State Fair Food Planning

Deep-Fried Peanut Butter & Bacon Nuggets with Berry Weiss Jelly (source)

Less than one week to go until the Wisconsin State Fair 2013 kicks off! Since I've done one of these posts the last two years, I wanted to keep the tradition going. Here's what I'm hoping to consume this year:

New Food - Find the complete list here.

• Beer-Battered Macaroni & Cheese Bites with Jack Cheese and Bacon - Sounds interesting. This might be a good alternative to the deep-fried macaroni. That stuff is hard to beat, though.
• Deep-Fried Pepper Jack & Bacon Macaroni & Cheese on a Stick - Oh no, more delicious fried macaroni options! What to do, what to do.
• Deep-Fried Peanut Butter & Bacon Nuggets with Berry Weiss Jelly - Peanut butter mixed with blended bacon, hand-rolled in Panko bread crumbs, deep fried and served hot and fresh with Berry Weiss Jelly. I hate to admit it, but I'm intrigued.

Food on a Stick - The complete list is here.

• Deep-Fried PB & J - Why did I not get this the last two years? I keep talking about it...
• Cookie Dough on a Stick - I always have this at the end of the night and can never finish it, but that's what friends are for. I mentioned in my 2012 retrospective that I might skip the cookie dough this year, so we'll see. It could happen.

Will Not Be Trying

• Better with Bacon Bar - Ice cream rolled in bacon pieces and dipped in chocolate. I said this last year, and I'll say it again - what is the impulse to add bacon to everything? The peanut butter and bacon nuggets sound OK, but I'm not sure about the ice cream. Maybe the salty/sweet combo would be good??
• Krispy Kreme Burger with Spicy Pig Candy - I don't even know what that means, but I'll probably just stick to the regular Krispy Kreme cheeseburger. Apparently spicy pig candy is candied bacon. Of course.
• Cajun Frog Legs on a Stick - Ew?

Yearly Must Haves

• Deep-Fried Oreos - Seriously, they taste like Oreo-flavored donuts. 
• Krispy Kreme Cheeseburger - It was surprisingly tasty last year (with ketchup), and I may just have it again.
• Sweetcorn Jalapeno Nuggets - So good.

Mom's Day Off

My husband and daughter decided to take an impromptu trip to Michigan to visit some family yesterday, and I stayed home to watch the dog, clean the house for my in-laws' arrival today, and just chill. And chill I did. Here's how my day off went down:

1. Slept in until 9:15 after dropping hubs and kiddo off at the ferry at 5:30 AM.
2. Went to our friends' son's second birthday party.
3. Visited E-Collectique Runway Boutique to use up a Groupon and only spent $6 (purchases below).
4. Caught up on a couple DVRed episodes of Resale Royalty.
5. Watched Ghost World (a favorite of mine) and then was drawn into Death at a Funeral (British comedy with an ensemble cast) after it.
6. Blogged.
7. Ate too much junk food but drank only one glass of wine surprisingly.
8. Stayed up late and watched Freaks and Geeks on Netflix.

I haven't tried the Grenache yet, but the Riesling was good.
The cheese was eh, and the puppy chow was amazing of course.

Calvin Klein - I plan to wear this to my husband's cousin's wedding in August.
It's 100% cotton, so it'll be perfect in case it ends up being super hot that day.

DKNY - They're a little bit short, so I may have to get them tailored shorter or slimmer,
but I couldn't pass them up. They made my butt look redonkulous. Do people still say that?

I was actually looking for a wide tan belt, so this one worked!

And now I have to get serious and start cleaning. Then, I hope to have time before hubs gets home to make him some rhubarb blackberry (or strawberry, haven't decided) crumble for Father's Day!

Black and White

So far, this weekend hasn't been as productive as I originally planned, but I'm hoping this cup of coffee I'm drinking will turn that around. Although I'm pretty lazy at the moment, I was feeling ambitious last night when I took on two recipes I saved on Pinterest - cheesy quinoa and cauliflower cheese sticks. Both were kind of lackluster although healthy. We'll have to see how the cheesy quinoa reheats, though, because I have six servings of that left.

