baby shower

Almost all caught up. Oh, wait, I think this does catch me up! Whew, it's been a long time coming.

So Saturday, 5/22 was a baby shower that I was involved in throwing. I did not do this alone. I had three very good friends helping. The four of us provided punch, coffee, and cakes. Yes, I said cakeS with an S. Meaning plural. The mom-to-be wanted ice cream cake. So ice cream cake she got. And there was a more traditional cake, too.

Dairy Queen, who did the ice cream cake, was able to scan the image from the napkin onto the cake. And despite all of our mocking, the ice cream cake was very good.

There was no shortage of food, though. Our sisters as a whole made this a beautiful event.

My responsibilities included decorations, punch, and coffee. I ordered 39 balloons. Josh's car is pretty big, but that was a lot of balloons to try to cram in. LoPe and I had to spend about 20 minutes untangling them. But we got it done, and it was very pretty, if I do say so myself.

The other decoration thing that I did was silk flowers in a turquoise can. (The colors for the shower became turquoise and kiwi. I found cans super cheap at Target 2 months ago.)

So you can't see the can's in this top down photo. But I think you get the idea. And not a one of these flower arrangements (with which I had no idea what I'd do after the shower) came home with me. We played Baby Shower Bingo and only had 4 prizes...there were 7 winners...three of whom actually WANTED the flower arrangements. Go figure. I think I gave the last one to somebody who just asked for it.

Finally, I had 13 "dead" bananas in my freezer and 4 that were "dying" on my counter top. Not to let all those bananas pass without use, I made banana bread. And muffins. And mini muffins.
I used my current go-to recipe but added a few twists I saw on Barefoot Contessa. (I so want to be Ina Garten when I grow up.) She adds dried banana chips to the top.


And she cuts up a less ripe banana and mixes it in with the batter before baking. You can see the baked banana chunk at the bottom corners.


Well, that's the end of baby shower.

Next up, my Tea Party and book discussion with my 9 year old friend.

Staycation

Josh and spent Friday 5/14 in the city. It was a really nice little recharge for us. We ate dinner at Gibson's, stayed at the Hyatt Regency Chicago, slept in, walked to a neat restaurant where we had eaten before and then, with bellies full, took a cab to Shedd Aquarium.

There we were met with this line:

Crazy, huh. We waited in line for about 40 minutes and then couldn't get tickets to see the ocean show.

We did get to go underneath the pool where the show takes place and shoot this video:



We also saw Happy Feet 4D. You know the movie...penguin can't sing but he can dance and humans are eating all their food blah blah blah. Shortened to 30 minutes. If it's raining on screen you are being misted with water; if Mumbo get's kicked/poked in any way, you get poked in the back with some strange mechanical thing in the back of your chair; many penguins dancing means your chair rumbles; when they dove in the water, bubbles (like air bubbles) were released. You get the idea.

And the best part of our time at Shedd was watching the otters. Here's another video:



Aren't they just adorable? I love otters.

And after the aquarium, we returned to our hotel for a cocktail in the "Big Bar." Our car was parked until 6 so we took advantage of that for some appetizery things and some drinks. The bar is pretty impressive. See for yourself:


They serve these GIANT cocktails, I mean huge, like $30 big. We watched a table do 2 rounds of these. Yowza!

Okay, I'm almost caught up now. Next up is Baby Shower. I don't have any pictures of the event, and only a few of the prep.

Kristen out!

Anniversary Dinner for the in laws

So now I'm up to May 8. (I know, I'm very slow at this blog thing...it's been a busy week.)

My sister-in-law asked if we would like to go in a dinner out to celebrate the in laws 39th anniversary. Of course, we said yes. (Even though we had already gotten them a gift.)

She made the reservation at Pete Millers. At the request of the guests of honor, the reservation was early...5:30. That worked out beautifully as they run an "early bird" special thingy. Each of us got soup/salad, our entree, and dessert (key lime pie or some super chocolatey thing) for the price of our entree. Can't beat that with a stick!

So pictures of dinners:

Peter had Beef Wellington. I'm pretty sure it was made with tenderloin. And his accompaniment was garlic mashed. Mmmmm.


Eileen, after much deliberation and consultation with the waitress, had sirloin. On a previous dinner at Pete Millers she had the best sirloin she'd ever eaten. She opted for the mixed veggie side dish


Josh had some kind of bone in Kobe beef. He asked to bring the bone home with is leftovers so I could make stock. Boy is always thinking.



I had "steak and cake." Three filet medallions and a crab cake. Also with the garlic mashed. Eyes definitely bigger than belly. I ate all of the crab cake (doesn't make a good leftover) and only half of one medallion. Josh had good lunches that week.


Okay, not the best example of my photography skills, but this is Amelia's dinner. It was very much in focus at the time. A filet and french fries.

Josh and Amelia opted for the chocolate cake and the rest of us had key lime pie. The chocolate cake was served with vanilla ice cream which was a deal breaker for Peter.

We started with calamari.

Next post will be our staycation in the City.

DDCP '10

I know it's been a long time. I have a lot to tell you. I'm going back to May 1.

Do you remember from last year what DDCP is? It's the annual Derby Day Cocktail Party. This year's came off without a hitch.

However, having aux. pio'ed in April and being that the first Sat. was the first of the month I was very tired and more than a little cranky when our last guest left. I didn't mail invitations this year. I will next year and will state the party's time as 4-8. 9:30 was just too late and there was still clean up to do.

