Is putting blue cheese on a turkey burger defeating the purpose?

Thought I would try to be a little healthier and bought some ground turkey.  Nick complained that there was no way he was going to eat it, but he made it into patties by loading it up with garlic powder, onion powder and worchestire sauce.  Then he added bacon bits!  No, not very healthy.  Then of course, I had to top mine with blue cheese.  It tasted pretty good, but was a little too dry for my taste.  Better start surfing the internet for some recipes that may be a little juicier.

The Labatt Pond Hockey tournament

We got downtown las weekend to see the tournament.  It was kind of windy, but we were dressed appropriately and it gave me a good opportunity to get some pictures.  Although, I only took one lens cause I didn't want to have to carry my camera case.  The city was a beautiful backdrop to the games.  Tons of people down there, we took a walk into Templeton Landing, the old Crawdaddy's for all you old folks.  They had some cool bubble hockey games in there, and of course Labatt's beer. 

The Powder Keg festival was also in full swing, with sledding down the Thruway ramp, sleigh rides, bowling for tukeys and lots of food.  Better than last year, hopefully next year's will be even better.

If I ever get around to expanding my Picasa albums, I'll post pictures.

They came, they ate, they left.

Our daughter turns 16 on Saturday, but we had her family party yesterday so I could recuperate today since our office was closed.  We cooked and cleaned for 2 days.  What is wrong with us?  Everyone else in the family orders pizza and throws out a bag of chips .  Yet, we feel the need to out-do ourselves each year.  Each year we agonize over our food choices, desperately trying to remember what we had for all the previous birthday parties.  Have we done roast beef sandwiches, lasagna, how about picnic themed?

This year we cooked a turkey and a ham.  But first we started out with Swedish meatballs, pizza dip and mini reuben sandwiches.  Yet our family was still chanting for cake while we tried to watch the last 2 laps of the Daytona 500.  And of course, I couldn't be happy with one cake ... I had to make two.  First up was the  Pioneer Woman's Best Chocolate Sheet Cake, Ever.  It lived up to its' title.  Next was a red velvet cake I found online.  The frosting called for heating flour with milk until it thickened and then mixed with sugar, butter and vanilla.  The frosting looked like runny tapioca pudding!  (I've come to find out it had to be beaten longer, but it still seems impossible it would have improved)  So, out I had to rush to buy some canned frosting and slap it on.  My other choice was to still be in the shower when the guests got here, so I opted to spare them all that lovely sight and went with the canned frosting.  So, they take my Mother of the Year plaque away!  At least no one in our families will be scarred for life with the site of me freshly showered and no make up!

No sooner than the last bites of cake were swallowed, the house cleared out like our office on Friday at 4:30!  Why do we put ourselves through all this?   It's a sickness.

My favorite Valentine's Day ritual!

Nick started this years ago, and I think we've had one almost every year since.

The best pulled pork sandwiches

We found a recipe online for pulled pork sandwiches and were they ever delicious.  We took a 2 pound pork tenderloin, poured a can of root beer over it in the crock pot and cooked it on low for about 6 hours.  When it finished, we drained it and then added some slathering sauce from the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que.   Then Nick topped it off with some copy cat KFC Coleslaw.  And to make it even easier, instead of the cabbage we used 2 bags of slaw mix from the grocery store. 

Now if we could only get the Dinosaur Bar to open up on the waterfront here!

Is it wrong that the pizza coupons are hanging on the fridge over the spinning schedule?

Went to spinning class for the first time today, and I thought I was going to die.  Sure was glad my friend from work was there, cause all I could think of is it would be good she could drive Mary Margaret home while they were taking me away in the ambulance!

Fortunately for me, the nice 72 year old lady who was spinning in front of me told me it took her 6 months before she could move up to a 45 minute spinning class from a 30 minute spinning class.  45 MINUTES?  I didn't think I would make 30 and I didn't even do half of the climbing part of the class, but at least I did manage to keep peddling for the whole 30 minutes.

Will I go back next Saturday?  We'll see.

How's your New Year's Resolutions going?

Mine are:

* Plan meals better
* Exercise regularly
* Organize my digital and paper photos
* Fold and put away laundry immediately

Believe it or not, the exercise one is going great so far.  M&M and I joined the gym and have gone 3 times a week for 4 weeks.  I'm not saying it's been easy.  Thursday we tried a new class, Total Body Sculpt.  Started off doing the step thingy, I was doing great stepping on and off till they had to get all fancy on me and start jumping to other sides.  Well, never said I was dainty, and I got my feel all tangled up and I almost fell.  And I would have landed right on M&M's principal from elementary school  Wouldn't that have been mortifying?  It was the hardest class yet, and I was a wuss and only used 2 pound weights!  Think I'll go crazy this week and bump up to 3 pounds.  I won't say I kept up, and will actually admit to laying there with my eyes closed for a second, praying 7:30 would get here soon!  But my butt is killing me, so that must be a good sign.

The meal planning and the folding of the clothes have been going pretty well, but it helps that Nick is off work for awhile and has been helping with the laundry and cooking.  But I have managed to come up with the ideas for dinner.

I've managed to scan 2 and 1/2 albums of photos.  Probably have about 50 more to go, and miscellaneous boxes and boxes of others.  Unfortunately my computer got a virus and I have spent the whole weekend restoring it, but still haven't got time to get the scanner working again.  Why does there have to be so many more programs to install to get everything to work right?

My experiment in saving for a Nook.

Had a $25 gift card to Barnes and Noble burning a hole in my pocket. Won a $50 gift certificate of my choice as an Employee Incentive Award so thought I'd get another B&N card. So, $75 down, $175 to go. I couldn't really justify taking it out of the budget when we need so many other things.

The light bulb went on in my head! We have a huge change jar that we save all our change for something special. Nick always complains when he has to roll the pennies and always tells me to just save the silver. So, dumped the jar out, took all the pennies out and put them in their own jar. Rolled $25 worth, which I am immediately going to buy another B&N gift card with and left the rest in the jar. How long do you think it will take?

Got my Flutie jersey on ...

And I'm ready for the Super Bowl!  Today's menu consists of ribs which Nick smoked for 3 hours yesterday, homemade mac and cheese (Patti Labelle's recipe), stromboli, chicken wings and garlic shrimp on the grill.  Dessert is the Best Chocolate Cake ever.  The cake is a test for M&M's birthday cake, and it passed with flying colors.  Although, think I may have to use a different frosting.  Frosting is good, but doesn't spread nicely.

Late addition is some deep fried pickles from this recipe.  Delish.