Friday, November 26, 2010

Cooking is a thing I (used to) do

I enjoy finding recipes I want to try, making my shopping lists, following the recipe steps and of course, eating good food. I like others to eat that good food, too, and I definitely enjoy hearing them rave about how great the things I chef taste. I used to cook all of the time. I also used to be child-free.

Grasshopper mint cake (with some football flair)

Veggies!!!

Banana biscotti

My first homemade boneless buffalo wings...they were SO good!

(If you want to see more of my cooking, check out my Facebook album.)

With an almost-one-year-old, cooking isn't as enjoyable as it used to be, but I was determined to do some Thanksgiving baking this year. The Hubs asked me not to make a big mess in the kitchen. (Yeah, right.) I was decently successful with my baking conquests Wednesday evening and even made it to bed by a little after midnight. I made Paula Deen's pumpkin bars and Martha Stewart's white chocolate sweet potato cake, and I recommend both!

The pumpkin bars. (Thank goodness for my new frosting thingy. Read more about that here.) I was waiting to get a photo of the cake after we cut it to show the inside, but I forgot...

Hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving. With wonderful friends, family and food, I know that I did!

PS--I know you're reading this because I can login and see it in my blog stats. Please click to follow me, so others know you're reading too!   :)

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

I'm a little nosey, and I'm not afraid to admit that I like drama...

I like drama. Well, I like drama that is not MY drama. The Hubs frequently tells me to mind my own business, but I don't listen. I like to know what's going on with everyone else. I'm not scared to "stalk" a Facebook page to stay in the loop. I'm also fine with weighing in on someone else's Facebook conversation if I have something to say about their discussion or want more details. I figure folks shouldn't post things publically on Facebook if they don't want others to get in their business. Oh, and I have a little gem for my fellow nosey Nashvillians out there...the Davidson County Criminal Court Clerk's website! You can enter someone's name in the search box, and it tells you about anything he or she has ever been charged with in Davidson County. You can even read the affidavit and court dates/outcomes associated with the charges. And let me tell you--those affidavits are juicy!

There is currently some Tennessee Titans drama going on, and I am intrigued. I am a Titans fan. I am a huge Jeff Fisher fan, and I have NEVER been on the Vince Young bandwagon (even through all of the taunting I got from friends during the 2009 season with Collins' 0-6 start and Young's success after he resumed starting QB duties). VY is a baby and has always been since his beginning in the NFL. Football is his job, and the amount of compensation he receives for doing his job is ridiculous. His coach is his boss, and in my opinion, in any career, if you want to keep being compensated for doing your job, you do what the boss says. After all of the immaturity, inconsistency and unreliability that Vince has shown over the years, I really can't understand Bud Adams' undermining his head coach. I can't come up with a single excuse/idea that makes it okay in this situation. There is LOTS of media coverage swirling around on this, but here is one of my favorite articles so far. And the Rich Eisen Podcast on this is pretty interesting too (skip to about seven and a half minutes in to get to this topic). It really sounds like Adams is so out of touch with this team that he's going to continue to side with "his" quarterback, and Fisher's tenure will be done in Tennessee. If that happens and VY is starting QB and Fisher isn't head coach any longer, I don't know that I'll continue as much a Titans fan as I now am. What do you think? Are you loyal no matter how this plays out?

Seriously, what does Bud see in him?

May you all eat lots of good food and have a happy (and drama-free) Thanksgiving tomorrow! :)

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

21 and up?

I always wonder the protocol for babies and the liquor store. Even with my advanced planning skills, I often find that I need to run by the liquor store on my way home from work (darn them for not being open on holidays and Sundays), and most of the time I have the Boy with me. So I skip it.

But do I really need to? The Boy is not yet a year old. I'm usually going in to the liquor store to buy a bottle, maybe two of wine, or maybe a bottle of vodka. I'd be going in sober and not cracking the bottle open as soon as I got back in the car. Is it okay to take him in to the store with me? My mind (and my mother) tells me yes, but will I be met with scorning glances from all inside, letting me know that I'm a horrible mother? Do I care?

Because I'm still torn on this, I'll be journeying out on my lunch break today to buy an airplane size bottle of brandy needed for a Thanksgiving cake I'm making and one bottle of wine to go with Thanksgiving dinner. On the bright side, the liquor store nearest my office gives a discount with our work IDs. Cha-ching!

Monday, November 22, 2010

And we're off to the holiday races...

We officially started our busy holiday season this weekend. We'll be going non-stop until the end of February, and that's exciting to me!

Saturday morning, I printed the recipes for the Thanksgiving items I'm making, made my grocery list and the Boy and I were off to shop. It was early. I wanted to get our errands done before his naptime so that I could nap too. (I worked at Decades Friday night, so I got less than four hours of sleep.) We pulled up to Bed, Bath and Beyond at 8:58 a.m. The parking lot was empty, but I figured they opened at 9 a.m. It's Thanksgiving week, for goodness sakes. SURELY they open at 9 a.m., right? I got a shopping cart from the outside corral, put in the Boy's Floppy seat cover and strapped him in. It was now 9:02 a.m., so we headed towards the front door. That's when I saw their hours. They open at 9:30 a.m. REALLY? What store opens at half past an hour? I don't know of any (except, apparently, BB+B). I can't keep an 11-month-old entertained while strapped in a shopping cart outside of a store for 28 minutes. I was really annoyed, but Publix was several doors down, and we had plans to go their too, although I really wanted to do my Bed, Bath and Beyond shopping BEFORE I had groceries in the car.

