New Recipe Every Month of 2012: Beer Battered Bacon Grilled Cheese Sandwhiches

When I was on my little trip last week, I stopped at Sonic quite a few times. I love Sonic, but I never get to go except when I'm back home, because we have so few out here where we live in California.  This is a tragedy made even worse by the frequent airings of all those dang Sonic commercials on TV. 

On one of these Sonic trips, my niece, Cassie, introduced me to a little piece of heaven, BLT Grilled Cheese Sandwiches. They were AMAZING! So I decided for April, I would try to make my own, and I found an even better recipe on pinterest, Beer Battered Bacon Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

They were so delicious, I could have eaten a million (but alas, I stuck to one). Here is the recipe!

Ingredients:

6 slices hickory-smoked bacon
4 slices rustic white bread
2 slices provolone cheese
2 slices Cheddar cheese
1 egg
3/4 cup pale ale beer
1/4 cup All-Purpose Flour
1/4 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
1 tablespoon butter

Directions:

Step One: In a skillet, cook bacon until crisp. Drain grease with paper towel

Step Two: Put together sandwhich with 2 slices of bread, 1 slice provolone cheese, 1 slice Cheddar cheese, and three slices of bacon.

Step Three: Heat griddle/skillet over medium-high heat. In a bowl, thoroughly combine egg, beer, flour, and chili with fork. Dip sandwhich in batter, a few seconds for each side. Drain excess batter back into bowl.

Step Four: Melt butter on griddle. Place sandwich on griddle. Cook on each side until golden brown and cheese is melty.

Serves Two.

Song of the Day: Impossible by Figurine

On the Road Like Jack Kerouac

I am back home and worn out from my Southern Misadventures. But I had such a freakin' good time, and I have a few things to share with you guys! But I wanted to start with one of my favorite parts of the trip, which was the road trip I took from Texarkana, Texas, to Columbus, Mississippi to see my wonderful W girls (A.K.A College Friends).

One of the things that I don't like so much about Los Angeles is the traffic. It makes me ancy and itchy, and when I'm stuck in it, I start daydreamin about giving away all my worldly possession and living life as a hermit in the wilderness. Or participating in a Waldenesqe type experiment via my blog. But would maintaining a blog be anti-Walden? I don't know.  Maybe the blog writing wouldn't be so bad, but I'm sure I'd be using the Internet to order shoes and purses too (and then I would be kicked out of the Walden club).

But hating traffic doesn't mean I hate driving, I actually like to drive. So getting out on those country roads with next to no cars on the road was amazing. I meandered through tee-niney Southern towns (Strong, Arkansas, wasn't even the smallest town guys,  I drove through a town that had a population of 197!)  I listened to my audio book Man-Hunt (about the assassination of Lincoln and the hunt for John Wilkes Booth, I'm such a history nerd). Grabbed Route-44 Cherry Limeades from Sonic. And stopped to take some pictures periodically, which most likely made me look like an idiot to the passer-bys. Not that I really cared.

Although the trip back to Texas wasn't as fun, since I got caught in a down pour, and I had to pull over for 30 minutes because I couldn't see the road, and I kept hydro-planing. And yet even that was better than sitting in traffic.

Song of the Day: Burning Bridges by Chris Pureka

An Online Link Love Book Vol. II

The artist Jirka Vaatainen has painted realistic portraits of famous Disney Characters! This is Cinderella, you can see more here.

I'm really into history and I love studying about the Titanic. I have been pouring over these actual photos taken aboard the Titanic. And I followed the Live Twitter Feed of the sinking for the 100th anniversary. So Heartbreaking. So Riveting.

These great draw-something app pictures make me sad because my draw-something drawings are soooo bad. 

A hilarious article on why Ryan Gosling should stop being so Ryan Goslingy.

I've been hitting the gym a few times a week for a month now, so I loved this list of 200 running/work-out songs for my iPod. I definitely love Music is My Hot, Hot Sex by CSS and That's Not My Name by The Tings Tings. But I would add Paris (Oh La La) by Grace Potter and New in Town by Little Boots.

50 Random People You Wish You Knew

I love this cool information about napping, it makes me feel less guilty about the amount of naps I take!

This is the most simplistic and easiest guide to understanding your SLR camera that I've ever seen!

I love these 21 practical traveling tips. Most I've never even thought of before.

I'm obsessed with nautical designs. And I want to paint my nails like this.

Song of the Day: Love Your Love The Most by Eric Church

Southern Bound

Starting tomorrow, I will be on a one week trip to my homeland (or motherland) the South. I will be hopping through Texas, Arkansas, and Mississippi. Visiting my best college friends (we are going to go crazy!). And visiting my family (and seeing my baby nephew who I haven't seen since he was 6 months old, he is almost 3!!) I will be road trippin', eating fabulous Mexican food, and drinking real Sweet Tea (these Californians just don't know how to do it).

This trip is a graduation gift from my mother, and I've been looking forward to it forever. I was actually supposed to go in March, but then I caught bronchitis and cracked my head open. So you know, it just didn't work out.

Even though I'm a little sad to have to leave Adam behind, I'm so excited for some time with the other ones I love. 

Can't wait to share all about it with Y'ALL!

Song of the Day: The Great Escape by Boys Like Girls

You Jump, I Jump

 

This weekend I got up early and dragged myself to the movies to see Titanic in 3D. No, Adam didn't come with me. I'm sure if I had made a big stink about it, he would have come. But it seems really unfair to drag someone to a movie they don't want to see that is 3+ hours long. Because a movie that long is more than a movie, it is a commitment. A commitment you have to plan ahead for.  I mean before the movie I had to make sure I had plenty of snuck-in snacks and beverages to sustain me for that long, a jacket in case it was cold in there, and that I had gone to the bathroom before hand.

