Just Call Me Betty...

Some of you may not know this, but I am not a chef. My idea of cooking usually entails me heating up something in the microwave or watching my more talented friends chop, mix and make magical goodness in an oven (what? It’s cooking if I am supervising, right?) Anyway a group at my job decided to set up a recipe sharing folder. So I was determined to bond with my fellow coworkers and try and whip up a meal in my very seldom used kitchen. And I vowed to only use the microwave as my timer!

So I told Mary Beth, that she would be my guinea pig for my kitchen experiment. I also used her since she is quite familiar in the kitchen and could answer all of my questions regarding the recipes. So after work, we headed to Whole Foods and Albertson’s to find all the necessary ingredients for the awesome dinner. Once at home we promptly located the fire extinguisher, number to Poison control and a back up microwavable meal, just in case anything went wrong. I also put on my brand new apron (bought especially for the occasion) and pearls because if I was going to be a Suzie Homemaker, I needed to dress for the occasion. So with a glass of wine in hand, I began the cooking process…

From Not So Secret World of Stephanie

White Sangria
All great meals must have a great drink to accompany them. Also, I figured everything tastes great after a few glasses of Sangria. I still considered the Sangria to be a part of my cooking experience since you actually have to chop things and mix. Lucky for me, I have made it before so I knew it was going to be hard for me to fail. Needless to say, it was a hit! You can now find my recipe for White Sangria uploaded to Dropbox. Great summer drink!

Beer Dip
All meals need an appetizer, so I chose a beer dip (once again thinking I could trick Mary Beth’s tastes buds into thinking everything tastes great). Not going to lie, I was a little nervous about adding mayonnaise, cream cheese and beer all into a dip and have it taste great. Thank goodness my fears were firmly washed away when I took my first bite! It was so good and quite easy to make. Even Mary Beth was having issues not eating too much before the main meal. We also decided to spice up half of it with some jalapeno juice, which if you like things a little spicy went quite well. That’s right, not even an hour into my cooking and I already think I can change up recipes. So everyone should definitely use this for munchies at any party!

From Not So Secret World of Stephanie

Turkey Burgers

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Time for the big boy recipe! First of all I had to consult with Mary Beth at the grocery store because I had no idea that coriander was a spice. I also discovered that I had a peeler in my utensil drawer… yes, I have been at my house for over year, but that doesn’t mean I have any idea what I own.

So with all ingredients and utensils ready, I went to work. The cucumber salad was so easy to make until I found out that there was mint I was supposed to add, unfortunately I didn’t see that at the store so I had to leave it out. Making the patties was simple as well. Then yes, for the first time at my house I personally used my grill. So many new adventures all in one night!

Can I just say the turkey burgers were AMAZING! And with the cucumbers, they were so refreshing and light. It is a perfect meal for the summer (yes, I consider it summer when we are already in 90 degree weather)! So big hit and even bigger hit was I didn’t burn down my house. :)

Mexican Corn

From Not So Secret World of Stephanie

Since I was only making corn for two people, I only bought two corns on the cob. Unfortunately for Mary Beth and me, I didn’t half the recipe of the rub though. So I mixed all of the spices together and started put the rub on the cooked corn. I didn’t know how much needed to be on there and also figured since both Mary Beth and I are from Texas we can handle some heat, I pretty much put all of the rub on both ears of corn. BIG MISTAKE! I let it cook again in my oven and when it was time to eat it, I am pretty sure I saw (out of tear filled eyes) smoke come out of Mary Beth’s mouth. The corn was like eating FIRE. So quickly we tried to rub as much of the spices off as possible and try again….yeah, that didn’t work either. Let me just say though had I been a little bit less excited about making the corn red with rub, this would have tasted amazing. It was so good, we actually stilled tried to eat as much of it as possible…but eventually we were ran out of Sangria to put out the fires in our mouths. So word of advice, don’t use all of the rub on the corn unless you are used to eating habanero peppers as a snack.

