Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes

The perfect all-American meal.

Parmesan Meatloaf
{From Real Simple}

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 egg
1 grated onion
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/4 cup tomato paste

Directions:
1. Combine ground beef, egg, onion, parsley, bread crumbs, cheese and tomato paste. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
2. On a foil-lined baking sheet, shape the mixture into an eight-inch loaf. Bake at 400 degrees for fifty minutes.

Garlic Cheddar Mashed Potatoes
{From McCormick}

Ingredients:
4 potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
1. Place potatoes in a large saucepan. Cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for ten minutes.
2. Drain water and return potatoes to saucepan. Season with garlic and salt.
3. Mash with a potato masher. Gradually add milk, butter and cheese.

Around the House

Over the last three months, we've made a few changes around the apartment. {Please excuse the bad lighting in these pictures! I had to take them at night.}

I found this cute little vase at Anthro in DC. It was on clearance and in my two favorite colors {coral and turquoise} so I just had to bring it home.





Remember how we took family pictures over Christmas break? Well, I got my two favorite shots printed on canvas. I searched the web high and low for a steal, because canvases can cost quite the pretty penny. I ended up purchasing them from Arts Cow for $17 a piece, with free shipping!

{P.S. You can check out the rest of the family photos over on Flickr.}





The biggest addition to the apartment is a new coffee table from Ballard Designs! We had been wanting somewhere to prop up our feet, hold our drinks & snacks, and store our board games for a while. So when I stumbled upon a steal of a deal from Ballard, I discussed it at length with Adam and then added the little guy to my shopping cart! My absolute favorite thing about it is that our board games are no longer stored underneath our couch. Organization makes me happy.



See that cute gray area rug underneath the coffee table? I've heard all over the place that rugs are really essential to having a polished room. But they are just so dang expensive! Enter this pretty and neutral 4x6 rug for a mere $20. You may be wondering where we stumbled upon this gem. Why IKEA, of course! I convinced Adam to make a super quick stop there on our way to pick up Allie and Kailin from the airport a couple weeks ago.

While at IKEA, we also picked up a $5 frame so that we could finally hang our third bird print in the kitchen. The pretty turquoise prints were a wedding gift from Allie, but one of our frames broke during the long move from Houston to Pittsburgh. The frames were all originally white, but I spray-painted them yellow to add some more color to the kitchen.





Finally, we have some treasures from my Goodwill expedition with Allie and Kailin. This $1 glass jar is perfect for storing our favorite dark chocolate cocoa.





And this $2 table runner {from Pottery Barn!} will be perfect for fall decorating.



Speaking of our table, we're just not digging that shade of wood and are thinking about painting it as a summer project. But we can't decide whether to go black or white. Here's what I'm thinking.

Black: Well, all our other furniture items are black. And we probably won't have an eat-in kitchen in our next apartment, so maybe black would be best for a more cohesive look?

White: It would look better with our wood cabinets. And cabinets in a future apartment would probably be either white or wood. Maybe white would be a good choice just to break out from the black theme we've got going?

What do you think? Would you go black or white?

Happy Birthday, Kate!

Today is Alex's fiancee, Kate's birthday! We wish we could be there to celebrate with her and can't wait for their wedding this summer!

Five Random Facts About Kate:

1. She has a Master's in Theology and is now getting her PhD in Religious Studies.

2. When she's not busy with all that PhD stuff, she really likes to knit.

3. She loves, loves, loves Harry Potter.

4. She's had a lot of celebrity sightings, like Ben Folds at a Thai restaurant in Nashville and Yao Ming on a flight from Houston.

3. She will kick your butt at Dutch Blitz.



Happy Birthday, Kate!

Highs and Lows

Highs

Caitlin: Ordering and assembling {all by myself!} a new furniture item from here.

Adam: Doing well on his advanced calculus midterm.

Lows

Caitlin & Adam: Not getting enough sleep!

Oh, Hail

Did you know that Pittsburgh gets more rain each year than Seattle? Now that its finally spring, the city has exchanged snow fall for rain showers. But, yesterday we didn't just get rain. For about thirty minutes, hail was dropping from the sky like crazy!