I wanted to see Titanic again because just seeing the previews made me feel soo nostalgic. I was 11 years old when the movie first came out. It was one of the first PG-13 movies I ever saw (the other one was Wild Thing, which was confusing for a young, naive, Southern Baptist girl). I named my pet goldfishes Jack and Rose (no joke).  I listened to Celene Dion's My Heart Will Go On nonstop. Not to mention Leonardo DiCaprio was my first celebrity crush. I had posters of him, that I had ripped out of teen bop and tiger beat magazine, all over my walls. And if I had lived in California at that time, I'm sure I would have become his stalker.

One of the things that surprised me most about re-watching the movie is how young Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio were. When I was just a little teeny bopper, they seemed so old to me. So grown up, so mature. And now I am YEARS older than the characters they are supposed to be portraying. It's kind of like how when I used to watch The Real World when I was younger, I couldn't wait to be their age, so I could party and do stupid things under the guise of "figuring out who I am." But now I'm older than them, and I watch them thinking why are you doing these stupid things? Why don't you stop partying, and go out and get jobs, and become productive members of society?

Despite the age shock, I have to report that the movie has stood the test of time. And I really enjoyed my afternoon by myself at the movies. But the movie has left me wondering about two things that I have been wondering about for years. Why didn't Rose share that enormous floating door she was on with Jack when they were floating in the middle of the Atlantic?  And why didn't Rose at least put her life belt on Jack, since she was safe on the door? These questions will probably always go unanswered, and yet they will always haunt me.

Song of the Day: Crazy Love, Vol. II by Paul Simon

Let's Fondue It

For our anniversary dinner, we decided to try something new, and went out for fondue! I've never done fondue, but I really love cheese. I mean just bring me a vat of cheese and a swimsuit (if I even need a swimsuit) and I'll dive right in.

We decided to just go all in, and we went with the four-course menu. For the first course, we got a pot of Aged Whiskey Cheddar, and we dipped breads, veggies, and fruits. And who knew fruits would be so good dipped in cheese?!? The second course was salads, and I had a fabulous spinach & strawberry salad. For the third course, we each picked two skewers.  I chose beef tenderloin wrapped in bacon and coconut shrimp, and my picky husband really expanded his horizons by choosing plain chicken and garlic chicken (ha).

They brought out the raw meat on skewers with some mushrooms and grilled vegetables.  They took away the cheese (sob) and replaced it with a grill on our table, so we could grill our own food. We so wanted to do it right, that I actually whipped out my iphone so we could time when to flip it and when it was done. It was actually a lot of fun to grill our own food. And it really was soo delicious. Especially the coconut shrimp. They also gave us  6 different delicious sauces to dip our meats in. My favorite was the yogurt curry.  And we had to laugh, because when our friend Mike was here a few weeks ago he told us numerous times how crazy he was about dipping sauces. So we talked about how much Mike would love this!!!

Finally, it was time for the final course, arguably our favorite course-the dessert course.  We picked the peanut butter swirl chocolate fondue. They bring you out the chocolate, and then they set it on fire so you can roast marshmallows over it. They also brought out fruits (strawberries, bananas, and grapes), rice krispe treats, brownie bites, and cookie dough. 

We really had a blast. It was such a great way to celebrate our anniversary because it was a new experience, and it took about two hours, and it gave us plenty of time to talk.

P.S-Can you tell from the pictures who loves bacon and who doesn't?

Song of the Day: What I Got by Sublime

The Leather Anniversary

Today is our third wedding anniversary. And I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty excited. Like I told Adam last week (after which he looked at me like I was crazy), our anniversary is like a birthday that we can celebrate together!!!! (I said it just like that with lots of exclamation points). And we all know how I feel about birthdays!

I can't believe how fast these last three years have flown by, and I know three years isn't a a lot of time in the scheme of life. But I think every anniversary is a wonderful occasion, and should be celebrated as a milestone. Especially since we live in Southern California, the land of the celebrity, where three years might as well be fifty.

I'm going to go ahead and apologize right here because I'm about to turn into a big, old, mushy sap.

Last Friday night, when Adam got home from work, I asked him if he wanted to snuggle for a little while. And with anniversary plans on our mind, we started talking about some of our favorite moments from our wedding. Eventually, the conversation morphed into our thoughts about marriage.

I told him all about how much I appreciated him for always taking care of us so unselfishly,  and how he has supported me (emotionally, financially), so I could have the opportunities to go for my dreams with never a complaint. When life for us would have definitely been easier had I started working right when I moved to California to be with him.

Adam told me he loved me just the same  now as when we married, but that his respect for me has grown tenfold. He said he respected me for how I had dealt with things that have happened to me in my past, and how I had the courage to follow my dreams. And how I have to conquer my anxiety every single day. It feels good when someone tells you that they love you, but it feels even better when someone tells you that they respect you. 

I'm married to a man who really loves me, and I really love him, what more is there to say?

Happy Anniversary to Us. 

Song of the Day: 18th Floor Balcony by Blue October

A Wonderful Weekend

This weekend was spectacular. Not spectacular because we did anything really special, but because we didn't do much at all. We went to the gym, we went grocery shopping, and we did our laundry. And on Sunday, we slept in obnoxiously late, and we didn't get out of our pajamas at all. We love our little adventures, we love going out to eat, we love going to the movies, and we LIVE for travel. But truth be told, we are homebodies at heart. And a weekend spent at home every once in a while is just good for the homebodies' soul.

One of the things I did during our hermit weekend, was a little scrapbooking of recent events, and I thought I would share the results with you guys.

I hope you guys had a fabulous weekend as well.

Song of the Day: Blue Lips by Regina Spektor