Yesterday I got dressed in black and white stripes and a statement blazer for Inspiration Monday and Bloggers Do It Better.

Striped Top and Blazer: Kohl's; Cardigan: Target; Jeans: Kut;
Shoes: TOMS; Headband: Fred Boutique; Necklace: Etsy

Lots o' Beef and Beer

Sweater and Pants: Gap; Sunglasses: Payless; Booties: Steve Madden

While we didn't have traditional St. Patrick's Day celebrations this weekend, we did conclude my husband's birthday week with friends, family, and plenty of beer and meat.

Saturday evening, after dropping Bridget off with my mom, I joined hubs and some of his friends at Sir James Pub in Port Washington. Originally, our plan was just to eat dinner at Deano's Steakhouse (the same place we had our Valentine's dinner), but my husband and one of his friends discovered this place and told everyone to meet them there instead. He is now obsessed with this place. It is a beer snob's paradise! They have a really intimidating beer list that's over five pages long, containing over 450 varieties, according to their Facebook page. The guys were in heaven. They were all taking pictures with their phones and calling friends to spread the word.

We spent a couple hours there, and during that time, the only other woman in our party, our friend M, got repeatedly hit on by this old guy in the strangest way possible. Even after we pointed out her husband. It may have been a "you had to be there moment," but I'll try to recount the story anyway because it was really random. So this man probably in his 60s comes up to the table that both of us girls were sitting at. He starts telling M how he noticed she was wearing high heels and told her how unhealthy it is for her feet and calves. Her heels were reasonably high, and they weren't even the highest ones in the bar. He was clearly just doing this to be creepy. Then, he asked about my nail polish, and I said something about wearing bluish-green because I'm pretending to be Irish. He told us he was going to educate us on the Irish, that was until M told him that she had been to Ireland several times and had even studied abroad there. Finally, M's husband appeared, and the old man seemed to get the hint. Or did he? Maybe a half hour or so later, he approached M again and asked her if she wanted to go play music with him. Ummmmmmm...no. She politely but firmly shot him down. When we told my husband's friend who was trying to hit on this old guy's daughter about the whole thing, he kept making excuses for the guy, but no. Yeah, he's old, and yeah it'll be a funny story we can tell for years to come, but it was still creepy.

Anyway, against all odds, we got our group of seven out of the bar, into one car, and to the restaurant. Just like last time we ate there, there were hardly any patrons, which in this case was good because our group was pretty loud and obnoxious, haha. Luckily, the hostess and our waiter found us to be pretty amusing, and we soon found out why. That was their second-to-last day open. EVER. Deano's Steakhouse closed its doors yesterday, and we were there for one of their last meals. Because of that, some of the menu was no longer available, but we all had deliciously juicy steak as an entree and tasty bacon-wrapped scallops and water chestnuts as appetizers. It was too bad that we had just discovered this restaurant a month ago, and it's already gone. We'll have to find another awesome steakhouse in the area.

At that point, it was about 10:30, but we're old and wanted to call it a night, so most of us headed home. The next morning, hubs popped out of bed at 8:00, feeling great, and we headed to my parents' for church and dinner, which was more steak (woohoo!). The food was just as good as the night before, and we finished with yummy strawberry rhubarb pie before packing up Bridget and heading home for a lazy evening.

Catching a few Zs at my parents' house

Three Pinterest Recipes

Many times, I'll pin recipes on Pinterest with the best intentions, but I rarely get around to actually making them. This week, I took three dinner recipes that I thought my family would like and collected all the ingredients. Before I get into the recipes, let me just say, I had a hard time finding wonton wrappers. At the third store I checked, I finally asked someone, and they were in the salad section. Now I know for next time.

Bangin' Grilled Shrimp Skewers (recipe)

Source

Although this recipe was super easy, I still managed to mess it up. Instead of using a regular grill, I used a George Foreman; and instead of using raw shrimp, I used the precooked variety. The odds were probably already not in my favor, and then I left the shrimp on the grill for more than double the time I was supposed to because they didn't look grilled to me. The shrimp themselves ended up being rubbery, but I loved the tangy sauce. My husband thought it was too creamy, but he's not a mayo fan, so I knew it would be a gamble with him. Bridget wasn't a fan either. Next time, we're going to try the shrimp on the grill and top them with something other than this sauce. I think if you follow the directions, this would be delicious.

