October 22, 2011- A Good Day

Today I fed and petted goats and llamas, went through my first corn maze, experienced vortex, picked apples and pumpkins, made delicious pizza, bought fabric for curtains,  watched an excellent football game, hung mirrors, filled basement craft shelves... and now I'm watching Mythbusters with the man and kittens that I love.

Something Pretty

I saw Kid Rock on the "news" this morning (I watch Fox in the AM cause it's campy and about my speed at 8:30) in a music video ("news") and he looked great.  I thought I'd post a pic of Kid just for fun and then google image searched him and he looks terrible.  Enjoy what I found when I google image searched Portia instead:

Can we all say jealous of ellen?

Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers

I've made these poppers for every party I've hosted since I found the recipe.  They're great for the Super Bowl, but be sure to make lots- they always disappear quickly!

This reminds me that I need to find my camera.  Recipes are so much more fun with pictures.

Get a bunch of jalapeno peppers.  I usually get between 10 and 20, depending on how many guests.  You'll also need cream cheese, shredded cheddar cheese, and bacon.  How could this go wrong?

Be sure to use latex gloves or wash your hands thoroughly after handling hot peppers unless you find the feeling of hot pepper residue in your eye invigorating (like me).  

Cut the tops off the jalapenos, slice them down the middle, and remove the seeds.  I've got this little tool meant to core tomatoes (a tomato corer?) that is perfect for this.  Put the cream cheese in the peppers, and sprinkle and press the cheddar on top.  Get your package of bacon and cut it in half down the middle.  I use kitchen shears for this.  Wrap the slices of bacon around the poppers and stick a toothpick through the middle.

I've found that the best way to get the poppers baked without having soggy bacon is to get a little rack (mine was a cupcake cooling rack) that fits inside your baking sheet.  The fat drips off and the bacon gets crispier.

Put them in a 450 degree oven.  Start checking on them at about 15 minutes, I usually leave them in for a little over 20- whenever the edges of the poppers start looking a little brown.  Take them out and let them cool.  Did you get that?  LET THEM COOL.  For at least 15 minutes, if not longer.  I have burned my mouth so many times because they look and smell so awesome I just can't wait.

Then, watch them be devoured.

I made a batch of these tonight, which is what inspired this post.  I did something a little different this time and made them all just for me!  Here's a terrible cell phone pic:

I only ate these three, I swear.

ellen

I don't think "loved" is necessarily the category I would put ellen in, but since I don't have an "obsessed" blog (yet... I just registered that on blogger real quick) I'll mention her here.  Let me explain:


Tuesday- Arrived home from work and watched the ellen show, which I dvr every day.  About 2 years ago I was sick for a week and discovered how great it was, and have been watching ever since.  It pains me to think of the 6 seasons I missed out on.  When it was over I watched some old stand-up and then a few episodes of the old ellen sitcom, both found at the library.

I also finished Portia's book.  It took me over a month to read it, even though I'm sure I could have devoured it in a day.  It's not often I find a book I want to stretch out as long as possible, and when I returned it (overdue) I was sad to let it go.  I love Portia nearly as much as I love ellen (she was my favorite in Arrested Development) and especially since I've read her book and seen her a few times on the show.  

Wednesday- As I drive to work I pop some ellen spoken word into the cd player.  When I come home, I have time to watch most of that day's episode but then have to get to date night with the bf, so I listen to more spoken word while I drive there, and when I arrive he is frustrated because his initial plan to download ellen episodes from the internets isn't working as well as he thought it would.  I have confidence he'll make it work somehow.  I spend at least 30 minutes talking to him about ellen's latest episodes and Portia's book.

Thursday- Today.  Walked out to my car this morning to drive to work and forgot about the spoken word cd still in the car.  Turning on the car and hearing ellen (instead of all the war/protesting/politics that have been on npr lately) surprised me and made me smile.  Got home from work and watched the rest of yesterday's ellen and have today's on pause so I could write this. 

Obsessed?  Obviously.  But she makes me smile and laugh.  Who doesn't like to smile and laugh?  I think I'll watch Finding Nemo tomorrow.