I am a Kroger girl, but I needed to order the Boy's birthday cake from Publix, so I figured I'd grocery shop too. Publix is pricey. Don't think we could afford it on a regular basis. Plus they didn't have unsalted macadamia nuts. Do unsalted macadamia nuts exist? Surely they do...I have a recipe that calls for them. On the way back to the car to unload the groceries (we had quite a walk because we parked near BB+B which is on the other side of the lot, and I didn't want to have to put the Boy back in his car seat and unhook the Floppy seat to drive closer to Publix), a glass jar of baby sweet potatoes slide out of a bag in the cart and crashed to the side walk. What a mess! Of course, I was blaming this all on Bed, Bath and Beyond. (Again, who opens at half past an hour?!?! I'm SURE this wouldn't have happened if I had stuck to my original shopping route.) I was standing there, with a full shopping cart, just staring at the mess of orangish/brown slop and glass in front of me on the side walk when a nice man walked by. He told them inside the store about my mess, and they came to sweep up the glass. I offered to help clean up, but they insisted they had it. That's the biggest perk of Publix...they are extremely friendly and helpful!

Hopefully the Boy's cake ends up looking just like this!

After unloading the groceries, we raced through Bed, Bath and Beyond. I got a cake carrier (which I've wanted for a long time). I also got a frosting thingy, which I'm really excited about! Both of these things are needed for my Thanksgiving recipes, so I decided that they don't count as prizes for me. They're just part of the regular Thanksgiving grocery shopping. (Makes sense, right?)

My fancy new dessert decorator...wish me luck!

Finally we headed home with our goods. The Boy slept for three hours...bless him! I hate carrying groceries in alone, by the way. One of my least favorite things. When I have to carry them in alone, I put away the cold stuff but leave all of the non-cold groceries out in the kitchen floor. The Hubs HATES that. He always tells me he does, but I do it anyways because he wasn't there to help carry the bags in. The non-cold groceries tend to stay in the their bags in the middle of the floor for days until he can't stand it anymore, then he'll finally put them away. Normally it's the day before I do the next week's grocery shopping. (Yes, Saturday's non-cold items are still hanging out in the floor.)

We went to cheer on the 'Dores against the Vols that evening. (Or if you ask the Hubs, to cheer on Tennessee, although I kept catching him cheering for Vandy) It wasn't an exciting game. Was glad Vanderbilt didn't get completely blown away like some predictions. That's said like a true Vanderbilt fan...you stop hoping for a win and start rationalizing that at least they didn't get beat badly.

You can tell how excited the Boy was about the game...

Sunday was the day for our Thanksgiving celebration at the Hubs' dad's house. It was a long day away from home, but definitely good times and great food! The Boy loves to eat, so all of the good food that goes along with Thanksgiving is right up his alley! Excited for more celebrations (and lots more good food) this week!


Love his new trick!!!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Welcome to my (busy) life

I've been thinking about starting a blog for a long time. It's a necessity really. I have a lot to say, and the Hubs doesn't want to hear it all. I like to talk--most of my stories tend to be long--and I like to make plans. A lot of what I have to say is filling those involved in on my plans for us, reminding of those plans, and then reflecting on those plans after they happen. (You've got to reflect, right?) It's all that talking about plans that led to the title of this blog.

A regularly occurring conversation between me and the Hubs:
HIM: What are the plans for Sunday?
ME: No plans.
HIM: Really?
ME: I was sort of keeping it open just to have one day to relax.
HIM: Geez! You have to PLAN for time to not have plans. That's ridiculous!

Yes, I DO schedule time to NOT have plans. And I'm okay with that. If I didn't, I would NEVER have down time. I am a busy lady. I have my Blackberry, which is linked to my work Outlook calendar, and I schedule pretty much everything in my life (and everything for the Hubs and my son, "the Boy") on that Outlook calendar.

The way I operate--making plans for everything--has taken some getting used to for certain folks in my life. The Hubs is mostly understanding by this point. He typically just goes with the flow and assumes that I've got everything taken care of. My sister-in-law now knows that she needs to make plans with us ahead of time, and she's not at all taken aback that the first availability to get-together might be two weeks away. My father-in-law is learning...after an incident of peeking in our bedroom window at us because "the house seemed dark" during a (pre-baby) Sunday afternoon "nap" during which we were NOT fully clothed, he normally calls before dropping by. And my mom has always gotten it because she's the same way. I've already got her next TWO trips to Nashville (she lives in North Carolina) scheduled on my trusty Outlook calendar, and I've started planning the fun things we'll do when she's here.

While all of my planning and talking may initially be overwhelming to many folks, it does have some perks. I'm never out of the house without enough diapers/snacks/clothes/etc. for the Boy. I'm pretty much always on time. I don't bail on things I've said I'll do, and I don't double book myself. I make big, yummy dinners. Oh, and I'm great at planning parties (including being the best jello shot maker that you'll find)!


One of my past party "spreads"

And the almost-famous jello shots!

So, welcome to my blog. I hope you'll enjoy being a part of my BUSY (but well-planned) life. And by the way, with upcoming Thanksgiving celebrations, Vanderbilt football games, friends and family coming to town for visits, the Boy's first birthday party, Christmas shopping and celebrations, a Michigan trip, friends' New Year's Day wedding, our fifth wedding anniversary, both my sisters' and my dad's birthdays, MY birthday, Valentine's Day and everything else I've got planned, I am now making plans for MARCH 2011. So get in your requests!  :)