From Not So Secret World of Stephanie

Ooey Gooey Cake

From Not So Secret World of Stephanie

So to finish off the meal, I decided to make Ooey Gooey Cake. So I pulled out my brand new cake pan (yes, I had to buy one that day since I didn’t have one) and mixed away. Lucky for me, the recipe was so easy to make! All went well on the preparation and cooking portion, but when I pulled the cake out of the oven I accidently tipped it and spilled what felt like lava all over my foot and oven. Not all of the topping came off so I let it cool while Mary Beth and I finished our meal. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore and I served us up some slices of the sugary decadence. Sure enough it was ooey and gooey and quite tasty. It was the perfect ending to the night.

From Not So Secret World of Stephanie

Lessons Learned

Aprons and pearls make everything taste better…as does Sangria.
Just because someone lives in Chicago does not mean they don’t know what spicy is…

Be very careful pulling cakes out of the oven. The topping will somehow slip between the glass and the actual oven making it so you have unscrew the oven door just to clean up…

All Executive Chefs should hire a Sous Chef that helps with clean up. :)

From Not So Secret World of Stephanie

What an adventure! Stay tuned for more!

Chicago Show Week - Part II

Alright let’s see…

Cubs Opening weekend: It just so happened to be opening weekend for the Cubs while we were in town. Unfortunately we weren’t able to make it to the game since we all had to work that day. We finally got out of the hall around 5 and decided to meet up with some of Joe’s friends who happened to be partaking in the festivities since 11 AM.

Now I didn’t really know anything about the Cubs prior to this trip, but apparently their fans are insane. They are very pro Cubs and even more pro drink everything in sight. So we finally make it to Wrigleyville. It was like entering a college campus after a game. Everyone was decked in Cubs gear and everyone was drinking and having a great time. We finally found Joe’s friends at one of the bars. We wanted to be at the same level of fun as them, so we started taking shots and downing our drinks immediately. Well in true form, we all got there or at least a little close. We ended up hanging out in the area for a couple of hours and even had dance party! The night ended with us getting another round or two at the hotel bar and then room service.

Then of course the next day was filled with a little bit of work and then we actually got tickets to game the next day! So exciting. So Dave, Joe, our San Diego buddy Mark and I all got to leave work and go to the game. Now all of my experiences at baseball games usually involve drinking beer, eating hot dogs and sweating my ass off. That wasn’t the case in Chicago. Did I mention it was 30 degrees the entire time we were there!?! Yeah, so we had our beer and hot dogs but it all had to be consumed while wearing multiple layers of clothes, gloves, winter jacket and a scarf. Needless to say we had a great time. I have even became insta-friends with a girl in front of us. Later when we walked out of the ballpark we saw her and she gave me a random free drink she had in her coat. Badass! We then walked to some cigar store and bought cigars! That’s right, I am so one of the boys. And by that I took one puff and decided that I would pass on that fun.

My awesome coworkers/Baseball buddies…

From Not So Secret World of Stephanie

Me and ‘My Boys’

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Wrigley Field

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CUBS WIN!!!

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Me and a Cub

From Not So Secret World of Stephanie

We ended up going to the same bar we were at the night before and saw the craziest magic tricks and I even had a dance party…again. All I can say is at one point and I had a circle around me with people exclaiming what amazing moves I had and even taking pictures…or once again, it could have been them warning others to stay away so that they wouldn’t get hit and taking pictures of the girl having a seizure in the middle of the floor. I am still thinking it is the first option. ;)So after our fun we finally made it back to the hotel…

Keith Urban: …where we eventually made it to a Keith Urban concert. Even though I don’t know any of his music, it was actually a pretty good concert. I was pretty tired from the day’s events so we didn’t get too crazy at the concert. Later we went out to a random bar where I got nachos and then pretty much begged to go home so that I could sleep. So crazy day, but very slow evening.

