Grilling Season Has Begun!

Sexy huh? Photos by Sarah

It’s that time of year again (finally). One of my favorite things that you will come to know is that I absolutely love grilling. The smell of propane (or charcoal) and the sound of meat searing on those hot grates on a beautiful summer day is just music to my ears.

Now, I’m not much of a salad kind of guy, but Sarah and I have wanted to try grilled romaine salads for a while now. The idea sounds crazy; taking a leafy green veggie and placing it on the grill. Won’t it burn San? NO! If done properly, you will be rewarded with a nicely charred piece of lettuce and a taste that is out of this world. I can honestly say that we will be grilling romaine as much as we possibly can this summer.

Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad

• · 1 large chicken breast, thawed and pounded to 1/4” thick
• · 1 large head of romaine lettuce
• · 2 tsp. of garlic
• · Salt and Pepper, to taste
• · Olive Oil, for brushing lettuce and marinating the chicken
• · Mr. Dash’s Onion and Herb seasoning, to taste
• · Caesar Vinaigrette (we like Kraft’s version)
• · Parmesan, to taste
• · Croutons

1. Give a nice mist of nonstick spray to the grill grates before preheating. Set (propane) grill to medium-high heat.

2. Place chicken breast in a Zip-Lock bag and add the garlic, salt and pepper, enough oil to coat the entire piece, and a few good shakes of Mrs. Dash’s Onion and Herb seasoning. Seal the bag and toss breast in mixture to evenly distribute. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

3. Thoroughly rinse the head of romaine under cold running water, shaking to remove excess water and dirt. If you have a large bunch of romaine, peel back a few layers to save for sandwiches, lettuce wraps, etc.

4. Leaving the root on, cut the head directly in half length-wise. Generously brush the cut ends with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.

5. Place marinated chicken breast on hot grill; cooking approximately 4-6 minutes on each side until juices run clear or internal temperature is 165 degrees Fahrenheit in the thickest part. Let cool and cut into bite-size cubes.

6. Leaving grill open, lower heat down to medium. Place oiled romaine halves cut-side down on the grill diagonally. Cook for 4 minutes or until nicely charred. Remove from the grill.

7. Place romaine cut side up on plates. Top with cooked chicken, vinaigrette, parmesan and croutons. Add more salt and pepper to taste.

8. Enjoy.

If I remember correctly, it was a tad bit salty because of the Caesar vinaigrette. So if you don’t like salt too much, cut back a bit. But as you can see, it was a beautiful presentation. It tasted light and it was also very filling. This instantly became one of our favorite meals to make on the grill.

Finally Settled In. Sort Of.

Oh man. My schedule and moving have kept me pretty busy lately that it’s been a while since I actually had time to sit at my computer and lay down some thoughts. It’s good to have a normal routine again and be able to commit to another hobby too.

Over the past two weeks, Sarah, myself and my roommate, Richard, have been busy moving, decorating and cleaning not only our new place, but our old (crappy) place as well. The day of the move was probably the most stressful, to say the least. Sarah and I were yelling at each other while moving furniture. We laugh at it now, but that it was such a stressful time. Luckily my awesome Aunt Lang (pronounced Lung) came up all the way from Rochester to help us out. Once she arrived we moved as quickly as our bodies and feet would let us to get stuff out of our old place.

As we filled the U-Haul, we were hesitant yet excited to move into our new apartment, not because of the stress of unpacking (it was stressful whether or not we would like it), but because we never had a chance to take a tour of it before signing on the dotted line. Dumb, right? Oh well. To say the least, we were very taken back by how much space and how great the place looked. Compared to our place, this was like moving in to a castle for us.

Once the three of us unloaded the truck and our cars and placed boxes in corresponding rooms, we did a quick unpack of things and started visualizing how we would place our furniture, bed, kitchen table etc. It slowly came together and now we are almost fully settled in.

To be completely honest, we spent (more like I spent), a lot of money during the first 2 weeks. Between Sarah and me, we purchased:

• · A PS3 (all me, )
• · A nice garbage can
• · A 2-burner Brinkmann gas grill w/ a cover
• · A storage unit for our bathroom
• · Odds and ends for our kitchen, bathroom, and our living area
• · Countless pizzas from Little Caesars

In the end, this place is more than what we could ask for. Tons more space, safer, CLEAN, and most importantly, it feels more like a home than our old place ever did. I’ll post up pictures within the next week or two depending on how far we get with decorating everything, or when Sarah says it’s ok to show people, haha.

It’s FINALLY time to move!

After living in our current apartment, which is a hell-hole to say the least, it is time to move to a bigger and much better place. Since Sarah has moved in, we have been just keeping things in boxes before heading to our new apartment. It’s been a rough three weeks living in close quarters with tons of boxes taking up space and trying to cram everything in our already cramped apartment.

Shot of our living room. Full of boxes of random stuff.

Just. A. Mess.

Closet is completely gutted and left with what will be worn tomorrow.

My little media stand is now bare. TV and Xbox are packed away .

All art and calendars are gone too. Feels so mind-numbing in here!

The smartest choice we made was to start packing early. That’s probably the best advice I was ever given about moving to a new place. It takes a lot of stress off your plate and you will be able to breathe much easier when the time comes. Sarah and I put things away that we didn’t think we would possibly be using for the next 3 weeks and we also threw out things we knew we didn’t want. We also started a donation pile to bring over to Goodwill when we have the chance.

Tomorrow is our big move-in/out day and we couldn’t be any more happier or ready to leave our current place. We are just as nervous as we are excited. Hopefully it all goes smooth without too many problems.

S’been a while. BLOG # 1

it’s been a busy few weeks. Sarah has finally moved in.  After celebrating not only Sarah’s graduation, helping her move in/adjusting to the our new living arrangements, and celebrating her birthday, I can finally sit down and chat about what’s going on.

Sarah has been living with my roomie and I for the past 3 weeks. The move was definitely tough, but we finally managed to fit all of her stuff that’s packed away in boxes, and fit some of her furniture into our little apartment. It was just a taste of what we will be doing in a few short weeks when we move to our new place. I can say, with confidence, that I we cannot wait to GTFO of this place.

Sarah graduated Summa Cum Laude from St. Thomas University a few weeks ago. I’m so proud of her. Doing school work, trying to plan her career out, and planning a wedding all at the same time takes someone with a lot of willpower. She kicked ass and did all of that and I couldn’t be any more happier for her. She also recently finished a short field experience at a school in St. Paul where she got a clear view of what teaching a class is really like. She is definitely excited to start teaching her own class some day.

We did happen to celebrate her birthday this past weekend as well. To say the least, it was…entertaining.  Her and I met up with some friends at the Wild Onion in St. Paul. After a few drinks, good food, and more drinks, Sarah was feeling good. Too good that we actually had to leave early, which I won’t get into detail about.

Oh and what about me? Just working as usual while adjusting to our new living arrangements. The best part of my day? Coming home after a long day of work knowing she’ll be there to scratch my back. Work was busy this past week because we had an audit and tomorrow we have a Kosher function for 400 plus people. HOW LUCKY AM I?! As long as I make it out a live right? .

So yeah, that basically sums it all up. Thing will get chaotic again once we move, but for now, we are just taking it easy.

-San