Labor Day Bound!

Where in the world is this year going!?  Does anyone else feel like 2012 is moving at warped speed?  Here we are to September, about to kick off the "Fall" with yet another fun-filled Labor Day Weekend.  (I put Fall in quotes because it's really hard to convince yourself it's Fall when the temps are still flirting with 100 degrees into September.  Ah, love the South.)

If you've followed our Sasser blog for a while, you know that Labor Day Weekend is a very important one for both of our families.  For the past 5 years, we've either spent them in the oil fields of West Texas or the beaches of the Gulf Coast barrier islands.  Quite the different scenery, but one thing in common: great crowd!

I'm sure I'll have lots of pictures and stories from 2012 that I'll share in next week's posting.  For now, I'll take us on a trip down memory lane (since that was so fun to do for Memorial Days!).  I only have blog posts from 2010 and 2011, but I was able to dig out some good photos from the past Labor Days.

Oh, and since I love some self-depricating humor, I'd like to share with you some of my own observations on how dang classy I am in these pictures.  Really, I am a ROLE MODEL for women everywhere.


2011 - TEXAS
A recap of all our shenanigans with the Kerrs: click here

CLASSY = popping the collar of your camo shirt.  

2010 - FLORIDA
Lots of fun with the Sassers and friends.  I had just landed from Japan that Friday, and was about to take off for Madrid that next Tuesday.  If I look half dead in these pics, I was!  If you think I'm looking gorgeous, it's a true testament to Smashbox's high def concealer... (click here for the post!)

CLASSY = rocking the side sweep!

2009 - TEXAS
Pre-blog days, but I remember this being quite the stressful trip.  We were T-30 days from the wedding, and back in Texas for last minute preparations.  My family left us in Waco to run errands while they went to West Texas.  After I had a complete melt down over something very important probably trivial, James announced "put your bag in the car, we're driving out to Abilene!"  Sometimes a girl just needs her mama.  Throwing in a few more pictures here:

CLASSY = Maintaining your posture on an ATV

2008 - FLORIDA
Okay, I don't think I have anything other than this photo from that year!!  It was my first Virgo Party experience, and occurred right after I broke my camera (while dancing in Mexico - whoops!)  One memory of this party included the fact that there was a real chef preparing the meal.  I spent the party in the kitchen with him, trying to pick up techniques.

CLASSY = (well, I'm really on my best behavior in this one and not doing anything questionable.  I was meeting all the family, you know!**)

2007 - TEXAS
Ah, James' first introduction to the Kerr's Labor Day tradition:  opening dove season weekend out in West Texas.   Everyone loved him!  (I think they were glad I wasn't bringing home some East Coast liberal elitist who didn't know how to hold a gun.)

Don't Mess with Texas Mamas!

CLASSY = baring your midriff while holding a gun, sitting on your new boyfriend's lap.  

Particularly special.

Hope you enjoyed a little blasts from the past!  And, ladies, I hope you learned some valuable tips on how to keep it classy.   :)

(**Post-posting update: Mother identified something slightly "suspicious" in the picture, but I'll refrain from commenting because I think it's a fluke, wink wink....)   

Best Banana Bread Ever?

I love banana bread.  Well, and pumpkin bread.  Okay, let’s just say I love any type of quick bread.  (Quick bread defined as a bread that doesn’t require rising and kneading – I haven’t mastered that yet!)

It takes a lot for me to commit to a recipe and use it as my “go to” for a bread.  I just like to experiment until I find that perfect one.  Dare say that I found that perfect one for Banana Bread?  

I don’t know where this originally came from, but I got it from a quick Google search of “banana bread” and “Greek yogurt”.  (I’m all about adding Greek yogurt to just about anything I can, due to the no fat / high protein properties.)  I tried to Pin this for future reference from this website, but Pinterest is having trouble finding an appropriate image.  Ah, technology… never works when you need it to.  

So, I figure I’ll just post the recipe to my blog and pin it from there.  Is that legal?  Unfortunately, I am not a food photographer - my kitchen just has terrible lighting that even my good lens can't work with.   Don't get too underwhelmed by the pictures - I promise the bread is good!

Banana Bread

(From Yummly.com and Food.com, originally posted by OzzieFoodie - gotta give credit!)

