TCB, baby. TCB!

That's what I'm doin' today: TCB!  In case you're not an Elvis fan, circa 1969-77, you probably have no idea what I'm talkin' 'bout.  I am Taking Care of Business.  And I'm not talking about the lame BTO TCB, either.  LOL  Enough abbreviations for you?  Anyway, the hubs is away tonight and tomorrow night, so it's just me and the kidlets.  Luckily, Mason is feeling much better, though now he's all boogery.  And Nate was a good boy today, so I let him choose Sonic or McD's for dinner - thankfully he chose Sonic.  Now Mason's in bed and Nate's plugged in to the Wii.  I decided to squeeze in this post while I wait for the hubs to call.

OK.  So.  I have a variation of TCB for you tonight.  But, instead of TCB, it's CBT.  I got this recipe from my very favoritest ever cookbook: The Aunties' Catering Company Annotated Cookbook, First Edition, Christmas 2005.  Long name...amazing results.  LOL  This cookbook was put together by my aunts on my Dad side and it's full of traditional family recipes and some of their own favorite recipes.  I love this book!  It's in a 3" ring binder and it's FULL!  Not only are there tons of family recipes, there are notes and stories and memories that accompany a lot of the recipes.  See how it's from 2005?  Yeah, well, I only get home every other Christmas and SOMEHOW, I didn't know they handed these out until 2006!  Somebody just happened to mention the book and my ears perked up...WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE'S A FAMILY COOKBOOK AND WHERE'S MINE?!  I think I found out about it a little before Christmas 2006, so when I made it home that year, I got mine.  Finally.  How could they forget me?!  LOL  So, without further adieu, here's the recipe.

Chicken Breasts Tarragon

2 whole chicken breasts, partially boned and halved

Marinade:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 Tbsp dried tarragon
1 tsp salt
freshly ground pepper to taste

Place chicken in zipper bag and add marinade.  Marinate for 3 to 4 hours.

Melt 2 Tbs butter in an ovenproof fry pan.  Turn chicken pieces in melted butter.  Place pieces skin side down in fry pan.  Bake at 325* for 1 hour, turning pieces after half hour.  Remove chicken to serving platter and keep warm.

To pan juices, add:
2 green onions, sliced fine, and saute for 2 minutes

Add:
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup dry Vermouth
juice of 1 lemon

Simmer to reduce sauce.  Stir to loosen any browned bits from pan.  Pour sauce over chicken and serve.

NOTES:  I don't used boned chicken, so instead used 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves.

I don't know why I didn't get more pictures of this during cooking.  Either way, it was so good!  And it reminded me of my Grammie while it was cooking.  Maybe it was the smell of the tarragon or the Vermouth, but it reminded me of her kitchen.  Do you have a favorite family recipe that reminds you of good times with your family?

Somebody else liked it, too!  I had the leftovers for lunch the next day.  I don't usually reheat chicken, but it was awesome cold. 

I mentioned in a post a while back that the bestie and I (and our hubs who also happen to be besties) are going for an adults-only weekend in mid October.  We're headed to Ruidoso, NM for two WHOLE nights!!  And we're staying in this cabin:

Image source

It has been a LONG time since we escaped without any kids and it's never been for just a go and come back camping trip.  And the last time we went on said camping trip was August 2008!  I'd say we're overdue.  This impending trip is just over two weeks away, and to tide me over til then, I'll share a couple pictures of our camping trip way back in '08.

This is the beautiful Makeup Zombie (aka: Wendi, and she's probably gonna kill me for posting these) and me.  This is the next morning, so there's no makeup and a hat was a must (for me, anyway).

Also the next morning.  Wendi and her hubs on the left.  Me and my hubs on the right.

Wendi on the bottom, me on the top middle and my goofy hubs on the top right.  Wendi's hubs is conveniently ducking out of the picture.

Bumps on a log.  Me, my hubs, Wendi and her hubs.  Thanks to Wendi's hubs for bringing the tripod.  That guy is *always* prepared.  And usually more prepared than he needs to be.  Granted, we're talking about camping trips, but he's a pretty good guy to have around, nonetheless.  Ugh!  I am practically counting down the hours til we leave for Ruidoso!!!  Wendi...can't we just go now and have the guys meet us up there?!

So...there's your daily dose of random from me.  Enjoy your evening (or day, depending where in the world you are at the moment) and we'll talk again tomorrow. 

 

Ki is Kool

Failure is not an option. *sigh* Yeah, tell that to my camera. No matter what I did, I could not get a good pic of Ki. According to the Zoya website, Ki is described as a complex multichromatic shade combining silver, purple, blue and green in a shimmery metallic finish. A unique shade for a truly fascinating nail look. They're right - it's unique and it's gorgeous! This was my first pick from my exchange package.

