Rose Vox Box

Now that things have finally settled down I can catch up on some of the fun we have been having over here at The Bright Household. Most notably, the newest voxbox I got from Influenster.

Graduation and Great Things on The Horizon

Holy Moly it has been a crazy couple of weeks!  

So in case you are wondering, it is official... Hubby graduated!

Over a year of preparing, training, blood, sweat, burns, sleepless nights, crazy hours, and back braking hard work, he finally graduated and is officially a fire fighter. (Insert collective sigh of relief and a round of applause for getting back to my normal sleep schedule. Four a.m. wake ups are just ungodly.)

 Here he is during his pinning and badging. One of our dear friends, a retired firefighter himself, placed Adam's badge on while yours truly pinned him. Neither of us drew blood, so that's a plus. And I looked fabulous if I do say so myself (I agonized over picking a dress. I finally chose this dress from ModCloth and I cannot recommend it enough.)

Chicken and Waffles and Black Pepper Syrup OH MY!

I don't know that I have ever mentioned this, but my hubby is from the south. Not just the south, but the deep south. We are talking Alabama south. Where the accents are thick and the iced tea is sweet. Now being a girl from big city Baltimore this was a whole new world to me. I thought us moving to North Carolina was pretty southern but boy was I in for a surprise. Everything is different there but most of all the food.

I have spent a lot of time in our relationship expanding my palette to include more foods of the fried variety and he has spent more time trying to understand why we put Old Bay on everything up here. Some of these have been hits: BBQ pulled pork is freakin' amazing!  And I am in love with Dairy Queen (thought my thighs would beg to differ). Plus Adam really does love Maryland Crabs and Old Bay on popcorn has been pretty popular in our house. Some of them have been misses: I learned pretty quickly that I can't stand the taste of Okra and I do not for the life of me understand the South's love for Mayonnaise (White Sauce Alabama, really?). But either way we have been pretty open to trying each others regional faves. Except I dragged my feet on one: Chicken and Waffles.... boy was I missing out. 

Quick Update and Ice Cream Cupcakes!!!

Phew we have been busy here at the Bright household. Can you believe hubby only has three weeks in the academy left? It feels like just yesterday we were starting out on this completely unfamiliar path and now it is almost at its end. I guess time really does fly when you are having fun (err something like that.) We are both really excited and a little nervous about this next step but it has been a long time coming and it is such an exciting new journey.

At any rate, with the end in sight we have been busy prepping ourselves for the impending 24 hour shifts. Since we aren't going to be seeing each other as much we have been trying to squeeze in as much time together as we can until then. That means less cooking and crafting but some invaluable togetherness I wouldn't exchange for anything.

Though I did find some time to whip up some AMAZING cake batter ice cream cupcakes for my co-workers birthday on Friday. 

 

BBQ Pulled Pork Mac N' Cheese

If that title does not have you drooling you may want to check your pulse because you might be dead. Seriously, I am drooling just thinking about it. Cheesy delicious baked mac 'n cheese is a thing of beauty all on its own. So is smoky tangy bbq pulled pork. Put the two together? Well that's just magic. This recipe takes a little while (we usually start the pork Saturday night and make the rest for Sunday dinner) but it is well worth the effort. Marinate the pork overnight then slap it in the crockpot in the morning. By dinner time you will have comfort food to die for.

 

 

Dresser Drawer to DIY Planter

I recently found myself with an excess of dresser drawers with no dresser to put them into since I turned my old dresser into a bar. So I've had these babies just sitting gathering dust in the basement with no idea what to do with them. Well thanks to Green Updrader that has changed. I took those yucky off brown dresser drawers and turned them into this gorgeous succulent planter.

Pet Projects

I used to paint a lot. I mean A LOT. The amount of canvas I bought alone probably put some crafts store shareholders kids through college. I was never great at it, but man I used to love to paint. 

I say used to because somewhere along the line I just....stopped. 

I don't know if it was the busyness of life or lack of inspiration but somewhere along the line I just stopped painting. Anytime I thought about going back I just couldn't get started. I really hadn't given it much thought. I guess life just gets in the way and I assumed that was just the natural order of things. But that changed when I was fumbling through some old unpacked boxes from the move and I discovered the art case my grandmother had left me. 

