Weekend Fun

The hardest Mondays come after the best weekends.

Nothing too exciting Friday - except the beanboozled incident. Bwahahah.

Saturday morning was a meeting for the Wisconsin State Reading Association Convention (which is bound to be greatly impacted by the impending blizzard). Then, I tried to have lunch at Comet Cafe. The line was out the door, so I ended up at Glorioso's for a sausage sandwich and some Italian cookies.

Saturday afternoon was time for bumming around including:

Coffee at Alterra - they make a honey latte. Why doesn't anyone else make a honey latte? Seriously delicious.

Cupcakes from Classy Girl - one dozen for $12 compliments of Groupon. They make cheesecake cupcakes. I wasn't all that impressed - especially with the frosting. I didn't eat them immediately, though. That might have made a difference.

Cheesehead for Justin - I Googled "cheesehead in Milwaukee" and found out that cheeseheads are actually made in Milwaukee. I stopped to pick one up for Justin (and another for Miri). The one for Justin had actually just been made. It was still warm (and very gross smelling).

Saturday night was time to scrapbook with Em. There was lots of unpacking (I don't exactly travel light), plenty of pizza (and junk food) eating, and some scrapbooking for a little something I have coming up with Midnight Rooster.

 

Sunday was a drive home with lots of snacks (including an unphotographed exploded Cherry Dr. Pepper). I managed to finish listening to To Kill a Mockingbird.

Sunday night was Wicked. Stephanie was completely lucky - she won us lottery tickets. We cashed in our balcony seats for second row seats. Seriously. It was so cool. We could see all the details on the costumes and all the spit from the actors and actresses. Even though it was my third time seeing the snow, I was totally enthralled!

 

 

And, today I went back to work. What a bummer.

22 - 28 of 365

1.22.11 - January Feast
White Bean and Roasted Red Pepper Dip
Cheese
Wine
Roasted Beer Chicken with Fig Pan Gravy
Restaurant-style Smashed Potatoes
Cocoa Brownies with Brown Butter

1.23.11 - Two Front Teeth
We had breakfast with Nicky, Chris, Natalie, and Katelyn this morning. Natie lost two teeth since the last time we saw her. Seriously? How has she gotten so grown up?

1.24.11 - Not So Innocent
Memphis ate a two-pound bag of powdered sugar today. Ate isn't exactly correct. He tore it up and spread it all over the living room floor. Then (I imagine), he started sneezing like a maniac from inhaling the powdered sugar. This exhausted him, and he had to take his tired (and powdered sugar coated) self upstairs to bed.

Of course, no one actually saw this happen. We just saw the evidence. 

1.25.11 - Meatloaf Buddies
Shared dinner tonight with Stephanie, Karl, and a special little dude. The menu? Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and creamed corn.

1.26.11 - Drunken Goat Cheese Mac
Note to self. Do not make recipes from Pottery Barn. Pottery Barn only makes cute dishes and actually knows nothing about making macaroni and cheese. The final product was more like cheese soup with noodles in it.

1.27.11 - No. She's Not My Mom
Dinner at Josef's Gyros followed by some window shopping. A clerk at Younker's thought Angie and I were twins. Then, she thought we were sisters. Then, she figured we must be mother / daughter. How ridiculous. It did lead to some great texts from Angie, though. "Mom, can I have $20?" "Mom, can my boyfriend stay over?" "Mom, where do babies come from?" Endless entertainment, really.

1.28.11 - BeanBoozled
Yesterday, Angie told me that I needed to buy a package of these BeanBoozled jelly beans. They look like normal jelly beans but taste disgusting. If you grab a red bean you might get strawberry. . . or you might get centipede. If you pick a black bean you might get licorice. . . or you might get skunk spray. I put them in a bowl and watched Brad eat a few handfuls. I still haven't told him that he was BeanBoozled. Bwahahaha.

Notes about this week. . .

• I actually finished the first week of my Project 365 album. It was fun to put together, and I used my blog posts from that week to finish much of the journaling.
• Not many pictures of people again this week.
• Almost all pictures are from the evening. I really need to work on getting my camera out at other times during the day.

Are you taking daily photos? How is it going for you?

Feast (January): Chicken

The feast tradition (some might say madness) started February 2010. Despite our best efforts, Angie and I were not selected by the Pioneer Woman for a sushi weekend at her ranch. We set aside our devastation and made ourselves a consolation feast. Since then, feasts have been a pretty regular occurrence.

(Note. To qualify as a feast, a meal must have multiple recipes (sometimes centered around a theme), complicated steps, top-notch ingredients, require at least 700 dishes, and include thousands of calories).

