Making things from scratch that you usually just buy

My wife Sarah and I have been getting in to cooking, like many young married couples do. Lately we discovered making croutons and chips at home! We always have a little extra bread laying around, so croutons are a perfect use of starting-to-harden cracked wheat sour dough bread. That's Sarah's specialty...she cuts them up, adds olive oil and Italian spices, then broils them in the oven. They taste amazing...absolutely no comparison with store bought!

 We also were left with quite a few extra corn tortillas after a big fajita making housewarming party, and decided to come up with a use for them. I found some recipe's online, and realized it's pretty easy! Just chop up the tortillas (I use a pizza cutter), lay them flat on a cookie sheet, spray both sides with cooking spray, top off with some cayenne pepper, salt, and paprika, and cook 'em at 450 until their done! They seem healthier than most chips, and taste great! Plus, there's no bag of chips laying around the house to tempt you (I stopped buying chips about a year ago because I can't control myself). When you want them, you just make them!

Plants Vs Zombies

I'm not much of a gamer... I swear. I was happier watching my brothers beat Final Fantasy VII and Starcraft and all the classics, rather than try and get past level one myself. But! I admit I have a new game love: Plants vs Zombies!


Does that picture look ridiculous? That because it is.... a ridiculous amount of fun!!!!! I was very skeptical when Kevin showed me the game on our Xoom Tablet. I didn't think I'd give it an entire minute. Three days of planting pea lobbing plants and sunflowers to kill oncoming undead attackers later, I finally beat the adventure mode. Phew!!! I couldn't think about anything else until I did. So addictive! But I think it activates a part of my brain, the intelligent strategy creating war game lobe of the brain that doesn't get activated very often in daily life. Whatever the reason, this video game makes me so happy!!!!!!!

It's available in the iOS AppStore or the Amazon AppStore on Android. Go kill some Zombies!!!

The way your mouth feels drinking coffee after a spicy breakfast

OK I know this one is really specific, but it really does make me happy. For example, I made spicy omelette's for breakfast yesterday (eggs, onions, peppers, pepper jack cheese, and habanero sausage). It was delicious, and left that subtle burn in my mouth; not overpowering, but there. For some reason, I just love drinking coffee after eating a breakfast like that. My mouth is still tingly and full of flavor, and the coffee just blends in with a weirdly satisfying mixture. Maybe it's because it reminds me of fun brunches, like on the beach in El Salvador with my sister, or my honeymoon with Sarah. Or maybe it's just awesome on its own. Or both.