Earth Hour 2010 is tomorrow!

Hello all! Tomorrow, March 28, at 8:30 p.m. (local time) is EARTH HOUR! Mark and I rarely use our lights and we keep our apartment pretty warm so our AC doesn't have to work very much. The one thing that's really sucking energy is the refrigerator. So for EARTH HOUR 2010 we're going to turn off our breaker so everything can be completely off.

I hope everyone can participate! And if you can't during that hour, just pick another hour during the day to celebrate our earth and save energy.

Love to all!

New Gig

Hello all! I am going to start working at an art gallery two blocks away from my apartment. I'm pretty excited about it, and I wanted to share some of the art I'll be selling.

You can view the gallery's website here: Artrageous Gallery
Here's some of the art!

Artist: Josh Kaplan
Title: Bob Marley

Artist: Josh Kaplan
Title: Sgt. Pepper's

Artist: Sasso
Title: Green House Effect

Artist: Sasso
Title: A Rose Is A Rose

Artist: Austin
Title: Nude Study

Ayesha's Kitchen - (Aunt Becky, you could do this!!)

In January, Mark and I took an Indian cooking class. Ayesha runs a cooking class in her kitchen, and she teaches 6-8 recipes in a class. (I wrote a HelloMiami article about it. Read it HERE if you want. I love clicks.)

I read about Ayesha months ago, and I've been saving money to do this. (Also, I love Indian food these days, and I like to try and cook it, so this was fun!) The class we took was called Vegetarian Delights. So naturally, all the dishes were veggie dishes. I can't wait to cook some mean meals for Chels! :) 

Here's the palak paneer cooking (literally, "spinach cheese"). In it there is ginger, onion, tomatoes and spinach (so far), all blended and cooking. 

When we got there, Ayesha passed around an appetizer and a homemade dipping sauce (a chutney) and we devoured them (we all came hungry, I guess!). Then we sat in her kitchen and got copies of the recipes that we were going to make. She had pre-cut everything and had it in clear containers. That really sped up the 6 meal process! 

We made a salad, two entrees, a rice dish, bread, and dessert. Ayesha had everything timed perfectly. At the end, we got to help roll out the dough for the Pooris (the type of bread we learned to make). Here's Mark frying his Pooris. 

Here's me in the kitchen and Ayesha's behind me laughing. I was trying to make it look easy!!

Here's me cooking Pooris. 

Before and after!

This is the dessert cooking. In it there were dates, figs, pistachios, cashews, sugar, and one other nut that I can't remember...

After it cooked, we rolled it into balls and it was very fudge-like, just without chocolate! It was really good.

Here's the rice pilaf and the chole (chickpeas). 

At the end of the class, we had a sit down lunch in Ayesha's dining room. She usually has the lunches outside in her tiki hut, but it was unusually cold that day, so we all opted to stay indoors. 

Here's Ayesha bringing in the food! She also made us warm chai tea to drink. It was lovely, and I can't wait to take another class! She has an All About Indian Breads class, and Mark wants that to be the next one we attend. :) The Bread Man.

Foodies

Mark and I have been doing a lot of cooking. This looks a little weird, I know, but it was DELICIOUS. So first we cooked a thin steak in olive oil and garlic and sliced it. Then we boiled potatoes and blended some spinach and onion. This is what the mixture looked like:

Then Mark (aka, The Bread Man), made some dough. We stuffed the mixture into the dough, sort of like a homemade hot pocket. Also, it was healthier than a hot pocket. :) Here's the Bread Man in action.

Here's what our hot pockets looked like after we baked them. A little misshapen, but YUM!

And here's what the inside looked like. So colorful and fun!

Mom, can you believe I'm eating green things, on my own?! Mwuahahah, I've come a long way since spitting up fried okra in Aunt Becky's kitchen. :)

Next post will be about the Indian cooking class Mark and I took in January! Sorry, I'm all backed up on my posts. But I'm catching up! Love!

Key West + Balcony Picture

This is my favorite time of day. As the sun is setting in the west, the buildings all turn pink from the sunset. I love curling up on my balcony with some tea and a good book!

This is me in Key West at the southernmost point of the US. Next stop is Cuba! Except I'm not going there. If I were to keep going south, Cuba would be there. :)

Here is the sunset in Key West from Mallory Square. Every evening at sunset they have a festival. There are artists, magicians, people swallowing swords, dogs in costumes doing tricks, and drinks and food! It is quite a party. Key West is BEAUTIFUL. I visited in January with my friend Jessi. 

Key West is about 4 hours south of Miami. Jessi went down for a hearing (she's an attorney for the Coast Guard), and I got to crash in her hotel room, because she's so sweet! :) Thanks, Jessi!

Twenty Ten is here

Hey everyone! I'm officially back on the blogging track! For a while I couldn't sign in for technical reasons, but it's all resolved. So Mark's friend (and also my friend) Joe came down for about a week to spend New Year's Eve in Miami with us. Here are some pictures of our adventures.

On January 1, Mark's professor had invited us over for a pig roast. He lives about 40 minutes south of downtown, and he has a farm, goats, chickens, etc. The place was beautiful and I took lots of pictures! This is the street by his house.

This is Mark eating some pig (or some of the other delicious food they had). I loved the country-style house that his professor has, and the amount of greenery in the yard was so beautiful. I think Mark was tired of me taking pictures of him...

This is a friendly horse outside of the professor's house that came up to say hello. Joe wasn't quite sure the proper way to greet him. He was wet, and we called him the Melted Trotting Horse.

Joe is a musician and plays with the country group Bomshel. He's a great bass player, and while he was here he and Mark made some music. This is them at work.

This picture is for Aunt Becky! It's my favorite lighthouse at Bill Baggs State Park on Key Biscayne. I'm laying down on the edge of the wall to take this picture looking straight up.

So, you guys have probably guessed that panoramic shots are my new favorite. Here is a panoramic from the top of the lighthouse. It was pretty hard to match up since the earth is round! But I like it anyway.

Maggie climbed in this window while she was in Miami. So this shot is for her! :)

This is at the top of the lighthouse, looking up to where the light is.

Here are the rocks I love from the top of the lighthouse. If only we could dive down and swim without dying!!

Two-shot panoramic from the keeper's quarters. Couldn't stop taking those...

It was a little cold when we went, but the sky and the lighting were beautiful. Hope you all enjoyed the pictures!

Shecky's Reporter!

My friends and I have attended the Shecky's Girls Night Out even in Miami. They do it twice a year, and they bring vendors from all over that make their own jewelry, handbags, makeup, clothing, etc. and feature them in one location. There are also drinks, food, goodie bags, and some entertainment. It's a really fun time! This year the event is on Thursday, November 19, and the company picked ME to be their "trend reporter".

Here is a picture of me and my friends from last year's event. I'm excited to go, report, AND get paid for it! It will probably be a while before the report is published on their website, but as soon as it is, I'll let you know.

Love you guys.
jb