Friday, December 11, 2009

Christmas Dinner

From A:

Tonight we had our first annual J+A Christmas dinner since we'll be having dinner with family on Dec. 25th.

Here's what was on the menu:

- Glazed ham
- Sweet potatoes
- Green beans
- Crescent rolls
- Freshly baked chocolate chip cookies
- Cranberry ginger ale
- Wine from our honeymoon in Napa Valley (Benziger Muscat Canelli, 2007 vintage, made with organically grown grapes -we're really not wine snobs, that's just most of the information contained on the wine label)

Merry (early) Christmas!

Poinsettias

From A:

One of the agricultural departments on campus had a poinsettia show and sale yesterday. There were traditional varieties as well as unique varieties that have been created by students and faculty in the department.

Here I am with one of the unique varieties (this type was very tall compared with most of the others):
Here are a few of the other varieties:

The plant in this picture is similar to the traditional red poinsettia I got for our condo:

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Stomped

From A:

We watched the SEC Championship game with friends and upon returning to our condo, this was the scene of our front porch:


I couldn't have described our feelings any better myself.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Go Gators!

Our porch has been appropriately Gator-ized in anticipation of the SEC Championship game:

O Christmas Stockings

From A:

Our mantel (aka the top of our tv cabinet) is now officially decorated for the holidays. The stockings are hung under the air vent (the closest thing we have to a chimney), so I hope Santa doesn't eat too many cookies before he gets to our condo:

In case you're wondering, the penguin sings and dances. J absolutely loves it! (not really)

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

O Christmas Tree

Our 3 foot Christmas tree in all its glory:

Thanksgiving Pictures

From A:

J and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving at the beach. It was PERFECT weather, and the beach was very uncrowded - a rare treat.

J and my dad went fishing on the beach behind our condo:



Here is what they caught:


Just kidding! That's one of the couch pillows. They did catch some real fish, though. Here is J with one of his catches of the day:

Our condo was so nice! Here I am in front of it:

And finally, here are a couple of family pictures on the beach:



Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Turkey Day

Happy Thanksgiving!



Monday, November 23, 2009

Beach Bums

From A:

Vacation time is coming up! Here is the vacation condo where we'll be staying:

Here is the back patio at the condo:


And here is the view of the beach:

Jealous?

Friday, November 20, 2009

Just 5 Minutes

From A:

Word travels fast around the hospital where I work. Apparently, Tim Tebow came to see the new hospital today on a Congressional tour. As soon as I heard about it, I did what any good Gator fan would... grabbed my camera and attempted to find him. It turns out that I missed his departure from the building by about 5 minutes. Boo.

I guess since I didn't get a picture with him to post, I'll have to settle for his cover of Men's Fitness:

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

A Gets a New Look

From A:
I have a couple of new looks lately.
First, I got my hair cut... and not just a trim... it's short (for me)!

And second, I am now the proud owner of my very own scrubs. Scrubs will be my work look for the next couple of days while I'm in the Emergency Room doing some process mapping.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Pie Bake-Off

From A:

Today at work, we had a building-wide chili and pie bake-off. I made a pie for the competition. There were 12 total pie entries, including peanut butter pie, cookies and cream pie, two pumpkin pies, french silk pie, blackberry pie, ice cream pie, and a few others... including two cornbread pies. I'm not sure what was up with those except that perhaps they were meant to accompany the chili.

My recipe, chocolate chip pecan pie, took second place! If you'd like to recreate my masterpiece in your own home, here is how you do it:

Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie

Ingredients

Crust:
1 refrigerated pie crust, softened as directed on box

Filling and Topping:
¾ cup light corn syrup
½ cup sugar
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (6 oz)
1 teaspoon shortening

Directions

1. Heat oven to 325ºF. Place pie crust in 9-inch glass pie plate as directed on pie crust box.
2. In large bowl, beat corn syrup, sugar, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and eggs with wire whisk. Stir in pecans and ¾ cup of the chocolate chips. Spread evenly in crust-lined plate. Cover crust edge with strips of foil to prevent excessive browning.
3. Bake 30 minutes. Remove foil; bake 15 to 25 minutes longer or until pie is deep golden brown and filling is set. Cool 15 minutes.
4. In small microwavable bowl, microwave remaining ¼ cup chocolate chips and the shortening uncovered on high 1 minute; stir until smooth. Drizzle chocolate over top of pie.

