Easter Dinner- The Results

When we talked last, I was brainstorming for our Tuna Family Easter celebration.

 Well I am happy to say that it was a blast and a relative success as well. 

But first. Before I show you pictures of my endeavor.

We need to talk technical. 

Do you remember those horrible lights that you had in every classroom you sat in from pre-k to college?

Those are called fluorescent lights. 

And they are the bane of my existence.

I have a fluorescent light in my kitchen. But regular filament bulbs every where else, even just a few feet away in the dining room. 

Do you know how stupid hard it is to get food pictures to look normal under fluorescent light? 

No?

 Well. Really I'm just trying to explain why my food photography is sub par. 

No excuses? 

Well then you're really not gonna like it when I complain about my slow internet again and how I have to shrink the photo size basically by blasting the image quality.(I'm working on this issue. blah)

Well. With all this in mind, love me for who I am dears. Even if my pictures look like they were shot with my old school nokia phone camera instead of my Nikon D90.

This is Turk.

This is Turk, having a nice sauna experience. 

This is me rubbing soothing butter on Turks delicious bod.

This is me giving Turk a new "gauge" piercing. (meh meh meh)

 

This is Turk after the tanning bed stage. What a hunk. 

Okay enough of the Turkey. 

My favorite part. 

Stuffing. 

Started with a loaf of french bread. (obviously I just bought one)

WHIP IT! err tear it.

This is pan of corn bread. I forgot to take a picture before I flipped it. ooops.

And tear that up too.

Place it in the bowl and let it sit over night.

Celery. gross.

Fresh Parsley. Yum.

Chicken stock, celery, onion, and lots of other herbs.

Pour the mixture over the bread. And bake it. 

This stuffing was by far the hit of the meal. 

GREAT recipe. 

(I posted the recipes to the stuffing, gravy, and turkey in my previous post)

Easter morning at the tuna can.

 

This is me, little tuna, true to form.

 

This is Turk again. After a bit of chilling out in the fridge.

This is what Big Tuna does when other men like Turk try to come around.

Don't worry Turk. You won't feel a thing.

Only after the roasting, did we find Turk's giblets. 

(oh yea. I went there)

My prince charming.

Aw. My tuna puppy. 

(have I mentioned recently that "puppy" has started to morph into "poopy" in our vocab? We can't explain it. But I now have a beagle that responds to Macey, Puppy, and Poopy)

I don't have pictures of the gravy process. But it was from scratch baby! With the pan drippins of course!

Tuna's mighty sour cream mashed potatoes

Left over zucchini casserole it took to group that past week! (oh yea. I'm not too proud to serve left overs with our Easter dinner meal)

Me. With a plate of gravy. And a few extras.

Mmm. Gravy.

I hope you had a great Easter. 

Love,

Little Tuna

Easter Dinner- Tuna Style

No. We won't be eating tuna. Though I do love tuna. Greg hates tuna. The irony. 

Big Tuna and I went "home" to our families at the beginning of April. That was our Easter time with them. It's really just the way it worked out with Greg's weekend schedule. 

So this year, on Easter it's just the two of us. 

In our tuna can. 

And I'm planning a feast!!

Because if I screw something up.....no one to disappoint! (Greg doesn't count, he can always just go make pb&j. or he'll get nothing...and like it!) 

So. Thanks to the help from my dear friend Pioneer Woman 

(I don't actually know her, but we're bosom buddies no doubt)

I've put together a menu that is sure to be a hit. 

Maybe. 

Unless I screw something up. 

But no one will know!

And we'll eat pb&j instead. 

Have I told you about my recent obsession with pb&j? I really have on average two sandwiches a week. 

They are my sustenance. Everything else is just so I can keep up this salsy physique.

BACK ON TRACK

My Easter feast is really more a practice run for Thanksgiving.

I'm making a 14 lbs Turkey

Complete with 

Homemade Gravy 

And of course

Stuffing

mashed potatoes

Zucchini casserole (or maybe just broiled zucchini, not sure yet)

and maybe some of Greg's grandma's applesauce from the freezer

and some type of amazing dessert that will no doubt involve peanut butter because in the tuna can if it doesn't have peanut butter it's only sub-par.

The only thing missing will be the Cann family mac and cheese! (Cann is my mom's madden name) and my Grandma Cann makes some MEAN mac and cheese.

I just got back from going shopping and getting the extra things I didn't already have. (BAD idea to shopping at any point and time the week before Easter, even if it's in the middle of the day. People in Youngstown don't work. EVER.) 

