Soccer Parties

Just in case you are having soccer withdrawals let me post about a soccer party we had back in May when Inter de Milan played in the European Championship game (Fer correct me if I'm wrong) and WON! We had an Italian themed party since we were rooting for Inter.

We made Panini and Caprese Salad, had breadsticks and followed up the meal with Tiramisu sounds like fun huh.

Ribs!

For the Superbowl I tried a new recipe for ribs that I saw Emeril make with his son on the Martha Stewart Show recently. The recipe couldn't be easier and couldn't be tastier. I was not able to find Emeril's BBQ sauce that he recommends in the recipe so I tried a Jack Daniels BBQ and it was good but that's the only aspect of the recipe that I can see changing around a bit is the sauce you can experiment with that until you find one you like and lord knows there are a million out there. What I loved about this recipe was how easy it was to make it. The only thing it really requires is time. You have to bake the ribs for 3 hours with just the rib rub on so that takes being home for that period of time at least but it worked out great for us on Superbowl Sunday I was able to start the ribs and get everything done around the house I needed and then the ribs were ready when the party started. You can find the recipe here if you're interested in making them yourself, which I highly recommend!


Here's the finished product. They were so good and the meat was falling off the bone!

Here's the process. Take your slabs of ribs and rub them with Emeril's Rib Rub and then make a pocket out of parchment paper and aluminum foil for them to bake in.

closeup.

then after the 3 hours in the oven take the ribs out and lightly coat them all over with the BBQ sauce, then put them back in the oven uncovered for about 30 minutes.

mmmmm mmmm good.

Superbowl XLIV

Two weekends ago now we hosted a Superbowl Party at our place. It was so much fun because it was full of good friends and good food. Here's some pictures from the party.

I began the process of getting ready early in the day so I wouldn't be running around at the last minute all stressed out. Here's a picture of me choosing which bowls would work for each snack and getting them out and ready to go.

Then I put one piece of each snack in the bowl I wanted to use for them so I planned it out early and when the time game I would just fill up the bowl or someone else could for me the map was already laid out.

Swiss Jager. Very good and not as harsh as the typical Jagermeister.

The fridge was well stocked.

some closeups.

Ribs! I made these for the first time for the party that night and they came out AWESOME! Will definitely be something I make from time to time. Recipe to follow tomorrow.

Cubanito platter, since the game was in Miami.

Hamburgers too. Definitely was not going to run out of food

Yummy Guacamole.

all set up and ready to go.

aren't these balloons cool.

we also celebrated a friends birthday so of course champagne was in order.

some bubbly anyone?

I hope you enjoyed your Superbowl festivities and stay tuned for the Ribs recipe and instructions tomorrow. Until next year! Go Brett Favre. :)

It's Monday

It's Monday, day after the Superbowl, needs lot's of coffee today!
Did you watch the game? Wasn't it a good game. We had a really nice Superbowl party last night, pictures to follow shortly.

march in review

well this month I blinked and it was over... March came and is pretty much gone. It has been a great month and to catch everyone up to speed this is what's been going on.

March 1st it snowed. Can you believe it? Snow in Atlanta; well it's not all that unbelievable but not that common either. It was great. It snowed on a sunday so most people were home from work and able to just enjoy the peacefullness of the day. That is the one thing I love about snow days is that it's so "STILL" outside when it's snowing. We managed to get out in the snow and it was Zico's first experience in it, he loved it but probably didn't really know what it was.

Next was my birthday :). This year my birthday fell on a Sunday so we were able to celebrate the whole weekend (I usually manage that anyway). We had a nice get together here with our friends and really enjoyed ourselves. One of the highlights of my birthday was the floral cupcake I received from one of my bestest friends in Miami.

This month I also started working full time, which is good but of course an adjustment. I was used to having time to get things done on the two days I was off during the week, but now things will just have to be rearranged.

We've also been focusing on forming our routine with Zico Biscuit and starting a new training class with him for puppy obediance. He's four months old now and learning something new everyday. I really can't imagine my life without him.

This is what he'll be doing at daycare. :)

I'm hoping that in the next few days I can get back to being organized about making dinner and doing some baking so I can blog about it. (and eat it)

I'm looking forward to spring (I live in a place where we have seasons now)and also to Easter - I love all the colors this time of the year.

Happy Spring!

Where do we begin... where did I leave off (end of July in Review)

I started writing this post a few weeks ago but was not able to post pictures so I just saved it until I was back up and running with my home computer. The last week in July we were so busy preparing for our move to Atlanta and saying good-bye to all our friends, well not really good-bye more like so long for now. ...I couldn't say good-bye I couldn't stand the pain... where do we begin:

July 26th was my good friend Joanne's birthday, so we went over to her house for a birthday party which involved good friends, good food and a delicious birthday cake prepared by her husband and her daughter. Here's some pics from the big day:

Then on Sunday we had a Team Inter (de Miami) Soccer Farewell party and no better way to do that than have a soccer game with great friends. A lot of Fer's soccer buddies showed up for the event it was very nice of them to do so and meant a lot to him. He's spent 6 years with this soccer team and they are like family to us so it was nice to spend the day with them. (I unfortunately hardly took any photos that day, which means we'll just have to do it again sometime) But here are a few:

We will miss everyone in Miami but know what we will stay in touch for many years to come. Next pictures of what my co-workers did my office on the last day of work.

Happy Birthday to The Great Martha 'S'

Friday was Martha's birthday and of course we could not let her down we had to plan a party that would impress her!



We transported her to Italy with a Panini Party, it was so much fun we all made our own paninis and then for desert we had profiteroles (care of Emily)

Surprise

Notice the tomato cans used as utensil and bread stick holder - great centerpiece idea, huh. Also the beautiful arrangement sent by Martha's hubby.

The Birthday Girl

Yummooooo

... off again

Well last weekend (memorial day weekend) we were off again for the whirlwind of all whirlwind trips. Fer's sister was getting married in Santa Cruz, Bolivia (she lives here in Miami also but this was a destination wedding). So we hopped on a plane on Thursday spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Santa Cruz and hopped back on a plane on Monday and were back in Miami.

Busy Busy Busy.


Despite the length of the trip it was very nice and we managed to pack everything (except rest) into the weekend we had wanted to.

The wedding was beautiful Vivi and Micael both looked very happy and beautiful. It was nice to be there with all the families.

Here's are some pics from the evening:

Here's some pics from around Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz itself is going thru some growing pains I guess you would call it and I would say for the most part Bolivia is still a developing country. The Crucenos (people from Santa Cruz) recently had an election to make Santa Cruz it's own state and they won - big time - but now they're waiting for the government to recognize their independence - good luck.

"If you want it defend it, vote for the yes"

Yummo Saltenas. These are Bolivian empanadas and they are delicious. The drink in the third picture is mocochinchi (sp?) it's like an ice tea with with a peach flavoring (is how I describe it) that's a dried peach in the bottom.

Check out the photo album for some more pics on the side of this blog.