Happy Shopping

Sorry for another post but I found a little online boutique today that I am pretty pumped about! It is http://www.papercottage.net/index.html. Please check it out! I cannot wait to buy this platter for quickie snacks for guests! Its melamine so its durable and dishwasher safe and much easier to use than the china or silver pieces! Happy shopping!

Some yummy goodness

So I've been home sick all day today (I ACTUALLY threw up at work - that has never happened)! If you know me you know I'm a terrible patient and because I'm generally healthy I have no idea what to do when I am sick! So because of this I've been home all day checking things out on the internet and I came across these cookies I thought I'd share! They are a Martha Stewart Receipe for Raspberry Creme Cookies. I'm thinking of making them for the tailgate this weekend. :-)

INGREDIENTS:

1 3/4 cup(s) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon(s) baking soda
1/2 teaspoon(s) salt
1 1/4 stick(s) (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cup(s) plus 2 teaspoons sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoon(s) pure vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise, seeds scraped and reserved
6 ounce(s) (1 cup) fresh raspberries
7 1/2 ounce(s) best-quality white chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup(s) heavy cream

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
2. Mix butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add egg, extract, and vanilla seeds; mix until smooth. Reduce speed to low. Gradually mix in flour mixture.
3. Scoop batter using a 1-inch ice cream scoop; space 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
4. Bake cookies 4 minutes. Remove from oven; gently tap baking sheets on counter to flatten cookies. Return to oven, switching positions of sheets; bake until cookies are just set, 4 to 6 minutes more. Let cool on parchment on wire racks.
5. Puree raspberries and remaining 2 teaspoons sugar in a food processor. Pour mixture through a fine sieve into a small bowl, pressing to extract juice; discard seeds. Set mixture aside.
6. Melt white chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Remove from heat; whisk in cream in a slow stream. Whisk in reserved raspberry mixture. Refrigerate 30 minutes.
7. Spread 1 heaping teaspoon raspberry cream on the undersides of half the cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies. Cookies can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container up to 2 days.

ENJOY!!

Ask and you shall receive ..

Minutes after I posted that last message UK sent me an email and offered me an interview!

December 11th is the date so keep the prayers coming!

Residency Interviews

Hello friends and family!

Interview season is gearing up and we need prayers! In exactly six months we will know if we are staying in Lexington or moving away to start a new adventure! Here are the interviews I have scheduled thus far:

Wright State University - November 20th
University of Tennessee - December 4th
University of Louisville - December 7th
Virginia - December 16th

I am planning on scheduling 4-6 more for the fall! Pray UK gets ahold of me soon so I can quit stressing!

The End of Hawaii (I promise!)

Roy carrying his paddleboard back to the rental after we were done! I won't share the pic of my struggling (my arms were so tired after a day at the beach!).

A little cave across from where we ate lunch (at a fruit stand :-)

Okay so there is a serious surplus of chickens in Kauai. I don't know why. Roy called it reverse farming. Anyway I took this photo because Roy said its a "Rachel Chicken" (a light haired chicken). We had just bought a lei from a lady at a waterfall and were walking back to the car when this little guy started following us.

Two things in this photo: one where the smoke is coming from is the last working sugar cane plant on Hawaii (its going to close later this year). Beyond that is the place where the military has missles loaded for counter defense (N.Korea anyone?). Our guide (a UK alum!) told us he watched them do test launches the other day! Yikes!

Paddleboarding up the river . . . Roy said we looked like Tom and Huck!

I can't stop posting pictures :-)

Action shot of our bike ride. There was this path along the east side of the island about 5 miles long that we rode up and down watching surfers and checking out the local beaches.

I want one of these bikes for my neighborhood! Oliver would get a mega workout!

I didn't get a great picture here but there are tunnels under the water made out of lava that appeared like geysers when the surf came in except it sounded terrifying! The water rushing in made the air sound like a place was crashing!

Roy at Waimea canyon. Again photos just don't do it justice!

Waimea Canyon from above

Our friend the Sea Turtle

Roy and I found this sea turtle while we were snorkeling off the Na Pali coast! For those of you who don't know why Roy and I chose Hawaii as our honeymoon location allow me to explain. We wanted to go somewhere that wouldn't be exceptionally hot in August, had a low risk of hurricanes to interrupt our plans, and a place that had sea turtles! Roy is a major turtle lover and I am so glad we found this big guy! He makes up a big part of our photo memories!

I think this is the I wish you two would leave me alone look.

So graceful for an animal that weighs as much as he does!

We spotted him along the reef checking things out.

When Roy and I saw him we literally collided head on!!

Sailing in Kauai -

Does this cave look familiar? Its been in a zillion movies from Hong Kong to a Perfect Getaway to Jurassic Park. Its along the Na Pali Coast and pretty darn hard to get to!

Breaktaking. The Kauai coastline is the most rapidly erroding coast in the world (perhaps because it also has the wettest spot in the world at its center).

