Tater Tot Casserole, For the Win (FTW)

I did it.  I embraced the Minnesotan and made a Tater Tot Casserole (Hot Dish).

A co-worker said to me today, after I proudly announced my weekend accomplishments, "What's with you Minnesotans and your Tater Tots?"  I mean, I knew Tater Tot Casserole (or Hot Dish) was a thing, but I didn't know Tater Tots, as an entity by itself, were a thing for Minnesotans.  Anyway, I asked Kevin what he wanted for dinner on Sunday and he named it into existence.

In true wifey form, I kind of took a recipe and tweaked it to be my own, so here it is:

2 lb lean ground beef (or turkey)
1 can of Progresso Recipe Starters Mushroom version (or you can use Cream of Mushroom soup)
1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream
1 medium onion
1 can of corn, drained and rinsed
Shredded cheddar cheese
1 package of frozen tater tots

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Chop up the onion and brown it with the beef.  Season to taste with pepper.  Some people like to add extra salt here, but I chose not to.  
3. Meanwhile, combine about 2/3 can of the Recipe Starters, sour cream, and most of the corn in a bowl.
4. When onion/beef is done, distribute in the bottom of a casserole/hot dish sized pyrex.
5. Pour the soup mixture evenly over the beef/onions.
6. Cover with a thin layer of the cheese.
7. Top with frozen tater tots - for best results and taste, make sure the tots fully cover the top ;)
8. Keep it in the oven for about 30 minutes, give or take.
9. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Note: the original recipe I riffed off of said to put MORE cheese on top of the tots.  I thought the one smaller layer was quite enough!

Next time I make this, I'm going to make it with real shredded beef from the slow cooker and attempt to make the yummy cauliflower tots that are all over Pinterest these days.  I was thinking it would be good with some green peppers and/or some green beans added too.  That's how I'd healthify it, anyway!  

Enjoy, my friends. Enjoy.

ELP

Hair-do's and (dental) Hygiene

I want to introduce you to my friend Kate over at The Small Things Blog: http://www.thesmallthingsblog.com/

Ok, she's not technically my "friend" BUT I often spend at least an hour per weekend on her blog - which is more than I spend with some of my friends per week, so there.  Plus, if we knew each other in real life, I think we actually would be friends.  She's super down-to-earth, relatable, trusts God, and is a savvy business-woman. I admire how she's taken her skills to the next level and built her own little empire.   Oh yeah, and she kind of has a southern accent, to boot.

Some people like to read blogs about crafting, decorating or remodeling.  I LOVE to watch hair DIYs, and now that my hair is longer, I can actually do some of this stuff.  If I'm trying something new w/ my hair, chances are I got the idea from one of her videos.

On to (dental) hygiene -
So this week, I got my first REAL filling.  I call it a REAL filling because the first filling I got was on my top teeth, so I only experienced a short acting, very local, numbness.  But, when you get one on your bottom teeth, it's a whole new ball game.  And, I'm kind of dramatic.

What the heck?  No one warned me!  Clearly, I should have worked from home for the remainder of the day.  I felt like I had a baseball in my lower lip, my right side of my tongue felt 3x the size of the left, and I talked with a lisp for a solid 3 hours post filling.  Oh yeah - and I am also highly dependent on coffee, so I proceeded to drool all over my chin just a few times that day in front of a few different people.

Joy - So NOW, I floss EVERY NIGHT.  I would encourage you to do the same.  And I know exactly where this cavity came from: noshing on Dots while watching all those Oscar nominated films this fall. I'm ashamed of myself.

2 Trader Joe's Discoveries and 1 Yummy Chicken Dinner

I don't do "cooking" posts too often. Mostly because I forget to take pics of the food AND to me, cooking is a little bit more "assembly" than anything else.  But, I've had some recent successes that I want to share with you all because they are super easy AND Kevin loves.

To start, two recent Trader Joe's Discoveries:

First, I got some of this greek yogurt feta dip to make the broccoli go down more smoothly after I was getting a little tired of my other greek yogurt option:

One night, when staring at a pound of chicken breast of which I had no plans for, and a hungry husband asking "what's for dinner?" - I came up with the idea to split the chicken breasts and STUFF them with this dip. It was the BOMB.  Def making again. So easy (sorry, forgot to take a pic of the final product.  Surprised?).

