Love and Marriage

“How’s married life treating you?”

I get that question a lot. Which I get amused by since we lived together years before we got married so married life is treating me about the same as unmarried life did if we are being honest. Sure there are moments that are different. I really do like saying my husband, I like having him refer to me as his wife. I sometimes will glance over and MDP’s hand and see his ring on his finger and smile a goofy smile. I run out of room when I sign my name on receipts because I haven’t gotten used to the length of my new last name. 🙂 In case you haven’t guessed it’s the next installment of the Newlywed Series.

Married life is different for everyone. What works for one couple might not work for another but there are definitely fundamentals. I saw a Pin on Pinterest the other day that said “3 Rules in Relationships: Don’t Lie. Don’t Cheat. Don’t Keep Promises You Can’t Keep”. Which sounds all well and good…but.

Don’t Lie. Okay. Overall I agree with this. But sometimes let’s say your husband accuses you of losing something and you swear up and down to him that you did not take it (because you thought you didn’t). Only to discover you did take it. You go and put it in a drawer that you know he opens often and then say oh gee there it is. Then it’s okay. 😛 Alright, that is still bad. But reality. Also I like for my husband to lie when I say things like “do you prefer me in the black sweatpants or the gray sweatpants?” and he lies and tells me he likes me in all my sweatpants. But I like those kind of lies.

Don’t Cheat. Yeah okay this one I agree with. Unless playing board games. And he has beat you a bunch. Then, then you can cheat. Send him for snacks and then amazingly roll your way to Park Place and crush him. Second thought, let him win.

Don’t Keep Promises You Can’t Keep. One time when MDP and I were recently engaged I don’t even remember what it was but I wanted him to promise me something. Again I really wish I remember what because it seemed important at the time. All he said to me was “I’m not going to promise that” and when I said why not in an accusatory tone he replied “because I don’t want to promise something that I can’t make for sure happen, I don’t want to disappoint you that way, so I don’t promise”. I totally understood and felt silly.

All of those are well and good. I think for me the number one thing is to make my husband feel appreciated. So I will make you all vomit a little and list some of the little things MDP does to make me feel loved.

*For my birthday this year MDP came home and gave me a super mushy card to which he pointed out how happy he was to get to buy me a birthday card from the wife section. That alone made me melt. Then he tells me to get ready we are going somewhere but wasn’t telling me where. I threw on some jeans since my dress sweatpants were dirty (:P) and he drove us to happy hour at a place we used to go to when we first started dating. This was by FAR the best. MDP is not a planner. He has a hard time making decisions. The standard joke in our house is that for his last meal he would starve to death because he could not make up his mind as to what he would want his last meal to be. So the fact that he pre-thought about it was the greatest birthday gift. So while it was a very low budget birthday…it truly was one of the best.

*Bought me a pineapple and then came home and chopped it all up and put it away for me. I hate chopping pineapple so this is a very sweet gesture.

*Went through cookbooks finding things he would like for us to try and make. I love a man flipping through a cookbook. Love.

*Never bugs me about the mess. I am a messy person. I think in general creative types are. Never in our entire time has he ever said one thing about it. He just moves stuff over and moves on. I appreciate this greatly.

*I love it when he is tired and just wants to lay on the couch but I want to go for a walk that he will put on his shoes and go on out there with me.

Alright enough of that, let’s talk food. When I tell people what is in this they are horrified. Jameson Fink (check out his blog) I think thought I was joking when I first told him what the recipe would be for him to try and find wine to pair with it. Then he realized it was a real thing.

This chicken is embarrassingly easy. It comes from my 8th grade home-ec cookbook where teachers and students contributed recipes. It came from my favorite English teacher (who loved me as well…she told me I would be a writer someday…this is probably not what she had in mind). It was called Sweet and Sour Chicken and it does sort of have that flavor but not quite. It’s the first meal I ever prepared for my parents. I make it often. Every person I have fed it to likes it. They are then horrified when I tell them how to make it. 🙂 If you can get passed the ingredients this is a really yummy easy meal weeknight meal to make. I love it best with couscous for some reason but rice works too.

After Jameson stopped laughing at my choice…this was what he suggest for you to pair with my Newlywed Chicken:

Since both Peabody and I live in Washington State, I’m going to keep my picks on the local tip. We’ve got a dish with some sweetness, so let’s check out a couple wines matching that flavor. But am I recommending you drink liquid candy? HA! No. These two wines certainly aren’t dry, sure, but each has a touch of zest to keep things refreshing and dinner friendly. Think of the acidity (zestiness) in a wine like a squeeze of lemon that cuts through the sugar, recalling the ideal sweet/tart ratio of lemonade.

The first is a wine you should be able to find with ease: Chateau Ste. Michelle Riesling. It’s under ten bucks and will give you an appreciation for how this grape is wonderful with food. Treveri Cellars Sparkling Pinot Gris is pick number two. Because bubbles are not just for celebrations. And hey, you’re newlyweds. Every day should sparkle, no? Also, in the world of underappreciated wines that pair lovely with food, sparkling wines are at the top of my list. (This will be about a $15 wine.)

But maybe you want zero sweetness when it comes to your wine? Totally cool by me. Chateau Ste. Michelle makes a Dry Riesling for the same price. And Treveri has a Blanc de Blancs (aka all Chardonnay) Extra-Brut (aka super-dry) that will fit the bill, and your bill will be similar.

In fact if you were really crazy, you could get a bottle of each and compare which one you think works best with the dish: sweet or dry. Have a little impromptu weeknight wine tasting for just for the two of you.

I totally support his idea of buying a bottle of each!!!! 🙂

Yes we are silly. Look how sexy we are after playing hockey. Ha!