Big Girl Shots: On Sunday we had a big day ahead of us. We had to be on the show floor around 7 AM. It was a looooong day. Since it was the last day of show and the first day of move out we had an extremely busy schedule. Finally around 9:30 PM, we got to leave. Of course, I just had to have Café Bionda again so me and the boys planned on getting some food there. Only problem was the kitchen closed at 10. Let’s just say we were able to leave the hall, get a cab, get everyone’s order and sit down and get our first drink all within 20 min. The boys, two other coworkers and I all sat down for a huge feast. There was so much food! The restaurant finally kicked us out around 11 PM, so we did the next logical thing. We went to the hotel bar. After ordering a round of drinks, my coworker Dan (another Chicagoan) decided to get us a round of shots. What I didn’t realize was this was going to be my true initiation into being ‘one of the boys’. That’s right. Dan ordered Jameson…straight. Seriously, if I can’t take tequila or any other straight liquor, how did they think I was going to take the manly Jameson? Not wanting to disappoint, I took it. Like a champ. And like a champ, I kept it down. WIN! After that round we got another round of drinks and another round of Jameson. And with that we closed down the bar. So rather than just go up to our rooms, we left the hotel and went to another bar! Yay good decisions! Once again, more drinks and more shots later we finally decided to call it a night. Yay me I can take Big Girl Shots and still last all night long. :)

Dance Party USA: Once again our day was filled with work on the show floor and our night was filled with partying. Monday night we tried to mix it up a bit and went to a nice steak dinner. The food was amazing, the drinks were great and of course the company (my boys!) was fantastic. After dinner we met up with some more of Joe’s friends (I love hanging out with a local) and went to a few different bars. Then it was time for dance party extravaganza. The boys and I left once low key bar and went to an awesome dance party location. Since it was kind of early there wasn’t weren’t that many people, but the ones that were there were awesome. I didn’t do hardly any dancing, but still had a great time. Since it was kind of slow, we decided to go to another dance party location! I was in heaven, multiple dance parties in one night. I felt like I was back home in Dallas…..and did I mention that they were gay bars! Oh glorious! So we get to the next location where within 5 minutes I make a new best gay friend. This where the nights gets fuzzy…I remember tons of dancing, drinks , more dancing, getting fresh air, dancing some more and most likely some more drinks. Needless to say, we didn’t end up getting home till 4 AM. Thank goodness I was going home the next day.

All in all Chicago was so much fun. Probably one of my most favorite work trips to date. I ate tons of great food, had MULTIPLE dance parties, worked with amazing people and even got to go to a Cubs game. I couldn’t have asked for a better 11 days. So thanks to a wonderful city and to the awesome hospitality of my coworkers. Can’t wait for the summer….

Chicago Show Week - Part I

So it was a good thing I had a prequel to what Chicago was like for my work week, because what was in store for the actual show was definitely not anything I could have come into without training. And no I am not talking about work…imagine that.

So after a week in Dallas, I headed back to lovely Chicago. This time I left all of my really big sweaters behind since it was so nice the last time I was there. I also brought dance party outfits since I was assured I would be showcasing my fabulous moves in multiple locations. I was completely prepared for Chicago...or so I thought.
Rather than bore you with a day by day rundown of my trip, I’ll give you the highlights…

Check In: As soon as I arrived to my hotel I got in line for check in. Well, lucky me one of the employees suggested using the kiosks. Little did he realize that the kiosk wasn’t working. Somehow amongst me threatening to yell at him (in a joking manner, of course) and the growing line behind me, he decided to check me in himself. So after I berated him in front of his manager (all in good fun, I swear!), he decided to upgrade me for the week. This consisted of staying on the 33rd floor (Penthouse!), free breakfast and free internet for my entire stay…and of course the envy of all of my coworkers. What can I say? Some people just love me. :)

View from my Penthouse…

From Not So Secret World of Stephanie

From Not So Secret World of Stephanie

Viagra Triangle: One night the Dallas Crew headed over to the Viagra Triangle as it is referred to in Chicago. Apparently it is where old guys hang out and hit on the nubile ladies. Woo hoo sugar daddies! So we went to a little Irish pub and had a fun dinner with drinks. We decided to keep the fun going by heading over to a piano bar. Sure enough that is where all the Viagra poppers were hanging out. Although I think our entourage of people deterred them from getting too close. So no sugar daddy for me, but our San Diego coworker had to fend off a very hungry cougar. The night ended with me 'serenading' the table with Frank Sinatra and probably embarrassing the hell out of them. Then it was back to hotel in the dance party cab...

