Ida Claire. Say it. Now say it with a southern accent. Listen. Bingo! I missed it the first few times, too. 🙂
This is Brad. He’s a Tivo peep I’ve known forever and met once almost 10 years ago. He’s lost 90# on Naturally Slim.
This is a delicious Bloody Mary. I learned I liked pickled okra. 🙂
This is Brad, me, and Smeek (Jeff). I’ve met him a few times before over the years but it’s always good to see him. He’s one of our resident foodies so he picked the place. I also got to try two of his fancy drinks. 🙂
And here’s a pic of me and Smeek from 2007 (that last guy is not Brad, unfortunately—it’s Peter):
Here’s Brad from that same weekend, just to complete the group flashback:
And my super delicious lunch. [Thinking about it now, days later, still makes my mouth water.]
It didn’t take long to get used to eating with Marcia…but I did watch her. 🙂 This was the remnants of her brunch order this morning. I told her people would love to see this as proof that she does practice what she preaches. 🙂 (I didn’t take a picture of mine because I ate everything—but I just ordered one biscuit with sausage gravy and a side of bacon. And I may have had three bites of her hash browns. 🙂 )
First we had lunch at the Neiman Marcus Cafe with her two daughters and the two employees who helped with the Facebook event. I actually introduced them all to the delicious wonder that is Green Goddess salad dressing (it came on two dishes and no one had ever tried it so I asked the waiter to bring a sample; they all loved it) and they let me in on the secret that the little cup the waiter brought was not tea, but chicken stock. Sounds odd, right? But it was DELICIOUS. 🙂 At dessert time we hoped for something chocolate and surprisingly they didn’t have anything! But! The waiter said “Let me see what I can do” and he came back with a huge slice of chocolate cake! (Turns out he got it from another NM cafe on another level.) Then the table sang Happy Birthday to me. 🙂
Then it was off shopping at the mall. I had complimented her daughter Candace on her gorgeous necklace and she said she actually got it at Chicos…so we headed there (I usually get something “big” as a souvenir instead of a tchotchke). So I was looking at all the jewelry and Marcia and her daughter were looking at clothes. I was trying to decide between pieces to just pick one and Marcia offered to hold them for me while I was looking…and I turned around and she was buying all three for me!
What?! I told you she’s awesome.
Then we walked around some more and we ended up at Sundance where Candace tried on a bunch of clothes. The stuff was way too expensive for me, but I tried on a few things for fun (I mean, that’s what you do when you’re out shopping with the girls, right?!). And then they both tried on this coat—which I had noticed and thought was cute but figured there was no way I would be buying it so why tempt myself—but peer pressure got me and I tried it on and it was SUPER cute…and Marcia immediately said “Excellent! I’ll get this for you, too! Happy birthday!” WHAT?! Holy crap. I told her she couldn’t but she wouldn’t take no for an answer. So I now own this coat. And, actually, all three of us now own that coat!! 🙂
And then it was off to get all our nails done…another birthday treat! I opted for a basic French manicure. I forgot how much I LOVE them…
And then it was off to dinner at Gloria’s Latin Cuisine with Marcia, her daughter, and another coworker/friend! It was delicious, and I enjoyed a strawberry margarita and fish and brisket tacos for my birthday!
On the way home, Marcia said (paraphrasing) “I was going to get you dessert and have them sing happy birthday, but they get crazy with it so I changed my mind.” See? LOVE HER.
Upon the very first second of meeting Marcia at the airport curb, I could tell she was exactly like she seems in the videos—warm, welcoming, gracious (and I could go on and on with descriptors)—and we immediately started gabbing like old friends. We went to Bistro 31 in Dallas (where I had a mouth-watering spaghetti carbonara with scallops). It wasn’t until about 10 minutes in that I quick checked my email (while Marcia was in the restroom!) and saw my mom had said “So have you met Marcia yet?!?!” I had been having so much fun with Marcia that I hadn’t even taken a picture yet. ME! Not taking a picture?! Can you believe it? So when she came back I took our first selfie!
