PUERTO RICO!

I am finally getting around to posting pictures from our Puerto Rico trip. We had such a good time and there are sooo many pictures that I decided to try a slide for the first time! I hope it turns out OK.  

Enjoy :)

Puerto Rican Red Beans and Rice

This may not look like the most appetizing meal... but don't allow looks to deceive you. This red beans and rice dish is a staple in Puerto Rico and it is delicous!!! 

I got brave and decided to make the Puerto Rican beans from a cook book we bought on our trip. I was pleasnantly suprised by how good they turned out! I had never made beans that didn't come straight out of the can before and now I don't think I can ever go back. 

These are not just your average beans... they have a few surprises in there to spice things up. 

Puerto Rican small red bean stew

Preparation time: 25 minutes
Soaking time: 8–12 hours
Cooking time: 1 1/2 hours

 

1 pound dried small red beans
2 quarts water
1 1/4 cups cubed, fresh calabaza or pumpkin (I used Acorn Squash instead, but you can also use canned pumpkin)
1/4 cup tomato paste

Sofrito:
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped finely
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves, 1 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp dried oregano, 1 tsp crushed bay leaves

Rinse and drain dried red beans. Place in a pot, cover with water, and soak for 8–12 hours. Drain beans and place in a large, heavy pot with 2 quarts water. Add calabaza or pumpkin, cover pot, and bring to a boil. Continue to boil over medium heat for 1 hour. If using fresh pumpkin, slightly mash the pumpkin. To prepare sofrito, heat vegetable oil in a heavy pot. Add all sofrito ingredients and sauté for approximately 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add sofrito and tomato paste to cooked beans and pumpkin mixture. Cook for an additional 30 minutes to allow mixture to thicken, stirring occasionally. May need to add additional water, as mixture should be moist.

Classic Haws

Fridays are always a tough one, especially for Haws. After a long week of waking up way too early in my opinion, he is usually pretty beat by the time 10pm rolls around. Tonight, like many other Friday nights, we went out and while I was driving home, Haws fell asleep. And like most nights like tonight, even though he was delirious, he comes home and just HAS to stay up to watch sport center. Tonight, I came out after cleaning the kitchen and saw this....

Total Classic Haws! I better go put the poor guy to bed :)

TV UPDATE

So we bit the bullet and bought a new TV yesterday. We didn't want to miss out on the election coverage and Dancing with the stars! We all know the results... so I won't go on and on about it here. I am a little sick of the whole thing and I am glad to take a break from all the campaigns.

Our wedding gift was out of warranty and it was going to cost us twice as much as a new one to fix.  I LOVE COSTCO! We got a brand new Panasonic 42" plasma with Costco's additional 2 year warranty for half of the price listed on the Internet! We stayed away from the VIZIO since that is the one that popped. 

Lesson Learned: The next time you have to get a TV, go to Costco!

The Pop of Death!!!

On Sat night, I was in the shower and heard a loud pop come from downstairs. I thought Haws had done something to himself... but it turns out that our plasma TV that we got for a wedding gift experienced "The pop of death". This refers to what happens when some wires get over heated and burst... the screen went completely blank and it appears that it is dead. The TV had only a one year warranty (we just hit the one year and 5 month mark), so we have to have it repaired or try to talk to the company into trading it in. Needless to say, this couldn't have happened at a worse time. We don't watch a ton of TV, but now I am missing dancing with the stars and the election coverage!!! I may have to get a temporary replacement until then. That, or I will have to spend some time trying to catch up on my blog. I am still working on getting some Puerto Rico pictures on here.

Play Doh and Neil Diamond

I am a little behind, but a few weekends ago I had the pleasure of helping out with my friend Kimberly's baby shower. This was our first "couples shower" and it was surprisingly a lot of fun! I knew that if Kimberly and Doug who were throwing it... it would be something Haws would be able to handle. I volunteered to be in charge of the game and I had to find something I thought would be fun for both the guys and girls. I found this idea online and it was a hit!

"One of the cutest games I ever played at a couples shower was "Make a Baby." We each got small pieces of two different colors of Play-Doh and were told to make a baby. When the time was up, we all had to put our babies on a platter, and the expecting couple came back in the room to pick their favorite baby."

 I was surprised how creative everyone was and Kimberly and Doug got a kick out of it.

It was a fun day of catching up with some people I haven't seen for a long time and seeing once again... how many things you need when you have a baby! It still baffles me to see all the gear that comes along with such little people.

Kimberly is so cute prego and Doug looks pretty hot sporting the baby bjorn (with a whale bath toy). They are going to be such great parents. Little Ridley is going to be one lucky girl. I am so happy for them!

This is Haws' baby creation. He was the runner up to win. Nice umbilical cord!

The winning play-doh baby.

After the shower, we were off to the Neil Diamond concert at the Staples Center. Besides being in the VERY top row... it was a great concert. Neil still has it!

We went to the concert with Haws' parents and his brother Wade. It was a anniversary present for Chris and Mary and a birthday present for Haws.

I didn't take very many pictures, but I did manage to get a good rear view of the boys :)

Max Thomas

Cinnamon and Tom welcomed their first baby, Max Thomas, into the world on Wed, Oct 1rst. He was a big boy... 9lbs 6oz! I can't believe Cinnamon got that guy out and I don't think she can either! They are all doing well and are home adjusting to having a very demanding 3rd person in the house :)

He really is a cutie!

I had the chance to go and visit them in the hospital. He was only about 24 hours old here.

Tom and his new son. I think Max has Tom's nose and mouth.

Little Max taking a nap on my chest. He was so good when Haws and I went to visit. Cinnamon said it was all a facade. I know there must be some reason she hasn't slept for almost a week!

With all these babies being born, Haws is getting pretty good with the baby holding.

He woke up!!! And of course he is looking to mom for some help.