Apple Pie... So Heavy

I'm back. Consider the absence due to wedding planning, the actual wedding, and then moving to Dallas. I guess that's the past 10 months summed up in a sentence! Heavy stuff, I know. Delightful stuff. We are paving a new way for ourselves, watching and wondering where life is taking us in this big Texas town... or a small Texas town if we move to the burbs.

When we got to Dallas I was pretty torn. I had acknowledged, even reminded ourselves, that God was moving us here and I was 100% behind that. But I still slammed the door pretty hard when we got to our apartment for the first time... our second floor, vaulted ceiling, separate closets apartment. Sounds wonderful? When we finally got our furniture it started turning into that. Now I've probably exaggerated it and if I post pictures of the place I'll leave you with several question marks. But I am getting used to the area and have ventured to most of the grocery stores within the vicinity. I think that is what is getting me adjusted to being here oddly enough. Knowing where my food is at.
That is something I have thoroughly enjoyed about marriage: the opportunity to cook. I've discovered I love it. Sauteing, sprinkling, rubbing, baking, they all keep me quite happy. Although, I look forward to the day when I have more counter space - maybe an island. Until then I am quite content moving some things around to toss flour in the air and slap some chicken (not quite like on Modern Family). Chris might have to corral me soon if our grocery bill takes flight, but for now, the occasional lemon, sweet potato and chili powder are alright. Don't be confused, those are not all in one recipe... or are they?
Yesterday, I made my mom's Appletart. A Dutch apple pie. Several good childhood memories are centered around this pie and it's delicious dough. So I decided I needed to bake it, and what other time to do it then the ushering in off Fall? So, I got to work:

And the finished product, messy as it looks: drum roll please
Oh yes... it all it's tasty glory there it sits. We had a little piece after dinner. But that's a different story. For dinner, I fastened my apron once again and decided to make shrimp scampi with angel hair pasta. I had it for dinner when Chris and I went out a while ago and it was so good I wanted to recreate it. Here are the little guys, waiting to be tossed into the lemon butter sauce:

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzleIn the end it tasted pretty good. However, Chris' first reaction was, "It's bland." After I reprimanded him for the comment (in good taste of course) We added some garlic salt and parm and that spruced it up nicely. There were even some leftovers.

This recipe will go in the books, we liked it. Paired with some wine (blush for me) it was nice. Too bad my stomach didn't appreciate all the butter, garlic, and pie. If you ever repeat my evening... put more hours between the two.

Maybe days.