Just to torture Kim, Krista, Heather, and others...
Greg's pastrami dog and "Mulholland Drive" dog
My "Lord of the Rings" dog (with onion rings) and "Walk of Fame" Dog (with coleslaw and tomatoes)
Julie models her beverage of choice 
Yesterday we celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary! I can hardly believe so much time has passed! We spent a quiet weekend at home, since we got away to San Diego just a few weeks ago.
Since a whole bunch of our neighbors were out of town this weekend, we decided it would be a good quiet weekend to set up our tent. We bought a used tent several years ago and haven't managed to go camping yet, but that hopefully will change this summer. We thought we'd get it out and set it up and make sure all was good. It was, and we were delighted to find that the tent had all kinds of features we would want, like plenty of space and a zip-in wall that divides the inside. Here's Addie, Greg and some neighbor kiddos enjoying it.
Yesterday Greg and I exchanged small gifts and cards. He was delighted with his gift- can you tell?
Now he can proudly display his love for "The Office"
Greg gave me some clothes too. I had been needing and wanting some clothes I can exercise in in the hot weather. I am STILL working out 4-5 days a week (even I am surprised) and my makeshift workout wardrobe just isn't working. So I was delighted with new exercise clothes.
For dinner, we stayed in and worked together to make risotto for the first time! During our wonderful dinner in San Diego, we finally got to try some and loved it, so we committed that we'd learn to make it at home. Here I am showing off my Risotto Alla Primavera- it came out great! We also had Greg's favorite Dijon Chicken.
Our evening ended up including an unplanned party outside our front door. We sat out with our friends and neighbors, Ben & Jen Myers, and Robert & Gerri Dupee, on Robert & Gerri's last night in the complex. They leave today for Tennessee. We got to share some of our dinner and then Greg and Ben made a Bananas Foster Upside Down cake and we all enjoyed in thoroughly. What a nice evening- sitting out in the cooler temps and eating dessert and talking and talking. I don't know if we could've planned a nicer night if we'd tried!
After a failure early on in his relationship with the cast iron skillet, Greg decided to try again at making a pineapple-upside-down cake.
It was a sweet victory!
Can you believe it? The cake looks almost as good as Greg!
Greg decided to experiment some more with his cast iron skillet last week. He set his sights on fried chicken.
Now, I should explain that my mom never made homemade fried chicken, nor did Greg's mom, so this was a wild and unexplored world to us. We are not children of the south, so attempting homemade friend chicken was like slaying the proverbial dragon.
Armed with his apron and splatter guard, he might as well been wearing shining armor as far as I'm concerned.
And here is the magnificent result. Seriously folks, it was better than Colonel Sander's! Man, did we enjoy the finger-licken goodness with a sense of accomplishment almost as big as our appetites.
A popular subject around our house is food. In fact, it's miraculous that Greg and I aren't much larger in size, the way we like to eat!
And as most of you read about in our Christmas posts, Greg spent the holidays reading through Alton Brown's books on cooking and baking. This just wet the appetite all the more for experimenting with and eating more food. You never have to encourage me, and now that Greg is curious too, well...
So last Saturday Greg decided he'd like to try making some rolls. He used the bread machine- don't be THAT impressed, but still. I decided I have won the husband lottery, being that my husband wanted to use a Saturday to bake. I mean really.
So here are the rolls. They looked beautiful, they tasted terrific!
Then a few days later I tried a new recipe from my most recent "Simple and Delicious" magazine. Before I tell about the wonderful meal, we have to have a sidebar here. If you are the main cook in your family, or have to cook at all really, I would highly recommend a subscription to this magazine! It is the secret of my cooking success! Every two months a new issue is delivered. It is full of great recipes from cooks all over Northern America. They send in the recipes, the magazine's Home Economists try them out (yeah home economists!!!), then they print the good ones. Because professionals test them first, the recipes are well written and easy to understand. This is key for cooking success! They are also the BEST- do you hear me?- the BEST recipes ever. And with a new magazine arriving every two months, I always have lots of new things to make and try. We have rarely been disappointed. And all for $20 a year (or $30 for two years)- you can't beat it. Just go to tasteofhome.com and sign-up! You won't regret it!