Luckily, we were both in class at the time. Getting pelted with ice the size of golf balls would not have been an enjoyable experience!

A random and unrelated Pittsburgh experience:

We live in South Oakland, a student neighborhood near Pitt. Our little section is pretty safe {there's a nursing home on our street} but gosh darn trashy. And when I say trashy, I mean that there's literally trash all over the place.

As part of our spring cleaning, Adam and I tried to pick up all the litter we could. We walked around just one city block and filled up two kitchen garbage bags!

The weird part is that our neighbors are really into recycling. Every other garbage day, people place their recycling - separated into paper, plastic, and cans - out on the curb for pick up. Why do they take the time to sort their recycling but can't be bothered to throw their beer bottles and cigarette butts in the nearest trash can?

Texans may not be the best recyclers, but they sure know that we don't mess with Texas!

Poppyseed Chicken

My ultimate comfort food!



Poppy Seed Chicken
{From My Mommy}

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
8 oz. sour cream
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
1 roll of Ritz crackers

Directions:
1. Bake the chicken breasts at 350 for fifty minutes, flipping over once during cooking.
2. When the chicken has cooled, dice into cubes. Place in an 8x10 pan.
3. In a small mixing bowl, combine the cream of chicken soup and sour cream. Stir in the poppy seeds. Pour the mixture over your chicken.
4. Crush the roll of Ritz crackers. Sprinkle the crumbs on top of your casserole.
5. Bake at 350 for thirty minutes. Serve on top of rice. Makes four servings.

Spring Break Part Two: Pittsburgh

The rest of Allie and Kailin's visit was spent in Pittsburgh. Every morning, Adam and I would go to class while Allie and Kailin would sleep in and relax. It was their spring break, after all. Then we'd meet up in the afternoon to sight-see around the city.



On Monday, we had lunch at our favorite purveyor of breakfast food, Pamela's Diner. Then, we headed to the Southside Works to shop at H&M {since it's not a Texas thing} and Goodwill. Allie and Kailin found some awesome treasures at Goodwill, which I'm sure they'll be sharing on their blogs soon. We ended the outing with an afternoon snack at the Milkshake Factory.





That night, we had poppyseed chicken for dinner {recipe to come later this week!} and watched Morning Glory.

On Tuesday, we had lunch at our favorite little Thai place, Spice Island Tea House. Then, we wandered through Phipps Conservatory, an indoor botanical garden near campus.







We stopped for an afternoon snack at Dave & Andy's Ice Cream on our way home. That night, we had quiche florentine for dinner {with bacon - always a good addition} and played Settlers of Catan. It was an extremely intense game, but Adam came out victorious in the end!

On Wednesday, we had lunch at Crepes Parsiennes.





Every time I go to that restaurant, my stomach hurts really, really bad afterward. But it's so cute and yummy that I go back again after a few months. Well, this time I actually threw up {for the first time since middle school!} so it's safe to say that I've finally learned my lesson.

I gave Allie and Kailin a little tour of my favorite spots on campus - Saint Paul's Cathedral, the Newman Center, and the Cathedral of Learning, where we wandered through all the nationality rooms.



That night, we had chicken with peanut sauce for dinner. Then, we headed to Station Square for dark chocolate fondue at The Melting Pot.





We ended the evening by taking the Duquense Incline up Mt. Washington to check out an awesome view of the Pittsburgh skyline.





On Thursday, their last day in Pittsburgh, we had lunch at the Pretzel Sandwich Shop. They quite literally sell sandwiches made with soft pretzels instead of regular ol' bread. We loved it!



We stopped by the bookstore so Allie and Kailin could each pick out a $2.99 Pitt shirt. We saw the cutest little girl Pitt cheerleader outfit on clearance, which I was tempted to purchase for future Burch babies. But then I remembered that my old bible study leader, Julie, just had a beautiful little baby girl. Perfect present idea.

Of course, we had to stop for ice cream at Dave & Andy's one more time before the girls left for the airport. I was so sad to see them go!

