Banana Bread

Yesterday, my friend Smartass came over. We had some down time between laying out at the pool and going to listen to a "band," so I used up some old bananas to make bread.

Banana Bread

Sift together:
1 3/4 cups flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/4 t baking soda

In a separate bowl, mix:
2/3 cup of shortening or margarine
2/3 cup of sugar

Mix, then add:

2 eggs (one at a time)

(I forgot the picture of this mixture, but you can figure it out - it looks like eggy butter...with sugar granules, duh.)

In a separate bowl, mash:
1 cup banana

Alternate adding and mixing 1/4 the mashed bananas and 1/4 the sifted mixture (repeat, repeat, repeat) to the shortening/sugar mixture. Pour into a greased bread pan.

Bake at 300 for about 1 hour or until a toothpick in the middle comes clean. Makes 1 large loaf or three small.

Because we were starving, we also experimented with a dip. Cream cheese, cocktail sauce, crab meat, shredded cheddar cheese. In oven until the cheese melts. Serve with crackers. YUM.

"Tommy Lee Jones isn't made for high def"

An example of something I love about my husband - his sometimes inappropriate sense of humor.

Sunday was our anniversary. The big one-oh. Wait, that's 10. The big wu-un. 1. We made it to one year. That's a success in itself, right?

We celebrated this past weekend. What did we do for our anniversary? We celebrated in a way that we love - low key.

Friday, we made dinner together (which actually turned out to be a big fat fail) and watched some STUPID movie that he got through Netflix. Electric Mist? Bad choice, husband, bad choice.

On Saturday, we started by sleeping in. Ahhhhhh.

Then we went to the pool for the afternoon. Sunnnnnnn.

Then we went to dinner at Giuseppe's, a nice little Italian restaurant in Lexington. Yummmmmm. The appetizers were delish - crabcakes with aioli and scallops over risotto. Salads & portobello cream soup. Chicken and ricotta stuffed shells & gnocchi with Fontina cream sauce.



We came home and had some raspberry cobblers. Mmmmmmmm. No wait, that's what we were going to have if I wasn't lazy. Instead, we went to KROGER after dinner and picked up one of those frozen desserts that you always see at the grocer's but you never know if they're any good? We grabbed a cookies & cream pie and it was good.



Then we watched an incredibly romantic movie.


"The Dark Knight." Wait, what's that you say? It's NOT a romantic movie? Oh, oops.

And we drank our bottle of anniversary wine - Thanks Mikey & Amanda!


Thus ended the night. Please people, we're keeping this PG.

What? That's it, you ask?

Where are the gifts? We're lazy.

Where are the corny letters and cliche sayings? We don't do that.

Where is the wedding cake top? Well...ummm, we didn't have cake at our wedding. True story. I'm surprised our marriage has even lasted this long without a wedding cake.

Grumpy

I'm grumpy today. I bet you want to know why, right? Well, I'll tell you.

First of all, this is what the weather has been like. ALL DAY. Rain, rain, go away.



So then I wore these shoes today. Cute, casual, comfy right? NOT COMFY. Note to self: Test out shoes that you have only worn with socks before wearing them for hours without socks.



And the sink. The sink makes me grumpy every time I look at it. See how the stopper dohicky isn't stuck to the little stick that you can pull up? Yeah. Now I freak out about dropping things down the sink. And I have a screwdriver next to it so that I can pry up the stopper when it gets stuck down there.



This is why I'm grumpy.

*tear*

My baby is growing up :(

Puppy Max is now 10 months old. And today, I scheduled his appointment to become a man. Wait, maybe that's not right. Anyway, he's getting neutered next week.

Let's take a look at how Max has become a mandog:

As a baby, Max slept with his stuffed animals.



And needed to wear sweaters for warmth.



And of course, he fit in a shoe.


Now, Max likes to listen to music.


He helps pay bills around the house, stamping the envelopes for us.



He helps with the chores, like folding laundry.


Corresponds via email.


And gives his own tribute to deceased pop idols.


Yeah, he's a cool cat. Er, dog.

Macaroni & corn casserole

Mmmmmmm, sound gross? Well, it's not dang it!

This recipe came to me from a family friend at a church potluck. It quickly became a favorite and I've passed it on to many others. It's a great side dish for any meal, but especially great for a cookout.

Recipe:
1 can corn, undrained
1 can creamed corn
1 cup macaroni, raw
1/4 stick butter (2 T), chopped for better melting
Cheese*
Breadcrumbs (optional)

*Cheese? Cheese, you ask? Ok, you can use any type of cheese you want. Me, I'm no cheese snob. I usually use good ole processed Velveeta. A 2 inch block, cubed. But for you snobs, do what you want :)

Pour everything into a greased casserole dish. Cover & bake at 350 for about 45 minutes (until the macaroni is cooked), stirring occasionally. Let sit for 5-10 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs if desired.

