The "Second" 11th Anniversary

Andrew and I have two anniversaries every year. Back when we were planning on getting married, we were still in the Air Force. I was up for a new assignment in the next few months (due to report in September of 2002), but Andrew still had just under two years at the assignment he'd been in at the time.

Well, since we were planning our "church" wedding in a beautiful and extraordinary cathedral in Chicago (Holy Name, for those of you familiar with Chicago) for December 2002, what could we do about our differing assignment lengths? If we stuck with just the wedding in Chicago, we'd probably not be assigned together anytime in the near future. It would be hit or miss. Maybe we'd get an assignment together in the future, but more than likely, we'd be on vastly differing assignment schedules for the rest of our time in the military.

So what could we do? We had a justice of the peace ceremony in June 2002. It was the two of us and a few of the guys from Andrew's office acting as witnesses. Andrew even showed up in jeans and a t-shirt, if you can believe it! I was actually a little more "dressed up" in nice pants, a nice shirt, and a blazer.

After the ceremony (actually a few days later . . . once I headed back to Tucson, where I was stationed at the time),  we were then able to do the paperwork (showing the personnel department that we were married), and from there, we were able to get on the same assignment schedule. With a copy of our marriage license, the personnel center would be able to get us to the same base, and for the same time periods.

Voila! We both got an assignment (different units) at a base just outside of Boston, where we would report to in September 2002.

In the meantime, planning for the December 2002 church wedding was still going on.

What a party it was! Lots of family and friends attended. This was the ceremony with the dress, Andrew's dress uniform (the "Mess Dress" which is the Air Force equivalent of a tuxedo), and the cake, and the nice reception afterwards . . . there were lots of smiles and wonderful memories of that frosty, wintery day in Chicago, with the twinkling lights, Christmas decorations everywhere, and magic in the air . . .

 Oh, one memory I have to talk about - when my dad was walking me down the aisle, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. It was my Aunt Lily running down an outer aisle, my cousin Sylvia tagging along behind her. Next thing I saw, Aunt Lily was snapping pictures of me with her little point and shoot camera. Later, Sylvia said she was a bit embarrassed. I told her not to be, as I was sure the memory of Aunt Lily running down the other aisle to get a pic of me would be one of my favorite memories.

And, yes, I'm going to take this opportunity right now to share a bunch of pictures. 
(All photos in this post are by Brad Baskin.)

 I've got three of my good friends from Culver Girls Academy in attendance.

Here, Andrew is hamming it up for the camera. 

 My three bridesmaids and I pose for a picture. My mom ensured that the florist would have one of my favorite flowers, Stargazer Lilies, in the bouquets, along with roses. Since it was wintery, the florist also included some cool evergreen in them, too.

 Andrew and I pose with the groomsmen. Everyone is laughing because Andrew is pinching my backside just as the photographer took the pic. 

 And, of course, I have to include a pic with my grandparents. Oma laughed and smiled so much at the wedding. She was so happy that day (both of them were). It is such a lovely memory to think back on her smiling face. 

I just have to include this picture, too. This is how Oma smiled that whole day.

 What wedding post would be complete without a picture of a wedding cake?

So that's why we have two anniversaries. Today is the "second" 11th anniversary for us. Happy Anniversary to Andrew!

And to end the post, this is our "First Dance" song, called "You are my Home," by Chayanne and Vanessa Williams. It's from the movie, "Dance with Me."

P.S. Andrew was in the hallway as I listened to the song. I asked, "Do you know what this song is?" "I don't remember the name of the song. Don't worry, though. I remember what it was from!" LOL

Happy Second 10th Anniversary

Andrew and I celebrated our "First 10th" Anniversary in June. When we were in the Air Force, we were on different assignment schedules. Since our church wedding (with the cake, the dress, the big party, etc) was being planned for December 2002, and I was getting a new assignment in August 2002 (while Andrew still had a couple more years at his assignment at the time), we had to have a Justice of the Peace ceremony in June 2002 so we could get on the same assignment schedule.

