Indian Salmon

Linda and Bob came over for dinner last night and Linda made this delicious Indian Salmon. I am not a seafood fan, as most of you know, but this was really delicious and I think I've found a way to get some healthy salmon on my dinner table!

Jacob and Daddy were having some fun around the house...

Here is the Indian Salmon....

The yummy fresh salmon. Looks beautiful!

Now it is covered with mayonaise, parmesean cheese, slivered almonds and black pepper.

Here it is when it came out of the oven. Originally we put it in at 350º for 30 minutes, but ended up cranking it up a bit and having it go about 10 minutes longer...darned high altitude!

Here it is all cut and ready to be served!

We also had salad with Feta Cheese and a Girard's feta dressing, herb noodles, asparagus and some rolls! Mmm! It was a delicious meal!

Appliances and Such....

I tried to get some pictures today of the new appliances, but it was harder than I thought to get some good ones! Everything is installed except the washer and dryer.

The fridge.

Here is the compactor. I love having one! You sure can squish a lot of stuff in them!

The dishwasher.

Dishwasher again.

The stove.

The garage doors! The men finally came back and put the handles on. I think it dresses the doors up a lot!

The dryer.

The washer. Oooh lots of buttons :-)

Our shower; we had to get a special steam shower door due to the Mr. Steam steam shower we are having.

The doors (lacquered) and the door hardware.

The pocket doors to the laundry room. There is also a pocket door that goes into the part of the bathroom with the toilet and tub!

Crawling...sort of!

Jacob has been attempting to crawl for some time now. He used to roll all over the place to get from point A to point B (and he was FAST!) and he prefers to walk, holding your hands, but he's trying to crawl! He can do it (although he tends to go backwards more than forwards) but once he gets to where he wants to go he just lays on his stomach again! But I did catch a bit of him doing some crawling!

Dinner Last Night

Last night John made seared Ahi Tuna and I made an edamame salad to go with it and brown rice. The boys didn't really care for the bean salad, but I sure did! Mmm. More for me!

Edamame Salad:
1 pound shelled edamame
1 T sesame seed oil
1 T rice wine vinegar
2 T soy sauce
1 t chili sauce (I used chili oil)
1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted (I did not have almonds so this was omitted)
1/4 cup chopped basic
1/4 cup chopped mint (I don't care for mint so I omitted)

Cook the edamame according to package directions. Drain and let cool. Mix everything else in a bowl. Toss the edamame in the dressing to coat.

Here are the ahi tuna steaks marinating. It's a simple marinade and I think it marinated about 3 hours or so.

Seared Ahi Tuna:

2 (6-8 oz.) ahi tuna steaks (3/4 of an inch thick)

2 T dark sesame oil

2 T soy sauce (or 2 t of wheat-free tamari for gluten-free option)

1 T of grated fresh ginger

1 clove garlic, minced

1 green onion (scallion) thinly slicked (a few slices reserved for garnish)

1 t lime juice

Mix the marinade ingredients together and coat the tuna steaks with the marinade, cover tightly, and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Heat a non-stick skillet over medium high to high heat. When the pan is hot, remove the tuna steaks from the marinade and sear them for a minute to a minute and a half on each side (even a little longer if you want the tuna less rare).

Remove from pan and slice into 1/4-inch thick slices. Sprinkle with a few green onion slices.

Here it is searing....

Here it is all finished! It was DELICIOUS and healthy! Yippee!!!

Floor and Fireplace

I went by the house today and got to see the fireplace tile on! It looks great! It isn't grouted yet and there are "spacers" between the tiles to keep them in place while they dry. It sure looks great!

Here is the floor in the living room/dining room! So far the living room, kitchen, front entry way, front entry closet, master bedroom and closets are finished. John was working on our bathroom and part of the hallway is finished....It's almost there!

While Justin had a visit with his Mom last weekend, John and I ran some errands and had lunch at TGIFriday's. Jake had one of their "green bean fries" and a few regular fries (after we took the salt off). He loved it! It's so much fun to see how much fun he has with foods, trying new things. There was an older couple at the booth next to us and the gentleman came up to our booth when he was leaving to tell us we had the quietest baby, ever, in a restaurant! That felt great! He was laughing and playing with his rattle, but no fussiness, crying or being obnoxious! That was my job.. Just kidding!

Daddy and Jacob!

Yummiest Pizza Ever!

Again the pictures didn't come out in the order that I picked them...but oh well!
These are some pictures of our new NASA microwave. John and I were wondering why there was a booklet on how to install it, but not how to use it....You don't NEED one. When he flipped the breaker switch and turned it on the LCD display came on and asked if we wanted to set the clock and date...after that....it's all gravy. It's all touch screen and you can choose from the million and a half catagories they offer, from baking an angel food cake, to grilling steak. Yes, grilling! And of course defrost, reheat, snack cooking, melting marshmellows...yes, it's all there. Although we can't figure out what you'd melt marshmellows for, but it's all good! If the other appliances are half as fun as this? I'm so there! Hee!

John was working late trying to get a bunch of the floor done on Friday night, so Justin and I brought over some Safeway Pizza, soda and beer so we could have dinner with John. Linda stayed home with Jacob, since the glue for the floor really stinks. It was a lot of fun, just standing around in the new place, eating pizza off of paper plates and talking about how great the place is looking!

2's and 5's are DOWN!!

Justin has been learning multliplication this year, in the 3rd grade, and he's studied hard and is doing great! Here are two of his latest tests; due to the snow day that was the day before he was to go on Christmas Vacation, he had 2 tests in one week and ACED them both! This week he is learning the 10's.