Baked Brie Deliciousness

My mom bought us a new toaster/convection oven for Christmas. Our old one was on its decline. After ten years, the door no longer shut without the aid of a heavy bamboo cutting board and the plug was slowly being melted due to being squashed into tight kitchen spaces. We were eager to use our new one. Especially Andy.

OMG!

Touch the buttons

I saw this recipe for “Bite-sized Baked Brie” a few days ago and thought it looked like a winner. The recipe had a lot going on for it: simplicity and deliciousness. Two things I love. Earlier in the evening I showed Andy the recipe and he said “We have brie. And you have pie crusts.” Yes we did.

I knew the finished product would turn out exactly the same due to the puff pastry vs. pre-made pie crusts. But I had boysenberry jam on my side. On the first batch I spilled some (okay a lot) of the egg wash on top of the soon-to-be baked deliciousness. So I thought, “what if I dump all the egg wash in there?” I mean egg, cheese, jam, and crust all goes together pretty well.

Baked Deliciouness with Egg

Andy liked it. In fact you liked it so much, he burnt his mouth multiple times on the baked brie. Here he is lecturing the second batch after he picked up yet another baked brie and almost burned his mouth again.

You will not burn me again!

The second and third batch were also delicious. I experimented with topping the baked brie with a bit of sugar, adding more brie, and adding more jam. The baked brie deliciousness was good warm and good room temperature.

Baked Brie Deliciousness

Make this for your next dessert or bring to a party. I plan on trying this again but with puff pastry and a variety of jams.

Running In Ashland, OR

After walking/hiking up Park Street.

Park Street is so long and steep you actually cannot see the main road.

Park Street

Lithia Water

In downtown Ashland, there is a fountain that pumps in Lithia water. According to the metal sign next to the fountain, the town originally pumped in the spring water into the town in hopes of positioning Ashland as a center for health and wellness in the early 1900′s. However, the spring water contained so many minerals it quickly plugged up the pipes thwarting the plans. I think the plans were thwarted by the sheer smell of the water. It has a nasty rotten egg (sulfur)smell and a weird carbonization that makes me want to spit it out.

Many people, mainly tourists drink the water not knowing how bad it tastes. Andy and I dared each other when we first came upon the fountain. I was able to keep the water in my mouth longer. However, Andy keeps giving it a try each time we go by drinking a bit more each time.

Sizing up the challenge

Going in for the drink

The aftermath

Merry Christmas

Andy chilling

This makes all the moving worthwhile

The New Place

The living room sans furniture

Kitchen

The Lab

Guest Bedroom

Guest Bathroom

Front door

Main bathroom

View from our apartment

Moving madness

We have 3 bedrooms: our bedroom, a small one I am turning into an office and a guest bedroom. We have 2 bathrooms: one main bathroom with a tub and a guest bathroom with a shower (no tub). Then we have this weird ‘bonus’ room. It’s in between the guest bedroom and the kitchen. It has a sink. Yep. A sink. And access to one of the 3 decks. Yep. 3 decks! Andy is turning the ‘bonus room’ into the Lab. Although the apartment was built in 1977 (a very good year), it has more grounded plug ins than I have ever had. The apartment also has some weird vent. It’s in the hallway in front of the closet that holds the dryer (and soon to be washer). Its in the ceiling and you activate it using a light switch. We call the switch the ‘scary switch’ because when you hit it, you hear large rumbling then the large silver grating in the ceiling begins to pull back kinda like a horror movie. We’re not sure why this was put in. I’ve never seen anything like this. Especially in a dry environment like this. We could have used this in previous apartments.

I’ll post more photos as the apartment gets more organized.

Moving Is Tough On Everyone

After working a long day (and a very long week), I journeyed 4.5 hours back to Portland to begin the big move to Portland. It was an exhausting experience for everyone.

Aleta taking a quick nap

Especially the cats.

But we finally made it to Ashland to begin our new life.

Goals for 2012 And Surviving 2011

I read a great post about setting goals for 2012. It got me all excited about the new year and all the cool things that are going to happen. Andy and I will celebrate our 10 year anniversary in August, we are planning a trip to Yosemite (!), and being in Southern Oregon for Spring and Summer.

But I think I’m getting a head of myself. I still have 15 days left in this year. And those 15 days are going to be busy. We are moving this weekend. Well, movers are coming to pack, wrap, and load the truck. On Monday they are unloading our stuff.

So. This means that tonight after work I am driving back to Portland. Tomorrow we have a busy day of closing bank accounts, supervising the packing, and cleaning. Sunday I drive back to Ashland early with two drugged cats. Andy will stay behind and finish up the cleaning. He will leave Portland late on Sunday so someone can be at the apartment when they deliver furniture early Monday morning.

A lot to do in a very short amount of time. I cannot wait until Christmas.

16 Days

It’s been 16 days since I’ve seen my cats. I miss them so much. Friday night cannot come soon enough. They are going to be so happy to see me. Until we sedate them, put them in their carrier, and I drive 90 mph to Ashland. (Just kidding Mom. I won’t drive that fast.)

Andy Loses It; I Gain It

In the 15 days I’ve been living at the hotel, I’ve gained 2-3 pounds while Andy has lost several pounds. Huh. However in the 15 days, I think we’ve both gotten an average of 5 hours of sleep a night. No winners there.

Hotel Living

I just finished my second week at the hotel. Andy has been coming up on Saturdays for a few days to spend time with me and find a new place to live. We finally found a cute apartment in Ashland that we are pretty excited about. We will be moving the weekend of the 17th. I cannot wait!

Living in a hotel is a weird experience. Usually when I’m at a hotel, there is some activity that I will be getting ready for. You know like when you are on vacation or running a race. But here, I get ‘home’ from work, I’m home. That’s it. No getting on a plane or getting ready for a race. I’m done.

Work is super busy. Super, super busy. Me and my coworkers are putting in long days and working on the weekends. So I’m tired. Really tired. Plus Friday nights at the hotel make for terrible sleeping. People are coming in late and leaving early. And they are not quiet. So on Saturdays, I drag myself into work yawning. Today I got ‘home’ and changed back into my pajamas in hopes of napping. But there was too much noise. So here I sit on the couch yawning and typing. Part of me says that I should go workout but the other (much larger) part of me reminds my tired self that I’ve been working a lot plus battling a serious allergy attack (mix in allergy medicine) and I stay on the couch yawning.