weekending

This past weekend was my first weekend to be in birmingham without any traveling since in april. I was so excited to be able to wake up both saturday and sunday mornings in my our bed and enjoy home. My parents came to town Friday night to take us to dinner and bring wedding presents we had not opened yet. Saturday, i woke up early (after staying up super late for me trying to get organized with all of our new gifts!) and ate breakfast while watching the food network in my pajamas {sigh}. Doesn't get much better than that. Justin and I geared up for an afternoon of returning duplicates and gift-card purchases. Although I'm really not big on running errands, having Justin with me made it so much more fun. To top off a great (married) saturday afternoon, we went to see a movie - one of our favorite things to do - Cowboys & Aliens. Which was great by the way!

Sunday, we tried out a new church, and as our luck would have it, heard the pastor's farewell sermon. Justin's birthday is wednesday so since we have a jam-packed week of things to do at night, I cooked a special birthday meal for him Sunday night: Panko Encrusted Rack of Lamb. One of our favs.

It sounds fancy and looks fancy but is actually so easy! I need to stop blogging from work so I can include the recipes. More to follow!

P-A-L-M-O-R-E

As a newlywed I am getting used to a new name and that involves spelling it for people a whole lot.  Married life is amazing - so cliche but true. After dating for 5 years, it's amazing how natural and easy sharing our lives together feels already. After a honeymoon to NYC we are back in the hometown getting back to the daily grind. That - on the other hand - has not felt natural or easy. But it had to come at some point and it is nice to figure out our routine together.

As part of being a newlywed couple, we are starting a supper club with 2 of our other newlywed couple friends. We will each take turns hosting the other 2 couples on a weekly basis - or at least that's the plan for now. So next thursday night we begin the Supper Club and Justin and I will host the first round. I am so excited to use my new everyday china and serve ware. I love to entertain. The challenging part will be in our shoebox of an apartment!

And as part of being a new wife, I have been cooking dinner as many nights as I can. I am LOVING that I actually have someone to cook for other than myself. We've had pork chops, chicken tetrazzini (recipe coming soon!), spaghetti and blackened tilapia greek salad. I also made a chicken salad with apples, walnuts and greek yogurt which has been amazing for lunch the past few days.

As best as I can tell, married life is absolutely wonderful. I have an amazing husband who loves me and supports me and we have an absolute blast together.

First Dance - "Wonderful Tonight" by Eric Clapton

Home stretch

That's right, 16 more days until I become Mrs. Palmore. I could not be more excited that it is finally within arm's reach. That's a picture of the inside of the church where we will be married. I love the stained glass! I have 5 more days of work until I am off for the wedding and the honeymoon. Needless to say, it's a little hard to focus.













Mom, Dad and I drove to check out the sunflowers we are hoping will bloom just in time for the wedding. It was so pretty and I think I could have sat under a tree for hours just admiring them. And I say under a tree because it was about 1,000 degrees and there are bees everywhere. So a little distance and shade would be necessary for sure. Mom felt it would be wrong not to "rescue" the ones that had been blown over and uprooted by the wind, so she hauled them back to the car where we had to fold down the seats they are so tall!

 

We are going to check on them again this weekend and hoping they will be right on schedule!

In other news, Justin moved back to Birmingham for good last weekend and it is ridiculous how much easier a relationship is when you are living in the same city. We've been able to grab lunch together and cook dinner, take Bear to the park... probably very normal things that we've only been able to do on weekends we were together. BUT, as nice as it is, it makes me realize how wonderful it will be when we are married and living together. It's no fun having to tell him bye every night. Only 16 more days! Have I mentioned I can't wait??!

Whipping something up

On Tuesday Justin came into town to surprise me. I love surprises! I knew he was coming but didn't think he'd come until Wednesday or Thursday. I was sitting at my desk at work and he walked in. I love those moments because I get butterflies all over again when I see him. Anyway, so I always look forward to when he is in town because that means I can cook. So in the 1.5 hours between the time I got off work and when I was meeting my friend Katie to go for a walk, I wanted to whip up something for dinner. One of my favorite things is getting ideas from recipes and then combining them to come up with my own recipe. I decided to go with shrimp and grits, which is something we are ordering off of menus often!

It turned out great and I was so pleased. I even got a mention on twitter from Justin about it. So, I think I'll be adding this to our suggested dinner options in the future.





Shrimp and Grits (for 2)
Shrimp


3 pieces of bacon (I used lower sodium)
1 container of baby bella mushrooms, sliced

1/4 cup of green onions (green parts only), chopped
1 Tbs. butter
1/2 pound of shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 Tbs. of flour
1/2 cup of chicken stock

Grits
1/2 cup of instant grits
2 1/2 cups of chicken stock
1/4 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated

 

Cook bacon in large skillet over medium heat until done. Remove and set aside onto paper towels to drain and crumble once cooled. Reserve about 1Tbs. of bacon drippings in skillet. Add mushrooms, butter and green onions (reserving a few for garnishing). Cook until soft and has reduced, about 8 minutes. Add shrimp and stir. Cook until shrimp have started to turn pink. Add flour and stir until flour is evenly distributed and has started to cook out. Add chicken stock and let simmer 3 minutes (add more stock for a thinner sauce).
 
Meanwhile, cook grits according to instructions on the box, using stock in place of water. Add cheese once grits have thickened and stir.

Serve grits onto plates and spoon shrimp mixture over the top. Sprinkle bacon and reserved green onions over the top. Serve immediately.