Photo source: Food & Wine magazine/ foodandwine.com

Now that we’re back to cooking regular meals and have settled in to our new home, I thought it was about time to get back on top of my recipe posting. I noticed it’s been quite a while since my last recipe post.

Today’s recipe is a GOOD one. We’ve made it three times and every time it’s awesome.

The original recipe for Beer-Braised Tacos is from Food & Wine magazine. As usual, we altered it slightly to make it easier and to cater to two people. Other than that, we made very few changes as this recipe is simply great the way it is. The only minor down side is that the turkey has to ‘braise’ for about an hour – if you’re starving, this isn’t the recipe for you (or it can be you should just have some chips and salsa while you wait).

We made this with a side of black beans and a salad, which kept things pretty healthy. I think it would also be great with a fruit salsa, which we haven’t tried to make yet.

The ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Two 1-pound bone-in turkey thighs or drumsticks, skin and fat removed (We love the drumsticks, they work so well)
• Salt and pepper
• 4 large garlic cloves, sliced
• 1 onion, diced (you can also cut some for garnish as well)
• 1 oregano sprig
• 1 jalapeño—stemmed, seeded and sliced
• 1 medium tomato, coarsely chopped
• 1 ancho chile—stemmed, seeded and chopped (we used the can of chipotle chile peppers in adobo sauce and used three since they are a lot smaller)
• One cinnamon stick
• One 12-ounce bottle Mexican dark beer (we used the Dos Equis Amber)
• 1 cup water
• Corn tortillas
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds and cilantro sprigs, for serving (we also chopped tomatoes, onions and queso fresco cheese – So good!)

Decked for Fall.

I. Love. Fall.

And in northern California, this feeling is only enhanced.

It’s sunny here every day and this weekend…it’s going to be 80 degrees.

I can’t tell you how much this affects my outlook on a daily basis. I wake up each day thinking how wonderful the day is going to be. Which is weird, but good. Though, I will acknowledge that this might only be because we lived in one heck of a sucky place this last year.

Regardless of that, I’m happy. And I’m looking forward to the rest of fall. College football games. Pumpkin flavored everything (including seasonal Clif Bars). Harvest parties (someone in this area HAS to be having one). The leaves changing colors. Trick or Treaters. Pumpkin Spice Lattes from Starbucks (because we have one near us again). And of course Thanksgiving!

I’d also like to recommend that if you are feeling a bit blue (likely because the weather is just not as nice right now), decorate your house/apartment/room/bathroom/door/whatever in FALL decor. Leaves and fake pumpkins are all that you need (a really nice pumpkin candle will help too). It WILL make a difference.

And on that note… Happy Fall, Everyone!

I am one of those people that probably thinks about life a bit too much. I’m learning to deal with this fact because I realize it won’t be changing anytime soon.

Moving is tough. Establishing yourself in a new area is tough. Making new friends is tough. But it’s all a part of the lifestyle we live in the military.

I’m very happy to be starting this next chapter in our lives, but I’m also sad to have just left some great friends behind.

A good friend is hard to find. Throughout my life, I’ve met some wonderful people and have become great friends with a some strong, independent women. I learned that it takes a lot to recognize true companionship in another individual. And while there are tons of great people that surround you in your daily activities, there are few that IMPACT you in such a way that it will change you forever.

You know you’ve found one of these individuals when you can tell them virtually anything and know that they won’t judge you for who you truly are or when you accidentally put your foot in your mouth (among other things).

I’d like to say ‘THANK YOU’ to these women (and a few good men).

Whether you’re in Mississippi, Nebraska, Illinois, Washington, Kentucky, Indiana, California or some other place in the world. I’m fortunate to have you in my life–whether it’s in person or via Skype, postcard or phone.

I feel so lucky to have you all in my life and I hope you know that you’re the ones that help get me through all the crap and uncertainty that comes with it at times.

