Domino's Luv

While stumbling(upon) earlier this week, I came across this story of Domino's Delivery Instructions.  I had never thought of anything like that, and was envious of the guy who did.  However, I fully intended after reading it to steal his idea.  

Last night I was a little drunk and offered to buy some delivery for Andy.  I remember eating it (it was delicious), but not a lot beyond that.  Then I woke up this morning and saw the box, and remembered I'd written this special instruction: Draw a dancing unicorn on the box.  I have to say, I'm impressed with the artwork.

 

Stoner Owners

I don't know the story behind Northern Lights Pizza, but I have always suspected that some raging potheads started/own the company.  That was confirmed today, when I saw this ad for their 'taco pizza':

 

 

Prior to this, I had the following to go on:  

1.  I'm pretty sure it was founded in Iowa.  Odds are good that anybody starting a pizza delivery business in Iowa smokes pot.

2.  It's called Northern Lights.  For those of you not in the know, that's a highly coveted type of 'bud'.  Also, were it referring to the actual Northern Lights (aurora borealis), it would make no sense because a) We are in the Midwest, and haven't seen them, and b) What the fuck does it have to do with pizza?!

3.  Their calzones are called Scooby Snacks.

4.  They have 9 different crusts.  That's just excessive no matter how you look at it.  And a poppy seed one?!  C'mon now...

I had also heard a rumor that they delivered until 2 AM on the weekends but that is so far unconfirmed.  

Now I think I already had a pretty solid case built up, but this taco pizza was the proverbial nail in the coffin.  It sealed the deal for me.

I don't know about you guys, but lettuce, tomato, and Nacho Cheesier Doritos, does not make a taco pizza in my mind.  Also I don't understand the correlation between warmer days and taco pizza, but that might just be me.  Perhaps others crave taco pizza when the spring months arrive, I do not know.

 

(All of this aside, their food is actually pretty good.  Although I think I'll pass on the taco pizza for now....) 

 

B(E)LT!

Jenny texted me this morning, offering to buy me breakfast at either YJ's or Succotash.  How could anyone say no?!  We went to Succotash, and I had the B.L.T. (it's called that on the menu but it also has an egg on it), and the Cubano (fresh juice - pineapple, cucumber, apple, mint - YUM).  The half of sandwich that's left over is going to be SO good for lunch later this week.

 

 

I feel like I should also include that since Jenny has now mentioned YJ's, I will be needing to go there soon.

PARTY GRAS!

 

It wasn't as wild as the title implies, but I had a great time celebrating Fat Tuesday.  Andy & I decided to have a shrimp boil, since that was probably our most Louisiana-style option in the house.  It was of course delicious.  We made fruity booze concoctions, and spent the evening flashing each other for beads.  All in all, a successful way to celebrate Mardi Gras when you're poor and have to work early the next day!

Happy Valentine's Day

Candlelight & Romance

 I'd love to start this post by telling you how much I hate Valentine's Day.  I really would.  I'm well aware of the fact that it's an obscenely commercialized "holiday", but c'mon, nobody (read: not enough people) hates on Christmas for that!  At least this one has a thinly-veiled genuine reason!  Thanks to estrogen, I love the idea of a day that revolves around letting people know how much you care about them.  I'm a firm believer that you should do that all the time, but let's face it: sometimes the people you love really piss you off.  This one day you can ignore all of that and be cheesy.  And it ain't easy bein' cheesy!  Although Andy & I do make it look so.   I also love holidays that allow me to eat like the raging fatty that I am, and so far we're 2/2 eating like kings on the infamous VD!

For the record, I also loved the holiday when I was single.  

To sum up our evening: We went to the grocery store.  Then I convinced Andy to go to Nick & Jake's to see if they still had some of the highly-coveted Boulevard Chocolate Ale on tap - they did!  I took a picture, but it disappeared from my phone, as if it never happened.  We each had 2, and it was everything I dreamed it would be.  Afterward we went home, cooked dinner, ate until we couldn't eat anymore, and promptly fell asleep.  What's not to love?!

