weekend trip to seattle!

august 2013: spontaneous trip to seattle! cory, trey, gabe and i drove up to seattle for a long weekend. cory and i spent it with my dad's parents in federal way and with my grandma june in redmond. it was awesome! we drove the long 12 hour drive thursday (don't remember it being so bad, ugh) and spent friday at the boeing museum! we had fun eating and staying up with grandma betty and grandpa bruce. we went to dinner with aunt barb and grandma june at chinook's-mmm yummy crab and salmon! afterwards, we went to the dilettante, my favorite place in seattle, for chocolate delight. cory got a milkshake and i got the sundae, because it comes with a truffle. SO GOOD. 

saturday, cory and i explored downtown seattle at pike's place, ate some good cookies, checked out ye olde curiosity shoppe, and looked for places to eat but could not decide! finally, we ended up eating sushi in federal way :) and then of course we went to home goods so i could get my most favorite lamps ever! i was determined to find white gourd lamps, and i happened to find some (BIG) ones with beautiful flowers on them. cory indulged me because i fit everything for the weekend in my backpack. i don't know that the other boys were too happy...but it's been a year and i'm still in love with them. i also got my first glassy baby that weekend! check them out-glassybaby.com or in stores in WA or CA. they're handmade candle holders where part of the proceeds are donated to various cancer foundations. they're all different and beautiful. if anyone ever needs to buy me a present, this is your no-fail idea. HINT HINT.

on sunday we went to church with the hatches and enjoyed exploring the treasure trove that is my grandparents' house. cory and i watched grandpa cut rocks and show cory all his tools and his collection of stones. he made me a nice necklace! 

sunday night we went over to grandma june's for a sleepover! she has the cutest little place in redmond and we loved looking at family history and old pictures with her. monday, we got to see great-grandma marlowe (gamie) who was 106 and is now 107 years old! afterwards, we ate at ivar's, cory got salmon and chips, which he constantly craves.

of course no trip to federal way would be complete without a trip to the azteca with grandpa and grandma hatch! it was such a fun weekend being able to have some one on one time with my relatives so they could get to know my sweet husband better! i desperately hope to live in the pacific northwest one day. 

tikka masala yum!

i'm getting ready to go to seattle thursday early morning by cooking snacks and meals for tomorrow, while cory is away at his aunt's house. sienna keeps ringing the bell on the back door to signal she needs to go outside, but she THINKS it means "feed me". the house is clean and organized and i feel so at peace-crazy what a difference clutter makes. 

we got our fall textbooks today and for my 14 books, it only cost $246! and cory's 3, yes 3, books cost $10. i think it's a record. and we are both taking 16 credits, so...thank you, professors. i might add, that we don't even have to pay that thanks to pell grants and scholarships. woohoo! we figured we'd start doing our school reading on our road trip up to washington...it's a nice thought, right? 

life has been pretty chill. lots of work, cleaning, fixing up the house (new DIY projects), and cooking. cory's starting on a pallet headboard! we recently scored on some AMAZING deals on furniture, so our bedroom is coming together...after a year. and the cooking and baking is all thanks to free time at work...

 

one of my favorite blogs is preventionrd.com. the author has loads of delicious and nutritious (mostly) recipes. as i was scanning it while bored at work one day, i found her tikka masala recipe. i looked at it and figured we had most of the ingredients, so that's what we were having for dinner! and then i made it again last night because it is now one of my FAVORITE recipes. it is extremely easy and tastes very much like authentic indian food (as authentic as the indian food restaurants i've been to, at least). 

the recipe is as followed: 

tikka masala (with my changes)

2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast
1 cup brown rice (dry), prepared (i used basmati)
cilantro (for garnish-cory did not like)

marinade for chicken:

1 6 oz. container 2% plain greek yogurt-or 1 cup of greek yogurt from costco!
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger-i used a little less than a teaspoon of ground ginger
2 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt

aauce:

1 tablespoon butter
3 garlic clove
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped (remove membrane)-omitted because cory hates peppers
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons paprika
1/4 teaspoon curry powder
1/4 teaspoon sriracha sauce
8 ounces tomato sauce
1 cup heavy cream (i didn't have, so i used 1/3 cup butter plus 3/4 cup of milk, with a few tablespoons of flour, mixed together)

directions:

mix the marinade together and let sit for an hour, or several

cook chicken on grill or in skillet.   meanwhile, melt butter and saute garlic and jalapeno.  add seasonings and stir for 2 minutes until fragrant.  add in tomato sauce and heavy cream.   add chicken into sauce and cook an additional 10 minutes.  serve over 1/2 cup rice and garnish. yield: 6 servings

this is seriously so good. cory and i prefer less chicken (i used 1 costco chicken breast yesterday, chopped up into small chunks and we liked that better). here's the link to the actual recipe-http://www.preventionrd.com/2010/03/would-you-care-from-some-heat/