Bon Appetit!

After seeing Julie and Julia it totally made me want plead with the Air Force to send us to France so I could go to French Cooking School. Or at least, quit everything else I am doing and plug through a famous cookbook for a year the way that Julie did. I love cooking and I love it even more when I learn new things about cooking and preparing food.

One of the things we saw prepared in the movie was bruschetta. Ben had never heard of it before and now insists on calling it Ambrosia for some reason; probably because he couldn't remember the word bruschetta-- but he commented during the movie that he would love for me to make that sometime.

It was a passing comment, but he usually doesn't make requests unless it has to do with the words "What" and "a burger". So I decided to grab me some french baguettes on my shopping trip this week and try my hand at it.

I kind of did my own spin on Bruschetta, but Ben and I both loved it! So here I am to share this goodness with you. Although it would be hard to make a meal out of this all by itself, we served it with a simple pasta dish with lemon & asparagus in it and our tummy's were both very happy afterward.

Ok so here's the recipe:

Bruschetta

1 loaf of french bread, sliced into 1/2" pieces

3 ripe tomatoes, seeded and diced finely

1 bunch of spinach or arugula, chopped finely

2 cloves garlic, cut in half

1/4 cup olive oil (more if necessary)

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese*

preheat oven to 450* F.

While oven is preheating, combine tomato, spinach and mozzarella in a bowl, along with equal amounts of salt and pepper to taste.

Once oven is preheated, place sliced bread on a broiler pan or cookie sheet and put in oven for about 2 minutes on each side, or until golden brown on top. Do not let the bread burn.

Once you have removed the bread from the oven, turn the oven down to 200*F.

After removing bread from oven (while still hot), take the halved garlic cloves and rub them across the top side of each bread slice. Amazingly, the aroma & flavor of the garlic will saturate into the bread just by rubbing it across each bread slice. Throw the cloves away when done. Brush half of olive oil over the top side of the bread slices. Add the tomato/spinach mixture and finally, drizzle remaining olive oil over each top.

Stick the bruschetta in the oven for a minute or two to melt the cheese. serve & enjoy!

* note: you can use smoked mozzarella or cubed mozzarella in this recipe as well. I just use the shredded kind because its cheaper & I usually have it on hand- it still tastes just as yummy!

oh how i love thee

Oh my goodness, I can't believe it is already the middle of September AND that my favorite apples in the whole wide world are back in stores!!

I was casually browsing the apples while grocery shopping today, thinking "blaaahhh, i can't believe i am getting granny smith again." Don't get me wrong, I love my granny smith, but I have a limit, and that limit was passed in like January. But then I saw them. HoneyCrisp Apples. A little piece of Heaven on earth.

These are the most delicious apples I have ever tasted. Perfectly juicy, and just sweet enough. Never mealy, or too sour, they are as close to perfect as an apple can be.

So if you have never had a HoneyCrisp Apple, splurge a little, and grab some on your next shopping trip. They are definitely more expensive than your run of the mill apple, but soooo worth it! And they are seriously only around for about 2 months....we are talking the priceless jewel of apples, you will be sooo happy when you've tried one.

Another reason I love honeycrisps so much is because I would bring them to the library when Ben and I were getting to know each other before our courtship. You know, during those "random" meetings in the library. I would eat my honeycrisp and we would gaze into each others eyes Oh so longingly. Yes I know I am being sappy, but its true...we talked absolutely nothing and yet it was ok. In my eyes, he could say nothing wrong or stupid or inconsequential. He was pure genius in my eyes, the man of men (of course, not much has changed there). And listening to him talk about who knows what, while eating my honeycrisp---oh it was pure bliss.

here's what ben is up to

As promised, here is an update on Ben.

Ben finished primary, the first "stage" of his flight training at the beginning of September. He flew a final "check" ride to determine whether he had passed primary or not, and the instructor said he did really well and passed him, completing this first stage. Wooohoooo!

Its really exciting to have one phase down, but at the same time, it doesn't mean its over. Next is intermediate. We were really thankful for the way his finishing primary fell in the calendar, because he finished right before labor day weekend and got to enjoy having Friday, Sat, Sun and Monday off from flying or studying!

We basically did next to nothing all weekend and LOVED it! It was a great treat for him especially, having worked so hard and so consistently for the past four months. These poor guys and girls hardly get any down time once they start training--its like drinking from a fire hose almost 24/7!

After Labor Day, it was back to reality, and back to work for Ben. He started intermediate, the second stage of training on Tuesday and is already in over his head w/ work! I know they give them this much on purpose, but let me tell you-- I am glad I get to witness all he does because I don't think I would fully appreciate it otherwise--its a lot. Imagine having finals week over and over and over again. Thats how he feels most of the time. So I am not trying to toot his horn, although I really do think he does a great job at handling it all. I am just trying to paint a picture for you guys. And both Ben and I recognize that God's hand is constantly over him, giving him the power to accomplish all that he is accomplishing, and we also recognize that there are a lot of people out there praying for him and his success and favor w/ both God & men.

Thank you for your prayers & support, it means so much to us & we can really see God working so keep it up! your prayers are effective, and most desired!

Specifically, Ben has lots of studying and chart making to do this week, and has his first intermediate simulator tomorrow. He will have a few more simulators next week and then if all goes well, he will be up in the air again sometime in the coming week. Thats my crazy plane loving man!

back to school. back to cool.

love that slogan.

I wish this was me on my first day of school, with my matching pink lunchbox and back pack- this girl's not messing around. Unfortunately, I didn't have any pictures of me as a kindergartener handy, so I just swiped this one.