Baked Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken (recipe)

Source

Not yet discouraged, I tried the next recipe on my list. I love recipes where there aren't very many ingredients or prep work. This one was super easy to make. Some of the reviews made me nervous about the 500°F temperature of the oven, but I followed the directions anyway. I made three chicken breasts instead of four - the thinner ones only took 15 minutes to cook, and the thicker one took closer to 25.

For me, the sugar didn't really stay on top and get all crispy like in the picture, but the flavors were still there, and I poured the sauce in the casserole dish over the chicken and the quinoa I served it with. The sauce was awesome over the quinoa! Bridget didn't really like this one either, and my husband didn't get to try it, but I loved the garlicky sweet flavor. I'll definitely be making this one again so that my husband can weigh in.

Easy Healthy Vegetable Empanadas (recipe)

This was my third and final recipe I attempted this week, it was the only one I took pictures of, and I would say it was also the favorite. I took a few liberties with this recipe to make it more appealing to my husband. In half of the little pockets, I skipped the cheese, and I added ground turkey to all of them. The recipe called for a cup of beans; instead, I used a little over a half cup of beans with a little over a half cup of turkey. Then, for dipping, my husband used salsa, and I stuck with the guacamole that the recipe suggested. Again, Bridget was undecided, but she ate more of this dish than she did the other two. My husband and I both loved this one. The process of wrapping 22 pockets was a little more labor intensive than I would've liked, but I think it was worth it. I'll definitely be doing this one again - just probably not very often.

Living the Bachelorette Life

Last week, my husband and Bridget went off to Maine for his birthday, leaving me at home with the pets since I don't have any spare vacation days this year. Originally, I had big plans for the week - I was going to go out every night, get tons of stuff done around the house, sew a dress or two - I was very ambitious. My cold that I complained about almost all last week made most of those plans undesirable, and all I wanted to do was sleep the first half of the week, but I did get out and have some fun and kept very busy over the weekend.

My fun began on Thursday when I met up with a friend for quick shopping excursion (for her, not me). She had her heart set on this double-wrap leather Michael Kors watch, but in blue. You can see it on the website on the watches  and jewelry landing page, but it's sold out, which we didn't know at the time. We checked Boston Store with no luck. She was also on the hunt for a new top, so we shopped around the mall in search of something for her to spend her money on. Bebe had some cute stuff that was her style, but most of the tops there were bodysuits. ??? I have a personal vendetta against bodysuits from when they were in style in the 90s, but I was always too tall to make them work. Anyway, long story short, she didn't find anything, so we went to my place empty handed to eat Chinese food, drink wine, and watch The Face and Project Runway. That's also when we learned that the blue watch is sold out EVERYWHERE. So if anyone happens to be in a Michael Kors store or department store and sees it, LET ME KNOW! My friend will love you forever.

Friday after work, I went out for drinks at Von Trier for a coworker's going away party. I had never been there before, but they have popcorn sitting out that you can munch on, and they have an extensive drink menu with lots of hot and cold options, so I was set. I ordered a bloody mary, got made fun of for drinking a brunch beverage (happens every time), and followed it with a beer after that.

From there, I met up with friends at España Tapas House to use up a groupon I had purchased. Their specialty is sangria, so three of us ordered some right off the bat from their many flavor options. They were delicious, but I don't know that I've ever had bad sangria. I went with blackberry. We were also very pleased with the food. I wish I had taken pictures of all the food, but I didn't think of it. I think our favorite dish we had was the Croquetas de Jamón, which, taking the description from the menu, is crispy Serrano ham & manchego cheese croquetas served with their house alioli. We steered clear of the squid and the mussels. I would definitely recommend this restaurant. My only complaint is that we never got refills on water, but otherwise, the food and drinks were great, and it helped to have someone at the table who knew some Spanish (our friend K) and was able to pronounce everything. Otherwise, all we would've been able to say was bathroom and library, hahaha. After dinner, the four of us went back to my house to hear all about T's Rock Boat trip and then crashed.