Nothing gets me like the samples they do at Trader Joe's.  The same day I picked up the above dip, I also tried this soup they made with their "Superfoods" Frozen Veggies + Turkey Kielbasa + chicken broth = super yummy Kale + quinoa + sweet potato + carrot soup!  Only thing I would do next time is to not add the full turkey kielbasa, maybe just half.  

And I got to use my new dutch oven for the first time, to boot!

Ok, in hindsight - not the greatest pic - but it's good, trust me, and there's more kale in there than appears to the eye.  Maybe next time I'll make it with fresh veggies instead of frozen.

AND for the grand finale!  It's super easy Lemony Chicken.  I think I got this from Pinterest, but as per usual, I modified.

Step 1: Take 2 lemons, slice 1 up and juice the other (in a bowl).

Step 2: Spread a little olive oil in a roasting dish and arrange sliced lemons at the bottom of the dish.

Step 3: In the bowl with the lemon juice, add 4 TBS of olive oil, 4 minced cloves of garlic, salt & pepper.

Step 4: Toss green beans and red potatoes (that are quartered).  Arrange in roasting pan.

Step 5: Roast the veggies in the oven for about 15 min at 450.

Step 6: While veggies are in the oven, tenderize the chicken (this is important or they won't cook right) and toss in the lemon/olive oil mixture.

Step 6: Chop up some onions the way you like them.

Step 7: Add chicken + onions to the veggie mixture that's already been in the oven for 15 min.  Roast at 450 for another 30 min or so. 

Step 8: Eat!

If it weren't for Monday being around the corner, Sunday nights would be my FAVORITE!! 

The Older I Get

...a warning before you read this: it could get quite depressing - or uplifting.  We'll see what happens.

Last night, we celebrated Kevin's 30th Birthday.  It was a perfect night - surrounded by great food, good beer, and the people that we love!  It was really a nice illustration of the richness of our lives.  But, along with the planning came a lot of reflection (on my part, can't speak for Kevin) on what it means to be getting 'older.'  I'm 28 at the time, but they say girls are 2 years more mature than boys.  So, I don't know if that means I'm mentally 30 or if Kevin is mentally 28 - but the truth is that there's a lot more you realize with "age" - for better or for worse, so here goes.

The older I get, the more I realize how important relationships are: not quantity, but quality...and how listening (and asking questions) is the key to a great relationship.  So, whether it's family or friends, I constantly trying to make it less about me and more about them.  And frankly, I have a lot of work to do here.  All in all, I'm loving how much closer we are to our family and friends now that we've moved back to Mpls. THIS is what helps brush off the crappy weather we have here.  But seriously, we should ALL think about moving together to a warmer place.

The older I get, the more I realize there's waaaaaaay more to making a good career for yourself than just doing a good job.  Which sucks, because really, I just want to go do a good job and move-on-up.  It's really more like a game of chess - which I can't even really tell you how to play chess.  I guess it's just trial & error and taking chances.

The older I get, the more I realize how hard it is to get rich - and I also realize how I don't really care if I'm rich, I just care that I can have a comfortable life.  I mean, once upon a time, I thought I was going to have a big house and a red Corvette by the time I turned 26.  Bahahaha.

The older I get, the more I realize how women can let society's pressures get to them.  I used to have this vision that motherhood + careerdom + being hot + homemaking + friendships + more could all add up to pure awesomeness.  But more and more, I know that one cannot be awesome at all of these things - and I'm not even a Mom yet.  And I also realize how grown women can constantly feel inadequate.  It's because we compare ourselves too often - and we have to stop that, but we won't stop, so we just have to live with it.

The older I get, the more I realize that the more comfortable I am with who I am on the inside, the more UNcomfortable I will get with who I am on the outside.

The older I get, the more I realize that this might actually be MID-life.  Zoiks.