The time flew as we talked about anything and everything. It wasn’t as nerve-wracking to eat with her as I had thought it would be, and I did take home leftovers. 🙂
It started out as post-swim lessons dinner but turned into my birthday dinner because Tom is sneaky. 🙂
Peanut Butter Thing: joe’s claim to fame – peanut butter and chocolate chunks folded into vanilla ice cream and rolled in oreo cookie crumbs, topped with fresh whipped cream and drizzled with hot chocolate and caramel sauces tableside
We all really enjoyed it and we learned Katie doesn’t like caramel sauce and Owen’s favorite is hot fudge. (I was partial to the hot fudge myself, though the caramel was better all by itself.)
On our way out, the kids saw other kids getting their picture taken on the PF Changs horse so they had to do it, too. 🙂
For a special treat, I decided to make a Tres Leches cake for Tom’s cake—I’d never made one before but it didn’t seem too hard and it was a Pioneer Woman recipe so you know it’s fairly easy and should be delicious. I’m talking from scratch here, people. Like whipping egg whites and making my own whipped cream. I set the cake timer for the minimum stated time…and it was obviously too long and the edges were burnt. GRRR. I always set the timer for 10 minutes EARLIER than the minimum just in case but not today. I trimmed them off and hoped for the best.
One of Tom’s favorite meals is sloppy joes so that was an easy dinner as well—and they were delicious. After dinner I got out the cake and poor Tom lit his own candle. 🙂
And then I excitedly tried the cake and MEH—it was nothing special. I think the cake was just too dry from being overcooked and I had only put the suggested two cups of liquid into the cake when I should have tried for more because of it being overcooked. Oh well. Tom liked it and the kids loved it but now I want to make it again and try for better!
So then we were clearing off the table and loading the dishwasher…when suddenly Tom trips and I see something flying through the air. WHAT THE…?! Turns out, it was sloppy joes. Yes, sloppy joe meat was all over the place. Tom’s flip flop caught on the edge of the gel floor mat and he tripped. The dishwasher door was fully open so he was violently trying not to fall into that so while trying to catch himself, he slammed his hand down on the kitchen island/stove…RIGHT on the spoon that was still in the sloppy joes on the stove…which sent sloppy joes catapulting across the kitchen and then, as Owen noticed minutes later…on the ceiling as well! Keep in mind we have like 10′ ceilings in the kitchen.
Maggie cleaned up all the chunks off the floor and I wiped up after her while Tom got out the ladder and wiped down the ceiling. Then it was a matter of looking around and discovering all the tomato sauce speckles all over the place…on the cake, on the stove, on the refrigerator, on the wall… Hoo boy. I’m sure we’ll be discovering them for days to come.
Of course, I posted about it on Facebook…and I love our friends:
So we got that cleaned up and then it was time for the kids to Skype with Uncle Rob (which had been temporarily postponed to clean up the mess). Well, Owen asked if they could put on their Halloween costumes to show Uncle Rob. GRRR. A simple request, right? Except they’d both been asking me ALL DAMN DAY to wear their costumes and I had already told them at least four times that I’d let them wear them before Halloween…just not today. So of course I was annoyed but agreed. Well, Katie had taken hers off like a kid does so it was completely inside out. She knows how to fix it, but she didn’t want to. I was still busy in the kitchen so was talking her through it—but it wasn’t good enough for her. She actually had it about 95% of the way fixed when she started stomping her feet at me. That’s never the answer, so she got a warning that she would be going to bed if she continued. She continued. So she got taken up to bed and she was a HOT MESS. (She really needed an early night—she hadn’t caught up from the late night when we had friends over for dinner plus being at the pool for three hours…)
So…HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TOM! Burnt and dry cake, a kitchen mess, and a tantrumy toddler. What better way to celebrate, right? :heart:
Our good friends Beth and Frank (and daughters Ainsley and Avery) are moving to Ohio after only two years here…so we had them over for one last dinner.
I discovered we left the chocolate-covered cashews in the garage and it was one big glob. I spread it out to make it into brittle but had to taste it as is and OMG I’m pretty sure it’s heaven. I never tried them originally but warm and gooey is a winner.
