Happy 4th of JULY from NYC

In NYC the most popular thing to do on the 4th of July is to go to Coney Island and watch the International Hotdog eating contest. 

I know I can't believe my eyes either. Well I don't eat hotdogs EVER but when in NY you just have to try it. I guess one little hotdog wont kill me but you better believe I wont be touching one again for a long time.

What happens when you take a pretty sweet firework so and times it by 5 ships in the Hudson. The whole sky was filled for miles. 

D and I at our last dinner in NYC! It's been a wonderful trip.

This is where the Line begins.

Today we decided to go the main landmarks in NYC.

We started by going to the Statue of Liberty.

Dugan and I on Ellis Island. Wow! Look at that sky line.

This is Dugan's Fav building the seagram building

Going to Ground was defiantly the most emotional part of the whole trip. 

One of the many views from the top of the Empire State Building. 

Got Museums?

Oh I have a Whale of a tale.

This is a Blue Whale if you look to you left you will see a large staircase. These Ocean friends of ours are HUGE.


Natural History is pretty cool. This museum had a lot of munchkins screaming and running around but I guess that could explain why they know the names of all the dinosaurs. I swear I was so smart in Elementary school.
Believe it or not this is the REAL thing. Starry Starry Night. We found it at the MoMA.
Pretty sweet.

Char in front of Dugan's fav building. The Seagram building. It just started pouring as we walked across the street after taking pictures of it up close.

We just can't help ourselves. We LOVE skyscrapers so we had another night of walking all over but we started at Harold Square and Madison Square.

The Empire State Buildings being patriotic with its red, white and blue. 2 days till Fireworks!

Late night adventure. Guess what we found? An awesome pizza place still open after midnight. It must really be the city that never sleeps.

Welcome to NYC

We arrived to JFK late afternoon. We took a Taxi with a crazy driver to our hotel. We went in got settled. Dinner was sounding really good after eating nothing but yogurt and peanuts all day. We went down to Lobby and as we opened the door to outside we were greeted with a very WET surprise. So we ran back to our room to get our umbrellas. With cover from the rain we headed to the best Pizza place around.

At our first dinner in NYC! It had to be Pizza. Can you see the Rain outside and on our clothes?
We waited an hour or so and the rain was gone so we caught the subway and went downtown. Where we wondered the streets looking for famous Architectural buildings for a few hours. It was a pretty fun night.

Good morning Central Park! Dugan and I decided to walk through the middle of Central Park to get to the Guggenheim.

Well looks like we made it. For those of you who may not know. Frank Lloyd Wright designed the Guggenheim to be experienced by starting at the top and going down so of course that is what did.

Little did I know that moments after this picture was taken I would see something so unbelievable. Due to the fact that is was the 50th Anniversary of the Guggenheim I would see real life actual drawings that Frank did himself. Oh I can't even explain it. I would hate to say it was a spiritual experience because that wasn't quite what it was so in the words of my friend Em W I will say it was Magical. You know that feeling when you get all excited inside and you cant help but have a permanent silly grin on your face. The main exhibit was all Frank. Lucky Me!

Well after making our way down we headed down the street to the MET. Had some lunch and planned out what we wanted to see most. (There are millions of things there)

One of the first things we found is our dream pet. He was in a glass cage but he was cute but he was also VERY tall and probably wouldn't fit in our apartment. Plus we don't want to meet the NYPD. So we left him there.

We were shocked to see that a Artist from India had done a sculpture of us and named it the Loving Couple. We are pretty cute.

Dugan had a moment and decided to turn into a transformer. So I took advantage and took his picture.

Don't you worry I didn't leave him at the Met. He changed back to his normal self and decided to chill on the stairs outside.

Well we are headed to SoHo and Chinatown to try there Chinese food. Hope our feet survive the walking.

Better go catch the Subway.

LOVES from NYC!

June has been fun but its almost over

This is what Dugan and I have been up to for the past month. It's been pretty fun.

Dugan's good friend Jeff was married to Shasta.

This is my friend Carrie's little girl. She just turned 1 and is so fun and cute.

Bro and Sister Foote (new members in my ward) and Brother and sister Brown (Service missionary's in my ward) at the Jordan River Temple. The Foote's went and did Baptisms for the first time. I LOVE the Temple. It was such a wonderful experience to share with them.

Just call me Mrs. Frehner! This is a picture of my class from the U of U collage day's.

I love teaching.

Outside playing with Charcoal.