And finally, the older I get, the more I realize how I struck gold when I found Kevin.  Seriously though - when it comes to husbands, it doesn't get that much better than this :)  This Feb marks 8 years since our first date. Crazy.  Looking forward to the next 8 years, Babe - It's going to be a wild ride!!







 

The Zipper Merge: Learn it, Love it, DO IT!

This morning while I was merging on to 100 north, a car stopped at the beginning of the entry lane to merge into traffic, causing all of the cars behind it (including me) to have to SLAM on their brakes.  After taking a deep breath, I drove around the car to use the remainder of the lane to merge into traffic.

When suddenly, this crazed lady started trying to BLOCK me by straddling the lines between the two lanes so that I COULDN'T PASS HER.  She nearly hit me into the guard rail while she was laying on her horn!

Well, I am clearly a superior driver to her because I know that the rule of the road is to use the full merge lane and proceeded to do so.

Minnesotans are SO BAD at driving, especially in rush hour (presumably because of "MN NICE"), that the state had to create an entire campaign to inform MN drivers about this.

So, I'll continue letting people in who "come to the front of the line" because they're driving correctly: they're NOT jerks.

http://www.dot.state.mn.us/zippermerge/

Best Wifey Ever: Packers Game Day Edition

Whenever Kevin thinks the dinner I made is awesome, he says, "Best wifey ever."  So, I'm going to name my recipe posts "Best Wifey Ever" because I wouldn't share them with you unless he give them this seal of approval.

It's Sunday, and we're getting ready to watch the Packer (vs. Giants) game.  I LOVE to make chili + some kind of corn bread or biscuit for Packer games, so in true traditional fashion, I did.

But, I've been wanting to try...

Wait - Jordy Nelson just scored a TD!!! Wahoo! He's seriously a stud.  Now, Crosby, don't miss the extra point, K?

Anyway, I've been wanting to try a white chicken chili for a while now. I was prepping to make some frozen dinners for a friend who had her second little baby boy (I visited on Friday and could NOT get enough of him).  I made her this same recipe but all I got was one spoonful to approve the taste.

It's a great recipe - just enough spice, and next time, I'll prob use milk instead of whipping cream, but it's Thanksgiving weekend so might as well LIVE IT UP!

http://www.annies-eats.com/2008/09/25/white-bean-chicken-chili/

In other news, Roger's stache is epic.

GO PACK GO!

Super Seckzy Sox

As many of you know, I fall down the stairs a lot.
A LOT.

So, I've been keeping an eye out for a *cheap* pair of slippers/socks with grippies on the bottom.

Kevin was SO excited to see this sexiness when he got home from class tonight...

He said, "They're probably necessary."

Greasy Magazine Pages

About once every 2 weeks, Kevin and I get inspired to make a nice dinner at home.  Sometimes Kevin participates, and sometimes he just watches football - since our tendency to cook something usually lands on a Sunday.

But, tonight, we made this super yummy recipe from the November issue of Real Simple mag.  As cool as people are on Pinterest, I usually end up following recipes from magazines.  Maybe it's the glossy pictures?

Anyway, along came "Pasta with sausage, arugula and crispy bread crumbs." Gotta love a recipe that tells you EXACTLY what your signing up for.

It was so good that I wanted to share with you all.  The combo of Italian sausage and thyme was a quite interesting twist to the typical flavors experienced in the Pisca household.  Plus, it was pretty easy to make, and only had a few ingredients.  So, I'm guessing this recipe will happen again!

Apologies for the poor photo.

I was going to type out the recipe, but here's the link instead:  http://bit.ly/RpjNmi

Obvi, we used mini farfalle (sp?) pasta instead of the fancy shmancy pasta found in the recipe (we shop at Target, people!).  Plus, in true Wisconsinite fashion, we had to add some cheese to the dish, so try a little Parmesan cheese sprinkled on the top.

Between this and the white chocolate macadamia cookies that are in the oven, I get an award for Best. Wifey. Ever. from Kevin, or at least I SHOULD!

Nom.

Dating a Diet

So...

Kevin came to me a few weeks ago and said, "Babe, I want to go on the Paleo diet." I was loading the dishwasher and nearly dropped a plate.  For ya'all that don't know - Kevin is skinny. Like REAL skinny.

