Shim Shady

Ben and I had quite a busy weekend, but still no sign of Shim. We just figured we needed to keep ourselves busy to avoid sitting around the house and waiting! Friday night, we went to Scalini's where I tried the Eggplant Parmesan. Supposedly, something in the eggplant somehow helps labor get started. If you go into labor within 48 hours of eating Scalini's eggplant parm, I think they give you a gift certificate for a future meal or something. Turns out that it was a total fail, but at least we enjoyed a good dinner.

Ben got invited to play golf on Saturday in honor of a friend's 30th Birthday. Initially, I think he was afraid to commit to golf because he was worried that I would go into labor but I reminded him that the chance of me needing him within that exact 4 hour stretch was pretty slim. He did end up going of course and just had his phone with him so he could be on standby. (Go figure that I wasn't thinking and called him near the very end of his round! Needless to say, I think I ruined his concentration on that hole). I spent some time looking like a beached whale at the pool with friends and getting some much needed sun on my pasty legs and arms! Then Saturday night we went to a surprise birthday party. So it was a pretty full day -- we were both exhausted by the time we got home.

We got up this morning and went to church. I had to go through about 4 wardrobe changes before I could find something that fit okay. These last days of pregnancy sure don't do much for your self-esteem! After church, we went out and had the BEST lunch at Fox Brothers BBQ. I'm not normally a huge BBQ fan, but this place is excellent. I took a picture of the fried ribs appetizer that we shared. To say they were good is a tremendous understatement. (And to our friends who were supposed to meet us there and ditched us -- you missed out!!)

I don't really know why I'm still posting pictures of myself at this stage -- I think I look normal in the mirror and then see myself in a picture and realize that I am absolutely ready to pop! Oh well, here is a picture of Ben and I after lunch today - officially 40 weeks. Let's just hope we don't make it all the way to 41!

I go back to the doctor in the morning. They will do what is called a non-stress test on the baby to monitor his/her heart rate and make sure things are still okay. As long as they determine that the baby is still safe and getting plenty of oxygen in the womb they will allow me to go on for about 10 more days. (I think I've said all this before, sorry if I'm being redundant)

Cajun Spicy Shrimp

I really meant to post this last week, but sometimes a whoooole buncha blog ideas hit me all at once. Soooo this got a little delayed, sorry Ben!
I usually cook dinner for Ben and I each night that we eat at home. Its really something that I enjoy doing and kindof an escape for me at the end of a long day. So anyways. The other night Ben came home and asked what we were having for dinner. I told him we were going to have grilled shrimp and corn on the cobb. (I'm not a fancy cook) He was fine with that, but once he realized that I didn't have a new and exciting recipe for the shrimp he wanted to whomp something up.

I was totally fine with that. I figured I could just take a little break from cooking that night and he could make whatever he wanted to. I think he had an idea of how he wanted the shrimp to be cooked and spent about 30 minutes looking through recipes online. He carefully read and analyzed them and went through the ingredient lists to make sure we had everything. Finally he found one that he was happy with and went into the kitchen to get it ready. It was hilarious watching him measure out the spices exxxactly with measuring spoons but he really did a good job. It was sorta a cajun recipe that utilized lots of cayenne and crushed red pepper with garlic and a bunch of herbs with a butter and Worcestershire base. (We didn't think to take a picture until after we were finished eating, but there were some leftovers in the pan so here is that picture)

So, this brings me to a point of contention that I have with Ben. I cook pretty much every (week) night. Usually the stuff that I make turns out pretty good, but I have had more disasters than I can count on two hands. And Ben? He doesn't cook much at all. Maybe, MAYBE once a month. But usually when he does, he finds a random recipe and executes it perfectly. Why is this? I'm a more experienced cook, yet he one-ups me anytime he cooks. Its BS.

Maybe he needs to be charged with making dinner every night?

Also, I should point out that not only did he cook, but he also cleaned up the whole kitchen by himself! Without complaint. 10 points for him.

Bitch

The title to this post is VERY misleading. I bet you thought you were going to read some juicy gossip or something! But no, no ... sorry to let you down.

I was perusing the wine section of my local grocery store yesterday and stumbled upon this bottle!



Can you believe they actually have a wine called Bitch?!!? I couldn't resist buying it. The grape is a Grenache, which I don't usually buy because I tend to think it is a little too sweet, but the hilarious, PINK label just jumped out at me so I had to get it.

It is a screw-top too!

I made one of Ben's favorite dinners last night, which meant he wanted to open a bottle of wine. I wouldn't even let him consider opening anything but the Bitch! He found it hilarious as well and obliged my request.

