Amanda & Tyler

...sitting in a tree?

Nope. Amanda & Ryan sitting in a tree.


Today is our 10 year anniversary. I hate to be cliche but I really did marry my best friend. I love this man more and more every day. He is an amazing father and husband. I've never met anyone who works harder than him. Did I mention how funny he is? I nearly pee my pants every day! I think he's pretty nice to look at too. I love you Ryan!


Here's to 80 more fun-filled years of bliss!



Okay, enough of that.

Back to task. Yesterday I made my decision about what cookbook would be our lives for the next year. There were way too many cookbooks to choose from. I kind of felt a bit bullied by Martha Stewart. She has way too many cookbooks and they were everywhere I looked! And Rachel Ray. I love you Rachel but I didn't pick you either.

I have to admit, Jamie Oliver was a very close second. He's just so darn cute! Don't judge me, the criteria involved more than just the cuteness factor. It does help though (sorry Emeril. Bam!).

After a long, arduous journey, I finally decided on Tyler Florence. Not just one Tyler Florence cookbook either. I will be using Stirring The Pot, Dinner At My Place, and Tyler's Ultimate. I decided on three because he just didn't have enough recipes in one book to keep me occupied. Plus look how cute he is!


The bonus is he has a show on Food Network that I can watch and get additional tips and recipes from. I have seen his show before and he's a good choice. Not too spazzy (again Emeril, Bam!) and quite casual. I also downloaded the Food Network app on my phone, just for good measure.

I think I have my work cut out for me. The first recipe I looked at was fresh crab. Crabs scare me. They look like giant spiders which really scare me. I have an extremely hard time eating scary food. Maybe my kids come by their picky eating habits honestly? Probably.


This picture was from a trip to Hawaii we took a few years ago. We went to what I called "crab island" and crawled around the rocks with them. They are gross. Ryan was excited to see crab on the menu though. But he eats all the gross stuff. Escargot is one of his absolute favorite appetizers. You couldn't pay me to eat a snail. I'm serious about this one. I will NEVER, EVER eat a snail! You can quote me on that too. Ryan has convinced me that calamari is really good. I just stay away from the whole ones. I like the rings, I just can't bring myself to eat a baby anything especially if I can see all the parts intact. The kids even like calamari. When we go out to eat we have to order enough so we don't fight over it.

This is definitely going to be an adventure. I did see some really yummy recipes that involved fresh homemade pasta. There were some pretty deadly desserts too. We are going to be eating good. I might go see if McDonald's or Tacotime will sponsor this adventure just in case. I have a feeling we'll be gracing their doors more than once in this next year.

I think I forgot to mention that I'm not starting until January. Tentatively. I might get ambitious and start earlier but the plan is to start after the craziness of the holidays. So until then....