast who were heading there. We kind of got Disneyland envy.

Yesterday, I went with Andi to look at wedding dresses. I'm trying to think if I mentioned it in another post, but Andi asked me to be the "Matron of Honor" in her wedding". I was very honored and am enjoying helping her with the wedding planning process. I forgot how many little things (and big things) go into planning a wedding! BUT I love it. Sergio also asked George to be the Best Man. They haven't nailed down a date, but it will most likely be this time next year.

Here are a few pictures from the weekend too. George and Sergio have been obsessed with Monopoly (on the iPad) lately. I never knew that people actually like to play Monopoly! It does go much faster on the iPad b/c it moves the pieces quickly and automatically calculates the money. Grandma/Aunt Doris- I wonder if they have Upwords on the iPad!?! :)





The picture above is of the black bean burgers I made last night. I first had a black bean burger a couple of years ago and loved it. George and I actually both really love black beans. It sounded good last night so I searched for a recipe and found out that they are actually pretty simple, but incredibly delicious. In case you're interested....

Ingredients

1 (16 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 green bell pepper, cut into 2 inch pieces
1/2 onion, cut into wedges
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 egg
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon Thai chili sauce or hot sauce
1/2 cup bread crumbs

Directions

If grilling, preheat an outdoor grill for high heat, and lightly oil a sheet of aluminum foil. If baking, preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C), and lightly oil a baking sheet.
In a medium bowl, mash black beans with a fork until thick and pasty.
In a food processor, finely chop bell pepper, onion, and garlic. Then stir into mashed beans.
In a small bowl, stir together egg, chili powder, cumin, and chili sauce.
Stir the egg mixture into the mashed beans. Mix in bread crumbs until the mixture is sticky and holds together. Divide mixture into four patties.
If grilling, place patties on foil, and grill about 8 minutes on each side. If baking, place patties on baking sheet, and bake about 10 minutes on each side.

**Note: I added corn, cilantro, and a little bit of lime.