Ingredients

• 3 banana (smashed)
• 1/2 cup greek yogurt  
• 2 1/2 tbsp melted butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
•  1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 
• semi sweet chocolate chips (optional)

Preparation Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F
2. Mix smashed bananas and yogurt together into a large mixing bowl.
3. Mix melted butter into the bananas.
4. Mix in the beaten egg, vanilla then sugar.
5. Sprinkle the cinnamon, salt and baking soda over the mixture and mix.
6. Add the flour in last, a little at a time, mixing after each addition.  Mix in chocolate chips, if using
7. Spray a 4×8 inch loaf pan with PAM then pour mixture into pan. 
8. Bake for approximately 45 minutes until a sharp knife inserted vertically through the middle of the loaf comes out clean.
9. Cool on a rack.

Let’s talk about why I love this recipe.  First, the yogurt makes it extremely moist.  There is zero oil and very little butter (by this Southerner’s standards), so you don’t feel bad about having a piece or two (or ten.)   If you're lazy like I was, you can just use the pre-measured yogurt cups. (Mine had honey in them, so I decreased the sugar by a little bit).

Next, I love the simplicity of the preparation.  No need for two bowls where you separately mix dry and wet ingredients.  In this recipe, you simply add ingredients to the same bowl, mixing between each addition.  Great!

It does call for three ripe bananas, which seems like a lot.  Usually I only have 2 on hand, unless I purposefully plan for banana bread.  (I had three before I took the picture - promise!)

Everyone knows that really gross bananas make the best banana bread.  If you’re wondering how these bananas are so black, let me fill you in on a little secret that I believe came from Mrs. Debbie Caswell (mother-in-law to this great gal).  When they are starting to get those brown spots, pop them in the freezer.  When you’re ready to make the bread, take them out and they will very quickly finish ripening and blacken during the thawing process.  Works like a charm!  And keeps you from allowing them to get all gross on your counter.  (And your husband from saying "YUCK, can we throw these bananas away yet!?”)

It calls for one large loaf pan, but I’ve had success with using my mini loaf pans for around 25 - 30 mins.  Only made three which is annoying…why not four, grrr? 

See, makes the perfect little gift to take over to neighbors and finally introduce yourself after 1.5 years of living next door…. ;)  Which is how I used these little yummy quick breads.  

Pinning!

Honest to goodness, I probably make or use only .5% of everything that I pin on Pinterest.  I was a little late to the Pinterest trend, but now that I've got the hang of it (thanks to Kellee M) it's a normal part of my daily routine.  I’ll go online, see what others are pinning, think “that looks good!” or “I can do that!” and then pin away.  Those pins never see the light of day until I get an urge to re-organize my boards. Then I look at them again and think “that looks good!” or “I can do that”….and then….nothing…

Well, last night I thought “I’m going to DO something with my pins!”  Sort of like that Swiffer commercial where the mom realizes that dusting with a Swiffer only takes 3 minutes instead of the normal 5 minutes, so now she has time to read a novel.  ("I'm going to READ this", she says.  That commercial is so silly to me.)  

Now, it wasn't anything earth shattering and nothing "crafty", but a few Pinterest successes that I thought I'd share:   

Alien Eggs and Pesto

Two separate concepts, but spurred by the same event:  overstock in the fridge.  James and I usually don’t go to the grocery store by ourselves for this very reason:

We buy the same thing!!  Two of the Sasser staple items!! 

I was trying to figure out what I could do with 2 dozen eggs (besides baking a pound cake for myself– my first thought),  and I remembered a frequent Pin I saw on Pinterest about baking eggs.  I love hard boiled eggs, and eat them almost daily for breakfast.  (CNN might have ruined this for me with this nice little article, which compares my egg habits to lighting up.  Dr. Gupta, quit confusing us!)  

Anyway, so I love eggs, but hate to make / peel them.  I’m always looking for new ideas.  And, baking them was a …..

…SUCCESS!  Here is the pin (although there are a million you can use), but basically what worked for me was 325F for 25 minutes in my (hot) little oven.    Now, if you can stand the fact that your eggs look like little aliens staring up at you, the flavor was fantastic (and they were easy to peel – score!)