So that's why we have two anniversaries per year, the first being in June, and the second (honoring the church wedding).

And that's why today is the "Second 10th Anniversary."

I remember some distinct things about the church wedding. I remember that since we couldn't do photos in the cathedral, we did them beforehand in a special room in the hotel where we were having the reception (and the same one where we'd had a block of rooms reserved for all the guests). There were lights set up, and after a while, it got very hot in there, posing and waiting for the photographer to regroup us into specific photo opportunities.

When it was time for us to head to the church, and since it was December in Chicago, I'd had this white faux-fur cape I was wearing over my dress (plus a faux-fur muff). The bridesmaids and I were going to head over to the Cathedral by limo (Andrew and the groomsmen were being shuttled over there in one shuttle, while the rest of the guests were being shuttled separately). Well, we were waiting, and waiting . . . and WAITING for the limo to come pick us up from the lobby of the hotel. I kept looking outside to see if the limo was there . . . every so often, I'd see a white limo go around the block.

Impatient and overheated underneath my fuzzy wrap, I went outside to wait and cool off (remember, it was December in Chicago). The cold felt SO GOOD after being under the lights and in this wedding dress and wrap. My poor bridesmaids were freezing, though - but every time I told them to go inside to wait, they would say they weren't leaving me. I even offered to go back inside so they could get in there and get warmed up. Candi was very insistent, though. "If you're overheated inside, we'll stand out here with you. We're not going inside if you want to stay out here."

Dianne, Brenda, me, Candi

 By the way, while we were standing out there, pedestrians were walking up and down the sidewalk, like they do in a busy city like Chicago. Many saw me standing there in a wedding dress and offered best wishes. Kind of fun being the center of attention. 

FINALLY, after 10-15 minutes, I saw the limo park across the street. Not knowing where the wedding planner was at that moment, and knowing that earlier, she had been insistent that we get to the Cathedral by a certain time, I got really frustrated, not knowing what the plan was. "Why is the limo over there? Aren't we supposed to get going? Anyone know where Karin is? Are we supposed to get in the limo now?"

The wedding planner was momentarily AWOL, so I made a decision. "Let's get going. Follow me, ladies." And I marched across the street saying, "If there's ever a time I'm dressed to stop traffic, today's the day!" As my bridesmaids scurried to catch up with me, I heard cars honking and drivers and passengers waving and cheering at me. I even saw some friends in their cars, on that very street, heading toward the Cathedral (I think I even saw Sara and Pete). This was cool. I was stopping traffic and people were cheering for me.

And then I saw the shuttle that had just picked up Andrew and the groomsmen, ready to transport them to the Cathedral. They all stood up in the shuttle, pointing at me and cheering and making a big deal because I was literally stopping traffic. It was pretty funny.

Andrew was pinching my rear; that's why we're all laughing.

(My mom later told me that the wedding planner was really irritated that I'd done that, but hey!! She had disappeared momentarily and hadn't given me an update on the plan/schedule. And there was the limo! So I took charge! )

Anyway, once we'd gotten to the Cathedral (and waited for the ceremony before us to finish), Candi had given me a mint-chocolate cookie. I'd really needed a peppermint, but none of us had one. So Candi did the next best thing - chocolate and mint.

Finally, we got started. I remember that Dianne (one of my bridesmaids) thanked me for including her in wonderful memories. I was just glad she was there.

And I remember that as my dad and I were walking down the center aisle, I saw movement to my right, down the far right aisle. It was my Aunt Lily and cousin Sylvia. Aunt Lily had her little camera pointed right at me as she tried getting photos. A few years later, Sylvia said that she'd been embarrassed that Aunt Lily had done that. I told her not to worry, that it was one of my favorite memories of that day. I had my own paparazza (singular, feminine form of paparazzi)!!

The reception area.