Tonight was our second time eating at the Harbor Haus (a 4-star Yelp-reviewed German restaurant!) so now it’s officially a tradition when we visit up here!
Appetizer: Crab Stuffed Risotto Balls, Wild Mushroom Risotto, Smoked Cheese, Panko Crust (amazing—could have been our dinner in entirety)
Soup: Steak something-or-other (tomato-based and surprisingly delicious)
Entree: Mixed Grill (three seasoned and grilled shrimp with a bearnaise-type sauce, bacon-wrapped jagerwurst with a dark sauce, flank steak with a mushroom sauce, and wild mushroom risotto—DELICIOUS)
Dessert: Belgian Chocolate, Toasted Hazelnut & Frangelico Soufflé with Crème Anglaise
Our first stop after getting off the island was at the grocery store to get OJ, water, and drops to make H2OJ for our road trip! Time to get back on track!
We decided to celebrate our 15th anniversary just a bit early (since we had available babysitters!) and spend the night on Mackinac Island. (It’s actually a bit longer story. I had wanted to go to the Headlands International Night Sky Park in Mackinac City so Tom was in charge of picking the hotel. He thought he was making a reservation for Mackinac City, but when we had to change nights, he realized he had made a reservation on the island—he had a few tabs open on his computer and called a different one than he was looking at! So our plans changed to go to the island instead!)
Unfortunately, we knew bad weather was on the way, so we chose not to do anything time-intensive like biking around the island…so when this happened…
…we stopped our shopping for a quick lunch at Seabiscuit Cafe. We had yummy whitefish chowder and a mediocre whitefish reuben.
The weather app we were checking seemed to predict that it would only last an hour or so, but the rain just kept coming. We decided to take the shuttle back to the hotel and wait out the rain in our room.
Our room was GORGEOUS with an AMAZING view…or a potentially amazing view if it hadn’t been raining and foggy.
The Cudahy room at the Inn at Stonecliffe, Mackinac Island — click for a larger version.
This was our view before the fog rolled in and obscured the bridge:
It was quite chilly in our room and the heat was slow to come on, so we pulled the extra blanket out of the closet, rearranged the chairs, and crossed our fingers that the front passed soon.
We rechecked the forecast in a different app and that showed rain pretty much all day. 🙁 So Tom took a nap and I sat and tried to catch up on writing blog posts…while listening to a wedding taking place below us on the covered back porch 🙂 and watching it rain and rain and rain.
We had almost the same view at dinner:
And then we got to watch the wedding guests wander around during the reception:
Our meal was very, very good. We knew we’d blow NS principles out of the water, but we didn’t care because it was our anniversary and everything sounded amazing. And everything WAS. We were very happy with our dinner. 🙂
It had stopped raining during dinner so we went for a walk around the grounds and out to Sunset Rock.
And the panoramic view (click for larger version):
And do you see what we saw in the water? 🙂
It really was a pretty place.
After our walk we headed back to the room where we listened to the reception rave on while we watched Breaking Bad on Netflix. 🙂 Then it started raining again but thankfully didn’t storm since it was bedtime (though I wouldn’t have minded watching a storm from our room).
While overall it stunk that the weather was so crappy, we still enjoyed being together—alone!—all day! That’s always worth something. 🙂
This didn’t raise as much as I thought it would the second time… It smelled heavenly while baking but was entirely too dense so I’m bummed. The next time I’ll leave it sit to raise longer than the recipe called for (I was on a timeline tonight so kind of rushed the baking).
We really need a name for the pizza where we use miscellaneous leftovers from the fridge. I like garbage pizza but that doesn’t really have a good connotation. It’s not technically leftover pizza so I don’t like leftovers pizza. Kitchen sink pizza isn’t much better than garbage and doesn’t roll off the tongue. (I actually recall having a very similar conversation a few years ago and can’t remember what was decided.)
So I posted on Facebook asking for suggestions…and boy did people come through!!