(I think the “eyes” are caused by the eggs resting on the metal tray in the oven?)

Now, the arugula.  I love to eat arugula salads, but I knew that I could not eat two over the course of the week. Since my basil plant has been a real dud this summer, I’m really low on pesto in the freezer.  A-HA MOMENT:  arugula pesto!  I had never tried it, but I knew you could make spinach pesto.  A little searching and I found a recipe - here the pin.  

I'll admit that I regard pesto recipes similarly to how I regard the speed limit:  more of a "guideline" than a hard and fast rule. I never follow pesto recipes, as this one was no exception.  I used 1 3/4 C of arugula and 1/4 C of basil, toasted pine nuts instead of walnuts, and eye-balled the cheese because more than a 1/2 cup wasn't going to hurt anything.  I also put in 5 or 6 cloves of garlic instead of 4, because we have a real vampire problem in our neighborhood and you can never be too safe.  Well, and I just adore garlic.  

So, my final arugula pesto recipe was....also a DELICIOUS SUCCESS!  Highly recommend!  (Just a note: someone commented on this recipe that it tasted like grass.  However, they thought raw arugula tasted like grass, too.  Let me just call out the obvious and state that if you don't like arugula, you probably won't like arugula pesto either. Parmesan and garlic and olive oil can only do so much when the main ingredient is arugula....)

I was on a roll, but there were more Pins to come!!  

Tips and Tricks for Shredding Chicken and Smelly Disposals

I had to eat something with said pesto, so I decided to make a quick pasta.  I've only had pasta 3 times this week, and that's just not nearly enough for this carb lover.  I had some chicken breasts and broccoli, so that sounded good with pesto. It also allowed me to take advantage of yet another helpful little Pin that I stole a few weeks ago for my “Tips/Tricks” board:  shredding chicken in your mixer.  You see, I hate shredding chicken or de-boning a chicken.  I hate how hot chicken feels on my hands, BLECK.  But, so many of my Texas recipes call for it!  Casseroles, enchiladas, chicken chili, pasta, etc – all need shredded chicken.  So I tried out this little trick for my pesto pasta dish and....

…SUCCESS!  This might be my favorite pin yet!  Love it!!!  

Now, the chicken has to be hot and you also have to watch carefully unless you want shredded chicken all over your cabinets.  Still, it worked great for me.  (Mother says "it's sure a lot more to clean than two forks" that she shreds her chicken with, but it's so much faster and less effort, in my humble opinion.  And you don't have to touch it.  You pick your poison, I guess.)

Lastly, one more tip/trick Pin that I had to use after basically destroying my kitchen last night with all my cooking:  cleaning up a smelly disposal.  Gross.  I saw this pin for homemade disposal cleaners that you make with vinegar, lemon slices, and an ice cube tray.  I have been storing the "cleaning cubes" for a long time, but finally whipped one out last night and ran it through the disposal.  WONDERFUL!  Got rid of the smell, left a clean fragrance, and I love that no chemicals went down the drain.  Another successful Pin.

So, there you have it folks.  I used 4 of my 4,000 Pins that I have out there.  I call that a great day!  :)

Where the Skies are so Blue

I can't believe how many times we have been through Birmingham without ever stopping in Birmingham.  Especially when we have some good friends there!  I have always heard it's a great little city, so I was very happy to have a reason to go exploring.  Our good friends, Jennifer and Jeremy, just bought a house there AND are about to welcome their first precious baby.  It seemed like a great time to go visit.

I was doing a little calculation in my head to figure out how long we've known Jennifer... (I know James has known Jeremy for umpteen years and I met Jeremy back in 2006 when I joined the Forest Service Project).  This led me on a little trip down memory lane via my iPhoto albums, where I found some cute pictures from way back when (definitely pre-blog):

Our first time meeting Jennifer, New Year's 2009.  From the start we loved her and said "she's a catch, Jeremy - hang on to her!!"  (This also began my crush on her cute little long-haired chihuahua, Tia)

I remember at the lake that New Year's, Jennifer convinced me I could definitely do a half-marathon (and that she would do it with me)  We signed up on Jeremy's iPhone (this was waaaaay before the Sassers had migrated from their blackberries to something so fancy), and I thought that was the coolest thing ever.

