5 Years

Last night we celebrated 5 years since our first date. I can't believe it was 5 years ago that he quickly went from a friend on my Austin Sports and Social Club team to my love. We met when a mutual friend invited him to play on our ASSC sand-volleyball team.

During the next season of kickball, we would always go to Doc's for cheap beer and food. One night I returned from the bathroom to find that my beer and queso were paid for. "Who paid for my food?" "I did," replied an unusually shy Thomas. He then went on to jokingly & awkwardly offer to come to the couples shower I was invited to that weekend and somewhat flirt with me the rest of the night. When I told my friends on the way home that "I think Thomas Moratto was trying to flirt with me tonight," they responded with, "no he wasn't, he was just being nice." K...

The next morning at 9:15 I received an email (because he was clearly too nervous to ask me for my number the night before) asking me to "hang out sometime." I forwarded it to my friends with a "Ha! I told you he was flirting with me!" 

Our first date was that next week. We went to Roy's to have drinks and talked for hours. Our next date was two days later, pictured below. We had our first smoooooch this night :) Sorry for the cheesy details.

We very quickly fell hard for eachother...

And the rest is history. Oh how our lives have changed, but for the better. Last night we celebrated by going to the new restaurant, Mule. Which is AMAZING. The macaroni pony was a sandwich with 3 cheese mac&cheese, pulled pork, corn bread toasted, and pickles, OH MY. When Thomas ordered he asked for a side of barbeque sauce for me... true love. The ginger beer and onion rings were the best I've ever had.

This is how we ended the night- cuddling with our spooning dogs and falling asleep to the movie Grease.

I'm pretty happy with our life, and wouldn't have it any other way. Love you Thomas Moratto.

My Favorite Thing

We all know I'm a fan of sauces, and my favorite foods usually consist of things I can eat with a variety of sauce: chic-fil-a chicken nuggets, macaroni & cheese, nachos, and ALL asian food. I LOVE sriracha sauce, soy sauce, peanut sauce, sweet chili sauce, chili paste, curry.... so anything that I can consists of these flavors I adore. My favorite thing Thomas makes, and he makes a lot of great things, is his chicken curry soup. He adds all types of delicious flavors- ginger, lime, onion, soy, sesame, chili, sriacha, etc. I posted a pic of his yellow curry soup and his red curry soup- both amazing. I'll have him add the recipe on here later. Any time I don't feel good (like last week when I had a cold,) had a bad day, or just ask sweetly (this weekend,) he gladly makes it. It is my ultimate comfort food. Such a sweet husband.



red curry with chicken





yellow curry with pork



Halloween

As you can tell by all the pics, Thomas and I LOVE to dress up! How disappointing to find that Halloween 2012 so uneventful. The last 3 years we have gone to the big law school halloween party, and in Austin there was always something fun to do. This year for the first time did not dress up together.



ugly troll dolls



popeye & olive oil





the year we went to houston- geisha and sumo wrestler



I can't find original pic of this one, so very blurry. One of my favs- figure skaters.





new years party...old school masquerade



40's prom





viola swamp



We did, however, get to dress up for work. This is new to me, as the last 2 schools I've worked for did not allow this due to religious conflicts. My favorite part of the day was standing outside my classroom door this morning and watching all the kids walk into school in full costume. We then did a big parade throughout the school, which reminded me of my elementary school days. Our costume box is in storage, so I went and bought a lame costume from a party store. I was a bumble bee. Thomas was the flash mob... something he was supposed to do with his team at work. Neither of us wore any make-up or wigs this time...LAME!







Our dogs didn't even dress up this year. I love nothing more than to dress Lola up. She so sweetly puts up with it. Luckie is learning. A little peak into the past...



Sweet Lola's first Halloween





Always wears a birthday hat for her birthday



Ok, Halloween wasn't that bad. I just wanted to be dramatic and display all of our old dress up pics. We went to Amanda and Kevin's and cooked dinner and watched The Adam's Family, which is by the way still an excellent movie! Amanda made delicious chicken tacos. I did the appetizer- Halloween eyeballs (stuffed mushrooms.) Oh how I love to make themed food.

I made them slightly healthier by adding chicken italian sausage & light cream cheese... Ok they aren't super healthy but it's Halloween. I added sliced olives to give the eyeball look. This is not a good pic but you get the point. They are so yum.

Getting Moratto FALL

One of the many wonderful things about this season is all the yummy foods that accompany this chilly and beautiful season. Expect a lot of soups, stews, butternut squash recipes, apple cinnamon, and PUMPKIN recipes on here in the near future. I first discovered pumpkin ice cream when I was about 10. My dad used to always take us to Braums after basketball games and other night activities, and every October Braums would bring out their pumpkin ice cream, which I always considered to be a bit of heaven. I found the recipe in my little Cuisinart countertop ice cream maker recipe booklet, which I love by the way. So easy- literally makes ice cream, frozen yogurt, or sorbet in 20 minutes! It hasn't helped our diets but it sure is fun to be able to quickly whip up some ice cream or yogurt. I made it a little lighter with horizon skim milk. Taste of my childhood in fall...

