Oh Valentine's

I love themes, especially those when it's perfectly ok for me to be covered from head to toes in pink and have glitter everywhere: valentine's day. However, Tom and I think that this is overly commercialized, so instead we had a nice dinner date on Saturday Feb 12: grilled filet mignon (meat from Mr. P's http://www.mrpdeli.com/ - as a side note, I love this place, it's nice to have a butcher!), grilled shrimp, garlic and jalapeno mashed potatoes, and tuxedo strawberries! Tom received a laptop cooling pad thingy, and so far, it's performing well.

Container gardening

I love my balcony - it was fun to have it over the summer, even though it seemed that the tomato plants were taking over. In October, I had a gardening party, and my girlfriends and I planted bulbs - tulips, freesias, and hyacinths. Fast forward a few months, it gets colder. Mr. Squirrel decides to collect the tulip bulbs and redistribute them to the other pots. So for now, there's a new meaning to container gardening: my bedroom floor. The tulips in the back left pot are blooming!

Finally found a match

Finally found a match - LSU and a Wisconsin great, PBR!

It's great to be a Packer fan!

Superbowl + Packers = Party!!
Green and yellow was obviously the theme http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oicSTRWH_i0&feature=related
Thanks to Laurie and Robbin for the Green Bay tableware!

Spinach and artichoke dip (there is a G in the cheese), pigs  in a blanket, jalapeno poppers, chips with salsa and guacamole, zapp's chips

These were adapted from a recipe that Laurie sent, jello poke cake

Another Laurie influence - can't have a Wisconsin party without beer brats

We WON!!!

And opened champagne...

Recipes:
Jalapeno poppers: split jalapenos in half lengthwise. Remove seeds and ribs, and broil on low for 10 minutes. Fill with onion and chives cream cheese and top with sharp cheddar. Put in the oven at 350 F, until cheese is melted.

Spinach and artichoke dip: mix 10 oz of chopped, thawed, and drained spinach with 14 oz of chopped and drained artichoke hearts. Add 1 cup of mayo, 1/3 cup of grated parmesan cheese, and chopped garlic to taste. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Spread in dish and bake at 350 F for 15 minutes, until cheese is melted.

Pigs in a blanket: http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/mini-crescent-dogs/e8abc84e-8a0e-42d6-ae7e-23b677a161ac/

Jello poke cake: http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/jell-o-poke-cake-69006.aspx
Made cupcakes from lemon cake mix, used lime green jello and topped with cool whip (with food color). The jello was enough for 12 cupcakes, used for the letters.

Beer brats: Put brats in pot, cover with beer (we have used MGD, miller lite, yuengling, and spotted cow in the past), and top with coarsely chopped onion. Bring to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes. DO NOT pierce the brats. Avoid boiling the beer. Then put the brats on a hot grill to sear the outside.


GO PACK GO!

January Recap

And January is nearly gone!
School started, I'm taking a teaching class which has so far been a lot of reading and trying to understand the psychology of students and responsibility of educators. Emily also started a writing group.
LSU won its bowl game, Auburn won the national championship, and the Badgers wonderful run came to an end against TCU.











  

Snowmageddon happened: we had snow in Birmingham! UAB closed down for a day, most schools were closed for the week. Watching cars slip on the road from the balcony was awesome. It also meant that I discovered that walking from home to work is quite pleasurable. So now I walk to work on most days.

Tom is really happy about the Xmas blanket that I made him. 



Especially since the Packers are on a winning streak! Yes, the jersey was a Xmas gift, #52 Clay Matthews!
Watching the Packers v Falcons game with the gang.

Then the BIG game: Packers v Bears for the NFC championship, complete with spinach and artichoke dip, deviled eggs, and pigs in a blanket. Standing room only. There was also yummy goodies that the gang brought. And when we won, Tom opened the champagne!

Dallas, and the Steelers, here we come!

December Recap

I met BFF Susie Beth and Jarrod’s baby, Julia Elizabeth in October and was named Aunt Kaj! She is adorable! Since Susie is using smile mommy, a diaper service provider (http://www.smilemommy.com/) I wasn’t sure whether a diaper cake would be appropriate. But then the Pattersons use diapers for their road trips so here I was, making a diaper cake out of 258 diapers! 

Tom and I went to the Institute’s (http://southernresearch.org/) holiday party, followed by Chantelle’s birthday party, where I was excited to see BFF Nate.