I had bought the turkey when it was dirt cheap after Thanksgiving this past year, simply for the purpose of what I'm doing now! Having a little "practice run" of a Thanksgiving meal. 

All by myself. 

Well. With Tuna helping, but only after he offers to help 3 times and I continue to turn him down. But then 30 minutes later start crying over the stove while the smoke alarm goes off and guilt trip him because he hasn't been helping.

And tuna puppy, there to lick up the splatters and keep our kitchen floor spotless! 

 So that's our upcoming Easter adventure. I'll let you know how it goes. I'll maybe take pictures. Though probably not of EVERY step cause that just takes a bit too long. And I've already shared most of the recipes I'll be using.

Hope you all have some great Easter plans too!
Celebrate the resurrection in a way that glorifies him. :)

And here is some candy cane zinnia from the arboretum I worked at last summer, just to get you in the spring time mood.

Love,

Little Tuna

One of those days...

That grocery shopping gives you head ache.

You realize, once you get home...that you forgot to buy milk.

At the 5 different stores you went to, you still didn't come home with hot dog buns because you refuse to pay more than a dollar for a package. And they have to be whole wheat. 

You bought a large shaker of chili powder....that turns out to be paprika. 

You somehow remember that on "blues clues" when mrs. salt and mr. pepper had a baby...it was paprika.

You are old enough to realize that doesn't make sense. 

Yet not old enough to be grocery shopping in the middle of day on a Wednesday. 

  

  You start to think that a fast walking lane and slow walking lane down every isle at the grocery store should be mandatory.

  And you realize it's a hamburger helper kind of night. 

Sincerely,

Little Tuna

Tuna Family Update

Big Tuna and Little Tuna





As most of you know, Tuna and I moved to Youngstown, OH at the beginning of December this past year. I have been a little vague here on our "life" happenings other than running around with Puppy. 

So here's an update that I hope will make you feel more "caught" up with us.

Tuna likes his job. He's a Park Ranger with the Army Corps of Engineers. We're always looking for something "permanent", but like it here so far. If you're confused, thinking this job was permanent, well...it is kinda. It's a 4 year term position, that is funded for sure for the next year. Even the feds are making budget cuts, so who knows what could happen. 

And now...drum roll please....and maybe a little thrum of cymbals....as of Tuesday...I am officially the newest member of the Millcreek Metropark team! Wahoo! 

What a blessing eh!? That's right. The project that doesn't have any money, managed to hire me :) 

Here's the story: 

In late January, Millcreek had a job fair. I was the only one dressed up, and was either older than everyone by 5 years or younger than everyone by 25. Highschoolers and retirees showed up for all the summer positions. And so did I mind you. They have a historic mill here and I was interested in one of the summer interp positions (tour guide). I spoke to a man in the recreation department who basically told me I was the best thing to walk into their job fair since sliced bread. *polishes finger nails on shoulder*

Anyways, he remembered me. And called me on Thursday of last week and said can you come in tomorrow? I might have something you're interested in. 

And boy was I interested!

I will be the working (yes I took the offer, because they offered it to me before they interviewed anyone else) with the recreation department basically....as an assistant is really the best way to put it. It's part time, but it'll be more hours in the summer and less in the winter and it is permanent. I will primarily be stationed at the farm, but I will spend time at the nature center too, help with programs there AND at the mill. Coordinate volunteers, help set up major events and non-profit org events, and lead outreach programs in the further reaches of the county which tend to get left out. I'm so excited. I'll get to do bird walks, and come up with other new programs, and help plan big parties, and check shelters, and eat cereal! wait. 

Yes. All of the above and more. I'll be working with a large variety of people and projects and it just sounds like the best opportunity to expand my resume EVER! 

Can you tell I'm pretty excited?

Because I am. 

Did I mention I'll get to do bird walks? 

OH YEA!

So that's the job update.

We've found a church we really like here too. We've both joined bible studies and a small group with other young couples and it's been great! 

I am sort of co-directing the children's musical at church that's coming up in May. We just had our first rehearsal this passed week and it went well. I'll be leading the choreography. :) 

I don't have to come up with it, I just have to learn it backwards from the DVDs and then teach it to the kids! It's gonna be fun. The kids seem like really good kids. And some of my favorite memories from children's church are from the plays I was in, so being a part of that for them is really great.

Other than that. Not much else is going on. We have been enjoying our first 8 months of marriage and are looking forward to a busy Spring and fun Summer!

Here's one last picture to leave you with. This was when Tuna Puppy was about 3 months old, now she's over 5 months! She's so big now! But she looks so dang cute in this picture. :)

Love,
Little Tuna