Andy made me a delicious meal - lobster tail, steak, cauliflower, asparagus, AND rosemary garlic mashed potatoes

P.S.  I got a necklace, that has a heart and the band around the heart says 'Love Forever', a heart-shaped box of miniature Reese's, and a shamrock mug.  Good job, Love.  ...AND the BEST card ever: 

On the front it has metallic hearts down the side and says:

 

Words From My Heart

I don't want to control you,

or change you,

or make demands of you.

 

I don't want to be responsible for you,

or cling to you,

or need you to feel okay about me.

 

I just want to watch you smile,

hear your voice,

share with you the simple pleasures of life.

 

I want to touch your face,

hold your hand,

enjoy the comfort of our relationship.

 

But most of all, I want to...

 

And then inside it says:

 

make you my sex slave.

 

Happy Valentine's Day

Wherein I Discuss Desserts. Sort of.

Today I introduced some coworkers to Lucia's, an Italian restaurant that is a favorite of Andy & I.  It's possible I've mentioned it in this blog before, but I don't have much luck when I search it to find these things out.  In any case, we had a nice lunch.  I had the eggplant parmigiana, which is what I always get.  It's done just right, which is hard to find with eggplant dishes.  They have great homemade salad dressings, and we've always had wonderful service.  Once we were all done, he tried to coerce us into some of their homemade desserts.  Sarah started to cave when he mentioned tiramisu, and then he said something about a huge chocolate cake, and Mike decided to order it for us all to share.  Between the 4 of us, we didn't finish it. 

Booty Blaster

The frosting was like fudge.  It was SO rich, and SO chocolatey.  And I then entered a chocolate coma upon returning to work.

Moving along, Andy and I stopped at the grocery store to get some things, and I wandered to the bakery to see what kind of treats they had dreamed up for the impending Valentine's Day holiday.  I found this gem of a cookie cake:

"I'll always forgive you don't worry"?!?!  What the hell!?  It's like, 'Here baby, take this $5.99 cookie cake, which is also a free pass to do whatever shitty things you want to me and know that I won't mind one bit!'  I thought it was just the strangest message to put on a cake ever, and it was surrounded by 'TXT ME' and 'LUV U' cakes.  I should have bought it; $6, what a steal!!

Little Drummer Boy

It was a good weekend.

Andy is in Nashville, and I miss him, but I got to spend some time with the fam which is always usually good.  I played Rock Band with my parents.  My dad still refuses to sing, but they're both getting better at drums and guitar.

Dad & I had a 6-beer lunch (that's 3 each, not 6 each...should I have said 3-beer lunch?) at Grinder's.  If you've never been there, do yourself a favor and head to Crossroads.  It'd been far too long since I had their wings and Philly cheese, not to mention they have great beers on tap.  We met up with Mom and Krista afterward at Paul & Jack's in North Kansas City.  Their beer selection is not so great, but we tried 2 other bars before it which were both closed.  Mom had some food, and a family friend bartends, and they're pretty cheap, so it was a good time anyway.

Sunday was of course the Super Bowl.  Before that we made it to Agave to try their new breakfast menu, which we thoroughly enjoyed.  Krista came over and brought the boy, and he played in the music room.

He's pretty good, I think, as far as 2 year olds go.  I don't know the capacity of the average 2 year old for a drum set, but he was keeping steady rhythms, AND he had a drumming face.  My friend Jake, an excellent drummer, once told me that the first step in becoming a good drummer was having a 'drumming face'.  You have to screw your face up, close an eye, stick a tongue out, and look as weird as humanly possible.  Apparently this helps you keep tempo...Maybe not, but in any case, the Z Man had his tongue stuck out and his face all shifted to one side.  I don't think I've ever seen him concentrate on something for so long, or maintain interest in any one thing for that long.  It was entertaining.

So the Super Bowl....we went to the aforementioned bartender friend's house; they have a party every year.  I don't remember much of the game, but I had a blast!  Also, I've always thought the Packers were my second favorite team, but I have to mention I found myself rooting for the Steelers.  Perhaps just because they were behind, and I like both teams.  I'd decided beforehand to root for whichever team was on defense.  Anyway, the moral of the story is that Andy and his black and gold blood seems to have rubbed off on me.  I'm still happy for the Packers, though, so - Go Pack Go!

