quick and easy bruchetta

If you are like me, you have two, and only two things going on in your life right now. 1, you have little to time after work. Between taking the dog on a walk, pretending like you're going to work out but really catching up on the Hulu flicks, and packing the lunch for the next day, there is little to no time for a good dinner. And 2, there is an excess of tomatoes due to a late fall. Call me Rachael Ray, but my favorite 30 minute meal to do in times of despair like this, is to make bruchetta. It is super easy and it's DEliscious!

All you need it french bread, tomatoes, cream cheese, a little parm, and a white wine sprtizer (you know just to drink).

First step, cut the bread into small, approximately half inch slices. If the bread you are using is very soft, I like to sprinkle it with olive oil and garlic salt and toast them in the oven until they're a little more firm. If like, me you love a grand central baguette, then no need to toast beforehand. Spread the cream cheese onto each slice and place them onto a cookie sheet. Next, dice the tomatoes. In my opinion the smaller the better, but some people like their bruchetta chunky. Put a big dollop of dices tomatoes on each slice. I like to add some seasoning on top, but it's not necessary. Lastly comes the parm cheese. Bake on 350 for about 20 min. Let cool a bit and serve.

Yum!!

If there is anything left over, I like to use it for BLTs the next day. The bread and the diced tomatoes make the BLTs a little extra fancy.

If you have a little more time I would suggest roasting the tomatoes. Here are some great instructions to roast tomatoes even if they aren't completely ripe. Once they are roasted, you can pop them in the food processor with some spices, sea salt and garlic. It's the bomb. Thanks for the great idea miss Brooke!

Tomorrow night, the hubs and I are headed to the Timber's last home game. Stay tuned on Saturday for the report and some pics of a very PDX event. Until next time...

The End of Wedding Season

The year of 2011 was the year that many of our friends and family decided to get married. Believe it or not, we were invited to ELEVEN weddings between the months of April and October. Unfortunately, we couldn't make it to all of them, but we did make it to seven. Of course, I took the opportunity to sharpen some photography skills. I realize that everyone hates the person that thinks he/she is the hired as the professional photographer, when they aren't, so I try to be tasteful. Below are a few of the highlights.

My cousin Katherine's wedding was in West Palm Beach, FL in April. It was absolutely gorgeous. The weather was beautiful and ofcourse, so was the bride.

The flowers were gorgeous. All different kinds of white for the centerpieces and decorations.

There was more dancing at this wedding than any other wedding I've been to. SO much fun!

Nora (my sister-in-law) was married in June. She was no joke, one of the  most gorgeous brides I have ever seen. She is always, and has always been very beautiful, but on this day, she shined.

The bride's maids got to pick their own black dresses. It was a great idea. The red, black and white was very chic and very Nora and Freddie.

Mama Z and her kids.

Nabil and I at Emily and Aaron's wedding. I may be a little biased, but vineyard weddings are my favorite! For those of you who don't know, my wedding was at a vineyard three years ago. :)

All the actual oak wine barrels.

The setting was so gorgeous. This venue is one of the many reasons that I love Oregon. You can't go wrong at a gorgeous vineyard with wine and dancing.

 

Bre and Scott's wedding was just north of Seattle. The weather was a little uncooperative, but that did not stop the dancing!

Get low, get low get low get low!

 

April and Alan's wedding was just outside of downtown Portland. Everything was all local and very funky Portland. The wedding looked over the city, and the reception was at a concert hall on Mississippi St. There was beer, dancing, and fun, but like I said before everyone hates the guest trying to take all the pictures, so this is the only one I have from their wedding. : (

 

Brooke and Luke's (Bruke's) wedding was one of my favorite weddings of all time. It was in the heart of the Gorge at Bridal Veil Lake. The sweetest little back country wedding that you have ever seen in your entire life. No, your eyes are not decieving you, the bride and groom entered the reception by canoe. This was one after the bride was rowed down the aisle by her older brother. SO AWESOME!!

To make it even more awesome, the wedding "cake" consisted of voodoo donuts and St. Cupcake.

To top it all off, these were the centerpieces. Perfection!

My dad also got married this summer. It is not something that you grow up expecting to experience, a parent's wedding, and it was something I will not soon forget. My dad has not had the best luck in love, but he is really truly happy with Tasha, and that makes me happy. Their wedding took place on a bridge just outside of Saratoga, Wyoming. It gave me the blue sky blues. Darn the Orgeon rain!

If I could re-do my wedding, I would have had all the bride's maids help to make our own boquets and botenirs. I made my boquet and Nabil's boutenir for the wedding. It was SO fun! I'm pretty proud of how they turned out. It even had chocolate oregeno in it. So cool!

This was the boquet. Maybe flower arranging is my new career path calling...

I never cry at weddings. I didn't even cry at my own wedding, but this wedding made me ball like a baby. I am so happy for my dad. We have been through some tough times over the past 15 years, and not gotten along very well for some of those years, but this day was such a happy, beautiful day. I lov eyou dad!

My dad and Tasha leaving the ceremony heading for the reception, which took place at a local Thai restaurant. The food was so good!

I'm not fond of my hair in this picture, but I had to include a picture of us dancing. A perfect end to a perfect day. After this they headed to their honeymoon in New Zealand. It was filled with hiking, caving, and more exploring. That is my dad for you. :)

Until next time...

My first post! This is a little intimidating. No one wants to start their blog career with a terrible, unreadable blog. ...or is it called a post? I guess I'll start with a little bit about myself. I live in Portland, OR, and I LOVE this city. Apart from the six months of straight cloud cover (on a good year), this city is perfect. I have an AMAZING husband, Nabil, and a super sweet puppy, Zizou. I'm pretty sure you can't get much cuter than him (the puppy as well as the hubby). I am a very lucky girl.

I like to think of myself as a creative and intellectual individual. A little left brain right brain sorta thing. The whole package you may think, but at times they seem to get in the way of one another. Right now I find myself in the middle of a "quarter life crisis". Straight out of college I chose to start a career in science. First as a lab research assistant, and then a clinical research assistant. It has become evident after three years of experience however that this is not where my true ambition lies. While I find science and psychology endlessly fascinating, it turns out the practice is not as much fun as the study.

As it turns out, this is not a great time to be changing career paths. My theory is that the more you try, the more likely it is that something will turn in your direction. And so this is where I find myself, applying like crazy and hoping something bites soon. ...and preferably something that pays a little more. Science, and research in particular, has little to no money for the little people. I have heard that this "quarter life crisis" is not uncommon. In fact, many of my friends are finding themselves in the same boat. When did life get so difficult? Is this what they meant by the "real world"? If so, I want to go back to school. Grad school? MBA? Maybe this will delay being a real grown up for a few more years.

Despite my current crisis I really do love my life here in PDX and I hope that this blog will share that with you all. My view is that future posts will be a much less heavy, and much more fun, funky, and fresh. Festivals, outdoor activities and helping to keep Portland weird are all part of our life in the city, and while we discover all the best and the worst I will share our tips, tricks, and trips along the way. Life is good, and it is best when it is shared.

Until next time....