Kobe got his hairs cut

Before:

After:

I had to give him a treat for enduring the cut!

Hot bargains, hot weather and hot house!

Mr. Pie was out of town this weekend so I was alone with the pups and we managed to keep ourselves pretty busy. I took them to the doggie park on Saturday morning but we only stayed for 45 minutes. Poor little ones, it was in the 90s and they have full time fur coats so we cut the visit short. Afterwards Little B (since Mr. Pie was oot) and I met up with Peldia's realtor who showed us 3 homes. I'll spare you the other two (they were ok and in our price range but not exactly what we were looking for). The 3rd house was great. I won't show full pictures but here's one of the humungous backyard! I had to take 4 photos to fit everything in. Mr. Pie is coming home today so hopefully we can go see it tonight!

I won't keep our hopes up too much but it's nice to know that we have the option of actually getting a yard for the housing costs where we live.

Saturday night, I met up with Sasa's sister, PhotographerMom, and we went out for yummy sushi! Afterwards, we had Pinkberry which I didn't like the first time but after a hot day (folks, it was almost 100 degrees), it was pretty good.

I couldn't sleep that night, I think I kept thinking about the house!
After a night of restlessness, what did I decide to do? I called Momma Pie and we ended up going to the swap meet. If you know me, you will know that I love a good bargain. And where else better to get it at then at the swap meet where you can find anything and everything there. Check out all of my loot for a total of $42! I didn't even take pics of all the fruit and veggies I bought.

On my way home after dropping off Momma Pie, I ran into a car wash that was benefiting a kid who had cancer. His name is Dylan and he's only 5. It felt good to donate to a much worthy cause and get a clean ride out of it!

Then I met up with PhotographerMom again and we went shopping at the mall. I bought way too many clothes and I'm pretty sure I'm returning half of it.

At night, I headed out to a wine restaurant with Slim and we had such a great talk and really good strong drinks :)

I guess I did manage to keep myself busy while Mr. Pie was away!

"That's not a monkey, it's a chimp"

Mr. Pie made chicken marsala tonight. It was like taking bites of heaven! You readers must think I weigh 500 lbs with all of his cooking. Tonight, though, we went light on the pasta and had bigger sides of spinach. The Pies are getting health conscious these days!
As soon as Mr. Pie stepped in the door, I handed him his Manhattan drink and he got right to work. Attorney by day, chef by night!

The prep work

The recipe:

Yeah, right. I don't know it! But here are some ingredients he used: chicken breast fillets, wondra flour, sweet onions, olive oil, chicken broth, can of cream of mushroom sauce, roasted garlic and a bunch of seasonings. And there were a lot of pots and pans :)

The finished product!

I like, I like! And I always finish my food posts with an empty plate (notice the presence of pasta - I willed myself not to touch most of it!).

During dinner, we watched Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. It was pretty funny and I was happy to see some of my favorite characters from The Office in it! The title of the post comes from the movie - Dewey has a pet chimp. Mr. Pie is a huge fan of chimps. He was annoyed when Dewey called the chimp a monkey. Mr. Pie does not like monkeys, only chimps.

Also, today at work, I ended the day on a very high note - putting someone who is usually a big jerk in his place! It felt wonderful.

Holy Water, UFC and White Pasta Sauce Weekend

Whoa, the Pies had a busy weekend! Friday night, we were busy prepping for Baby Pink's Baptism. I offered to help make little tea sandwiches for the after party and while I was doing that, Mr. Pie (who had a bad Friday - poor guy) made a yummy london broil with mushroom sauce for us to eat. How nice of Mr. Pie after he had a bad day!

I think I liked this dish too!

Early the next morning, we woke ourselves up early to get to Baby Pink's house to deliver the sandwiches and hitch a ride with the Pinks. Ok, Baby Pink - such a cute baby!! She was sound asleep, not really realizing that today was her big day! The baptism was beautiful and Baby Pink was a very good baby throughout.

Getting ready to go for a dip!

