Today's Wednesday quote I am borrowing from a friend's facebook post today. She told me recently that she's trying to write something "positive or insightful" each day. And, for when you read this, I don't think it's cheesy at all :)

I've always been a big debater (with myself) about choice, change and decisions. When I saw her quote today I thought it was just perfect, and so true.

"The minute you choose to do what you really want to do, it's a different kind of life."

R. Buckminster Fuller

I hope everyone has had a great week so far. Here's to the last two days!

Happy Wednesday, all.

This week we tried to get back into our usual routine of cooking at home. We typically only eat out once, maybe twice a week, and cook at home the rest of the time. I won't take too much credit either, Dave really is the chef in this house.

On Wednesday I told Dave that I really wanted fish for dinner. We ate so much delicious sea food on our trip in Florida, and haven't been able to enjoy that since we've been back in Chicago. So, I left it in his hands, and came home to this.

Yes, whole fish. The thought of cooking this at home was scary, to me. Dave thought it was more like a trip back to our honeymoon where we enjoyed a lot of whole fish. There have been few times that he has really screwed up dinner, so I put my faith in his hands, or grill in this case, and relaxed until dinner was served.

It was a beautiful, unseasonably warm, record breaking week here in the city. How could we resist not cooking out on the balcony?! (Weather doesn't really stop him normally. We grill 365 days a year, rain, snow, sun, doesn't matter, Dave's grilling.)

The fish was delicious! I did not eat mine whole. Being the good husband that he is, Dave disassembled mine, thus the two fish heads on his plate.

On Friday we didn't experiment too much, but made a side dish in a different way than normal. One of the husbands' favorite chicken dishes, mashed potatoes, and corn on the cob. I handled the potatoes, and Dave manned the grill with chicken and corn.

For the potatoes we used a mixed bag of red, gold, and blue potatoes - red, white and blue potatoes! I wouldn't say they have the best presentation, but they sure tasted delicious. (Probably due to the amount of butter, and garlic powder - yum!

If you're curious about recipies, prep, or cooking, send me a line, and I'll let you know how we did it.

Happy cooking!

We're back! Last week we had a nice spring break in sunny Florida. Even better? We brought the sunshine back with us and have been enjoying unseasonably warm temperatures in the north. Keep up the good work Mother Nature!

We started the vacation with a birthday celebration for the hubs! It was a day full of relaxing pool side, and dinner with family and friends.

For the rest of our time in Naples we, well, did basically the same thing as we did the first day: lots of pool time, lots of good seafood, and memories with family and friends. Throw a little bocce ball and tennis in there and we fit right in with all of the retirees!

Half way through the trip we started our journey to Key West in our rented Jeep Liberty with a layover in Ft. Lauderdale. We had a great dinner with Dave's God Brother, James, at the most delicious strip mall restaurant I think I've ever eaten at!

The next day our journey on US 1 to Key West was in full swing. With a minor detour (and when I say  'minor' I really mean major) as we had to go back to Ft. Lauderdale when we reached Homestead because someone forgot all of their clothes. But, once we got going, boy was that drive beautiful.

Key West was awesome. A great mash-up of celebration for our (now) newly wed friends, exploring and relaxing. It was so fun to be on vacation with all of our friends, and I can't wait for the opportunity to do that again someday!

And, finally, a personal highlight, our trip to Mallory Square!

Are you tired? I am. Time for a vacation from vacation!

The hubs and I watched a great movie last night that I thought I'd share with ya'll. It's Kind of a Funny Story is a wonderful film, and great one to watch if you ever plan on having teenagers. The cast was great with some of our favorite comedians.

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Being a teenager isn't the easiest time in our lives, and I think most of you would probably agree with that. This movie is the perfect depiction of a teenager trying to manage school, relationships, and family. At times it can be really stressful, and trying to explain that to parents (who seem to have forgotten what it was like) is a challenge.

Happy viewing, happy hump day, and happy leap day everyone :)

Today for Slow Cooker Sunday we tried meatloaf. Now, I'm not posting a picture of this one. Not because it didn't turn out, but because I'm not a food stylist, and don't know how to make meatloaf look great in a picture. I do however have some comments about this one.

I got the recipe off of GMA's website from a slow cooker contest that they had back in 2009. The biggest problem that I had is that my Crock Pot is vintage. It's not like the shallower, oval shaped ones they make now-a-days, it's a four quart Crock POT. This made making an actual loaf in it a bit of a challenge.  Ours was more of a giant meat ball. It was very juicy, and the flavor was great, just not the best item to make in this vessel.

The recipe also includes a ketchup-y sauce which I loved! It was very sweet and somewhat tangy. Dave on the other hand was not so much a fan. He preferred A.1.

All in all, dinner was good, but I'll probably stick to meatloaf in a loaf pan, and probably whip up some of this ketchup sauce on the side.

They all can't be winners I guess, so, until next Sunday ... happy slow cooking!

Have a great week, all!