And it actually wasn't that terrible! We referenced the wine-ictionary before drinking and it noted that the grape was grown mainly in France and Spain but this one happened to be Australian. The wine-icitionary also said that it is really more of a wintery wine and should be eaten with rich dishes such as stews. I'm going to have to disagree with that -- it was fairly light and fruity with a hint of spice at the end. (If you are a wine conneseur, you are probably laughing at my tasting notes ... I have zero knowledge!) And for me, this is the perfect summer red wine.

And in other news, I fell asleep before Dancing with the Stars ended but I heard this morning on the radio that Shawn Johnson won!! How adorable is she? I'm so glad she won. Too bad she's too young to celebrate with a glass of bitch :)

Sorry! I Can't Resist

I was strolling down the cake mixes aisle at my local grocery store today and found this.

BWHAHAHAHAHAHA!! What in the world is this?

I did a double take when I spotted it, stopped, stared at it for a minute and walked on down the aisle. Then when I thought nobody was paying attention, I turned around and went back to take a picture.

Am I the only person who finds this hilarious? I know I have an immature sense of humor, but how can you not find this funny?

Anyone happen to know what spotted dick is?

UPDATE: I just went into wikipedia to look up the definition. This is what it said:

Spotted dick is a steamed suet pudding containing dried fruit (usually currants), commonly served with either custard or butter and brown sugar. Spotted refers to the dried fruit (which resemble spots) and Dick may be a contraction/corruption of the word pudding (from the last syllable) or possibly a corruption of the word dough.[1] Another explanation offered for the latter half of the name is that it comes from the German word for "thick," in reference to the thickened suet mixture. There are many nicknames for a Spotted Dick including "Spotted Richard", "Dick in a box", "Dotted Lloyd", "Mixey Dick", "Dick with a dot" and "Dickie Burton" as well as many others. It is a cultural part of English Cuisine.

Awesome. I think next time I have friends over, I will serve them some dick in a box.

Habits

I'm in a very pissy mood today so just bear with me. One of the reasons for my bad mood is that my internet is not working. I HATE YOU O2 SECURE WIRELESS. Seriously, I do.

So anyway I am blogging from my phone now. I'm sure this post will be full of spelling and grammar errors and I'll be lucky if this makes any sense. Don't be rough.

So most everyone here knows that I work for my father in a family business. We go to lunch each day with my cousin and uncle. Sometimes my grandfather will join us if he is around. Anyway, our office is in an area with very few restaurants which means we have a rotation of about 5 different places: Panera, Guthrie's, a BBQ place, a local sandwich shop, and ... ummm..... uh... Well, I guess our rotation only consists of 4 places. That really isn't the point anyway. The point is that we go to the same places each week and we're always together so the people who work at these different resturants pretty much know us and what we tend to order.

For instance, when we all walked into Guthrie's today the ladies who worked there were laughing. Once I told them I wanted a grilled chicken pita, they looked at each other and laughed some more. So, obviously I'm pretty predictable. I go to the same places each week and order the same thing every time. So my question to you is this: is it odd that I go to the same places each week and eat the same things week in, week out? Or is this normal?

I know this post sucks/makes very little sense. Just deal with it. You can blame my interweb provider. (O2 Secure wireless ... they suck).

Flip

Ben and I went to Flip again the other night, this time with a friend from out of town. While I thoroughly enjoyed my dining experience, I have to admit it wasn't quite as perfect as the first time. The three of us arrived at the restaurant around 8pm. It was a Thursday night so we expected a bit of a wait, and were prepared for the fact that they would probably not give us an estimated wait time (they didn't do this the first time I went, because it had just opened). We ended up having to wait about 15 minutes longer than they estimated, and I was totally famished, so I wasn't too thrilled about that.

When we finally did get seated, we were seated in the "chef's chairs" overlooking the kitchen. At the risk of sounding like a whiny brat, I was annoyed with this too. The idea of chef's chairs is actually a good concept -- you sit at a bar and have a view of the kitchen. However, the ergonomics of this particular bar/chairs just didn't work. I am only 5'4" and found it uncomfortable, so of course Ben (who is 6'3") really had a hard time. Part of my annoyance was probably the fact that it was now 9pm and I was beyond starving. Once we had another round of Stellas, things improved.

The food at Flip, really is good. Its a burger joint, actually a burger boutique, but all of the burgers have a gourmet twist. It recently opened back in November and is the concept of last year's Top Chef runner-up, so it tends to stay pretty crowded. They don't take reservations, so you will most likely have to wait to be seated but it is well worth it.