Yadda Yadda

This weekend is shaping up to be seriously boring. I had loose plans with 2 or 3 people, and it seems none are materializing. I'm (mostly) okay with that; I don't mind a bum-around-the-house-in-my-PJs sort of weekend here and there, especially when it's winter outside. I would have liked to have gotten outside today, as it was nicer out than it has been or will be in a while. I couldn't think of anything to do out there, though. I probably could have crawled under the porch and destroyed the wasp's nests while they're empty - but what a yucky way to spend a Saturday! Instead, I watched The Social Network, and worked on some new cross-stitch patterns. I have one in particular that I love, the other one I worked on didn't turn out so well. I have some ideas to re-do it, though. I think I'll have to use smaller graph paper and aida for that one.

Anyway, I made myself some pickle nachos. That's the picture I chose for today, because it represents just how very little excitement I've had in my life over the past 24 hours. I thought a picture of the pattern might be misleadingly 'fun'.


I could have sworn I'd talked about pickle nachos here before, but I can't find where that's the case.

Andy saw on TV a while ago a show about the origin of 'bar foods', one of which was the nacho. He then came home and made these for me. He doesn't eat pickles (weirdo), but he said the original nacho was just fried corn tortilla triangles, with cheddar cheese melted on top and pickles on each triangle. Everything I've found on the Interwebs says it was just melted cheese and pickled jalapenos, so I'm wondering if he just misheard. However it happened, he made them for me and I've been addicted ever since!

You should try it!

This picture is my lazy version, with tortilla chips. When he makes them for me he always makes the chips from tortillas. Awww...

Petes-ah!

We met my parents for beer tasting, and we were planning to go to get some greasy In-a-Tub tacos afterward, but they gave us this:



so we all went to Pizza Shoppe. It was nice; it felt like we hadn't seen them much in a while. Everyone's hunkered down for the winter, I suppose.

Food...Yes, I'm That Guy.

I told myself I was going to get out of the habit of posting my food, and for the most part I've done well. Nights like this, 7:00 rolls around and I realize I haven't taken a picture for the day and I have no plans to do anything but sit on my ass for the rest of the evening....so long story short, I caved. In my defense, it was a particularly delicious meal.

Andy made slow-cooked achiote pork...I think I have discussed this before in here, because I just had a weird deja-vu feeling...Well, I can't find it so I'll explain (again?)...

Once upon a time, Andy saw a show on TV - I want to say it was the Travel Channel or Alton Brown. They were talking about how in ancient Latin American civilizations (think Mayans) they would roast an entire hog in the ground with hot rocks. They would rub it with adobo and wrap in banana leaves. Well, we don't have a hole or a hog, but he makes this version that he saw on TV once upon a time. You basically take a pork roast and you make a paste of achiote (preferably the block of paste, the seeds are a pain unless you have a spice grinder but they might be easier to find), and garlic and rub the pork with it. If you have time, marinade it overnight, but if not you can cook it right away. When you cook it, add the juice of about 8 limes and let it cook all day. This time he added broth too, since the limes we got weren't all that juicy.

Once it's done, shred the pork, and add a little bit of the drippings (sans fat) to the meat. Heat up some corn tortillas (we do it on a cast iron skillet), and add your favorite taco condiments....YUM! (Pico de gallo, cheese, & lettuce is my personal preference, served with a cold Dos Equis)

Jack in the Box, WUT!

My momma got surgery today on her bladder. Apparently the women in my family have saggy bladders or something, which leads to the very real 'sneeze and pee' situation. So basically they put your bladder on a hammock & it chills.

I want a hammock. Not a bladder one, an actual hammock so I can lay outside in it ALL the time.

...Anyway, we stopped and visited her after work and hung out for a few hours.

Surprisingly I haven't mentioned this already, but on Monday the first Kansas City Jack in the Box opened. For those of you who don't know, I fuggin' LOVE me some J in the B tacos. With ranch. Ooooooo yeah!

When we left the hospital, we were starving and had $7 between us (By between us I mean Andy had $7 and I had none)...Andy started driving toward the Kansas side.

Me: "Are we going to Jack in the Box?"

Andy: "Mayyybe."

