Philadelphia Peach Pie

We took advantage of the 3 day weekend and went down to PA to have loads of fun. While there we saw "The Water Horse", which was cute. **Matt did not see it** Matt got to go golfing in near freezing weather, and most importantly we joined my family in their MLK day tradition. We went down to Philly and made pies from scratch for the homeless. We were supposed to make sweet potato pies but they ran out of yams. So Tammy, my mother's friend, went through the elementary schools kitchen and threw peaches, cinnamon, sugar and flour together and we made 10 peach pies.

Sporting our MLK t-shirts

Dad in action

Hailey

Yum.....finished product

Ask Matt to make you a homemade pies

Sweet baby Jack

Garfield taking up half the bed all weekend long!

Snugly Kitten

Matt golfing with the Wii

Funny Story by Matt:

So I was making pies in a Philadelphia inner-city high school when a sweet older lady approached me and asked what I was working on. Obviously, I was making pies. Everybody was making pies. Hundreds and hundreds of people were making pies. I think she was just being cordial. Anyway, she introduced herself as Marjorie Rendell. I responded by saying my name is Matt. She asked what organization I was with and I said that I was there with my father-in-law who works for PNC bank. I also told her that I was visiting from Connecticut for the weekend. She said back to me, "So that is why you don't recognize me." I didn't say anything. "I am the governor's wife." I told her it was my pleasure to meet her and she continued on to meet other volunteers. She was nice...for a democrat.

Cafe Rio Salad

Ok ok after many requests (and by many I mean two!) I will post the cafe rio salad recipe. Enjoy!


Café Rio Salad/Burritos
Sweet Pork
¾ lb. Pork loin roast
1 cup brown sugar
1 bottle red taco sauce
1 T cumin
1 can coke (not diet and caffeine free....haha)
Cover roast halfway with water and cook on low in crock pot for 6 hours.
Discard the liquid and shred the pork with 2 forks.

Mix brown sugar, red taco sauce, cumin, and can of coke and pour mixture over pork and put it on low (in crock pot) for 3 more hours.

House Dressing
1 dry buttermilk ranch packet (like Hidden Valley)
1 cup buttermilk (we substitute this with sour cream)
1 cup mayonnaise
2 tomatillos (husk removed & diced) Matt and I don't use these and it is still delicious.
½ bunch of cilantro
1 clove garlic
Juice of 1 lime
1 Jalapeno
Blend all ingredients in blender and refrigerate for 1-2 hours

Rice
Cook normal, except use chicken broth instead of water, and add a handful of cilantro and the juice from 1 lime.


Assembly:
You can cook your own black beans or get them in a can. Also with the tortillas you can buy them pre cooked or buy the doughy ones that you fry up. Just add the rice, pork, tomatoes, dressing, romaine lettuce, and whatever else you feel like. It is soooo delicious!

I'll Be Home For Christmas

Matt and I were very fortunate to be able to go home for Christmas. We drove down Friday night and stayed until Christmas night. We had so much fun and had no time to rest.

Saturday

We went out and had family pictures taken. Then Saturday night we went to a friends house and watched BYU play a most hideous game. Luckily BYU came through in the end and blocked a field goal kick to win the game!

Sunday

Matt took the train to NYC to be with a co-worker who had lost his young wife and unborn baby a few days earlier. From this experience we are learning how important and short this life is. I was able to attend church and hear wonderful Christmas music. Sunday night Matt and I made Cafe Rio sweet pork salad and it was delicious. My dad couldn't get over how all of the different tastes are so 'delicious' together! haha.

Monday

We visited with some good friends, Mary and Eddie, who currently live in Utah. Monday evening we all sat down for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner, homemade sushi, shrimp cocktail and taquitos. There was some murmuring from the girls this year that it wasn't filling. But the tradition will go on! We then opened presents from Dad and Matt read the Silent Night Holy Night book. We all settled in to watch "Scrooge". This year was especially special to us because there is a scene in the movie where a hideous looking child sings about Scrooge saying, "He's a Banshee". Well not so....Uncle Whitney ruined our fun by telling us that the kid really says, 'he's a bandit' and told us our dad had been lying to us all these years. We put the closed captions on during the song and all cried when we read the sad truth. We still screamed out that he was a banshee and will continue to do so....so there.

Tuesday

We woke up to find that Santa had come and left gifts all around myself and Matt. We were later yelled at by my younger sisters who said we shouldn't have slept in the room that Santa brings the gifts to. Matt received a brand new razor, a set of golf clubs, a MP3 player and many other things. I received a Sapphire ring and a matching necklace, many gift cards, a jewelry armoire and many other tasty treats. Of course we had our annual Christmas Breakfast. This year was the largest by far. We had about 80 people attend and we even ran out of food for the first time ever! We later attend our traditional Christmas Dinner at the Mercado's home, which sadly will be our last year as they are moving to Idaho:( Matt and I left that night and made it back to CT in 2 1/2 hours, record time. We had so much fun and wish it could have been longer but were lucky to spend time w/ our family.

Merry Christmas and a have a Happy New Year!!!!