No country for old men.

What that should really say is "No booze for old men."  Blake and I went with a large group of friends to Eichen's in Okarche, OK on Saturday evening for their world famous fried chicken and okra.  After we had been there for awhile I needed to use the ladies.  I asked Tyler if she needed to go as well, she did and thank goodness!  We walked and chatted through the crowds at the restaurant and finally came to the bathroom.  We pushed through the door and found this...

Yup, old cowboy in the women's restroom.  I would say that he just didn't know he was in the women's restroom, but as soon as we opened the door and saw him and we gasped he started saying "Sorry, sorry...Sorry, sorry..." over and over again.  We didn't initially take this picture, we ran out.  As we laughed in the hallway I said "You have to go take a picture of him."  I didn't have my purse, so in turn I did not have my phone on me.  So we both went back in, captured this, and ran back out.  (Sidenote:  That was a heck of a  long pee considering he was peeing the first time we entered and the second.)  As we waited in the hall for him to emerge Tyler kept her camera on alert.  She wanted to get his picture from the front as well.  As you can imagine Mr. Drunk Cowboy did not want his picture taken from the front.  Here is what was captured instead...

You can tell we were "in hot pursuit" by the blurred shot.  After this we went back to the ladies and accomplished was was first intended.  While we were washing our hands we were talking about what had just happened.  At that moment a girl came out of the stall that the drunk cowboy was in and said "You just let me pee where a guy did?"  I think she was really mad, but we couldn't help but still laugh.  Poor girl, I probably would have been grossed out too, but the funnyness of it couldn't get me to feel her pain. 

W.O.W. lesson:  Don't go to the restroom at Eichen's without your camera and toilet seat liners, you never know what you're going to find!

Xo-Wife of Wright

You say potato...I say Gnocchi

Happy March everyone!  I only have time for a quick post today, so I'm going to give you a brief look and synopsis of a dinner I made last week.  Anyone who is interested in making it just shoot me a message and I'll get it to you.  Here it is:

Smoked Mozzarella Gnocchi Bake

Here she is right out of the oven.  Gnocchi are Italian potato dumplings.  You can make them fresh with potatoes, or buy multiple varieties of them at the grocery store.  They cook very quickly (3-5 minutes) making them great for weeknight meals.  While my water was coming to a boil for the gnocchi I put a small sauce pan on the stove with a small can of tomato sauce, garlic, basil, and s&p.  While it was heating through I pre-heated the oven to 375 and dropped the gnocchi in the salted boiling water.  When the tomato sauce is warmed through add in a splash of heavy cream.  When the gnocchi are done (they float to the top and make it totally obvious) drain them and add them to the sauce.  At this point I add a cup of shredded smoked mozzarella cheese and 4 strips of crumbled bacon.  When the cheese is melted through pour the entire mixture into a sprayed baking dish.  Top with another 1/2 cup of smoked mozzarella cheese, bread crumbs, and some grated parmesan.  Pop in the oven for 10-12 minutes until the cheese is brown and bubbly.  I served it with a little fresh flat leaf Italian parsley for garnish and a salad.  We were NOT disappointed! 

Comment on this post if you would like the recipe with the specific amounts, etc. although I think you could pretty much do it from the paragraph above. 

Mangia!

Xo-Wife of Wright

Who Who rocks the house?

I'm on a Modcloth kick today.  I'm looking for some fun home accessories, nick nacs if you will, for Blake and I's home.  We are thinking about putting some floor to ceiling bookcases in our bedroom along one wall and I'm virtually filling them up already.  Here are a few things that caught my eye for the shelves along with a few others just for fun.

I saw this little guy first thing.  He's a piggy bank, or maybe I should call him an owl-y bank...Either way, I thought he would look great perched up on one of the shelves next to, or on top of some books.  At least that's what I thought until I found this a few pages later.

An owl-y light!  I know that my taste definitely is not for everyone, but if you don't like it for yourself how cute of a night light would this be in a child's room?