So Patchwork Pizza it is! 🙂
FYI tonight’s toppings were:
Kids: butter/garlic salt, homemade mac and cheese, fresh mozzarella, and Italian blend shredded cheese
Adult: homemade bacon-y 1000 Island, leftover grilled hamburger, chopped green onions and bacon, and fresh mozzarella
When we just use whatever leftovers are in the fridge? Leftovers pizza sounds too much like leftover pizza. Tom suggested Garbage Pizza but that seems a little…drastic (and Owen didn’t like it)? Fridge Pizza also seems a little boring.
Tonight was Italian meatloaf, cheddar cheese, and BBQ Sauce pizza.
And Katie wanted to help so we let her “paint” the sauce.
The house has been cleaned, dinner has been prepped, we have a specially-mixed cocktail in hand, and we’re 29 minutes away from our Saturday Night Dinner!
What did we make?! CITY CHICKEN!!!! It’s a bit of work so I’ve never made it but my mom made it off and on when I was growing up and it’s a favorite!. She’s here visiting so we made it together today. 🙂
Of course, Katie had to help, too.
She did pretty good until the last piece she couldn’t get on the stick…and she wasn’t too happy (as you can see on her face).
What is city chicken, you may be asking? Breaded, fried, and baked skewered pieces of veal and pork. It looks like chicken legs—like non-farm “city” people might have. Apparently way back when, veal and pork were also cheaper than chicken so it was a faux chicken. It’s DELISH. (Similar recipe to ours here.)
Tonight’s creation: Italian crust, goat cheese with olive oil and rosemary, smoked grilled chicken, red onion, and jalapeño…cooked on a baking steel. Loved it! DELISH!
We just made our best pizza yet!
Goat cheese with rosemary and garlic infused oil*, caramelized onions, flank steak, and fresh mozzarella. I mixed too much oil into the goat cheese so it seeped out in the oven and started to smoke on the stone…but the bonus side effect was actually a crispier, fried crust! It was our best pizza yet!
* We were gifted a bottle of goat cheese that was marinated in rosemary and roasted garlic oil. After the amazingly delicious goat cheese was gone, we used the oil mixed with our own (Costco) goat cheese to make a paste for the pizza.
Food bender, that is—dinner out with 15 peeps at what turned out to be an amazing restaurant (Green Pig Bistro).
The food was all excellent and everyone was passing around plates to try everything (because the portions were HUGE)…so on top of probably 15 bites of random dishes (which would have been a complete meal in itself), I ate my entire plate (which actually was one of the smaller plates—four tiny scallops and probably a cup of crab and coconut risotto) and then a few bites of desserts (ours, plus others!).
I didn’t feel overstuffed at the time, though I knew I obviously ate too much. But I ended up waking up during the night feeling like I had a hangover. I actually had to think: “Wait. Did I drink last night?” Because it felt sooo similar. (Note: I didn’t drink.)
The following morning I didn’t even want to think about food. And I was nervous to step on the scale—I had actually been pretty close to losing my 4# of fluff but that went out the window. But DAMN it was worth it. 🙂
One fun part of the dinner was a surprise birthday dessert for Tom! We had seen another table get the sparkler and one of us decided that it should happen at our table because fire. And they just happened to pick Tom!
I’ve been experimenting with pizza dough in the stand mixer so we’ve been having lots of pizza and breadsticks. For pizzas, we often just use whatever leftovers we have…and the kids get cheese or pepperoni. However, tonight we both got leftovers: mac and cheese for the kids (hope they like it) and chimichurri, steak, and pickled onions for us. Of course topped with cheese.
The verdict? Owen loved it, Katie tolerated it. Ours sounded better than it tasted but it wasn’t bad. But unfortunately the crust was overdone (not sure why—I did everything the same as previous times when it turned out).
New friends (Nate, a co-worker of Tom’s I’d never met—and his wife), newbies to dinner (friends from T-ball, mutual friends, and now Owen’s first grade class), good food (gumbo, rice, homemade white bread and spaghetti bread), amazing desserts (peanut butter bars and carrot cake by Nate!), and great kids equals gumbo dinner party success!
Through a small comedy of errors, Allison spilled red wine on herself a mere five minutes after arriving…so I loaned her a shirt (same shirt, different color) and we were twins!