Anyway, so March 2010 came around and Jennifer kept her word.  We ran the Atlanta ING half marathon and had a blast doing it.  The time wasn't half bad either, considering it was rainy and cold for most of the race.  Oh, and Atlanta has a heck of a lot of hills.  (After running the the half that morning, I had an overnight flight to Berlin that evening .  Yea, that was sure fun and not uncomfortable at all.  But I digress....)

Then, of course, in January 2011 the boys joined us for another half marathon down in Miami, which I blogged all about here.

These are only a few of the pictures that I found from the past 3 years - lots of great times at the lake, concerts here in Atlanta, runs through different cities.  Lots of adventure.  However, this weekend was more about just hanging out, checkin out the new digs, and, of course, taking baby girl her handmade baby afghan.

I did not capture any pictures of the house but it. was. gorgeous.  Jennifer does an unbelievable job of mixing beautiful, unique antiques with new finds.   We already have a deal that when the little one is old enough she needs to come swooping with me in Atlanta.  I need her help!!  Antique marts, estate sales - watch out!

We did a little exploring through the city and I had some time to take out my camera.  The downtown was such that I thought B&W served the scenery well - nicely preserved with cobble stone streets and brick facades.  (This Peanut Depot was, unfortunately, closed, or I probably would have had a whole post about how many peanut products my husband bought that day...)

We also drove up to Red Mountain for some nice views of the city, as well as a perfect view of the Vulcan.  I can't remember the specific fact - and y'all know I don't want to lie on the blog - but I believe that Alabama might produce the most iron ore in all of the US.  Is that right?  Does another State want to protest?

That night for dinner, we went to a fabulous restaurant that focuses on local food and ingredients.  I love how that is becoming a new trend in cuisine.  Almost as much as I love how much pork - or, more importantly, pork products - are becoming such a hot trend.  Can you believe that for an appetizer we got homemade pork skins with truffle oil!?  This was like a delicacy for both of the Sassers!

While I'm on it:  another trend I'm loving is the rise of Pisco (and Pisco Sours) in the US.  Chile and Peru are definitely on the ball, marketing-wise, because it's rare you don't see the South American liquor making it's way on a menu these days.  Love it.

All in all, we had a FABULOUS time in Birmingham hanging out with our friends.  Whether we were  window shopping in Homewoods, eating pork rinds from a plate instead of a bag, attending a fabulous worship service thanks to Apple TV, or just catching up and laughing about old times, it was such a great time and I can't wait to do it again soon!  Next time, with little baby girl King!

You've Been Sass'd, 2.0

As you can probably tell (if you have perused through already), the Sasser blog has received a nice little facelift!  Brighter colors, new pictures, new format!  I absolutely love it.  James says he does, too.  Either the boy has finally come to realize that a little bit of color and pizazz never hurt anyone, or that this blog is 99% my perspective so feminine touches on the site don't necessarily represent him.  :)

"You've Been Sass'd 2.0" also includes some navigation tabs with way more information than you ever wanted to know about the Sassers.  Part of adding in those tabs was twofold:  1) I love to stalk other people's blogs, and enjoy getting some background information about the total strangers new people I'm reading about.  And, 2) as the blog holds more and more content, tabs allow me to pull together information in a more organized fashion.  Online sorting - I adore it.

All tabs but one have been completed at this point:  Favorites.  I believe I will try to organize some posts of our favorite things on that tab, but for now it's going to remain blank because I've just not got the energy for any more blogging!  Maybe next week....

I went back and forth about the "Little Sassers" tab....obviously we still don't have little ones yet to fill up a tab; however, we firmly remain hopeful that we will need that tab at some point! For now, it contains a little info about our bumpy road to parenthood, with some thoughts for friends going through the same thing.  (Plus, it's a small - like, $5 - change fee with the blog designer to make those updates, and y'all know I'll go to any lengths to avoid spending money.)

There is also a "You've Been Sass'd" blog button that came with my pre-made design. I have no idea how to use that so someone will have to inform me.