Dance Party in the cab...

From Not So Secret World of Stephanie

The Beginning of Shots: So on Tuesday night we had a company dinner with client. With over 20 people in attendance and an open bar, you can only image how hefty the tab was… We all ate at Café Bionda (you HAVE to check this place out if you are ever in Chicago) and had some of the most amazing food. It was a great bonding experience for the team, but then me and my boys (Joe and Dave!) decided that we had not had enough fun for the night, so we headed to a little hole in the wall bar down the street. To get straight to the point of bad decisions, our wonderful leader Joe bought the first round of our favorite drinks and shot of Tequila. Oh. My. God. How did my nemesis Tequila find me!?! Rather than be a good girl and let one of the boys take the shot, I had to prove that I was just one of the boys and could handle anything that they were taking. So down the hatch it went.... and stayed! I win! The rest of the night continued with more bad decision making. Joe and I played pool against some locals. I am pretty sure he got all of the balls in while I tried to distract the other team with sexy moves....which I am sure consisted of me trying to give sexy looks and poses but probably just ended up scaring the other team instead. Then of course, there were the multiple Irish Car bomb shots...once again I am one of the boys. Finally we left only to run across the street to buy lotion at the grocery store. Apparently we had to have the lotion that night since all of our skin was completely dried out by the water in the hotel. So I apologize grocery store workers with having to put up with us that night. The lotion was great though! Needless to say 7 AM came very early the next day...

German Food: I also had my first German food while in Chicago. It was awesome. Me and the boys had dinner with my Chicago twin and her boyfriend as well as mini Pleepleus. Then MB made an appearance as well. It was a very relaxing night and I am pretty sure we were all in bed by 11 PM!

Me and my Twin...

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Pleepleus drinking!

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First Dance Party - Chicago Style: So Thursday night The Boys, the Dallas Girls and me (yes I am enough personality and fun that I don't get lumped up into a group :) ) all went out to eat Mexican food and then have dance party. The dinner was great until we started talking about dance moves and my unknown new nemesis chimed in. First of all her name is Stephanie. If you don't know me well, I hate sharing my name. I like to be the only Stephanie in the group. Anyway, right off the bat she was at a disadvantage with me and not because of her personality...but then her personality made her my new nemesis. So Stephanie brings up dance moves and asks me what I like to dance to. Techno baby! Then out of nowhere she says "Oh it's on!" Uh, what? Did she just challenge ME to a dance off? Um, does she not know about Santa Hat night? Is this bitch crazy? So rather than laugh it off and accept her challenge. I went into crazy mode and decided to hate her. Yay rational! Oh yeah because did I mention my other nemesis was at the table and in my system? Yep, tequila always sneaks in.
Anyway, so we end up leaving the restaurant and head to dance party. So we get through the door and into the bar. We have one round and decide this was not the right location for us. So we all cram into one taxi...there are 6 of us....all grown adults. Since I am one of the last ones in, I get to sit on Stephanie's lap. I kid you not, the minute I sit on her lap she screams in pain. WTF! That's right apparently my light as a feather body hurt her...or as she said, I was hitting her broken rib in some way. Too late...you are now my ultimate nemesis. Someone give me tequila so we can make it a brawl!
We finally made it to the next location where I was the least fun person to hang out with. In true form, my boys know the remedy. The liquor me up with anything but tequila. This brought back normal Stephanie and of course awesome dance moves. Then more liquor brought about loud, obnoxious Stephanie along with slippy, almost falling dance moves. Needless to say I left on a very happy note, along with everyone else. Oh yeah, 6 AM on the show floor the next day hurt. Oh the things we go through for some fun on the road.

The crew minus my nemesis...

From Not So Secret World of Stephanie

Since this became longer than I thought....stay tuned for Part II of Chicago Show Week....or as some of us like to remember it as Chicago Drunkfest 2011.