Sadly, I neglected to take any pictures. I know...I usually have you guys in the back of mind all the time which means I take a lot of weird and sometimes useless pictures (think "mother goose" from last spring).

The menu hasn't really changed a whole lot since DDCP prime. I did make muffaletta sandwiches instead of doing my more traditional meat and cheese spread. I also made my green goddess dip (at 2 requests...they like me, they really like me) and had fairly significant veggie spread. And a fruit spread. And a nice antipasto thing in my beautiful Tuscan antipasto tray set.

Okay, that's all I remember about DDCP '10. Oh, wait, there's one more thing...one of our guests is preggers, and wanting her not to feel left out and to feel as if her beverage was just as special as the ones Josh was making...I made punch. In my new punch bowl. Easy, peasy recipe--one bottle of lemonade (from the refrigerator case) and one bottle of ginger ale. Not wanting to water down the punch, I made lemonade ice cubes and froze a raspberry in cube. Oooh...I can show you a picture of those. Be right back...I have to go take it. (I made more yesterday because I am making the punch again for a baby shower on Wed. That's a whole different post. It's 4th or 5th on my list.)



Okay, that really is all. I have to go to the market now. We're having our good friends for burgers and pie tonight. (Also fodder for a future pie...my escapades with homemade crust.)

Kissy out.

I'm still alive

Just barely.

It's been a month and blogging has exactly been at the top of my list.

This one will be no better. I'm just letting you all know that I haven't stopped blogging or cooking.

Just this week, I made vichyssoise, meat sauce, and an apple pie completely (including the crust) from scratch. The meat sauce was good. The other recipes came from a trial cookbook that was sent to me. I'm sending the book back. The pie recipe called for margarine (not butter--ugh) and didn't specify a variety of apple...not even a suggestion of one. It's a shame...it was a rather pretty book, but I won't use it. Ever. I tried. Twice.

So that's all from me.

I hope all is well with you.

Oh, vote for my mom and sister's shop in their local best of competition. They are under gift shop...Joli Home and Events.

Thanks,
Kristen

Cubs Win!

We went to the Cubs game yesterday! It was perfect baseball weather...high round 81. As soon as we found our seats, (row 8 along the first base line!) the Fan Foto guy came by and took our pictures. You can see them here.

I told Josh I wanted to see a home-run. The last time I said that, I saw 4! Well Geovany Soto came through for me. I love my Geo!


Right as he connected and started to run!

Theriot had four hits. Here he is cooling his heels at first. He didn't stay there long...he stole second several times.


Who doesn't love the 7th inning stretch? Guess who led us in it...Plain White Ts. I was thrilled!

The game was little touch and go. We were down as we entered the bottom of the 8th but we rallied and won. Marmol even made Fielder cry like a little girl to end the game. Okay, I don't know if he actually cried, but he did look pretty silly striking out!

And, so as the game ended the cheering gave we to my new favorite song...Go Cubs Go!



What a perfect day!

Dun dun a dun!

Much cheering and fan fare. It has only taken me 18 months to achieve this, but it is my 100th post! Woohoo and Yay for me!

Okay, enough of that. It's Monday, it's date night, so here goes.

Cocktail hour:
The usual: our house Manhattan
cheese and crackers with grapes (nothing too fancy here)

Dinner:
Salad: hearts of Romaine, cucumber, and sliced red onion with a roasted tomato vinaigrette
Here is the recipe for the main course, courtesy of Rachael Ray:

Carbonara Deep-Dish Pasta-Crusted Pan Pizza

• Salt
• 2 packages fresh linguini, 9 ounces each
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 pound pancetta, cut as thick as bacon, chopped
• 3 to 4 cloves garlic, grated or chopped
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, depending on how spicy you like it
• 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, a couple of handfuls
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup cream
• 2 cups ricotta cheese
• A handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 1 cup shredded provolone or mozzarella cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Heat water for pasta in large pot, salt it and add pasta for 3 minutes.

While water boils, heat a large skillet with extra-virgin olive oil, 3 turns of the pan, over medium-high heat. Add pancetta and brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add garlic and red pepper flakes.

Drain pasta, add to pan and toss. Stir in Parmigiano-Reggiano and season with salt and pepper. Beat eggs with cream and pour over top of pasta. Let eggs begin to set up, about 1 minute, and pat pasta into even layer to make the pizza pie crust. Place in oven and cook 5 to 6 minutes.

Mix together the ricotta and parsley. Remove pie from oven and smooth the ricotta over the top. Scatter with the provolone or mozzarella and return to oven. Bake 8 minutes more until cheese is melted and golden at edges. Cut into wedges and serve.

Dessert is a raspberry custard (recipe found in my latest Everyday Food magazine.)

Some random notes about date night:

1. It doesn't have to be a huge deal.
2. It doesn't have to be a lot of work.
3. It doesn't have to be terribly expensive (we'd go out if it did!).
   
4. It does have to be something you and your spouse enjoy.
5. It does have to be something you don't have all the time.
6. You do need to turn the tv and computer off until the meal is over. And no phone call is so important that you need to disrupt date night. You can call them back!
   

For me, because I love to cook and to entertain, it's often a chance to try something new. At the same time, though, because the main point of date night is to eat at the table (really, how many of you eat a the table every night?) and to enjoy some quality time with my hubby, my old standby's are more often in play. And this week, I may be making dessert. Last week, it was cupcakes (from a box!)

I encourage all of you to try a date night. At least once. You don't have to go crazy with a once week date night like I do. Once a month, a quarter, a year, a lifetime.

I'm available for babysitting if you can bring the monkey to me.