Weekend Update

I know Tuesday is a little late to be getting around to recapping the weekend but I just didn't get to it yesterday. So here it is, a day late.

On Friday, The Mister and I met for lunch. We both work downtown and our offices are only about a mile apart so we're able to meet for lunch fairly often. Usually we meet at our favorite Thai restaurant, but on Friday we met at a great little place by my office. It's just a casual patio restaurant with sandwiches and salads but it's right on a lake. The weather was beautiful and we were tempted to spend the afternoon watching the swans and sipping cold beer. It's pretty hard to go back to the office when the view from lunch looks like this:

Of course, lunch ended and we both went back to the office. Friday night we met up with our friends Michelle & Frank for dinner at a yummy restaurant called Hue. I usually have a hard time convincing The Mister to go there (he says the food is too "fancy") but Michelle and I had made plans to get dinner together and the guys decided to join us at the last minute, so he had no choice. And wouldn't you know it, he loved his dinner. The weather was even more beautiful than it was at lunch so we took advantage and sat outside again.

Michelle & Frank. Aren't they cute?

Saturday was game day again. We decided to grill at the tailgate this week and everyone brought food for the grill and a dish to share. I made Pioneer Woman's Bacon-Wrapped Jalepeno Thingies. They were a hit, but to be honest, kind of a pain to make.

You need a bunch of jalepenos, an 8oz. package of cream cheese (I used reduced fat. Because that matters when you're wrapping something in bacon.), and bacon. I also added shrimp.

Slice the jalepenos in half and scrape out all the seeds and ribs. This is where the otherwise simple recipe becomes a pain in the arse. You do not want to touch the jalepeno flesh because the capsaicin (i belive the technical term is "spicy juice") will get into your fingers and burn your fingers and anything else they come in contact with. Cutting jalepenos and then touching your eye - that's a mistake you only make once. Anyway, to avoid this disaster you can wear gloves. But unless you're a proctologist, who has plastic gloves in the house? The only plastic gloves I have I wear to scrub toilets. I'd rather get spicy juice in my eye than eat poopy-jalepeno-thingies. So, I used a paring knife to cut out the ribs and seeds. It was effective, but time consuming. After you've done that (and begun to wonder why you decided to make this stupid recipe in the first place), fill each jalepeno half with cream cheese.

If you like shrimp, you can add those too. Far be it from me to mess with a Pioneer Woman recipe, but I think it's a tasty addition. The Mister doesn't like shrimp, so I did some without too.

I roast shrimp in the oven instead of boiling them. It gives them a lot more flavor. Plus, Ina Garten said to. When Ina talks, I listen. Unless you have giant jalepenos, you'll probably need to to cut the shrimp in half to make them fit into the jalepeno. After that, wrap 1/3 of a slice of bacon around the jalepeno and secure it with a toothpick.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 20-25 minutes.

They don't look like much, but they smell heavenly and will disappear before you have a chance to get them on a plate. If you've got a crowd who can handle the heat and you don't mind the bit of extra trouble required by this recipe, give them a try.

Back to gameday. As usual, we had a great time tailgating but not as great a time in the game. We managed to squeak out another win, but it wasn't pretty. We're only three games in and it's already feeling like a long season. But, my ever reliable Gators came through with a win against Tennessee! I think I'd be a lot happier on Saturdays if I spent more time watching the Gators and a little less time watching the Knights.

We ran into a few of our ADPi sisters at the tailgate.

Me & my sister-in-law Juli

Me & my sis

Saturday's game was a late one and it didn't end until after 11. The Mister and I slept in on Sunday and spent most of the day watching football. My 49ers won again and made my day! It's been a while since my Niners have started the season 2-0.

Sunday night we played in a trivia tournament for charity with some friends.

It was for charity, but that didn't stop some of our team members from using a few "intimidation tactics." All in good fun, of course.

We were pretty confident at the beginning of the game. At the end of Round 1, our team was in first place!

It didn't last. By the end of four rounds, we had fallen pretty far from the lead. While we didn't wind up winning, we had a great time and helped out a wonderful charity. Not surprisingly since I'm a giant nerd - I had the best time playing trivia. The same company which put on the charity trivia tournament offers trivia a few nights a week at different restaurants and bars downtown. You can bet I'll be trying to convince The Mister and friends to give trivia another try very soon!

I tivoed the Emmy's while we were at trivia, so I watched that when we got home. Overall, I thought the show was pretty good. Neil Patrick Harris was funny and I was happy to see 30 Rock win Best Comedy. However, I think Tina Fey was robbed for Best Actress in a Comedy Series and while I think Alec Baldwin is hilarious, I would have loved to see Jim Parsons win Best Actor in a Comedy. His character "Sheldon" on Big Bang Theory is a riot. Unless he's that big a nerd in real life, he is a great actor! I thought Leighton Meister (Blair) looked gorgeous as a presenter. Blake Lively's dress was a bit over the top for my taste, but hey - if you've got it, flaunt it!

It was another great weekend with family and friends and I'm so happy there are only three more days until we can do it all again.