Me: "I'm crying."

My eyes seriously got watery. Not because of that but it was an awesome coincidence...or was it?

We got there quickly, and the drive-thru line was wrapped around the building, through an adjoining parking lot and almost out to the road. The inside line also went outside. It was absolutely nuts. I was hoping since it had been open for a couple days by then it wouldn't be quite so crazy. Cars couldn't park in the lot because on the off-chance they got into the parking lot they wouldn't have been able to get out due to the drive-thru cars.

We were in line for 1 hour & 20 minutes before we got our food. By then we were both ravenous...I'm not sure if it was SO good because of that, or because it was Jack in the Box from KANSAS CITY! I'd never had a Jumbo Jack before (I always get tacos & bacon cheddar wedges - picture of health), but I was coerced and it was a damn good $2 cheeseburger. We each had a Jumbo Jack & 2 tacos...it was heaven.

Dreams really DO come true!

Boot-Wearin’ Weather

Since Halloween night was kind of a bust we decided to drink & be merry on Monday. It was too cold to do anything outside so we hid inside and drank vodka tonics. Audrey came over, and Andy was finally able to introduce her to the Cheez-It sandwich, which she of course loved.

This is a double, and it was quite delicious. Andy came up with this snack, I'm not sure when...it was before he & I ever met. Anyway you buy the hormel pepperoni log-looking things. You find them with the sliced pepperoni usually. Slice them up and put them between two Cheez-Its and voila!

They are DElicious. And addictive. Like white cheddar popcorn addictive.

The Chicken Noodle Diaries

Monday, Andy was sans 1 tooth, 1 freshly filled, and 1 root canal-ed. I decided I wanted to make him chicken soup the previous Friday when he first found out what all he was going to have done. After all, when I was sickly he made me some. Always the one-upper, I decided to make the noodles from scratch (Also, we didn't have any frozen ones.).

I actually made the noodles on Sunday whilst the clam chowder (CHOW-DA!) simmered.

Do the noodle dance!

I had low expectations for them, and luckily they exceeded them. And the leftover soup the next day was way better - like the noodles sponged up some of everything else by then.

Take that, soft food diet!

Anyway, it was pretty damn good. I'm getting much better at making things up. I've always been a decent cook, but have always relied heavily on recipes. I'm finally taking off the training wheels! Hopefully I don't fall on my face!

Adventures in Soupmaking, pt. I

As I think I mentioned before, Andy has been having some dental issues the past couple weeks. In light of this, I decided to make some soups for us for dinner Sunday & Monday. Sunday I was going to make a corn chowder, and he insisted on adding clams so we had clam chowder.

[caption id="attachment_110" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Brothy goodness"][/caption]

I also was jonesing for grilled cheese, and he hadn't gotten his teeth pulled yet so he agreed to eating one too. When you haven't had it in a while, grilled cheese tends to be pretty much the best thing EVER.

I'd give it a solid 7 for presentation.

It was good, but a bit runny. I got hungry and gave up on letting it thicken any longer. Tune in tomorrow for chicken noodle!

Birthdays and More Birthdays

While the picture part of this post is about as unrelated to birthdays as it gets (you can probably guess what it IS related to...), the weekend was very birthday-themed.

Friday we went to Derek & Miriam's for his birthday get-together. I ate my weight in Hooters wings. I was already half-drunk. I stayed home sick because I felt like total shit in the morning. Andy stayed with me half of the day, which made it a lot more bearable. Once he left, I decided that a steak and some wine was probably just what the doctor ordered. The doctor being me, of course. I have to say, 2/3 of a bottle of zinfandel later, I had nary a care in the world.

Andy came home, we went to beer tasting, and then on to the birthday party. I drank an entire bottle of wine while there. What a lush. It was fun, though.

Saturday was Debbie's birthday party, after Stagecoach 75-cent tacos and patio sitting, of course. Andy met us there after he got off of work, and we ate.

(See, this is what I do - I eat and I drink. The highlights of my life almost always go something like this. No wonder I'm such a fatty!!!)

We also played some bags & washers, which was a lot of fun. Turns out Sara is a ringer. Either that, or her pregnant belly somehow balances her out...which seems counterintuitive.