So this week was no exception in our continuing delight with Simple and Delicious. On page 10 they had a recipe for "Saucy Mushroom Chicken" from Aline Eyre of Sarnia, Ontario. I thought it looked pretty good, worth a try.
Well, Aline Eyre, you have got some skills. This was some gooooood chicken.
It was saucy, garlicky, mushroomy yumminess!
Served over mashed potatoes and accompanied by the lemon-pepper green beans from page 16.... it was delish! (this isn't bragging because I take no credit. Now, if I had invented this "Saucy Mushroom Chicken," then I would be bragging- but I would deserve it).
Is your mouth watering yet?
In a grand tradition inspired by our friends Ron & Joan, Greg applauded the meal. (Joan once told me that Ron had liked a dinner so much he stood up from the table and applauded. We thought it was so great that now Greg does it too).
So.... do you want the recipe? Well, here it is!
Saucy Mushroom Chicken (which should really be called "So Scrupmty You'll Faint Chicken")
6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (5 oz. each)
1 teaspoon each onion powder, paprika, dried basil, oregano & thyme
1 teaspoon each salt & pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
2 teaspoons minced garlic
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup white wine or additional chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
Step 1. Flatten chicken to 1/2 in. thickness. Combine the seasonings; sprinkle 2 tablespoons over both sides of the chicken.
Step 2. In a large skillet, cook chicken in 1 tablespoon oil in batches over medium heat for 3-4 minutes on each side or until juices run clear. Remove and keep warm.
Step 3. In the same skillet, saute the mushrooms, garlic, and remaining seasoning mixture in remaining oil until tender. Stir in flour. Gradually stir in broth and wine or additional broth and cream. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.
Step 4. Return chicken to the pan; heat through. Serve with mashed potatoes if desired.
Yield: 6 servings
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes
Hope you all enjoy it! If you make this, let us know how you liked it!
So I told you already that Greg loves his new Alton Brown books about cooking... well, he's not the only one.
Once Greg's dad found them, he couldn't put them down either. Greg's brother Mike also thought they were interesting.
And Addie, not wanting to be left out, spent some time browsing through them as well.
Eventually, maybe I'll get a chance to look at them too! I"m still waiting for my turn!
You all wish you had a neighbor like our friend Gary. Why? Because he joined us for Thanksgiving dinner and supplied us with some fabulous hor devours! He cooked them all in his own kitchen and delivered them ready-to-eat. Here he is on his way to our apartment.
And here with some of the finished project. Hot crab dip, spinach dip in a sourdough bowl, crab-stuffed mushrooms, and the BEST- bacon wrapped dates. AMAZING!
Addie and Greg enjoyed their munchies.
Addie especially liked the spinach dip and bread.
Thanks Gary for the treats!
(And yes ladies, he's available)
When Greg and I were dating and even first married, I don't think I would have ever guessed that one day he would be so enthusiastic about food with me. Sure, maybe eating it, but not making it!!! Well, it is a great joy to have my husband get excited with me about the cooking method of the Thanksgiving turkey.
We decided to brine our turkey for the first time this year and we were NOT dissapointed. Now, some of you food snobs out there are scoffing at me, because you've been brining for years... but put up with me, and rejoice that I have finally discovered the joy of the brine. There are also a few of you probably saying "brine?" "what is that?" And I will fight off the temptation to sound like a food nerd and simply tell you it is a salt solution you soak the bird in that makes the meat more juicy. And that it is a goooooood thing.
Here is our bird bucket. The turkey soaked in it's deluxe container on our porch overnight.
Greg pops the raw baby into the oven.
