Cincinnati Beer Run 2014

Well, it's Tuesday.

The weekend has come, and sadly, gone. I never got a chance to post my Monday post. Yesterday was crazy! One of those days you have after you've gone away for a long weekend, only to come home late Sunday night and realize the housework didn't go away while you were gone. In fact, it seems to have inexplicably multiplied. There's laundry to do, the grocery shopping must be done, the grass must be mowed, dinner must be prepared, dogs must be walked and fed, bird feeders to be filled, compost to be tumbled, etc. Not a lot of time for blogging when you've got a full day. I should have been up at 6 working on the blog yesterday morning, but instead I slept in till 8. I never sleep that late. I'm blaming the tequila-hangover-hideousness that was Sunday!

We had a great time in Cincinnati! We drove up Friday afternoon, which just so happened to be one of the hubby's cousin's wife's (that's a mouthful!) birthday. After meeting at one of the cousin's houses, we schlepped out for Mexican food. Delicious, delicious Mexican food. And no Mexican food outing is complete without a margarita.

The girls. I'm in the middle in the polka dot shirt. Coincidentally, both of the hubby's cousin's wives are named Kim, so we'll just go with Brunette Kim and Blonde Kim. It was Brunette Kim's birthday. The lucky girl is still in her twenties :)

The hubby is the only one missing from this picture, but someone had to be the photographer.

We were leaving for the race on Saturday morning at 8 am, so needless to say no one stayed up real late on Friday night. Come morning, we were all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

For the most part. Not everyone's a morning person!

Ready to run!

The hubby and I decided to represent U of O on our run. Crazy enough, the hubby and I met another Duck fan! We met a guy who had just moved from Eugene to Cincinnati a year ago. He said he still works for the same company, which is based out of Eugene, so he makes a lot of trips back to Oregon. He asked us how we liked it here, and we chatted for awhile. He seemed pretty homesick to me, I felt bad for him. I definitely know how that goes!

The hubby and his cousins. They're Toys-R-Us kids. They're never gonna grow up :)

The race ended up being a ton of fun. Hard, I must admit, but fun. I've never been inspired to drink, and then exercise, and now I know why. It's not easy. The race was set up to start in Florence, KY, which sounds crazy, but it's actually just right across the river from Cincinnati. The race had us crossing the bridge from Kentucky into Ohio and back into Kentucky. That part was pretty cool, I thought. Every half mile there was a beer stand that was serving locally crafted microbrews. You could stop at all the stands, or you could stop at none of them. I opted to stop at all of them. I must say, running after guzzling a beer is like shaking beer up in its bottle, only it's getting shaken in your stomach. Not something anyone is going to want to do on a regular basis, but as a novelty? We all enjoyed ourselves.

And after we were done running, it was time for margaritas. Giant, fish-bowl sized margaritas.

And... this is what we looked like after the margaritas. I'm not sure who joined us in the picture :)

Brunette Kim hitching a ride with Blonde Kim.

Boys will be boys.

We headed back home early on Sunday morning, seeing as it was Mother's Day. We proceeded to spend the afternoon eating Lemon Blueberry Crumb Bars with my mother-in-law. So yummy. So obviously I've been back to the grindstone for a day now. I've got another crazy day on deck. Grrr. The only thing that must happen today is the harvesting of the fresh cilantro. It's gotten out of control! I don't know what happened, but we came home from Cincinnati and it looked like we had a little forrest of cilantro. Good thing I need to make some salsa :)

Happy Tuesday!

Caramel Mocha Poke Cake

I can't say enough good things about my birthday cake. Maybe it's because this is the first birthday cake I've ever made myself, or maybe it's just because this cake is so dang awesome. It's chocolatey, moist, and fragrant from the strong coffee. The whip cream frosting with a caramel drizzle adds the perfect final touch to this likeness of the caffeinated beverage. I honestly can't stop eating it! One other interesting tidbit- I challenged myself to make a birthday cake using only ingredients I had on hand. I'm proud to announce that I completed that challenge, thanks to a can of Dulce de leche that I just happened to have on hand.