Chicago Work Week - Day 3

So I am finally going into Day 3 of my work week in Chicago and everything was looking good. I was well rested and ready to attack the day’s assignments. Thank goodness we didn’t go crazy the night before because we had a big day of meetings and work ticket writing. Finally around 7 PM we left the office… and did I mention that it was St. Patty’s day? Oh yeah…

So after leaving the office, I call up my Blonde Chicago Twin (me and this girl have tons in common and we heard from multiple people that we were the same person except for hair color. We met for the first time in person a day before this.) and make plans to meet up with her at a bar. Of course, in my mind we were going to go to the hotel, change out of our work clothes and then I was going to change into my perfect St. Patty’s outfit…but the boys had other plans. Rather than waste time going back to the hotel, we went straight to the bar…and straight to the drinks.

Earlier in the day, I found out that I had a 6:30 AM meeting the next morning. OK, no big deal. I will only have a few drinks with dinner and absolutely, under no circumstances was I to have any shots. As soon as I sat down I exclaimed that at no point would we be taking shots….yep, I did! As you may have already guessed, my plans were not to go as expected.

So I sit down next to my twin and we starting chatting up a storm and ignoring the boys, her boyfriend and his coworker. I am drinking my glorious cranberry vodka and we are checking out the menu. So we have our drinks, we are chatting, I am talking smack to the boys and overall having a great, low key St. Patty’s celebration. The next thing I know, a shot appears in front of my face. Ummm….apparently I wasn’t loud enough to be heard when I said no shots of the night. I know, shocking. So rather than being a responsible adult and refusing the drink (ok, I did at first) I took it. It was wonderful. The next thing I know, we are getting more drinks and somehow they are coming out doubles and more shots! I was in full on party mode!

We continued to drink and I decided to make the group new friends. We met a random chick outside on a smoke break (no, not me) and I yelled at/wrangled a Spanish guy over to our table minutes later. Then my twin and I decide to be matchmakers. There was more yelling, more declarations of undying friendship and then the realization that I went too far on socializing. Oh sweet dear Jesus, I was drunk. How does this always happen? So I go into “smartest person alive with the best ideas that always work” mode and I try to order bread from the bartender. Yeah, apparently the kitchen was closed and all he had to offer me were oyster crackers. So I took 5 packs. :)

Queue Time Travel trip #2…

*Apparently we got in the car to go home where I annihilated said oyster crackers (as they apparently were everywhere the next day)
*We made it to the hotel where somehow I was convinced to get another drink
*Since the bar was closing we got another shot and drink
*Once of my coworkers secured a cab for me for the next morning for breakfast
*Somehow made it to my room
*Somehow set my 13 alarms

Finally I find myself waking up at 5:15 AM. Oh what an early morning. While getting ready, I find out that breakfast is now at 7. I call and reschedule my cab, pack up all of my belongings, check out and head towards my early morning breakfast….all the while feeling like shit.

The rest of the day was filled with meetings, finding out about the $500 we spent the night before, waiting at the airport and finally coming home….still wondering how I managed to survive the last 3 days. What was I going to do when I had to go for 11 days in just one more week? At least I had a quick training session.

Chicago Work Week - Day 2...

So I woke up after a couple of hours of sleep ready to attack the day. I was a bit nervous going into the office because I had no idea what to expect. I didn't know what any of my new job responsibilities were going to be....lucky for me, it was all things that I knew how to do. So workload wise I was good.

So to help me and boys with our hangovers, we went over to Portillo's and apparently this is cure all of all hangovers. Yeah, not so much for me. I had the beef sandwich and cheese fries. Now mind you it was good, I just think my body wanted to hurt me even more since I hadn't been eating fast food and greasy food for a while. So while it was amazing while I ate it, I felt even worse a couple hours later.

So after one of the longest days at work, we all finally made our way back to the hotel to rest. Yeah, I was at that point I was so tired that there was no way I could fall asleep. So after watching TV for about an hour, the boys and I all decided to head out for dinner. To one of Joe's friend's bar... oh no.

