So its Hot Tamle Pie night at Alyssa's, served with a Southwest Salad and Raspberry Torte. Missing Wendy tonight....but she is having a ridiculously fun time in the Southwest with her hubby. We talked about inappropriate drive-by's...and yes, unwanted drive-by's are inappropriate!! There was also some fun pimple popping!
Quotes of the night......
"Its HOT in here!!"
"I tried twice.....& he keeps laughing...."
"That was the first time and it was 8 years ago!"
"I'm the blog nazi!"
"How do you envision this friendship working?"
"How many drive-bys am allowed in a week?"
"I think he has a disease...a learning disease!"
"I would not have gone for that 2nd serving but I will eat it!"
"It's a wine word"
"I think about you everyday, does that make you uncomfortable?"
"My ass is sweating"
"We don't want cute, we want 50 feet!!!!"
"This angle works for me!"
"Fake it till you make it!"
"I don't do fat and chubby..."
"OMG! Write that down!"
"So we've got a mechanic, a man for our finances and a guy for sex....we are all set!"
"A lover? Is this a romantic novel?"
"But how do you make an app for that?"
"Whats a white man fire?"
"He knows how to rub two sticks together!"
"I love juicy zits!"
"I just spilled wine on my big boobs!"
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Celebrating Saint Urho's Day!
The legend of St. Urho originated in Northern Minnesota in the 1950s. However, there are differing opinions as to whether it began with the fables created by Sulo Havumaki of Bemidji, or the tongue-in-cheek tales told by Richard Mattson of Virginia. Either way, the legend has grown among North Americans of Finnish descent to the point where St. Urho is known and celebrated across the United States and Canada, and even in Finland.
St. Urho's Day is celebrated on March 16th, the day prior to the better known feast of some minor saint from Ireland, who was alleged to have driven the snakes from that island.
The legend of St. Urho says he chased the grasshoppers out of ancient Finland, thus saving the grape crop and the jobs of Finnish vineyard workers. He did this by uttering the phrase: "Heinäsirkka, heinäsirkka, mene täältä hiiteen" (roughly translated: "Grasshopper, grasshopper, go to Hell!"). His feast is celebrated by wearing the colors Royal Purple and Nile Green. St. Urho is nearly always represented with grapes and grasshoppers as part of the picture.Betsy hosted and made porketta and grasshoppers. Our special guest of honor...a real life finnlander.. was Betsy's cousin Corrie. We all wore purple and drank lots of non-Finnish wine. It was a great night!
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Fat Ash Wednesday
Dinner at Wendy's....a "Fat Ash Wednesday" celebration of sparkling wines, buffalo chicken, jambalaya, bread, and mango-peach frozen yogurt for dessert. BRAVO Wendy!
In celebration of Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday/Ash Wednesday, I made the following recipe:
Sausage and Shrimp Jambalaya
It's also the Wednesday following the "girls' night out" in RF...Wendy and Betsy surprised the rest of the ladies by showing up, along with their gentlemen, for the night's festivities. A few of the ladies shared some highlights (which may have resulted in a few of the more hilarious comments below).
Some of the more classy moments...
"pants on the ground!"
"...pants around the ankles..."
"I know the Heimlich!"
"I really can't get it out."
"Let me go get my wine opener....I keep it in the bedroom."
"Now...it's just not hoppening."
"Operation Pipe Cleaning, Part DO ME"
"I want him to rock my world!"
"I'm with the Steel Erector!"
"It was an eye-high five."
"Don't forget about the balls."
"I once had a dream that I sex with Brendan Fraser in a canoe."
"I hope we all have a dream about that."
"I would really like us to start calling him that to his face, that'd be awesome!"
"You just gotta fuck it out of him!"
"I'm going to try and come on Monday...oh, and I'll try to make it to your thing, too."
