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A non-sweet for my sweetie…

I often joke when people ask me how I met my husband. I tell them “the old fashion way…the Internet”. Being shoved into the Online dating world by a friend I was beyond annoyed at her. I always thought  online dating was for desperate people. And well, I was easily getting dates. Just not the right kind.
When I met my now husband I had no intention of ever getting married. Ever. Spending too many hours in a locker room with guys made me weary of doing so.
We were on a site that would show you if someone was interested in you. I clicked on his bio (which was odd because I stopped looking after a REALLY BAD date). But here was this guy playing with his dogs and something just made me click. I read in his bio that he liked Jif peanut butter. So I wrote him this…”I was in a Jif peanut butter commercial when I was 3”. He wrote back like 3 pages. 🙂 Ah, the power of Jif.
We spent a week emailing each other and finally we talked on the phone one night. We talked so much that both of our cell phones started to die. So he asked me if I was hungry. I said I was and we agreed to meet for dinner. Lucky for me he lived 30 minutes away so I could make myself look a little more spiffy.
We met at one of my favorite eats in Phoenix, Mimi’s Cafe (yes, it is a chain, but a good one). I didn’t recognize him at first as he had shaved most of his hair off. Umm. Not a good look. But there was something about him and I was immediately impressed when he gave up his seat for an elderly man to sit down. We talked and talked and then he asked about marriage. See I didn’t list marriage as something I wanted. My husband had been married before and I could tell by the way he phrased it that he was eventually wanting to marry again. So I lied. I lied and said that though it was not a top 5 priority I was interested in getting married one day. But I wasn’t. This will become very ironic.
At the end of the night he walked me to my car and we hugged ( I never kiss on the first date…yep, I am old fashion). He told me he would grow his hair out for me. Plus for him.
Something was so different about him. He immediately felt like comfort to me…a full on grilled cheese sandwich with warm tomato soup while I sit in my flannel pj’s by the fire under a blanket kind of comfort.
We spent a lot of time together. I knew when I was considering skipping playing hockey that night (never did though) to go out on a date with him that I was falling hard.
This is where the irony comes to play. As the girl who didn’t want to get married was engaged just 5 weeks after knowing her now husband. And truthfully, we would have gotten married that weekend, but we decided since we didn’t have a ring or anything like that, we would hold off. So we picked a date, Pi day (March 14th….3.14). It worked for us since we were both nerds. I knew I loved him even more when he suggested that we get married at 3pm. If you are a math nerd you will appreciate that. Why? Because on a 24 hour clock, that had us getting married at 3.1415. Yes, we really are that geeky.
Sunday marks my 5 year anniversary of the day I met my husband. The day that changed my life for the better. I have never known such love and support. Didn’t think it was possible. Now I know. I am so glad I never settled, for in the end I got my total package.

So to honor my husband I offer up Garlic Cheese Twists. All things he will eat. These were fairly simple to make…the twisting is the hard part…or should I say time consuming part. I used fresh garlic but you could get away with using garlic powder if you like.

Garlic-Cheese Twists

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, divided use
2 ½ tsp active dry yeast
1 TBSP granulated sugar
1 ½  tsp salt
1 ¼  cups warm water (110F)
1 TBSP canola oil
1 cup freshly shredded Tillamook Cheddar Cheese
1 clove garlic, minced
olive oil for brushing

Butter (or spray) a baking sheet; set aside.
Combine half of the flour with yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl; add warm water (110F) and oil; beat on medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth, 3 to 4 minutes.
Stir in garlic and as much of the remaining flour as needed to make a stiff dough.
Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead 4 or 5 times or until smooth and elastic. Divide dough into fourths; shape each portion into a ball then divide each ball into 10 portions. Shape each portion into an 6-inch stick.  Brush 1 stick with water and twist it with another stick, pressing at the top and the bottom. Arrange the twists on a baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining sticks.
Place twists 2-inches apart on baking sheet. Brush the twists with olive oil and sprinkle cheese on top. Cover and let rise in a warm place for about 50 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Bake until lightly browned, 12 to 15 minutes. Serve warm.