Saturday was the busiest day yet. I drove K and E back to their cars, ran a few errands, and then met back up with them at K's house to scrapbook. I didn't get much done before my stupid tape roller broke, but I did knock out a few pages of my Bridget scrapbook.

After scrapbooking, I drove home to take my dog to the dog park to let her get some exercise before I had to leave again. Then I was off to Lindsey's house for her son Stephen's third birthday party. Up until that point, I was doing pretty well with my Weight Watchers points that week, but I couldn't resist the puppy chow. PUPPPYYYYY CHOWWWWW. Sorry, that's seriously my reaction whenever I see puppy chow. The food was delish, and it was fun to watch the little kids running around with each other. It was too bad Bridget wasn't there to run around with them.

My day was not over yet! I met T at her place, and she drove to Sturtevant of all places (trust me, it's random) to see Will Hoge. I wasn't familiar with him, but he's played the Rock Boat both times T's been on it although she hadn't caught any of his shows. His music was good, and I didn't figure out until halfway through that I was at a country music concert. Some of his songs about tractors had me rolling my eyes on the inside, but otherwise, he was entertaining and put on a good show.

And finally Sunday, I slept in, cleaned the house for my family's arrival back home, and took the dog with me to the airport to pick them up. It seemed like Bridget had aged three years since I had seen her last. She was talking more than I remembered, and she just looked older. And apparently her feet had grown since the shoes I sent her there in no longer fit. She was adorable, though. The first thing she said to me was, "You're back!" as if I had gone somewhere. She's a ham.

I Heart NY

I'm back from New York! And wishing I was still there even though I was happy to see my husband and daughter last night.

View from the Empire State Building

For those of you sick of the Fashion Week coverage, there won't be much of that here in this recap. I'm a little bummed about not being one of the cool kids who got to go to a show, but I had so much fun sightseeing and shopping that I'm not too broken up about it. For those of you who are looking for more Fashion Week coverage, there will be a little bit of an outside fan's perspective of that.

It is going to be a super long recap so that I can remember everything that happened; so if you just want to look at my pictures, you can see those here. If you want to read the whole thing, that's here. Here's the abridged version:

Project Runway contestants spotted:

• Jay McCarroll
• Casanova
• Seth Aaron Henderson
• Viktor Luna
• Michael Costello
• Kooan Kosuke

Touristy sights seen:

• TV and movie sites bus tour
• Empire State Building
• Times Square
• Broadway show - Rock of Ages

Themed drinks consumed:

• The Marshmallow at McGee's (How I Met Your Mother)
• Dorota's Secret at Empire Hotel (Gossip Girl)

Shops visited:

• Topshop
• Uniqlo
• Zara (but didn't buy anything there)
• Michael Kors
• Christian Siriano
• Macy's
• Mood
• Kate Spade

State Fair 2012 Food Retrospective

Next year, I need to be a little more strategic. My plan this year was to eat very little during the day, then eat a ton at night. While good in theory, this plan actually caused me to get full pretty fast, which meant I couldn't  fully enjoy my two favorites that I saved for the end of the night. So my plan for next year is to eat the deep-fried Oreos first, then maybe something dinnery, then the cookie dough on a stick. Or even maybe skip the cookie dough on a stick next year (gasp!).

Anyway, my friends T and E and I decided to start the night with dinner-type food. E got the Reuben roll from Slim McGinn's I think, which she tasted last year and loved. T tried ravioli on a stick from Miller Lite Sports Bar, and she said it was just OK, but it didn't hold a candle to the toasted ravioli at the Big Screen Bistro inside the Marcus Majestic movie theater. My first food of the night was the Krispy Kreme cheeseburger. Machine Shed also had a bacon cheeseburger option, but I figured this was crazy enough already.

T was kind enough to take pictures of my first reaction (stolen from Facebook).

We tried it without ketchup first, and it tasted weird and not great — just how you would expect. It tasted like a doughnut on top of a burger. The ketchup really saved it. The condiment served as a nice buffer between the doughnut bun and the burger patty, and the sweetness of the doughnut just made the ketchup taste a little sweeter, a little like barbecue sauce without the tang. I would actually not be opposed to eating it again that way except that I'm sure there will be something else I want to try more next year. Also while we were at Machine Shed, T tried the deep-fried PB&J on a stick, and she loved it. I'll definitely have to get that next year.

