Laissez les bons temps rouler

Let the Good Times Roll!

Mardi Gras is in full swing in Mobile (home to the original Mardi Gras, in case you didn't know).  The first few parades started rolling a couple weeks ago, but with Mardi Gras falling early this year and coinciding with the tail end of hunting season, Cameron's birthday, etc, we didn't make it out to many of the early parades.  Last night, we headed downtown to watch several of the women's societies - Maids of Mirth, Order of Butterfly Maidens, & Krewe of Marry Mates.  We met some friends at the Garage, a popular bar downtown.  They have a roll-up metal garage door so patrons can stand inside and watch the parades.  Typically, I don't prefer this location because it tends to live up to the wild Mardi Gras reputation (yes, I am that old) and if a men's group is rolling, their whole goal is to get their throws INTO the bar.  It can become a little violent.  Rather than hands up, I tend to duck for cover!  However, our friends wanted to stand there and with it being a women's parade it, it wasn't too bad.  We had a fun time at our first parade of the season, but I really wish winter hadn't decided to show up!!  40 degrees and windy made it very cold!  I didn't think I was every going to thaw out.

Here are a few pictures from last night...

 Yes, I am eating the powdered sugar leftover from the funnel cake.  Harry quickly posted this one to Facebook, saying it's the fattest thing I've ever done.  He may be right.

Somehow I ended up holding multiple beers while everyone made bathroom runs.

 the Gills

Not sure why Lance looks so surprised...

 Harry and his faux Ray-Bans he caught

one of the MOM's floats

While we may not have made it to any parades earlier in the season, I did get my door decorated like any good Mobilian.  Door decorations for Mardi Gras are almost as crucial as Christmas.  Last year I made a ornament ball wreath.  However, it did not hold up well on the front door.  One too many slams of the storm door!  This year, I made some repairs and hung it over the fireplace.

For the front door, I attempted deco mesh for the first time.  I have been wanting to try this stuff out.  It's pretty easy to work with.  I did not buy the special wreath form.  Instead, I used a wire wreath frame I already had and bought some purple pipecleaners to attach the mesh.  You basically just bunch and attach.  Easy peasy.  I did take the first attempt apart because my bunches were too spaced out.  I had originally planned to use the green mesh I bought as well, but the store only had lime green and the other decorations were traditional green so I went straight purple.  Added some green glittery ribbon, some harlequin ribbon in mardi gras colors, a few gold fleur-de-lis, and a mask I spray painted gold.  Throw some old beads over the whole thing and its done.  The beauty of Mardi Gras decor is the gaudier the better!!

We have plans to hit up some more parades and will be heading to the Mystics of Time ball next weekend, so look for more pictures to come!

Happy Mardi Gras!
~Heather

Foodie Friday

I'm a little late posting this week's Foodie Friday.  Cameron and I went out to celebrate Valentine's Day last night after work.  I'm not a huge Valentine's Day person, but it's always nice to have a date night.  We went to the Little House Bistro out in Semmes.  We have been before and really enjoyed it.  The restaurant is in a cute old home and space is limited so reservations are a must.  They do not serve alcohol but allow you to bring your own wine.  Last visit, we were scared to try the bacon cheesecake appetizer, but have heard so much about it since, we ordered it - DELICIOUS!  Cameron and I both agreed we could eat it as a meal!  Now I'm on the hunt for a similar recipe to see if I can replicate it at home.  Now on to the trial & errors of this week...

Most of my new recipes of the week were for Cameron's birthday party last weekend.  They are listed on the blog post about the party.  I found all of the recipes through Pinterest.  They were all good, but I can't say they will make it into regular rotation.

For Meatless Monday, I made Baked Tortellini.  So easy, but not exactly the vegetable heavy meal I think Cameron intended.  In my defense, he never specified that part! ;)  I at least served it with a salad!  This is so quick and simple to make.  I found the recipe via Pinterest and I think it's supposed to be for some special oven.  I left out the prosciutto (because of Meatless Monday) and probably only used half of the cheese.  I baked it at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.  I tend to follow recipes exactly the first go-round, then adjust later.  I think you could easily make this with red sauce as well and make your own variations, like adding vegetables or meat.
 

The only other new recipe I tried out was Chicken Paprikash from Food Network Magazine.  In case you're wondering, "paprikash" is Hungarian for paprika.  We both really liked it.  I think you could easily use chicken breasts in place of the thighs.  I love boneless chicken thighs on the grill, but I find them to be too fatty otherwise.  My dish didn't look quite like their picture.  It turned out much more red.  Maybe Food Network uses some kind of white paprika I don't know about?  Oh well, it's still a keeper.

That's it for this week.  I'll try to have a few more for next week.  I've noticed I'm sticking with the main dishes again.  Time to branch out!

~Heather

Grumpy Old Men

In honor of Cameron turning 30 and becoming "old," I threw him a "Grumpy Old Men" party.  I asked our friends to dress in their best old geezer outfit.  Little did I know some of the guys would choose to dress like old women...

 Elliott decided to sport a mustache for the evening.  We decided he looked a little creepy...

30 candles

Entertainment for the night included corn hole and beer tasting.  We purchased multiple mix & match packs in a variety of beer types from a local package store.  I'm not a huge beer connoisseur, but even I enjoyed taste testing a few and I know Cameron loved it.  My new personal favorite is Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale.  Our friends Mary & Poe brought this one to the party.  Unfortunately, it's hard to find locally and Mary brings it back when she visits family in Kentucky.  If you ever get the chance to try it, I highly recommend it.

