I'm a firefighter!

It's true - during the chaos of last week's concert festivities I channeled my inner firefighter.

On Wednesday of last week, this was the site outside of my office.



What's not clear from that image is that almost 10 minutes earlier I had returned to my office and smelled smoke. I asked Chip if he could smell the smoke - he said yes, but he thought it was something burning outside. I continued to sniff out the source of the smoke - I was seeking burning plastic - that's what I could smell.

Then I saw it - the fire was definetely not outside. At this point, if you were within earshot (and even if you weren't) you could hear me scream in shock. I stepped outside of my office and saw 18-24" flames on the catering table that had been placed near the conference room.

I ran down the hallway and grabbed the fire extinguisher. I thought back to my RA training at Loras (yes, we did learn a thing or two!) I worked quickly to use the extinguisher to put out the fire. The flames continued to re-ignite and Chip used the broom to help swat out the flames.

Once we had extinguished the fire Chip and I retreated to the fresh air of the loading dock.

Oddly, it was several minutes before anyone in the building noticed that there was a fire in the hallway. By the time the firetrucks arrived we had been outside for quite a while - but it was a quick response time following the call they received.

The fire caused a bit of excitement during an already hectic concert week and one gnarly piece of art.


The lesson for the rest of you - do you know where the nearest fire extinguisher is - in your home and in your place of work? On that day I learned that most of my building mates had no idea where the fire extinguishers were located in the building. I find that a bit scary. Take a moment tomorrow and find where the nearest fire extinguishers are located. It could save a life.

Weekend of small projects

This weekend was a weekend for accomplishing small projects that have been on my to-do list. In sum, the projects have a fairly sizeable effect - or, that's what I keep telling myself.

Saturday was spent concurring the battle against construction dust. Ugh. I'm not sure that I will ever win that battle, but I did make a strong attack. All of the floors are swept and mopped - remind me, why did I think it would be a great idea to have hardwood floors throughout the house?

Today I tried to tackle a few small home improvement projects. I repainted a two mirrors that I had found so they will match our new home, painted the door that hides our waterheater, touched up paint in a few places, and, and, and...

Here's the mirror that I fixed up and repainted for the spare bedroom. I thought the circular shape complemented the pattern in the curtains rather nicely.

We also finally hung our kitchen art. It looks like the painting was designed for that wall. My brother, Chris, actually painted this for my first apartment on Cardiff Street in Dubuque.



And, since you haven't seen it yet - we now have an island in our kitchen! It's true! Bryan has wanted a pot rack and a kitchen island - and now we have it. This temporary island is the handiwork and imagineering of Mr. Bryan. The countertop is constructed from the scrap pieces created by cutting out the hole for our sink and cooktop. The countertop is currently set on our old microwave cart. There are plans to build a cabinet to set the countertop piece on (the pieces have actually been purchased) but for now we are enjoying the convenience of having a kitchen island.



We are both exhausted after a weekend of working on the house - more progress to come this week - hopefully!

Tonight's Dinner

Forgive me, it has been so long since I have been able to enjoy cooking in a real kitchen. Perhaps that is the reason for my enthusiasm about cooking and desire to blog about food.

Tonight I made an impromptu dinner out of ingredients found in our kitchen. I had purchased some asparagus for Easter ambitiously thinking that I might be ready to cook in our kitchen for Easter Sunday. Let's be real...Ha!

Anyway, I had some fresh and tasty looking asparagus - so I roasted it in the oven using PW's recipe.

While unpacking the kitchen I rediscovered our boxes of Penzey spices, so I used the Jamiacan Jerk seasoning on some chicken breasts. Tasty!



And finally, we needed dessert! It had been a long time since we had baked any sweets, so it was time to make Sue's Brownies. Yummy if I must say so (I don't have to though - Bryan will agree!)


This time we made a substitution for the Hershey's cocoa and used - another of our Penzey collection - NATURAL HIGH FAT COCOA. Who knew? And, I offer - how can natural high fat cocoa be a bad thing in a dessert? I submit to you that it is absolutely not a bad thing, and might actually be a wee bit sinful. We will need to add more of this to our baking goods collection.


Out of everything accomplished in the kitchen last night, I think Bryan was most excited that he got to use the high power tool of our kitchen - the KitchenAid Professional Mixer. Yowsa, this thing has some power!


Now, on to plan dinner for tomorrow night - any ideas?

Hobo Tilapia

Now that we have a functioning kitchen, it's time to start having fun cooking again! Last night I prepared this tasty and simple dish, Hobo Tilapia. Why Hobo Tilapia? Well, it's easy, didn't require a lot of prep work, and used dry ingredients that I already had in the house so an additional shopping trip was not necessary.

Here's how to make your own Hobo Tilapia.

First, gather all of your needed spices and some tilapia. (I used frozen tilapia fillets that I had thawed earlier in the day).



Next, combine the spices in a bowl large enough to dredge the fish fillets in.



Then, dredge each fillet in the spice mixture.



Here are all of the fillets ready to cook.



Heat a heavy skillet, add olive oil and heat until the oil is almost smoking. Cook the tilapia for 3 minutes per side, or until the fish can be flaked with a fork.



Once finished you could squeeze a bit of lemon juice on top - I didn't because we didn't have any lemons.

If you would like to make your own Hobo Tilapia, the spice mixture recipe is:

Hobo Tilapia
3 Tablespoons Paprika
1 Tablespoon Onion Powder
1 pinch garlic powder (ok, honestly - I use more than a pinch)
1 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1 tablespoon kosher salt

This is enough spice mixture for 1 pound of tilapia fillets.

Only in Amarillo

Only in Amarillo can sunshine, high winds, fire warnings and freeze watches all be part of the same forecast.

We have a functioning kitchen!

It's true! As of tonight, we have a functioning kitchen. There are still a few more projects to tackle, but we do have a functioning kitchen.

Can I get a yahoo? For the first time in seven months we can use a kitchen. Yahoo!

The most amazing part of this? Most of these projects were completed today. Amazing - who knew two weeks would end this week?

Tonight we painted the breakfast nook. The color is called Honey Pot, we like it with our Honey Milk trim.


...and today, Bryan installed the plumbing for the kitchen sink, garbage disposal, and dishwasher...



...and they installed our double oven...



....and they installed a new light fixture...



...and they set-up our new refrigerator. It's fabulous!



Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a kitchen. If we keep on pace I should be able to cook a delicious Easter dinner!

Did I mention, my husband rocks? Yes, my husband rocks.