Our next stop was Rupena's, where I bought deep-friend stuffing (pictured below), and E bought deep-fried mac and cheese (not shown). The deep-fried mac and cheese was sooo good. I would definitely get that again. As for the deep-fried stuffing with its side of gravy, it tasted just like Thanksgiving. I thought if they found a way to put turkey in there, too, it might be even better. Otherwise, for me, trying it once was enough.

We took a little break from food and each got something to drink. I got a Blue Moon, which tasted weird to me for some reason. Apparently Blue Moon doesn't pair well with stuffing on a stick.

Although we were all pretty full already, I had a couple more things I had to cross of my list. We located the deep-fried cookie dough at Emma's Cookie Kitchen and shared a plate of that. It had a wonton-like shell with the warm, gooey cookie dough in the middle, then was topped with chocolate sauce and powdered sugar with ice cream on the side. It sounds heavenly, and it was good, but we concurred that we preferred our cookie dough more solid and on a stick, in this case.

My phone died after this, and I didn't think to have the girls take pictures, but our next food picks were my still current state fair favorite – deep-friend Oreos – from some random stand and deep-fried pizza on a stick for E from Brew City. She intended to eat the pizza earlier, but we couldn't find where it was. I loved the Oreos of course, and the bite of pizza I had was pretty good. It wasn't something I'd get myself since sausage is one of the only pizza toppings I don't really care for.

I debated for awhile whether I actually wanted to close the night with the cookie dough on a stick or skip it. After walking around for awhile and letting our food settle, I decided to go for it. I went with chocolate chip dipped in butterscotch without nuts or sprinkles. Even sharing it among the three of us, we still couldn't finish it.

So that's it for this year! I'm definitely over fried foods for awhile.

Empty Nest Recap

Bridget's back. Woohooo! Although she was noticeably more excited to see hubs than me, she was the most excited to see the dog. Seriously, she was geeking out. It was funny. Bridget and I are buddies again now, though, so all is well.

Anyway, here's the recap of our week sans Bridget, including outfit pictures because I happened to take one either on my phone or camera almost every day:

Sunday - Hanson concert. Loved it, obviously.

Monday - dinner and a movie at Fox Bay Cinema Grill. Saw Brave. So good!

Monday - Dress: Target; Blazer: Gap; Shoes: L.L.Bean; Bracelet: Marc by Marc Jacobs

Tuesday - sailing (my first time). So not good! I got motion sick, so I'll have to take Dramamine next time I guess.

Tuesday - Tank: L.L.Bean; Cardigan: Target; Pants and Shoes: NY&Co; Necklace: DIY; Bracelets: Mexicali Blues and Marc by Marc Jacobs

Wednesday - out with friends at Silver Creek. Super fun and definitely made up for my unfortunately sailing experience the previous night. It was great getting the old gang back together and ordering almost $100 worth of pizza rolls and cheesy breadsticks from the place across the street. Haha.

Wednesday - Top: NY&Co; Skirt: Deb maybe? Who knows, it's really old; Necklace: ?; Sandals: Aldo

Thursday - Helped hubs pick out a new pair of glasses since his are somewhere at the bottom of the lake in Maine. Then had dinner at The Pasta Shoppe and called it an early night.

L.L.Bean

Friday - checked out Chiselled Grape Winery in Grafton then grabbed dinner at Anvil Pub & Grille in Cedarburg.

Friday - Top and Jeans: Old Navy; Shoes: Aldo; Bracelets: Charming Charlie, Mexicali Blues, booth at Bastille Days; Bag: MICHAEL Michael Kors

Saturday - RAN. Then hung out with the girls to plan our Disney trip and watch them scrapbook since I wasn't feeling creative that day. After that, I met hubs and later Bridget and hubs' parents at our other friends' house for LOTS OF MEAT. I already posted that outfit yesterday.