I responded by asking why in the world he would want to go on a diet.  "So I can get in racin' shape, BABE."  Racin' shape = bike racing shape - like the guys in the Tour de France.  They are about his height but weigh about 20 lbs less.  In my mind, I cannot fathom how in the world Kevin would have 20 lbs. to lose...keeping in mind, it's likely that I only weigh about 20 lbs less than Kevin.

So, after some prodding, I finally got out of him that it's not about racin' weight, but instead, he was feeling sluggish all day long and wanted to try something new.  So, I suggested we just start out easy and try to cut sugars (beside what's found naturally in fruit and veggies and dairy) and carbs from our diets.  So, we embarked on it.

So far, this week, we've been doing well.  A big vat of Chili Monday night has made great left overs for lunch/dinners, and I made some pulled pork in the slow cooker.  We fill in with things like raw broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, eggs (every which way you can imagine), turkey bacon, plain greek yogurt - and I introduced Kevin to Larabars today (WIN!).  We indulge in sugar free fudgesickles ;)

But, you should have seen us tonight after volleyball league - super hungry because we had an early dinner.  We got home and went straight to the pickle jar.  It was quite a scene to behold.

I also had to send Kevin an email today that had the subject: "Confession - I ate a cookie."

Dieting sure is easier when your spouse is on board :)

Hey, Why not?

Today at work, in a conversation with Legal, we started talking about chain emails.  I thought to myself: I miss those survey-type ones!  So, I found one from an old friend of mine, so here goes!

Height: 5'6" - after being with Kevin for over 6 years now, he asked me how tall I am, and when I said 5'6," he called me short
Shoe Size: 9.5/10
Sexual Orientation: I like boys - one in particular;)
Age you get mistaken for: 24ish
Have Tattoos? Nope, definitely not.
Want any tattoos? I'm definitely not against tattoos - just can't think of something beautiful enough to put on my body forever. 
Got any Piercings? Just ears right now.  Had a nose piercing just a few years ago, and I totally miss it.
Want any piercings? Yes, I'd like my nose piercing back!
Best friend? the hubby
Biggest fears: Not going to lie - I'm afraid of dying or someone close to me dying
Biggest celeb crush: Right now, Ryan Gosling
Favorite Movie: Juno
I’ll love you if: You tell it to me straight
Someone you miss: My grandparents - all of them
Most traumatic experience: I was in charge of the store during my internship at Target and a girl had a seizure. I can't handle seizures.
A fact about your personality: I can be completely reserved or 100% transparent, it all depends on who else is in the room.
What I hate most about myself: My lack of patience
What I love most about myself: My general ability to quickly forgive and forget the small stuff
What I want to be when I get older: Content
My relationship with my sibling(s): Love my bro & sis :)
My idea of a perfect date: Strolling through a garden, on the beach - anywhere where we can focus 100% on each other/our conversation without interuption or distractions
My biggest pet peeves: When people use the 's inappropriately for plural's
A description of the girl/boy I like: Passionate & dedicated
What my last text message says: "On my way home" - a status to the husband
What words upset me the most: "If you come with the idea, it will get funded"
What words make me feel the best about myself: "Erin adds a lot of value to the team"
Where I would like to live. maybe Austin, TX?
One of my insecurities. My presentation skills - I have one tomorrow at 9 AM
My childhood career choice. I thought I wanted to be a Doctor.  But then, I was a lifeguard and sheer anxiety that someone might get hurt and that it would be up to me to help was enough to sway that decision.
My favorite ice cream. COOKIES N CREAM is where it's at.
Who I wish I could be. There's really no one person I'd pick.  Maybe bits & pieces here and there?
Where I want to be right now. I'm really itching for a vacation.
The last thing I ate. A Jell-o Sugar Free pudding cup. South Beach Diet Savior.
A random fact about anything: Someone told me that it takes more calories for your body to digest a raspberry than is actually in the raspberry. Don't tell me if this isn't true!

Sorry if this was boring but not a lot of readers. ha!

Baby Boom!

