Banana Cake and Dinner in 1 Dish

Here's a couple more recipes from this week:

Tonight's dinner was great. I was a little concerned that it would be bland but it wasn't at all. I think is completely depends on the sausage. We used SPICY Italian. The recipe was super easy, Adam made it (and messed up a couple time but didn't affect it). I got this recipe from one of my favorite food blogs The Kitchn (click here).


Anelletti Pasta with Sausage and Greens

1 pound anelletti pasta from Trader Joe's
Olive oil
1/4 pound Italian or spicy sausage, crumbled
4 cloves garlic, minced
Four big handfuls of seasonal greens like baby spinach or arugula
1/2 cup grated Pamesan cheese

Cook the pasta as directed in salted water. It should cook for just 12-13 minutes. Drain and set aside.
In the same big pot you cooked the pasta in, heat a little olive oil and add the crumbled sausage and garlic. Cook over medium heat until the sausage is cooked through.
Add the greens and cook until barely wilted, then add the pasta and cheese and stir until all is combined and gooey - about two minutes. Serve with extra cheese.

Picure from The Kitchn. I was lazy but it really looked exactly the same.

Another thing I made this week was Banana Cake. I have made this three times and every time it is defferent. This time I mixed it a little too long so it was somewhat dense. But it was still good. Adam, not so secretly, dosen't eat the bananas in hopes that I make this cake.

Banana Cake

3 small ripe bananas or 2 large ripe bananas
4 large tablespoons sour cream
1 white cake mix
3 egg whites
2 tablespoons oil
1 1/3 c. milk1 tsp vanilla flavoring

Frosting:
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese
1 stick butter (room temp)
1/3 c. nuts of your choice (I use walnuts)
1 box of powdered sugar (4 cups)
1 tsp vanilla flavoring

Blend bananas with mixer, adding sour cream. When mixture is well blended, not lumpy, add your cake mix, egg whites, oil, milk, flavoring together and mix. Pour into a greased 9x13 or rounds and bake for 25 mins or until done.
Tip: place waxed paper over the cake while it cools to keep in the moisture.

Frosting:
Mixed cream cheese and butter untill smooth. Add powered sugar (taste before you add it all!) and vanilla. Frost cake and sprinkle with nuts.
It makes a lot of frosting!

Court's No Scrub!

But I wear them (and make them)!

I finially started my job! Today was my first day and it went well. It was very busy however, I was glad to be doing something. But, I am tired tonight! The office I work in is small but nice. The other employees are really great and helpful. I had a full day today. Nine patients (4 in am and 5 in pm), 9-5:15 with a 1.5 hour lunch. The afternoon got kinda crazy but I made it out on time! The instruments are old and dull so I am getting some new ones and can't wait! They will make my job so much easier.

To go with my new job, I made a new scrub top. I am very happy with how it turned out.

I got the fabric at Ikea for .99 a yrd and the pattern at Joanns. I will probably make some more in the furture because this is one of the best looking/fitting scrubs tops I have seen that doesn't cost a fortune.

Recipes

I made a couple of good things lately and want to share.

Veggie Lasagna (Adam loves this)

1 tub low fat ricotta

1 egg
1 package frozen spinach

2 small zucchini

1 jar pasta sauce of your choice

mozzarella
Parmesan

1/2 box no boil noodles

Cut the zucchini into small slices and pre-heat the oven to 350. Mix ricotta and egg. Add thawed spinach. Start layering in a greased 8x8 dish with sauce, then noodles, the ricotta, then zuch, then parm and motza. Continue until dish is full with a top layer of cheese. Bake at 350 for 1 and a half hours.

I made mine in a hurry!

About 1 hour later... but not quite done. Back in the oven for 30 mins.

This recipe I found online. It's great!

Frozen Yogurt (better than Pinkberry)

1 tub Greek Yogurt ( I used 2%)
3/4 c sugar
1 t vanilla

Mix all together until sugar is dissolved. Refrigerate for one hour. Read ice cream maker instructions and start making! I had to freeze the bowl for at least 15 hours and start the beater before adding the yogurt (makes sense but would have never thought of it!).

Sorry for the bad pic.

New website to love...

IBKC also know as the itty bitty kitty committee. If the name isn't ridiculously cute enough then check out the pictures! They are adorable! Makes me want a cat NOW!!!

Counting the days till I can get one....

Check it out HERE (click here)!

Just a sample of the cuteness:

Wedding Movie

Parts of our wedding DVD have been posted on youtube.com and we thought we would share. We really like them! It brings back so many great memories to watch them!

Beach!

It was crazy beautiful this weekend and we took full advantage!! Saturday Adam, Joel, and I took off to the beach! It is still crazy for us to think that we live so close to such beautiful places.

We met Kevin, Lauren, and two of Lauren's friends in Scotts Valley and then drove to Santa Cruz. We decided to forgo the regular beach and drive a few miles north on 1 to a more secluded beach and it was amazing! It was so beautiful!

We laid out, threw the freezbie, and played catch. We were there for about 5 hours. The water was frezzing!! But the weather was amazing. I don't know what the temp was but it was perfect with a great ocean breeze.

Courtnay's Wish List

I have been thinking a lot about colors lately. I really like yellow and robin egg blue. I think they would be great kitchen colors and want to start collecting things in these colors for our next move. Adam and I are going to move to San Francisco in July and I would like to have more of a plan for the space than I did this past move.

I have been browsing Etsy over the weekend and found all these great things. They are on my current wish list.

Yellow bowls from suttree:

Glasses from BlendedSplendid:

Bowl from suttree:

Tablecloth from tangerinechic:

I don't know if I will get any of them but I really like them. And really, nothing is that expensive. But for now I guess I will continue to scope out the thrift store for some finds.