The first Christmas at the house was nice. Tom surprised me by putting blue lights on the tree (I don’t like lit trees usually) and I actually liked it. Santa came early and dropped off our gifts <3

We left for La Crosse, Wisconsin for Christmas, prepared for the 15 hour drive. There was snow, a lot of snow, but it wasn’t as cold as I expected it to be. It was awesome being in Packer territory, during football season. We went to Sloopy’s bar, where our friend Caleb works. They have a burger, topped with bacon, cheese, and batter fried cheese curd – try it if you’re in the area, it’s called the Westby Burger, and is not on the menu. It was nice to see Derek, Jared F, Jared V and his wife Sam. 

 

Christmas at the Larsons was OMG fantastic and relaxing. Tom, the grill master, cooked steaks in the snow for the Xmas eve’s dinner, and Laurie (Tom’s mom) made a wonderful standing prime rib roast. And the gifts the next day!

Then on Monday December 26, Tom’s sister, Mary got married.

We managed to include a date night, starting with cocktails at the 50’s theme Starlite lounge, followed by dinner at Buzzard Billy’s. This place has better Cajun food than Birmingham, and their menu is ridiculous! (http://www.buzzardbillys.com/vnews/display.v/ART/4522e4904d226) We also went to dinner with Caleb and Anna, Jared V and Sam at Digger’s.

Then like all good things come to an end, we left for Sweet Home Alabama, with a car full of gifts, beer, and cheese, and hearts full of happiness and gratitude, and lots of memories.

Holiday gift ideas

Edible gifts? 

Advantages: no wrestling crowds at the mall; can be done at any time, eg late at night after lab, when your mind is still racing and you can't fall asleep.

Cranberry Jam:

Cranberries, grated apples, fresh lemon juice, and sugar. I love my candy thermometer for this. The book Joy of Cooking also came in handy, especially when sealing the jars. Sealed, jams can be stored up to one year. I used my printer to create the labels, and used sheer red ribbon for the bow. This will go well with the scones mix (later post)

Pecan pralines make great stocking stuffers and thanks to my candy thermometer, no more guessing

Southern Thanksgiving

Don and Lindy came to visit from Alaska. Since they flew in on Thanksgiving Day, we decided to have a low key dinner at the house. On the menu:
Oysters Rockefeller *my first time shucking oysters!* broiled with chopped parsley, breadcrumbs, melted butter, and Parmesan cheese.
 Served with lemon, Tabasco, and butter on the side - they were gone very quickly




Chicken and Andouille gumbo - I apologize for the picture :(








Crawfish and sausage cornbread dressing









I forgot to take a picture of the bread pudding with whiskey sauce - it looked like the one I made last year.

 I tried to play with some of my ingredients for centerpieces. I liked the cranberries and lemon. I love the bamboo stem (from Ikea :))

We ate, drank, and had leftovers to take to work the next few days.

Christmas already?

With Halloween gone, is it time to start thinking about Christmas? My crafts skipped Thanksgiving, when I was inspired by this:

I'm not that talented but this is the work in progress, I hope that it will turn out better in the upcoming weeks. Wish me luck!

In the kitchen this week

 I was craving my mom's spinach soup and I never knew the trick to getting it just right - until she told me about a month or so ago. And there it was, the brightest green soup ever.




I seared chicken breasts in olive oil with garlic and fresh rosemary from the herb garden, threw in some tomatoes from the balcony and finished it in the oven.

On a day when things weren't going too well in the kitchen, the fact that the pumpkin gratin and sauteed shrimp turned out okay, was reassuring.




One of the things that didn't go well were these pumpkin cheesecake cupcakes, which I was making for Tom's lab meeting. I was being conscientious of the fact that one of his lab mates is allergic to gluten, so I made a crust with pecans. The crust burnt. Then the cheesecake rose in the oven (cheesecake is not supposed to rise), and then they sunk! Went back to the Joy of Cooking and on the other page (yea, the recipe continued on the other page, the page that I didn't flip), there was the rest of the recipe for the sour cream topping, which I guess would have filled the cupcake. Too bad I didn't have sour cream. Here I am with a dozen yummy pumpkin cheesecake without a base. Yummy!

Tomorrow is Divali, and I am trying to muster the courage and motivation to get back to the kitchen to make some indian cookies (nancathai). I think enough cooking for today.