This is the best picture I could get of the multichrome effect - and of course it was in the bottle.

This is the only color I could get to show up with flash. I probably could've gotten some better ones outside without flash, but I wasn't patient enough for that.

This really is a beautiful color. Purple, blue, green, silver - this one has it all!! I am very happy with this purchase.

And while we're on the subject of polish...

A couple weeks ago, the BFF and I took a girl's afternoon and went to the mall. Where else would we go? LOL We stopped by Hot Topic to see what they had to offer. Of course I made a bee-line to the polish and look what I found!! I hate when companies don't name their polish. So, I'm gonna do it for them.

Poison Plum

This is *super* dark purple - the BFF didn't share my confidence that this was, in fact, dark, dark purple. In the pic you can see that the body of the polish does look black, but up around the rim of the bottle you can tell it's purple. I can not wait to use this one! Especially with accents using the next polish.

Super Bad

I love stars. And I love holo. As soon as I saw this I said OMGLookatthis and never put it down. LOL The little stars are SO holographic! It's a clear base with little tiny holo glitter particles. This has been pushed down to the bottom of my "un-tried" container because of my Zoya purchases, but I might just break it up a bit and do a little Poison Plum and Super Bad. But then again...4th of July is just around the corner and I might use Super Bad in a patriotic mani instead! Stay tuned. :D

OH!! My sister, Kristen, is the queen of deal finding. She can go anywhere, find something she likes and when she takes it to the register, it'll be on some sort of hidden super sale. She's good like that. She must've been with us on this shopping trip because I also found this:


It's GIR!!! My sis also loves Invader Zim, so it was rather fitting that I found this. The packaging is so cute, but that wasn't even the best part! Originally $5, this was in the clearance section for $1.98. But, wait! There's more! It was on Kristen hidden super sale for $0.98!! It's bright pink with a very slight shimmer. It says neon, but I don't know that I'd call it quite neon. Anyway...it could've been puke green and I would've gotten it because it's GIR! Apparently there is a Fluorescent green that goes with this same promotion, but all Hot Topic had was the pink. But, like I said, it wouldn't have mattered anyway. LOL

And speaking of the BFF...she happens to be the one and only Wendi from Makeup Zombie! She is hosting a giveaway to celebrate 100 followers!! Take a look at what she's giving away.


Head on over to Makeup Zombie, join in the fun and tell her Kitschy Suburbia sent you!!

Have a most awesome day, my dear Kitschies!! Thanks for stopping by.

Listening to: Questions 67 and 68 by Chicago Transit Authority (later just Chicago)

It's a Fantasea

This is the one that started it all - again. Once upon a time, I used to have a ton of nail polishes...all sorts of colors. I kept them all very neatly contained in a clamp-top plastic tote. Somehow, it's one of the few things that has followed me through moves in California and countless locations in New Mexico. Anyway, my BFF, Wendi, decided we were going to have a girl's day. And...she mentioned that Sally's was having a sale on nail polish (buy 2, get 1 free). So, we went. We spent at least 20 minutes oohing and aahing over the polishes - too many to chose from. I ended up with three beauties: Orly Fantasea, Nina Ultimate Pro Caribbean Blue and China Glaze Vertical Rush. We went back to Wendi's apartment and the beautification commenced. We drooled over her many, many eye shadows (can you say: intervention?). We both did our nails for the first time in a very long time without the "assistance" of wandering, not-so-helpful little fingers. This is the outcome of the first of MANY self-administered manicures.

Orly Fantasea with 2 coats, no top coat

This is a beautiful purple with rose shimmer, *almost* a duochrome, but not quite. I love that the Orly bottles come with rubberized handles. One of my (many) pet peeves is when I ask the hubbs to open a bottle and it's returned to me mangled because he had to use pliers to get the dang thing open! I think this polish would've worn very well, but I used a rather old, thick clear coat and it caused it to chip and crack. I have since gotten new top coat (in one of my other two subsequent visits to Sally's) and all the other polishes I've used have done very well with it. Oh, and did I mention that Wendi did my makeup? Check it out on her blog here: Makeup Zombie. Coincidentally, the makeup look pretty much matched my polish color. She did such a good job - it was kinda disappointing to not go out after she did such a beautiful look for me.

So, there's my first NOTD (nail of the day). You're right, Loretta. I didn't have a blog post about nail polish...yet!

Listening to Stay by Dave Matthews Band
Mood: meh