In celebration of Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday/Ash Wednesday, I made the following recipe:
Sausage and Shrimp Jambalaya
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour, 5 minutes
Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp butter
- 8 oz Andouille sausage, or other spicy smoked sausage, sliced 1/4" thick
- 2 tbsp paprika
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup diced tomato, fresh or canned
- 1 large green bell pepper, diced
- 2 ribs celery, sliced 1/4" thick
- 4 green onions, sliced thin
- 1 cup brown rice
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
Preparation:
In a heavy bottomed pot with a lid, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the sliced sausage and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Add the paprika, cumin, cayenne, black pepper, and salt. Saute the spices for 1 minute, and then add the tomatoes. Cook stirring for a few minutes to let some of the liquid from the tomatoes evaporate. Add the green bell pepper, celery, and most of the green onions (reserve some of the dark green slices of the onions to garnish the top); cook, stirring for 5 minutes.
Stir in the rice and mix well. Add the stock, turn the heat up to high, and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and cook for 45 minutes. Remove the lid and check the rice. It should be just tender; if it is still too firm cook longer. When the rice is tender, add the shrimp, stir in, and cook covered for 5 minutes. Taste for seasoning, and adjust if needed. Serve the jambalaya in bowls with green onions sprinkled on top.
Note: if you decide to substitute white rice in this jambalaya recipe, you will need to check the recipe after 20 minutes, as it cooks much faster than brown rice.
Stir in the rice and mix well. Add the stock, turn the heat up to high, and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and cook for 45 minutes. Remove the lid and check the rice. It should be just tender; if it is still too firm cook longer. When the rice is tender, add the shrimp, stir in, and cook covered for 5 minutes. Taste for seasoning, and adjust if needed. Serve the jambalaya in bowls with green onions sprinkled on top.
Note: if you decide to substitute white rice in this jambalaya recipe, you will need to check the recipe after 20 minutes, as it cooks much faster than brown rice.
It's also the Wednesday following the "girls' night out" in RF...Wendy and Betsy surprised the rest of the ladies by showing up, along with their gentlemen, for the night's festivities. A few of the ladies shared some highlights (which may have resulted in a few of the more hilarious comments below).
Some of the more classy moments...
"pants on the ground!"
"...pants around the ankles..."
"I know the Heimlich!"
"I really can't get it out."
"Let me go get my wine opener....I keep it in the bedroom."
"Now...it's just not hoppening."
"Operation Pipe Cleaning, Part DO ME"
"I want him to rock my world!"
"I'm with the Steel Erector!"
"It was an eye-high five."
"Don't forget about the balls."
"I once had a dream that I sex with Brendan Fraser in a canoe."
"I hope we all have a dream about that."
"I would really like us to start calling him that to his face, that'd be awesome!"
"You just gotta fuck it out of him!"
"I'm going to try and come on Monday...oh, and I'll try to make it to your thing, too."
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
March 2nd
There are days when we feel like celebrating...
...there are also days when we feel like moping...
or laughing...or crying...or thinking deeply...
or venting ... or sharing... or listening.
No matter what we feel like, the "verb" of the day is enhanced or eased by the company of good - no, great - friends. Thus, another Wednesday Wine Night has come and gone...and all of the above verbs experienced, and then some. Thankfully, as usual, the laughing exceeded the others and another splendid night was had!
Dinner started with a spinach and artichoke dip with french bread or chips. After the appetizer, it was a build-your-own pizza (easy-peasy for the hostess), complimented by a savignon blanc...with a special treat from Wendy of an unoaked chardonnay...mmmm!
Some of the highlights....
"Someone can put one in my trunk!"
"...and it was dirtier..."
"is that what she said or is that what HE said?"
"river falls and booty calls - Selma's all about the rhyming!"
".... .... .... .... .... .... .... and then we had sex!"
"Her vulva is all cleaned up"
"I've had enough to drink where I think everything is hitting on me!'
"You're still pretty much a loser, so we're pretty good there."
"I need to get me some crack 'cause everyone who's on it is skinny and full of energy."
"Not ONE p.m. ... WINE p.m."
"You can ride my snow trailer!"
"We're not getting much of a bonus, but I think I can swing my own sex swing."
"Bulbous"
"I don't know how to find myself on here."
....and that, my great friends, was clearly a Wonderful Wednesday Wine NIGHT!
...there are also days when we feel like moping...
or laughing...or crying...or thinking deeply...
or venting ... or sharing... or listening.
