jennandjeremy.com

Things have continued to be busy pretty much constantly all summer. Here is a brief list of the things that have happened since the last blog post:

• I got a new job! Well I changed positions at my company and now instead of being a Systems Administrator, which really wasn't a good fit for me, I am now a Software Engineer which I LOVE! The people are great, the work is interesting, and I honestly couldn't be happier. The only 'downside' is that I have been working lots of extra hours because I enjoy it so much.
• Mike came to visit towards the end of July. While he as here we tried to head down to the Sears (yes the SEARS... *I'm looking at you Mike*) Tower to see the new Ledge they put in but there was a 2 hour wait. So instead of of playing tourists we decided to check out a bar & grill by our place for lunch and a few beers. The Falafel & Hummus wrap was delicious! As was the Shiner Bock which they conveniently had on tap :) While we were eating Jeremy provided us entertainment by managing to not only drop his glass of beer, spilling it all over himself, but somehow managing to catch it mid-air as it bounced back up saving half of his beer and the glass in the process! I'd say that I'd like to see him do it again, but at $5/beer I'm not sure if it'd be worth it ;)
• We went to a Cubs game on July 27th which turned out to be an awesome game and night all around (even though we did get rained on before the game started). The Cubs won in the bottom of the 13th inning with a Grand Slam! (pics to come)
• A few days later Jeremy's family came to Chicago and stayed with us for a few days. While they were here we made a delicious batch of cinnamon rolls, finally got to see the Ledge at the Sears Tower (pics to come), and had dinner at the Chicago Diner.
• A few days after that we headed back to Iowa for the weekend to attend my Grandfathers funeral. While we were there, in true Dubuque style, we headed down to the casino with my parents. This was actually the first time I was in a casino and honestly I don't really see the draw. I could have the same amount of fun at home for about $10 in beer and a video game instead. Oh and I also won $100 at roulette (which I, of course, donated back)!
• We went to Lollapalooza! Well, Jeremy went on Friday when it was raining (I decided staying at home with the cat instead of standing in the rain for 9 hours was more my style). On Saturday we saw Coheed & Cambria, Rise Against, and Tool. All three were great shows but Coheed was by far my favorite. On Sunday we decided that 90 with a heat index of 99 and 75% humidity was unacceptable and spent a much needed day just hanging out on the couch together :)
• Last weekend we made yummy homemade bread, falafel, and tahini dressing for the first time. While everything tasted delicious, the falafel was refusing to stick together in the frying pan for some reason. I've got some ideas on how to make it stick together better next time though (basically just adding additional flour).
• I finally sold my car! As many of you may or may not know, we have been talking about selling that thing pretty much since I moved to the city last March but never got around to it until yesterday. We are officially a one car family! The next step is to sell the Volkswagon, aka the bane of Jeremy and my's existence for the last year, and get a new car (which we are planning on doing this week). Lets just say that we will be very happy once the Volkswagon is gone :D

So there you have it, the last 6 weeks in a nutshell!

Posted by Jenn on Mon, 08/17/2009 - 15:41. | Permalink | Jenn's blog | Add new comment

Jenn and I had another full weekend, this time an old college friend was in town so we met up with Josh and A.J. down at the Chipp Inn and spent a couple hours catching up and reminiscing Saturday night (ok, I was reminiscing, Jenn was laughing at the crazy olden days). We called it an early night however as we had early tickets to see Transfomers 2 on the IMAX down at Navy Pier. After catching the movie which was fantastic we started walking down the Pier and came across the first set up boat tours. We quickly decided that the Architecture tour was the way to go, so we bought our tickets and we were off, heading down two branches of the Chicago River while learning all about the beautiful buildings that make up downtown Chicago. Luckily Jenn always has her camera handy, and got some great pictures. Be sure to check them out!

Posted by Jeremy on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 19:36. | Permalink | Jeremy's blog | Add new comment

My parents and brother were in Chicago last weekend which gave Jeremy and I a chance to play tourist. We spent most of the day Saturday trekking around town hitting up the Sears Tower, Grant Park, the Art Institute of Chicago's garden, Millennium Park, the Field Museum, Wrigley Field, and the Chicago Diner. To complete the weekend in true Jenn & Jeremy style, we prepared several yummy food items including chocolate chip cookies, hashbrowns with soy crumbles for breakfast on Saturday, and homemade pizza and breadsticks on Sunday. While we didn't get as many pictures as we would have liked to, make sure you check out the ones we did get here.

Oh and while I'm mentioning pictures... I added a bunch of new pictures to the Random - 2009 and Foods! albums, so make sure you check those out too!

Posted by Jenn on Tue, 06/23/2009 - 20:18. | Permalink | Jenn's blog | Add new comment

Jeremy and I do a lot of cooking and while the majority of the recipes we use come from various vegan cookbooks, some come from the internet. For the last 6 months or so, I have been keeping a running list of recipes both that we've tried and those that we would like to try and now I'm posting it here so you can try some of the recipes too! You can find the new Recipes page on the left hand menu or by clicking here.

In addition to the recipes page itself, I would also like to start posting more of our own recipes. I'll start with the Pizza Bites we made the other day...

Pizza Bites
Dough:
- about 2c flour
- about 1c water
- pinch of salt

Filling:
- 1 package of Boca Ground Crumbles
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2-1 jar of your favorite pizza sauce (we make our own with tomato sauce, tomato paste, garlic salt, oregano, black pepper, and sugar)

Directions:
* Pre-heat the oven to 350F.
* In a medium sized frying pan, add the Boca Ground Crumbles, onion, and olive oil. Cook over medium heat stirring frequently for about 10 minutes until the crumbles are thawed and the onion is cooked.
* Using a stand mixer with a dough hook (or kneed by hand), add flour, water, and salt and mix until well combined (about 5 minutes).
* On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough until about 1/8-1/16" thick.
* In a large bowl, place the crumble and onion mixture. Slowly add the pizza sauce until the desired consistency is reached.
* Cut the dough into 2"x2" pieces.
* In the center of each dough square, place a large spoonful of the crumble mixture. Then take the four corners of the square and bring them up to the middle sealing the 'pizza bite'.
* Place on a lightly oiled cookie sheet.
* Repeat until you are out of dough and filling (about 36 bites).
* Bake for 20 minutes.

Posted by Jenn on Sat, 06/06/2009 - 15:55. | Permalink | Jenn's blog | Add new comment

Our cooking has just crossed over from unbelievably good, to down right dangerous.

Jenn and I just created vegan pizza bites. Absolutely. Delicious.

Posted by Jeremy on Sat, 05/23/2009 - 17:51. | Permalink | Jeremy's blog | 1 comment