The dish was the ever-so-healthy penne a la vodka.  OK, maybe it’s not healthy – but it is good!  I made it pretty much exactly like the recipe instructs.  I only added a little cayenne pepper to the sauce.  I also braised chicken in olive oil with just some salt and pepper.  Sliced that up and it went on top (as did crushed red pepper on mine).  So yummy!  I should’ve taken a photo.  It was pretty and pink too.

Mom gave Justin and I a bottle of Riesling that she acquired on her drive back from Chicago with Val! (they were roadtrip buddies).  It went perfectly with the dish.  I know you’ll want to make it now. :)  If you do – let me know how it goes!

I also finally got around to added photos of Halloween.  I was probably motivated because both Alex and Marisa put up photos of their recent trip to Aruba. Now if I ever get around to adding our fall foliage shots of Portland, ME…

Also, the babies were really happy to hear the nice things Auntie Thao had to say. They can’t wait to meet and make friends with Gup! :)

Note from justin – Here is the recipe:
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup shredded carrots
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup honey
1 egg

Mix flour and baking soda. Add remaining ingredients. Pour into greased 8″ round cake pan and bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Let cool. Puree cottage cheese in blender for icing. Decorate with more peanut butter and carrots.

Justin and I had dinner at Garcia’s on Austin St. This is not an unusual occurrence by any means. Unusual would be us making dinner at home! I was super excited that there was a V-shaped chip in the mix, though. We were also able to hear some pretty lousy karaoke. All in good fun.

I am proud of myself because I went for a jog today – my first jog in MONTHS. Go me go! Even if it was only 20 minutes. :) I was able to jog, shower, and dress in 45 minutes – record time! Now if I can

just keep it up a few days a week. ;)

Justin made a scary hand in my picture. :(

Justin and I had a really nice time having Thao and Katie over for dinner Thursday night. Thao shared with us a lot of her photos from Kenya (you can see them here) and narrated as she walked through the different experiences. Justin hooked my laptop up to our TV so we had a good viewing arrangement. It was so neat. I definitely want to go to Kenya now! If I can get a detailed itinerary of Thao’s journey, I’ll put it up here. She visited beautiful, deserted beaches; lovely, cheap inns; took a self-guided driving safari with some friends; took children to a giraffe feeding/petting area (not only did she escort these children, but she helped raise money so they could go in the first place – right on!); and all the while got around in bizarrely decorated buses. It looked and sounded like a lot of fun. She also brought me back salad spoons with rhinos on the ends! I love them :) Thanks Tizzle! :)

It was nice having Thao and Katie over… I just feel bad they got home so late on a Thursday night! Tonight, Val!, Justin and I went to Hill Country. A new friend of Val!’s, Chris, met us as well. The wait was an hour and a half but we had a good time. We sat there talking for hours and then for another half an hour on the sidewalk once we’d decided to leave. I pronounce “Friendship Friday” a serious success! :)

Yesterday, Justin and I had pizza at Nick’s in Forest Hills with Katie and a some people from JetBlue (Umang, Jim, Albert and Bryan). Justin and Katie bought a lot… I mean a LOT of discount chocolate Easter bunnies and we devoured some seriously not-good-for-you but oh-so-good food. ;) Thanks for the invite, Miss Katie!

I’ve added a few other photos to my Flickr. Still a lot more that need to be added.