Lately, it seems like someone's announcing they're pregnant or they're having a baby just about every waking minute.  I suppose I am about that age.  I get sooooooo extremely happy and giddy knowing that a new little one is on the way or was just brought into the world.  In fact, I get a little jealous.  I love to babysit, and hold them in my arms, and let them curl up on my shoulder, and touch their little soft heads. But tell me:

How does a married woman in her mid/late twenties possibly keep the decision to have a child of her own a rational decision with all the adorableness (and peer pressure) going on right now!!??

In the beginning...

A'ight - so I accidentally signed in with a different gmail log in to blogger.com and realized that I started another blog a while back and had one entry.  So, I thought I would copy/paste it over to this one.  Here it is people...P.S. I didn't get my GMAT done this past winter ;)

Alright, all the cool/savvy newlyweds I know have a blog to keep everyone up to date on the couple's happenings.  I know we probably won't get many followers until we start having kids (or get dogs), but I figured if we start early, we'll be able to have some good content in the future (ha!).

I can't believe it's October already - but this has been a year of entering adulthood muy rapido!

We moved to Minneapolis from Arkansas and bought a house in St. Louis Park - which threw us instantly into a world of housework - and we have no clue what we are doing.  Thank goodness to our families for all the help and advice!

Then, we got married, and it was awesome. I'm proud of the party we threw, and even more touched by the number of people that traveled near and far to be a part of our day. 

After that, we went to Belize for our honeymoon and had the time of our life - and met some pretty cool people along the way.

Kevin started his part-time MBA at the U of MN.  He's working really hard - which means I have more time to...shop?  I suppose I should get around to tackling my GMAT test this winter, but for now, I'm just enjoying the MN fall, which has been a pleasant surprise.  I remember it going from 80 degrees to 0 degrees here!

Speaking of shopping - we had to go to repenish our winter coat wardrobe and didn't cut any corners going directly to REI to buy the real thing.  We're serious about staying warm after 3 winters in AR :)

Signing off to go to be productive...

20+ miles to work off the Haute Dish

Hi there -

It's been a while notgonnalie.

Don't worry - I've been crafting really detailed DIY blogs about my landscaping and double witty blogs about life that I'm just waiting for the right moment to post.

But, this weekend, we took a break from the yard work (considering it was pouring out) and just enjoyed:) We started with a Twins game, which was awesome because the Twins finally won, and ended with a 20 mile bike ride.

Yep, you read that right.  20 miles might not seem like a lot to you, but for a first time rider, it was a good challenge!  A few weeks ago, Kevin and I bought bikes.  They were hybrids - so good for moderate trail riding and street/blacktop riding.

It wasn't long until Kevin traded his in for a speed bike (thank you Erik's for your 30 day return policy), bought spandex with a maxi pad under the butt, a new jersey, and bad ass gloves (so his hands don't go numb, duh).

So, this weekend, he finally talked me into trying it out (pending my 30 day deadline) so we went in and tried out some bikes.  About an hour later, I walked out with a speed bike, and I'm glad I did.  How fun was it to cover some serious miles at a high speed?  It was almost as fun as destroying the landscaping (see future posts about landscaping).

Anyway, maybe I found a new hobby?

I also had a fabulous dinner at Haute Dish to celebrate a long time friend's bday!  We went straight for the serious, ordering a steakhouse chop salad (serious YUM - loaded with cheese and really flavorful dressing), mac & cheese (I'd give it an 8...too much crab/lobster if you ask me) and Tater Tot Hot Dish.  If I go back, TTHD is the ONLY thing I'm going to order.  I might even order two of them.  The beef was sooooooo tender and flavorful and the tots were oozing with cheesy goodness.

http://www.haute-dish.com/

I'd definitely recommend this place!  Get out your wallet, but the food was a great experience!

...and then we went to see Bridesmaids (again).  I caught a ton of stuff this time around that I missed last time.  Good flick people.  It's definitely a DVD I'll be purchasing:)

Til next time:)

E

Watch out - Weather Rant

Today is my breaking point.  After 3 winters in Arkansas, I figured that I just had unrealistic expectations of how fast Spring should come.  But, alas, IT IS MAY 1 and the temperature is 38 degrees!