In shocking behaviour, we all were on our best behaviour. No shots. No drinking games. No crazy dance party moves. Just a nice relaxing dinner and drinks. And in true form we all headed home around 10 PM. I do was shocked that all 3 of us could walk in a bar and still have the ability to walk out...sober.

Chicago was looking up for me and being responsible. yay! :)

Chicago Work Week - Day 1....

So how do you get back into the groove of things? I like blogging, I really do if I have something funny to say or the most random story that I don’t want to forget. Then again, I also almost want to use this as a mini journal. As you can see nothing funny or interesting is happening, but I have been busy…

So the one thing I wanted most in my career is finally happening. I am traveling. In February, I spent a total of 8 days in Dallas. I was in New Orleans for the first part and then beautiful San Diego for the rest. All for work. Although some crazy shit went down, it is isn’t interesting to talk about unless you know the Trade Show industry. So I won’t bore you with details how I literally almost froze my ass off in New Orleans (seriously, I think I was on the verge of frost bite when I got back to my hotel one night) or how I had cursed booth in San Diego which I was sure was going to destroy my career. If you are truly interested in either story, then get with me later.

As a result of the cursed booth, I actually was promoted on another show (I was just as shocked). This of course meant more travel! Yay! So lucky me, I spent most of March and some of April in Chicago. So my first trip up there was for only 3 days. I, of course, couldn’t think of how I was going to pack my electric blanket, 13 sweaters, tights, extra pants, hand warmers, gloves, snow boots and anything else to keep me warm in a small carry on piece of luggage. So I finally knocked down my packing list to a few sweaters and appropriate work clothes and my winter coat. And wouldn’t you know…the whole time I was there, we had like 50 – 60 degree weather. Really, Chicago? You call this cold. Please I can totally do this.

Anyway, being overdressed (as in too many layers) I started my new role in Chicago and it wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought it would be. On the other hand, my social life had no idea what it was getting into. I didn’t realize that it was almost a city wide law that whenever you decide to have an adult beverage you must also have a shot to go along with it. Now I am fine with taking some girly shots , but since college I haven’t really trust myself to take big boy shots. Little did I know what was in store for me…

So my first night in Chicago, I called up my coworker Dave and told him to meet me in the hotel bar for dinner. Not wanting to get crazy, I decided to have a salad and nice little cranberry vodka. No plans to have a drink fest since I would be going to a new office the next day. So after 2 very nice sized drinks, I was ready to call it a night and make my way to my room for a good sleep. Little did I know a former Chicagoan/coworker would meet us at the table. Dave and I had already paid and were done. Not in the cards…

Once Joe sat down, he threw our paid tabs to the side and informed us that we weren’t done and in true Chicago form mentioned we should get shots. Well unfortunately for me, I was in a pliable mood and decided that shots was the best idea anyone had come up with in centuries! So off to the bartop I run to order some Flaming Dr. Peppers…wait, what? You can’t light things on fire!?!?! What kind of crap is that? At that point, I couldn’t think of anything easy and fun so I ordered jager bombs…ugh.

Needless to say at that point, my 11 o clock bedtime was soon changed and my time traveling commenced. Scenes from the night play out like so…

*Take shots! Laugh, make fun of each other
*Order another round. Apparently since it isn’t a double, we go back to the bar to ‘spice’ it up some more
*Almost done….oh wait what is this? A shot?
*Boys go on smoke break. Stephanie is about to die. So I decide to split my shot with theirs….and I think I poured some of my 6th round of cranberry vodka out underneath the table.
*Bar is closing. Let’s go to a room and drink there!
*Smoke break and drink break on the balcony
*Somewhere around 3 , I have made it to my room and have set all necessary 8 alarms….
*TIME TRAVEL!
*5:30 AM – Time to wake up, hid hangover and somehow make it to work….

Yeah, so this was night one of my first time in Chicago. Obviously all good decision making skills are thrown out the window when visiting. We all did make it to work the next day without any problem…except of course the feeling of wanting to die throughout the day. All I could think was, thank goodness this is only a 3 day trip…