Speaking of books for the shelves...

I lost it when I saw this coffee table book.  I was laughing and sad at the same time.  Poor brontosaurus.  Anyone still remember all the dinosaur names we learned in grade school?  I loved learning about them.  Mister mister up in the picture was one of my favorites along with the stegosaurus.  Never cared for T-Rex or taradactyls.  Give me the veggie eaters anyday.  Oh Land Before Time...

Then of course I came across some kitchen goodies.

Chip clips-How tweet!  (Was the pun too much??)

Mod tea cups and saucers. 

Love this glass water bottle.

Sandwich or sides lunch carrier.  No more plastic baggies filling up our landfills!

And of course I had to pick out a set of...Can you guess??

S&P shakers!  These would go beautifully with the rest of my collection!

If you see anything you like visit Modcloth's website here and click on their "Apartment" tab to find these goodies and more. 

Have a beautiful weekend!

Ciao!

Xo-Wife of Wright

I have a crush...

On Ree Drummond.  A.K.A. The Pioneer Woman.  She's funny, she's smart, she cooks food I love, and she's quirky.  I love quirky.  A lot.  She just seems like I could be related to her somehow.  I come from a long line of quirky women, especially on my mother's side.  She is from Oklahoma and lives out on a ranch with her husband and four kids in the northeastern part of the state.  I wish I could visit there, meet her, borrow some funky jewelry, and pet her dog Charlie.  Do I sound crazy yet??  Oh I do?  Well, don't tell anyone, especially not Ree, I want her to like me. 

One of my Valentine's Day gifts from Blake.  You can purchase it here.  

A couple of days ago Ree posted a recipe for Creamy Chicken Spaghetti Cassarole.  She said to make it that night, that you wouldn't be sorry if you did.  I needed to go to the grocery store over lunch anyways so I printed off the recipe and took it with me.  I'm so glad I did.  Blake is even happier I did.  So yummy. 

You can find the recipe here.  Ignore her lovely pictures that she took with a much better camera than mine during daylight hours.  Okay, don't ignore them.  Like I said, they're lovely.  They make you want to dive through the screen fork first and steal a bite.  Just give me a break okay, I'm trying! 

Anyways...this dish is wonderful and will feed a ton of people.  Blake and I have eaten off of it for three days and even sent some home with my mom.  Thanks Ree for such a great recipe!

Xo-Wife of Wright

The breakfast sandwich for dinner, what a glorious thing!

Today I thought it appropriate to start with the picture instead of leading up to it.  Just look at this sandwich.  Let me start by telling you what is in it.  I pre-heated the oven to toast the bread a little bit.  While that was happening I made a basic omlette.  Eggs, milk/cream/half and half (whatever you have on hand, it helps make the omlette fluffy and light), s&p, and dill weed.  When the omlette was almost set and ready to be folded I dolloped some marscapone cheese right into the center of the omlette.  I had mixed a little sour cream and capers into it to thin it out some and add some flavor.  When the bagette came out of the oven I smeared one side with the marscapone cheese mixture and the other with some black truffle butter.  I did this just because I had it and everything is better with black truffle butter.  If you don't have any, skip this step, it will be almost as delicious.  Finally before placing the top half of the bread I topped the egg with some smoked salmon.  I love the stuff.  I served the sandwich with some skillet potatoes that were cooked in a little olive oil and simply dressed with s&p and parsley and a nice salad.  Wonderful dinner and very quick and easy to make. 

I encourage everyone to have a breakfast sandwich for dinner tonight.

Xo-Wife of Wright

All of that food and all you got was a picture of cupcakes?

It's true.  I catered my first party this weekend and in all the hustle and bustle I took one picture.  This is humorous because I made eight different items.  That's a 12.5% success rate on catching the pretty food for my blog.  FAIL. 