And regretfully, Ben didn't take a picture of me heading out for my first day back to school post bachelor's, so sorry for the lack of a good visual, but use your imagination.

So, yes, I have started back to school..I am in my third week of classes. Sociology & Human Growth & Development on Tuesdays and Thursdays. And to say the least, its been.....interesting.

We spent the whole first week in both of my classes getting acquainted w/ each other. Literally going around the room to every single person & getting at least half of their life story. That was weird, not that I didn't enjoy it, but I could remember maybe once or twice at A&M that that happened and I am pretty sure that all we really said in our "introduction" was our name and what our major was, oh yea and that we were in the fighting class of....AAA!! hullabaloo.

My two classes are relatively small though, so I guess that affords us the option to even do introductions at all. Its also interesting because 18 year olds are actually the minority in my classes...there are probably more 30 and 40 year olds than anything else and I think 27 is the average age at the college. So, kinda cool as well.

My classes also tend to debate a lot, which isn't necessarily my favorite aspect of it, but in these subjects you can't really get around it I guess...everyone has their opinion and wants to make sure they voice it. The only classes I really ever did that in at A&M were spanish classes, but for all of us whities, you can't really get too far in a debate in spanish, or too heated- people just get confused too quickly and say "si". And in my nutrition classes, most of us were on the same page. So thats interesting...I think the Lord is wanting to teach me patience w/ all the outspoken people that seem to be concentrated in my classes & to see them thru His eyes and not my foggy, critical ones. I also need to discern when to speak up and when not to...not that its easy to get a word in edge wise, but there are times when I should probably at least try.

Needless to say, I am definitely learning more than just sociology and human development thru being back in school. I am glad it is where the Lord has me for the time being.

next post I will give a little hub update on ben's schooling and such!

record breaking

Pensacola has surprisingly brought a lot of really fun people our way over the past year. We have been shocked at how many visitors we have had here and have also had some surprise encounters w/ people from college that we didn't even know lived here!



I don't know if its the beach that brings them all in, or our cute faces. Surely its not for all the metropolitan attractions because lets just face it, P'cola is not so metro. I think its probably for the beaches, especially for those visiting from Texas and have never experienced white sands, crystal blue water or seaweed free swimming.



So August actually marks the first month in about 7 months that we haven't had visitors! Crazy, I know! and you'd think that we'd be ready for the break, but actually Ben was telling me the other day that he wanted someone to come visit us, and I had to agree--we kind of liked the once a month visitor set up :)



But I do get to have somewhat of a visitor "fix" today because one of my SA friends, Becca Smith, now lives in Mobile, Al, just 40 minutes up the road and we are going to meet up for lunch! Its so fun when God transplants you nearby to a friend you'd never have imagined you'd see outside of TX!

That happened to me a lot in Colorado Springs too, when I was bored out of my mind during the week, not knowing what to do all by my lonesome in this strange new place while Ben was spending the weeks 45 min away learning to fly planes. I ended up reuniting w/ a friend from A&M who had just moved up there, met a long lost twice or thrice removed cousin and her husband, and was connected w/ at least one other friend of a friend--God always provides! He did that for me in a circumstance where it really wasn't necessary, but He knew my heart and knew how lonely I was and blessed me beyond belief with those little happenings. Nothing is too small or inconsequential for Him!

Anyway, just wanted to share what was on my mind this morning! and for all you reading this, know that there is always an open invitation for you at our house!

disney world!

magic kindgom

fabulous 3D glasses

pirates of the carribean

space mountain--it was closed, but we took a pic anyway!

a very impressive legos store

needless to say, ben was elated

fancy car at the test track

the epcot ball!

So much to say!

I haven't blogged in over a week because I have been quite the busy lady.

Ben and I had a great weekend trip to Orlando, which I will post pictures of later! We visited Magic Kingdom & part of Epcot. I had our whole day mapped out at Magic Kingdom and we were so on top of all the rides & getting to the park early that we got done w/ everything we wanted to do there by 3pm! So we decided to head over to Epcot, which was really fun, some of our favorite rides were there!

On our way back from the park we were trying to finagle a way to get back to Orlando before the year ends to see the rest of Disney! So all in all it was a great, fun filled trip that we were very fortunate to be able to take. Ben actually got stuck down in Orlando for a few days following, because the weather was pretty bad for flying. I drove back to Pensacola on Monday, Aug 17th (which happens to be my birthday) and had to get packed & ready to fly to San Antonio the next day!

Two of our sweet friends here in Pensacola, we call them our "couple friends", knew that Ben wasn't in town & had me over for birthday cake & coffee that night--- what a blessing! It was so much fun to be w/ them on my birthday, since Ben couldn't be here.

Then early Tuesday morning I flew out of Pensacola to visit SA for the week! One of my best friends growing up, Jacki Gonzalez (now Morris) was getting married the following weekend so I flew in a little early to spend some time w/ my mom, dad & brother. Its a rare occcassion when we all get to be together!

It was such a blessing to be w/ my family & friends that week, although we all wished for Ben to be there too! And Jacki's wedding was beautiful!! She married an Air Force guy so who knows, we could be stationed w/ each other in the future!

I got back from San Antonio on Monday afternoon & Ben was able to pick me up at the airport...I think it was the longest we have been away from each other so far, so we were reallly excited to see each other again!

We had just enough time to relax that afternoon/evening before he went back to work on Tuesday, and I started my first day of classes!!

I am officially starting my quest toward being a Nurse!! Classes are going well so far--I think I appreciate them more now, having had a year off of school..

Well thats all for now, I am also recovering from a cold spell...but all the "sick" type feelings are subsiding now and I am starting to feel more like myself, although still a little congested.