May 30 was The Other’s and mine 5 year anniversary! That in itself is a big milestone but it comes after being together for 12 years so you are looking at a 17 year total there! Amazing!!!
We received lots of congrats from friends and extended family but those closest to us really know the way to our hearts:
Sometimes you just have to admit that Charcuterie and Cheese is a perfectly acceptable dinner.
So I finally bit the bullet and bough a Vitamix. Let me tell you its just as great as everyone says. It crushes ice like a Yeti making sno cones.
I have spend the last week having a delicious fruit smoothie for breakfast and its really helping to start my day off right. I will also admit to making some “adult beverages” in it and they were amazing. I might even have to have a frosty drink themed party!
[If you want to know my favorite frozen drink its a BBC. Here is the recipe. ProTip – add rum!]
I know there are other things it says you can do with it (make soup, use it as a food processor, etc) but I just wanted a good blender that can crush and blend frozen fruits and ice without whining about it. This totally does the job!
I got this a while back as a gift from Brianna and it’s probably the most awesome specialty kitchen tool I own. It’s called a “herb stripper” and its $7.99 on Amazon
You take the herb you want to strip, which normally you would have to do by hand in a slow, painstaking manner and put the stem into a hole, then pull the step out the other side. The leaves fall into the little bowl and you are left with an empty stem – viola’!
It works great. I have used it on cilantro, rosemary, thyme, and parsley. I assume it works just as great with other herbs. I highly recommend it!
We found the “exotic meat” section at Marianos and I couldn’t pass by without purchasing something. We skipped on the Bison and Ostrich because those are barely exotic anymore. I’ve had Alligator before so passed on that. But then, there, down at the bottom…
Camel Meat!!!!
We haven’t tried it yet but we found a pretty good recipe for camel meatballs so we are probably going to do that. And before you comment, I don’t actually know if its hump meat, but its fun to say it is.
Here is a gif to explain the different types of camel…so you know what you are eating of course!
Fall season is here (sadly) but I am making the most of it. I have already had a pumpkin pie and yesterday I had some acorn squash for dinner. Today I made artichokes – you jelly yet?
Yay! Catching up on old posts!! The Other and I are huge fair goers. We have been to many fairs in many states but we always come back to what we consider our “home town” fair which is the Wisconsin State Fair. We don’t just go for weird fair food either.
We also enjoy the animal shows and events. We check out all the animal barns and also catch a few of the shows. Horsey-Carty is one of our favorites, especially when they start getting up to the 6 and 8 horse teams.
Of course there are baby animals as well. There is, in fact, a whole baby animal barn which is where I personally like to spend most of my time. I (feel) I am too old to take full advantage of the petting zoo but I do touch every baby animal I can and make cooing noises at it. Here’s my favorite – a litter of piglets! PIGLETS!
This year they had a new event I hadn’t seen before. Bunny Jumping!! It’s exactly what you would think but about 100 times cuter! Bunnies jumping over things! How can you be mad after watching that?! Even when they don’t jump, they are still totally cute!
Sometimes you get to try new things at the fair, and not just food. Here in the bathroom I found a random tub of goo with a sign that said “try me” so ala Alice in Wonderland I did! My hands didn’t fall off so I assume it wasn’t acid but I didn’t stop by the booth either. I’m here for adventure not soap! (even if it was made of sugar…)
Jackie even came with us this year and I got to hand it to her, she kept up pretty good! She had a lot of the weird foods and drinks and didn’t even get sick! She is also expert level at the “people watching” portion of the fair. This is where we sit somewhere with a good view and judge observe other fair goers as they walk past us. Sometimes we make up back stories, sometimes we are just in awe. Either way I hope Jackie is willing to go back next year because it was a lot of fun!
So whew! I’ve finally had time to go through all my vacation pictures and organize them so I can start uploading them. Just in time for more trips too! This is from our trip to Seattle, WA for PaizoCon (manufacturer’s of the game Pathfinder, which we play with friends)
Overall the convention was a bit small. We played some Pathfinder, and looked at all the new stuff they had to offer, but overall it was like any other small convention in a hotel. We left ourselves a few extra days to visit Seattle while there and that by far was the best part of the trip. We did head out to the LeMay Auto Muesum one day, but most of our time was spent in downtown Seattle at the Pike’s Place Market.
my my look at all that sausage!
Some famous pig at the market
This guy!
We also visited the original Starbucks!! I was very excited for this, being the Starbucks Fan Girl I am. We also visited the Starbucks concept store (Roy Street Coffee) where they try out new concepts and even serve wine. It was kinda fun to get a Chai and a wine from the coffee shop!
Outside the original Starbucks
Proof!
Chai and Wine: I could get used to this!
We also ate a ton of food. All the food is delicious in Seattle. One of my favorite places was a restaurant in a hotel called Shuckers. It was so much more than an Oyster bar though. The Oysters Rockerfeller were amazing, they had a crab mac and cheese that I would travel to Seattle just to eat, and the dessert was the perfect amount of chocolatey crunchy goodness.
I also got the opportunity to try escargot, which wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be
We visited some of the famous tourist spots in the area. Biscuits Bitch had probably the best bicuits and gravy I’ve ever eaten, and I say that having tried them in the south. We also tried crumpets which is everything an english muffin wished it could be. Crisp outside, fluffy center, perfect flavor. yum yum! We also tried Piroshky Piroshky which makes things in puff pastry. It was good – every culture has their own version of this food and I love trying the different variations
Overall it was a great time. I would definitely visit Seattle again, but I probably wouldn’t go back for PaizoCon. There is a lot to do in Seattle and the surrounding area and I would love more time to explore. (and eat!)
Check out the awesome gold bib on the guy in the background. That’s a man who is serious about his meals!!
We went to Bristol Renaissance Faire yesterday. It was hot, then rainy, but still a ton of fun. I was in costume so I felt google glass wasn’t “period appropriate” but luckily I had my manservant available to document our journey. So all credit for this video goes to Brent Marnati for the footage and Google AutoAwesome for the editing. #ThroughGlass #BrentMarnati
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