Living in Key West - Part 1

So what's it like to live in Key West? Who even moves there anyways? Well we do. We did not plan on it, but here we are. See, Mitch was looking for a decent job in Miami. But with the overpopulation and limited employment opportunities, they were few and far between. So after months of a frustrating job search, we considered jobs out of our little comfort zone. I tend to be the more spontaneous one of the family. So I am constantly like, " Let's move to Orlando, North Carolina, Colorado. They say Ireland is really nice." Mitch is the more stable, constant one. He prefers to go with what is familiar to him. While I have, "the grass is greener on the other side" syndrome. So when a job opportunity in Key West was offered to him, I thought there was zero percent chance that he would take it.

                                  

With very little options, we decided to make the 3 hour drive to check it out. No one can doubt the beauty of this place. How relaxing it is. It's like the minute you get on that bridge to to Key Largo, all your stress just melts off. Suddenly you breaths seem deeper, the air smells purer. The colors that surround you are brighter, livelier. You see more shades of blue than you have ever seen in your life. It is another world. Coming from Miami, you know this place exists. But, "do people really live here?" you think. You can never imagine life out of that traffic, fast paced, asphalt laden place. I always used to tell Mitch that I just wanted to live where there is more nature that man made buildings. More grass than streets. More trees than traffic lights.

So here we were. Completely surrounded by the very thing that was missing. See, I love nature. It is one of the few things that you can look at and say, " My God created that." One of the few things not ruined by man. Where you can sit there in awe of how beautiful God's touch is. How only He can create such beauty. And most of all think, " My Father, the one who loves me, made that." If you ever forget how big your God is, just sit on the edge of the beach and stare out at the ocean. Immediately, you KNOW there is nothing he can not do. It is a humbling, and touching thing to be reminded of.

Back to our move. You can already guess what my opinion was. I tried to stay quiet, not let my excitement get in the way of this rational, practical decision that needed to be made. I wanted my husband to make the decision. It was in his hands, and I wanted him to lead. So we went to the school, to meet his would be boss, and see where he would work. We really liked everyone there and loved the laid back atmosphere of the school. I mean, who else would have a big seashell as their school mascot. Really? A conch? It's funny when you first see it. I do have to admit though, that when they draw a mean face on that little sucker he does look more intimidating.

                                     
Okay, so here we were. The home of the fighting conchs. We see his training room, take a little tour. It's literally surrounded by water on one side. Really nice school. With no fence surrounding the front of the school. "Can't the students just leave school whenever they want?" I think. I gotta get out of this Miami mentality, I tell myself. So we finish up there. I ask Mitch what he thinks. He says, "It's pretty nice." Which in Mitch speak means he loves it. YES! We're in! We get to move here! Of course I did not say this outloud for I wanted to seem like the calm practical type wife I am constantly striving to be. Just for the record though, I knew it.

Alright this is way too long so this is enough for the first part of our Key West adventure. We'll leave the rest for later.

My Husband the Cook

I'm blessed to have a husband who is an amazing cook. It comes natural to him. Probably gets it from his mom, who is also a great cook. He knows it too. On more than one occasion he has to me, " I don't know how I do it, but I do." Which makes me laugh, because I know it's true. He never follows recipes. He just instinctively knows what something needs, and how much to put in. I have no idea how this happens. See, I on the other hand, have to watch countless hours of the food network. Stare at a million recipes. Buy the exact ingredients. Have my grandma (Mima) explain to me repeatedly how to make something. All just to hope my food comes out decent. I'm not a bad cook. Just not great like Mitch is. Last night he made ribs. He got up and randomly decided to make them. They ended up being really good. Like the slightly charred on the outside, yet tender on the inside kind. With a sweet, almost cinnamony barbeque sauce. (Apparently cinnamony is not officially a word, I looked, but you know what I mean.)  He also makes great meatloaf, pizza, steak, cuban food, perfect cuban coffee. He also makes something called a Mitchacchino, like an iced coffee. Basically anything he makes is good.

Just for fun though, and since even the best cooks have random fiascos, I'll tell you about my favorite Mitch cooking bloopers. Lets see, last week he made a corn and beef stew (guiso de maiz), and almost blew up our kitchen. First it called for chicken broth, which when I came into the kitchen was told by him that he used cream of chicken because it's the same thing. I laughed. Then he put the corn in the stew and put it all on the stove in a pressure cooker. Mind you, I have been placed in me, by my family, the fear of God regarding the pressure cooker.  So I tell him, "Mitch the cream and corn create foam in the cooker, which clogs it so it can blow up." He says it will be fine. Ten minutes later the thing is clogged and not releasing pressure. He then realizes and turns it off. Sure enough when we told Mima what we did, she said you can never put corn in the pressure cooker. Of course though, once the fiasco was avoided, the stew came out great.

Now my favorite cooking blooper of his was when he put butter in our coffee. You would think it was mistakingly, but it wasn't. For some reason he saw his friend put something in his coffee, which he said was a secret ingredient. He thought it was butter. So he brews up a batch of cuban coffee, adds sugar and then adds a dollop of butter on top. I can't even write this without laughing. You can imagine what it looked like. A nice steaming cup of coffee, with a layer of melted butter floating on top. It was funny. He quickly realized that butter was not the secret ingredient, though, threw it all out and made a fresh batch of good ol', not buttered cuban coffee.

He really is a great cook. The best part is that he loves to cook. So in our house it's not a chore. It's usually one of the best parts of our day. He gets to show off his skills, and I get to have a delicious meal because of it. It's a win/win situation.

                    

                                              

Welcome to our blog

So I've been wanting to blog for a while. Just because I like to do random things. I also have a lot to say and it's too much to put on facebook. So here, if you guys want to read about us you can. This blog will just contain whatever it is we feel like writing about at the time. Mostly though it will be about our adventures with our little clan. So check back often to find out what sort of craziness is going on in our lives.