Funnel cakes and Falling water

The Wrap up:

This past weekend several things happened. Friday night Sparky and I went to a charity hockey game between the Pittsburgh firefighters and the Pittsburgh police officers at the Consol Center (that's the big arena where the Penguins play) Except that on Friday, which should have been the opening night of the Penguins season, the Penguins weren't playing. Why, you ask? Well, hockey is on strike. Shocking. Who isn't? Remember when sports was more than money? That was fun. So instead, there was a charity game. Love the idea! And, no offense to the policemen but I'm a firefighter girl. Yeah, the score was 6 to 2. Policemen. On top of that, they made me cry when they had the guy they were raising money for up on the jumbotron telling everyone thank you. I mean, crying at a hockey game?! I am not well.

We then decided to make our way to the end of the Mt. Lebo vs. Peters Twp high school football game. Ok, that sounds crazy. Here's why we did this- Sparky tells me he has a co-worker who is working at the concession stand selling funnel cakes (daughter in the band) and he told us to stop by. You had me at funnel cake. It wasn't exactly warm and I had on my cute Friday night clothes, boots included. So the only thing keeping me trekking up the steep hill from the parking lot to the stadium was the promise of the fair delight. No such luck. Sparky got his days/events mixed up. His co-worker was there but not with dough and hot oil. He was just a normal band parent. The funnel cakes were on Saturday...at a farm. I never got that funnel cake. Meanwhile, I haven't been to a high school football game since, well, high school. They are so funny. I was definitely judging just a little bit. "is that kid serious?", "who acts like that?" ,"ugh. grow up", "that stupid girl thinks she is so cool", "I never acted like that". What do they know, they're like 15? It totally made me miss high school.

 Saturday was surprise date day- Sparky's version- and I have to say, he's nailing this stuff. I've been really impressed (cause sometimes I think he waits until Friday and then just asks a co-worker what to do while I research for a week or more). But, so far, like I said- nailing it. This time we drove about an hour or so to a little town called Ohiopyle. There's a state park there and it is beautiful. And such a cute little town. We had these amazing sausage sandwiches that the volunteer fire department was selling. No, I didn't misspeak. Sausage sandwich not biscuit. It is a sausage patty on a bun with cheese on top. The patty has to be larger and thinner than your normal breakfast sausage. Think McDonald's sized. Sparky added pickles, I refrained. So simple, but so good. My nose found them before we did. I swear, I'm like a very intelligent, very clean dog. My nose and ears work too well for my own good. If you like rafting, kayaking, hiking, biking, etc you should venture to Ohiopyle. I don't really do any of that but I like to admire outdoor beauty, so it works.



The real surprise part of the date was later though. Sparky took me to Fallingwater. Fallingwater, for those who don't know, is a Frank Lloyd Wright design from the late 1930's. It is beautiful. More so on outside. Remember, I said 30's. The inside is still very much that era. Because apparently they didn't change a thing from the day construction was completed until they handed it over to the conservationists. It's still beautiful though. Did you know that Wright was a bit of a nut? He tended to get in arguments with his clients a lot. He also did whatever he wanted and told people it was his way or no way. The Kaufmann's wanted a 4-car garage for their little vacation home (that's what Fallingwater is) and Wright said no. He created the carport because he said enclosed spaces promote clutter. I tend to agree with that thought process. But he was still crazy. Crazy like a fox.

Here are my recipes for this post:

1. Crusty Bread- Fantastic! Love, love, love. I'm so excited to try variations of it. So impressive, but so easy.

2. Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole- Yum. It makes a lot though so we'll be eating it a while

3. Crack dip- This stuff is like crack. I took a bowl of it to a friend's house for football. 4 adults. None left by halftime. It's good with chips but amazing with bread (like the crusty bread above)

4. Chicken Bacon Pizza- There's no link here cause I just threw this together myself. I used pre-made crust, put a little bit of pizza sauce on it (not much at all) and then sprinkled with Parmesan cheese. I used can chicken and bacon from a bag. You can cut up chicken and make bacon if you want. Then I saturated it with mozzarella cheese on top (we love us some cheese). Sparky liked it better than the pepperoni/mushroom I also made.

Let me know if anyone makes any of these recipes. I'd love to know what you thought about them.

Steelers

Nuff said.