Serve pie warm or cool.

Happy Baking!!!

Sunday, November 8, 2009

El Presidente

From A:

On Friday, J and I were able to have lunch at the president's house. Not the president of the country, but the president of the University of Florida. And no, he didn't personally invite us to dine with him. Actually, contrary to the name, the president doesn't actually live at the president's house. Former presidents of the university have lived in the house, but the current president decided to reside elsewhere and allow the house to be used for university functions. Which is neat, because otherwise I doubt we would have ever seen the inside. Plus, it probably minimizes the number of times the house gets rolled (a police officer was stationed at the house during our event to make sure all the engineers didn't get out of hand and start devising clever ways to utilize pyrotechnics).

The reason for our visit was a luncheon for my engineering department's anniversary celebration. We ate at tables set up in the backyard of the house, but the first floor inside was open for everyone to get their curiosity fix. It's a very nice house, complete with a reading room and piano. Here is J in front of the piano:

Here I am in another part of the house. I'm not really sure what this room is intended to be since there is only a single table with a floral arrangement on it:And here I am at the huge table in the dining room. This must be where all the student government officers schmooze important people in an attempt to get more money to spend on fingerprint identification scanners for the campus gyms.
And for the most entertaining photo, there were a bunch of boxes of wine on the back patio of the house. This is especially comical due to the firm anti-alcohol policy the president implemented when he started at the university. But once again, we can probably blame student government for it:

Friday, November 6, 2009

Christmastime

From J:

A wise man once said that you aren't really married until you have monogrammed Christmas stockings. Well.....

We're married now. Bring it, Christmas.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

The post where I give out a delicious recipe

From J:

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the object of my recent affections:


Panera's Asian Sesame Chicken Salad. And no, I didn't take this photo. I found it on the internet. Anyway, this salad is delicious. I MUST HAVE IT. But it costs $6.99. I REFUSE TO PAY THAT MUCH.

A little bit of googling revealed several imitation recipes that looked terrible but one that looked pretty good. To no surprise, this salad's magic is all in the dressing. I tinkered around a little bit with the one I found and came up with this:

2 tsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp sesame oil (the dark stuff)
3 Tbsp cider vinegar
1/8 tsp lemon juice
2 packets of Splenda (4 tsp)

Whisk vigorously. If you want some more oil in there for some reason, add a little bit of vegetable oil to thicken it up, but it really does nothing for the overall experience and adds some calories. The end result is tart and fruity with a little bit of a toasty, nutty flavor from the sesame oil. For the rest of the salad,

Chicken (we used lemon pepper rotisserie)
Fresh cilantro (just a bit)
Sliced almonds
Chow mein noodles
Romaine (or spinach, my preference)

Seriously, this is good. I would say that it's g--d eats, but I don't want to get sued.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Bunnies!

From J:

This morning A and I volunteered with the local rabbit rescue. Let me set the scene:

1) Drive in to the boonies
2) Turn at the traffic light
3) Turn in to the lady's house
4) Gawk at the menagerie of animals.

Seriously, this lady has everything. Two turkeys. Three dozen chickens (none for eating - just for eggs and as pets. Loud, loud pets. She had a dozen roosters.). Four dogs. Cats (at least 3). Ten birds. A pet rabbit of her own, and about 30 other rabbits that she's keeping for the rabbit rescue. Incredible. I don't know how she does it. Our job for the morning was to change out the their litterboxes and sweep out their hutches, along with feeding them. It felt like that scene from Napoleon Dynamite where he goes to work on the chicken farm for a day. A quick aside: gobble.