Now, I have activated the coping methods I usually do when I get mad/angry about something:

1. Try to think about how things 'could be worse.'  Like, we COULD live in Alaska or we could be dealing with a tornado or earthquake.  Yes, things definitely could be worse, but none-the-less, this coping method is not working.

2. Distract myself.  Cleaning my house and doing laundry are NOT going to effectively distract me today. No way. Not even shopping can do this.

3. Look forward to something.  I have nothing to look forward to now that my Vegas trip has passed. 

As you can see, none of these are working.  So, I'm cranky today - just ask my husband.

If you're wondering - a rant online didn't help either :(

Thanks for bearing with me.

E

Vegas Rock Star

Not going to lie, but I was p-r-e-t-t-y nervous to go to Las Vegas last Thurs-Sun.  I was seriously afraid I was too old/lame to 'hang' in Vegas.  However, on the contrary, I think I did pretty well.  What a fun time!

We did a little bit of everything while out there with my four compadres.  We stayed at the Signature at MGM Grand, and it was a nice hotel option!  We got plenty of pool time - and the sun was glorious, especially considering what was going on back in Minneapolis at the time (ahem...snow).  We spent a full day just wandering the 'strip' and checking out all the different hotels/casinos. 

I am sad (very sad) to say we were 0-2 on partying with a Kardashian sister.  Kourtney's bday bash was at Gallery night club (we were too impatient to stand in line) and Kim was at Wet Republic on Saturday (we legit could NOT hang at a pool/club).  Let's talk a bit more about Wet Republic.  Picture a night club - hip hop/DJ, dancing, grinding, drunkenness.  Now, move all the people to broad daylight, dress them in swimsuits, and place them out by a pool.  Overall, my policy in life is "try to make the least amount of movement possible while in swimsuit."  Wet Republic offers the exact opposite.  I repeat, we truly could NOT hang.  However, that didn't stop us from creepin' and peeking around the corner at the back of the pool to try to get a sight of Kim (fail btw).  Here's a pic.  If you look REALLY close in the upper right hand corner of this pic, you can see us creepin'.

So, instead, to get our celebrity fix, we went to see Holly Madison at PeepShow.  I'm just glad we were almost to the back of the room.  With my vision, I could see what was going on, without seeing it ifyouknowwhatimean.  When in Vegas, right?

We also saw Cirque show 'Ka.'  It was AWESOME, I thought.  Highly recommended.

Other than that, I'm proud to say that I did a little gambling at a roulette table.  Came away with a WHOPPING $1 up.  Winning.  Other than that, played slots and video poker.  Video poker is better than regular because it's not as intimidating - especially at O'Shea's, where we could take a break from the >$10 drinks and just have a good 'ol $1 Miller Lite (featured below).

My fave "look at it in awe" location: Bellagio, of course.  My fave "let's stay here next time" location: Planet Hollywood. 

We had a good time in the Clubs on Thursday and Friday night.  It's good to be a girl when in Vegas ;)

Blogging is fun when there's things to talk about!

Before I leave you, just a little fun from SkyMall.  After I buy this, Kevin will have two "big foots" in his life ;)

Serious, Grown Up Things

There comes a time in life, when you're doing your tax return and you come to the line "Interest Income"...and you put in like $25.  And then you start to wonder...should we be investing our money more?  Does anyone know where to start with this (besides 401k, obv.).

There also comes a time in life where you start to envy other people's homes. That's when you know you are seriously an a-dult.  Today I checked out the Parade of Homes Remodeler's Showcase and my imagination started running wild.  Here's the latest: knock out a bunch of walls, move the kitchen into the bedroom space - creating a seamless flow between the livingroom and kichen AND creating a (small) dining room.  Next, we'll build on about 8 ft to the back of the house, expand the small bedroom into the addition creating a master suite.  Knock out the side entrance and move it back to create an ACTUAL entryway.  One more room would complete the addition and then you'd pop out the roof upstairs to that there'd be a full, comfortable room up there and a den (and a bathroom). 

I've probably lost your interest by now.  To say the least, this won't happen - unless we want to double our mortgage, which we don't. 

