Friday, November 21, 2008

thanksgiving feast...for 13 or 15

I am having Thanksgiving dinner here at our home, and I am super excited! I don't get the opportunity to "have" a holiday where I get to cook, bring out the good china, and all the other "fun" that goes along with it. I invited my parents, and Tim and Emily over for dinner. Then we found out that Jeff's sister Mary Jo and the family are coming into town for Thanksgiving this year. They usually have Thanksgiving in Wi Rapids each year, and Jeff and I will go up there every other year. It's so hard to have to split holiday's between families, but that is how it works...we all do it. I wish I could go up there and come back with a snap of my fingers, but unfortunately it takes 3 hrs...Anyways, this year Jeff and I invited everyone over here, since Mary Jo and the fam were in town anyways. Also Jeff's mom has to work at Boston Store at 3 AM the next day, that sucks. So I think that it will work out great! I may be a crazy person, but it will be worth it. I will be in cahoots with Nicki when I cook the turkey. Last time I talked with her, she was looking for tips on cooking a turkey and I proclaimed that it really is not that hard. So we may be on the phone back and forth to figure it all out! I am in the process of making up the menu. Everyone is pitching in and bringing something so maybe the chaos will be kept to a minimum...yeah right! What would the holidays be without chaos???

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Top Chef

Thanks to Tracy, I am now addicted to Top Chef. My mouth is watering as we speak, delicious. I did realize this show was on TV, hence my enjoyment for cooking, but I didn't realize what I was missing! With my addiction to NBC, ABC, and FOX shows, I found the missing link on BRAVO. Why didn't I realize this? Great, now more shows to catch up on.
Girls Night Out tonight...Hooray...I need it! We are heading out to Il Mito Enoteca, for some wine and apps. They have a great menu and wine list, and I have heard by a fellow book club member that it is great place. It's about 3 blocks from my house, and I have been eyeing it up everytime we take a walk over by North Ave. Check back for the full write up!

Barefoot Bloggers-Herb Roasted Onions

The first recipe of the month on Barefoot Bloggers was chosen by Kelly from Baking with the Boys. I made Herb Roasted Onions, which was found on the food network website, which I love immensely. I was happy to see this recipe, firstly because I am short on time (when am I not) and secondly, because I love onions. I will be the only one eating this delicious dish, perhaps I can convince my 2 1/2 yr old daughter or 1 year old son to try them. Try them, try them you will see. I do not like them Sam I am. This is what Maddy says when I try to get her to eat new things.
On to the cooking...

Ingredients

1 red onion
1 yellow onion
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 tablespoon minced fresh thyme leaves
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup good olive oil
1/2 tablespoon minced fresh parsley leaves

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Remove the stem end of each onion and carefully slice off the brown part of the root end, leaving the root intact. Peel the onion. Stand each onion root end up on a cutting board and cut the onion in wedges through the root. Place the wedges in a bowl.



For the dressing, combine the lemon juice, mustard, garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Slowly whisk in the olive oil. Pour the dressing over the onions and toss well.


With a slotted spoon, transfer the onions to a sheet pan, reserving the vinaigrette that remains in the bowl. Bake the onions for 30 to 45 minutes, until tender and browned. Toss the onions once during cooking. Remove from the oven, and drizzle with the reserved dressing. Sprinkle with parsley, season to taste and serve warm or at room temperature.



If you like onions, you have to make this. It literally took 5 minutes to prep and then put in the oven for 30 minutes. It would be great with a roasted chicken, which I did not make, but sure sounds good.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Halloween, see you next year!

Jeff and I decided to go out for Halloween this year. It has been a while since we have gone "out" for Halloween, costumes and all. The Captain was out again, in full force. This was the 10th anniversary of CC. I was joking with Jeff that he should really try to fix his mustache on the CC costume. I really think it would be much better. What do I know? We get to Kelly's Bleachers at around 8ish, the costume contest was supposed to be judging at 10 o'clock. Now being familiar with costume contests, I knew this would be pushed way back to at least 11:00pm. We were trying to get to a few contests if we could to increase the chances of winning. We ended up at Kelly's for most of the night, but it was well worth it. The second we walked in, Jeff was surrounded by fans of the Captain. I still don't really get the whole CC thing. I wasn't allowed to eat CC when I was little, so maybe this distaste stems from that??? He did look good, 250.00 good, in fact. It came down to CC vs Michael Phelps (oooh baby). Jeff won by a pretty good amount, but Phelps did give him a run. We met Julie (aka Amy Winehouse) out also, and we had a great time. I wonder if the Captain will be back next year, might be time for a new idea......

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

To finish the basement or to not finish the basement...

That is the question...Jeff and I have been considering looking for a bigger house. We seem to be outgrowing our home, well, the toys seem to be multiplying and we are running out of places to put them. It drives me crazy to not have a room that doesn't have toys in it, but it drives Jeff even more crazy. We really need a family room. A place where we can hang out most of the time, a place where we can have a spot for the kids' toys, and a place where Jeff can hang his sports art. It is really nice and I am looking forward to having it hung up. This is coming from the wife who has Brett hung over the fireplace (is it about time to take that down yet???)
We seem to have been pretty set on moving, somewhere possibly in the Brookfield area, still close to work and parents, and downtown.
In the past few weeks, I have been thinking that maybe we COULD stay here. There are 2 things I really want in our house that we don't have; a rec/family room, and an eat in kitchen. It is so hard to keep the dining room free from clutter when that is where we have to eat each day. So, I would consider if we had the basement professionally done and really make it somewhere that we can live in, not a quick shoddy job. Now there is a list of things that we need to fix up in the house now, my list is short, Jeff's probably longer. 1) improve kitchen, how?? I have no idea 2) new windows 3) new driveway (this may be Jeff's #1...hello shoveling 100 inches of snow with a strip of grass down the middle of the driveway...what is the purpose of this????? Sorry 4) fix porch before it crumbles away 5) remodel first floor bathroom 6) Reside garage. There may be more, but the more I think about it, I love my house. I love being able to walk to the library, parks, schools, restaurants, exercise, etc. And I especially love that there are kids everywhere, surrounded by parents that have become friends.
I feel that for us to find a bigger house, we will need significant more money than what we would sell ours for...and would we be able to see it? I think yes, but really you never know. And what are the odds that we would find a house that we don't have to put in money to fix things, or furnish none-the-less. Does it make more sense to spend the money to fix he existing problems??? Who knows, some thinking to do I guess.