Our feasts are such great fun that we resolved to make them monthly events in 2011.

We kicked off The Year of The Feast on Saturday.

Appetizer
White Bean & Roasted Red Pepper Dip
Cheese (all from Nala's Fromagerie)
1. Marieke Aged Gouda (Wisconsin Cow's Milk)
2. Bra Duro (Italian Cow's Milk)
3. Beaufort Style Comte Like (Wisconsin)

(The cheddar and mozzarella are for Luke and Dottie. They like the good stuff, but we didn't want to share.

The adorable WI-shaped cutting board is from our 2009 Sconnie cheese tour.)

Main Course
Guinness Chicken with Fig Pan Sauce
Restaurant-style Smashed Potatoes
Steamed Broccoli

I actually touched the chicken! That's a big deal for me. Angie captured the moment.

 The chicken took awhile to cook. There was some time for fun.

Lots of smoke was pouring out of the oven. . . lots. The butter all burned off the chicken, but it looked delicious when it finally came out of the oven.

We (Angie) carefully hauled the chicken out of the oven. If you were like us, you would think (just like we did) from the photo above that the chicken was cooked. So, you would (just like we did) carefully take the chicken from the pot, remove the beer can, and start carving.

You would pose with the chicken for an incredibly awkward photo before carving, of course.

Then, you would promptly realize (after the chicken has spewed a steaming hot Guinness and chicken juice solution all over the counter-top) that the chicken was still raw and return it to the oven and sit at the table to eat potatoes, broccoli, and mushrooms.

After enjoying the side dishes, you would (if you were like us) carve the chicken and enjoy.

Dessert
Brownie Sundaes
(made with Cocoa Brownies with Browned Butter & Walnuts)

Wine
Layer Cake Primitivo (Zinfandel)

The events of the day were even better with wine.

I am so lucky. I am so lucky to have a friend that gets me (and loves food almost as much as I do). I am so lucky that she has a family for us to feed. I am so lucky to have a husband that entertains my craziness. 

Meal Plan

Sunday:
Stuffed Green Peppers with green salad


Monday:
Barb works late - Brad makes dinner
Tortellini with Meat Sauce

Tuesday:
Sharing dinner with Stephanie
Am super excited about this!

Wednesday:
Macaroni and Cheese with Grilled Chicken

Thursday:
Chicken Provencal Stoup


Friday:
Cream Cheese Chicken Enchiladas

Lunch:
Baked Potato Soup

Treats:
Puppy Chow

Salad Dressing:
Balsamic Vinaigrette

15 - 21 of 365

I am a little worried that this set of photos might be so boring that they make you never want to visit my blog again. The truth is. . . my life is really only exciting on the weekend.

1/15/11 - Saturday

Aunt Amy taught me the family recipe (and the secrets that go with it) for making pierogis. Jen was our handy assistant.


1/16/11 - Sunday

 

The day the kiwi risotto pot became part of my kitchen collection. I used it that very night to make roasted chicken.

1/17/11 - Monday

I hate spending money on gas. Beyond my control. I hate having to stop for gas on the way to work. My own fault. I did make a smart move in stopping early in the week, though. It was was too cold to stop on Thursday or Friday.

1/18/11 - Tuesday

I should really drink more wine. I, apparently, really enjoy buying it.

1/19/11 - Wednesday

Photo by Brad. These are the fruits of his hard day-off labor. I will never understand ice fishing.

1/20/11

We are starting a school-wide anti-bullying campaign. Someone hung this sign next to the door to my office. A coincidence? I think not.

1/21/11 - Friday

Taken at the Pottery Barn cash register. Why oh why can't I just move into the store? I think I could live very happily there. (And, I was at the store because I was actually buying something - comfort food dishes and a cheese pedestal.)

Week in Review:
I was thinking I would try to take a picture of myself every week. That didn't happen this week. I think I've run out of creative ways to use the mirrors in my house and the timer / tripod combination for self-portraits. Any ideas would be appreciated.

I really need to take more pictures of people and less pictures of stuff next week.

I did do a good job of busting out my camera in public, though. Three of the pictures were taken in public - two in stores.

Lately.

