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…

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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!

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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

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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.

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Ooey Gooey Cake

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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.

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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. :)

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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…

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Me and ‘My Boys’

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Wrigley Field

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CUBS WIN!!!

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Me and a Cub

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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….