I'd like to place an order for delivery...

What would you think if you ordered a pizza and Ben brought it to your door? That's what I thought, but he loves it! He's helping out a friend who runs the pizza shop downstairs and he's having a blast running around town. The best part is that I get to go with him sometimes!

In other news, our caterpillar started building his chrysalis this afternoon! Our baby caterpillar is growing quickly (notice how they're tiny and black with a white stripe and orange spots at first, and then turn into big green squishy looking worms) and... we saw two more teeny-tiny babies just hatch from their eggs, too! We're going to have swallowtails galore- if the parsley holds out that long. One little critter can eat a ton; more than half of the foliage is reduced to just stems from our last baby. I picked some fennel outside today and hopefully I can wean them onto it before the parsley runs out. Picky little buggers!

New Stuff!

I've been planting some herb-container-gardens around the house and look what we found munching on our parsely: a hungry caterpillar! He's going to build a chrysalis and grow up to be a black swallowtail butterfly, I'm so excited. We've been watching him for days and I think he's going to pupate today or tomorrow and in 10 days, he'll hatch out as a beautiful butterfly. As I was taking this photo, I noticed... a baby caterpillar that just hatched... so we're going to have another cutie to watch in the coming weeks!

Although we've only lived in our apartment for 4 months, it was time for a change! We rearranged the furniture by switching the bedroom and Maverick's room. Its much more spacious and cozy now! I got a new dresser that all of my clothes can actually fit inside (very exciting) and Ben got a new surfboard to replace the dilapidated one that he found in the dumpster a few months ago, haha.

And yes, the girl scout cookies were delicious! They don't really look like thin mints, but are very tasty nonetheless :)

Secret Recipes Cookbook!

Check out this cookbook that has everything you've ever wanted to know how to cook from all of your favorite restaurants and more! Its called Insider's Recipes: Master Edition. You can make everything from Applebee's Spinach Pizza Appetizer, to Cinnabon Rolls or Domino's Pizza Sauce. Here are some of my favorites:

KFC Buttermilk Bisquits
1/2 Cup Butter
2 1/2 Tablespoon Sugar
1 Egg, beaten
3/4 Cup Buttermilk
1/4 Cup Club soda
1 Teaspoon Salt
5 Cup Bisquick biscuit mix
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Combine all of the ingredients. Knead the dough by hand until smooth. Flour your hands. Pat the dough flat to 3/4−inch thick on waxed paper. Cut out biscuits. Bake for 12 minutes or unitl golden brown. Makes about 18 biscuits.

Girl Scout Mint Cookies
1 box Devil's Food Cake Mix
2 Eggs
2 Tbl. Water
2 Tbl. Cooking Oil
1/2 Cup Cocoa
1 pkg. Chocolate Chips
2−3 drops Wilton's Candy Mint Flavoring
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine cake mix, eggs, water, cooking oil, and cocoa. You will need to blend this together well, this will be a very sticky mess. Let stand for 20 minutes, and then shape into very small 1/2 inch balls. Place these balls on a cookie sheet 2 inches a part, and smash down flat. You will need to spray a large spoon with Pam to make them flat. Bake for bout 8 minutes. Let cool until they reach room temperature. Heat chocolate chips in either the microwave, or in a double boiler. When completely melted add a couple drops of the mint flavoring. Be carefull not to add too much, it is a powerfull flavoring. You can either spread the melted chocolate on the cookies, or you can dip the cookies into the chocolate.

McDonald's Shamrock Shakes
2 cups vanilla ice cream
1 cup milk
1/4 cup half and half
1/4 teaspoon MINT extract (not peppermint)
8 drops green food coloring
Mix all ingredients on high speed until smooth. Stop blender, stir and blend again, if necessary to combine ingredients. Makes 2 − 12 oz. shakes.