(This idea was shamelessly stolen from the fantastic Jill Sprott.)

reading 

Half-Broke Horses (for book club)

Things a Brother Knows (YA fiction)

Comprehension and Collaboration (about teaching) 

wondering 

Why in the world I cannot manage to find a pair of cute and comfortable shoes that I actually want to buy. There have been times I have found several pairs of shoes at once and bought them all. Now - when I really need a pair - I can't find anything I like.

reeling 

about all the Packers attention. All anyone is talking about is Sunday's football game. Everyone is wearing green and gold. Is it wrong that I am secretly hoping for a loss on Sunday just so I don't have to endure two more weeks of this mania?

watching 

Royal Pains. The show is really pretty ridiculous, but that doesn't stop me from watching it.

listening

to the audiobook of To Kill a Mockingbird and wondering why in the world I waiting until age 31 to read (listen to) this.

(re)discovering
grapefruit. I have eaten it (sprinkled with raw sugar) every morning this week.

spending

too much money on random and pointless things lately. Things like these dishes and this mug.

 

wearing

my pajamas. It's after 7pm. What else would I be wearing?

 

looking

forward to lots of fun things happening with friends over the next few days. . . chicken with Angie on Saturday, dinner with Stephanie on Tuesday, and scrapping with Em next weekend. 

Photo of the Day: Missed Opportunities

I'm sure you've seen those t-shirts that say,
"My ______________ went to ______________ and all I got was this stupid t-shirt."

That's sort of how I feel about today's photo of the day.

There were a million things that happened today that I could have taken a picture of. Instead, all I have is this picture of the wine bottles sitting on my counter top.

(I do realize this picture raises a lot of questions, the biggest of which is, "Why in the world do I have three bottles of red wine in my house at once!? How did I let these bottles go undrank (undrinken, undrunk?!) for so long?" That's the real tragedy and mystery of this whole post.)

But, without further ado. . . here is the real reason for this post.

Today's Missed Photo Opportunities:

• 5" of freshly fallen and undisturbed snow
• My car stuck in 5" of freshly fallen snow at 6:45 a.m.
• Me attempting to shovel my car out of previously mentioned freshly fallen snow
• My neighbor watching me try to shovel my car out of *$#% snow
• Me trying to be "better" and remind myself that the snow isn't *$#% it is peaceful and beautiful
• Brad eventually coming to rescue me
• Me screaming into the phone to Angie about said incident
• Me talking to Luke on the phone and hearing how excited he was that I was coming to visit this weekend
• Me trying to sneak into work 20 minutes late because of snow incident
• The trail of emails between Katrina and me about wardrobe suggestions
• The massive pile of emails in the "Sent Items" box in my work email; I did lots of catching up today which probably led my colleagues to believe that all I do all day is send emails
• The strange compilation of canned goods I ate for lunch today (which included the canned equivalent of an entire pineapple); I didn't manage to grocery shop over the weekend and will - as a result - spend the week eating whatever I can scrounge from the freezer and pantry
• The very cool PowerPoint that was shared with me today about informational texts and the Common Core State Standards; I love seeing someone else's new thinking about a topic that I have already really explored. I am so excited that there is a connection that I missed!
• My iPod playing To Kill a Mockingbird on my way home from work. This deserves - and will get - its own post. I totally have a crush on Scout Finch. . . and Atticus Finch.
• The honey latte I enjoyed during a meeting tonight.
• The three tablespoons of lemon garlic marinade I accidentally dumped on the pierogis thinking I had paprika in my hand and the extra butter I added to try to cover my mistake.
• The smoke that has been billowing out of my oven vents and setting off the smoke detector every time I use the oven forcing me to frantically wave a badly stained hot pad in front of the smoke alarm while swearing; this may or may not be related to the butter that bubbled all over while making mashed potatoes this weekend
• The story I heard on NPR tonight about the use of regional dialects on Twitter. Totally fascinating. 
• The recipes from an episode of Barefoot Contessa that I bookmarked and intend to make sometime soon (eggplant caponata, caesar-roasted fish, sauteed broccolini and garlic, toasted pita triangles, and fresh peach cake)

P.S. I might just make this a normal feature as I continue to take at least a picture every day. There are so many times that I think, "Oh! I should have taken a picture of that!" but I am just too busy enjoying life and living the experience to actually bust out the camera. Those little things aren't things I want to forget, though. They should all be part of how I document the year. So, every now and I then I will write about the things that happened that I didn't take a picture of.

How's that for a totally random post?

A few Etsy Favorites

Beautiful things that I don't need.
Beautiful things that make me smile.

Pillow from mybeardedpigeon

Crazy expensive but beautiful linen napkins from lineacarta

How fun are these prints from evajuliet?

And, I do love this print from SweetFine Day.

These lockets are so pretty. (by lizlamoreaux)

And, how cute is this necklace from elisaherejewelry

And, I'm not much of a bird person, but these dishes from tashamck sure are cute.

 

I could go on like this forever, really.