Family Dinner at the Murek's!

Last week, Tony and I celebrated Easter with Lori, Mitch, Shelby, and Rob.  Unfortunately, Haley and Josh couldn’t join us, but hopefully next time!  We had a lot of fun, and Butters thoroughly enjoyed himself as well.  We look forward to these dinners together as a family.  Weekend trips home, like this one, have helped keep us grounded during our time in medical school.  It makes me sad that they won’t be as often when we move to Texas next month.  However, they certainly will give us a great incentive to come home!

Mitch made a new cheese dip!  It was so tasty, especially paired with the mini sausages. 

Mitch loves to take new recipes and add his own finishing touches.  He has done this in the past with stews and soups, which always are a big hit!  This time was no different, as I couldn’t help but have a few extra samplings! 

These two crack me up! What a great couple!

Shelby, Tony's sister, met her boyfriend, Rob, last year.  They go to college together at Niagara University, and it is obvious that they both kinda like each other :) Even though I have met Rob a few times in the past, this was the first time we really had a chance to sit down to chat for a while.  Both are doing great in school.  They are carefully considering career choices, and thinking about grad schools: law for Rob and education Masters or PhD for Shelby.  However, it seems their hardest decision right now is deciding on the kind of dog to join them in the coming years:  Rob is not too keen on the Maltese that Shelby wants.  However, we are working on him :)

Lori made two of my FAVORITE dinner items: twice baked potatoes and seasoned steaks right off the grill. 

Her twice-baked recipe is so good.  She bakes the potatoes first, cuts them in half, and scoops out the potato center.  Using a mixer, she beats the potatoes and adds cheddar cheese plus real bacon (sometimes also sour cream).  Each is topped off with some bacon bits, after stuffing the mix back into the potato shells.  They are baked in the oven for a second time and come out absolutely delicious. 

The steaks came from the Alabama Store, which has the best cuts of meat I have ever tasted.  After adding some seasoning, Lori cooked them to perfection on the grill… didn’t even need steak sauce!

The meal was topped off with this delicious two-tiered cake (vanilla with a raspberry center).  Aren’t the peep decorations a great idea for Easter?  So creative

I liked this cake so much, I just had to pin it (I love Pinterest!)  And, the jellybeans were Tony and my favorite: Starburst Jellybeans!

Butters of course was also pretty happy with the whole visit.  

With all of the food around, he certainly was on his worst best begging behavior. The plate of chocolate eggs had to be temporarily moved, as we all knew what he was thinking by the crazy eyes over the coffee table.  I am pretty sure that he had a few helpings of mini-sausages, as he smelled a bit of BBQ sauce by the end of the night.  Grandma Lori surprised him with a new sock monkey, which he thoroughly enjoyed when he got home.  But, during the visit he preferred to test out one of his all time favorite toys: the good ole’ paper towel cardboard roll.  

As always, a fun and memorable visit!  

World's. Worst. Beggar.

Last weekend, Tony and I celebrated the end of March break with a surf-and-turf night.  This was something we had planned all week, and we had so much fun preparing this delicious meal as a couple.  The table was set and the wine was opened.  The lobster and steak were cooked to perfection.  We were all ready to sit down for a romantic dinner, just the two of us.

But then, there was this…

Worst. Beggar. EVER. This little dog has a lot of great qualities, but his bottomless appetite is not one of them.  And with TWO meat options that night, he was especially on his worst begging behavior.  We make a habit of not feeding Butters at the table, but he seemed to have forgotten all of his training that night.  He gave multiple attempts to convince us he was worthy of a few table scraps.  He tried sitting patiently…

When that didn’t work, he went to his crate hoping we would award him with just one… or two… or three samplings of lobster.

And when these attempts didn’t work, he really put on the charm…

Who doesn't want CRAZY puppy eyes staring over the table?!  

Needless to say, while Tony and I didn’t have the peaceful candle-lit dinner we had imagined, we got a good laugh out of Butters’ desperate attempts at sharing surf-and-turf night with us.

And, we topped it off with Tony's favorite dessert... Strawberry Shortcake!

But, sorry Butters.  Your treats come later.