I think Ben hit the jackpot with his meal. I'll be honest and say that I had a terrible case of food envy. He had the Chorizo burger, which I don't see on their online menu so you'll have to settle for my description: ground chorizo served with a layer of hashbrowns, a fried egg, manchego cheese, and romesco ketchup. Ben is a pretty picky eater and his typical hamburger consists of simply meat and ketchup ... no bun. (He'll kill me for writing that, but its true). So for a plain-jane eater like Ben, you can see that was quite an adventurous choice!

I chose the Southern burger this time, which was pretty good but honestly not as good as the burger that I had last time (the Butcher Cut -- I highly recommend this one). The Southern Burger comes country fried with green tomato ketchup, pimento cheese, and topped with home made pickles. I also had a side of asparagus tempura -- I LOVE asparagus, so I just couldn't resist them! Last time I went, they did not ask us to specify what temperature

RTR went with the Southern Burger, Po Boyger (ground shrimp, old bay mayo, fried lemon, and tobasco) , and Cole Slaw. We both agreed that the Southern Burger could have used a little more pimento cheese and he thought that the Po Boyger and Cole Slaw were a little too acidic, but still pretty good. Apparently the milkshakes at Flip are delish, so RTR ordered the pistachio and truffle one. Sounds odd, but really it was pretty good. There are some others that I would like to try, but since I've quit eating sweets right now I chose to abstain.

I was a little disenchanted with this experience, but I think that was mainly because of the longer than expected wait and the not great seating and not because of the food. If you live in Atlanta, you really should give Flip a try! The food is good and reasonably priced, and it has great atmosphere.

I have a few pics of our food, I may post those later. Or I may not.

Ethical Dilemma

I've fumbled around all week trying to think of something to blog about. I was going to tell you all about how i de-cluttered our condo this past weekend but then decided that is probably not very interesting. Then I was going to tell you about the greatness that is a Philly Taco but that just made me hungry. I thought about talking about the recession but that is d*pr*ssing. (I can't type out that whole word, because several people have googled that word and found my blog ... oops!)

However, I was just paying some bills a few minutes ago and thought about something that you can all probably relate to. Charity Labels.

Yes, you know what I am talking about. We all get them from time to time -- cute little labels along with a letter requesting that we donate to some charity. Happened to me just last week. I usually don't open anything that I deem to be junk mail, but for whatever reason I opened this one. Immediately after opening the package, I was faced with a moral dilemma. The angel and devil started talking on my shoulders ... you know how that goes!

I'll probably get blasted for this, but I ended up keeping the labels. The devil on my left shoulder won out with quite a compelling argument. Because St. Jude sent the labels without my asking them to, they are a gift and I do not owe the charity. It would be wasteful to throw the labels away or send them back as they could not use them. Furthermore, St. Jude is attempting to guilt me into sending money to them by sending me gifts. They should be ashamed of themselves, really. (I thought that was a fine point)

What do you do with charity labels you receive in the mail? Do you keep and use them? Do you send money? Do you throw them out?

Ben v. Spaghetti

As you may or may not know, I absolutely love to cook. I watch food network often (well, not so much anymore) and am constantly on the lookout for new and different things to try. I wouldn't say that I'm an adventurous eater but I do like to try new things. Ben puts up with this to a point. I think there have only been two times that he has deemed something inedible. Once was because it was inedible and the other time because it contained 2 ingredients that he hates.

With all that said, I do try to cook some of our favorite dishes at least a couple times a week. I've found that Ben handles a new recipe much better when he knows that one of his favorites are in the queue. Lately though, one of our mutual favorites has come under some serious criticism. Spaghetti.

That's right. Spaghetti. I make my own sauce sometimes, but often I just use the jarred sauce and I'll usually throw in some peppers, onions, and herbs to punch up the flavor a bit. So a few months ago I bought a different brand of jarred sauce and it was awful. Neither one of us liked it, and I promised him that I would go back to the old kind. And I did. However, the very next time I made spaghetti he decided to tell me that his mother's was better.

OUCH!! I mean no offense at all to Ben's mother, but just OUCH. I mean, it is completely fine and natural to think that. You just don't say it to your wife!!!

Every time since then, he has requested that I make his mother's sauce. I haven't only because I don't have her recipe. He has to think to ask her in advance of when I go grocery shopping and I'll be happy to give it a whirl.

I think I have an alternate solution though, Ben. Just BUY ME THIS COOKBOOK for Christmas. I want it, need it, have to have it. I know your mother makes great spaghetti, but a a Rao's cookbook contains real Italian recipes. That would at least give her a run for her money!!

