2011 Birthday CD

It's that time of year again: my sister's birthday, her 30th! She's about to become a first-time mom too, so I tried to make this CD real, real special:

1) 1517 - The Whitest Boy Alive
2) Karate - Kennedy (hilarious)
3) Minute by Minute - The Doobie Brothers (I've been saving this one. It didn't seem right to pack all my Doobie Bros/Michael McDonald selections into one past CD. Hall & Oates had to be spread out over several years too so the disc wouldn't catch fire because of its awesomeness)
4) Stuck in the Middle with You - Stealers Wheel
5) Love Game - Lady Gaga
6) I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend to Dance - The Black Kids
7) She's a Bad Mama Jama - Carl Carlton
8) Sara Smile - Hall & Oates
9) Two of Hearts - Stacey Q (one of my favorite moments in the movie Hot Rod is when Rod's friends are doing a dance to this song in the background of a scene)
10) Poison - Bell Biv Devoe
11) Nothing on You - B.o.B.
12) Around the World - ATC
13) Sultans of Swing - Dire Straits
14) My Sweet Lord - George Harrison (thanks for reminding me of it, iTunes $.69 playlist!)
15) Thong Song - Sisqo (at our house, we sing this but say "Fong" instead of "Thong." That's the name of our building's Chinese handy man)
16) Somebody to Love - Justin Bieber (the first Bieber song I heard, last summer at the Seven Peaks wave pool. It really sticks in your head)
17) Like a G6 - Far East Movement (I thought she'd be embarrassed by this one and I was right)
18) Roni - Bobby Brown (Roni is a nickname my sister has for her dog, so I was very excited about this one)

P.S. I must give credit to my husband for introducing me to 4 tracks on this year's CD (#s 1, 2, 6, and 18) and reminding me of at least 4 others. I've loved him for his taste in music since our dating days.

Christmas 2010

We spent nearly two weeks in Utah for Christmas and don't have many pictures to show for it, but here are a few highlights:

Christmas Eve dinner at Brick Oven, a delicious recent tradition. Two sisters were at in-laws, and it's the first year I can remember where all 5 of us weren't together (I've been so spoiled as the oldest to have everyone around for many years). My old BYU Accounting professor Norm Nemrow was at the next table over with his family.

Brothers in Christmas pajamas (aren't those little astronaut ones the best?):

Christmas morning breakfast:

Bowling on Christmas Day with my husband's family, another recent tradition I really like:

At a Utah Jazz basketball game on December 27, part of Grandma and Grandpa's gift to us all:


It was an evening game, and 1st Brother got pretty tired. My husband explained how they sometimes put you on camera if you dance during time outs and convinced him to get up a few times. It was so funny to look down the row and see 1st Brother shuffling around with a completely deadpan, tired look on his face. Very much like this:

We were there for a couple of big snowstorms, and this was the first year 1st Brother wasn't nervous about sledding. He was very brave and had a lot of fun. We meant to go skiing and put him in a lesson or two, but my husband's strep put a damper on those plans. Maybe next year.

I helped put together an open house baby shower for my sister with old childhood and neighborhood friends on December 30, which was lots of fun. Yeah, I took no pictures because that's what I (don't) do, and now I'm mad at myself.

Gifts (I'm listing a few because I can never remember from year to year what people got):
-1st Brother - Leapster Explorer and game, Imaginex space shuttle set, Lego City helicopter and truck set
-2nd Brother - eebee doll, finger paints, Little People airplane, ball tower with hammer
-My big one to my husband was hockey tickets to a Sharks/Oilers game. The game was on January 13 in San Jose, and we had a great date night. I also got him a funny shirt: a cartoon of a van parked by a river with a mailbox that says "Foley" on it. Subtle, but you can feel so proud of yourself if you get that it's a Chris Farley "living in a van down by the river" reference--hee hee!
-My husband got me a date night to a pinball museum in Alameda - awesome! (I always request date nights). He also made 4 CDs of songs after listening to Pandora for months and noting ones he thought I'd like. Awhhh! So thoughtful, and really good stuff.

Garlic Chicken

Here's another one of my go-to recipes:

-4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts (I wash them and cut off any fatty/vein-y pieces first)
-1 egg yolk
-6 cloves garlic, minced

-3 T butter
-1 cup bread crumbs
-1 cup parmesan cheese
-1 T garlic powder
-1 T dried parsley
-Salt and pepper to taste

Beat egg yolk with the garlic in a large bowl. Toss frozen chicken around in the mixture, cover the bowl with tin foil and refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 400. Put butter in a 9x13 pan and place it in the oven until the butter is melted, then remove it. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a shallow dish, dip the chicken pieces in the bread mixture to coat both sides, then place them in the buttery 9x13 pan with any remaining egg mixture drizzled over the top. Cook for 15 minutes, then flip the chicken pieces and sprinkle any remaining crumb mixture on top. Cook 15-20 more minutes or until meat is cooked through.

*I like to serve this with a potato side (usually Trader Joe's frozen sweet potato fries, which are incredibly awesome), a roll, and maybe green beans or just raw baby carrots. I sometimes cut the chicken up and add it to a Caesar salad the next day for an easy leftover meal.

Heidi the opossum

Crossed eyes = always funny, especially on a large rodent creature. I like how the doctor at the end notes that "Heidi's sister also has squint eyes"--hee hee!