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Comments

  4. As someone who was never going to get married and almost lasted fifty years with that thought, it really is nice to be hit out of the blue with “the one” (even if you knew him for 15 years and thought he was too nerdy and not your type!). Congrats on your ‘meeting’ anniversary! And go Jif! (for me it was the Jack in the Box Tacos with the bottle of wine).

    Reply

  5. So lovely!

    I absolutely adore this blog – always full of little sweet stories like this one..

    Lots of happiness for you two! 😉

    Reply

  8. This is like a modern fairy tale 😉 It s nice to get married when you find the right person to share your life with. Nice twists. They re ideal for this occassion they pepresent your two live intertwined 🙂

    Reply

  10. FOr someone who did not want to get married you really had the most romantic story! Ahh! You make me smile a warm and fuzzy smile. Bless you both!

    Reply

  18. awwww, so sweet. happy anniversary!

    my hubby and i are the same way – met online, emailed for a week, talked on the phone for hours (flash that back to high school!), and then met. we went from nice to meet you to serious relationship instantly! 🙂

    Reply

  24. I’m a sap and love how you met stories! The first time I met my boyfriend, I remember have that same feeling of comfort… Congratulations! 🙂

    Reply

  26. Happy 5th anniversary Peabody…..I loved reading your love story.
    The garlic cheese twists look amazing!!! I can’t wait to try them!!

    Reply

  29. i was sent here from a friend because I’d asked for recommendations for food blogs.

    this story was awfully sweet. (= heh and i thought that the nerdy part of it was cool

    Reply

  30. great story, peabody!
    i, too, met my other half online… now we’ve got 2 kids, a cat, a dog, 14 fish and a mortgage!

    happy anniversary!
    xo

    Reply

  31. I love both the story and the twists! I’ll definitley be trying the twists at some point, although marriage has so far waited about five months (not that I’m liking it!) and will continue to wait for me until I graduate! 🙂

    Reply

  32. Peabody, this is the sweetest story… I guess I’m just a bit wistful hearing it all, since I’ve had no luck in love so far. It’s good to know that sometimes it really does work out…

    Happy anniversary to you two! 🙂

    Reply

  33. ah! Nerd love is the best kind. Sounds like my first date with my internet nerd. He asked me to marry him on the fourth day I knew him. Seems like online dating has a bad rap!

    Reply

  34. ooh nerds! i love your story. thanks for sharing it! happy day you met your hubby. that’s super special. thanks for giving me a moment of pause and thoughts of love and happiness of such a hectic day.

    Reply

  37. I recently found your blog and love it. I’m inspired to become a baker and am hunting for a Kitchen Aid mixer now.

    I loved the story of how you met your husband and became engaged. Beautiful!

    Reply

  39. Love comes to those who wait. Now tell the story where you cooked for him and sealed the deal. That is my fav of all stories.
    All women who cook and bake know what I mean.

    Reply

  41. Thanks for sharing this sweet story. I love the picture of you and your husband. It says quite a bit. Enjoy celebrating the day you found each other.

    Reply

  42. What a beautiful story…..I met my husband on the net eleven years ago and people at that time thought I was nuts. I was NEVER going to get married again! Well 6 months to the day we met in person we got married…..so much for NEVERS!!!!

    Reply

  45. Jif is THE best peanutbuttah. No chunks, please. Love the story and photo of you both. I’m such a sappy romantic. The twists look like something I’d need to sit down with a bucket of. You ship, right?

    Reply

  48. What a romantic story. I love ‘how we met’ stories!
    The cheese-garlic bread twists are delicious looking.

    Geeks, hmm? You might appreciate my husband. He asked me to call him when the car odometer hit 858585, so he could revel in this number marvel. Luckily, it hit the magic number in the car park at work. He was thrilled when I called to tell him.
    I don’t get it personally, but it really tickles him!

    Reply

  49. What a great story! It’s so nice to hear how happy you are with your guy. I can’t wait to get married (6 days!!) I love the recipe too — congrats on your “anniversary”.

    Reply

  52. What a great story, Peabody! Thanks for reminding us single girls not to settle…I’ll find mine one day and he’ll be SOOOO worth the wait!