Later on at the reception, I remember that a good friend of mine (Sara) had told me that if I needed to use the ladies' room, I'd better have someone go in and help me, because wearing a dress like that, it's a two man woman job!! Better yet, I'd better wait until I couldn't wait any longer. And I needed to trust her because she knew from experience. Hahaha!

Brenda, Candi, Sara, me. We were all on the equestrian jumping team together at our high school.

Oh, and the food . . . salmon and a petite filet mignon, both cooked to perfection. And sorbet in between courses, to cleanse our palates! Mmmmm! Andrew STILL talks about that salmon.

And what wedding reception would be complete without the wedding cake?

And one more very important memory: my grandparents were there to help celebrate the occasion.

 
So, after sharing some of my very favorite memories of the day, I have to say, "Happy Second 10th, Andrew!" 

Note: All photos in this post (except for the one of Brenda, Candi, Sara, and myself) were taken by professional photographer Brad Baskin.


(Click here and here for more wedding photos.)

The First 10th.

Andrew and I have two anniversaries. Today is our "First" 10th anniversary. Our "first" anniversary of the calendar year is the anniversary of our Justice of the Peace ceremony, which took place in Fayetteville, NC on June 21, 2002. (Click here to read about the actual day, which I'd blogged about last year on our "First" Ninth.)

The condensed version is as follows.

We were both active duty in the Air Force. As of January 2002, we were planning on getting married in December 2002.

But I was stationed in Tucson, AZ. He was stationed in Fayetteville, NC. I was expecting orders for a new assignment by the end of Summer 2002. He wasn't going to get orders for another couple years (maybe 3). Well, in order for us to be stationed at the same place at the same time, we couldn't be simply engaged, we had to be married.

Hence, the Justice of the Peace ceremony, which took place June 21, 2002, just in time for them to cut orders for BOTH of us at the same Air Force base, at the same time.

The Justice of the Peace ceremony was small, informal, and included a few of the guys from Andrew's office. Meanwhile, plans for the church wedding in December in Chicago were continuing to keep me, my mom, and the wedding planner busy.

(Our "Second" 10th anniversary - celebrating the church wedding - is December 14th, 2012, in case you're wondering. But I'm sure I'll blog about it when the time comes.)

Anyway, knowing Andrew was busy and probably hadn't planned anything to commemorate our first decade, I decided not to do anything big. I figured we'd keep this one small, like the original ceremony was 10 years ago.

Here's what I did. Yesterday, Livie and I went to the open art studio at The Dreaming Bear, here in town. Partly it was something fun to do inside (in AC!!!) on a hot summer day. But partly, I wanted to do something other than getting a boring ol' anniversary card. Because it IS the 10th anniversary, after all!! Right?

So Livie worked on her own art project (painting a wooden horse cutout).

And so I picked out a small, white stretched canvas (something like this, but about 4"x6"). Then I painted the base color (sort of turquoise-like) and then the letters and dots, and then it got glittered-up. Just to be cute.

Like I said, it's just something cute that we could hang somewhere in the house. I'm not good at painting letters freehand, so don't expect anything Degas-like, or something like that.

Better than a card, because I made it myself. Plus it was fun to make. However, I won't quit my day job anytime soon. (Or I'll stick to photography as my art medium!)

Oma's Birthday

Today is my Oma's birthday. So, in honor of the 87th anniversary of her birth, I figured I'd post a photo I recently found of her and my grandfather, Sir Rafa.

In September 1995, my parents, maternal grandparents (Oma and Sir Rafa), my great-uncle Joe and great-uncle Lily went on an Alaskan cruise. My grandparents' wedding anniversary is in September; I can't recall if they went on the cruise to commemorate their anniversary, or if the timing of the cruise just happened to coincide with their anniversary month.

This photo was in a photo album commemorating their cruise; it looks like they were in the ship's dining room, with a "Happy Anniversary" cake in front of them. (I put the caption on the photo using Picnik, so that anyone looking at the photo would know when and where the photo was taken. I had to ask my mom what year they'd gone on the cruise because, not having gone with them, I hadn't remembered.)

