Blogger's Block

I'm suffering from that right now.  There is so much that I want to blog about, but every time I open this up, whatever it is I want to write about becomes a jumble of words in my mind and I can't seen to get them to come together.  So instead of just sitting here staring at a blank 'page' and trying to force my brain to form cohesive thoughts that will flow together nicely, I'm just going to toss together a short synopsis of what I've been wanting to blog.  Short and sweet...like my sisters!

Chili Feed
Back in February, Dad and I attended the annual chili feed put on by the POW*MIA Elko Awareness Association.  This year it was held at the convention center, as the number of attendees has grown so much that they outgrew the former location.  We were treated to a wonderfully delicious variety of chili served by the amazing Nevada East Roller Girls, on skates! There was also some heated auction action and we got to see our State Assemblyman, John Ellison, model a leopard print Snuggie!   Before we ate, we all gathered in the auditorium for the presenting of the colors and a demonstration from the Association's Drill Team.  We were introduced to dignitaries from the National League of POW*MIA Families, J-PAC (the nations largest forensic science lab, they are responsible for the identification of remains, they bring a lot of families closure).

Confessions from a Former Picky Eater
Hey Momma, I eat asparagus now!  And spinach!  And brussel sprouts!  Ok, I lied, I still won't eat brussel sprouts...And I don't eat my burgers with just ketchup anymore, now I like 'em with cheese, and mustard, and garlic, and tomato, and lettuce, and sometimes I'll use baby spinach instead of lettuce!

The Bakery
I've blogged a couple of times about helping out at Trinity and Michael's bakery, Let Them Eat Cake.  Well, Trinity got an opportunity to take a job at a  fancy-schmancy restaurant in New Orleans, so they passed the torch of the bakery on to their friend Shawn.  Trinity is in NOLA and Michael is here packing up the house and getting ready to meet her there next month.  I will miss them ALOT!  I have a lot of fond memories, like this one from St. Patrick's Day.  Things got a little crazy while we were making corned beef and cabbage...

I'm going to miss the cranberry oatmeal cookies that Trinity makes, I'm going to miss the Irish Car Bomb cupcakes, I'm going to miss bickering with Michael while Trinity rolls her eyes at us, I'm going to miss the true owners of the bakery, Scooter and Vespa, the faithful Corgis.  I'm going to miss Trinity and Michael and Samantha!  One thing I won't miss about the bakery is the deadly strawberry slicer utensil...

Knit One, Purl What?
I finally got the two scarf projects I was working on done last night.  Trinity's Mardi Gras scarf is on the left and the one on the right is the crazy scarf I made for my friend, Sarah.  I'll be delivering Sarah's to her today, but Trinity said I can't UPS hers to her, I must deliver it in person.  The money in my coin jar are now earmarked for a trip to Louisiana to see Trin in New Orleans and my sister, Stephanie in Baton Rouge.

This morning I started working on another scarf and it's really frustrating me.  I've cast-on three times, followed the pattern precisely and still am ended up with one extra stickin' stitch!  Arghhh!!!

Homemade Bread
I made bread not too long ago and it tasted and looked great!  I shared pictures of it on Facebook.  What I didn't share were the pictures of the shattered Pyrex casserole dish.
The baking directions called for a pan of water being placed on oven rack below the Bread.  This doofus grabbed the first pan in sight without thinking of what would happen when she poured the hot water into the hot glass dish in the hot oven.
Um, yah.  It was loud, really loud...and scary, really scary.  After making sure that I wasn't bleeding all over the kitchen ( luckily, I wasn't hit with any flying Pyrex shrapnel) and quadruple checking the bread for glass (it was all good!), we cleaned the glass out of the oven while the bread rested on the counter.

I was s-m-a-r-t on the next go-round and used metal.

The bread came out moist with just the right amount of chewy-ness and without being peppered with glass shards.


Thanks for visiting!

Let Them Eat Cake...Bakery

I met Trinity a couple years ago when she came to me at work to order business cards and make some gift certificates for her baking business. She'd been renting kitchen space from a restaurant in town until about a year and a half ago when she and her husband Michael got a line on a small location that could be converted into a small bakery...The shop is cute and cozy and always smells good. Trinity started filling the case with a few different cupcakes and cookies, brownies, dog treats (gotta give the puppies a treat too!) and people could special ordercakes, pies and cheesecakes.

Doesn't that all look yummy?!
Come on, you know you want to call and order your holiday treats!!

Then her friend Shawn began baking and selling bread.
Her Challah is to die for and makes really tasty French Toast.

Then they decided to start doing healthy dinners 4 nights a week and call it What's For Dinner! Every Monday morning they post the menu on Facebook and through an email blast. People can call or email in their order before a certain time and then pick it up after 5.
The dinners are really yummy and priced reasonably.
It's been quite the success.

The holidays are coming.
You're gonna be busy with activities,
you're going to be too tired to cook.
You'll want a nice, healthy dinner to serve your family.
You'll need some cookies.
You'll need a pie...or two.
How about a festive pumpkin cheesecake?
Call Trinity!!!

Their hours are:

Mon thru Thurs 9:30 to 5:30
Friday 9:30 to 4:30
Saturday 11 to 2

1069 Idaho Street
775-401-6640

Stop in and say Hi to Trinity.
And you might just see her cousins Tandy & Bree,
who come down and help her out during the day.
And you can usually find me there on Saturdays.

Spaghetti for Dan

About 2 years ago, one of the guys from work, Dan, fixed a problem I was having on my computer. I told him I would make him homemade spaghetti as payment.

Have I told you I'm a procrastinator? I think I've mentioned that before...

Well, I procrastinated.

Until now.

Dan's last day is Wednesday, so I thought I'd better get on it. I was going to come home from work on Tuesday night and get it going. I got all the ingredients Saturday, I was on the ball!!

I didn't go to work today (Tuesday). I spent the morning in the dentist's chair of pain having a tooth pulled. Ok, I was only in the dreaded chair for about 10 minutes. It took longer to give me the novacaine than it did to pull the tooth. I went home and took a long nap and when I woke up I didn't feel like doing anything, let alone cook. But I had made a promise to Dan last week that I would definetly make him spaghetti and I couldn't go back on my word, especially after putting it off for two years!

Browned 1 lb. ground beef with 2 chopped yellow onion and a gazillion cloves of garlic (ok, 4). Added that to a big can of crushed tomato, 2 med cans of tomato sauce, some tomato paste. Toss in some dried parsley, some thyme, basil and brown sugar. Brown sugar? Huh? It cuts some of the acidity of the tomato. Normally I would add raisins instead of the brown sugar, but most people say "ewww" when I tell them I put raisins in my sauce. Then I browned some Italian Sausage and threw that in too, along with a splash of Shiraz wine that was sitting around. I'll simmer it through the evening and turn it back on tomorrow morning while I boil the noodles. Then off to work I'll go with it!

Good luck to Dan in his new venture!!

Stay tuned cuz next week I'll be blogging about the breakfast I'm throwing for some family members during the Ruby Mtn Balloon Festival! We'll watch the balloons launch on Sunday morning while feasting on frittata, fried taters, muffins, apple skillet cake, scrambled eggs and bacon. Those last two items courtesy of Jeff for those who might not want frittata. Coffee, hot cocoa, spiced cider....