Big Night at the Ellebys

Barron watching football and Bruiser waiting for a bite

Yum! Yum! Tom Yum Goong and Chiang Mai!

New found goodies from the International Farmers Market,

including galanga, lemongrass, thai basil, fish sauce and pan fried egg noodles

Last night was a big night at our house. It was the start of the FALL FOOTBALL SEASON and I made my first attempt at mastering Vietnamese/Thai cooking. The outcome was a success! Barron managed to joyfully yell at the tv for several hours while I chopped, mashed, pulverized and simmered. I'm starting to think that this cooking project is a great addition to my other numerous creative outlets especially in time for football season. Barron prefers to watch games at home in a "quiet" environment where there are no other distractions which gives me time to catch up on just about anything.

COBB INTERNATIONAL FARMERS MARKET

For anyone who has never been to the Cobb International Farmers Market I recommend that you make a trip. Even if you go just once, you should certainly go. It is like being in another country and reminded me very much of the grocery stores I went to while living in Mexico a few summers back. If you can overlook the super dirty floors, lack of customer assistance and not so refreshing smells, you will find a plethera of unique foods most of which you probably have never seen in a grocery store before. Very interesting!

My first 2 recipe attempts were tom yum goong & chiang mai, a spicy shrimp soup and a curry beef noodle dish. Both were delish! I spent just under $50, made enough food to last Barron and I for almost a week and had lots of ingredients leftover. These recipes and most others in the book could not have been made without a trip to the International Farmers Market, which I just happen to work 5 minutes from, lucky me!

All in all, it was a success. My Thai Cuisine Expert husband said it was the best tom yum goong he has ever had. Husband's Happy Tummy = Happy Wife!

The Julie/Julia Project & Vietnam Vittles

Barron and I just got back from New York. The brisk fall weather was amazing! Pictures are coming soon as well as details of our trip. We had such a great time shopping, dining and spending time with both old friends and family. While we were there Barron and I finished reading our last novels of the summer. In just the past 2 years I have found a new love for reading novels, especially in the summertime. When it is too hot to go outside I love to curl up with a book in the bed or on the sofa, where Barron in contrast loves to listen to novels on the way to and from work/home each day. Barron just finished a series of edgy, toe curling, spine tingling novels by David Baldacci. This summer I read a handful of novels, including Up Island by Anne Rivers Siddons, Away by Amy Bloom, The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger and the Julie/Julia Project by Julie Powell. I was inspired to read The Time Traveler's Wife and Julie/Julia Project by the movies that came out this summer, but have yet been to the theater to watch either one.

Finishing up with the Julie/Julia Project was a fun way to end the summer. Julie Powell, cooks her way through 524 of Julia Child's recipes in 365 days. This true story is filled with lots of laughter, marital bliss as well as woes, friendship and the stepping stones of life. The book is light-hearted and inspiring. The language is definitely R-rated and a strong believer must certainly take her total lack of spiritual beliefs with a grain of salt (possibly she will find some in the next book), but other than that I really enjoyed this fun read. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that it has inspired me to cook myself through a whole cookbook, which will be a personal feat in itself. From my mother I gained a true love for cookbooks, but hardly ever use them in my daily routines. Most of my cooking tends to be done with mere instinct or experience and the use of recipes for occasional guidance.

While visiting NY, Barron and I ate at this fantastic Vietnamese restaurant in Union Square called Republic. It reminded me a lot of a Pan-Asian place I used to frequent the summer I spent in London called Wagamama. Both restaurants I truly recommend if you are ever in London or NY. Barron and I both love, love, love Asian cuisine. It's a passion that is equally shared by both of us. Our date nights mostly consist of dining at one of our favorite Thai and sushi restaurants (followed by a trip to the closest book store, we're a total nerd at heart couple), but there is certainly a lack of variety of places in the burbs, as well as an occasional lack of funds for dining out all the time. I mentioned wanting to master some Vietnamese recipes while in NY. I love to cook and most of all I love to make my husband's tummy happy since that is one of the easiest ways to his heart and most men I might add. Last night while I was at home unpacking our suitcases, (just so I can put everything away and re-pack for our beach trip this weekend) my sweet husband returns from a Barnes & Noble excursion with book in hand and smile on his face. He surprised me with a fantastic cookbook called The Best Vietnamese & Thai Cooking by Mai Pham. So by the will of my husbands tummy, my love for Asian cuisine, the inspiration of Julia Child who inspired Julie Powell who wrote her book and inspired me, I will be cooking my way through Vietnam. It is an exciting task to begin in the fall, because who doesn't love a hot bowl of pho bo or spicy tom yum goong on a cold winter day? :)