Precooked:


Cooked:

"Say hello to your friends...Babysitter's Club"...Another weekend recap

This is my own personal Babysitter's Club:

circa 2002

Ok, we're not really babysitters (yikes!). And we're not really a club. We're just a group of friends from high school who spent ridiculous amounts of time together. But we do have a catchy nickname. The BEATR's (pronounced beaters) - acronym of our first names. Yeah, we're totally cool like that.

So anyway, last weekend, E married her high school sweetheart, C. It was a great reunion for the five of us - lots of laughing.

J and I started off the evening by going to prom. Not really, I just made him pose for a silly picture. He was not amused (running theme, right?):


The bride & groom wanted to keep the ceremony very small, so it was only family and a few special friends. I'm special! E was gorgeous. What a wonderful photographer I am!


The reception was fabulous. Awesome cupcakes. Lots of dancing.

Sometimes embarrassing dancing:


We also played with flowers.


Caught up with old friends.


And had an overall great time.



Sometimes we get so bogged down in our busy lives, our troubles, and the constant changes that occur - we forget how much we enjoy one another. I'm glad we had this weekend to remind us. "Here's to you...here's to me..."

BEATRs, 2009

Happy wedding E & C.

Pooooooor neglected blog

Hey, give me a break! I've been busy! I promise you pictures, recipes, cute pictures of Max, and at least 1 funny story in the upcoming weeks. I'll start with a couple of recaps.

My 4th of July weekend was wonderful! It started off being sad because I had to miss my friend Erica's bachelorette party back in Illinois. Booooo! But then my friend Sarah decided to come brighten my holiday.

In typical Sarah fashion, she brought the contents of her liquor cabinet:



We went to the Cards/Reds game in Cincy. Guess who we were cheering for?





Pujols hit a grand slam! We won!



Ok, notice no one else is cheering? This is actually a reenactment of our reaction. Hey, we were too busy cheering when it happened.


J was not impressed. He's an icky Cubs fan.


Even though it rained most of the 4th, we had a great time back at home. We shopped, cooked, played games, and of course, took shots.



But at least we got to see some fireworks on the 3rd. Best seat in the house = bridge over Ohio River:




Oh, and we sang, "On a Boat" more times than I'd like to count. Thanks Sarah for coming to visit!



EDIT: I would like for everyone to know that Sarah forgot the tickets and we had to turn around to go get them. I know she would REALLY want me to tell everyone that she forgot the tickets. :)

Cheers!

I love my STL friends! They've recently been sharing some thoughts and pictures with me that make me realize how much I miss them and how much I enjoy their company.



And my good friends Ang & Jess sent me this pic:
They remember me! What makes me even more excited is that I might get to see them this week! Crossing my fingers.

Happy 4th of July!

I hope everyone has a great day, even if Mother Nature doesn't cooperate!

In honor of my desire to be on water today, I'll provide you with this lovely SNL clip, courtesy of hulu.com (unedited version can be found on Youtube).

The weekend RECAP

As promised, I'll review the weekend with J's mom visiting.

On Friday, we drove to campus and ran into the bookstore, where I picked up a nice little gift for a certain friend in Minnesota. Then, we went grocery shopping because I was too lazy to do so before she arrived.

That evening we ate at Bella Notte, a Lexington favorite. I had chicken picatta, J had a wood-fired sirloin, and J's mom had ravioli with tomato basil cream and tomato meat sauce. The spicy tomato soup is absolutely wonderful. Not only did we have great food & service, but they offered us a free dessert because J's steak took a little long. So we shared a slice of cheesecake and a tiramisu. Heaven.

On Saturday, we tried to go to the flea market. Whoops. Couldn't find it. Next time, I'll call the phone number first to get the details. We stopped by the small Farmer's Market where we picked up some delicious blueberries and then to Fresh Market (are you noticing a food theme for the weekend?). J's mom bought us these beautiful flowers:

J had enough quality time together, so we dropped him off and headed to a few shopping spots - Steinmart & Michael's. We of course had to stop by Liquor Barn on the way home. Saturday evening, we snacked around and enjoyed pomegranate martinis and wildberry fruity drink thingys.

Sunday, we had brunch at Doodles. Mmmmm! One of my favorite places to go with my KY girlfriends. Dirty shrimp & grits, meat omelet, cajun omelet, and warm beignets. YUM! We had to wait a bit, but they were super busy. The food was worth it though.

J's mom headed home shortly after. :( It was a nice relaxing weekend!