Olive Garden Fettucine Alfredo
8 ounces Cream cheese −− cut in bits
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese −− grated
1/2 cup Butter or margarine
1/2 cup Milk
8 ounces Fettuccine; cook −− drain
In large saucepan combine cream cheese, Parmesan, butter and milk, stirring constantly until smooth. Toss pasta lightly with sauce, coating well. Leftovers freeze well.

Let me know if you want more recipes and I can email them to you! I'm going to try my luck at Thin Mints first... to be continued :)

Seafood- Fresh from the Boat

Ben took me on a surprise adventure on Friday! First, we stopped and got bagels and smoothies and then drove the long trip to Manteo where we went to the North Carolina Aquarium! It was really neat to see an aquarium with the animals that we teach families about every day.

Then we went to the Elizabethan Gardens, which was a real treat. It is a very fancy garden designed as a memorial to the original English colonists, back in the 1580's. We actually purchased a membership so we can go anytime throughout the year. I know what you're thinking- how did I get Ben so interested in the gardens? Well, it just so happens that this is a fantastic birding area! I looked at plants, he looked at birds, and we even bought some herbs for my new windowsill container garden.

As we approached lunchtime, Ben cleverly drove us to Wanchese, a little fishing village where all of the local seafood is sold to the area restaurants. We had a wonderful lunch and then picked up some seafood on the way home. This place that we went to what a little scary- it was operated by someone called "Graybeard" but it was amazing! The shrimp was caught earlier that morning (the boats were still at the dock!) and was super cheap! Shrimp was $2.50/pound and Red Fish was $2.25/pound. In Corolla, we've been buying that same seafood, straight from Wanchese (or so they tell us) for $11/pound for shrimp and $10/pound for fish. And Graybeard told us that he doesn't have wholesale customers from Corolla so what we're buying up here probably isn't local anyhow!

We had such a fine dinner yesterday- Ben marinated the red fish with olive oil, greek seasoning, and fresh basil and then grilled it. It was the best seafood I've ever had!

Uniform Uniforms

Day in and day out, Maverick witnesses us wearing our tried and true uniforms to work: khaki and green everyday, looking like two trees on bicycles. Doesn't he look pleased with himself in Ben's outfit?

Laundry day can get pretty tedious around here when we have decide which size- small men's t-shirt belongs to whom when they are all the same colors and broken-in quality. At least it makes picking out an outfit in the morning a snap!

Notice the clothes line that we use to save on electicity. Wet clothes actually help keep the room really cool and cozy. They add humidity to the air, which makes Otis very happy. And... the fresh smell resonates the entire house. Its a win-win-win situation for everyone!

Oh the simple things in life :) Is this a preview of what its going to be like in the wintertime when all of the stores and restaurants are closed and we have nothing to do but sit at home and dress up the dog? Its so crazy busy with 75,000 vacationers arriving every Saturday afternoon and departing the following Saturday morning that the winter season is actually sounding pretty enticing. Except for the cold, of course. Its probably a good thing we have Netflix!

The Toga Party

What could be more fun than having your college roommate come to visit? Having your college roommate (and wonderful husband) accompany you (and your Mr. Wonderful) to a toga party! Somehow we escaped all toga parties in college, although we had many other crazy-themed parties no doubt. Ang & Phil brought sheets all the way from PA and the four of us dressed up, complete with oleander leaves in our hair, haha. Since we were inexperienced in the toga-making, we watched a few videos on You Tube first and enjoyed some libations during the dress rehearsal. Needless to say, good times were had by all!

We all spent many hours at the beach, soaking up sun all day and hunting ghost crabs at night. Maverick went along, too, loving every minute of it! We played bocce and Maverick would carry the balls around, haha. The water was actually pretty warm for a few days. Ben taught Phil to surf while us girls caught up on gossip! We even added a new toy to our "found on the beach" collection- a skim board, which of course the boys had to try out.

Our visitor calendar is wide open: for anyone itching to get to the beach, let us know!