No matter what we feel like, the "verb" of the day is enhanced or eased by the company of good - no, great - friends. Thus, another Wednesday Wine Night has come and gone...and all of the above verbs experienced, and then some. Thankfully, as usual, the laughing exceeded the others and another splendid night was had!
Dinner started with a spinach and artichoke dip with french bread or chips. After the appetizer, it was a build-your-own pizza (easy-peasy for the hostess), complimented by a savignon blanc...with a special treat from Wendy of an unoaked chardonnay...mmmm!
Some of the highlights....
"Someone can put one in my trunk!"
"...and it was dirtier..."
"is that what she said or is that what HE said?"
"river falls and booty calls - Selma's all about the rhyming!"
".... .... .... .... .... .... .... and then we had sex!"
"Her vulva is all cleaned up"
"I've had enough to drink where I think everything is hitting on me!'
"You're still pretty much a loser, so we're pretty good there."
"I need to get me some crack 'cause everyone who's on it is skinny and full of energy."
"Not ONE p.m. ... WINE p.m."
"You can ride my snow trailer!"
"We're not getting much of a bonus, but I think I can swing my own sex swing."
"Bulbous"
"I don't know how to find myself on here."
....and that, my great friends, was clearly a Wonderful Wednesday Wine NIGHT!
Monday, February 21, 2011
Weekend Getaway to Lutsen
Over President's day weekend, five of us ventured up to Lutsen for a get-away and some skiing. Betsy, Katelyn, Stephanie and Corey were the skiers. Alyssa was coming along for some relaxing time in our A-Mazing townhouse. We got a 2 night, 2 day skiing package for around $200 a person. We stayed in Grand Marais, right by the water in a very nice, newer townhouse complex called Cobblestone Cove. We had 2 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2 fireplaces and a loft. Plenty of room with beautiful views of Lake Superior. We would highly recommend this place to anyone looking for a place to stay in Grand Marais.
We arrived in Grand Marais around 5pm Friday night (about 4.5 hour drive from Twin Cities). You could tell we were all ready to relax and not think about life and work because instead of finding dinner somewhere we mixed ourselves a cocktail and headed to the hot tub!! Having too much fun, we realized it was 8pm and needed to eat, so we called up the famous Sven & Ole's Pizza and ordered ourselves a few local treats including a wild rice pizza.
After a long day, we drove the 20 miles back to the townhouse to find Alyssa making us lasagna for dinner! :-) Some more hot-tubing and a new drink discovered made for a fun relaxing evening. Some snow came down and we were hopeful that we would wake up to some fresh powder the next morning.
Sunday we got up early, had breakfast, packed up all our stuff and headed back to Lutsen. Betsy's parents met us at the ski hill and Elana joined us for a day of skiing. We skied all day and left around 4pm, hoping to make it back before the snow in the Twin Cities got to bad. Of course that didn't happen, but we did make it home to Betsy's safely at about 9:30pm. That night the Twin Cities got 12-18 inches of snow. To bad it couldn't have snowed for us when we were skiing.
Quotes from the weekend:
"Apples are hard..."
"This shaker is bigger than my shaker"
"If you know him, you would know him!"
"How big is a large, like 16 inches?"
"I'm officially hard right there"
"His hand in my zipper"
"Did you know I have a smiley face button?"
We arrived in Grand Marais around 5pm Friday night (about 4.5 hour drive from Twin Cities). You could tell we were all ready to relax and not think about life and work because instead of finding dinner somewhere we mixed ourselves a cocktail and headed to the hot tub!! Having too much fun, we realized it was 8pm and needed to eat, so we called up the famous Sven & Ole's Pizza and ordered ourselves a few local treats including a wild rice pizza.
Saturday we got up bright and early and headed to Lutsen for some skiing. We skied from 10 until closing at 4pm. It was bright and sunny all day with great snow conditions in the morning.
 |
| Katelyn & Betsy |
 |
| Betsy & Stephanie on the Gondola |
New drink - "The Marais"
1/2 c Orange Juice
1 c Pomegranate Vodka
1 c Malibu
1/4 c 7 up
Splash Pomegranate Juice
 |
| The Marais |
 |
| Betsy & Elana |
 |
| View from Gondola ride |
"Apples are hard..."
"This shaker is bigger than my shaker"
"If you know him, you would know him!"