And Recipes

So I went to Philly the other weekend to see my sister's new house/town. Ok, let me back up... My sis is moving to Philly (Jersey to be more specific- but right over the bridge so I'll say Philly). Her husband's company Godfathered him and gave him an offer he couldn't refuse. For those of you that don't know and are now thinking "that's great! you're in the same state now!" Ummm.. no. Philly and Burgh are about 5 1/2 hours apart. Not to mention their house is actually in Jersey which is just a tiny bit further. So it's not like we'll be hanging out every week or anything. It is closer than G-vegas so let's be thankful for that. Anyway, you're thinking Jersey Shore, right? Well, we did go there for the day but that's about 45 mins from where they actually live. They live in the burbs. Did you know that Jersey is a full service state? As in, when you get gas, they pump it. Not you. Literally, there are men standing around waiting to pump your gas. Seems legit. The big question is, do you tip them? Gas ain't cheap, friend. and it's not like you did something I'm not entirely capable of doing all on my own. I suppose you can guess which way I lean.

As stressful and sad as it is to leave the only home you've ever known, I think she/they will like it. Maybe not forever. But for now. Philly's cool and close to lots of other cool places so should be a fun little adventure. I'm sure I'll be going there quite a bit, so you'll hear more about it later. I will say that Atlantic City is somewhere in the middle on a scale of Mrytle Beach to Las Vegas.

All that said, my final verdict- Best. Cheesesteak. Ever.

Remember how I mentioned that Sparky and I are doing the "suprise" dates in order to get out and do things in our new community? Well, mine was last weekend and I was pretty dang proud of myself. We did glass blowing. Whaaaa??? Yes, blowing glass. It was super cool and fun and now we have some little glass pumpkins to show for it. The guys that do this are located in the eclectic, artsy Southside. The owner of the place (1 of the 2 guys working there) lives above it. But don't let that fool you. These guys are not artsy, fartsy pot heads doing a hobby. These guys are scientists. It is amazing what they have to know about heat disbursement, chemical reactions, and all sorts of things I have no idea what I'm talking about. It's a really cool process and I highly recommend it. And, below, TA DA, our pumpkins!

I've been trying to be a good wife recently. Okay, that's wrong. I'm always a good wife. I've been trying to be a better one. Yeah, that sounds right. Anyway, so my goal has been to try new recipes to spice up our meal life. This is step one in the amazing wife transformation. I think there are twelve steps total. Like AA. I've been doing pretty well. Some have been huge successes. Others not so much. Sparky does not have quite the sensative pallet that I do, so I can't always trust him to tell me if something is good or not. He will eat almost anything. Live octopus, bring it on. Mystery meat, sure why not. Leftovers from a month ago, yep. But you put a piece of pineapple in front of him and out come the "ugh! ewww! no.no.no" Odd. So if you're looking for good pineapple recipes, the only one I have is to mix the juice with Malibu and stir. Here's some of what I've made thus far and how it went over:

1. Chocolate chip Banana Oatmeal bread- enough said.

2. Skinny spaghetti- Ehhh...it's okay. If I'm out of real stuff to make, I might do it again

3. Crock pot chicken taco chili- Finger lickin' good times. So good!

4.  Baked Ranch and Parmesan chicken- I would give this 4 1/2 stars. Will make again

5. Roasted cabbage- No. Maybe we're just not cabbage people, but no.

6.No bake energy bites- I make these constantly. Can't get enough. No chocolate in mine.

7. Baked Egg Boats- The bread got inedibly hard so it was difficult to eat. Thumbs down.

8 Hasselback potatoes-Not impressed.Good in theory but didn't work out.Middle was raw

9. Turkey Chili- has potential. Next time will make a bit thicker but overall very good.

Thanks for stopping by for the latest edition of the Life and Times of Jess. Love to you all.

The Pearls Are Off

You know what I don't get? Drivers here. With all due respect (and we know since I said "all due respect, I can now say anything I want without fear of offending anyone) what is the deal with the whole "oh, sure, you need to get out of that gas station onto a four lane major road? Not a problem, let me just slam on my breaks real quick so you can slowly get out into traffic. You're welcome." or how about "aww, look at me. I'm going to stop my lane of traffic so you can take a left out of that parking lot. I'll wave you on cause I'm super nice. But just so you know, I'm not checking the other lane for cars and I'm definitely not going to make sure cars aren't coming in the other direction, so it's pretty much risking your life. You're welcome." Don't get me wrong, I'll be nice and let you out if I'm coming up to a red light or there's lots of traffic and I'm going to stop anyway. But not just randomly. So I propose- Is it nice or just stupid?

I will say this- after the Steelers lost last weekend, I did notice people being less likely to let others out. The niceness meter dropped just a bit that Monday. Interesting...
Speaking of which, I don't think it's possible (if you live here) to not be a Steelers fan. It's unlike anything I've ever seen. These people are cra cra about their football. I saw people dressed up in full Steelers gear like it was game day 2 months ago... on weekdays. A friend of ours got called out in church last Sunday for not wearing black and gold. It is a way of life here. I do appreciate that Pittsburgh had the good sense to make all their teams the same colors. Big shout out to the guy with that brilliant idea. We're going to the Steelers home game opener this Sunday. I'm a little worried my enthusiasm level isn't up to par with these folks quite yet. I'll let you know.

