Chicken...

So I had some chicken breasts left over from some secret shops this week - so I decided to strip it from the bone and chop it up...

I threw it into the skillet with some olive oil...

Then tossed some hot sauce over the top...

I stirred and cooked it for a bit until I had some delicious chicken taco meat:

Glenn was home so I decided to make us some chicken burritos with cheese and sour cream

needless to say they were savory and amazing...

Chopped Chicken Soup...

So after the fried rice debacle I had do do something with the chopped carrot, celery, and onion I had left over. I threw them into a pan with some salt, pepper, and olive oil to give them a little flavor.


In the meantime I dumped a can of chicken stock and a pound or so of shredded chicken I had in the freezer into the crock pot.


I poured the sauteed veggies on top and gave it all a stir. After about 4 hours the house smelled wonderful and I had some delicious soup for this week's lunches.

Chicken Two Ways without Fried Rice...

So I had it in my mind to make sweet crunchy Asian style chicken with savory fried rice this week. I chopped a huge pile of carrots, celery and onion and put the rice on to boil. I chopped up a ton of chicken into nice little bite sized pieces... White meat:

And for Dad and Carmen; dark meat:

I mixed up a super beer batter:

Then I fried the pieces up and tossed them in some savory teriyaki glaze, they came out crispy and sweet and wonderful:

Meanwhile the rice cooked into a pile of mushy waste... I was so disappointed that I violently tossed it in the trash, swearing never to make rice again, ever...

I did however have plenty of chicken and batter left over so I made this delicious pile of crunchy nuggets:

And these amazing battered fries with ranch:

I was still mad about the rice but at least the other fried delights came out nice...

Chicken Tacos...

Carmen swears I am a Mexican... I could very well have been switched at birth... I speak the language and make tacos better than many Latin people I know... So on Saturday I decided to buy a pile of fresh and yummy ingredients....


Including this weird onion... what the heck is that... oh well, it tasted fine...


I whipped up some pico de gallo, guacamole and bought some crema Mexicana...

Fried up some delightfully crunchy taco shells using my amazing device...

And deep fried two whole chicken breasts... so crunchy and good...

After they cooled a bit I shredded all the meat off the bone... so tender and flavorful... I really prefer the taste of chicken torn from the bone as opposed to boneless, skinless chicken breast fillets...

When the ingredients were finished, it was a build your own taco fest... I had mine with chicken, pico and tons of guacamole and crema... just delightful - we wont talk about how many I ate...

Growth...

Oh my bougainvillea is doing so well... except for the saggy left side...

What a difference a year makes...

Crazy for Peri Peri...

Or is it Piri Piri... however you spell it; I Love it! It's made from the African Birds Eye Pepper and is just amazing over chicken... I ordered a couple bottles online and they arrived today! Nando's is a chicken chain from Australia and South Africa and their sauce is my favorite. We only have one location here in the US but it's in DC so no chance I will be eating there anytime soon... I am fine with making it myself...

It just so happened that Mimi had mentioned she saw a little restaurant that serves the stuff as well, so we went over to Boneheads today. It wasn't too far from the office and it was nice to get out between rain clouds...

Mimi had a lovely piece of salmon and I got the Piri Piri wings... ohh they were so crunchy and spicy... just a delight to eat...

Hollywood!

So Justin, James, Shane and Candace got a room downtown at the Roosevelt Hotel and had plans to party in Hollywood on Saturday night. Morgan and I left in the afternoon to meet up with them and hang out. We started at 25 degrees an awesome burger bar adjacent to the hotel... Although expensive, the burgers were AMAZING... so juicy and wonderful!

We walked down Hollywood Blvd for a bit and picked up a few things for later in the night...

After we got back to the hotel we decided to hang out by the pool and relax... there were awesome couch like seating areas and lots of rich good looking people all around... it was fun to just chill in the nice spring air and watch the craziness that is Hollywood happen around us...

Once it began to get dark we headed up to the room to start getting ready and have a cocktail to start the night off right...

Morgan was doing every ones hair of course...

A couple of us slipped out to get new shirts at H & M... I decided on a western plaid, Justin let me borrow his cool red shoes to go with it...

After hours of primping, ironing, hair and cologne we were ready to hit the clubs!

We took a cab across town to Sunset Blvd and hopped along the strip...

The bars began to get packed as the night went on...

Everyone had a really great time... Made it back to the hotel safe with some good memories...

Breakfast...

I was starving this morning and luckily there were some leftover bagels in the break room... so I toasted and heavily buttered this delight...


Oh how I love bread... and coffee...

Easter...

I woke up feeling great and zipped off to church... the place was packed and the service just lovely. Afterwards I rushed over to Dads with some chairs, an extra table and of course my heavenly pies... Luckily Sheri told the Easter bunny that the kids were coming over to Dads as well, so he hid eggs all over the grassy areas... We started off the festivities with a huge egg hunt! It was super fun to help the kids find their eggs...

After the hunt the kids' baskets were totally full and smiles abound...

We went back inside and the kids got to check out their loot... it was a fun time before lunch...

Uncle Ron was there...

along with Doug's parents...

Dad put on a wonderful spread... shrimp appetizer...

Fresh made cole slaw with pineapple, rye bread...

Tons of ham - (good thing cuz Paige ate about a pound herself)

Wonderful home made scalloped potatoes...

Doug's parents brought some cauliflower with cheese and peas... I wasn't even brave enough to go there... so weird...

It was great to see my Pop put on an event... everything came together perfectly and everyone had a great time... Not only do we have our risen savior to be thankful for, but the family and great friends that God blesses us with...

Thank you Lord for the people in my life... Oh, and my pies... totally awesome!