"How big is a large, like 16 inches?"
"I'm officially hard right there"
"His hand in my zipper"
"Did you know I have a smiley face button?"
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
House Warming WWN
After two years and endless house hunting, Betsy finally found the most amazing house! WWN girls could not be happier for her! It is beautiful! So what else would you do when you just closed last Thursday, had all your stuff delivered on Monday, stuff you haven't seen for two years... well have the girls over for Wednesday Wine Night of course. After we pushed through the empty boxes and found a few glasses we were set!! We started the night with some champagne to celebrate! Betsy treated us with Chinese take-out which was delicious! No other special wine chosen for the evening. After some great food and conversation, Betsy started to get a little anxious to keep unpacking... .so we helped out a little before calling it a night!! Skiing at Lutsen this weekend! Yahoo!!
Quotes from the evening:
New acronym "SOMF"
"I'm a triple threat! Zero trucks, Zero Tractors and Zero Job"
"Lot's of spreadsheets today!"
"Poor ____... no one ever likes or comments on his stuff"
"Rock the SHIT out of it"
"When I was doing one night stands no big deal, but now..."
 |
| Betsy Cleaning - New Kitchen!! |
New acronym "SOMF"
"I'm a triple threat! Zero trucks, Zero Tractors and Zero Job"
"Lot's of spreadsheets today!"
"Poor ____... no one ever likes or comments on his stuff"
"Rock the SHIT out of it"
"When I was doing one night stands no big deal, but now..."
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Beaujolais with Baked Macaroni & Cheese
Wednesday night and we were all in need of some girl time!! The girls were all here and all ready to drink some wine! Stephanie hosted this week. We had baked macaroni and cheese, Cesar salad and cooked carrots. Chocolate chip cookies for desert. Stephanie paired the mac&cheese with Beaujolais. All the ladies really enjoyed this wine. Alyssa brought a Pinot Grigio to satisfy her love for white wines.
Sorry to disappoint our readers, but we do not have any quotes to share for the evening!! Instead you can salvate over the yummy M&C recipe down below. Stay tuned for next week's WWN at Betsy's new house!
Recipe for Mac&Cheese (from Stephanie's Aunt Diane Mackereth)
1 lb. dried macaroni
1 egg
4 tbsp. unsalted butter
¼ c. flour
2 ½ cups whole milk
2 tsp. dried mustard
4 ¾ cups (1lb) grated cheddar cheese
1 tsp. ground black pepper
½ tsp. salt ½ tsp. seasoned salt
Heat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 2-3 qt baking dish. In a large pot of salted water cook macaroni until firm, about 4 min, drain. Beat the egg and set aside. In large saucepan melt butter over med/low heat and whisk in flour, stirring constantly for 5 minutes. Whisk in the milk and mustard until smooth. Cook until very thick, stirring constantly for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Slowly pour ¼ cup of the sauce into the beaten egg, whisking constantly, to temper the egg. Pour egg mixture back into the sauce. Reserve ½ cup of the cheddar cheese and stir the rest into the sauce until melted. Add the pepper and salts. Stir in the macaroni; then pour into the baking dish and top with the reserved cheese. Bake until bubbly and golden. 20-25 minutes.
1 lb. dried macaroni
1 egg
4 tbsp. unsalted butter
¼ c. flour
2 ½ cups whole milk
2 tsp. dried mustard
4 ¾ cups (1lb) grated cheddar cheese
1 tsp. ground black pepper
½ tsp. salt ½ tsp. seasoned salt
Heat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 2-3 qt baking dish. In a large pot of salted water cook macaroni until firm, about 4 min, drain. Beat the egg and set aside. In large saucepan melt butter over med/low heat and whisk in flour, stirring constantly for 5 minutes. Whisk in the milk and mustard until smooth. Cook until very thick, stirring constantly for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Slowly pour ¼ cup of the sauce into the beaten egg, whisking constantly, to temper the egg. Pour egg mixture back into the sauce. Reserve ½ cup of the cheddar cheese and stir the rest into the sauce until melted. Add the pepper and salts. Stir in the macaroni; then pour into the baking dish and top with the reserved cheese. Bake until bubbly and golden. 20-25 minutes.
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