Cracked Pepper Cheddar Bacon Biscuits

Yesterday Hubby and I spent the day shopping in Annapolis. We went to the Amish market and perused all of their Easter chocolates and candies. Then we headed to a nearby shopping center and picked up a few books for myself and some video games for Hubs. Finally we ended up at our favorite organic grocery store for some goodies. While we were picking out what to make for the week we ran across these frozen biscuits that sounded amazing. They were peppered bacon biscuits with cheddar and they looked to die for. But at $30 for a box of eight there was no way I was going to get them. A simple peek at the ingredients though, and I was pretty sure I could make them at home. Hence, these babies came about:

Perfect Basic Egg Pasta

I have been crazy about homemade pasta ever since I learned how to make it. A lot of times I feel like you can substitute store bought, but pasta is not one of those things. If you have the time and if you have a pasta maker (which I do....if only I could remember where the heck I put it on one of our many moves) it is seriously worth the effort. Even if you don't have a pasta maker (or you are absentminded like myself) it is still super easy to make your own egg pasta as I will show you. 

This recipe explains how to make basic egg pasta noodles say for spaghetti or fettucini. It can be adapted for any pasta shape you prefer and can easily be doubled or even tripled if you have the time though this does make a pretty large batch.

Recipe: Soy Sauce Eggs

 Today I am bringing you a quick little side recipe for my take on Soy Sauce Eggs (or shoyu tamago if you are feeling authentic). Soy Sauce Eggs are delicious briny boiled eggs that you can add to you ramen (which is my favorite) or snack on all by themselves (which is more hubby's cup of tea). Usually all you would need is soy sauce and some hardboiled eggs but I like to step mine up a notch with salty bacon and fresh onions and chives.

Replica Recipe: Coco Ichibanya Chicken Curry

When Adam was in the military he was stationed in Okinawa, Japan for a year. He talks about it constantly. How amazing the people are, how beautiful the beaches look, how fun the nightlife is, but mainly how delicious all of the food is. I have never been, but it is definitely on our bucket list of places to visit together. 

Now you have to remember that while hubby was stationed in Oki he was a mere 19 year old Marine. He was in a foreign country, working ridiculous hours, and was a teenaged male so he wasn't exactly eating at Michelin star quality joints if you get my drift. So when I say he talks about how delicious the food is I mainly mean he babbles on about how great their curry houses were. One in particular comes up a lot in conversation and that is Coco Iichibanya (heads up that link is in Japanese). 

From what I can gather from him and a few of his Marine Corps buddies many late nights after work or after a few rounds they would head over to the curry house and order up huge plates of cheesy chicken cutlet curry. We are talking plates covered in sauce and ooey gooey melted cheese over crispy fried chicken. What's not to love? Anyway, I have been hearing about this place for the past eight years and have been trying to replicate it to his memory ever since.

We found a few recipes in our searches and (according to hubby since I have never been) this is the closest replica we can find. The sauce doubles or even triples really well you just need to adjust your times for sweating the veggies accordingly.

Turning a Dresser into a Bar Part 1

I recently inherited an old dresser from my Mom. It was actually part of a set handed down from my grandparents (it was their wedding bedroom set from the thirties!) After many moves and changes of hand/ paint, it had certainly seen better days. 

How to Make a Book Safe

This year for Christmas I got Adam the Art Of Manliness book collection. They are full of tips and tricks for a modern day man to use. Plus relationship advice, essays from famous men throughout history, and tons more stuff for guys. 

While looking for the books I was going through their site and saw an essay they had about building a book safe. I love the idea of having a book on the shelf to keep secret treasures in. Plus when I told my brother about it, he jumped at the idea of having one. So I decided to try it out. 

I Left My Heart In....

Just another quick craft update from over the weekend.

A few months back while cruising for crafts I thought I had seen someone make a map of all of the important places in their relationship. Kind of like a map of all if the places they had left their heart. Having moved around a lot in my life and in my relationship with a military man, I could definitely relate. I loved that idea and decided I had to give it a try.

Halloween Memories

Don't worry you are not reading the title wrong and you certainly didn't click on the wrong date. 

Considering how much time I have to make up for here (and how stinking cold it is outside) I have been spending some time going over and organizing old photos. 

Like this gem of my two boys:

Finally Back in Action and Some Art to boot!

Wow that was a long break....

Seriously though I had no intention of being away for so long. But life (as it often does) kinda got in the way of my plans there and I just haven't had any time to sit down and write. There has been a TON going on.

Hubby and I spent most of last year trying out, preparing, and planning for him joining the fire academy. I would like to proudly say, after all of his many months of blood, sweat, and tears (mainly mine)....he got in! I cannot express how happy and how proud I am of him. I also cannot express how busy we have been with it. I thought once the academy started everything would slow down.

HA.