Jason and Amanda Barber's Wedding.

(my sisters bro-in-law)

It was a beautiful wedding.

These two Love birds are so cute.

Well here is our June in a few pictures. We have been having a wonderful Summer and are excited for more summer fun. Hope to hang out with everyone we can this summer before Architecture school starts up again.

Oodles of Noodles

Some of you know I have been working on my Personal Recipe book for a few years now but I am actually starting to assemble it now. I never wanted this to be a recipe blog so that is why I don't post them. But I thought that I would share two of my recent recipes that have left us with Oodles of noodles.

Beef and Broccoli Stir- Fry

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/2 red onion, sliced

1 Tablespoon garlic, minced

1-1/2 lb. top sirloin steak, sliced 1 inch thick

1 Tablespoon sesame oil

2 Tablespoons rice vinegar

1 Tablespoon ginger, minced

4 cups broccoli florets

8 oz noodles

Bring 2 quarts if water to a boil. Meanwhile, heat a small amount of soy sauce in large saute pan, add the onions and garlic, and saute until opaque. Add beef and saute, turning often with tongs, for 7 to 10 minutes. Stir together the oil, vinegar, and ginger and add to the saute mixture. Blanch broccoli in the boiling water, when done add to meat mixture. Prepare noodles according to package directions. Drain, toss with the beef and broccoli, and serve

Asian Vegetable Noodles

12 ounces Spaghetti

2 tablespoons dark sesame oil, divided

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger

3 tablespoons chopped garlic

6 ounces mushrooms, sliced

1/2 red bell pepper, chopped

2 medium carrots, cut into matchsticks

1 large head bok choy (about 1 pound), stems thinly sliced, leaves torn into small pieces

1/3 cup teriyaki sauce

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons finely chopped green onions (optional)

2 tablespoons chopped peanuts* (optional)

Directions:

Prepare pasta according to package directions. Reserve 1/4 cup pasta cooking water and drain the rest. Transfer pasta to a large bowl and toss with 1 tablespoon of the sesame oil. Cover lightly with plastic wrap.In pasta pot, heat vegetable oil on high until it shimmers. Add ginger and garlic and cook, stirring, 30 seconds, until fragrant. Add mushrooms; cook 1 minute more. Add red pepper; cook 1 minute more. Add carrots and bok choy stems; cook 1 minute more (add 2 tablespoons reserved pasta water if necessary). Remove pot from heat. Add bok choy leaves, teriyaki sauce, soy sauce and remaining tablespoon sesame oil. Toss well to mix. Divide pasta on four plates. Make a depression in the center of each and mound with one-fourth of the vegetable mixture. Garnish with chopped green onions and peanuts, if desired.

Let me know if you have any questions. 

Bon Appetit

Summer is already busy

I hadn't realized how long it had been since I had posted so here are a few things. 

Going shopping with Char

This is more for my Cousin Kathy but it is easier for me to post it on my blog then e-mail it. So this is the majority of what I buy at the store to use to cook from. I do buy dariy products like skim milk, soy milk, yogurt, cottage cheese (a must for staying healthy) and cheese. I also buy things like wheat past and whole wheat bread from Great Harvest (Yummy). Protein is a huge thing. I am personally a chicken, fish, and all around ok with meat person. But these pictures pretty much cover the rest. Fruit and Veggies of current choice should be in season. This usually keeps the price down a little. Also if you have a Farmers Market in your area USE IT! Buy Local first.

 Ok I realize I have 6 containers of raspberries but they are so delicious. I use them in homemade raspberry lemonade and smoothies ( raspberries, vanilla yogurt, soy milk and ice). Banana's and apples are always good with a little bit of peanut butter but the peanut butter must be ground from peanuts with no sugar.

Yummy veggie choices, I forgot to put the mushrooms out for the pic (but I LOVE them). I prep things for the week in little serving size bags. Make sure to date the bags. I use spinach A LOT. I also use Romaine lettuce often in place of bread. I put tuna salad, chicken salad, lunch meat in a few lettuce leafs and eat up. I often use the Bok Choy in any Asian dishes. I love fresh Artichokes but a lot of people I know would rather use frozen. To each his own. 

Well believe it or not I need to go and make dinner but I will try and post my recipe soon.

Good Times

A few weeks ago Dugan and I went to our High school drafting teachers retirement party. It was bitter sweet. He really was the one who helped spark the Flame of our Architecture passion. It is hard to give him enough thanks.