Are You Ready for some Football?

You are? Great!

Me? Not so much. Never really been a huge fan of football. But the parties (and the food)? Totally!

We're having a few folks over to watch the big game (in our teeny house). We'll have the usual fair, but with a couple of twists.

• Instead of regular ol' pigs in a blanket, I'll be switching it up by using Aidell's mini chicken apple sausages
• Instead of just nacho cheese dip, I'll be making Queso Fundido

and of course there will be the obligatory chips and dip, soda, bloody marys, and beer.

Yum! Have a great (and allergy free) day!

Gab

For Me???

Dear Valentine Fairy,

If you are looking for something to bring me for Valentine's Day, look no further.

Thank you,

G

p.s. if you bring me this, i will be your best friend. seriously.

Pork Fat Rules!

My mother-in-law celebrated her 65th birthday on Saturday, so we had everyone over at Casa Peterson for a feast.

But what to cook?

Many folks who read this blog don't know that Mark's mom's family are Mexican-American which means that whenever we visit Mamanina (his grandma), we're usually treated to some homemade tortillas. On an even better day, we're treated to homemade tamales (yum!).

That being said, I decided to cook some Mexican food for Olivia.

What was on the menu? Well, I thought you'd never ask Here's a menu (along with links to recipes if you'd like to make this menu as well).

Olivia's 65th Feast
Carnitas (note:I used this recipe as a master, but changed up the spices. BTW, A 5lb pork shoulder was barely enough for us)
Corn and Flour Tortillas (store bought)
Red Rice (I cook my rice in my rice cooker with this - it's kind of weird I know, but the end result is tasty)
Pinquito Beans (you can always use the canned kind from the grocery store)
Pickled Red Onions (this is a foolproof recipe for pickled red onions - no cooking required)
Crema (you haven't lived if you haven't tried this yet - it's basically Mexican Sour Cream)
Tomatillo Salsa (ok, so I bought some from the store - sue me)

A good time (and margaritas and chips and guacamole) was had by all 9 of us.

It's Hard to Believe...That I Couldn't See.

That you were always right beside me.

WTF, you ask?

Bella asked if she could watch High School Musical Last week. Have you seen it?

We watched about 20 minutes with her and then ended up recording the rest of it on our DVR. And once Bella was asleep Mark and I watched the rest of it. In silence. Waiting to see what happened. Turns out it just one of those 'aw shucks' kind of movies where the guy gets the girl and everyone realizes that we're all the same deep down inside. But it was riveting. So clean cut and catchy. I almost wanted to tape HSM2, but Mark laid down the law.

So, in a nutshell, it's safe for a 3 year old. Heck, there wasn't even smooching (you can't say that for Hannah Montana people).

The downside? Now I have HSM (see how I'm down with the lingo now?) songs on a constant loop in my head. Mark's head on the other hand, is about to explode due to my sudden outbursts throughout the day while I'm doing dishes, surfing the web, giving Bella a bath....

I guess since I'm talking about HSM this blog has officially jumped the shark. Hopefully 2008 will bring more interesting (and frequent) posts.

Ho Ho Ho!

So I had grand intentions of driving out to Half Moon Bay today with the family to cut down a gorgeous Christmas tree, really I did.

But then I got to thinking about the environment and all that crap.

So we bought a fake-o one instead. We even went to Kmart to get it. Ick. But we came home with one of these.

And the best part? It has a rotating base! It moves around! In a circle! So you can see all the sides!

The second best part? I think they mis-charged me! $99.99 and the label in the store said $179.99! Maybe I was involved in a super secret 40% off sale? Who knows? Who cares! This baby will pay for itself in two years.

What a day. Now we just need to find our Christmas decorations.