I kinda wish I could get you all in one big room together to give you each a hug (and have a few glasses of wine). I also hope you know that I’m here for you, always.

Now, enough with the mushiness–mom’s in town this week!! Time for some shopping and exploring!

We’ve been busy getting caught up on all the random crap that comes with moving. We’ve also started looking for houses. Something we can buy, live in and LOVE during our time here. I think we’ve narrowed down our locations to Napa, Benicia and Davis. They are all such cute towns and would be so much fun for us to live in. More to come on that later though.

A few things I’ve discovered and LIKE about California over the last few weeks?

• They recycle here. I love that. And, it’s nice to not have to pay a TON of money to do it!
• The weather is awesome everyday (at least so far!)
• The farmers market in Napa is just incredible. They also have an adorable year-round market called the Oxbow Public Market. Check out the link and if you come to town, I’ll take you there.
• There are Nugget Markets here. They are cute little grocery stores, similar to Whole Foods. I love shopping there. Everything is SO fresh and the wine selection is AMAZING!
• People use their blinkers while driving.
• There are little trails and bike lanes everywhere for running and biking. We’re actually about to purchase some road bikes too–I can’t wait.
• There are towns, wine bars, restaurants, shops, Starbucks and Red Robins everywhere! I LOVE THAT.

The last two weeks have been exhausting. I feel like I have been disconnected from the world entirely and that I also need a serious detox from fast food and sitting. While that was the easiest part of the move, it was tiring.

It was a very pretty drive across the country, though uneventful. I also must add that there is virtually nothing to look at in Nebraska or Wyoming.

Penny did well on the drive. She pretty much slept the entire time. And as you can imagine, she was waking up at all hours of the night while we were trying to sleep.

It was also fun to stop in St. Louis and Omaha to see friends and family! I’m so glad we did that!

Overall, it was a really nice trip.

Here are a few shots — the Great Salt Lake, a Morton’s Salt factory, Penny, Nick, Nebraska, Wyoming, a really sweet soda machine at Firehouse Subs, mountains, cotton fields and of course, a few other random shots.

We spent ALL of yesterday (a full 12 hours) moving and packing up the truck. I have to say, it was pretty much HORRIBLE and I think I had moments where I was regretting our decision to do this move ourselves.

But, now it’s done and I think I can say the worst is behind us–unpacking should be MUCH better.

Here’s our plan for the next five to six days.

1. I-55 North, stopping for the night in St. Louis.

2. I-70/I-29 North through Kansas City, stopping in OMAHA!(Apparently, parts of this road are closed so there will be some detouring going on as well).

3. I-80 West through, stopping in Cheyenne, WY, Salt Lake City and Reno, NV.

We’ll then go through Sacramento and pick up Mr. Tom Chandler who will be helping us with the second leg of our relocation!

It’s going to be a LONG one, but will be happy to be in a more permanent location finally.

Updates to come from the road! Stay tuned…

We spent the majority of our weekend at home. We started packing for our trek across the country. So far, I’d say it’s going well. All of the non-important stuff like decorations, pictures and candlesticks are packed up and ready to be moved. This is of course assuming I put enough stuffing around each item to keep them from breaking.

We spent some time watching football and made some great food–which can typically make or break our weekend. This only happened of course, with about four trips to the grocery store for some sub-quality ingredients.

Nick also spent quite a bit of time mapping out our route for the road trip. I have to say, I’m excited about it. He’s done an incredible job figuring out where we’re going to stop along the way and all the fun stuff that goes along with moving yourselves in the military.

We also celebrated our second wedding anniversary! It’s hard to believe has been two years since that wonderful day.

I also am now completely ADDICTED to the show Army Wives. It’s ridiculously sad, but I can’t stop watching it. I’m not entirely sure how many seasons there are total, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be watching them all…with some Kleenex.

Overall, it was a nice weekend, and it’s one of our last in Mississippi. It’s starting to feel bitter-sweet for me now, though we won’t get into that just yet. More to come on that later.

