Inbox Boredom

Once upon a time, not so very long ago, I would write e-mails the way I used to write letters and mail them with a stamp. Long, rambling prose about what was happening in my life. And I would, in return, get similar e-mails from friends and family. I used to look forward to checking my e-mail just like I used to look forward to checking my mail box. But nowadays, my e-mail inbox is just as uninspiring and junk filled as my mail box. About the only thing I have to get excited about is an e-mail notifying me of a comment on a blog post. So, it would probably help the state of my inbox if I actually posted a litte more often, right?

I pondered the phenomenon and I wondered if possibly blogging has killed the correspondence e-mail. Which of course begs the question, if I’ve supposedly used blogging to replace e-mail then why haven’t I been blogging or even more heinous, why I am not reading blogs? More pondering and I wonder if Facebook and Twitter are slowly killing blogging? Because seriously? It’s so much easier to peruse status updates and 140 character or less tweets than read rambling blog posts.

But that doesn’t solve my inbox dilemma. I want e-mail to be fun again. I want to open my inbox and see an e-mail waiting for me that doesn’t have anything to do with work or school or Girl Scouts or church or work or any of the other myriad of things that show up in my inbox on a daily basis.

And maybe, just like with blogging and such, in order to get fun, quirky, interesting e-mail one must send it out first. If you get a weird, off-topic, random e-mail from me, you’ll know why.

Stay At Home Date Night

Around here Valentine’s Day is pretty low key. For the most part, we like to celebrate as a family. Our long standing tradition is the heart shaped strawberry cake that I make every year. And, when we can, David and I try to have lunch together on Valentine’s Day instead of going out for dinner (which is, IMO, insane!)

This year we changed things up a bit. One of my Wedded Bliss contributors wrote a post about cheap Valentine’s date ideas. One suggestion was to eat a late dinner together after the children were in bed. I thought that sounded like a great idea and so we gave it a shot. (You can read about it in my post at Wedded Bliss today!)

What I really want to share here is the recipe for the Shrimp & Crab Gratin that I made for our dinner. It was so yummy…mouthwatering even! And since this is Mouthwatering Monday, I think it fits the bill. (Plus Rachel will be really mad at me if I don’t give her the recipe.)

I came across this recipe at Publix grocery store through their Apron’s Meals program.

Shrimp and Crab Gratin

Ingredients
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 cup Bakery Parmesan bread chips (I used pre-prepared breadcrumbs. ~1/2 cup is sufficient)
1/3 cup shredded Italian-blend cheese
8 oz Deli spinach artichoke dip
1 tablespoon hot pepper sauce
8 oz pasteurized lump crab meat
cooking spray
8 jumbo shrimp (peeled/deveined, tails on; thawed, if needed)

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Cut butter into 4 pieces and place in medium bowl to soften. Place bread chips in food processor and pulse until finely ground. Add the crumbs to butter; sprinkle with cheese and set aside.
2. Place spinach artichoke dip and hot pepper sauce in medium bowl. Add crab meat, checking for any shell or cartilage pieces (wash hands); combine mixture until well-blended, taking care not to break up large lumps of crab.
3. Coat 2-quart baking dish with cooking spray. Spread one-half of the crab mixture in baking dish. Arrange shrimp around edge of baking dish, with tails up; top with remaining one-half of crab mixture, spreading mixture evenly over shrimp, leaving only tails exposed.
4. Mix crumb topping, using fingertips, until well blended. Spread topping over crab mixture. Bake 10–15 minutes or until topping is golden and sauce bubbles around edge of dish. Serve.

The gratin was served with pan grilled NY strip steaks and parmesan aspargus. We picked out our favorite adult beverages and had a  tonguegasmic meal!

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I forgot to link to The Challenge last week. Have you been keeping up with it? I really like this week’s challenge, it sorta goes with the whole “tonguegasmic” theme 😉 Be sure to check it out!

All for Bliss

I may have mentioned a couple of times that I was going to attend a blogging conference in Nashville (how convenient) called BlissDom ’09 that is connected with the online magazine I write and edit for, Blissfully Domestic. I did, didn’t I? So yeah, it was this past weekend and it was beyond incredible. Not exactly sure how to define beyond incredible but that’s about the best way I can describe it.