Luckily, that very day we found a steal of a deal for flights to Houston on Labor Day weekend. I can't wait to see Allie and Kailin's nursing school apartment. And the rest of our families, of course!

We're already dreaming about Spring Break 2012. The Big Apple, maybe? Or perhaps somewhere actually warm...

Spring Break Part One: Washington D.C.

As I already mentioned, Adam and I spent the first part of our spring break working, studying, and spring cleaning. On Thursday night, Allie and Kailin flew up from Dallas to visit for a week!

We decided to spend the weekend in Washington D.C. since it's only a five-hour drive away. We had planned to take the Mega Bus there, but we weren't quite swift enough and the tickets sold out. So, we went with the next most economical option and rented a car instead.

Due to leaving a bit late and hitting some traffic, we didn't get into D.C. until six on Friday evening. We checked into our hotel, the Holiday Inn near Dupont Circle, and immediately went to check out the White House.



We were all surprised by how small it was. But we didn't realize until the next day that we were checking out the back side of the mansion. Whoops!



Then we had dinner at Founding Farmers. We got all our restaurant recommendations from one of my favorite blogs, The Rockstar Diaries, and they all certainly lived up to her praise!



Being Friday night, we had to wait a little while for a table. Fortunately, the Founding Farmers' lobby was stocked with food-related books for us to peruse while waiting. {Eavesdropping on that cute red-haired girl's conversation also helped speed the time along.}



We were slightly disappointed to have visited Founding Farmers during Lent because they had some chicken & waffles on the menu that sounded amazing. Being such big fans of chicken biscuits, Allie and I have been wanting to try that combination for quite a while.

Instead, Allie got a scrumptious salad and Kailin got the best grilled cheese of her life.



Adam and I both ordered macaroni & cheese with peas and apples. As you can tell, we were very excited about it.



We stopped for dessert at Pitango Gelato. I tried the dark chocolate and pear sorbets. Delish!





The next morning, we got up bright and early to tour the monuments. Of course, we started off at the Washington Monument.





Then, we headed over to the World War Two Memorial, where we just had to get a picture with our native state.





Next, we made our way to the Lincoln Memorial.





And we finished up at the Vietnam War Memorial.





We split up for a little bit to do some museum-crawling. Allie and Kailin went to the National Holocaust Museum, while Adam and I checked out the Smithsonian National History Museum.



We saw a lot of neat exhibits, but my personal favorite was Julia Child's kitchen.



I also loved the First Ladies exhibit. Here's Jackie Kennedy's inaugural gown.



And here's Michelle Obama's gown, the newest addition to the collection.



We met up with Allie and Kailin for a late lunch at Teaism, a cute Asian place. By that point, we were so hungry that we didn't waste time taking pictures!

Then we finished up touring the monuments. We got as close as we could to the front side of the White House.



And walked along the Tidal Basin to see the Jefferson Memorial.



We headed out to Georgetown in hopes of getting a cupcake from the famous Georgetown Cupcake.



But when we saw the ridiculously long line and learned that we'd have to wait for at least two hours, we quickly abandoned that plan.



Instead, we browsed in the world's largest Anthropologie and had dinner at Paradiso Pizzeria, where we saw the red-haired girl from Founding Farmer's. What a small world!





On Sunday morning, we ventured out to the Catholic University of America for Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.



It's the largest Catholic church in the United States and absolutely gorgeous inside!





We had lunch at Ted's Bulletin in Capitol Hill.





Ted's serves the most scrumptious shakes.



And they play old movies in the dining area! They were screening Mr. Smith Goes to Washington during lunch.



Adam and I are big Jimmy Stewart fans, so we were pretty excited. Allie caught shots of our "tv faces" on camera.





We browsed in the Eastern Market for a few minutes and picked up some croissants from Le Pain Quotidien, a favorite bakery of ours from France that's been transplanted to America.

Sadly, it was time to hit the road again. But listening to the audio-book version of The Help kept us mighty entertained on the long drive home.

Due to lack of sleep and grumpiness about driving in DC traffic, I was a little cranky on this trip. But I had such a great time and I hope that Allie and Kailin did too!

P.S. You can check out more pictures from the trip on my Flickr page!