I'm not sure who took the photo, but I'm assuming it was my dad. I love that this photo captures a smile on my grandmother's face, and that my grandfather is laughing, eyes closed!


I found this next one in an old album. It's of Oma as a young woman posing next to a (now) old-time car. I love the historical aspect of old photos like this! Again, I don't know who took this photo (perhaps my grandfather?); needless to say, I'm glad I'm able to digitally preserve photos like this!

And I'll post a final recent photo of her (which I took within the past year, or so). I took this at DQ, because she and Livie (and I) were in the mood for a sweet, cold treat.

Stargazer Pics

So all the stargazer lilies I got from Andrew on our anniversary have opened. I took a few photos and played around with them on Picnik.

Here are the results:

Here's one photo that I cropped into a square.

Same photo, using "boost."

Here's another photo.

The second photo, using "invert."

I love how the last photo looks like some sort of alien species!

The Second 9th

I just wanted to say "Happy Anniversary!" to Andrew today, on our second 9th anniversary. The first 9th was in June - it was the 9th anniversary of our justice of the peace ceremony.

But today is the second 9th, because it's the anniversary of the church ceremony at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago, IL. This was the one with the big party, the fancy clothing, the cake . . .

So today, I'm going to share some photos from that big day; yes I like sharing photos. (And then I'll get back to work on my two papers that are due tomorrow.)

The photo with the groomsmen; Andrew's pinching my behind in this photo. That's why the guys are all laughing.

Photo: ©Brad Baskin

My fellow Culver Girls Academy alumnae are posing with me at the reception.

Photo: © Brad Baskin

 

My grandfather, Sir Rafa, and my mom.

Photo: © Brad Baskin

My grandmother, Oma, is laughing and dancing with Pedro.

Photo: © Brad Baskin

Andrew decided to do some kind of James Bond pose, I guess?

Photo: © Brad Baskin

The photo with the bridesmaids! My mom picked out the flowers. I'm glad she picked out stargazer lilies and had some "wintery" evergreen in there, too!

Photo: © Brad Baskin

The reception location.

Photo: © Brad Baskin

Cake! Gotta have a shot of the cake!

Photo: © Brad Baskin

The 1st Ninth

Andrew and I have two anniversaries every year. The first is our justice of the peace anniversary, which coincides with the first day of summer, today, June 21st. The second is our church wedding anniversary. (You can read about our 2nd Eighth (the church wedding one) by clicking here.)

Our first anniversary of the year, the justice of the peace one, came about for a good reason.

This was early 2002. Because we were both in the Air Force at the time, and because I was about to get orders for a new assignment, and because we were in the beginning stages of planning a church wedding (which was scheduled for mid-December 2002), we needed to do the justice of the peace thing before I got my orders.

Why?

Well, Andrew still had a couple years left at his assignment in North Carolina, while I was going to get a new assignment and need to leave Tucson by the end of Summer 2002. There would be no guarantee that he'd ever make it to my new installation anytime while I was still there. We would have probably kept missing each other each time one of us got a new assignment, simply because we were not married yet. Planning a wedding and actually being married already are obviously two different things. So, in order to be put on the same assignment schedule, we needed to already be married (before my orders were cut), with the official paperwork (the legal marriage certificate) already in hand.

By the end of February '02, we'd already gotten the church (Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago, IL) reserved for 4 PM on December 14th, and had completed our marriage-prep classes in Raleigh, NC not far from where Andrew was stationed (yes, I'd taken leave for a week and flew to NC, so we could take the classes).

But that still left the issue of our not yet having a marriage license/certificate, my getting a new assignment by summer's end, and his assignment's remaining two years. After talking to the priest who'd be performing our wedding ceremony in December, he'd suggested we do a justice of the peace ceremony soon, and we'd still go ahead with the wedding ceremony in December. Since the justice of the peace ceremony was a "civil" ceremony, it wouldn't conflict (so to speak) with our plans for our December church ceremony.