My 31st birthday turned out pretty good. The hubby had to work on my actual birthday, so he took me out the day before my birthday. We had planned to go for a run, but inevitably we woke up that day to a monsoon. Seeing as how we were celebrating my birthday, neither of us felt like 5 miles of mostly-likely soaked running. So, we did a little shopping instead. I got my traditional birthday bag-o-candy, and the hubby took me out for a Bloody Mary soaked brunch. And then...

We came home and ate cake!

Happy Birthday indeed! Plus, the Ducks beat Texas in the Alamo Bowl, so my birthday couldn't have got any better :)

Happy Thursday everyone!

Ingredients:

Cake:
3 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
3 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened
3 cups brown sugar
4 eggs, room temp
1 cup milk
1 cup strong coffee
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 (15.8 oz) can Dulce de leche

Frosting:
1 cup milk
5 tbsp flour
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Grease a 9x13 sheet cake pan.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour through salt. Whisk to combine. Set aside.
3. In another large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until well combined, 3-4 minutes. Mix in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in milk. Mix in coffee. Mix in vanilla. Add flour mixture to the bowl, and mix until combined. Pour batter into prepared pan, and bake in preheated oven 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
4. While cake is baking, prepare Dulce de leche. Using a double broiler method, heat caramel over low heat until the caramel reaches a perfect consistency for pouring. Remove cake from oven. Using a toothpick or skewer, poke holes all over the top of the cake. Reserving 1/4 cup of caramel for drizzling, pour the remainder of the caramel over the top of the cake. Allow cake to completely cool before frosting.
5. To prepare frosting: In a small saucepan, combine flour and milk. Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture becomes very thick. Set mixture aside to cool. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until pale and very creamy. Mix in cooled flour mixture. Mix in vanilla. Beat mixture until it reaches the correct consistency of frosting. Spread mixture on top of cooled cake. Using reserved caramel, drizzle it over the top of the cake.
6. Serve immediately with lots of cold milk.

Linked to: Weekend Potluck

Christmas 2013

Hello friends! I can't believe it's New Years Eve already. The year flew by. It was our first year in our new home, and it couldn't have been better. I think I love my house a little more everyday. I'm definitely looking forward to what 2014 is going to bring.

I hope everyone had a merry Christmas. I'm a little late with my Christmas post, but tis' the season to procrastinate. It was my birthday yesterday, so I've been understandably busy. We celebrated our Christmas on Friday, as the hubby had to work on Christmas Day. We had Christmas dinner at our house with the hubby's mother, his sister and her husband, and our nieces and nephews. It turned out to be a lovely day, the kids made out like bandits!

Our tree.

Gotta have some Oregon Duck's Christmas gear!

The boys are ready for the get-together.

Gizmo and I.

Haloti and I.

Brock's having a wee bit o' trouble with this one :)

Gavin opening presents.

Megan's excited about her doll.

Someone got a remote control car!

Christmas fun.

She's going to be a heartbreaker someday :)

What's better than an X-Box game?

More!

A teenage mutant ninja turtle, loose in the house!

So, a new year = blog freshening time! I'm going to be updating and streamlining the blog over the next couple of days. That's just what I like to do at the beginning of the year :)

Stay tuned!

Oregon Trip 2013 Conclusion

Welp, I think I've taken a long enough vacation from the blog. The hubby and I flew home from Oregon on Monday, and I'm just now having the time to sit down and write. It's been a crazy week. We got home around 1:30 am on Monday night/Tuesday morning. Needless to say, we slept for most of Tuesday. The hubby returned to work on Wednesday, while I was forced, forced I tell you, to run to the grocery store. *Groan* While grocery shopping the day before Thanksgiving may sound slightly less pleasurable then enjoying a colonoscopy, I was happily surprised to find a nearly empty store. Upon checkout, standing in front of the cashier, I inquired about the scarcity of crazed Thanksgiving shoppers. I was informed that Tuesday and Tuesday night at the store had been absolute nightmares, because people were afraid of getting snowed in. Worked out well for me!

