Weekends

{photos by the fabulous Brittany Cunningham}

How was your weekend?  Ours was pretty relaxed and chill.  Dane surprised me with a spontaneous snowball fight, which I LOVED!  We also enjoyed watching the Seahawks win the Super Bowl and had a SPREAD of food.  Tonight we are getting settled in to watch some Juan Pablo on the Bachelor (don't judge me) and get ready for the snow that is on its way.  Lots and lots of snow.  Hope you have a great week!   Stay warm!  ♥ D+C

Somethings: Edition One

Welcome to a new weekend feature here at the Kids Down Under titled "Somethings."  Most of us spend our weekends running here and there, but this post is for some of those quiet moments that come along.  Each weekend it will feature links that you can create, indulge in, dance to, encourage your heart and make you smile.  I hope each link is like a little wonderful surprise waiting for you on the other side.

Something to Create: These Concrete Counter Tops at A Beautiful Mess are simply amazing and a must try in my future house.

Something to Encourage: My friend Jessisca's blog post about faith.

Something to Inspire: Beautiful Winter.  Yes I said beautiful.

Something to Dance To: Beyonce's XO.  I can't get enough of this song or this video.  Reminds me of summer nights at the county fair.  

Something to Indulge In: Ok so I know I promised a link but this is seriously the most delicious tomato soup I have ever ate and the simplest I have ever made.  Win Win don't you agree?  My Aunt Anne first introduced this to me, and it is a must try, especially on one of these cold winter nights.

Happy Weekend Everyone!  ♥

Date Night Friday: Board Games

So this date night brings us to two topics Dane and I are very passionate about, board games and friendships.  

Before getting married Dane and I decided that we didn't want to become "exclusive" once we got married.  We both really valued the friendships we had in our lives and felt like in order to have a healthy marriage it was important for us to maintain friendships outside of just "Dane and I."  This keeps us from getting too self-absorbed, provides us with a support group when tough times come, and its really fun!  On top of all that, I seem to always learn something new about my hubby when we are around others.  In the two years we have been married we have truly valued our "double dates."  Sometimes they were as simple as inviting others over to watch a movie other times it involved going out to big events like concerts or theme parks.  

Some of our favourite double dates from the past have involved board games.  Dane and I love board games and card games.  The game we are playing here is called Settlers of Catan.  It's a game that has been around for awhile but is making a comeback.  Our first time to play this game was last January while on a double date with our friends Josh and Hannah who we met in Australia.  (Little shout out to you both, we miss you so much).  Over the past year we have had many double dates with Settlers including our friends Alex & Jess (hope third year is going so good for you all, sending our love), and this week Drew & Celisa and Brock & Brittany.  

I love how Dane and I grew up with different games but now have taught each other those games.  Some of the games we enjoy playing:

Settlers of Catan, Pitch, Sequence, Phase 10, Shanghai Rummy, Nertz, Spades, Clue, Trivia Games (which I am horrible at, but Dane rocks at), Hand & Foot, Scategories, Catchphrase, The Game of Things, Balderdash, Crazy Eights, Dominos, Clue and I am trying to get Dane addicted to the Farming Game.

What makes board game dates so much fun?  Well there is plenty of time to talk, laugh, give each other a bit of a hard time, and just enjoy!  We had a blast playing this week despite the fact that I played the worst game of Settlers in my life.  It was one of our first times to hang out with these two and we loved it, plus they have the cutest little baby girl, Emersyn!  Thanks for the fun this week and yes a rematch is in our future!  

What are some of your favourite games?  Single, coupled up or married, we would love to play a game with you as well!  Happy Date Night Everyone!  

Super Bowl Food from Australia

It has been two years since we have watched a Super Bowl on US soil.  I can't even tell you how excited we are about this.  One thing Australia did teach us is how to make an amazing appetizer that would be a hit at any Super Bowl Party, Sausage Rolls.  I must say thank you to my lovely friend and housemate Sarah Anne for the sausage roll lessons.  Now, here we go.

Sausage Rolls

1 tsp olive oil

1 onion finely chopped

1 pound ground sausage

1 cup breadcrumbs

2 TB tomato sauce (the Australian word for ketchup)
Salt and Pepper to taste

1 egg beaten

3 puff pastry sheets thawed

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.  Heat olive oil on stovetop and then brown onions.

2. Now combine the browned onions, pound of sausage (yes raw....I know it shocked me too), breadcrumbs, tomato sauce, a little salt and pepper and egg in a bowl to create the sausage roll filling.

3. Cut pastry sheets in half.  Divide filling into 6 equal portions, form a sausage down the center of the pastry sheet.

4. Roll pastry and sausage into a tube.  Cut rolls about 1 ½ inches thick.  Place on the tray seam side down.  To help with browning, I like to splash a little milk on the top.  Then bake 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve the sausage rolls with tomato or bbq sauce.

I hope you'll try this Aussie treat out  at your Super Bowl Party this Sunday (or Monday morning if you're in Australia).  Speaking of Super Bowl, who are you cheering for?  I'm going to have to say....the Chiefs.  Maybe next year right?  So if I have to chose, you'll find me cheering on the Seahawks this weekend.  Yes, I know my Seattle friends are proud!  Happy Super Bowl Weekend Everyone!  D+C

Date Night Friday: Thrift Store

 

Our date night adventures took us to one of our favourite locations ever....the thrift store.  I mean where else can you walk out with a load of stuff for $1.50 (that's how much our goodies cost us).


Thrift stores are like a surprise treasure hunt for us.  Sometimes you cash in and sometimes you don't.  We have several items on our "most wanted" list and when you find one of those at a bargain price it is a euphoric high.  Today was one of those days, because there on the shelf was a vintage brandy decanter.  A decanter hasn't been on our list for very long, but it was sure fun to find one so quickly!

Many of you know I have quite the owl collection but another animal I like to hunt for is glass deer and so of course this little Bambi was coming home with me.


The exciting find of the day was adding the 1980's version of Risk to our board game collection.  We have a soft spot in our hearts for vintage board games and when the ladies who ran the shop figured this out, they allowed us to go down to their inventory room and check out all the other board games they had in stock.  We almost picked up the game Labyrinth but passed when we realized it was missing too many pieces to play.

To keep this date within our budget Dane and I give ourselves a $10 limit to spend.  That makes it $5 a piece or sometimes we pool our money together to get something large and in charge and AWESOME!

And there you have it, another affordable date to add to your list!  Enjoy!  D+C