Bananas

Our Friday night started with a comedy show at Waterworks.  For those of you from the Albany area: yes, I know it's a gay bar.  Truthfully, I find it a little disturbing how many people asked me that when I said that's where we were going.  At any rate, five comedians performed in their upstairs lounge to benefit The Sexual Assault & Crime Victim's Assistance Program of Rensselaer County.   Truth be told, we had a blast.  Afterwards we met up with an old friend over at the Black Bear and shared a pitcher of Blue Moon.  We were in good company since the local Mayor was there along with Jeff the bouncer, Bernie the creepy cab guy, my new friend Lauren (aka Aunt Imelda) and Mary the Clairvoyant.  Mary, who's psychic abilities are limited to her alcohol consumption, informed Jeff and I that we were apparently long lost soul mates.  That got a good laugh out of our group.  It was just about then that she called it a night and asked the creepy cab guy, Bernie, to take her home.  Not long after we decided to head out as well.

Move over Sandra Lee

This weekend was a lazy one and I loved every second of it.  We stoked a fire in the living room every evening and watched Netflix like it was going out of style.  We did manage to squeeze in a family walk down on the SUNY campus Sunday and then a 40 minute workout afterwards so we didn't feel like complete couch potatoes.  Plus, Riley was on the mend.  Saturday morning we brought him into see the vet since he's been out of sorts lately and as it turns out his glands needed to be expressed internally as opposed to the external technique the groomer uses.  Apparently those bad boys were full and making things rather uncomfortable for him.  No sooner were they emptied, he was back to his snuggle-loving self.  I love when things work out.

Icing on the cake

Back in February I put together some peanut butter inspired cupcakes for the hubby's birthday.  I incorporated a box of Girls Scouts Peanut Butter Dreams candies, a box of German Chocolate Cake, and a tub of vanilla butter cream frosting.  But it's what I added to the frosting that made it a huge hit.  Since February requests have come in for more of these little gems and no one believes they are so simple to make.  Being that I just made another batch (the Girl Scout candy/nut orders just came in), I figured I'd share my semi-homemade recipe with you:

Top Secret

Ok.  I've done a lot of thinking and I believe I have formulated the recipe for my dad's macaroni salad complete with measurements.  He and I just kind of go about it haphazardly and it comes out right.  It's all by taste.  This stuff is good, I would not steer you wrong. Dad used to be a short-order cook at Howard Johnson's way back in the day.  That's how he met my mother.  Six months later they were engaged.  Six months after that they married.  Nine month's later there was me.  True Hojo romance right there.  Anywho, enjoy! 

Dad's Top Secret Macaroni Salad

Ingredients:

• 8 oz box elbows, shells, etc
• 1 can tuna, drained
• 1 medium tomato, diced
• 3/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
• Handful shredded carrot
• 1 cup Hellmann’s Mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp Vinegar
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 1/4 tsp Pepper
• A few good shakes of onion powder

Instructions:

• Cook macaroni according to package directions; drain and rinse with cold water until completely cool.
• Combine Hellmann's Mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, onion powder, salt and pepper in large bowl.
• Stir in macaroni, red pepper, tomato, carrots and tuna.
• Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Stir-Fry

No, this is not a foodie blog.  However, I threw together a meal last night "Theresa-style" and think it's worthy of discussion. (Side note: "Theresa-style" refers to Justin's grandmother who likes to experiment in the kitchen.)  I got home last night and I just wasn't feeling another night of bbq.  I know I'll regret saying that when we have three foot of snow on the ground, but I just couldn't endure another hamburger or hotdog.  Enter Stir-Fry.

I had probably half a pound of purple string-beans and another half a pound of asparagus in the fridge which I wanted to use up.  I got the frying pan out to saute the two together with butter and garlic when the idea for Stir-Fry hit me.  So I pulled two chicken breasts from the freezer and put them on auto-defrost in the microwave.  I got some minute brown rice going on the stove.  Then I got fancy and swirled some soy sauce and honey in with the veggies and covered them to steam a bit on low.  I cut the chicken into strips and fried them up separately with some olive oil, salt-n-pepper, paprika, and a glob or so of sweet and sour sauce.  The end result was a dish even Julia Child would be proud of.  You'll have to forgive me as it was an afterthought to take a photo, so it's not plated fancy and there is in fact no rice in this photo.