1st Anniversary!

Mel and I just celebrated our first wedding anniversary. Even though it seems cliche to say, it is hard to believe that it's been a year since our wedding. We are busy planning what is sure to be an unforgettable trip to Portland and Seattle for our anniversary. To celebrate the actual day of our anniversary, we enjoyed a quick weekend get-away to St. Augustine. We stayed at the Renaissance Resort at the World Golf Village, which was a very simple but elegant hotel. We were treated to some complimetary chocolate covered strawberries and champagne at the hotel before our wonderful dinner as Collage Restaurant in downtown St. Augustine. Afterwards we enjoyed some year old cake, which was surprisingly good thanks to Kelley's cellophane wrapping and vacuum sealing abilities. And while we had a great time relaxing at the beach and eating good food, we can't wait until our trip out west in a couple weeks!

Savannah

Mel and I took our first trip to Savannah this past weekend. We were invited by our friends Jeremy and Melissa to celebrate Jeremy's 28th birthday. After succesfully navigating an alternative route to Savannah due to traffic, we arrived at the Hyatt Regency on Bay Street. Since it wasn't the first time Jeremy and Melissa had visited, they staked out a sweet place right in the middle of the action for their return. Mel and I simply reaped the benefits of this inside information. After a quick bite to eat at Five Guys, we headed out to Sixpence Pub to meet our tour guide for the ghost pub crawl we had scheduled for that evening. During the night we enjoyed some good drinks and even better ghost stories. While they were entertaining, we of course dismissed them as pure fiction... that is until later on in the trip (more on that later). After the tour we "crawled" to a few more establishments of our own to grab a nightcap or three, before retiring to bed.

We got up at a decent hour Saturday, and headed out to breakfast at a New Orleans inspired restaurant on River Street called Huey's. We dined on some tasty omelets and beignets and then headed out to tour the city. Since it was a beautiful day we walked around for a couple hours taking in the sights. And no trip would be complete without a trip to a yarn store, which after some confusion we eventual found. After some much needed rest at the hotel, we headed out to the Olde Pink House for Jeremy's birthday dinner, where we had some great food in the beautifully kept atomosphere of an old mansion. Follwing a great meal, we headed out for drinks, where we found out that the ghost stories may not entirely be false.


Scanning through some of the pictures we had taken that trip Jeremy noticed the first of many encounters with the "Orb."


While we thought that the ghostly object was a trick from the lighting of the camera, it was hard to argue with the several pictures in different settings where the orb appeared - primarily around Jeremy. The orb even settled in an area on Jeremy too risque for this blog. Needless to say, it's easy to see why Savannah is a ghost town with a drinking problem. We grabbed a few more beverages before calling it a night; woke up the next morning (again hangover free), grabbed breakfast at Huey's again, then took off for home. It was an exteremly enjoyable weekend, and I'm sure we'll be back there soon.

More Beer?

Seems fitting to follow up a post about beer with another post about beer. This time I wasn't looking for the delectable malt beverage, I was making it. With the help of my buddy Jeremy, and the beer kit given to me by Melonie, I set out to create my first home brew. Now, I'm not so bold as to make my own recipe so I used one from the brew store in town, the Hoggetown Ale works.

We started by steeping the grains (also called 'mash') for 30 minutes, then brought the mash to a boil and added the dry and liquid malt to create the wort.
This was followed by 4 hop additions, and some Irish moss to clarify the beer. After an hour of boiling, the beer was chilled and the yeast added.









We covered it up, put on the airlock, and let it sit for a week.

After a week, during half time of the superbowl, the now fermented beer was transferred to a glass carboy to continue fermentation and to clarify.


We held it at this stage for 2 weeks, then hosted a beer bottling party in honor of our achievements thus far. As the beer was bottled, we found out that our yield of 3.75 gallons was well below the expected 5 gallons, but we carried on, determined that our beer would still be successful.










After bottling, the beer was stored in the coat closet at room temperature, either to become a tasty beverage, or result in a hefty cleaning bill if the bottles exploded. Luckily, after 2 weeks, the beer was ready for refrigeration. The first beer was opened the day before St. Patty's Day, and much to my delight, was a success. The beer was malty, mildly sweet, and while the carbonation was a little high (added a bit too much priming sugar), it was about what I expected. Looking forward to the next batch.

Happy Birthday Matt! - Part 2 of 3

From: Melonie L. Stanton
Sent: Thursday, February 18, 2010 12:25 PM

To: 'Stanton, Matthew A.'; 'Pepin, Marc'; 'Jenny.McCabe'; 'Kelley Henderson'; 'Harry Henderson'

Subject: Disney Here WE COME!!! (whether you're ready for us or not...)

Hello Disney Travelers,

It looks like we are in for some beautiful weather! Be sure to bring that sweatshirt though. Alcohol can only warm you for so long. And divers, don't forget your masks. And suits! I don't think the kiddies are ready for free-ballin' divers :)

Also, you should have all received an email about online check-in. I recommend doing this. They say it saves time. Although last time we were there, check-in still took a long time, but maybe it would have been longer if we did not do the online check-in. I requested that our rooms be together or at least very close to each other. If you do the online check-in, there is a place to make special requests, go ahead and mention it there as well. The reservations are under Melonie Stanton, Kelley Henderson, and Marc Pepin.