I was honored that one of my best friends Carrie and her husband Brendan asked me to cater a party at their house after their son James was Baptised on Sunday.  There were about 30 people to cook for and Carrie wanted heavy appetizers.  I settled on these dishes with Carrie's approval:

Tri-Colore Orzo Salad
Roman Tomato Salad
Italian Kabobs
Polenta bites with Pesto Chicken
Salmon Pizzettes
Parmesan Frites
Fruit Kabobs
Mini Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese frosting

Didn't all of those dishes look amazing??!!  Oh you couldn't see them, right...Well, didn't they all SOUND amazing??!! 

All in all I think it turned out really well.  I found myself very relaxed while preparing everything and was so happy that my estimates on quantity of food for the amount attending were pretty much spot on.  I think everyone enjoyed the food and I know I enjoyed having my ego stroked a few times when people found out I was the one who had prepared everything.  I wasn't able to walk through narrow doors for the remainder of that day due to the size of my noggin. 

Drumroll please.............

72 of those bad boys, plus a mini cake.  Cute right??

And here's the man of the hour with his parents and God-parents Ashley Model and Juan Pinzon.  What a wonderful day!  Congrats Parker's, God-parents and especially James.  Love you all!

Xo-Wife of Wright

He loves me, Ceelo loves me not...

I love St. Valentine's Day.  I know a lot of people think it's all propaganda created by card, flower, and candy companies, but you know what I say to those people?  #1.  You are saying this because you yourself are single and can't stand all the love going around.  In turn I would say share the love with everyone, you don't have to have a significant other to enjoy the day.  #2.  You are not single but have a spouse/significant other who does not like the holiday.  See what I would suggest from reason #1. #3.  You are a bitter and half glass empty type of person and we should not hang out.  I have no suggestions for you.  Here is a little bit about St. Valentine courtesy of Wikipedia. 

"The first representation of Saint Valentine appeared in the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493); alongside the woodcut portrait of Valentine, the text states that he was a Roman priest martyred during the reign of Claudius II, known as Claudius Gothicus. He was arrested and imprisoned upon being caught marrying Christian couples and otherwise aiding Christians who were at the time being persecuted by Claudius in Rome."

Poor Valentine.  He was just trying to marry Christians who wanted to marry and mean ol' Claudius had to go and ruin it.  So that's the backstory.  Not too shabby of a guy right?  

In addition I would like to credit my parents with giving me a healthy view of what St. Valentine's Day should be about.  Sharing your love for everyone, not just romantic love.  They always made sure I had Valentine's every year and a special day.  My mom still puts out two construction paper placemats that I made in school for St. Valentine's Day when I was about 8 or 9.  Ate off of them on Sunday in fact.  Thanks Mom and Dad. 

Before the day came I baked lots of goodies to share.  I boxed up packages for Blake's parents, his sister and brother in law, and my mom.  I kept some back for any friends we might see over the holiday.  The day of Blake and I celebrated all day long and in to the evening.  He made me breakfast in bed.  We had yummy breakfast burritos.  I made him this for lunch:

Chipotle Cheddar Chicken Mac and Cheese with Bacon Crumbles

It was delish.  Leave me a comment if you would like the recipe. 

For dinner we had reservations at Saii for sushi.  We had our first date there 3 and 1/2 years ago.  I even pulled out the same blouse I wore back then and sported it for nostalgias sake.  We had a wonderful meal and funny enough my best friend Carrie and Brendan ended up two tables down from us.  Fun coincidence and made for some mini chats throughout the meal.  We left stuffed and went home for a couch picnic.  Blake still had his gifts to open and when he was done we shared a wonderful bottle of Pinot Grigio courtesy of Blake's parents, some chocolate, and a movie.  Perfect ending to a lovely day. 

On a less cheesy note.  Ceelo loves me not.  Did anyone else catch his dog puppet flipping off the camera at the end of his performance?  I guess he got the real lyrics in after all...

Xo-Wife of Wright