Yesterday was Thanksgiving (obviously), which was spent with the hubby's family. All of this rambling brings me to my point- today is the first day I've had to sit down and play catch-up with social media. Along the lines of catch-up, here are a few pictures to sum up the monthlong vacation extravaganza-

My mom and I have started a tradition since I've moved away. We always go out for drinks at The Vault at least once while I'm in town. This year, I had a Raspberry Lemon Drop made with fresh raspberry puree. It was all kinds of delicious. 

We let Dad and the hubby come with us :)

Shrimp and Lobster Bruschetta. Yum!

I'm not sure how Haloti finds this comfortable, but apparently, he does.

Forever hoping someone will drop something.

Rhoadesgiving! Since the hubby and I flew out a few days before Thanksgiving, my family celebrated Thanksgiving last Saturday. Lots of wine, lots of food, and lots of football! It would have been a perfect day, if only the Duck's could have won!

Beautiful, beautiful turkey.

The dogs enjoying a little howling on their last night of the trip.

A shot of Vegas (our layover city) as we flew out.

Foodie items purchased in Oregon!

I'm really excited about this jarred adobo sauce. Sometimes recipes only call for a little bit of adobo sauce, which makes it a pain to open an entire can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce for just a teaspoon of the adobo sauce. 

I would never be able to buy this -ground shrimp- in Kentucky. I smell a latin-inspired soup on the horizon.

Risotto is also looming on the menu!

So, we are home now. The blog should be returning to normal. I have to admit, I'm excited to get back to cooking and baking. It's nice to have a break once in a while, but when it comes down to it, I just love being in the kitchen.

I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving, and that you were not harmed by Black Friday violence :)

Oregon 2013- so far!

Happy Monday friends!

So, I've recently come to terms with the fact that #1- I'm having too much fun to be at my computer and #2- November is going to be a less than proliferous month when it comes to the blog. I constantly have that constant, nagging self-reminder that I should take to the computer and blog. I just don't have the time (or desire) right now. And that's ok. It's going to be an all-out blogging blitz when I get home though- holiday cooking! I'm super-excited. In the meantime, some pictures from the first half of our trip to entertain you and get you through this inconsistent blogging month-

The hubby and I in our Halloween finest. Hubby won Scariest Costume at the party we went to!

The hubby's friends' highly creative, homemade, paper-mache mask. I'm still not sure what he was supposed to be, but it was pretty cool :)

My parent's house has a daylight basement which is where our guest bedroom is at. I love looking at the squirrels and birds at eye level.

The parent's took us out to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings in Corvallis. My mom's favorite radio guys (Steve Tannen and Justin Myers from Crunch Time with Steve and Justin) were doing a show from that location, and my mom was beside herself to get to meet them.

I made Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies for the fam.

A "Kentucky Jenny" from Bar 101 in Corvallis. I wish I remembered exactly what was in it, but I think it was bourbon, ginger beer, and bitters over shaved ice. Like a snow cone. I just had to try it :) It was pretty good!

It's a rough life for Mr. Gizmo.

Loved this double rainbow over Corvallis.

Cheering on the Ducks for the ill-fated Stanford game. Boo.

The hubby and I went down to Southern Oregon (about 3 hours from my parents) where my brother lives. The little bro and his wife took us to an amazing Italian restaurant in Ashland, OR, Pasta Piatta. We all split a bottle of Chianti Classico. So lip-smackin' good!

Their calamari was amazing, with fresh marinara.

After lunch in Ashland, we walked through the town to see Lithia Park and The Oregon Shakespeare Theater.

My brother's wife and the hubby goofing off at the theater.

Bro's wife, Bro, and me in Lithia Park.

I just seem to find duckies where ever I go!

My dad taught me how to make his homemade noodles. A priority when I get home is replicating his German potato and homemade noodle soup. First, I'll have to figure out a name for the soup though, because he calls it "Leichtyswitch". This ends up sounding like "lick-it-ee-switch". I've been unsuccessful finding a German soup of this name, but my dad swears that's what his Grandma used to call this soup. I will continue to search for a name for the soup, or at the very least, a correct German spelling :)

Gizmo's favorite resting spot at my parent's house.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!