GET IN MY MOUTH: Low Country Boil

So lately, I've been missing Georgia. Sometimes it literally makes my heart hurt because I miss it so bad. Which luckily, is not because I am totally miserable in Idaho, because I'm surprisingly not (yet). But, ANYWAY, I decided that there was one thing that could help curb my Georgia yearning; some good old southern food.

So, I pulled out Aunt Martha's cookbook (which if you are ever going to buy a cookbook, let that be your next one because Martha is amahzing. She's used to help write Paula Deen's cookbooks. She basically a Savannah celebrity!) and after looking through it, decided to invite some of our peeps over for :

LOW COUNTRY BOIL
Adapted from "Savannah Celebrations" by Martha Nesbit

Thanks to Sassy YGBG for the photo

Here's what you need:

Serves 8

2 pounds kielbasa Polish sausage, sliced into 1 inch pieces.

20 red potatoes, halved or quartered, depending on size.

4 to 6 ears of corn broken into halves or thirds

3 pounds large shrimp 

1/4 cup Old Bay seasoning (this is optional but I HIGHLY recommend using it, and being generous with it!)

Allow 1 hour to heat water in a 20 gallon pot*, filled about one-third full. Add the Old Bay seasoning if using (which you better be). 45 minutes before serving, add sausage. 20 minutes before serving, add red potatoes. 15 minutes before serving, add corn. 5 minutes before serving, add shrimp. When shrimp are pink and cooked through (about 5 minutes or less - you can tell because they curl up like they're prepping for an earthquake drill.). Drain and serve hot.

*Alright so, if you're anything like me, you don't have a 20 gallon pot and when you saw that you were like, Whaaaaaaaaaaat? But don't worry, it's a little bit of work but it's still possible. What I have is just two 5.5 quart pots. So, to make the full recipe (which you can half it, or even quarter it if you're cooking for less people) I had to split it up into 4 different rounds (so two for each pot for me). So I did MATH (which I suck at, but I did it) and split the ingredients up into fours. And then you follow the recipe the same (except that you don't have to wait an hour for the water to heat up). 

The best way to serve this is to just lay out some news paper (or craft paper or a plastic table cloth) on your table and dump it right on to the paper (but if you wanna be civilized you can leave it in a bowl, sometimes that's a good idea too) and serve with: Soft Butter, Sour Cream, Cocktail Sauce, Slices of lemons, and Ice Cold Coca-Cola. 

you can just see the humidity in the air from all that boilin! felt just like the south!

my special juice is gonna help me bloooog.

i was really feeling like i was keeping up with blogging until i realized that it's been a WHOLE month since i last blogged.  so geez.

well, basically everyone already knows this but...

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!

She's so cute right? I mean I would someday like to paint the house on the outside, but whatever.

In other news in Idaho; nothing.

Oh except that last week it snowed so I woke up to this:

but this week it has been in the 60s so I was like whaaaaat. is going on. But I'm totally not complaining. I'll take what I can get in this spud ridden frozen tundra. 

We are mostly moved in to our house except that my clothes are still in space bags and covering my bedroom floor. DONT JUDGE ME, I need a dresser. and I'm lazy. But anyway, this house is HUGE (to me) and I feel like I need to buy a bunch of crap to fill it up (aka hoarding). Luckily I'm basically obsessed with target clearance/the D.I. so that should be happening in no time at all. Look for me on A&E or TLC soon. 

Wednesday, as you know if you are a regular person, was Halloween. Our Mexican friend, Vickie had a little Halloween shindig giving us an excuse to dress up. So, I got Lux a dog-wig

She's a pink lady if you didn't catch that.

 and we dressed up as old people/Florida retirees. 

I'd like to inappropriately note that those are not my real breasts.

So that happened. The best part was when a girl showed up to the party we were at and thought she was at the wrong party because we were the first people she saw and she thought we were legitimate old people. So that made me feel good because I put minimal effort into these costumes. (the fact that my shirt and pants matched so dern good was an act of God, found them separately at the D.I.) 

This evening we had our friends over for LOW COUNTRY BOIL! which I will be blogging about TOMORROW, to give you pics AND the recipe. Cause seriously, you haven't lived until you've had a good old low country boil, says me. 

Also I made everyone try go-go juice, which if you live under a rock, is part red bull part mt. dew.

 In other words, I am super buzzin right now and maybe gonna die. If that's the case, I have to apologize for not giving you the Low Country Boil recipe sooner. 

But lets hope we make it through the night. 

you're probably in this post somewhere.

WOW, so I am starting to wish I wrote this sooner, even though I am only a couple days late on it. It's just going to be a loong one, and I've got more things to update on, like Crock Pots and Christmas Trees!

For Thanksgiving we went to UTAH to see my family, and friends who are family.