I could have taken a picture of the washers, or the smoking patio at Dave's, but instead I opted for Andy's dinner creation:

A waste of above average mac & cheese, if you ask me

A brisket & macaroni wrap. That should be submitted to "This is Why You're Fat". I won't even broach the topic of his tortilla failure. After a year of me training him how to wrap a burrito, this is what happens.

Toothpicks?! Weak.

Project 361

Balls. I forgot to take a Thursday picture. I was doing so well, too!

Thursday was my best friend's birthday. I had Zumba. I think going back to work was just such a bummer that it consumed my brain, haha! You know, I gave you 2 on Wednesday...I'm going to go ahead & say that makes up for it!!

Well anyway, for Friday October 8th:

Not the best thing I've ever eaten...luckily also not the worst!

Amtrak chicken wings. After a hectic afternoon that ended in me not getting food before we got to Union Station, I was counting on the Harvey House Diner....which, turns out, has closed. So these are what I ate to hold me over until I could get to St Louis for some J in the B tacos!

The upside of my hectic afternoon was this:

Just like bein' at the Derby

Dad and I crashed a private party at Maker's Mark to get some wonderful juleps. They were worth not getting food for. Definitely.

Number Niiine.

...That's if I'm even keeping track correctly, which could pretty much go either way. (By the way, we're down to Project 361. I know I could just add on to the end to make up for my shortcomings, but that feels dirty.)

I'd like to begin this post by saying that blog.com is the SHITTIEST website EVAR! If I see another '502 Bad Gateway' message I am going to shove my foot up my computer's proverbial ass! And that's only because I don't know where the website's proverbial ass is. I'm going to take my anger out on the wrong thing, and that's not healthy. I'm like one step away from slapping my mother. Misdirected hostility is a terrible thing (It is, however, a pretty decent 311 song. Whoa, 90s flashback hardcore.)

Moving on, I believe Day 9 is the same as September 29th. Yesterday. And here is my picture.

Time for a nightcap!

...Fucking finally. Between that last paragraph & the successful picture upload, there were SIX error messages. In my head I have broken my foot OFF in this website's ass.

Last night, we had my parents over for dinner. Andy made some wonderful fried chicken. I also took a picture of that, but figured 2 food pictures in a row would move me right on up the ladder of fatass supremacy.

After watching Modern Family, my parents went home. I knew I had to stay up until midnight because today (as in September 30th) is my sister's birthday. I always call her right at midnight, because I'm such an awesome sibling. Andy played Star Wars Galaxies, while I caught up on Gossip Girl & One Tree Hill (shut the fuck up. I've been emotionally invested in these shows for too many years to stop now. It's sick, I know. Can't you focus on the fact that Andy was playing a paid-subscription Star Wars PC game?!)

After accepting defeat, he comes in and lays down. I expressly forbade him to go to sleep, and what does he do?! Falls asleep. I swear, it's contagious. I pour myself a glass of wine, take like 3 drinks and a picture, and I'm out. I mean it was like 11:40 last time I'd looked at the clock.

I wake up at 12:30, frustrated, and call Audrey to tell her happy birthday & tell her the story of what happened.

I shudder to think that I've become SUCH a lameass that I can't even stay awake until midnight, so I am going to blame Andy and the wine. That bottle of wine, for the past 4 days, has put me to sleep. I have poured a glass, not finished it, and woken up the next day. I think there's codeine in it....or something.

(The wine is from Walla Walla, Washington, and a good friend's uncle owns the winery. It's interesting - much sweeter than most cabs, but not "sweet". I hate sweet wines. I like it, but it's not my favorite. And I already passed along the message that Uncle Larry needs to make it less than $19/bottle if he wants my classy ass to drink it.)

A whole week, bitches!

On Monday, September 27th, I technically forgot to take a P362 (Yeah, I shortened it. Subject to change - I told you that.) picture. HOWEVER, I have this tendency to take pictures of the food that Andy & I make and/or eat (Yes, I am a fatass.). I did do that yesterday, so I will post that picture, and pretend like I had every intention of using it to begin with.

For the record, it was delicious.

Steak with red wine sauce, roasted asparagus, and a baked potato