A Weekend of Love

I know the weekend was a few days ago, but Branden and I had a wonderful weekend. It started on Friday when I got home. Branden had this beautiful display waiting for me as a surprise. I absolutely loved it!

For dinner we decided to go to a local German restaurant. We went there for lunch a few weeks ago and knew we wanted to go back. We loved EVERYTHING about the place. They even had live music on Friday so we were able to stay after dinner and enjoy some Irish music.

On Saturday, Branden and I decided to avoid the crowds and stay in for Valentine's day. We enjoyed each other's company and made a delicious dinner of steak and oysters! Our oysters had a delicious butter, basil, parsley, garlic, and lime sauce. I was spoiled because Branden did all the cooking (he loves grilling). However, I did surprise him by baking his favorite peanut butter cookies. I still have some perfecting to do as they were crunchy the next day. I love it when the cookies stay soft!

On Sunday my parents came to visit and we decided to check out the USS Hornet Museum. I've been wanting to go there for awhile but just never got around to it. I thought it was super cool and want to go back! We spent over 2 hours on the ship and I feel like I didn't even get to see half of it!

I highly recommend going to the museum if you are ever in the bay area. It has amazing views of the entire city and is home to some very significant history.

 

After the tour of the ship we went to dinner at a local seafood place and the dinner there was delicious as well! Branden and I decided we definitely have to go back there sometime, especially because it looks over the bay and on a clear night you can see the city.

It was so nice having my parents come visit on top of celebrating Valentine's Day with Branden. Hopefully they'll come back and visit again soon :-). I hope everyone else had a great weekend and if you had the day off (unlike me), you took advantage of that!

Baked Salmon Marinade

Branden and I love eating salmon and eat it almost every week. We have tried several different marinades, but we always go back to one. This has been my marinade for a few years now and I am still not tired of it. Like I said, we eat salmon almost every week, and we have used this marinade almost every time. It's seriously delicious and hope you will try it!

Ingredients

- 2 cloves garlic, minced (we add another 1-2 cloves depending on our mood)
- 6 tablespoons light olive oil
- 1 tsp dried basil (or 1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped (or 1 tsp dried)
- 1 lb. salmon, cut in 2

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, mix all ingredients, except salmon, together.
2. Place salmon on top of foil in a glass baking dish and cover with marinade (sometimes we place in a ziplock bag instead). Place in refrigerator for 30 min - 1 hour, rotating occasionally. 
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
4. Wrap fillets in aluminum foil and bake in glass dish for 30-40 minutes, until easily flaked with a fork

We usually serve with  rice or quinoa, and then a side of veggies.

Monday Monday

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Branden and I stayed home and just hung out and ran errands. Our weekend started on Friday when we had people over for dinner. Our friend had knee surgery so we offered up our place since he couldn't exactly make food for himself. Then I invited over another friend and we made an evening of it. I made this delicious soup that I'll share with everyone at the end of the post, and we played Cards Against Humanity.

On Saturday we went to REI and officially became members (hooray). We are going on a backpacking trip at the end of May and wanted to make sure our packs were sized correctly. It also happened to be their "garage sale" day so we walked out with some gently used hiking shoes which turned out to be a great deal!

We also watched Guardians of the Galaxy. Normally I'm not really into those kinds of movies, but I thought it was pretty good and there were some great jokes in there. I'd definitely recommend it if you are looking for something to watch.

On Sunday it was raining so we were couped up inside, but I made it to the grocery store so that we could try my friend, Andrea's, grilled cheese and tomato soup recipe. It was seriously DELICIOUS and you all have to try it. You can find the recipe on her blog, here.

The only thing we didn't do was include the mustard and mayo spread because Branden hates mayo and I hate mustard. If you don't have an immersion blender (we don't), just let the soup cool off a little and then pour it into your regular blender. I'm super excited to eat the leftover soup for lunch today.

Overall it was a great weekend and I hope everyone enjoyed it as well.

Tuscan White Bean Soup

Ingredients
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 tsp minced rosemary
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup diced tomatoes
- 1 rotisserie chicken, shredded
- Parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions

1. Put the olive oil, onion, and garlic in a soup pan and cook the onion and garlic until soft, about 10 minutes
2. Add remaining ingredients, except Parmesan, and simmer for 20-30 minutes
3. Season to taste with salt and pepper and add Parmesan, if desired

This recipe was super simple and I was told by our guests that it was delicious as well (I know I loved it). If you are looking for a quick soup recipe, this is for you! You can also make it vegetarian by removing the chicken and using vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.

What a Super Bowl!

I hope everyone had a great Super Bowl weekend and you are all recovering nicely! Branden and I went to visit his family this weekend. It started off on Saturday at his cousin's house, where we all watched the UFC fights. We had a great time hanging out with everyone even though the fights weren't that exciting (if you ordered them, you know what I'm talking about).

Sunday was spent at his sister's where we watched the game. I attempted to make a few appetizers but I didn't love them that much so I won't waste time posting them. I had high hopes for my crab and artichoke dip, but something just tasted off. I know I'll be able to make a better one eventually.

I was so happy with the outcome of the game! I cannot stand Seattle and I was so happy the Patriots won (although if the Pats were playing anyone else I probably wouldn't have been rooting for them). The game itself was very exciting and I was glad it wasn't a blowout like last year.

My favorite moment was watching Richard Sherman's heart break on the interception at the end. He is my least favorite player of all time and it made me so happy seeing his heart ripping out of his chest. If you missed it, you can watch it here.

I was fairly underwhelmed with the half time show and the commercials this year. Katy Perry didn't do terrible, but I didn't find it that exciting either. Her outfits were a bit much (especially her Hot Dog on a Stick uniform at the beach). I was super exciting to see Missy Elliott come out, but when she wasn't even pretending to lip sync, I got over it pretty quickly.

There were some pretty funny commercials, but for the most part, they were average. My favorite commercials were the following (in no particular order):

• Clash of Clans
• Budweiser Puppy
• Avocados from Mexico
• Doritos
• Esurance
• Snickers

I'm sure I'm forgetting some, and there are probably a few I didn't even see, but those were the best of what I saw. Leave a comment and tell me what your favorite commercials were and what you thought of the half time show.