    Reply

  54. What a sweet story, Peabody. I just told Justin what time you guys got married on Piday and of course, he knew what that meant! 😉

    Reply

  60. This is such a sweet story, Peabody! I just loved reading it. Congrats on your 5 years together. And thanks for the beautiful farlic cheese twists 😀

    Reply

  63. First, the twists look gorgeous. (And so do you!)

    And I got choked up at the getting married at 3pm.

    And I also got pushed into internet dating. My husband contacted me the second day I was on the website. We met two weeks later. We, though, are overly cautious people and waited 3 years before getting married. Our anniversary is April 14th. Curse that silly Catholic rule about not getting married in Lent. Pi Day would have been awesome! 😀

    Reply

  69. Congratulations! That’s a very sweet story!
    I thought I was the only crazy person for marrying my husband so soon. We met at a club and we were engaged in less than a month and married after 3 months. We celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary 4 months ago.

    Reply

  70. You two look so wonderful together – I love that photo, Pea.
    It’s great to read real love stories about real people – especially if the people involved are someone we admire.
    Congratulations on your anniversary!
    These twists would make my hubby glad, since he’s not into sweets.

    Reply

  71. What a wonderful story! The 4 year anniversary of my husband’s and my first date is this week, so this really hit home. The first time we spent time together, I experienced exactly what you described – comfort. Love is a wonderful thing!!

    Reply

  72. What a beautiful love story!!!! I have seen the bad side of internet dating and had to counsel a couple who wanted to split up…. I am glad your story had such a happy ending(or shall I say beginning!

    Reply

  73. Peabody:
    That’s a beautiful story and that last paragraph about being glad you didn’t settle – well that just said it all. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply

  74. I love hearing stories of how people met. Thanks for sharing yours! And cheesy, garlic bread to go along with it? Couldn’t be better! Thanks for stopping by Apples and Butter!

    Reply

  76. Very sweet. Funnily enough, today marks the 5 year anniversary of having met my husband the old fashioned way as well. Bless the internet for bringing geeks together.

    Reply

  80. I loved this post, I like a good modern love story. And, following the nerd angle, I have to recommend you watch the big bang theory, it´s probably the best sitcom out there right now.

    Reply

  83. I made these on Saturday for a dinner party and my husband ate 3/4 of them prior to the group’s arrival. Needless to say they didn’t make it to the party. Mine were not as pretty as your’s. I posted a photo in my LJ journal, though, to record the effort.

    Reply

  84. I made these last week for a double date dinner party and LOVED them! So soft and delicious. If i didn’t know better I would swear there was a ton of butter in these because of how good and how much like restaurant rolls they taste! I enjoyed the leftovers as a very nice breakfast too.

    Reply

  86. Sweet story. Reminds me of mine. Married my DH after three months and still together 15 years later. May you enjoy your lives together. Made the bread…MY DH loves them. Put it in my special cookbook….the one where all his favorite recipes are. Thanks!

    Reply

  87. Enjoyed reading the romantic story about you and your hubby. Sounds like you got a good guy. I made your recipe, and am an avid cook. The recipe had great taste but the rolls didn’t rise at all. Maybe I didn’t use enough yeast or maybe my yeast is starting to go bad – it is the bottom of the jar almost. I will try again next Sunday – we usually do some sort of football type pizza-y food on sundays 🙂 Have you ever tried mixing the cheese in with the dough to get it more throughout it instead of only on the top? If so how did it turn out? Great blog 🙂

    Reply

    • @Stephanie- thanks…though he isn’t my husband anymore. But he is a good guy. Your yeast was probably not good then. Never tried mixing it in…just on top.

      Reply

  88. I came to this page for a recipe and left with a love story and a tear in my eye! I was wondering what the story had to do with cheese sticks but I’m glad I kept reading because it shows that true live still exists and chivalry isn’t dead(even though this post is from 4yrs ago)! I’m happy you found your total package and hope you are still happy to this day 😉

    Reply

  89. Awww hope y’all are still married. Great Love story. It will be 27 years for me & my True Love!!!! Going to try the twists this weekend!

    Reply

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