Enough of the boring stuff. Time for some cute pictures! Without further ado, I present to you.....Tim Tebun.


Tim Tebun was being sold for $5 on Craigslist as snake food, and was rescued along with four other rabbits. Then, one of those rabbits gave birth. WARNING: EXTREME CUTENESS AHEAD.


Two weeks old. TWO WEEKS. They liked me. Take this picture, for example.


Now, let's contrast that with what happened whenever A tried to feed it:


Bunny affection fail! But A could still rely on Tim Tebun.


That's the lady who owns the place burning her yard waste in the background, which I'm pretty sure is illegal. But it's probably also of questionable legality to have upwards of 70 animals at your house, so it's par for the course. Anyway, that little gray rabbit didn't want to be held, but another one did.


Lucky, the dog, was fascinated by the babies. I would almost say that he wanted them for appetizers, but he's had two whole weeks to make that happen so I'm inclined to say that it's just general curiosity. Obligatory shot of my wife holding the same bunny:

Bundon Spikes, perhaps? That's their mother lounging in the background. She was very laid back about us touching her babies.

After we played with the rabbits a little bit, it was time to leave. Will we return? I don't know. I seem to be mildly allergic to them. But it was certainly an interesting and pretty fun morning.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Tour!

From A:

J met me at work today and I was able to give him a tour of the new hospital before it opens on Nov. 1st. We got to see all of the places that will have restricted access once the hospital opens and patients arrive.

Here we are on the heliport (it's the 10th floor of the building). There's a great panoramic view of the university behind us. To the left is the stadium and O-Dome, and to the right is Century Tower and the auditorium:

We also had a little fun while we were up there:

A helicopter landed at the heliport across the street while we were there:

J gave a mock sermon in the chapel:

We checked out the 9th floor, also known as the "Penthouse." It was a bit of a letdown:

And despite the penthouse letdown, we got to see the 320 slice CT, which was very cool:

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

What I did at work today

From A:
Today was an interesting work day. My department has been running scenarios in the new hospital that is opening in November. We're trying to make sure everyone knows what to do in different situations. The scenario today was a STEMI alert (heart attak patient) in which the patient is transported from the emergency room to the cardiac catheterization lab.
As it turns out, I was volunteered to be today's patient, so I got to take a ride through the building instead of having to walk. The transport seems much shorter when you don't have to walk the whole way! Here I am in the emergency room awaiting teams to arrive right after the STEMI alert was sent out:
Here I am being pushed through the hallways in the hospital. I didn't do a very good job pretending to have a heart attack. But, the guy pushing the stretcher is having way too much fun to be pushing an actual patient anyway:
And here we are rounding the last corner before arriving at the cath lab:
I've never met the guy pushing the stretcher before, but I must say that he did a good job. I didn't run into any walls or have any whiplash incidents.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Razorback Ribs

From A:

We had a suspenseful game against Arkansas, but pulled out a 23-20 win in the end. As it turned out, our seats were pretty good. Here's our view of the field:

Here's a picture of us at halftime. As you can see from the scoreboard in the background, we were down by a touchdown. I think this is the only picture I have ever taken at a football game when we weren't winning. But, we were confident that Tebow would find a way to will us to victory (plus, our defense had an amazing night):

Our seats by the band ended up being close enough that we could hear them, but not so close that I wanted to tell them to shut up. It was actually interesting to watch how the drum majors signal for various songs to be played based on the action on the football field. I've never been close enough to notice it before:

I'm not sure if J was paying much attention to the band, though, because the Dazzlers (Gator dance team) joined the cheerleaders on the sideline during the game. To give you an idea of their popularity amongst the males, Erin Andrews was a dazzler while at UF. Enough said.