So, here is the plan for Friday. We get an early start - this will maximize monorail bar-hopping time as well as ensure that we can call it an early night (relatively) and we will be refreshed and ready for a fun-filled day on Saturday. The original plan was to get a quick bite at the hotel and then head out. But I thought of something better... I did not take into account that we are in Winter Olympics Season. So, if we all get to the hotel early and can leave for an early dinner, the wait should not be too bad at...

THE ESPN CLUB (da-na-nant na-na-nant - woo!!)

at Disney's Boardwalk. There we can dine, guzzle beer, AND watch our > fav athletes and events on at least 100 TV's. Doesn't get more American than that!

And then the monorail bar-hopping adventure can begin! How does that sound??

In case you are wondering about wardrobe - I was thinking nice jeans and a cute top for Friday - Harry, I know you have lots of cute tops. Bonus points for Marc and Matt if you guys match. Park clothes for the rest of the weekend - jeans and a t-shirt. Be sure to ONLY bring comfortable shoes. There will be a lot of walking. Even for monorail bar-hopping. This means you Mom, no heels!

One more thing - you may want to bring a beverage supply. We will be staying on property and there is only one gas station with very limited (and expensive) options. I reserved preferred rooms, so we should all have a mini-fridge in our rooms.

Well, I think that about covers it. Can't wait to see you all TOMORROW! And let the Birthday/Soon-to-be-married/Just got our C-cards/Harry gets to go away for the weekend celebration begin!!!

Love ya guys, Mel

Happy Birthday Matt! - Part 1 of 3

It is Matt’s 32^nd birthday! We planned a fun weekend to celebrate, but his birthday is on a Wednesday this year. I asked him what he wanted to do and offered multiple birthday scenarios – night out at one of our favorite restaurants with friends, a date night at the local high school play – a Charlie Brown play, go see a movie – any movie he wants, even that new Wolf movie, or a night at home. He chose a low-key night at home with some of our closest friends. So, we had a chili and game night at our house featuring our made-up whodunit game - Suspect. Each person emailed me a fun fact about themselves that no one else knew and I made up little notebooks with the facts along with some fabricated facts (or at least I thought). We then asked the ‘suspects’ questions in turns and then wrote down our accusations. Melissa was the best detective (most correct accusations) and Katie was the best suspect (least suspected). Who would have thought Katie’s grandfather invented the glass eye!?! Since Matt is thirty-TWO, everything was in two’s. We had two kinds of chili, 2 kinds of margaritas & probably 32 kinds of beerJ. After dinner we all sang Matt ‘Happy Birthday’ and ate some cookie birthday cake while we sat around the TV watching the Winter Olympics. We had a lot of fun commentating the Curling and cheering on Sean White as he won the Gold. And NBC’s lack of bleeping-out. It was a fun night and great way to kick-off the birthday festivities!

Christmas ain't over till the beer is gone

Finally, after 2 months of search and consumption, I have finished the Tour de Christmas Beer 2009. For those that don't know, the motivation for the vast collection of holiday cheer came via last year's Christmas present from Melonie; a book all about Christmas beer. So with the help of my brother Jay, best friend Marc, and father-in-law Harry, I was able to procure and sample 33 different Christmas beers ranging in style from Belgian Strong Ale to ESB to Saison. My favorites though came from the classic holiday style, "Winter Warmer." Topping the list was Anchor's Our Special Ale, followed by Ipswich WInter Ale, Wyerbacher Winter Ale, and Landcaster Winter Warmer Ale.
In my opinion these beers embody the winter ale style, with unique flavor profiles containing chocolate, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Thanks again to Jay, who provided 50% of the winners. In all the adventure was quite successful, although I may be hard pressed to do it again. Although we did see there is a winter beer fest in Pennsylvania every year...

2010!

To kick-off the new year, we went up to the cabin in Georgia to spend time with family and good friends. There was a lot of fun, music, and cold cold weather. We had good times. We went to Athens, Helen and back - did not eat German food, checked out the townsquare in Dahlonega, had a steak party, cheered on the Gators, played dueling ukes, and some good quotes from the weekend. I will need some help with this, but here are my favorites:

Matt's fb status: Matthew Stanton is impressed with Kourtney's ability to not drive off the mountain...

Shawn: (from the loft) What are those things that cover your legs?
Brian (trying not to look up): Uhhh, pants...

Kourtney (looking down at Blackberry): I don't LIKE that, how do I UN-like that??

Harry (playing 'Would You Rather'): - nevermind, I'm not going to post that, but you know what I am talking about

Katie: You can't going skiing next year for Christmas, you would miss all the fun!

Matt: (jokingly) I believe a broner begets a brorgy. The broner quote came directly from Brian while I was attempting to record my yule log for next year. In fact, all of you messed it up. Christmas 2010 is officially ruined.