We went to the Pirates game a while back when my sis was in town and here's what came out of that...

1. Toto, I don't think we're in South Carolina anymore. Let me set the record straight. In the South, the majority of women wear cute outfits to games (All sports). Not all women. And they are most certainly not always cute. But nonetheless, a solid 70%. ESPN did a whole thing about southern girls and their cute outfits, so that's how serious it is. Sis and I were excited about our cute black dresses and yellow jewelry. I have this fantastic hat that's black and yellow plaid that was making it's debut. So, we finally walk up to the giant tailgate and it is soooo obvious that we are not from around these parts. We looked like we were going to prom. These women were not in cute outfits. They were in jerseys and jeans or t-shirts and shorts. WHHHAATTT?! Not a fan. I guess this is how it is everywhere but the South. Well, I may be the only one, but I'll be darned if I'm going to an event looking like I just got done mowing the lawn. I'll rock a jersey I'm sure, but it'll be cute if it kills me. You can take the girl out of the South but you can't take away my cute outfits.

2. You can take a ziploc bag of snacks and a bottle of unopened water into the stadium! Okay, maybe that's just exciting to me. I love snacks and water! And it's a good $30 cheaper for Sparky if I get to bring that stuff in from the outside where items are reasonably priced. Go Bucs!

Kenny. Not to be confused with Dolly

Well, I’m back from a needless and lazy break from typing.  I know everyone was anxiously anticipating my return. Well, anticipate no more, my friends. Let’s see…where to start…

Kennywood is as good a place as any I suppose. Kennywood (not to be confused and definitely not related to Dollywood) is a theme park really close to us that we took Sparky’s family to while they were here visiting. I think it would be a significantly better story if Kennywood was related to Dollywood, but sadly, it’s not. In reality, I’ve read the story of Kennywood and I’m not even sure where the Kenny comes from at all. Anyway, I’m not a roller coaster rider myself. I really just go for the food. But they made me get on one of those water rides cause surely I can handle that. Oh, I handled it alright. I got soaked. As in, wring me out over the state of SC and there’d be no more fear of drought. Fun. It was fun overall, though, so I guess I’ll live. I will say that my hubby and his bro-in-law rode the big, scary death coasters and they both said “Best. Ride. Ever.” After each one.

Remodeling- So, I’ve done a lot of painting, etc. but at some point we’re going to have to get real and start tearin’ stuff up…or down as it were. Just one little problem with that. Money. Why does it cost a small fortune to do anything? I mean, I could buy a car, or a small island for what these guys want to put a shower in our bathroom. I guess who I should really be upset with are the previous owners. I mean, who puts in fancy, claw foot tub (aka not a shower) in the master bathroom? I love a claw foot tub as much as the next person, but people take showers. So we trek our happy rear ends downstairs every morning to the only shower in the house which, of course logic would indicate, is in the den. Oops, not den. That’s not what they call them up here. Great room maybe? Whatever, the big room. So it’s in the great room. I fail to see the logic here. Then again I fail to see the logic in quite a few things the previous owners did. But, don’t worry, because Sparky and I have decided that we can do a lot of the remodeling ourselves. Oh yes, it’s happening and I’m sure it will be completely painless, cost nothing, and take no time at all. Yay us!

Phil- Sparky and I have decided that each month we will plan a surprise date for the other person. I thoroughly enjoy this idea and am completely on board because it will get us out in our new community. In August, his surprise for me was a drive up to Punxsutawney to see Phil. We stopped at some wineries along the way and then stayed the night in a precious B&B. Phil, in case you didn’t know, is housed in the local library there. Also, for your information, Gobbler’s Knob is about a 2.5 mile drive from the middle of town. It’s near the Wal-Mart if you’re ever up that way. Some other tidbits you might want to know prior to going are that the only restaurant in the actual town that’s open on a Saturday evening is McDonald's (don’t worry, we drove a bit to get food), the only bar in town was not open- don’t know why, and the movie Groundhog's Day was not actually filmed there.  Oh, and apparently, the townsfolk aren’t real keen on that movie, so if you think it’ll be fun to watch the movie while being in the town, you’ll have to bring it with you. Overall, an adorable surprise and a good little overnight adventure. Props to Sparky. If you're wondering what my surprise date for August was- I got us tickets to see Jim Gaffigan at the Benedum Theatre. Not nearly as...um... interesting, but it was super fun.

Ok I'm drained for now but I'll be back with more soon. Promise

Afters

Foyer

Living Room

Dining room project

Phase 1-  Wallpaper (layer 1)

Phase 2- Wallpaper (layer 2)

Phase 3- Paint wainscoting

Phase 4- Paint walls

Phase 5- clean room...