Five Favorites: The Husband Edition

This Wednesday, I am featuring my dear husband Paul in my Five Favorites Post. Paul is an awesome Dad, engineer extraordinaire (he just received his PE license!), and the best friend this girl could ever wish for! These are the five things that Paul is loving the most right now during the beautiful month of June!

1. Weber One-Touch Gold Charcoal Grill

I bought Paul this Weber grill for Christmas. Many people might consider this a tease since grilling and barbecuing is typically not on the brain during the cold winter months, but Paul immediately was outside barbecuing a turkey soon after unwrapping this gift. Over the past couple months, I have barely spent any time in the kitchen preparing meals as he is more than willing to grill anything and everything he can think of! Sometimes this is an incredible blessing while at other times Paul grilling means that the kitchen is even messier than if I had cooked a 7-course meal indoors. How does he do it?

2. Texas Instruments Voyage 200 Graphing Calculator

Paul is a genius when it comes to performing complex engineering problems that often require him to draw from his vast knowledge of both calculus and physics. His trusty calculator is not only an invaluable tool in aiding him with his mathematical quandarys but also a sort of toy for this engineering nerd. On Father's Day, instead of choosing to relax with a good book or go see a movie in the theater, all Paul wanted was to sit in silence and work through a few calculations for a design project he has in the works. I left him to it for 5 long hours and he emerged quite pleased, relaxed, and satisfied with his work. He had fun and that's all that counts. I definitely married a geek.

3. The Bar Book

This lovely book contains the formula for just about every cocktail you can imagine. I gifted it to Paul for Christmas because he was always trying to recreate mixed drinks with less than stellar results. I figured if he owned a book on the subject he might be more inclined to actually follow the designated proportions and produce some drinks that were actually enjoyable. Since Christmas, Paul has been shaking up some delicious concoctions. He still tends to like cocktails that contain tequila (ewww!) but has decided that his favorite drink of all time is a Sidecar Martini (classy!).

4. Pub Cheese

I have spoken before about Paul's passionate love of all things cheese so it should come as no surprise that he is obsessed with this spreadable snacking cheese! Paul used to pick up some spreadable "cheese food" from the local dollar store on occasion and I was appalled to discover while perusing the ingredient list that it was composed of mostly oil, water, and many flavor additives and contained less than 2% actual cheese. This Pub Cheese, however, is made only from cheese, cream, and milk and tastes a heck of a lot better than that other stuff. Paul's favorite way to enjoy this is with some Townhouse Buttery Crackers.

A super flattering picture of Paul going crazy for his Pub Cheese.

5. Cowbell Imperial Milk Stout by VooDoo Brewery

Paul has been absolutely obsessed with this milk stout since he first tried it a couple years ago. Unfortunately, it is exclusively available on tap and usually only during the winter months of January through March. Not to mention, we normally have to drive a good 30 minutes to the actual brewery to enjoy a glass. I have tried it and have to agree that it is certainly unique and incredibly tasty. He was craving it the other day and actually called the brewery to see if there was any way that they had a reserved batch he could get his hands on. They informed him that there are a couple pubs in the Philadelphia area that are still serving it at this time of year. Paul actually considered planning a trip to Philly in order to visit said pubs. I quickly put a cork in such ridiculousness, but it goes to show how much he likes this stuff.

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As an addendum to this edition of Five Favorites, I would like to say Happy Father's Day to my wonderful husband. He really is the best. Just ask Matthew what his favorite time of day is and he will quickly reply: "When Daddy comes home from work!" We love you, Paul!

Again, not the most flattering picture but one of my favorites from this year so far taken immediately after Emma Rose made her appearance. Notice the "Coach" sweatshirt that Paul wore just for the occasion. He really is the best labor coach - except for that one time when I was having horrible back labor and he tried to give me a massage. Somehow that made the contractions worse. I love you Paul!

Check out Hallie's blog to read through some other Five Favorites Posts.