Shawn: I wish you could have been there in the (leather) store with us, Matt, I think it would have strenthened the bromance between you, Brian, and I.

I am not sure who said the following, it may have been everyone -

'Look, it's Capt. Dickle!' or 'Guess who got Dickled' or 'Oh, Dickle...'

'Dude, I totally lost my broner'

'Who gets shot on New Year's?!?'

Now onto 2010!! Time to think about New Year's Resolutions and goals for the year. I have my usual goals, like exercising regularly, eating healthier, reading more (real literature, not scientific literature), writing more (you'd be shocked at the amount of time I spend writing based upon my apparent disdain of proper grammar in this blog :), expanding my cooking skills, get more dives under my belt, revisit my golf game, more knitting, spinning, and sewing projects, etc, etc. But these I consider to be things I will always work on, not just for a year, but lifelong goals. For this year, I want to try a new goal and hopefully it will stick for years to come. I even have a motto for it - 'Waste not, Want not'.

I know it's cliche, but I think it just what I need right now. I have always been resourceful and creative, especially in the kitchen (no thyme, no problem), but I want to try just a little bit harder. I want to really use what I already have. And more importantly, really enjoy what I already have. So, what does this mean?

First, the most precious commodity of all - TIME. I will make more of an effort not to waste time, but to use it effectively, because this is also the year to get things done! This does not mean I won't relax and have fun. It means I will set schedules and goals each week and strive to be more productive.

Next, I want to use what I have. For instance, I want to get through as much of my yarn stash as possible this year (I know Matt will love reading this). I am a known yarn hoarder. There, I said it... I will still occasionally buy yarn if I need it for an ongoing project or if I absolutely cannot resisit and it may be my only opportunity to secure some really fabulous yarn (maybe I should just say 'exclusions apply'), but I will still make a concerted effort to use what I have. This also goes for books, games, clothing, and other randomness around the house.

Lastly, this will help us know what we 'want not', so we can get rid of things we do not need or want. And finally have an organized and clutter-free home, which is the final and ultimate goal for the year.

Top Chef Weekend

We just had a Top Chef Weekend. For those you who do not watch Top Chef (shudder), it is a show in which some of the best chefs in the country compete against each other for the title of Top Chef and win lots of money and prizes. This is no Hell's Kitchen, these guys are professionals and can actually cook beautifully and creatively. For Christmas, Momma Stanton got us the Top Chef Quick Fire book and Matt picked out a few recipes to try out for the weekend. On Friday, he made mussels in an orange and fennel sauce with pan seared scallops over angel hair. The next night he made a Paella. And they were both fabulous and delicious. Looking forward to more Top Chef Weekends to come!

Maybe we will even have our own Quick Fire challenge one of these weekends :)

Happy Holidays

We had our first holiday season as a married couple this year and got to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas in our home. We had a lot of fun cooking, decorating, and merry-making.


For Thanksgiving, we tried something new, an oil-less turkey fryer. You get a tasty turkey with crispy skin without all the oil and potential explosions. We spent most of the day outside on our patio, which is always nice. I also tried making cheesecake for the first time, a pumpkin cheesecake, and it was delicious. Samantha helped me with a lot of the cooking. We finished the weekend off by going to the FSU game. We had great seats and got to visit the F Club (thank you, Kourtney & Brian). Overall, it was a great weekend.

We started the Christmas decorations early in December to get in the spirit. Matt did an outstanding job and we were definitely the best Christmas house in the neighborhood! Maybe best in all of Archer... We also watched a lot of Christmas movies, I will have to have Matt list out all of the Christmas movies we watched this year. Sooo many. Right now, alll I can think of is National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and Santa Conquers the Martians. We also saw the Christmas Carol at the Hippodrome with Momma Stanton for our Christmas preview weekend. And we made Christmas cookies ala Martha Stewart, yummy.

For Christmas Eve, we tried our hand at Prime Rib (Roast Beast) and had a lovely dinner with family and our bestest friends (Marc, Jenny, and Momma Pepin). And then, we received one of the best gifts ever (not the Food Network Magazine subscription or the copy of The Annotated Alice or the Killer Bunnies game, which are also some of the best gifts ever) - Mom made us a book of The Stanton Journal. It has all the pictures and entries, and it is awesome. Now, we need to make sure we keep up on our blogging for next year. Then, the Christmas Elves came and delivered our pajamas, so it was time for bed. Chirstmas Day was fun and relaxing. We just hung out most of the day in our pj's and had fun opening up presents and watching more movies. My BFF, Erin, came to visit later that weekend and we had nice couple of relaxing days together. Always a treat! And of course more Christmas movies and we opened up the Killer Bunnies game. It's a funny, complicated, little game, but good times, nonetheless.

We are very blessed to have such wonderful family and friends and we had a beautiful holiday season. We will always remember this year. Our first year as Mr. & Mrs. Stanton and our first holiday season in our home. It has been a very special year for us.