So in June '02, I headed back to NC for a week, so we could do a justice of the peace ceremony. That would make us officially married and giving us the marriage certificate. The certificate would then go to the personnel/assignment folks who'd get us a "join spouse" assignment - we'd be on the same assignment schedule, going to the same installation at the same time.

I think I'd gotten to NC at the beginning of the week, but for some reason, we ended up not getting to the court house 'til Thursday, June 20th (we had to get the license at least one day before the ceremony). Then on Friday the 21st, we headed to the court house with three of Andrew's buddies from his office, as witnesses.  They seemed excited about the whole thing.

It was a hot, humid North Carolina summer day. Blech. I remember getting dressed up a bit. I had nice slacks and blouse, and a black blazer, plus nice shoes. I'd done my hair and makeup. Andrew? He was in jeans and a t-shirt, and sneakers.

He seemed a little nervous. I wasn't nervous at all . . . until the justice of the peace walked into the room and began the ceremony. Then the butterflies found their way to my stomach.

It was a pretty quick ceremony. The justice of the peace said some nice words about marriage. We signed the appropriate documents, and that was it. Back we went, out into the hot summer day. Andrew's office mates gave us a card, which everyone in the office had signed. They also included some gift cards for a steak place (knowing, I'm sure, that we're both carnivores).

And then we had the rest of the weekend before I had to head back to Tucson.

I remember calling my commander to tell him we'd done the justice of the peace ceremony, and that I'd be dropping off the appropriate paperwork to personnel when I got back to Tucson. He gave me a "Congrats!" and a "We'll talk about assignment stuff when you get back" before reminding me and Andrew to do something fun to celebrate before I had to head back.

Andrew and I ended up seeing Lilo and Stitch, in Fayetteville that night, since it had just come out in theaters.

We then spent the rest of the weekend in the Raleigh/Durham area. I remember that we'd headed to Maggiano's, an Italian restaurant, and we got stuffed on pasta and dessert.

I think we also went to a museum in Raleigh, and saw a U.S. Presidents exhibit, including portraits of many (if not all) the presidents up to that point, and even a Lincoln death mask.

The weekend went very quickly, and the next thing I knew, I was heading back to Tucson.

For some reason, I didn't have my camera with me the day we did the justice of the peace ceremony. But I had it the rest of the weekend. 

Here's Andrew, either later that day or the next day. Actually, I think this was outside the museum (don't ask me the name, because I don't remember) in Raleigh, the day after the justice of the peace ceremony.

 And here's me . . . I think this was February '02, in Petersburg, VA (at a Civil War battle site). (I don't have a photo of me from the day we did the justice of the peace ceremony, because like I said, I didn't think to bring my camera.) I had to absolutely insist that Andrew take my picture here (or else I would've never had the chance to have my picture taken - I'm always the one behind the camera). Anyway, this was taken after we'd finished our marriage prep classes, and we had some time to do fun stuff before I headed back to Tucson.

So, "Happy 1st Ninth Anniversary, Andrew!!"

The anniversary dinner was a success!

A few days ago, I posted about what I decided to make for our anniversary dinner - "Steak with Spinach Couscous." Check out my "A Dinner Idea" post from Sunday, to get the recipe.

Yesterday was our 2nd Eighth anniversary (click here to get the story on why it's the 2nd eighth, if you haven't read it yet) - so it was the day I was going to make the "Steak with Spinach Couscous" recipe.

Livie doesn't go to Pre-K on Tuesdays, so she went with me to Target so I could get an anniversary card for Andrew. Then we went to the grocery store to get the ingredients for dinner.

I also got some sparkling grape juice, so we could do a toast and say "Cin Cin" before we started eating. The sparkling juice had to go into the fridge right away so it would be nice and cold at dinner time. (Andrew doesn't drink wine and Livie is obviously too young, so I thought the sparkling grape juice was the best choice for a toast.)

When we got home I set the table and reviewed the recipe, so I could familiarize myself with it before it came time to actually start cooking.