Baby Pink & her Pops

The Pinks!

The after party was fun and we got to eat a lot of yummy foods - the sandwiches were a big hit! Afterwards, Mr. Pie and I took a long nap before we headed over to Peldia's. They purchased the UFC fight and we ordered in pizza. It's always nice to go their house - lots of drinks, hospitality and tonight - bloody fights! Who could ask for anything more. It was, though, a huge contrast from a sweet baptism earlier - ha!

On Sunday, we decided to treat the doggies to a day at the doggie park. They LOVED it. I think it wore them out because on the ride home, no one begged to look out the window!

For dinner, Mr. Pie made a wonderful meal to cap the weekend. It was sausage, angel hair and spinach smothered in a delicious white sauce. It was sooo good. I will make sure to have Mr. Pie file this recipe away for many more uses!

Motivation

Ok so I just watched The Biggest Loser finale and if it wasn't inspirational and motivational to lose weight, then I don't know what is! It was a great ending and I won't spoil it but boy, my butt is off to the gym tomorrow for sure! One chick lost a whole weight equivalent of me! I'm going to start tracking my progress and taking a more careful look at what I eat (no more pies).

Co-Worker Shannigans

Me: Can you snorkel for lobster? Mazzy: Yeah you can dive for lobster. Me: I would learn to snorkel for lobster. Little B: How do you know if it's a lobster?

Un-pho-gettable

This past Friday Mr. Pie and I hosted dinner at our house with some very dear friends of ours - TamTam, Mr. & Mrs. Sasa , Mr. & Mrs. H and their adorable baby, Baby H. I made pho, which was delish, and I didn't take pictures! Dang - it must have been the soup steam in my eyes. Besides the food, the conversations and friendships were awesome. We have all known each other since high school and the comraderie never misses a beat when we are together. TamTam had to fly back to NYC which is always sad but I loved that we got to hang out with her. Heck, I think I spend more time with her now then when we lived across the street from each other!

Here's the pho recipe:
http://www.vietworldkitchen.com/bookshelf/articles/pho_SJM.htm#recipe

My variations & tips:
- The 5-6 lbs beef bones can purchased at most Asian markets - already assembled in bags and labeled for you. Seems daunting but it really isn't.
- For the 1/2 pound of raw sirloin or eye of round that have to be cut into thin slices - most really nice Asian butchers will do this for you on the machine, just smile and look pretty (it doesn't hurt to wink either - haha).
- At the Asian market, I usually pick up pho beef bouillons and canned chicken and beef broth. I add all of these to the pho while it's simmering to add more richness and flavor. There are also bags of pho seasonings that I add. Usually 3 cans of chicken broth and 2 cans of beef will do.
- To skim the fat, I make the pho the day before, refrigerate the entire pot and when I take it out, the fat rose to the top, making for easing scooping.

This is what it looks like - delicious!


Shout out to my Momma Pie for always making this dish when I was young!

My 2 Guys

This is sweetness :)

I found my USB cord and mmmm...risotto :)

I found my USB cable to my camera! Finally, I can provide you guys with pictures :)

We'll start off with 2 Wednesdays ago when Mr. Pie made his famous and my favorite dish - shrimp risotto. It's his secret recipe and I wish I could share but even I don't know it!

Here's the before:

Here's the after:

I think I liked it! :)

Little DJ's Baby Shower

Last Sat B-dog and I threw a baby shower for Momma DJ. B-dog did the awesome fantastic decorations!!! The photos are courtesty of KimLe Photography! I hate to brag but I made the food - hahaha. Momma DJ had a wonderful time being surprised and we had a blast showering her with lots of love! I can't wait until June :)

Dying of laughter

This is my cousin's child (part of a set of twins). HE. IS. COMING. OUT. OF. A. QUAIL. EGG.

I'll be loving you forever...

I heard this song made for some good radio dedications back in the day...

They're back! And on the Today show tomorrow morning. I already set the TIVO.