BUGS, BIRTHDAYS, AND BALSAMIC

How's that for a post title? This past weekend was Jared's birthday weekend and we were supposed to go to the cabin for a long weekend. That is until Emma came down with a nasty stomach bug at school on Thursday and was a total heartbreakingly sick mess the rest of the day. Our friends that were meeting us at the cabin also have little ones, and everyone agreed that it was too risky to have us all cooped up in a cabin together (without running water), so the cabin trip was scrapped. To say Jared was bummed would be an understatement. He'd been looking forward to this trip for months! I promised I would try to salvage his birthday, so we planned a day trip to Annapolis for Saturday afternoon. Now, Emma gets pretty restless if she's stuck in the car for more than half an hour, and it takes a little over an hour to get to Annapolis - so the car ride was less than stellar. But I was still optimistic the rest of the day would be okay. The sun was shining, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, the weather was perfect... except it was freezing cold and our dear daughter happened to be at the tail end of an "I don't want to wear my mittens!" phase. She also happens to be in an "I want to walk on my own but I don't want to hold your hand" phase. Ahhh, life with a toddler. 98% of the time, Emma is a truly awesome and great kid... but that 2% she's not is pretty dang miserable for all involved. We were quite the spectacle walking around the Naval Academy with our half frozen baby being carried against her will. Yep - we were those parents. Did I mention it was Jared's birthday? Yeah.

I will say that Bancroft Hall was really impressive (just a little fancier than my dorm at MSU) and Memorial Hall was somber and powerful. (Thanks for the recommendation, Jill!)

After touring the Academy, we made our way over to the shops and restaurants of historic Annapolis. Emma was still pretty miserable at this point, so we made a stop for something sweet and to warm our bones a bit. Things started to pick up after that, and before we headed to dinner at Joss Sushi (heads up if you go there that they don't have high chairs or booster seats, but are otherwise family friendly) we stopped into an oil and vinegar shop called Seasons. Jared and I are pretty big fans of anything balsamic, and had a field day tasting all the different flavors. We walked out with an 18 year aged Balsamic, an amazing Black Cherry Balsamic, and a Tuscan herb infused olive oil. It was kind of the highlight of our whole day, and we spent a good part of Sunday planning out how we would use our new purchases at dinner that night.

We decided on homemade Focaccia bread to accompany a simple roast chicken dinner, and for dessert - ohhhhh, this dessert... vanilla ice cream topped with fresh cherries cooked in a black cherry balsamic reduction. It was heavenly. HEAVENLY. My mouth is still watering looking at the picture.

So, all in all, Jared's birthday was still kind of a bust... but Emma has worn her mittens every day since Saturday, and we had some seriously kickass food on Sunday night thanks to our Seasons haul. And there's always next year.

Iron Chef at home... our new favorite date night

Like most married couples with kids, Jared and I spend most evenings relaxing in front of the TV. This is great for catching up on our shows, but it can make for a pretty lame marriage. Since we can't afford to get a babysitter every weekend, I tried to come up with ideas for creating the feel of a date night at home. And then it hit me - we love to cook, we love Iron Chef, and we love a little friendly competition... a weekly Iron Chef battle was just the thing we needed to, uh, spice up our Saturday nights. Here's what we do... earlier in the week we'll pick an ingredient, then toss around some course ideas. We prepare 3 courses, 1 each and then 1 joint course. Everything is made from scratch and we aren't allowed to use recipes (unless it's to make an ingredient that we've never made before, like pie crust.) Jared goes out during Saturday naptime to get all the ingredients, we start prepping during the day as needed, and we start the real cooking once Emma goes to bed. We don't limit ourselves to an hour because, well, that would be insane.

The first week we did Battle Blue Cheese, and it was AH-MAZING! I took a ton of photos, and then promptly accidentally deleted them when I formatted my CF card. So let's move on to Battle Bacon, shall we?

Our first course was our joint course... a romaine salad with shallot bacon balsamic dressing topped with blue cheese crumbles and bacon. It was really tasty, but the blue cheese overpowered the bacon flavor. I'd absolutely make this again, though.

The second course was all Jared, and the man out-did himself... bacon-wrapped shrimp and bacon wrapped scallops crusted with lemon pepper & sea salt, topped with Old Bay bacon crumbles. The shrimp were good, but the scallops were to-die-for. So juicy and tender, and perfectly complemented by the bacon.

The third course was mine, and if I do say so myself (and I do, because it's my blog), I crushed it. Maple bacon ice cream garnished with bacon brittle. Best. Ice. Cream. Ever. Okay, maybe not the best ever, but easily the best I've ever made. If you've ever been to Voodoo Donuts in Portland, you've probably had their maple bacon bar... well, this is the ice cream equivalent of that deliciousness.

Jared and I agreed that we tied on this battle... his scallops were just as delicious as my ice cream. We high fived each other and agreed that this was the best date night idea ever. Well, second to actually leaving the house. Cooking together is a blast and we get an amazing meal out of it. If you're looking for a way to jazz up your weekends with your significant other, I highly recommend trying your own Iron Chef battle.

Up next for us... Battle Lemon. Kinda unconventional, but lemons are in season so we're just going to roll with it.

{made for dinner} Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin

We made this for dinner last week and it was so good I thought I'd share. We've been trying to add more pork into our dinner rotation as a way to mix things up, and when I saw this on Pinterest I knew we had to try it. It's definitely sweet, so if you don't like sweet meat it'd probably not for you, but otherwise I recommend giving it a go. Time is really the only factor here (it's a slow cooker recipe), but it couldn't be easier (just throw everything into the crock pot). Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 (2 pound) boneless pork tenderloin (or regular pork loin)

1 teaspoon ground sage

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 cup water

Glaze

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons soy sauce

Directions:

Combine sage, salt, pepper and garlic. Rub over roast. Place in slow cooker with 1/2 cup water. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. About 1 hour before roast is done, combine ingredients for glaze in small sauce pan. Heat and stir until mixture thickens. Brush roast with glaze 2 or 3 times during the last hour of cooking. Serve with remaining glaze on the side.

Recipe courtesy of Let's Dish.