The menu for the event was made entirely of beer-related recipes.  They were all good and fit right in with the beverages.

 Beer Brats

Beer Boiled Shrimp

Beer Mac & Cheese

Beer Dip with Pretzels

Beer & Cheese Fondue

Blue Moon Cupcakes

Guinness Chocolate Cake

The Blue Moon cupcakes are something I have made before.  They are so good.  The icing is a little weird.  It definitely imitates the froth of a beer, but tends to deflate.  So if you don't eat them within 24-48 hours, it's a bit of a mess.  You could always add a little orange juice to regular icing instead.

If you notice in the picture of Cameron blowing out the candles on his birthday cake, the top of the beer is missing.  Our sweet little Lilly decided the cake was too irresistible.  Unfortunately, it contains a large amount of cocoa powder between the cake & icing, so I ended up doing a little vet work to induce vomiting.  Fun times.

Overall, I think the party was a success.  Cameron had fun and I think our friends did too.  Now I have 15 months before I'm old too! ;)

20 MINUTES

Tonight is a great night to give an update on my running goals.

Tonight, I ran for 20 MINUTES NONSTOP for the first time in my life!

Now I know, that doesn't sound like much to all the runners out there, but it's a pretty big accomplishment for me.  It wasn't that long ago that 5 minutes seemed like an eternity.  I have about a month and a half until the Azalea Trail Run, so I still have work to do, but it seems so much more attainable now.

I thought I would share my new favorite running song.  I was looking for songs to add to my Ipod running playlist, appropriately titled "skinny minny," and I came across Kelly Clarkson's new song.  At first, I wasn't sure I liked it or not, but it's now a favorite and the chorus at least is very fitting.



Now, I'm off to collapse on the couch with some junk TV! :)

~Heather

Happy Birthday Cameron!

Today is Cameron's 30th birthday!!  He took the day off work and is headed to the Gulf with friends to go fishing.  Hunting season is over so on to the next hobby (sport?)...  While I will miss spending the day with him, I'm glad he's getting to do something he enjoys and I have lots to do to get ready for his birthday party tomorrow.  Stay tuned for some priceless pictures...

~Heather

A little paint

So what did I do last weekend (and add a second coat to yesterday)?  A painted banister.  So when we bought our house it was full of 80's oak everywhere - trim, cabinets, & the banister on the stairs.  The first two we took care of immediately, but Cameron wasn't exactly on board for the banister at first.  Honestly, it wouldn't have been that bad except there were paint drips from the previous owner's paint job on the hallway, and the fact that the front door is a very dark stain.  Two very different stains in one small area really bothered me.  Of course, we could have gone the route of re-staining, but my first attempt at staining was not very successful.  So I looked to Pinterest for some inspiration and to add to my argument with the hubs.

 via

via

Cameron finally caved - several months ago.  I re-painted the spindles last November and if you've been to our house any time in the last couple months, you would have seen blue painter's tape all over the stairs.  Well, this weekend I finally decided to tackle to project.  My first color attempt was the very dark espresso we painted the bathroom vanity.  However, shortly into the job, I decided it wasn't dark enough and headed to Lowe's, where I purchased a very dark brownish-grey-black.  Unfortunately, in the morning sun on Sunday morning, it looked very grey.  Rather than head to Lowe's again, I opted to give the original color a second chance.  While I wish it was a little more on the blackish-brown side, I'm concerned solid black will be too stark.  So we are calling it done - except for all the touch-ups I now have to do thanks to the painter's tape. :(  What do you think?

Before:

 After:

Unfortunately for Cameron, I'm already itching to tear up the carpet and do this...

via

~Heather

Foodie Friday

 On Sunday night, we had Gill family dinner at Dottie's house and I was responsible for dessert.  I had some apples in the fridge so I decided to try the Upside-Down Caramelized Apple Cake from Southern Living.  It doesn't get much more Southern than an upside-down cake baked in a cast iron skillet!  So good!  However, I recommend serving it warm straight out of the oven.  The caramelized topping gets chewy as it sits.  Sorry for the cell phone pic.  I didn't think to take a picture until we were already at Dottie's.

We have decided to try "Meatless Monday" and see how it goes.  Surprisingly enough, the idea came from my meat-loving husband.  Our first attempt was this week with vegetable stir-fry.  It's something we have done before, but this time we left out the chicken and doubled the veggies.  This does not however fall under my recipe attempts as Cameron usually makes it.  No complaints here!  He used a stir-fry seasoning packet and mixed in the veggies and cooked Asian noodles.  Who needs takeout?

This next meal will certainly never win any awards for most attractive, but it was decent.  I made Smothered Pork Chops (from Food Network Magazine) with Paula's Sweet Potato Biscuits (also from Food Network Magazine), added some steamfresh broccoli and called it a night.  The pork chops are browned then cooked in a sauce of cajun seasoning (we always use Tony's), onions, thyme, chicken broth, & buttermilk.  They were good, but I can't say I'm dying to have them again, which is my rule for keeping a recipe.  The biscuits were very good, but didn't have quite the sweet potato flavor I was hoping for.  I did, however, finish them off for breakfast, so I think I may try this one again!

The last recipe we tried this week was one I found on Pinterest - Balsamic Onion Pot Roast.  In my opinion, it wasn't much different from the typical pot roast recipe.  Maybe a little more flavor to the meat?  I did not however, boil down the sauce to make a gravy.  I was starving when I got home and not really interested in doing anything extra.  So that may have been the game-changer, but I doubt it.  So all around not bad, but not worth the extra effort when you compare it to the good ole' Lipton soup recipe.

That's it for this week!

~Heather