All that plus grilling out and drinking a hard cider yesterday equaled eight days of drinking in a row. Yikes. Not typical for me, I assure you. I usually average one or two times a week. However, the majority of those nights I only drank one beverage, so it's not quite as bad as it sounds. But um...(BUT UM!) if I drink tonight, that'll make it 10 days in a row because we're going back to The Pasta Shoppe with the in-laws tomorrow for their martini deal night. They're not big drinkers, but I got my dad-in-law hooked on The Pasta Shoppe's angel food martini. It's delish.

Although I enjoyed my temporary break from parenthood, I kept thinking I was missing something whenever I would go anywhere. Then by the end of the week, I was more ready than ever for Kid #2. We've always tried to do everything we crammed into empty nest week occasionally, but usually it's a lot more spread out. I'm OK with that. I know with two kids it'll be harder, but I'm OK with that, too.

After my many days of indulging and socializing, I'm completely ready for things to slow down for awhile again. I just want to sit by myself and maybe Bridget and either watch TV or read. I just need a little break to recharge my introverted self before the fun stuff starts up again.

Our Maine Travel Guide

Welcome to Maine. The way life should be.

As I've mentioned a lot lately, my Maine vacation is quickly approaching! We're on the road in T minus two weeks! So what does one do when in Maine? Here are the places we hit nearly every visit.

Freeport
Shopping!!!!!! The headquarters of L.L.Bean is here, and that store is ginormous. I still need to get a picture with the giant boot outside of the store someday. Besides that, there's an entire outlet mall that includes stores like Gap, J.Crew, Nine West, Coach, and then also some fun local boutiques as well.

Bartlett sign

Bartlett Maine Estate Winery
Bartlett specializes in fruity wine, like peach (a favorite of ours), pear, apple, and of course, blueberry. My husband has gone there every year for about 10 years, and the people know him by name now. Let's just say we're VERY good customers every time we go. We stock up for the year...seriously.

Winterport Winery
We don't do this one as often, but when we do, we always remember how much we like it. The port is delicious, and their cranberry wine tastes JUST LIKE cranberries.

Bar Harbor
Yes, it's touristy, but I still love stopping by and walking around the little shops. We sometimes grab ice cream or fudge and definitely hit Cool as a Moose to get some Life is Good apparel and Bark Harbor to pick up something for the dog.

Atop Cadillac Mountain

Acadia National Park
This is one of my husband's favorite spots. He's made me hike one of the mountains before, but I prefer it when we drive to the top of Cadillac Mountain and just walk around instead. At least I got a purse out of the hiking last year. Either way, you're going to get beautiful views. And if you're a first-time visitor, you should probably check out Thunder Hole, too, just to say you did.

Our meals at Jack Russell's

Jack Russell's Steakhouse & Brewery
The steaks are good, the meatballs are ridiculously good, the crab cakes are alright. They'd be better if they had a sauce to go with them, like hollandaise or something like that. The martinis are excellent. The spinach and artichoke dip is amazing (maybe I imagined this or it's a newer thing because I can't find it on any online menu). The shrimp skewers! How could I forget those? Try all three varieties, but I think we determined the cajun is the best.  We tend to drop a lot of money here...

Max plate at ABC (sorry, vegetarians)

Atlantic Brewing Company
Although I do drink beer occasionally, and I hear the beer is not to be missed, my favorite ABC beverage is by far the blueberry soda. My trip is not complete without it. If you love barbecue, GO HERE NOW! For a group of at least four (five or six realistically), I highly recommend the max plate. The sides of potato salad, coleslaw, and baked beans are just as good as the meat. Or maybe better, if that's what you're into. To put it in perspective, I didn't eat beans at all until I tried these. Now I'm a bean fan.

Basically any little eatery on the side of the road
I'm kind of over the getting a whole lobster thing since I've done it once, but I still like to get a lobster roll if we stop for lunch when we're out and about. We've been to a handful of little diner-type restaurants in random places, and none of them seemed to disappoint.

Family and friends, did I forget any??

Week Twenty Weigh-in

Current Weight: 193 (up .8 lb)

See? This happens every time. I do well one week, and then I do poorly the next week.

