2.28.2011

Feb 28, 2011





The baby cows across the street are so cute!

Recipes

I was asked about the bagel recipe I used, so I thought I'd go ahead and post it here for two reasons. One to share and two so in three months when I can't find my printed recipe at home I can look here. :)

I found the recipe at Brown Eyed Baker. It's an egg bagel, and is very yummy! Don't be discouraged at the time it takes, it's actually very easy. I would say it is definitely a weekend project though.

Brown eyed baker


Here are the other recipes I used for the chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting.

Martha Stewart Chocolate Cupcake


Peanut Butter Frosting from Food Network

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup smooth peanut butter

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, at room temperature

4 cups confectioners' sugar

1 tablespoon milk

Beat the butter, peanut butter, and cream cheese with a hand or standing mixer on medium speed, until light and fluffy. Slowly add the confectioner's sugar and continue to mix until the frosting is smooth, mix in the milk and continue to mix until it reaches a good spreading consisting.

Yield: 2 cups - if you half the recipe its perfect for 12 cupcakes






2.27.2011

Feb 27, 2011

What type of fortune is this??






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

2.26.2011

Feb 26, 2011

It was a very productive day.

Seeds are planted for the garden 


Cupcakes are baked to celebrate Andrew's birthday


Bagels are ready to bake tomorrow morning


And Mike and I played with liquor, fire and strawberries (to go on top of the chocolate and peanut butter cupcakes :)


What a great way to spend a Saturday!

2.24.2011

Feb 24, 2011

Let us in!

Slightly Insane or Insanely Good?

So I can't tell if I'm completely crazy or not for wanting to try this:

Chocolate Cupcakes with Flaming Strawberries


Who's coming over to watch me make either a giant fool of myself or create a dessert masterpiece?!?!

2.23.2011

Feb 23, 2011

Dinner with the boy, Wes, Heather and Ryan

Spring, Where Are You???

I don't know about you, but I am sooooooooo ready for Spring. Don't get my wrong, I love snowstorms and sitting by a roaring fire, but I'm so over it right now. I'm ready for warmer weather, where we can throw up the windows, wear tshirts and work in the garden!

To help cheer myself up, I was looking through some of the pictures I've taken over the last few springs. Here are a few of my favorites.




















2.22.2011

2.21.2011

Nashville







In case you didn't guess from the photos two weeks ago, Mike and I were in Nashville last week. I went for work and Mike decided to come join me for the weekend. We were trying to plan a weekend trip away so the timing worked out great!


I flew in on Wednesday,
 

did a little shopping, finally checked in to my hotel and was promptly greeted with a snowstorm that shut the city down. I was very glad I got to the hotel when I did, apparently it was taking people hours just to go three or four blocks.



Thursday was a work day for me. I picked Mike up at the airport that night and headed off to dinner at Jack's Bar-B-Que.  Critics from NY Times, LA Times Southern Living and USA Today all gave Jack's high acclaim, so I figured it was a good bet to try. 

Just fair warning in case you ever get the chance to go there, they mean it when they say first come first serve for getting a table. And don't even think about sitting down until you have you're food. Luckily we didn't do this, but we did get to see some bouncer guy come around the counter and yell at someone who did. I wouldn't want to be the one making him angry!

The food was good, definetely a great place to go if you're in town!




Friday was another work day for me. Mike stayed behind and worked at the hotel for a few hours. Once I got back we decided to take a little road trip to Arrington Winery. It is a winery owned by Kix Brooks, of Brooks and Dunn.

We tried a few of their wines, bought some for home and ventured out for another Nashville dinner. We tried a local microbrewery. Really good food and great beer. Sadly no pictures.


Saturday was a busy day doing the typical touristy things. First up was breakfast at a local place called Fido. It was super cute. All the food and drinks had names related to dogs. I tried the Milkbone:




Next was the Country Music Hall of Fame.


Elvis's Gold Piano

Mike enjoyed all the old sound equipment -






We laughed when we realized Tim McGraw and Faith Hill donated money for a staircase. Couldn't they have found a more interesting use of the money? 



Here was the dress and suit that Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley wore at the CMAs:


(Bonus points if you can spot just how excited Mike was ;)


 One of Taylor Swift's dresses -



 And the Hall of Fame-

We both agreed that we would need to come back in 20 years so we experience the country music that we enjoy, not the music from the early 1900's.

We had a little time to spend before our next stop, so we wandered around downtown Nashville. We stumbled on another microbrewery and decided it was time for lunch. (This time I took pictures)








We decided since we were in town, we had to go check out the Grand Ole Opry. Being the techies that we are, we took a backstage tour.




The post office where you can send your favorite artist mail. Apparently all you need to do is put their name and the Grand Ole Opry. No town, state or zip code is needed.




Here is the flood line in the green room, from the flood in May 2010. Everything, including the historic stage was 4 feet under water.





We also got tickets to the show that night. Here are just a few of the pictures.



Jimmy Dickens

Terri Clark

Danny Gokey

Cool lights in the lobby


Nashville was not what either one of us expected it to be, but we had a fun time. 



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