a few more

Fresh Lettuce, spinach, pear, beet, walnut and feta salad with a lemon balsamic dressing.

Along with the lasagna...we had a wonderful thing called a STACK: tortillas, meat, beans, tomato sauce and cheese! Oh yah.

The birthday party~

Devin blowin out a candle on his "American" brownie with vanilla ice cream. Yup- where I ordered the brownies....they call these dense fudge with nuts thingies....American Brownies. Delicious.

Devin's Birthday Party

Here is our beautiful apartment- all tidy and ready for a few friends to join us to celebrate Devin turning 36!

Pam and David~shown here and Kate, Mike and Hannah Ryan- joined us for drinks and dinner.

Hannah and Genevieve LOVE Kate's amazing chicken and spinach lasagna!

Here is Kate's now famous lasagna! Seriously the best I have ever had. And Kate was so sweet to make it...she has an oven and alas, we do not! So a special birthday comfort food treat.

Happy Birthday, Devin

Today is Devin's 36th birthday! Woo Hoo! I am every day amazed by this man. His dedication to family, work, friends, life is amazing. He breaths life into everyone and everything he comes in contact with...we celebrate him today and everyday! Happy Birthday, love. He is an incredible father- always willing to play, read out loud, burn off energy, snuggle up close, hold, love, chat, and spend quality time with his girl.

Devin is always up for an adventure, meeting new people, seeing new places, opening his mind and heart, making people laugh, broadening his perspective of the world and learn from others.

He is wild, silly, amusing to himself and others, energetic, youthful, uninhibited, always up for a laugh!

This is his year, the year of the Tiger. May this year be filled with abundance and all kinds of magical moments. We love you. Happy Birthday.

Happy Birthday Gina

Today, February 6th is a VERY important day. Two of my most favorite people were born on this day. To my most amazing sister- Gina...HAPPY BIRTHDAY! A few of the many things I adore about Gina:

• she can create beauty from anything
• she is the most present & loving mother
• her laugh is contagious and magical
• she loves my brother
• she has a sense of color like no one else I know
• her smile fills a room
• she will do anything in her power to make others happy
• she is very very funny
• she is beautiful inside and out~

Happy Birthday...with LOVE

Sarah, Devin and Genevieve

dinner

When cooking with one hot plate, the fewer pots the better! I came up with this little yum last night. I had broccoli that needed to be eaten. And I had some chicken. So here is what happened:

Olive oil in a pan, couple cloves of garlic, an onion sliced- cook
Chopped red pepper and broccoli florets- cook a bit til tender
Cut chicken into chunks (It was already cooked:)
In a small sauce pan...combined cream of chicken soup envelope (usually at home I would just use chicken broth), add 8 oz shredded cheese (Monteray Jack would have been good, but cheddar is what we had), heat slowly to melt cheese.
Add 8 oz sour cream, remove from heat and blend- put aside
cook bow tie pasta
Then combine all- pasta, veggies and sauce! Add s and p to taste...and if you are Devin add Tabasco or hot sauce!
Delicious and only 2 pots to clean:)

China Town Singapore

This weekend in Singapore, we went into China Town. February 14th is Chinese New Year and it is a huge celebration. China Town was packed with people....and stalls selling decorations and cheong sam, food, sweets, on and on. But there were also artists...and this woman was so beautiful. She was creating hand painted Chinese characters and paintings. I had to take a few pictures and then I saw the sign on her desk- No photos. OOOOPS! I am so glad I did not see the sign- and she must have thought I was crazy...Nevi really wanted her to make her something, maybe the next time we come across her. It would be a wonderful keepsake for sure.

Girish's Family and a visit

We have been so lucky while living here to have met so many wonderful people. Devin's co-worker, Girish invited us to his home in Singapore last weekend for a visit. His wife and mother in law had made the most amazing vegetarian food and tea. It was pure pleasure to spend time with his family~one of his daughter's was at Hindi class, but his youngest woke from her nap while we were there...and of course I got my arms around her! Such beautiful and kind hospitality...so giving and warm.