I'd be lying if I told you that I was excited for the trip. I was tired of traveling and really reluctant to leave behind my sunshine and 75 degree weather. But, it's always worth it to be able to see my nearest and dearest. Even if it is stressful and sometimes impossible to fit everyone in such a short time period.

The number one thing that I was most excited for was to meet the precious spawn of my best friend, forever. [and ever.]

Gracie Ruth

Is she not the most beautiful little thing ever? If those eyes don't melt your heart, then you probably don't have one.

So when we got in at 10:30 PM mountain standard time on Wednesday, we got the rental car THE FIAT.

this is real life.

my first order of business was to head down to AF to see the nocturnal infant and her parents {Jen and Scotty}.We stayed and chatted until the wee hours of the night. I was pretty tired so I was basically drunk, and don't remember what really happened other than, I loved that baby.

I don't know what it is about Thanksgiving that makes it so dinner is at like 3PM, but that's how it always seems to go. So on Thursday afternoon we headed over to my Aunt Tonya's house for dinner. Everyone kept cracking jokes about how it was so "classy" because we ate on paper plates and sat on the couches/floor and watched TV. But I thought it was great. We had delicious food and it was super chill. Who needs dishes and tables? Not the Coffins. After dinner we went to see some of my mom's side of the family, like my Aunts and Uncle and my cousin Ranee and her family. My aunt's 300 pound cat sat on me and demanded that I pet it, and then bit me. Cats suck.

On Friday we didn't go to any black friday sales because I can't think of anything worse than shopping and being stuck in a crowd of Utards. I know, I grew up in Utah but every time I go back, I can't believe how ridiculous most Utahns really are. I mean, the rednecks here are dumb, but at least everyone is nice, and at least they know they are dumb. I had to make a trip to the craft store but I waited until a little bit later in the day to go so I wouldn't get trapped. It was still pretty busy, and I still ran into some idiots. But it wasn't too bad.

Friday night we got to have our SECOND Thanksgiving dinner, HOLLA! My step-mom's family all got together at her parents house and we had delicious everything, but this time we used real dishes and sat a table. But, we enjoyed both Thanksgivings.

And after dinner we headed down to Manti to get back to my roots. That night we hung out at my aunt Holly's house, and my bff Sherry came over to see us and we made plans to take pictures of her little girl, Nixon.

So on Saturday we got up and headed out to see my Grandparents and take Nixon's pictures on the farm.

Taylor asked my Grandpa if he could ride a horse, so they saddled up old Fluffy for him and he hopped on, like a rhinestone cowboy... in a J.Crew hoodie.

Then, the unthinkable happened. I mean seriously unthinkable.

I.
rode.
the horse.

IT'S CRAZY. I used to love horses when I was a little girl but I had an accident with one when I was about 8 or 9 and have REFUSED to ride a horse since that day. But I finally overcame my fear and got back in the saddle. YES, my grandpa led the horse for me but I couldn't believe I finally got on. In my dress at that. I was pretty dern proud of myself. and I'm still alive!!

I also cannot believe that I was wearing only a cardigan in Utah at the end of November. It was surprisingly warm.

That evening, we had plans to eat at the restaurant formerly known as Fat Jacks, in Ephraim with my beloved A**ley and her fiance, Danny. I referred to it as a double date. But it ended up being a lovely family affair, Danny's mom, and Ashley's entire family, minus one sister came with. This was a great time for me because it was the first time Ashley and I saw each other in TWO YEARS plus a month. Also, Taylor finally got to meet the woman that I spoke constantly, and highly of. So needless to say it was a joyous, pizza filled occasion. After we ate the four of us decided to go to pollie's so that the fatter two of the four (us) could get candy and ice cream at my childhood hang out spot.

The following is a series photos which depict Taylor's attempt to take a picture of all 4 of us with my cell phone.

FINALLY GOT IT.

Also, I just realized we are ALL wearing gray. Favorite.

Sunday morning happened pretty fast, we both got haircuts (and I got color) and then we headed back up to American Fork to spend the day with the BFFAE and little baby G-Money. 

Taylor took some baby photos and some family photos for their Christmas card. I will try not to bombard you with every photo but I freaking love these guys.

Train tracks SHOT

G money and her mustache daddy.

That's just the light, not a gray patch.

Also I have bangs again.


After the photo sesh we ate dinner and went over to visit Jen's parents, who just so happen to be my second parents. (LOVE THE WADES!) and chatted about England and looked at the pictures together and ate pie. It was a smashing good time.

So that basically concluded our trip. We had to get up at 5:30 AM on Monday to catch our plane. And we had dinner with Jamie and Jeff in Atlanta, and stopped at IKEA and I found the perfect fabric for my throw pillows, YES! And then we drove four hours and we made it home.

I realize this is the longest post ever, and I do mean ever. If you read it all, kudos to you.

Stay tuned for my upcoming posts about our Christmas tree, my DIY ornaments, and how we finally got our crock pot, which is my new favorite thing.