Midwest Chicken Wing Fest 5k

I did the chicken fest 5k on Saturday morning. It was an interesting run around the St. Clair Mall two and a half times. :)

This was the pace car.




Here I am afterwards enjoying a beer. Seems like all of these 5k races end with free beer.



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Neiman Marcus cookies

I was in the mood for a chocolate chip cookie, so I decided to whip up a fresh batch of the infamous Neiman Marcus cookies.



They are all scooped up and ready for the oven.



Lucky oven. The smell is intoxicating. It might be the expresso powder.


And the finished product.



The hardest part, waiting for them to cool. I'm off to get a glass of milk ready.


Here's the recipe straight from their site.

www.neimanmarcus.com


Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 teaspoons instant espresso coffee powder
1-1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cream the butter with the sugars using an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy (approximately 30 seconds)

2. Beat in the egg and the vanilla extract for another 30 seconds.

3. In a mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients and beat into the butter mixture at low speed for about 15 seconds. Stir in the espresso coffee powder and chocolate chips.

4. Using a 1 ounce scoop or a 2 tablespoon measure, drop cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet about 3 inches apart. Gently press down on the dough with the back of a spoon to spread out into a 2 inch circle. Bake for about 20 minutes or until nicely browned around the edges. Bake a little longer for a crispier cookie.

Yield: 2 dozen cookies

Baked French Toast

I was looking for a nice fall scent for the house. I know it's a bit early but I can't help myself. Fall is my favorite time of year. In my search for the perfect fall scent I stumbled on to this one.



It smells like caramel goodness.

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Christmas Celebration with Olivia and Rex

Just as I am taking down my Christmas trees and tucking everything away, it is time to give away the last of the gifts. Olivia, Rex and Tara stopped by today on their way to visit the family. I cannot believe how much the two of them have changed since Thanksgiving.

Olivia still does not like to have her picture taken and quickly looks away but she is still cute as a bug. One might wonder why she is wearing a spring shirt in the middle of January. She dressed herself.

The baby food all over his face and the fact that he ate twice in the short time that he was at our house, might explain the growth of this one. :)

I couldn't hold the suprise off any longer. Olivia had already been in to the front room to check these out several times.

Olivia, of course gets to go first.

She made quick work of that tissue paper. She must have gotten some tips from baby dog.

It's a baby!

And her eyes open and close.

I'm pretty sure the three of them are going to be best friends.

Next up, Rex. Olivia helped with the unwrapping.

Rex got his very own baby book. He doesn't look too excited about it but Tara sure does.

There was even a little something for the birthday girl.

Olivia was quick to offer her unwrapping services.

Popcorn and all the fixings, Tara's favorite.



Now that looks like it was fun!

Fall

Fall is my favorite time of the year. Beginning on September 23rd the schedule picks up and I love it. The first weekend of October is always the weekend that my Mom and I head to the Spoon River Scenic Drive. However, this year we got a little bit later of a start because I went to the Metro Link Prom this year with one of my besties. What Fun! Metro Prom was a good lead into the following weekends Diva Party. Then Kent and I spent the next couple of days together. We headed to the winery with some friends and spent our anniversary at Pier Marquette. The Four Hearts Halloween Party was this weekend and next weekend is our annual fall pumpkin carving party. Now we just need to get a plan together for Halloween weekend. We can't possibly have a free weekend in October can we? Stay tuned.

The "Best" Burger

So it has been a while since I blogged, I know, I know, and with all of my aspirations of blogging on a regular basis. I won't even make promises at this point saying that I will do a better job of blogging but here is my attempt to get back into it.

The Hubs and I headed out for a well deserved night with friends this weekend. We attended a Gateway Grizzlies baseball game. The Grizzlies are the minor league baseball team in Collinsville. They were playing the Normal Cornbelters, i know funny, right? The Grizzlies got completely creamed which was unexpected since they have been having such a good year. The final score was 0-7. :(

There are many aspects of minor league baseball that I enjoy. The seats were very close, no need for binoculars. The parking was free and all of the delicious food was in walking distance. Not that we needed to have things that close, since we were in a party box and had our own personal wait staff. Also something we could not easily do at a major league baseball game.

One of the things that Kent and I had been looking forward to trying was the "Best" Burger. If you have not heard of this burger, it has a Krispy Kreme bun. *drool* That alone could make it the best burger in my book or the fact that it was covered in bacon and cheese. We no sooner got to our seats before we order a "Best" Burger. Yes after all the wait and all the hype we only ordered one. In our defense, there were some many other things that we wanted to try. We also got an order of pulled pork nachos, yum. Unfortunately, the burger was over sold and under delivered. The bun was delicious, the bacon crispy, but the actual burger was sub par at best. The only thing that I can think to do now is try it at home myself. I need to plan "a night at the ballpark" dinner party. Stay tuned that has to be coming soon.

Cinnamon Sugar Coffee Cake

Cake:
3/4 c. butter, softened
1 1/2 c. sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. sour cream

Filling:
1/3 c. packed brown sugar
1/3 c. sugar
1/2 c. finely chopped pecans
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 12 cup bundt pan. In large mixing bowl, combine butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Mix in flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt alternately with sour cream. Spread 1/3 of batter in pan and sprinkle with 1/3 of filling. Repeat twice.

Bake 60 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.