Engaged!

Congratulations Kourtney & Brian!!

They got engaged on the 10 year anniversary of our engagement – June 29!

Looking forward to an April wedding!

Summer Vacation 2012

I love Tennessee in the summertime!

Thirty-Two

There is just too much to say, too much to be grateful for.  I just do not deserve this life or these thirty-two happy, healthy years.  Today I spent a lot of time thinking about my age and this season of my life.  I have decided that my thirties are my favorite decade yet.  I am so much happier and more content and at peace now, in my thirties, than I ever was in my twenties.

My day in pictures:

Nine

Time flies.  It is hard to believe that nine years has passed since our wedding day.

In my wildest dreams, I never would have imagined that we would spend our nine year anniversary at a concert in Tuscaloosa, AL, where we also happen to live with three dogs and no kids (yet) and hold jobs at the same hospital.  All of the years in-between have been great and I look forward to many, many more.  My cup runneth over.

Tonight at the Counting Crows show at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater:

Our night started at Jim & Nick’s, the new BBQ restaurant in town, which was EXCELLENT and right down the street from the amphitheater. We actually got tickets for the show through Groupon at a great price (a little over $50 for both of us) and ended up in seated on the grown floor (first section), row “T.”  Our row was full, but the row behind us was completely empty, so we ended up moving back so that we (and those next to us) could stretch out. 

It was, however, SO unbelievably hot. I’m not quite sure I will go back to the amphitheater until it gets cooler unless the show starts later.  We got there right at 7 pm when the first opening act started playing.  The sun was bearing down on us for about 30 minutes before it got low enough to be blocked by the stage. Our clothes were soaked (mine partially due to me spilling my drink on myself) and until we moved to row “U” we were elbow to elbow with our neighbors.

This concert was called the Outlaw Road Show and although the CC were the headliners, there were three other special guest bands with them. The opening acts (which were all great) did not wrap up until 9 pm and the CC did not come out until nearly 9:30. 

They sang lots of their hits; some of our favorites were “Omaha,” “Hanginaround,” “Rain King,” and “Long December” [my very favorite of theirs – and the photo above where Adam Duritz is at the piano].  We were so surprised and slightly disappointed that they did not sing “Mr. Jones,” which is their trademark song, and one has been on my discman/mp3 player/iPhone for almost 15 years. Like Kourtney said, “It’s like going to a Dave Matthew’s concert and him not singing ‘Crash.’” Exactly! It was good, though, and we had fun, and I would go to hear them again. 

Happy Anniversary!

The was the picture on the front of the card Brent picked out for me:

And it plays Queen’s “Your My Best Friend.”  How perfect!!!  I love it!

Taste & See: Papaw’s BBQ Sauce

Last night I had a dream about Papaw Anderson.    In my dream, I found out that he was still alive and all this time had been in the hospital.  The same hospital where we work.  Strange, yes.  But what is perhaps even stranger is that the first email I saw this morning was from Daddy – the recipe for Papaw’s BBQ sauce.  Apparently Kourtney asked him for it recently and he just sent it to both of us.

So I decided that today was the perfect time for me to try my hand at the recipe.  Usually Daddy lets the chicken marinate in the sauce and then uses it to baste the chicken while it cooks on the grill.  (And Daddy says it is best to use with charcoal vs gas.)  I decided to try something different and cook the chicken with the sauce in the crockpot.

Ingredients:

• 2 C Vinegar
• 3 T Worchester sauce
• ½ bottle Tabasco Sauce (2T = 1 fl. Oz)
• 6 T Salt
• 1 Stick margarine
• ¼ t Garlic Salt
• ½ C Oil

Directions: Mix and heat for 15 minutes. (easy enough!)

I substituted a stick of butter for the margarine, because that is all I had.  I also didn’t have garlic salt, so I used some garlic powder.  When I got to the salt, I emailed Daddy just to check – 6 whole tablespoons of salt?? I have never put that much salt in anything!He assured me that it was correct, and the the salt was used to tenderize the meat. So I added it all in.  I combined all of the ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat for ~ 15 minutes.

I had a whole chicken that was just over 5 lbs.  I started it out in the crockpot, pouring the most of the sauce in with it.  I did reserve some of the sauce for dipping purposes as recommended by Daddy.  That’s the best part!!  I cooked the chicken in the crockpot on medium heat for 3 or 4 hours (I can’t remember).  Then I took it out, put it in a roasting pan, poured the sauce it with it, and roasted in the oven at 425 on both sides until the skin got nice and dark.  (I’m a bit paranoid about not getting chicken all the way done, so I probably cooked it a bit too long (must get meat thermometer!). Meanwhile, I also added some zucchini and squash to a separate roasting pan below.

The result:

Wonderful!  Just look at that crispy skin! 

I love all types of BBQ sauce: ketchup based, mustard based, Alabama white BBQ sauce, sweet, vinegar and whiskey.  This is obviously a vinegar-based sauce, and with the Tabasco, it is very strong and pungent (it almost stings my nose to smell it!).  I love it, but is definitely different.  Next time I will marinate the chicken for longer so that it will take on more of the flavor, but for tonight, especially when using the reserved portion for dipping, it was just perfect.

Also, from now on, I am no longer using the crockpot for preparing whole chickens.  First of all, it stinks.  I seriously can’t stand the smell of chicken cooking in the crockpot. Second of all, it comes out all mushy and bland.  Roasting in the oven is just so. much. better. You just cannot get that crispy skin without roasting and/or grilling. And right as I type this, the chicken bones, spices, and leftover veggies from this week are simmering away in the crockpot and will soon turn in to my first homemade chicken stock.  I am attempting to master the basics.

More fun pictures from an Anderson family cookout long ago (~10 years!  We weren’t even married!):

And more photos of Papaw: