Michigan vs. Purdue

For Christmas, Ryan and I got tickets for Mom and Dad and us to go to the Michigan vs. Purdue basketball game. Great seats... row 9! I only wish that the outcome was as good. But no luck there. However, Ryan was quite excited!

Offer... Accepted

We received some great news on Saturday - very unexpectedly too.  Our realtor called us Saturday afternoon and asked if we were going to be home so she could bring over on affer we got.  WHAT?  An offer!?  No way!  We were so excited.  Ryan, so much that he couldn't stop pacing after we got the call.  Our realtor showed up and presented the offer... low, but workable.  We countered, and they countered and agreed.  We had accepted an offer.  OH MY! 

So now more praying that the inspection and appraisal goes through and we have no glitched.  Here's hoping!

Meeting the caterers

So yesterday, Ryan and I went to taste some of the food from the caterers for the wedding.  They are great.  Actually from Belleville and have quite the set up.  We met the owner and he's great.  You could just feel his passion for food - which I have as well.  And the food was wonderful too, especially the cookies and brownies!  However, it was so wonderful that we are now starting to rethink the menu and maybe want to add some more cool things.  I'm trying to think back to some of the most memorable food weddings and what we all ate.  Most poeple have very "normal" items - beef, chicken, potatoes, etc.  But since Ryan and I aren't exactly normal or at least that's what we like to think... that maybe we want to shake things up a little.  Like maybe having a pig roast or popcorn machines or ice cream stand.  Fun stuff.  If nothing else, we love food a lot and want it to be awesome. 

After marrying Ryan, I think the most important things to me at the wedding are... outstanding food and lots of dancing :-)

So back to the drawing board.  What would you add to the menu??

No cold water... WTH?

So for the past few days, we really haven't had much cold water.  Yes, I said it.  Cold water.  You turn the water to cold and it's lukewarm, and sometimes it just hot.  Really?  Is that possible?  So Ryan calls up the water people and have them come out.  We are worried that something is broked.  So after lots of pipe tracing and examining.  They find the cause.  It turns out that our air conditioning that runs have circulating cold water through the pipes, has a valve that needs to be turned off.  So in nutshell, we were actulaly cooling the water first, and then circulating it through the pipes and making it hot.  Sounds real effiicent, huh?!  But we turned the valve off and now we have cold water again.

Filing cabinet make over

I got crafty again! This time I gave our old black metal filing cabinet a face lift... Without painting it. I could this great stuff at Joann's that is like contact paper but can be easy removed or adjusted. So check it out....

Before

And after

Valentine's Day

So our first Valentine's Day!  And it was perfect.  We decided to not get each other gifts and instead bought an awesome new chandelier for our kitchen.  Yes, we finally replaced the hideous light that had been there.  I laugh because I swore that was the first thing I was going to replace and here - 6 months later it was still there.  But now it's gone and our kitchen is complete!

After work, I headed home to make our Valentine's Day dinner.  I was greeted with beautiful red roses and a card and a fire.  Great thing to come home too. Then I made a yummy dinner of filets (thanks to Dad's gift of Omaha steaks) with a rich balsamic glaze  and lemon risotto with asparagus.  We were so full that I totally forgot about the cheesecake in the freezer.  Oh well - we'll save that for another day.

Baking with yeast

So after stopping at Mary's on my way home from Indy this week, she treated me to a butterhorn that she had made.  And it was soooo good I decided it was time to try my hand at baking with yeast and make the famous Mrs. Zender's butterhorns. 

As I prepped for my baking day, I called Better Crocker (more commonly know as Mary Welden) to make sure I was buying the right yeast - fast or active.  Really why do they need two kinds?!  I'm still not sure. But I got fast because that is what Betty used.

Then home to start making the dough and activating the yeast.   As I started to mix the wet and dry ingredients together, I noticed that it looked very dry.  So I called the Better Crocker line again and this time sent a picture. 

Well I think in my old age of 31, I also might need glasses.  As the recipe clearly called for 1 and 1/4 cup of milk mixed with the yeast, and I decided that only 1/4 cup would be good enough.  And the result wasn't so good.  Through the laughter, Betty said to add the 1 cup of lukewarm milk that I forgot from before and it should be okay.  I wasn't convinced and decided to send another picture to Betty.

She said the dough looked good.  So in the frig it went.  The recipe said to leave it overnight, but I didn't want to wait that long.  So I gave it a few hours and then started to roll them out. And up until this point... everything was great!  Then you are supposed to let them raise in a warm room.  Okay, really?  It was 3 degrees outside yesterday with the wind chill... so no warm room.  So I turn the oven on and open the doors a little and let them raise.  Well - maybe it was too warm.  But I successfully made the biggest butterhorns ever!

They taste wonderful but I have some work to be done at baking with yeast and raising the dough.