Wordless Wednesday - Wedding Pictures



Me and our photographers Jenn and "Hot" Carl... haha he gained the "hot" part of his name at the wedding, from one of the groomsmen...long story lol!! I heart Jenn and whether she likes it or not she will be taking our pictures for the rest of our lives. She is a very special person, talented photographer and lots of fun!
http://www.babygracephotography.com/

 In case you didn't see our engagemenet pictures (taken by Jenn) you can check them out here!


 

Vegas Baby!

Last weekend, my hub and I celebrated 11 years together! Well, marriage that is - we've been dating for 14 years now!! So, we decided that we'd celebrate with style! We missed our 10 year celebration due to 3 munchkins under 5, new job and the normal chaos in our lives - so we committed to do something special this year!

I've been wanting to go to Vegas for quite a while - so, Vegas it was! The best part was that we ended up going with 3 other couples! We've been involved in Farm Bureau Young Farmers for years and we went with 6 friends that we've made through that organization.

AND - we had a blast!!!

We stayed at the Bellagio. I LOVED it! The fountains were probably my favorite part of Vegas! We got to experience them during the day and at night.

We also checked out many of the other hotels. If you've never been before, the only words I can think of to describe them are - luxurious, grand, lavish and mostly magnificent!

Chocolate fountain at the Bellagio - yum!

We had a terrific dinner at Smith and Wollinskey's and took in the Penn & Teller show!

Check out this hunk of meat that our friend Greg ate! He claims that it was the best steak he's had in years!!!

We even had a chance to visit the pawn shop from Pawn Stars! AND head to downtown Vegas.

Ding, ding, ding - my lucky machine!

Can't tell you what I won though - you know, what happens in Vegas - stays in Vegas!!

Asian Duck Noodle Skillet

So, I am going to start out by being really honest. I have had duck and thought it tasted good. But, I would never have imaged going to the store, buying and cooking it. I never would have known where to start in regards to cooking it and what would taste good with it.

That is why I am so excited I found out about Ott, A.'s Iron Chef Challenge! The themed ingredient for this month is Duck! 

So, luckily I have great co-workers (Leah and Megan) who have been to Maple Leaf (an Indiana based duck company) and know how to cook duck and had all these great recipe ideas! And, Leah was nice enough to even let me come over so we could cook it together! The night ended up being lots of fun and we decided we needed to cook together more often!

Maple Leaf has great resources and recipes on there website so if you are new to the duck world like me be sure to check it out!

So, I started easy and bought the Maple Leaf Ready to Cook Boneless Roasted Garlic Duck Breast.

They came individually packaged and I bough two.

I then cooked the duck in a skillet with the skin side down to cook off some of the fat.

I then cut off the fat and sliced the duck into thin strips

I then mixed the sesame oil, Asian seasoning mix, and 2 of the ramen seasoning packets. I then put the sliced duck strips in the sauce and tossed them back in the skillet with some vegetable oil for a couple minutes. I then removed them from the skillet and kept the meat warm.

I had some carrots, red pepper and green onions and sliced and I tossed them in the skillet for a couple minutes.

Then I brought the water, ramen noodles, and remaining seasoning packets to a boil and cooked for 5 minutes

 Add the duck and heat through and your done!

2 Medium Carrots

1 Medium Red Bell Peppers

5-6 Green Onions (1 1/2 cups sliced)

2 T Toasted Sesame Oil

2 T Asian Seasoning Mix

4 Pkgs. Oriental Flavor Ramen Noodles

4 Cups of Water