Jason's Birthday Dinner

Last night we celebrated Jason's birthday! We cooked dinner at Janette and Stephanie's house. We made our favorite pasta dish...pasta with scallops in a lemon, garlic, mushroom sauce. It is very fresh and light! We also had asparagus, bread, and of course dessert!



Here is a picture of me, Josh, and Jason,the birthday boy!


Jason with some of his ladies, he has several:)
Stephanie, Amy, Jason, and Janette


Time to sing! Happy Birthday Mr. President...oops I mean Jason:)

We hope you had a great birthday Jason! Thanks for letting us celebrate with you!!

Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies

John, our roommate is leaving us this week. (I call him "our" roomie because I am over at Josh's all the time.) He is going back to Ohio State for Medical School. I still don't understand the desire to go to such a school, but whatever:) Ha!! He has been a great roomie!

To send him off, we decided to bake him some treats. John is the king of sweets. He has been very helpful in testing our wedding goodies and we always could count on him to polish the sweets off! So last night we baked him a special cookie. We created a chocolate chip toffee cookie. We added in some cinnamon which complimented the toffee nicely. I think these cookies are a winner!



Here is the recipe: Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies
"The Welling" (In Honor of John)

1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp. (1 stick for the math challenged)
1/2 cup brown sugar
6 T sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips (use whatever chocolate you like)
3 Heath bars chopped (minus the couple of bites Josh stole)

In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter, brown sugar, and sugar. Beat on medium speed until smooth. (I recommend using a Kitchenaid Mixer for this.) Add the egg and vanilla and beat on low speed until well blended. Slowly add the dry ingredients and beat on low speed until combined. Add in the chocolate chips and heath chunks.

Drop the dough by heaping tablespoons onto a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silpat! (I use a silpat, they are the best.) Bake the cookies 2 inches apart for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for a minute and transfer to a cooling rack. I like to under bake them a little so they stay soft. The toffee does add a nice crunch in these cookies though! Store in an air tight container for 3 days...but with John nothing lasts three days:) ENJOY!!!


We also made him the banana chocolate cake with cinnamon sugar topping! He loves this one!



We had a fun night baking! Thanks for everything John! Good luck in Ohio...we will miss you!

My Bridal Shower

I had my bridal shower on Saturday! It was a ton of fun...no chicken salad or games:) Thanks Erin, Jami , and Lisa! We had a good time eating delicious food, chatting, and opening gifts. I got some fun stuff! Thanks everyone!

The spread of tasty food!!


It was a beautiful day to be outside! I am glad so many of my friends made it.


While I was eating, opening gifts, and relaxing with friends, Josh was at home working up a sweat and sunburn in the yard! He planted all of our tomatoes and herbs!! We don't have space for a garden, so he dug up some of the yard and made a row for our plants. I hope the little guys grow!!

The Dream Machine

Forest and Ivy brought out their Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker...they can't leave home without it! We made lots of gelato...Lemon, Cookies and Cream, and Hazelnut with a Nutella Swirl. They were all fabulous, but the Hazelnut was my favorite by far, too bad Josh couldn't try that one. I think he was content with the tart lemon though:) This machine is a dream! It churns up creamy gelato in no time and you don't have to put the container in the freezer. Hopefully we will get one someday!

One Month to Go!

It seems like we have been counting the days forever...but today is the one month mark! We can't wait until June 14th. The invitations are out and everything is coming together. Hopefully we will see most of you soon!

Josh's Birthday

We had a great time celebrating Josh's birthday on Friday night. I hurt my ankle and wasn't feeling too great, so Forest and Ivy came to the rescue, they are visiting from Illinois. They made us homemade pizza with the works! It was delicious and we had fun making it!



We also watched the Jazz game and had dessert. Forest and Ivy spoiled us once again...we had lemon gelato with angel food cake and berries. It was superb! They made it extra tart for Josh:) I am glad we were able to celebrate with Joshua on his special day! Thanks Forest and Ivy!

San Francisco's Ferry Building

So I already wrote about our trip to California, but I want to highlight the Ferry Building's Marketplace. It is my favorite place to visit. The Ferry Plaza Farmers Market is a California certified farmers market operated by the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture (CUESA). The market is open two days a week—Tuesdays and Saturdays. The markets offer produce and flowers from small regional farmers and ranchers, many of whom are certified organic. A wealth of other products include regional artisan specialties such as breads, cheeses and jams. It is a food lover's paradise!

We arrived around 9:30 on Saturday morning, the sun was shining and market goers were out in full force! Josh, Ben, and Whitney grabbed breakfast at Rose Pistola's. Whitney had Soft Scrambled Eggs with Crispy Prosciutto, Arugula & Fina Herbs and Josh and Ben had "man food," Egg Sandwiches with Applewood Smoked Bacon, Fontina & Mozzarella . Josh was so excited for the bacon he burnt his mouth...he still has a sore from it! Maybe he will learn to lay off the bacon from now on..ha! I opted for a blueberry scone that was fresh, flaky, and very tasty!! There are many food vendors, so if you go make sure you go hungry! '

I love all the samples at the market. We tried several varieties of dried fruit, the kiwi and white peaches are to die for. The citrus fruit is also amazing...oranges, grapefruit, and our new favorite oro blancos. Oro blanco’s are juicy; the flesh is sweet to sweet tart in flavor and can be enjoyed like a grapefruit. We bought one for the road! Josh's mom also bought us some Asian pears that were sweet and crunchy. Strawberries were found everywhere! Bright red and oh so sweet! I enjoyed sampling these:)

The flowers at the market are breathtaking. There are so many varieties, but my favorite were the sweet peas. I really wanted these in my wedding bouquet but of course Utah can't get them in June. I also love lavendar and the market had plenty of it! One sniff and I was relaxed:)

And of course, there is always Miette. That is the highlight of my visit every time. You can't leave with out tasting a macaron, or two, or three:)

So if you are ever in the Bay area make sure you stop by the Ferry Building for the experience of a lifetime! You won't be disappointed. For market information visit: Ferry Building Marketplace.