Lastly, buttons that link to all my other online outlets, so folks can just follow me everywhere!  (I find it hard to look at those buttons without feeling a certain degree of narcissism...ha.)  I will admit that I am very new to Twitter, so don't follow and expect hourly enlightenments.  If you like twitter friends who rarely tweet, then I'm the gal for you!!  (A.E. - I know, I know, I'm supposed to be getting more Twitter savvy.  Our next phone date is reserved for a tutorial!)

Hope y'all enjoy the new look as much as we do!

UNDER CONSTRUCTION!

Oh my word, the new blog is here already!!  YEA!!  I am so glad I outsourced the installation, because we may have been waiting for years for this baby.  

Please be patient with me as I go through and get it ready for prime time - I'll announce when you can go browse around!  :)

New Backyard in Time for a Party!

I'm going to double-up in this post and talk about two things:  1) our renovated backyard that has been a long time coming, and 2) the little celebration that took place in our new backyard this weekend.  Here goes - lots of pictures!

We bought our current little bungalow in April 2011.  Tax day, to be exact, which meant that both Uncle Sam AND the bank took a helluva lot of money from us that day.  :)  After closing on the house April 15th, James wanted to start renovating the backyard by...hum, let's see...the 16th?   It was bad, y'all.  The only things that were green were weeds, but even they were having trouble growing due to all the rocks and debris.  A huge selling point of the house was definitely the size of the yard (in comparison to the neighborhood), but the fact that it was a barren wasteland meant it needed lots of TLC-time.  And some money.  Neither of which we were rolling in by the time we actually got into the house.

Fast forward a year.  By the Spring of 2012, James was dying to get started on the backyard.   He would sit on the deck, look down, and sigh.   We would mow the "weeds" so that it looked halfway decent to the neighbors, but one step off the deck and you knew it was a sham.  By the time we brought Enda home and I spent time playing in the tall weeds, I was ready to join him in the constant complaints - something had to be done!!

We had some professionals do a design for us, mostly to make sure that we were using appropriate plants, allowing for proper drainage, etc.  Our yard is really shady with a pretty good slope - not really for amateurs.  After we got the plans, James shifted into PM-mode to tackle the actual backyard build.

"Let's do this"

I won't go into details about how it was done, because I don't think either of us want to remember that chaotic time.  Let's just say we carefully utilized our skilled labor network to do the heavy lifting, took advantage of being our own general contractors and learned to navigate wholesale supply companies, and earned "premium renter" status at Home Depot which means we no longer have to put down a deposit for a piece of equipment (woo hoo!)

And now...some before and after shots!

View from the back of the yard, looking up to the house:

BEFORE 

AFTER

AFTER

View from the top of the deck, looking out over the yard:

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

AFTER

AFTER

A little more explanation about what we did and what you're seeing.  This top part of the yard was where we had the most issues.  Our neighbors had warned us that NOTHING would ever grow there for past home owners, except for some really unruly, random bushes (which we replanted down in the back flowerbeds - no waste!).  So, we bypassed grass and went for rock:  paver patio with a rock seat wall, place for the Green Egg, and cabinets for storage of Green Egg accessories.  We also ran a gas line under the patio for the gas fire pit and gas hook-up in the grilling area (for the turkey fryer).  We laid down sod, created some flowerbeds with lots of perennials, and made a raised garden which is now a feeding trough for some irritating squirrels.  (There was some other work down on the sides of the house to create rock paths from the front to the back - so much better than trekking through snake infested, overgrown ground cover!!)

We LOVE our backyard.  Love, love, love it.  Since we entertain so much, it's also a wonderful place to hang out with friends.  Leading me to the second part of this post - our first backyard party!!

Our dear friend, Michael Murphy, graduated with his MBA this July.  A very grueling 20 months balancing both a demanding full-time job plus school - what an accomplishment! Kellee threw him a lovely party, and we officially broke in the patio.  We even turned on the gas fire pit since the summer temps flirted with 70 degrees that night.  (Here in the South, that's "chilly".)

Not a lot of pictures from the party or of the party guests, but I did manage a few of the usual crowd!

Kellee and Calvin

The Murphys

The Sassers

A classic Southern, celebratory Hummingbird Cake

Big THANKS to James for all his work the past 4 months to make this backyard a reality for us (as the "after" shots were after a lot of time and work).  And a big CONGRATS to Michael on his achievements - so glad we were able to celebrate!