burnt broccoli smells bad

so, 50 days until the wedding and i'm already burning food. haha. i guess it was bound to start sometime. i told dan to get used to it, too, because i'm sure this isn't the last time. we have these great (and expensive) pots and i wanted to try them out & learn how to use them. (i know that sounds dumb, but... they're super heavy duty and really pretty cool.) let me explain.

these are royal prestige pots. they have a whistle on them to let you know when the food inside reaches 180 degrees (i believe it is 180), anyway, they boast "waterless" and "greaseless" cooking. so, for the chicken i preheated the pan (you know it's preheated when you splash water on it and it beads and dances - sooo fun!) and just put the chicken in, no oil or anything. you brown the one side and flip them once, then put the lid on and let it cook for about 10 minutes i think.

so, the waterless cooking for the veggies... you put the veggies in and 1 tablespoon of water and open the whistle and cook on medium. well... i found out tonight that you're not supposed to preheat the pot for veggies like you do with the meat. it all just burned right into the bottom of the pot. :(

i think bar keeper's friend is our new best friend too... thankfully it's cheap. i think it's been around forever, or dan and i will have to look into getting stock in it somehow. the mess is all cleaned up now, but... wow was it bad. and it just smelled like someone was smoking in our apartment! thankfully we just got this cool new febreeze air freshener - brazilian bazaar or something like that... i can't remember the exact name - it was brazilian something-or-other.

speaking of brazilian stuff, guess what i got today!!!! dan and i had to run out to get a key made and walmart didn't have the right size key (but we did get some funny entertainment from the 2 guys looking for the key... lol) so we went to dicks, and they don't cut keys. while we were in the area, though, we stopped at a new store called planet pulse. we'd never been in, although it opened back in october. we were watching tv a while ago and saw an ad for them and they carry... wait for it... HAVAIANAS!!!! :) yesssss!!! and they're only $16 there!!! sweeeeet! my new favorite place to buy flip flops!!! i didn't really look what else they had. but i did impress the girls working there because i told them about brazil and how even the construction guys wore havaianas when they poured concrete... that's how popular they are there (of course down there they were 1/3 the price, too, but i'm not complaining because when i order them through brazilianstore.com they are around $35 i think)

so this is getting random-er by the second, but i kept meaning to write a blog recently and now everything is just spilling out of me. my sisters came up 2 weekends ago (end of may) for a bridal shower for me! :) it was so great! susan came up too and lindsey came down from erie and a bunch of my friends and family came over! it was so great! (not just because i got gifts - tho they were incredibly helpful for the new apartment) but i got to see them and talk with everyone, it was a great time! :) so, dan and i found an apartment just in time, too! haha it's just a little 1 bedroom in baden, but we don't need anything too big, it's just the 2 of us. it's a great little place and basically all furnished now, too - thanks to a few of dan's coworkers! it's so great! :D

this wedding planning must be really stressing me out because i was sitting there playing with my hair today and found a white one! i'm 25!! i pulled it out, of course, but kept it. i have to show rose. haha. my first white hair. :( i couldn't believe it.

oh, so i'm leaving in 11 days for a mission trip to west virginia. i was thinking today about how much i miss doing mission trips. it's been quite a while now - so weird. so, i'm excited to see what this trip will hold. :) when we get back i'll have just over a month before the wedding. how crazy am i? :op

dan and i start pre-marital counseling tomorrow. should be interesting... :) we have no real idea what to expect. i mean, kinda-sorta, but.. not. y'know?

okay, so i think that's enough for now... getting tired. i can't believe it's been so long since my last post - i have got to work on that... later. haha. i'm such a procrastinator... here i am procrastinating ending this and going to bed, even. wow. okay, seriously i'm done now. oh, and we did get a key made - at home depot, just so you know. :)




take care of you for me.