Dear Chick-fil-A,

You are awesome! You are one of the few fast food restaurants that I will visit. (Ask my husband, I am horrible on long road trips because I pretty much refuse to eat fast food). There are many things on your menu which I enjoy, but my all-time favorite is your Chicken Salad Sandwich. With cheese.

I used to live off your sandwiches. Anytime that I didn't feel like cooking or needed to grab something quick to eat, I would always order myself a chicken salad sandwich with cheese. Occasionally, I would change up my order but only if I had Chick-fil-A for my previous meal. The best thing about your chicken salad sandwiches was the fact that they were flat. The bread was toasted and pressed and it just made the sandwich so much tastier. But now, now you have changed your menu up and the sandwich is all new and different.

As a frequent customer, I beg of you to change it back. I can't say that I dislike the new one but it just isn't the same as the old one. I get that you needed to raise prices. I'm not dumb enough to believe that you actually just wanted to re-invent some of your menu items. You just wanted an excuse to raise the price of a sandwich by a couple cents. That's fine. Go ahead and raise your price. I promise, I'll still eat there. JUST DO NOT CHANGE THE RECIPE. I want my sandwich flat and pressed ... just like it used to be. And quit chopping the chicken so coarsely. And keep your lettuce and fancy box while you're at it.

Please. Bring back the old chicken salad sandwich.

Sincerely,
Your Loyal Customer who Despises Change

Was This Really Necessary?

A LARGE steak biscuit? LARGE.

Don't you judge me!

Let's Make a Deal

My most loyal (only) reader pointed out that my blog hasn’t really been about “life with the Longmires” so far. Therefore, I have decided to let you in on a little snippet from my evening with Ben.

I went to visit my friend Meg and her beautiful new baby Sloane today. I had made her one of my favorite casseroles, poppy seed chicken. Since I was making a big ole’ batch of it for her, I made a small one for myself and figured Ben and I would have it for dinner too.

Now, it is no secret that Ben is a PICKY eater so I knew that I would have a little resistance from Ben once I served him dinner. (He will kill me once he reads this post) Sure enough he called on his way home asking what was for dinner. I told him and he kinda grumbled a little bit.

I had a few minutes to prepare my game plan before he came home so I quickly thought of a way I could convince Ben to eat the casserole. Feeding him can seriously be worse than feeding a five year old child at times.

The conversation went a little something like this:

“Hey! Dinner is almost ready”

“Hm. Okay”

“So how about this? – you go into dinner with an open mind. You don’t have to like it, but you do have to eat it. If you do that then I’ll watch anything on TV tonight that you want. With an open mind …. I’ll get involved.”

“That isn’t a very good deal”

Sigh. “So that’s a no, huh?”

He really never did answer that question, but he did eat a good portion of what I put on his plate. We are now watching ESPN. And I’m taking an active interest in the Ryder Cup coverage.

Just so you know

I cannot stop daydreaming about Sweet Pockets (the cupcake place). Seriously, they are HEAVENLY.

If you are anywhere close to Vinings, you absolutley must stop in and buy a cookies n' creme cupcake.

I am obsessed ...

If you know me well, you know that I have a severe weakness for anything sweet, particularly cupcakes. So imagine my delight when I found out that there is a new cupcake shop literally three miles from my house! Naturally, I planned my whole Saturday afternoon around going to get some delicious cupcakes.

So it goes something like this: I get up Saturday morning – EARLY – shower, get dressed and set about my errands. I had intended to shop for a few hours, get cupcakes, and pick up lunch for Ben and myself on the way home. Didn’t quite work out this way … I literally could not force myself to drive past the cupcake store on my way to the Banana Republic. Couldn’t do it. Oh well, I’ll just shop after I buy the cupcakes, right? So I spent at least 30 minutes talking to the cashier about all the different flavors and debating which one to buy. Finally, I decide that it wouldn’t be fair to only buy one – the box did hold up to four. As I am paying for them, the lady instructed me not to leave them in my car as the icing would melt. Welp, looks like I won’t be shopping today. I can’t let the icing on my precious cupcakes melt!

I did justify stopping to buy Chick-fil-a on the way home (icing won't melt in the drive-thru). But other than that, all my errands were scrapped. I get them home and promptly inhale two. Before eating lunch. I’m pathetic, I know. So, I decide that the other two will be Ben’s.

It is now Sunday night and I have eaten all four of the cupcakes. Not that I’m a calorie counter or anything, but how many calories can that really be? Like 1000? How long will it take me to work that off?

I am on cupcake probation.