Grill Pan

I recently mentioned that I received a grill pan for my birthday from my parents. I love it and it has expanded my cooking portfolio. I was in Trader Joe's last week and I saw some peppers that inspired me to make a fajitas kind of dish. George loved it so it is now in my repertoire of dinners....along with tortilla soup, bruschetta, chicken pot pie, and a few others :) Does anyone else feel like they make the same meals over and over?! Or is that just me???

There's not really a recipe b/c I make it up as I go, but here are some rough guidelines: I put the steak (I used sirloin from Trader Joe's), peppers, onions, cilantro, garlic, fresh lime juice, fresh lemon juice, jalapeno (George likes spicy), and mixed Mexican seasoning mix of some sort (cumin, pepper, salt, chili powder, onion powder, etc) in a ziplock and stored in the fridge overnight. When you're ready to cook, use a grill pan, if you have one! I just put some olive oil on the grill pan and once heated, I dump the contents of the ziplock onto the pan. We like the meat well done so it takes about 15 minutes. By then, the peppers and onions are just right (a little burnt is what I like)!

That's it! It is simple, but so delicious! I serve it with black beans (with a squeeze of fresh lime juice) and corn or flour tortillas on the side (but tortillas are not necessary if you're looking to cut calories). The best part is that it makes great leftovers for lunches....and since packing lunches was a resolution this year, that is important :)

Florence

Oh my gosh, I have had a terrible cold for the last couple of days. It started with a sore throat over the weekend and on Monday it got so much worse. Monday also happens to be one of the days that I have a full day of work and then school from 6-10. I didn't think I was going to make it through work, nevertheless school, but somehow I did. After school, I literally came in the door and walked right up to bed. Today, was pretty bad too, but I was able to lay low and get my work done from home. Hopefully the worst of it is behind me! Before this week, I hadn't had a cold for almost a year....which is a record for me, so I knew I was due for one.

As of today, my parents are in Florence. My best friend, Brittany, did a summer abroad in Florence while in college and frequented a pizza place called Gusta Pizza. When George and I were traveling around Europe, we stopped in Florence and hit up Gusta Pizza upon her recommendation. We also told my cousin, Gabe, and his wife, Katie, about it and they went. AND, of course, today my parents went. It has been so long that I can't remember what exactly made it so good, I just remember that it was good.

Here are some pictures from the Amalfi Coast....my mom described the area as breathtaking. It is incredible in pictures so I can only imagine what it is like in person!

Hannah, The Musician

I was able to download the videos of Hannah's solo and ensemble for you all to check out. The first one is just a picture. The second one is her solo (with piano accompaniment) and the third is Hannah's sextet (with 5 other French Horn players from Mountain View)....

Leaving Rome

Hi All! I have another update from my parents -- mostly pictures. So far, they have spent all of their time in Rome. Today, they headed from Rome to the Amalfi Coast. I wasn't really sure where that was so I googled it and found this:

Looks quite a bit south of Rome (3 hours by car). The views along the coast are supposed to be beautiful (duh, I know). After 2 days at the Amalfi Coast, they head up to Florence for 2 days and then onto Cyprus. Here are some pictures of the rest of their time in Rome:

My Dad looking very Euro :)

Trevi Fountain (I hope he wished that his daughter, Heather, was in Europe too!)

The Pantheon

Gorgeous View of Rome with St. Peter's Basilica in the background

National Monument to Victor Emmanuel II (museum too)....

I believe this is the entrance to the Vatican...

Yesterday, Hannah had her regional audition as well as solo and ensemble. She had a solo, a horn trio, and a horn sextet. She got a rating of superior in all three! AND she made 2nd chair French Horn in the regional orchestra! WoooHooo, go Hannah! I was there for everything but the trio and have some videos to post for you all later today or tomorrow.

Now, I need to focus on taking my online Economics test..................

When in Rome

Hello from Rome! Not me (I wish), but my parents. My mom and dad flew out on Tuesday morning and landed Wednesday morning in Rome. I will try to post updates as I get them. Here's a quick note from my mom with some great pictures:

Hi all, made it safe and sound. Quite an ordeal to get to the hotel, train and then we had to find the right bus!! Anyway here now. All the flights worked out great. We both slept about 5-6 hours, so feeling pretty good at moment. Cloudy and rainy and about 45-50 degrees.

George and I went to Rome during our 2008 Europe trip. Hard to believe that was almost 5 years ago. I remember that the Colosseum was one of the most impressive things that I saw throughout Europe. The history behind it is fascinating!

For old times sake, here are two of my blog posts from when we were in Rome:

http://heatherexploreseurope.blogspot.com/2008/09/when-in-rome.html

http://heatherexploreseurope.blogspot.com/2008/09/rome-pictures.html

I'm SOOOO happy that I blogged that trip/semester in Spain. It is very fun to go back and read through our adventures while traveling and my experience studying abroad.

Meanwhile, back in the USA, my Grandma Clark cooked me some delicious Chicken French tonight. Here is the recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/maries-chicken-french-43269

Cabin Weekend

I am sitting on the couch, relaxing, after a fun weekend at the cabin. We drove up on Friday night and came home this afternoon so it was just a short trip. Emily, Brian, Terrisa, Paisley, Brent, Chrissy, Carrie, Charlotte, George, Nick, and I all went up. Brian, Brent, and Carrie did some skiing on Saturday at Sunrise and the rest of us just hung out and relaxed. Here are a few pictures:

George, Nick, Paisley, and I went up the neighborhood rec center for a bit (had the entire place to ourselves) and played some games. George crushed me in ping pong. Paisley was keeping score for the boys.

The girls were chatting...

While the boys were playing a board game called "Knights of Catan"...

Also, George and I booked another trip to New York City for our anniversary! We are going February 14-18. I can't wait to do some more exploring....and try more delicious restaurants! :)

Birthday Weekend

I mentioned it in my last post, but I can't get over how cold it has been here. I'm talking in the high 20s at night. That's not the Arizona I know! It is actually a nice change, but I think I'm ready for it to warm up a bit. 

I had a great birthday on Sunday. We started out the day with church at The Grove with Brian and Terrisa. Immediately after church we went to George's parents and enjoyed lunch and visiting. Anna got out some of George's old stuff from elementary school (school projects, writing, assignments, etc). We were dying at some of the stuff he and the other kids wrote. One of the funniest things was a project where George had to describe himself. His description of himself was "funny, good, lazy".....yep, that pretty much sums him up! HAHA! Seriously, what 2nd grader describes themself as lazy?! This other assignment was called "Piggy Tales" and basically all of the kids had to write a story about pigs (I guess they were learning about pigs). So, this one kid in the class writes a huge story that is exactly the same story as the movie Forest Gump. Literally, everything was the same, except he called the characters Piggy Gump and Piggy Jenny. Hilarious!

Anyway, after a good laugh there, we headed to the Grimaldi's at San Tan for some pizza with my entire family. Their pizza is my favorite! Afterward, we headed back to our house for some presents and Creme Brulee Cheesecake, compliments of my mom. I got some great stuff including a really awesome drink dispenser from Sur La Table (one of my favorite stores) and a grill pan (we don't have a grill so it is going to come in handy). 

And....some pictures! My dad converted Emily's old bedroom into a man cave. I was over at there house the other day and took some pictures of it. I'm lucky he let me in!