happy thanksgiving

I've got several pots of potatoes cooking for mashed potatoes this afternoon, so this post will be short and to the point! Thanksgiving is about being thankful. Today, I am most thankful for my husband, and the opportunity we've been given to live on the most perfect little island. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

new website

So I haven't been blogging much lately because I've been working quite diligently on my photography. I finally have a real website, it's up and running! Go check it out, Engleheart Photography! I also had a little postcard project going. My landlord told me about a postcard auction for local artists next month. I had been thinking about making postcards ever since we moved out here and this was finally the kick I needed to do it. I picked out 5 of my favorite images of Guam and designed some postcards! I am now offering the postcards in sets of 5. I also donated 3 to the auction next month, so it'll be fun to see how that goes!

my postcards

george's dirty thirty

This past weekend I threw a party for George's birthday. He turns 30 this week and we decided to have a bbq at our place to celebrate. We made Filipino style chicken with a homemade marinade, grilled pineapple, homemade fried rice, roasted asparagus and of course birthday cake! We also had George's favorites pineapple salsa and chipotle hummus for appetizers. Of course we also had a bunch of refreshments, and my Tom Collins were a hit, we drank almost the whole pitcher! The cake turned out amazing too! I made a white cake with homemade coconut buttercream and had fresh strawberries between the cake layers. So yummy! Quite a few of our friends showed up and we had fun playing Cards Against Humanity. My friend won the first round, and I won the second! It was such a fun night!

yummy strawberries

"happy 30th jorge!"

fancy little table scape

the makeshift bar area

homemade tomato sauce

There's something so gratifying in making a dish from scratch. Even more so when it's something that everyone buys pre-made. Like tomato sauce. I never ever thought it make my own until this summer. While visiting California my dad made his own tomato sauce. Of course I asked how to make it and it turned out to be really easy and really fool proof. I love those recipes. 

Since I got a food processor recently, I have been trying to make meals that require using it. As I was thinking of things to make with it, I remembered the tomato sauce my dad made and decided to give it a try. You can really customize your recipe and alter the ingredients or the amount of each ingredient to your tastes. It really is simple! Here is my version of homemade tomato sauce.

Ingredients

1 TBSP extra virgin olive oil

1/2 yellow onion, roughly chopped

1 small shallot, roughly chopped

1 red bell pepper, roughly chopped

1 large clove of garlic, cut in large chunks

1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes

8-10 fresh basil leaves

1/4 tsp fresh thyme

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

salt & pepper to taste

splash of water

browning the onion mixture will add a little depth of flavor to your sauce

Directions

In a heavy bottom skillet, sauté the onion, shallots and bell pepper in the olive oil. Allow them to brown slightly. Then add the garlic and cook for another minute or two. 

Add the tomatoes and fresh basil to the skillet and turn the heat to low. Allow the mixture to simmer for at least 2 hours, stirring occasionally. You will probably need to add a splash of water if your sauce is getting too thick. You can also simmer the sauce all day, just make sure to add a splash of water every once in a while to maintain the desired consistency.

what the sauce looks like after simmering 

Once the mixture has simmered and all the veggies have gotten soft, remove the pan from the heat. Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes. Once it's cooled, transfer the sauce to a food processor and blend to smooth out the sauce. Return the sauce to the pan and add the thyme, red pepper flakes and salt & pepper.

It's done! Add it to any dish that uses tomato sauce! I added ground sausage and made spaghetti with it. You could also use it plain on noodles, in lasagna, or even in chicken parmesan. 

simple and delicious

wedding wednesdays - a guam bride

A couple weeks ago I mentioned attending our first guam wedding. Before the wedding, I picked up the bride and took her to her hotel room and hung out while she got ready. Her wedding photographer wouldn't get there until right before the wedding so I brought my camera and snapped a few of her getting ready. She was a gorgeous bride and unfortunately I don't have any photos of her once she's all dolled up. I do have a few of my favorites to share. The lighting in the hotel room was fantastic!

veteran's day

I've served with some pretty amazing people during my career and I would love to list them all, but you know who you are. I want to wish a happy Veteran's Day to not only all those great people I've worked with, but to all veterans, past and present. 

This morning I went searching for a photo of myself in uniform for my Facebook profile picture. Most people I know that have served, will change their profile picture to one of them in uniform for the day. Unfortunately, the only one I could find at first had been "edited" to add some humor to our day years ago by my coworker. I saw it and laughed my ass off because it reminded me of all the random things we used to do. Sara and I were work besties and we had some pretty good times at work. Since we worked on base, we would always get Veteran's Day off work. We would spend the day down in Roseville shopping and eating at our favorite sushi restaurant. It was our annual tradition that ended once she moved away last year. Since I'm feeling nostalgic, here's a few pictures I dug up...

Sara and I working at our unit's Thanksgiving party

George worked it too! Isn't he cute in the kitchen??

We did actual work too, not just lots of cooking for work parties!

Sara and I working. This pic was featured in the Year in Pictures in Air Force Magazine!