It’s been a wonderful last few years, filled with many, many changes. Our puppy, Penny. A move to Mississippi…and on to California. A new job. And some new wonderful friends.

I feel so lucky to be married to the most awesome person ever and I can’t wait to embark on this next chapter in our lives.

The countdown is on for September 14…

It’s such an emotional moment. And I’m not even the one graduating!!

After 54 weeks of training, this is the day when the soon-to-be pilot, gets his sterling silver wings pinned on. And it’s a truly amazing moment to watch. There’s so much pride for the men standing up there, the country and those that serve in our military — a feeling that’s truly overwhelming.

I’m so proud of Nick for what he’s accomplished. Not only did he finish training and get his wings, but he excelled at it, receiving top honors for what he did (proud wife moment)!

And since many of our friends and family couldn’t be in attendance to see this event, I’m going to recap it for you in this post–and if you were a part of it, just enjoy the pictures!

Graduation day – the breakfast and ceremony

The day is packed with festivities for family members of the graduates. First, a morning breakfast and briefing explaining what each soon-to-be pilot went through during their training. Then the “official” graduation ceremony takes place. This is where the wings are actually pinned on.

There is also a breaking of the wings ceremony–a tradition that’s really neat to watch. Here’s the story behind it (or a version of it): Since man started flying, he has taken to the air a certain amount of risk. To counter that risk, a tradition was established years ago when the Army Air Corps first started issuing pilot wings to their young aviators. This tradition is called “BREAKING OF THE WINGS.”

At every UPT graduation, the Air Force issues the pilots their pair of wings. As tradition has it, the pilot should never wear that first pair of wings. To bring good luck, the pilot should break the wing into two parts. The pilot should keep 

one half, the other half should be given to the pilot’s best friend or relative. To preserve good luck, the halves should never be brought together while the pilot is alive. After death the two halves are once again united with the pilot for good luck in the next life.

Some touring, sims and downtime

After the graduation ceremony, we have time to explore the classrooms, training planes, the flight simulators, and also take lots of pictures.

This is where the new pilots actually get their ratings (certificate), and the rest of us get to see where most of their time was spent the last six months. We played with

the flight simulators – which is AWESOME and extremely difficult and checked-out the planes they’ve been flying all year. We were also able to squeeze in a bit of BBQ for lunch.

After all of that, we had a few hours to rest and get ready for the formal dinner celebration!

It all started on Assignment night, almost a month ago now. Assignment night was the day where we found out the plane Nick will be flying from here on out and where. This is the day most soon-to-be pilots (and spouses) wait for all year.

It starts out with a roast of each student pilot, then a presentation of what they are flying. It’s all pretty exciting to watch, and at times, even suspenseful.

As most of you know now, Nick was assigned to the KC-10 to Travis AFB, located in Fairfield, CA. We are ecstatic! This was the first choice for plane and location among a list of 25 others–which is simply AMAZING.

For those of you who don’t know, the KC-1o is an air-refueler. It’s pretty large (think DC-10 passenger plane). 

So much hard work and dedication went into making all this happen (on Nick’s part).

The 12-14 hour days, the endless hours of studying, the long flights…and it’s great to see that it all paid off. I can’t truly understand all that went into getting these wings, but am so proud of Nick and is class for what they’ve accomplished.

So, what’s next?

We’re moving to California the week of September 12 for Nick to start another round of training, this time, specifically for the KC-10. ONLY TWO WEEKS FROM NOW!!

There’s a lot to do to get ready for the move, but we’re excited (not that we don’t love Mississippi)…

Once we get all packed and figure out a place to live, we’re going to road-trip our stuff across the U.S. — a five to six day trip (which I hope to blog about). Can’t wait!

In the coming days, I’ll be posting more on graduation day festivities (including pictures) and our new soon-to-be hometown, so keep an eye out for that!

Image Sources: Google.com