It's a TRAP!

Ok, got this stuck in my head earlier today and looks like it'll be here for a while:

Also, not sure if anyone followed @MayorEmanuel these past few months, but it was definitely quite entertaining. This is a very interesting article about the entire phenomenon. Kind of almost makes me hate Chicago just a liiiiiiiiiitle less. (not much though.)

Thanks to Craig for the link. Thanks also to Craig and Tony for cast iron pumpernickel horseradish red wine reduction something meat deliciousness last night. You two are good people.

Last week/weekend/this week so far have been completely mind-numbingly overwhelming for me. I need a vacation, BIG TIME. And I'm REALLY looking forward to Opening Day (33 days! 33 days! 33 days!!!). As for my vacation, it might end up being a stay-cation, which means that I'll take off a Friday and then end up working from home for half of the day. There needs to be a better way! Anybody want to take off of work on a weekday and check out the Mummies exhibit?

NOLA pics!

Ok, here you go.

Part one: I happened upon an amazing jazz band just chillin in the middle of Royal Street. Like it was their job. Well, I'm pretty sure it was their job cuz they were selling CDs. At any rate, here's the crew:

They even brought their own tap dancer! (on the left).

Well as I'm sure you know, these guys were mostly just awesome. Two of them in particular had really awesome personalities that showed through in both their musical styles and their interactions with the crowd - the bass player and the tenor sax dude with the aviators.

They also brought a tiny dog to their jam session (you can see him between the tenor sax and the trumpet). Good times.

Part 2: I went for a walk down Canal Street. I may or may not have been trying to do that cool trendy hipster thing with my camera where you make the entire picture be black and white except for just the one color but I'm not entirely sure if it worked. Anyway, here are some pictures I took:

Awesome50's style Walgreens:

Soooooo awesome. Want to go back. Also Jason paid me $5 for eating all of the powdered sugar of my plate of biegnets at Cafe du Monde. Most delicious $5 ever.

Mid (hah, late) February Update

Ok, well at least I'm on track for 1+ post/month. Maybe if you're lucky I'll throw another one up by next Monday. Maybe.

At any rate, what is new? Here's a few:

1. Thanks to Megs, who sadly is moving to San Francisco. I will miss her greatly. But I will think of her every time I use the following things that she donated to my life: Kitchen island, wok (gorgeous, might I add), magazine holders, and a new house plant that is fitting in quite nicely with my cookie jar/liquor shelf/Virgin Mary figurine setup. She also gave me some delicious homemade pickles and dilly beans. Do I detect some jalapeño in the pickles??

2. I got new running tights. I'm pretty pumped about these because my old pair will be exactly 13 years old last month (I paid $12 for them in freshman year track... talk about a quality investment!). I also ran 2.4 miles today. go me!

3. Borders is going out of business. We stopped by during lunch today and I got a book about serial killers and an exercise band with a DVD. That's not weird at all, right? Right??

4. I'm going to lunch with Yesh on Thursday before she hops town again. We're going back to the Borders for mission:kids books for the baby shower for Nora next month. I'm kind of excited.

Oh look, I haven't uploaded my NOLA pics yet. Holy cats! 2 posts in one day! Lucky you!

Inspiration: Don't Get Arrested

I'm not this crazy... thank goodness. But this is a good thing for ranch addicts like me to keep in mind:

via

One Week In

Ok, 9 days in. (This is the first year since I learned how to read that I didn't get a calendar for xmas... looks like I need to drag my butt out and buy one.)

Anyway. 9 days in to the new year. Here is my obligatory resolution update:

1. I talked with a musician friend and now have an idea of where to start looking for a ukulele. Progress!

2. I've made lots of bad decisions, mostly regarding all of the gross (and delicious) food I've been eating. Like the buffalo wings I had today. And the buffalo wings I had yesterday. And the buffalo wings I had on Wednesday.... yeah. At what point do I admit that I have an addiction....? What is rock bottom when it comes to buffalo wings?

In other news. Well. I've been meaning to get new plants in my apartment. The one I had since 2003 (Herb) died last year so I'm trying to decide what I should get. Does anyone have any beloved houseplants they want to give me a cutting of? I'm not wild about buying them at Home Depot.