When in New York: http://www.thinknoodles.com/

When in London: http://www.wagamama.com/

P.S. - To any readers or followers of the Julie/Julia Project: I was so excited today to find out that her original blog from the very beginning in 2002, is still there sitting on the web for all to read. Fun! Fun! http://blogs.salon.com/0001399/

A Mother's Pain, A Daughter's Gain

Thank Goodness for Bunions

Tomorrow, Barron and I will celebrate 7 months of marriage. I decided to jump on the bandwagon and join the rest of the world with my very own blog. Since most people don’t celebrate 7 months of marriage after knowing each other for only 10 months, I thought I would start out by sharing our story.

It all started a little over two years ago, my mother, Debi Dugger had some really sore feet. She had been putting off going to the doctor about her bunions and had finally decided to go. The doctor she had set an appointment with was with the same group of doctors who previously operated on my grandmother’s bunions several years ago so she had heard they were an excellent group of podiatrists. As she sat in the waiting room she was expecting to see Dr. Douglas Elleby, a well-known, experienced doc in the podiatric world. Instead, much to her surprise, a very handsome, young man walked through the door. It was Dr. Douglas Elleby’s son, Dr. Barron Elleby. He looked as though he must have been fresh out of residency, she thought. As they talked and laughed together, the two of them had quite the connection. Debi who never meets a stranger, was warmed by Barron’s sweet smile and gentle touch of her sore swollen feet. After a handful of appointments, Barron had one thing in mind, bunion surgery. Debi had something else on her mind, her young, single daughter J It wasn’t long before Debi was picking up the phone to call her daughter (that would be me) to tell her how much she adored this cute new doctor of hers and how sweet and kind he was.

During November of 2007 it was time for Pie in the Sky to open, the gift shop in Smyrna that my mother and I own and operate together. My mom had coaxed me into sending her cute new doctor a business email through our Pie in the Sky Myspace account because he had said he might need some holiday gift baskets for his staff members. A few professional emails were sent back and forth, ending with the conclusion that Barron would be in to visit the store after we opened. Months went by, Mom’s cute doc never set foot in the Pie. As the first year of the shop goes by, my mother continued to bring up Barron’s name, with the recurrent preface, “I’m going to hook you up with…” This was always a common occurrence with my mother, but usually a joke ending with a name such as, “Kenny Chesney,” “Billy Currington,” or the lastest , greatest country singer on the radio, not typically human flesh who lives and breathes in our community.

At this point, the name Barron Elleby, a face I had never seen in person, had become a legend in our household, something to laugh and joke about when I had had a bad day or even a bad date. October 2008 rolls around. It was the perfect time in my life for new beginnings, even my mother knew it. Moms are good at that sort of thing, sometimes too good. One afternoon I get the phone call, “You’ll never believe what I just did.” Moms can do some really silly things in the lives of their children, but I must say that this silly thing has changed my life forever. She had called to tell me that she emailed her podiatrist to tell him that “she thought he was cute and that her daughter was cute and that she thought they would be cute together.” Straight from the mouth of the world best first grade teacher who seems to have quite a way with words for children’s books.

And that’s where it all began, after almost a month of emails, without a single phone call, we met for our first blind date. During a 2 hour drive to Helen, we never stopped talking. Through dinner in an old house called I couldn’t stop smiling. And after a long walk through a star-filled sky at the North Georgia Corn Maze little did I know my life would never be the same. The rest is history. Three months later we married in Maui on January 27th 2009. From the flowers to the cake, to hula dancers, a butterfuly release and a ukulele player, Barron planned it all. He secretly flew both our parents in to surprise me and so my father could walk me down the aisle. Just 2 days before I had said goodbye to my mother on the way to elope with my wedding dress packed in my suitcase and tears in my eyes. It was a wedding I could have never even dreamed of, perfectly intimate, sweet, endearing and blessed by God. Some I know have called us crazy, but we call it love, brought together by God. We couldn’t wait to spend the rest of our lives together and didn’t want to waste any time. When people ask me how I knew, I tell them the same thing I have been told for years, “When you know, you know.” Barron makes my everyday wonderful and that is how I knew. Each morning I wake up to my best friend and I can’t wait for the day when I wake up to my best friend and the children that I hope God blesses us with. I thank God for all that He has done in our lives to prepare us for one another and for bringing us together.

I even thank Him for Bunions!