Cilantro

I come from a line of marvelous women... who don't like to cook. To us, cooking is something you do in order to eat, in order to survive. Luckily, I married the perfect man for me, Luke wouldn't mind if we ate spaghetti and stir fry on rotation every night for the rest of our lives.

Sometimes, however, I notice people (primarily women) around me who enjoy cooking. They make amazing food every night! They follow something called a recipe and try new and exciting food, with successful results. And they get a lot of joy out of it!

I've never been good at following a recipe. I get bored. I got my Mothers' dislike of cooking but my Fathers' creative desire to throw things into a dish and see how it turns out (my Dad is a great cook). Which is why I get along with stir fry. It's easy to throw things into a stir fry and hard to mess up. Unfortunately I'm pretty sure the best way to increase my desire to cook will be to get better at it and the way to get better at cooking is to practice (by following.... recipes).

The other night, I was feeling pretty motivated and decided to try a recipe I have for a quiche. Quiches are pretty simple, right? I followed the recipe perfectly. I even measured out all the ingredients with all those little spoons (something I never do). It smelled great... it looked beautiful... and I MADE it! We tasted it and...

...discovered we hate cilantro.

So we swapped out quiche for this.....

YUM!

Bon Appetit!

Family Fun!

A few weeks ago, Luke and I got to play host to Luke's Mom. She stopped by for a visit after a trip up to Minnesota to visit her sister. We played games, went shopping, played games, visited an animal shelter, played games, walked around the U of I, and played games. Did I mention we played games... well, to be a more accurate blogger... we played one game. We played the board game Ticket to Ride about eight times. Luke won every game but one (he admitted to cheating later.... yep, you have to watch him like a hawk). It was really fun (well as fun as losing 8 games of Ticket to Ride can be).

If no one is cheating (and even if someone is) it's a really fun game. Thanks to our friends for letting us borrow it.

Mostly, we just enjoyed each others company. It is wonderful to have family around. As much as we've come to like Illinois, Luke and I both miss having family nearby. It sure is great when friends and family come to visit us (hint, hint).