 Here's what the place setting looked like:

 

Yes, Liv put some of her art projects on the table after I set it. What you see on the right, just to the right of my wine glass, is a cow. And I'm not Emily Post, so I'm sure I didn't put everything in its correct place. But I liked how it looked, and neither Andrew nor Livie would know the difference. (Oh, and I left my table cloth on, even though it didn't exactly go with the navy blue, simply because my table is glass, and I wanted to keep it somewhat protected from scratches.)

I had some chores to do first, since it was still early in the afternoon and way too early to start dinner.

Then it was time to read some books with Livie.

Finally, it was about time to start dinner. I'd bought one of those pre-made cherry pies for dessert (that's Andrew's favorite). Somehow I'd forgotten to get that started earlier, so I got that in the oven, first.

Then, it was on to the recipe. It all smelled so good while I was preparing it, with the garlic, the olive oil, pine nuts, steak . . . I couldn't wait to try it.

I timed it well, because Andrew got home in time to wash up just as I was preparing to serve the meal.

Here's how it turned out:

It turned out to be really tasty!

To top it all off, both Andrew and Livie gave the meal a thumbs-up. Andrew said he definitely wanted me to make it again in the future.

And Livie? While she said she didn't like couscous, she did try a big bite of it before asking if she could eat just the spinach instead. Then she'd pick out a piece of spinach, and wipe off the couscous onto my nice place mats. Ahh, well, what can I do? She's 4. At least she really liked the steak. She said it was yummy, and ate it up.

After Liv's bath, she got a small scoop of peppermint ice cream, while Andrew and I each ate pie. What a way to end the evening.

By the way, I had a photo of the mess I made in the kitchen, but I've decided I just don't want to expose that aspect of such a lovely, dinner. 

Happy 2nd Eighth Anniversary!!

Andrew and I got married by a justice of the peace on Friday 21 Jun 2002, while we were still on active duty . . . that way we could get orders for a "join-spouse" assignment and be at the same base at the same time. Otherwise, I would've moved on to a new assignment while he remained at his for another 2-3 years. We'd have no guarantee that he'd ever be assigned at my new base any time in the future.

At our justice of the peace ceremony that hot, humid June morning in Fayetteville, NC, we had a few of the guys from Andrew's current unit come out to the courthouse to act as our witnesses. I wore "business" attire - a nice blouse, khaki pants, a black blazer, and black leather shoes. Andrew? He wore jeans and a t-shirt.

After a brief ceremony (it took only minutes), we were officially married; he and I were then off to spend the weekend in the Raleigh-Durham area. We'd window shopped at the nice outdoor shopping area, then went out for a big HUGE Italian dinner at the Maggiano's Little Italy restaurant in Durham. Afterward, we saw a movie, "Lilo and Stitch" (still one of my all-time favorite Disney movies, by the way).

The justice of the peace ceremony, by the way, made the "join-spouse" assignment (same base/same time) a reality after the appropriate personnel received the official marriage certificate. As soon as I got back to my base in Tucson - which means the very next day - the marriage certificate went its merry way to the aforementioned "appropriate personnel."

A few months later, we both got orders to move from our current assignments (mine in Tucson, his in Fayetteville) to our new ones in New England, together -same base, same time frame, but different units.

Later that year, about 3 months after we both settled into the Boston area for our new assignments, we did the "official" church wedding, on Saturday 14 Dec 2002 at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago. This time we had the guests, the cake, the party . . .

Speaking of cake:

Photo ©2002 - Brad Baskin

My mom and I had been planning the December shin-dig since February 2002, well before the aforementioned justice of the peace ceremony in June.

This time, though I was in the big, fancy, fru-fru dress and veil, and Andrew was finally dressed appropriately in his Mess Dress (the Air Force's formal, fancy tux-like uniform).