So... sorry I don't have much other news. Lots of changes happening at work. It's going to be tough but I'm looking forward do it. Because it might end up being awesome.

You Guessed It! (Insert Obligatory New Years Resolution Post Here)

Well, you should have come to expect this from me by now. Every year I list the same resolutions with newfound resolve that I really will lose weight, and save money, and read for 2 hours a day, and save the world, and learn to fly, and on and on and... bleh. I actually decided a few weeks ago that I wasn't going to do that again this year. I was going to keep it simple. So here you go:

2011 Resolutions:

1. Obtain and learn to play a ukulele

2. Don't make bad decisions

Seems pretty easy, right? I thought so. The first one is pretty self-explanatory.

The second, however, has drawn some controversy from the few folks I have disclosed this to. They immediately struck back with the "rules" about making a goal measurable, and trying to define it, and bla bla bla.

Yes, I thought about that. And I thought that my resolution would be easier to apply. For example: instead of saying that I want to lose 10 lbs, and limit my ranch dressing consumption, and go to the gym 3 times a week, I will instead say that I'll try not to make bad decisions. I already have a pretty decent gym routine established; skipping would be a bad decision. I'm not dumb, I know what a healthy meal is; gorging myself on buffalo wings and ranch and tacos and whatever else I can find is a bad decision. So instead of always staring at the scale or the mile count or whatever measurement I can find and feeling lost and disheartened at my apparent lack of progress, I can instead manage this on a micro level, and (hopefully) gain some more confidence. And a side effect of this whole process would be losing 10 lbs or whatever the heck is the underlying thing I'm trying to get at.

And it can apply to other things too. But that's between me and a future blog post, and whomever I may or may not text message in the wee hours of the morning. wait. what?

At any rate, I wish myself luck. I appreciate any help/encouragement from friends (as well as being called out when I DO make bad decisions, because I already know a few of them are coming....). So. Here goes nothing!

Bacon Cake with Maple Bacon Buttercream Frosting

Yes, I know, you've been dying for me to turn this into a cooking blog. And what better recipe to start with than one that contains a pound of BACON?!?!?? You're excited, I can tell.

Anyway. Last night, for New Year's Eve, we planned a bacon-themed soiree before heading out to shows/bars/wherever we ended up. It was also a dear friend's birthday, and apparently I'm becoming known as a "bakestress" of sorts (I say that mostly in jest), so I was nominated to make a bacon-themed cake. So here's what I did.

First, I made the bacon. I bought 1 lb of Oscar Mayer Hickory smoked something or other deliciousness. I like to make my bacon in the oven - put a cooling rack in a jelly roll pan and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place strips of bacon on the cooling rack and bake for 30 mins, turning once after 15 mins. This makes the bacon chewy but also slightly crispy -

just how I like it! It also helps drain off a decent amount of fat.

Then, I used the google to find a white cake recipe: click

Though it doesn't say to, I would recommend using clear vanilla extract for a true white cake. I also added an extra 1/2 c. of flour because I anticipated the bacon grease messing with the consistency of the cake... not sure I'd do that again. Then I took 1/2 lb of bacon and cut it into pieces about 1/2" square and folded them into the batter before I put into the 2 pans. This makes a somewhat dense cake. I might try and find a new recipe for a fluffier cake in the future... or just use a box mix.

After the rounds cooled, I made this:

Maple Bacon Butterceam Frosting

5 T. butter, softened

3 - 3 1/2 c. powdered sugar

1/4 c. maple syrup

1-2 T. milk

1/2 c. cooked bacon, cooled - chop into "bacon bits" size in food processor

Using electric mixer, cream butter. Alternate adding powdered sugar and maple syrup. Add milk to attain desired texture. Blend in about 1/3 c. bacon. Frost away!

I then sprinkled (most) of the remaining bacon bits on the top of the cake. (I ate the rest.)

Anyway, the result was a pretty savory cake. I personally would have liked it to be a little more maple-y, perhaps even with adding maple syrup to the cake mix. Definitely worth playing around with some more. Also, the frosting sort of looks like a bad case of acne. I seriously considered making another batch of plain buttercream frosting to go on top, but I thought that might be overkill. It looked better when I put the bacon bits on top.

Here are two beautiful models, and the cake is somewhere in the background. Thanks to Megs for the pic!