Supper Club: November 8, 2011

Posted on November 12, 2011 by Jen

Breakfast for dinner, my favorite!

Entree: Stuffed French Toast. Absolutely wonderful! Delicious! Tasty! And easy too! I used strawberry jam and along with cut up strawberries for the “stuffing.” I took another reader’s suggestion and doubled the recipe for the cream cheese mixture and was able to not be stingy on stuffing these bad boys.

Side Dish: Bacon and Cheese Egg Cups. Another delicious and easy recipe to make. And it’s a perfect dish if you are having a brunch at the house. Note, though, eggs to keep cooking so if you want runny yolks, watch the time in the oven and make sure you take it out of the muffin tins immediately.

A perfect Sunday morning breakfast/brunch menu.

Happy Halloween!

Posted on October 31, 2011 by Jen

We celebrated Ben’s first Halloween by attending the Shi’s Halloween party. He got to party with:

Michael Jackson and his new pet

A Crazy Mad Doctor with his monk in tow

A Reno 911 officer with his lady

A Burglar

And his friend, Max.

Hope you had fun Halloween and got lots of candy, we already ate ours!

Ben’s First Pumpkin Carving Party

Posted on October 29, 2011 by Jen

Another year has gone by and it’s that time again: pumpkins! We couldn’t miss this year because it’s Ben’s first of many appearances at the pumpkin carving. See, can’t you tell he’s super-excited about it?

Because of Ben, I was a little bit torn this year on my design. Should I go with something a bit less frightening and more cute or stick with what I’ve done in the past? It was a toss-up, I had two designs but only one could win (really, both could have won, but I had enough energy to carve one).

There was intense concentration with the pumpkin carvings this year:

Kuma even put in her two cents worth while Paul was carving:

After all that hard work and pumpkin guts, I’m proud to present this year’s pumpkins!

Jesse’s Fierce Wolf. Howling at the moon or getting ready to attack? You decide.

Bob’s Optical Illusion Pumpkin. What do you see?

Jen’s Goulish Skull. Yep, went with the creepy. Ben’s too young to be freaked out by it.

Amanda’s Haunted House. Sufficiently spooky for Halloween.

Paul’s Jack-O-Lantern. Sometimes, the classics are the best (no stenciling required).

Now, what’s special about this year is that we had the World Series Game 6 to watch afterwards. The beauty of DVR, we were able to pause the game and watch it virtually commercial-free. Nothing was ruined for us as long as we didn’t venture out onto the Internet. We all intensely watched the game:

That was one outrageous game! I don’t think I can handle another game like that! Go Cards! Now, on to Game 7!

Supper Club: Chick-Fil-A Night

Posted on October 18, 2011 by Jen

No, no, we didn’t cop out and buy Chick-Fil-A just because I had a baby. We just tried to replicate it with our own twist.

Entree: Sweet Chicky Nuggets. These were damn good chicken nuggets, who would have thought that you would add sugar to the recipe? And very easy to make. If you’re jonesing for some nuggs, I would highly recommend these.

Side Dish: Chick-Fil-A Waffle Fries. The secret to waffle fries are the holes. My mandolin was unable to produce adequate holes in the fries so we improvised and stabbed them with a fork. It seemed to work okay. If you want to make waffle fries, make sure your cutting utensil works well for it.

Dessert: Lemon Meringue Pie. Damn the science of baking! I have this major problem with pies that jiggle. Unfortunately, my pie did not firm up, instead it was lemon meringue soup. I don’t know why I keep trying these recipes that require it to be baked “until set.” I just can’t seem to handle it. But I won’t give up, this is Alton’s recipe and he has a segment about it, I’ll have to watch it before I try again. At least it looked pretty.

It Sure is Quiet Here

Posted on September 1, 2011 by Jen

Nope, we have not become hermits for the past three months, sitting at home with the curtains drawn and eating tubs of ice cream for comfort. We haven’t been turning down invites to the social events of the summer just to stare vacantly at our living room wall. Don’t you worry, we are actually very much alive and busy as hell! This has been an insane summer. We’ve barely spent any time at home due to the fact that there was so much going on. Let’s give you a quick rundown of what’s been going on for the past three months:

1. Brian and Leslie’s wedding. What a beautiful couple, congratulations!

2. Paul’s Potluck Party. (Finally, only like 4 years in the making!)

3. Brewfest. And perfect timing, we left right when a mother of a storm came blowing through.

4. Blake Smith Trivia Night. We did not win but we sure did have fun. I do have to say, this is a great trivia night, mostly due to the categories and exorbitant amounts of alcohol flowing.

5. Shakespeare in the Park. I tried it again this time only because I decided, “If you can’t beat them, join them.” Brought my folding chair this time, bitches!

6. Katie’s Annual Backyard BBQ. Another fun summertime event which ended with inappropriate questions and a fire big enough to burn down the complex. Good thing the fire department is in front.

7. Fair St. Louis. We had to have fireworks, it’s a must during the Fourth of July.

8. My baby shower. Yes, I said it. I know I haven’t mentioned it much on this website, probably because I thought I was just gaining a few extra pounds. Just kidding. I think I just haven’t mentioned yet because whenever I do, I freak out and have a meltdown. Am I ready to be a mom? Am I ready to have this little person change my entire life? Can I afford to have a baby? Am I ever going to be able to sleep or will I be a zombie for the rest of my life? Will I like him? What if…ahhh!!! Meltdown is commencing!

9. Lake of the Ozark weekend. My last vacation before baby. And spending it with some of our close friends, exactly how to do a weekend trip. And a special shout-out to Krissy’s family for opening their home to us! It was very much appreciated!

10. Baby shower #2. Must breathe, must not panic! Babies need a lot of crap! Oh god, time is ticking away, I need to do so much! Can I handle this? What if he never stops crying? Oh no, I have to clean up all that stuff that comes out of him? Ewww! Meltdown #2 is commencing!

11. Moving day! That’s right, folks! Bob and I are official homeowners! Okay, so we’re homeowners again. We are now living in what I call a “mom and dad” house. Two-story, four bedroom house with a garage and basement. Just picture the house you grew up in and you’ve just seen our house.

12. Loufest 2011. The second year of this indie festival and the weather turned out perfectly! Thank you Mother Nature, I knew you were sympathetic to my condition. That and the two K’s (Kate and Katie) scored VIP tickets where we got to chill out on hammocks in the shade while sipping on free Pearl Vodka mixed drinks. I have the many plastic cups to prove it.

That sums it up, then why we haven’t been around. With being pregnant, buying a house, going to doctor’s appointments, and general life, some things fall to the wayside like updating this site. I could say that I promise to do better but then I would be lying.