Pumpkin Ice Cream 

1 1/2 c whole milk (I used skim and it was still good) 

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 T molasses

1 3/4  c pumpkin

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

2 1/2 c heavy cream 

1 tsp vanilla

graham crackers for dipping or crumbles 

Mix milk, brown sugar, & molasses till combined, then add and mix rest of ingredients and pour into ice cream maker. I served with graham crackers to crumble and a little cinnamon topping. 

Wiggin Out

Martini Bar in Edmond had a wig party Friday night, so T and I went with my parents. My mom was not feeling the whole wig situation, so Thomas and I took it upon ourselves to just go buy them one, without them knowing. When I told my mom to meet us there, she said "I don't have a wig though is that ok?" I told her that was no biggie. When they arrived they 1. Didn't recognize Thomas and I for a while even though she was standing directly in front of my table, which we found quite amusing, and 2. Their wigs were waiting for them at their seats. My mom's wig was called the "Used Car Saleswoman." Hee hee

Chicken Piccata in my Belly

We love piccata sauce (I know weird, me liking a sauce.) This recipe is my spin off of a recipe taken from Cooking Light, a magazine and website I used to cook with a lot in Austin when I first started to cook with healthier ingredients. The recipe on Cooking Light is Tilapia Piccata with orzo, which we make a lot as well.  You can obviously use any pasta/rice bed. We use orzo a lot (though this time we had whole wheat spaghetti with it.) This sauce is so versatile, you can have it with any fish, chicken, over pasta, orzo, rice, veggies- whatever. White wine, butter, capers, lemon... what is better than that?
The only thing I do differently with this recipe is doubling the sauce, (again, weird for me) and when I first begin it I do a little rue with about 1 T of butter and a little flour before adding the wine and lemon juice because I like the sauce thicker. I saute spinach and tomatoes with our pasta or orzo before serving it. And of course, because I'm married to Thomas, there is a lot of fresh grated parmesan and lemon zest on top. For chicken instead of tilapia, I cut boneless skinless breasts in thirds and pound them really thin for a quick sear, but flour them the same way.  http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/tilapia-piccata-10000001591120/

Our typical Funday Sunday

One of the great things about moving back home has been having our Funday Sundays. This involves a family tennis match in the afternoon followed by a cold beer together, then a big early evening meal. Bailey comes up from Norman and we all hang, just like the good ol' days when we were little (minus the beer.) 

I love Bailey's pose here.










Dad and his girls....

Thomas and I have been doing the Sunday cooking because we are "paying rent" to my parents for letting us live at their house. This is a great deal for us, as Thomas and I love nothing more than a glass of red wine, good tunes, and cooking together in the kitchen. Today was Amanda's birthday celebration, so we let her pick her favorite meal for us to cook. She chose pulled pork open-faced sandwiches, my mom's potato casserole, veggies, and my mom's strawberry cake.  

Thomas's delish pulled pork. He sears a pork shoulder then cuts it into chunks. On the bottom of the dutch oven he layers sliced onions, the pork, a little water, seasoning, and liquid smoke. He covers and cooks in a 350 oven for about 3-4 hours. This is what it looks like after. Then you pull it apart and serve it on toasted hawaiin bread with munster and King of the Pit smokey mustardy bbq sauce. 

shredding 

finished product

Mom's amazing strawberry cake with whipped strawberry frosting... heaven. 

Lately we are really into...

Grilled salads

Inspired by watching Michael Symon this summer (Symon's Suppers) and how he cooks meals containing only a protein and a creative salad, Thomas and I had been attempting to whip up some great salads. We once had a grilled ceasar salad at Palace Cafe in Tulsa, and it was soooo good. Thomas decided to grill a salad the other night when we made steaks, and it turned out amazing! Gives it a little smoky, earthy taste. Simply add romaine to the grill for a few minutes on each side, then set it on top rack while meat is still cooking. He also grilled some lemons for it. We topped it with a bunch of chopped Italian ingredients and it was great!

Side note: I also made some blue cheese herb butter for the steak. Just mix blue cheese crumbles, dried basil, and rosemary to very softened butter, then form into a log on saran wrap and chill in fridge. I put a large slice on steaks for last minute of cooking. The butter melts into steak and the blue cheese deliciousness remains.

We made a grilled ceasar salad a few days later and it was also great.

You are Getting Moratto (more outta) Life by having Dogs!

Above is my favorite picture of our dogs, Lola & Luckenbach, (Lukie) and this is a perfect depiction of their personalities. Lola is always sassy and ready for the camera. Luckenbach is always confused. Both are so sweet and so full of personality!