To give you an idea of the size of this photo from the top of the hill where the cliff goes straight up is over a mile high!

These sweet little dolphins just swam along with our boat and would occasionally do a little spin out of the water- such show offs!!

KAUAI 2

I love this picture from Hanalei Bay - pure simplicity.

Our waiter at Tidepools let us feed the fish from our table before we knew it they were practically coming out of the water for food!

Tidepools - our favorite restaurant in Kauai

More Hanalei Bay. One side of the island was always cloudy (Napali Coast) but where we were always stayed sunny.

I like this sign . . . the beach is pronounced Key - Hey. Not Key.

KAUAI

There are so many beautiful waterfalls around Kauai!

More cool trees :-). This photo is at Ke'e beach were we hiked to go snorkeling. I swear I'm not obsessed with vegetation - it must have been because of that Tropical Biology class in Belize.

This is the view from our first dinner in Kauai. Pictures do not do it justice - at least my pictures :-)

KAUAI

So when people ask us Maui vs. Kauai we really cannot answer! While on Maui we really took advantage of the resort activities and spent a good amount of time by the pool, eating good fish, shopping, and recovering from jet lag. In Kauai we didn't spend more than an hour at our hotel and instead rented bikes, scooters, paddleboards, snorkel gear, kayaks . . . whatever we could get our hands on! So we ended up doing a lot more while we were there because the adventurous spirit caught us! In the end I feel as though we did a little of everything on Kauai so will probably go back to Maui and see Oahu next time. The next couple of posts will be pics from this unique island!

MAUI 2

I just think he's cute ;-)

So when we were planning our trip my parents kept trying to get me to stay at the Grand Wailea (where they stayed a year or two ago). Roy and I looked into it but decided to save a little money and stay at our resort. We really thought we'd hit the jackpot until we drove over to the Grand Wailea. It's amazing and were we will plan to stay in the future. See above and below pictures.

The waterfall at the entrance of Grand Wailea -

More bendy trees- I really had a huge affection for them. I bet I have twenty pics of Roy and I climbing on them!

MAUI

For those of you who don't know, Roy and I recently went to Maui and Kauai as part of our delayed honeymoon (I didn't have enough time off from school to do the trip justice right after our wedding so we delayed a bit). Let me tell you it was well worth the wait! We had a blast! Here a few pictures from Maui:

The photo above is from these trees we affectionately called the "bendy trees" about 5 miles from our hotel the Sheraton Maui Resort (where Jillian from the Bachelorette shacked up while she was in Maui).

This photo is of Roy and I going snorkeling off Black Rock. We really like to snorkel and have been to some pretty impressive sites so the reef was not our main interest - we were on the hunt for sea turtles :-).

This is near our favorite breakfast place called The Gazebo. I HIGHLY recommend you spend at least one breakfast there! Go early (after 7:30 am there is a long wait). Roy and I ate fresh pineapple and White Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Pancakes (yes I capitalized that like a title because it deserves it)!

This is a photo of me right after we landed in the Maui airport. We had been up for almost 24 hours at this point :-). I love to travel but really could do without flying so I geared up with a cotton dress, cashmere sweater, neck pillow, and blanket for the 10 hours of air time (and plenty to read of course). My mother told me our flight would be about 7 hours total (3 hours from Cincy to Denver and then 4 hours from Denver to Maui)! She claims she did not lie on purpose but when I got on our second flight and the stewardess said "Total flight time 7 hours" I nearly fainted. Good thing is we had prime seats and two good movies!

This is a silhouette of historic Black Rock next to our hotel. You can see the outline of torches that they light every night before someone jumps off the rocks. Totally breaktaking. . .

Lo siento my friends

Dear Friends and Family,

Roy and I are so sorry we have not been in touch! Once that darn ER rotation started school just hit the gas and still hasn't let up! I PROMISE we will be catching up the last 7 months as we try to stay more up to date! We love you all!

XO,
Rachel and Roy

Darn Sweet Husband

So I have been fuming for the last three days over the way some things are working out with school (I have to drive an HOUR each way to work in ER for the next couple of months in the bad weather and 36 hour shifts- not cool). Roy went to my favorite store today and bought me a charm for my bracelet, made Strawberry and Feta Spinach Salad and Grilled Chicken (Yum!), and bought me some flowers. I thought the charm was different from what he usually buys and he told me "life has lots of pot holes but in some of those pot holes you find something good." Dang he's good. ;-)

A boy and his Wii

Mom this picture is for you . .

UK/Vandy

We love UK bball :-)

Winter Wonderland

Ice storm 2009 didn't hit us too bad in Lexington but my parents were without power for about a week! Yikes! Here are few photos:

Caroline and Bobby's Wedding!!!

Last weekend we treked up to Indy for Bobby and Caroline's wedding!! Roy worked with Bobby at BGSU during his short stent in Northern Ohio!! They are a wonderful couple and a lot of FUN!!