Great swag? Check.

Talented speakers*? Check.

Generous sponsors** and giveaways? Check.

Fun cocktail parties? Check.

Information overload so that you’re overwhelmed and inspired all at once? Check.

The most incredible group of bloggers and women to descend on a hotel in Nashville to meet and love on and encourage and be encouraged by and to ogle and be starstruck by and OMGIcan’tbelieveIjusttouchedhershe’sabloggingrawkstar? Check.

Yeah, it was all that and more.

I’m going to do a few shout outs, I know I won’t be able to include everyone so, no hurt feelings please?

To DB for always encouraging and supporting me in this venture. For making it so very easy for me to get away the weekend and hang with my peeps. I love you!

To my roomie, Lisa, thank you for daring to spend your weekend with me and a bunch of other crazy blogging chicks. You got to see first hand how flighty and scatterbrained I am, if you stick with me and continue writing for me, it will be a miracle!

To my Nashville peeps who were kind enough to let this wallflower invade their personal space because the idea of introducing myself to new people makes me want to hyperventilate and puke at the same time: Michelle, Amy, Meredith, Jordana and Ashley.

To my new Nashville peep, Brigid, I’m so glad you came to the conference and introduced yourself to me! I hope you had a great time and I look forward to seeing you more not only around town but on the Internets as well!

To the BD Divas that I’ve hung out with in a Skype chat room for weeks now but finally got to meet face to face: Deanna, Rachel, Jenny, Linda, Ali, Nicole, Sarah, Tara, Katie, Robin (wait, we actually met at the last BlissDom but still good to see you again!), Mandi, Marie and Melissa! Forget New York Times best selling authors and hunky male singers, you were the true stars of the weekend for me. Y’all rawk!

And, of course, the woman of the hour(s) herself, our Alli. I wouldn’t have been there if it hadn’t been for her. And I’ll leave it at that or else I’ll get all gushy and gooey and yeah…that’s not pretty.

Stayed tuned for details about BlissDom ’10 and y’all come on over ya hear?

*Especially love this one!

*I’m also especially fond of our Crocs sponsor since I’ll be getting $100 worth of Crocs shoes due to a gift certificate in our swag bag AND an extra one I won in the giveaway!!! I’m especially fond*** of these shoes (in silver) right now since my sis is getting married this summer and the color scheme is silver.

***Yes, yes, yes…I’ll quit saying “especially fond of” now!

Ingenuity

I told him to clean up his legos.

But why put them in the bucket when you can slide them in?

See! Isn’t this fun?

How many can go down?

Four year old ingenuity

Dear Mr. President,

I think children 8 and older should have the right to vote. I also want you to know that it would be wise to bring the troops out of Iraq. I also think you should lower taxes. I’ve been honored to speak to you through this letter and I hope you take my ideas and make them a benefit for all of us.

Sincerely,

JBelle, age 8
3rd grade

Apps for Dinner

This week’s Mouthwatering Monday is brought to you by the Super Bowl. Even though we had no glamorous party plans for last  night’s event, I still wanted a party-like atmosphere at the house and, to me, that means party food! Our Super Bowl Sunday Night dinner menu was:

• Spinach Artichoke Dip
• Fried Pickles
• Sausage Cheese Balls – Bisquick biscuit recipe (mix+milk), 1 lb ground sausage, 1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, mix together, bake @ 400 until sausage is browned and biscuit done.
• Mozzarella Cheese Bites – these were the only non-homemade item. I picked some up in the grocer’s frozen section and served them with leftover marinara from our spaghetti lunch.

I was too buy cooking to pick up my camera and take any pictures but I can assure you, it was all good! My personal favorite was the Spinach Artichoke Dip! And upon tasting it, DB said, “We never have to order this at a restaurant again!” Yes folks, it’s that good! Some  might even say, “Tonguegasmic!”

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Are you keeping up with The Challenge? So far, we are. The only thing I still haven’t managed to do is get our bedroom cleaned up, though I did get the bathroom cleaned up on Saturday! (w00t) This week’s challenge is about the ladies taking control. (another w00t!)