Happy Veteran's Day!!!

tagachang beach

Even though Guam is such a small island, there are so many beaches. We haven't even explored half of them. This past Saturday I went out with a group of friends to a new beach, Tagachang Beach. It's off the beaten path so you don't have to battle with crowds of tourists. We were just about the only ones there. The beach itself has nice sand with a little bit of grass and a few covered areas with tables. There's a reef that protects the beach so there is a nice area for swimming. It was pretty rough the day we went, but if it was calmer, the reef would allow for a perfectly calm swimming area. The day we went was perfect for a long beach day. It was cloudy so we weren't burning up in the Guam sun, yet it didn't rain on us. Perfect! 

looking north from the beach

looking south from the beach

right before we left, the blue skies came out

busy bee and butter lettuce

I have been such a busy little bee lately. It's hard to imagine feeling so busy without having a job, but it happens. I feel like the past week or so has been go, go, go. I've been putting a lot of time into my photography and I think I've learned a lot. I have a new project that has been a few weeks in the making, which I hope to announce soon and just snapping away in general. I've also been helping out a friend who's wedding pictures did not turn out so well. Thankfully, with my mad skillz (kidding) I was able to try and salvage a few her guests had taken. 

 I've also spent lots of time on things that don't benefit me as much, like searching for butter lettuce. Tonight we had some friends over for dinner and I was planning on making lettuce wraps, but couldn't find butter lettuce. I went to 2 commissaries, 3 Payless stores and a Cost-U-Less. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Hell, one Payless literally had 70% of their produce section empty. I'm not talking "empty" as in a few items, I'm talking empty. As in the bins had been removed and there were just gapping holes where green onions, lettuce and peppers had once been. 

rest in peace, produce. rest in peace.

wedding wednesdays - our 1st wedding anniversary

the flowers George sent me

Our first wedding anniversary was this past September. The 28th, to be exact. Unfortunately, we were over 6,000 miles apart for it. I was in California and George was still gone on a work trip, so we didn't get to celebrate together until we both got back to Guam. He did however, conspire with my best friend, Casey, to deliver me flowers at my parents' house the day of our anniversary! 

the view from our room, the bay is so pretty

Once we both were back on island, we did a staycation to celebrate. We stayed 2 nights at the Hyatt, the same hotel we began our relationship 3 years ago. We have a hotel package that gives us free hotel stays, discounted meals and free bottles of wine so our hotel stay was free! 

anniversary cake!!

The first night we got dressed up and had dinner at one of the restaurants in the hotel, Al Dente. It was so good! The server let us use 2 of our free wine bottle coupons, instead of just the one. Score! The food was really good and so was the service. Our server even brought us a little happy anniversary cake!

nice calm waters for paddle boarding

The next day we walked down the beach and rented some paddle boards. We had wanted to try it since we moved out here but never got around to it. They are so much fun! We would love to be able to own some one day. That night we walked down the street to our favorite pizza place and then got desserts at the cafe in the hotel.

our last day by the pool

Our last day there, we laid out by the pool for a few hours before headed home. It was such a pretty day. The sky was really clear and the air slightly drier than normal. We really love the Hyatt and their pool, it's always so relaxing! So while it wasn't ideal to spend our first wedding anniversary apart, it was nice to have an almost free staycation at our favorite place!

thai chicken pizza

Thai chicken pizza

A couple of years ago I tried a Thai pizza at Yard House. Whenever I eat something at a restaurant that's really good, I always try and recreate it at home. Sometimes it turns out, sometimes it doesn't. While searching for something to make for dinner, I came across a recipe for an asian style pizza and it reminded me of the Thai chicken pizza I had years ago. So I figured I would attempt it at home. I couldn't remember what was all on the pizza, so I looked up their menu online and headed to the grocery store! Here is my version of Thai chicken pizza.

Ingredients:

1 package of refrigerated pizza dough

Thai sweet chili sauce (I use Mae Ploy)

shredded mozzarella cheese

jalapeños, thinly sliced

red bell pepper, julienned

cooked chicken, cut into small pieces

green onions, sliced

shredded carrots (I buy them pre-shredded in the produce section)

cilantro, roughly chopped

peanuts, chopped

Instructions:

Pre-heat the oven to 400°. Roll out the pizza dough onto a baking sheet. Bake the plain dough for 5 minutes. Remove the pizza crust from the oven and top with the Thai sweet chili sauce, spreading it evenly and thinly.

 Top the sauce with the jalapeños, use as many as you like, the more you use, the spicier the pizza will be. Top with the cheese and all the other toppings except for the peanuts and cilantro. Use as much or as little of the toppings as you like. This recipe is not an exact science! 

Bake the pizza for 10-15 minutes, just keep checking it and remove it when all the cheese is melted. Immediately top with cilantro and peanuts. Let cool slightly, then cut and enjoy!

Sometimes we'll drizzle sriracha or peanut sauce on top to change it up a bit. 

dip in a little sriricha to make it even spicier!