I did OK Monday and Tuesday, but on Wednesday, I had a little impromptu night out in Chicago where some adult beverages were consumed, which do no favors as far as points are concerned. Worth it, but still. I was dragging the next couple days, and my laziness and sleepiness prevented me from caring about entering any points. Then the weekend hit, and I cared even less.

But I'm back to caring. I went to the grocery store tonight after spending a lot of time on the Weight Watchers website and picked up some healthy food items like tons of fruit, nuts, low-fat cheese, peanut butter and flatbread, etc.

Now if I can just stay out of the cookies I bought for hubs, I'll be good to go.

Eat, Eat, Eat, All Day Long

Dress: Target;  Belt: from a NY&Co dress; Cardigan: Costco; Shoes: Payless; Bracelet: Kate Spade; Watch: Fossil

Yesterday was another day of great food. I've been having far too many of those lately. A bunch of us ate at Bravo to celebrate my friend's birthday, and we enjoyed a couple bottles of Moscato and had delicious Italian food. I packed my balsamic glazed chicken leftovers for lunch today. Yum!!

With all my killing time between work and dinner, driving around and taking outfit pictures, I forgot to pick up a birthday present for the other birthday girl yesterday — my dog Dela! I'm a bad mom. Well, at least she didn't realize she was getting her present a day late.

By the way, the title of this post is an 'NSync reference...

Dill Rice

T-shirt: Target; Blazer and Cami: Kohl's; Pants and Watch: NY&Co; Shoes: Poetic License via (shoo); Necklace: made by Elise (Thanks again, Elise!); Bangles: Kate Spade

I tried Persian food for the first time today. I went to Shiraz Persian Grill on the East Side (right by Cold Stone! I was good and didn't go there, though) for lunch with some coworkers, one of whom is originally from Iran. There were tons of choices, so it was nice that he was able to give us suggestions on what to try.

Dill anything is a-OK with me, so I was pretty interested in trying out dill rice. To accompany my rice, I had chicken and beef kabobs, which were good, and some falafel (not Persian, but tasty all the same). As my second side option, I chose fruit salad. It was fun to try something different for a change.

 Come to think of it, I should've Instagram-ed my lunch plate in addition to my jewelry today.

State Fair Food Retrospective and What I Wore

Because I wanted to wear a maxi dress for Wear It Wednesday, and I wanted to wear my new lobster dress to the state fair anyway, I finagled a knee-length skirt out of it for work with some strategic tucking and layering. And I loved the result--it felt very me.  And oh hey, I'm mixing prints again with my leopard belt and lobster dress.

Dress as a Skirt: Anthropologie; T-shirt: Target; Necklace: Kohl's; Belt: Walmart; Shoes: New York & Company

After work, I headed off to the State Fair.  Originally, the plan was to bring Bridget, but hubs decided to pick her up and bring her home instead.

For the first part of the night, I met up with a fellow blogger and her husband.  My first blogger meeting, woohoo!  We realized there were way too many crazy coincidences between us that we had to meet eventually.  I got married a week before they did; I had Bridget a week before she had her son; we have the same car, same year and everything, and bought them a month apart; and her hubs and I have the same phone.  Craziness, I tells ya!  Her son kept turning around right before her hubs took this picture.  It was funny.  He was a cutie and VERY well behaved and had a lot of the same mannerisms as Bridget, being almost exactly the same age.

Sorry for the picture quality--it's from my phone, which I realized later was on the Macro setting.

I hung out with them for awhile and enjoyed some good eats until my other friends arrived.  In retrospect, I wish I would've taken pictures of everything I ate; but really, most of it was fried so it all looked pretty similar anyway.  Here's the rundown of everything I had--some of it was just a taste.

• cheese curd - just one
• sweetcorn jalapeno nuggets - these were really good.  They also had cheese in them and came with some sort of dipping sauce...blue cheese maybe?
  
• lemonade
• deep fried Oreos - as good as I remembered!  Like Oreo flavored donuts
• hot dog on a pretzel bun - it was huuuuge.  I ate about half the hot dog and all of the bun.
• apple cider
• sweet potato tater tots - these were really good, too.  They had sugar kind of crystallized on them.
• deep fried beer - it wasn't bad!  Here's how I described it on facebook: It looked just like ravioli. It tasted like basically any kind of fried dough with cheese sauce on it. But when you first bite into it, there's a little burst of beer. Like a Gusher...but with beer...and dough.
• cookie dough on a stick - the first bite was heavenly, but by the end, I was sick of it.

