02.08 - Baby Cake

Went to a baby shower this past weekend. A very good time was had. :)

While there, I realized that a beautiful cake with a baby on top is soooo adorable! But, on that same note, a beautiful cake with a baby on top is very (very) disturbing to eat. Haha. I think all the guests were a tad bit traumatized. It was a delicious cake, though . . . ;)

01.25 - Post-Baby Celebration

My cousin D and his wife's baby girl finally arrived last night after a much awaited nine months. I, along with the rest of D's immediate family, were so anxious that we practically stared at our phones till we finally got the OK to come to the hospital. "Baby I" was absolutely itty bitty and precious, and her siblings automatically fell in love with her.

So we celebrated with Italian beef sandwiches, dipped and smothered with sweet/hot peppers. ;) My cousin S had gotten overly excited (about her new niece or the celebratory food of choice, I'm not sure) and brought over 10 sandwiches from their family's fave local place. It was a good evening.

Poor Baby I. Imagine being only four hours old and enveloped by the smell of hot, delicious Italian beef and savory peppers. That little girl is gonna have food love issues when she grows up . . . ;)

01.21 - Fabulous Fondue

I (the initial, not me) got me a nifty little fondue cooking pot for Christmas, and I've been dying to break it in for the past month. We finally got to it this past weekend-- and it was quite delightful. I'm not sure what I enjoyed most-- pouring an entire beer into the pot (as the recipe called for); grating 8 ounces each of sharp cheddar and swiss; or dipping squares upon squares of fresh, grainy bread into the perfectly melty, gooey cheese. Mmm. Good stuff. I can't wait to try a chocolate recipe.

Here are some shots. I apologize in advance for the crazy filipino newspaper articles. *sheepish look*

01.14 - Bad Fiancee

I have this coworker who recently got married, and she always tells me about how she and her husband are trying to eat better and how he does the cooking and tries to incorporate more vegetables into their diet, bla bla bla.

I, on the other hand, feed my fiance chocolate chip cookies, Cinnabons, cream puffs, cheesy breakfast casseroles, slices of deep dish pizza, Dibs, potato chips, fried chicken, burritos, and who knows what else. :\

I am a thoughtlessly gluttonous woman. *sigh*

01.11 - Frozen Pizza Hearts Me

So a few months ago a writer for the RedEye, a free daily paper put out by the Chicago Tribune, randomly contacted me on a food review site. She noticed that I wrote a lot of reviews, particularly on Chicago's delicious pizza (ha), and wanted to know if I ate a lot of frozen pizza. Despite my initial embarassment, I told her that I did, in fact, partake in the occasional frozen pizza (especially recently).

Fast forward two months. Her article on frozen pizza came out this past Saturday, and the first sentence starts with my name. While I'd normally be excited at being mentioned in a cover story food article, I'm not as excited at being depicted as the penny saving, pure Chicago pizza betraying, frozen pizza lover. Haha. Oh well. I'm not gonna lie-- when I want cheesy, comforting pizza and I can't afford the fancy pizzas of the city, humble but tasty ol' DiGiorno or Tombstone does the trick. ;)

Here's a look at (and a short excerpt from) the article:

01.04 - Happy, Healthy New Year

Though I’m not exactly the healthiest piggie* in the pen, I am quite drawn to foods known for their antioxidant qualities. Foods such as:

• Tomatoes for its lycopene
• Red wine for its polyphenols and resveratrol
• Dark chocolate for its flavonoids
• Green tea for its catechins
• Blueberries for its vitamins C and E, anthocyanins, and phenolics

I really don’t even know what all those fancy word antioxidants do, but if they help reduce cholesterol, improve immune function, and work to lower the risk of cancer or other diseases, then I’m all for it. Ha. I didn’t realize just how much I’m into this stuff until this past weekend when my church conference car pool crew stopped by a travel rest area and I bought dark chocolate covered pretzels and a bottled dark chocolate frappuccino (yes, they make them now!) in a single bound. Mmm, delicious and healthy. ;) If only cheese had antioxidants . . . then I’d be set for life.

*Speaking of piggies, a friend gave this cute lamp to me for Christmas. Hmm. Does it come with a hidden message? ;)

12.23 - Christmas Present to Myself

I don't usually buy myself anything at Christmastime-- but this time around, I wanted to give myself something I had been wanting for a very very long time. Kansas City BBQ!

I went to a work conference in Kansas City, MO about three years back and I fell so much in love with their bbq that I had dinner at the same restaurant two nights in a row (the two days I stayed there-- ha). If I had stayed there longer, we all know what would have happened.

Anyway, after thinking about it for the past few years, I finally decided to order myself some good ol' KC barbecue. I didn't go overboard and get one of the $200 packs that serves 6-8 people. Instead, I restrained myself and chose the featured holiday item that serves 2-3 and was on sale for $50. It came last week, and I was screaming and dancing around like I had just won the lottery.

It came in a beautiful styrofoam cooler with their logo stamped into it, and the bags of food were surrounded by dry ice (which I burnt myself on, of course). Sadly, the cooler was misleading because the food was quite lacking compared to the picture below. *sigh* Oh well. It still fulfilled my craving, and it was absolutely delicious. Not as delicious as if I was sitting in a Jack Stack restaurant, but good enough. :}

So, in summary, I got myself Kansas City bbq for Christmas because:

• it's got the best smoked flavor
• the sauce is wonderfully tangy and not too sweet (just how I like it)
• it's known for its "burnt ends," which are the ends of the brisket and are the most unbelievably moist and delicious pieces of bbq ever!! (haha)

I hope you all have a joyful and blessed Christmas full of yummies galore! ;)