Well, this might be incredibly boring for some, but I'm not sure I have anything that much more interesting, so I'm going to tell you what I had for dinner! Woohoo! Actually, I'm just now learning to cook. I know, I'm 22 years old and really all I've ever cooked is grilled cheese sandwiches and really bad scrambled eggs. Now I have my own kitchen and I really want to give it a whirl! I'm actually having a blast! I haven't tried anything too fancy yet (I just have two small cookbooks and a kitchen with limited supplies), but I'm having fun. My mother gave me a cookbook called "Recipe Please: Favorite Recipes from Colorado Restaurants". (Sidenote: Please pray for her, if that's your kind of thing, as she was admitted to the hospital for a ruptured appendix the other day. She was supposed to be sent home today, but I guess things have taken a turn for a worse and they're now projecting she gets released on Tuesday.) I don't believe I've found an entry in the book of a restaurant of which I've been to, but the food sounds really good! Tonight I chose my first meal from the book: Bravo! Ristorante's Lemon chicken with Penne. I modified the recipe a bit, taking out the ingredients which we don't have on-hand (asparagus and oregano) and fixed it so it only fed two. So, I'll post my interesting "Meals for Two" recipes which I attempt! Here was tonight's chicken: 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil 1/2 clove garlic, minced 1/2 small shallot, chopped 1/4 cup white wine 1/2 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into strips 1 cup heavy cream 1/4 cup crumbled Gorgonzola 1/2 cup freshly diced tomatoes 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan Pinch of mixed fresh or dried herbs (thyme, rosemary, parsley, and chives) 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice Salt and pepper to taste 1/2 pound penne, cooked and drained Fresh basil for garnish Serves 2 Heat oil in pan, add garlic and shallot and saute for 2 to 3 minutes. Deglaze pan with white wine and reduce. Add chicken strips. Saute for 3 to 4 minutes. Add heavy cream and Gorgonzola and reduce liquid by half. Next, add asparagus, diced tomatoes, Parmesan, fresh herbs, and lemon juice and heat. Add penne to pan and let it cook just until heated through. Add salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with basil and serve. Served with a 2003 Lucas and Lewellen chardonnay. I give it two thumbs up, but Matt didn't care for it at all. It seems he doesn't really like creamy-sauces (it's not all that creamy, though) so I packed up his for my own lunch tomorrow. I thought it was awesome, but that's okay. I'll cook it when he's not around. Check it out! Oh yes, and I'll have another culinary adventure soon to tell you all about! Now moving from the kitchen to the driveway … Matt and I have been cleaning the car. It's really quite the nightmare. It was such a cute paint job that Jason, Matthew, Jen, and Carol did for us last weekend, but they used the wrong kind of paint I think! We've used Goo Gone and soap and water and rubbing compound and have exhausted all those kinds of products at Autozone. It took me over two hours and tons of elbow grease to rub the huge LOVE off the hood. I considered a whole new paint job, actually, but that's out of the question now that I've looked at our checking account. So, if anyone has a suggestion on how to get this crazy super-paint off our car, it would be greatly appreciated! I'm going to see if my brother can find the bottle they used (two different brands, actually, and neither one of them is easily removed) and get me a phone number to call the manufacturer for a recommended solvent! Ick, my arms/thumbs are so sore. Anyhow, that's all for tonight. Try that chicken!