I feel like I'm missing something.  Anyway, here's what I wore.  I got the inspiration actually from maternity photos of the lovely and talented Heather Cook Elliott, my wedding photographer.  It looks even cuter with her pregnant belly--I'll have to keep this look in mind next time I'm preggers.

Having a little too much fun with the flowy skirt...

My State Fair Food Lineup

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It’s almost time! The Wisconsin State Fair begins a week from today. I look forward to this event basically for one reason: deep fried Oreos. Can’t wait!

Every year, they add more new and sometimes crazy food to the fair’s lineup. A couple years ago, it was the much talked about chocolate covered bacon. This year, the hot new food is deep fried butter. I didn’t try the bacon, and I’m not planning on trying the butter, but there are still many other foods on my list already.

New Food on My Radar

• Deep fried bacon wrapped hot dog on-a-stick - Sounds like a fried corndog with bacon.
• Deep Fried Beer (Michelob AmberBock) with Cheddar Cheese dipping sauce - It’s deep fried beer! With cheese dipping sauce! I gotta try that.
• Sweetcorn jalapeno nuggets - Corn, good. Jalapenos, good.
• Sweet potato tater tots - I just really like sweet potatoes.
• Elvis (Deep Fried Peanut Butter Cup in Banana Batter) - Mmmm.

Food on a Stick on My Radar - Find the complete list here. One year, I tried to eat only food on a stick.

• Chocolate Dipped Frozen Bananas - I get one of these most years. I have no idea why I haven’t just made them at home instead.
• Deep Fried Crab Cakes - I like crab cakes, so why not deep fry them?
• Deep Fried PB & J - I have a feeling this will be my entree of choice. Or maybe my second course.
• Meatballs - I just really like meatballs.

Will Not Be Trying

• Deep fried butter - But I really hope I’m with someone who does try it because I do want to know what it’s like.
• Bacon Sundae (vanilla ice cream, pancake syrup and real bacon bits) - I’ve witnessed guys eating ice cream on top of lasagna before, so I imagine this could be good to some people...but no.

Yearly Must Haves - No matter what else goes down, these will be consumed.

• Deep fried Oreos - Seriously, they taste like Oreo flavored donuts.
• Cookie dough on a stick - OK, it’s a big hunk of peanut butter, sugar, or chocolate chip cookie dough dipped in either chocolate or butterscotch. Oh...em...gee...

What are your favorite fair foods?

Also, having trouble deciding what to wear? Here’s my suggestion.

Bastille Days Lunch Break

For lunch today, I decided to walk over and check out Food Truck Friday at Cathedral Square. As I approached, though, I noticed there were a lot of tents, but not so many trucks. What a happy surprise--Bastille Days was going on there instead!

Although I'm really into French things, I've actually never been to Bastille Days, but it's pretty much just like every other local street festival, a.k.a. awesome. Lots of good food and shopping--some of it cheesy (the food and the shopping), some of it fun.

My original plan was just to get food and book it back to work, but the first booth I spotted had flower headbands, which I love buying for Bridget. However, these were adult sized, so I wasn't as interested. They did have floppy straw hats for their headbands to go on, so I picked one of those up.  Unfortunately, the headband makes the hat all bent out of shape, so I think it'll have to be worn separately after all.

I also found two bracelets--the green one was an impulse buy because it was only $5 (not a good reason to buy something, by the way), and the wrap bracelet is something I've been casually looking for for awhile.  And it kind of matches my Golden Snitch bracelet (nerd)!

As for the food, I did scope out the crepes, but they all seemed to have custard in them, and I don't like crap in my crepes.  It's not a snobby thing; it's an I-don't-like-cream-stuff texture thing.  I ended up getting a cheddar and jalapeno stuffed pretzel and cinnamon roasted pecans.  Hmm, they don't look that good in that picture, but they were delish.

It was nice going at lunch, too, because it wasn't busy at all.  I'll have to remember that again for next year.