Costume Party!

Adam and I went to a costume party this Friday. It was a birthday party for three people, Kevin (who we know), Jessica, and John (who we do not know). The theme of the party was dress up as any Kevin, Jessica, or John ever in any way. Seems easy but for whatever reason I had a very hard time thinking of anyone besides Jessica Simpson for myself. Then I was trying to think of someone for Adam and all I could think of was John Mayer. So Adam and I went as Jessica Simpson playing Daisy Duke and John Mayer. I couldn't really think of anything to wear to be Jessica beside being Daisy Duke.

I was in complete shock after going to the party at all the people the other guests dressed up as. For example, John Wilkes Booth was there along with Kevin Costner, John Quincy Adams, and Dear John. We also meet a couple John Does, Johnny Cash, Sarah Jessica Parker, John McClane (Bruce Willis's character from Die Hard), Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Kevin Costner as some sort of war-time character, and K-Fed. Over all there were probably 35 people there. We didn't know many of them but it was still fun.

Kevin as Johnny Cash:

The stuff I'm working on at VMware

For the last several months, I have been hard at work programming parts of the user interface for the newest version of VMware Workstation. For those who don't know, VMware makes virtualization software. VMware Workstation basically lets you run a separate operating system on top of the current one that you are running without much overhead. For instance, I am running Windows Vista as my operating system right now, but there are many programs that work better with Windows XP than they worked with Windows Vista. With VMware Workstation, I can run this other operating system and use the programs on it even though I am still using Windows Vista.

The feature that I have been working on is a redesign of the functionality used to create a new virtual machine. This is the initial step you take when you first install VMware Workstation in order to start running a virtual machine. In this version, the two features we added to new virtual machine creation are: 1) Easy Install, which allows you to enter some settings for your operating system like serial number, usern ame, and password and then step away from your computer while the installation happens automatically and 2) Guess the Guest, which reads the operating system installer disc and determines which operating system you are trying to install. I helped out some with the code to do those two tasks, but mostly I wrote the user interface for these new features.

Even though this version of Workstation is only in beta, Infoworld.com did a preview of it and really liked it. What was even better was that they specifically pointed out the features I have been working on and called them the most "fully baked" new feature of the beta release. It was a great feeling to see all of the hard work I've put into this release appreciated and to see screenshots of my feature on their website.

Here is a link to the review
Screenshot one of some of the user interface I wrote
Screenshot two of some of the user interface I wrote

Antiques by the Bay

Adam and I went to the art and antique fair today in Alameda and had a great time. At first I didn't think that Adam would be able to come with me but it turned out that he could. So we got up bright and early this morning and left at 8:15. We arrived at about 9:20. It was perfect timing because we got in the car line close to the entrance gate and looked in the rear view mirror and the cars were lined up big time. I don't know how that all worked out but it was great. And then the same thing happened when we got in line to buy our tickets to get in. I brought my little wheel cart after a little hesitation but as soon as I got it out of the car the women in the car next to us were complaining to their husbands "Look! She has a cart. See, I told you we should have brought ours!" Adam and I thought that was pretty funny.

Adam had never been to a flea market before and kept asking me "what are we really going to do for 5 hours there?" I said "you'll see." And boy did we see!!! There was much good stuff, so much crazy stuff, and everything in between. We guessed there were about 30-35 good sized booths in every row and 25 rows with thousands of people. Some stuff was a good price and some was expensive but we got a good haul for the price.

The fair was held on an old air base. It was on the runway and while we were there an airplane flew over (actually many flew over considering Oakland and San Fran airports were very close) that looked like it belonged.

Adam and I did some bartering. He did most of it and the first time I tried, the women told me I was rude for asking for less. Adam said she bit the head off of the guy right before me as well. Now that's not a good business plan but I did notice that he bought whatever he was asking about. I did not.

Overall the day was a success. It was a bit chilly, very breezy, and threatened rain most of the day but we had prepared for it. We spent about $100 including the entry fee and food. Here is my haul… 2 quilts, 2 glass things from electric fence, 5 embroidered linens, 3 aprons, cast iron cross, cast iron green roses key hook, metal pyramid stand, blue wood goose (named Claude), and a conch shell. I am going to use some of the stuff for other projects, like a quilt or pillows.

Slipcover

Wow! That's all I have to say. That and.... NEVER AGAIN!!
My back is killing me and I am exhausted! I have spent the last three days making a slipcover for our couch. What a PAIN! But a good use of my new sewing machine.

I didn't think that it would be that hard. Especially after seeing this post (click here). It got me thinking about doing the same for our couch. I think that the original upholstery is ugly and the slipcover that my mom made for it was falling apart after many years of use. Plus it was very bland and blended in with the wall.
I got the fabric at Ikea for dirt cheap, $1.99/yard. I started the process on Monday morning. I cut up the old slipcover and used it as a pattern (after calling my mom to confirm that I could cut up the old one).
Then I laid it on the couch and pinned away. Then came the dilemma of now what.... so I called my mom, for the 2nd time concerning the couch.

Me: "Hi, it's me again. I have another question....I have it all pinned on the couch and it seems like it is going to work. But now what... how do I sew it?? How do I get it off the couch with out it all falling apart??"

Mom: "Well... that's the question. How about you baste it together with big stitches and then take it off and sew it."

Me: "Ok. Sounds good. Thanks."

So I basted, sewed, pinned, sewed, gave up, sewed more, pinned, etc...... and this is the result.



It's not perfect but I think it turned out pretty good. I was also going to do the ottoman (with a different and even cheaper fabric!) but decided that it matched good enough as it was and I will use the fabric for something else.


I am just SO glad that I am done! And never doing that again!