Cooking With My Grandmother, Beef Birds

A few weeks ago my sister and I went to visit our Grandmother, who is an excellent cook, so that we could gain some valuable knowledge about cooking. We made beef birds which is an old recipe from my Great Great Grandmother, they turned out amazing and we had so much fun cooking and learned valuable tips that couldn't very be picked up from a cookbook or a Pinterest recipe.

The supplies: Beef braciole, bacon, onion, carrots & celery. Plus more good stuff for the gravy!  

 Grammy showing us how to roll up the first bird!

 Becca giving it a try.

Perfect Bird!

Next step is to brown those suckers.

They smell so good, you can smell the bacon as they cook up in the pan!

We learned how to make polenta too, this was such a great dinner!

I'm so glad we learned how to make the birds from my Grandmother because usually I just figure recipies out on my own but learning from someone is so much better because then you get to learn how they do things, including tips and secrets. I know if I had taken the beef birds recipe and attempted it on my own it would not have been nearly as good as my Grandmothers way. 

Stairs Redo and some puppy pics!

So a few weeks ago we decided to pull the old worn out carpet off of our stairs, we knew they were hard wood but we were worried about the state of the wood so we deiced to get a runner so that we wouldn't have to worry about any damage. It was a labor intensive project but it was definitely worth it for the results, now we can't wait ti pull up more of the old carpet!
Here are pics that show the process..

                                                         This is what we had before..                          

                                                                   John hard at work!

So this is what we have now, it is so comfy to walk on and Gus loves it because he did fall down the wood steps a few times before we finished them. 

Speaking of Gus he is growing very fast and he is 4 and a half months now and he is so much fun, here are some pictures of Gus' life so far..

These two pictures and the first day we brought him home, he was so tiny and had no idea what was going on!

                                           

This is when Gus discovered that laundry baskets are fun.

This was a chilly morning and Gus knows where to go.

Doggy bed head

Well that's what we've been up to for the past few weeks, between the house and the puppy we have been very busy! 

Xoxo Tori & Gus

How to Live in Your Own House

Yes, I'm talking about adult style, including all the perks like mortgage paying, lawn mowing, grocery shopping, home projects, etc.
Well I am the best person to go to for all the details of new home-ownership, John and I have been in our new little house for 7 months now. It has been rough at times and really fun and definitely rewarding. Here are some pics from our journey so far..

This is when things got real.. February 2013!

This is the celebratory champagne toast from our closing day! 

Snow, 3 days into home-owning! 3/25/13

This is the house sort of dressed up for the first Memorial Day weekend. 

There have been so many projects to do with this little place, its crazy. We have done some but there is so much left for us to do and it will take a lot of money, shutters for example are on the list. 

However, we are happy where we are and we feel very blessed to have our little house near our families right in the town that we had hoped to be in!