And viola! Who looks better? The bird or my husband? I will let you draw your own conclusion.
You would think from these blog posts that Greg is the one who gets really into his food, but actually it is usually me. I just count this as the influence I've had on him.
My sister read the post about Greg and his love for Kosher salt, and went to a gourmet spice store and bought Greg some really unique salts. There was one called "Fluer de Sel", a pink Himilayan salt, and a BLACK Hawaaiin salt. Greg was giddy. Then he talked to the chef at the hotel who told him about smoked kosher salt. Well, it was so exciting.
So for a meal last week we tried out some salts. Greg made some ribs, which he loves to continue to perfect the method to get them just right, and used the smoked Kosher. We cooked them in the crockpot all day in apple juice and with the smoked Kosher 
and then at the very end, topped them with BBQ sauce and grilled them for a couple of minutes. Well, they came out GREAT. Tender, sweet, smoky. Good stuff.
We would like to credit the Frasier family from Illinois for the crockpot trick, and we think adding the special salt gave them just the right amount of smokey flavor. Yum!
Then we tried the Hawaaiin salt on our corn, becuase nothing says appetizing like your corn looking like it fell in the dirt. Greg ground the black salt in his mortar and pestle, making it clear that we are total food nerds.
This is how good it was. "Nuf said.
I know you have all been waiting with baited breath to hear how we enjoyed the produce from the Farmer's Market. I apologize for leaving you in suspense for so long! We have eaten almost everything now, and here's how it went:
The beets were interesting. It was very... educational... to make them. They turned out to be yellow beets, and were sure good to look at. We decided though, that beets are tricky to eat. The first bite is kinda like "Wow! That's something!", but by the third or fourth bite, you're kinda "something'd" out. Powerfull flavors can be a bit overwhelming. But, we're glad we tried them.
That same night, I made a tomato salad with the tomatoes and yellow pepper. It was deeeeeeelicious.
So here's a picture of a half-eaten dinner- pork chops, beets, & tomato salad.
A night or two later I made fajitas and topped them with guacamole from the Market Avocado. We also were adventurous this night because the fajita meat came from our local hispanic market- all prepared and ready to go. It was amazing. Here is Greg, singing to his fajita.
Here's a shot of some of the squash cooked up for another dinner. We gave some to Addie and to Grant, who we had with us for dinner, and they both liked it! Now that's good squash!
There are no pictures for the rest of this report, but here's what else we did:
-we sliced the nectarines and served them with pound cake and vanilla ice crem for a dessert with the Kropfs.
-the peaches never made it to a pie because we were so excited to eat them we couldn't wait. They were a great snack.
-and the apple was added to a salad with walnuts, bleu cheese, and a great poppyseed dressing.
Hope you all have enjoyed the eating adventures of the Spanglers!
We tried artichokes for the first time a few days ago.
We decided they were kinda symbolic of our whole day.
If you like these things, can you please explain to us WHY? What a bunch of work for something so... blah. Why? When you can enjoy a nice bunch of asparagus instead with so much less work? The darn things stuck me when I was buying them at the store with their horrid pointy little tips. I should've known then and put them back. Instead I spent way to much time preparing them, preparing the butter sauce, only to spend HOURS trying to eat the darn thing and getting butter stains on my shirt in the meantime. It wasn't even that good!
Yes, the artichokes came on a bad day. We have been trying to switch Addie from two naps to one, but she still won't sleep long enough at the the one nap so she is really tired and whiny by dinner time. And so is mommy.
On that particular day, Addie also didn't have a fast enough reaction time when one of the neighborhood kids came cruising along on his bike. So down she went. I watched it all in slow motion, to far away to get there in time. Of course. Isn't that how it always happens?
She got a little bit of a fat lip and a scrape on her chin. Not bad actually.
We decided this was an Alexander day.
This is a phrase my mom and I have used for years, taken from the children's book "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day".
Even in Australia.