In other news, my bracket is shot and it's Sunday, which makes me depressed.  At least we all got to enjoy some nice weather this weekend.  Alas, I shouldn't complain.  It was a pretty fulfilling weekend:)

Maybe I'll have something more interesting to talk about next time...

So good, I gotta blog about it

Alright, so I've had the pleasure of experiencing some more unique/neighborhood restaurants since moving back to MPLS - the likes of Al Vento, BLG, Bar Lurcat, Pizza Lola, etc.  However, I don't have a lot of confidence in my inner "foodie" to talk intelligently about my dining experiences. 

But I MUST tell you about the place I dined at tonight with three friends.  It's Travail Restaurant in Robbinsdale - so a little off the beaten path, but WELL worth the trip.  I don't know a ton about the place, but I first heard of it when MSP Mag featured it as one of the best new restaurants of the year.  Either way, finally made plans to go there tonight.  It was definitely busy.  We got there at 5:45ish and didn't sit down until near 7ish.  A few (generous) glasses of wine, shuffleboard & bean bag games kept us occupied.  So yes, this place is busy (and pretty small). 

Either way, we sat down and immediately ordered some small plates to share. So insanely good - Blue Cheese Tots, Fresh Cut French Fries, and Prosciutto and Blue Cheese wrapped Figs.  They came out pretty much immediately.  Thank goodness.  Then, we each got our own dish.  Not a lot of food on these plates, but a TON of flavor.  I got a pork loin - wrapped in prosciutto, butternut squash drizzled, carrot powder/carrots/carrot chips, portabellos, sweet potato.  It was a beautiful combination in my mouth.

Half the fun of the night was all the servers that visited our table.  The restaurant is owned by 5 guys - all from different places in the U.S.  We got to chatting with them, and they all had awesome stories about how they ended up opening this restaurant in MN.  Truly inspiring. They seemed to LOVE life.

Then, came dessert. The four of us split the grand tour - 4 desserts.  Two of my friends gave up chocolate for lent.  Bad for them, awesome for me!  One of our desserts was prepared right at the table.

Net net, go to this place.  But, go (really) early or go late so you can avoid an hour long wait!

I've even "liked" them on FB:  http://www.facebook.com/Travailkitchen

Happy Dining People!!

Erin

Here we go!

Alright, so I've been reading some friends' blogs here and there and thought I better get on the band-wagon.  They're all pretty witty, so I had doubts about my blogging skillz.  But then I told myself - even if no one reads our blog, at least we'll have a little bit of history when we finally have kids and people will WANT to read our blog.  Until then, you'll just have to do with my ramblings while I figure out what my 'niche' is :)

Let's see.  Most people start this once they get married, so here's what's happened since then - in a nutshell:

• We now own a house and successfully navigated the winter without a leaking ice dam - thanks to Kevin's roof raking expertise.  We also had a hard battle with box-elder bugs on one side of our house.  Kevin sprayed, which resulted in a large massacre of these bugs.  Only time will tell on if these chamicals cause our own demise. 
• Kevin started his part-time MBA at the U of MN, sucessfully beginning our "5-year plan." Onward...
• The Packers won the Superbowl and it got CrAzY around here!
• Lots of family news, including visits from everyone - and multiple visits from some.
• Mark and Kevin successfully re-piped the bathroom, so we no longer ingest large amounts of some-type-of-metal/mold when we brush our teeth.
• We experienced our first MSP Restaurant week.  I don't think I'll ever be the same after 3.5 hours at Fogo de Chao.
• The Bachelor picked Emily.
• We finally ordered our wedding prints.
• We just had a new nephew enter the world! Jaxon Joseph joins the ranks of Cazdyn, Aneka, Owen, and Audrie as the fun neices and nephews we can't wait to see!

Restaurant Review (why not?):  Pizzaria Lola on 57th & Xerxes.  Very fun & unique atmosphere.  I just LOVE places like this.  Unique pizza DID live up to reviews of 'better than Punch Pizza.'  Just wish they had more on-tap beer!  http://www.pizzerialola.com/

Until next time.

Erin