Our 1st Wedding Anniversary

On Monday Adam and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary.

Here is one of my favorite photos from our wedding day - our frist dance as husband and wife.

To celebrate, we went to Baltimore for the day. With the city only an hour away from our new house, it was a great getaway. We saw a lot of the city we had never seen before.

We started our day walking around Camden Yards and then visited Babe Ruth's birthplace.

Unfortunately, it rained the entire day so after our visit with Babe, we made our way to a nearby bar to wait out the rain. After 2 orders of fried pickles for me and some local brews for Adam at Pickles Pub, the rain held steady. So with our new Orioles umbrellas, we ventured to Little Italy.

We ate at a cute place called Chiapparelli's.

I had homemade manicotti and Adam had a caprese panini.

We will definitely visit this restaurant again!

After lunch we made our way to Inner Harbor for dessert.... 2 delectable pieces of cheesecake from where else than the Cheesecake Factory!

Next we headed to the National Aquarium. Even though it was a busy Saturday, we got to see everything, including our favorite - the sharks and sting rays. We even saw an enormous sea turtle who was missing his front left flipper, which made him all the more adorable!

Here I am on my wedding day and then... a little rounder... 1 year later, along Inner Harbor.

After a short rest at the hotel, we visited the neighborhood of Canton to feast on a dozen crabs at Bo Brooks. A great treat!

Adam picked his crabs and saved all the meat until the end. He had a big bowl of buttery crab to enjoy.

After dinner, we ventured to Fells Point. We wanted to visit America's oldest saloon, The Horse You Came In On. It was packed. We had to wait in line just to get in. Even though I felt awkward in a lively bar with my big belly, we had a good time (for the 20 minutes I lasted). There was a fun band and the girls liked the music. They were kicking away!

Before we headed back to the hotel, I had to have some gelato at Pitango - chocolate and pistachio. A great ending to a great day!

So when our official anniversay rolled around on Monday, we got the top tier of our wedding cake out of the freezer.

The gorgeous cake on our wedding day:

 And one year later:



Not as delicious as we remember, but it was fun to reminisce about our beautiful wedding day.

It was a wonderful anniversary! I can't wait to celebrate next year with our girls!

Sticky Orange Chicken Thighs

 My mom used to get the Everyday Food magazine and we'd always make lots of recipes from each edition. It's such a good magazine. Since we've moved, I have subscribed and I'm so excited to cook from it. Super easy and healthy recipes.

These sticky orange chicken thighs from the June 2012 edition of the magazine aren't too healthy but they are easy and tasty!

Here's the recipe with my changes/notes:
8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 cup thawed orange juice concentrate
1 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons light-brown sugar
4 teaspoons white-wine vinegar
4 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons hot sauce

Preheat oven to 450 degrees (make sure your oven is clean or it will get very smokey in your kitchen with or without a smoke detector going off!), with rack in upper third. Season chicken with salt and pepper and arrange, skin side down, on a parchment paper covered rimmed baking sheet. Bake until deep golden brown and cooked through, 40 to 50 minutes, flipping halfway through (mine were done at 40 minutes).

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, combine 1 teaspoon salt, juice concentrate, ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce. Bring to a simmer and cook until mixture has thickened, 15 minutes.

Heat broiler. Transfer chicken to a large bowl, add glaze, and toss to coat. Drain off fat from sheet, throw away parchment paper and replace with a new sheet (really helps with clean up). Return chicken to sheet and broil until sauce is bubbling and chicken is dark brown in spots, 1 to 2 minutes.


We ate our chicken with roasted sweet potatoes and cauliflower.

23 Weeks

Here I am at 23 weeks in front of our new house!

We've been moved in for 3 weeks now. We're really loving the house, neighborhood and the short drive to work. And the dogs love going for long walks.

We saw the Dr today and the girls and I are growing right on track, with Baby A weighing in at 1 lb 4 oz. and Baby B weighing in at 1 lb. 6 oz. And Mama weighing in at... well, let's just say the Dr said I'm right where I should be :)

I'm feeling really good but just tired when I get home from work. I keep telling myself this fatigue is nothing compared to what it will be like when I'm carrying around girls in my belly that are 4, 5 and 6 pounds each!

Who will they be?

 

Two girls!!

We are having twin girls! They are fraternal which means they aren't identical and will have their own unique look but still the special bond of being a twin!

We can't wait to meet them!

22 weeks down... over half way there!

Delicious, pink butter cream filled cakes by The Couture Cakery

Lovely images by Rebecca Sior Photography