Anyway, when the following June 21st approached (the justice of the peace anniversary), I'd made a comment about celebrating our 1st Anniversary (the justice of the peace one). Andrew had already decided we'd just celebrate the church wedding in December. I said no, we'd celebrate both.

The mom of one of our neighbors said, "You'll celebrate both. You never make a woman choose between two anniversaries!"  Her daughter and son-in-law (our neighbors) had done the same thing as we did, and for similar reasons - a quiet, very low-key justice of the peace ceremony first (with just a couple witnesses), and then a few months later the big church wedding with the dress, the Mess Dress, the guests, the church, the cake, etc.

Anyway, here are a few of our many church wedding photos:

Photo ©2002 - Brad Baskin

Me and my 3 awesome bridesmaids! L to R: Dianne, Brenda, me, obviously, and Candi

Photo ©2002 - Brad Baskin

Andrew and his Best Man and the Groomsmen! L to R: Adam (the Best Man), P.J., Andrew, David, Keith

Photo ©2002 - Brad Baskin

During the ceremony, inside the Cathedral:

Photo ©2002 - Brad Baskin

So, there you have it. That's how, with the justice of the peace ceremony and the church wedding, Andrew and I have two anniversaries per year.

And since today's the church anniversary, it's the "2nd Eighth" Anniversary  (the "1st Eighth" Anniversary obviously having been in June).

Most importantly, here is where I'd like to say, "Happy '2nd Eighth' Anniversary, Andrew! Love and kisses!"

Here's a video that I think fits us (make sure your volume's on):


The song is by Ingrid Michaelson, and is called "The Way I Am." (The song/slideshow is off of YouTube.)



And here's the song Andrew and I used for our first dance at our wedding reception:

It's called "You Are My Home," sung by Vanessa Williams and Chayanne.

(This is a fitting video because we took ballroom dancing lessons for nearly 4 years while stationed in the Boston area. This song is from a ballroom dancing movie called "Dance with Me.")

A dinner idea

I've been thinking a lot about food and trying new recipes lately, thanks to Two Bears Farm and the Three Cubs, because she's recently been sharing a lot of food ideas.

Anyway, I recently found a recipe I'd printed out  months ago. Somehow I'd misplaced it, and I therefore never got to try it.

And since Andrew and I will be celebrating an anniversary this month, I think I may make it for dinner that night.

So what's the recipe? It's for "Steak and Spinach Couscous" from realsimple.com under the "Food and Recipes" section. 

Here it is:

Steak With Spinach Couscous

Serves 4
Hands-on Time: 20m
Total Time: 20m

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 pounds flank steak
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 1 10-ounce box couscous
• 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 2 cups baby spinach
• 1/4 cup crumbled Feta (1 ounce)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Directions

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season the steak with ½ teaspoon each salt and pepper.

2. Cook the steak to desired doneness, 4 to 6 minutes per side for medium-rare. Let rest before slicing.

3. Meanwhile, cook the couscous according to the package directions. Transfer to a large bowl.

4. Wipe out the skillet. Cook the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil, garlic, and pine nuts over medium heat, stirring, until golden, 2 to 3 minutes.

5. Fold the pine nut mixture into the couscous with the spinach, Feta, lemon juice, and ½ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Serve with the steak.

Tip #1

Packaged crumbled Feta is often dry, flavorless, and treated with additives. It’s worth buying a block of the cheese and breaking it apart yourself.

Tip #2
Grass-fed beef  is lower in fat and thus cooks faster than ordinary beef. Many chefs and butchers advise cooking it at a lower temperature.

Nutritional Information

Calories 643; Calories From Fat 241; Protein 45g; Carbohydrate 57g; Sugar 2g; Fiber 4g; Fat 27g; Sat Fat 7g; Sodium 680mg; Cholesterol 83mg

Seems yum-o, so let's hope it turns out tasty. I may try it once before our anniversary, just as a trial run. 

And on our anniversary, I figure I'll use the good china we received as wedding gifts. Seems like a perfect reason to use it, right?

Here are what the plates look like (three stacked together):