Easter Basket Challenge

The hubcap and I are having a challenge. An EASTER BASKET CHALLENGE.

stock photo

First, allow me a moment to reminisce. When my brothers and I were younger, my parents put together the most incredible Easter Baskets (if I were in Ohio and had access to lots of cute pictures of the past, I'd post them now). Anywho, these baskets were pretty great. Always complete with a chocolate bunny (white for me, thank you very much) reese's peanut butter eggs (DUH), peeps, our dyed eggs, and always a great present to top it off. Ah, nostalgia. 

As we got older, wiser and more mature, so did our baskets. In recent years the chocolate bunnies have been replaced with wine and boozy candy, but the peanut butter eggs are a staple (don't mind if I do). 

(looks like someone got into them...)

Being away from home, we weren't sure of the status of our Easter baskets. We decided to take our matters into our own hands and concoct a challenge to motivate each other to put together the ultimate basket. 

THE EASTER BASKET CHALLENGE. 

Here are the rules:

1) No more than $50. Total. 

2) One libation.

3) Something homemade.

4) Something sweet. 

The wheels were set in motion awhile ago (think, at least a month) and today, a week before Easter, J. asks me if we can go all halvies on the homemade portion. PSSSH. 

Stay tuned, folks. 

Who do you think will come out on top? Any suggestions?

.... not that I need it. I've got this one in the basket.


Check it the challenge over here

Remember These?

Remember these little dollops of goodness? These... right HERE?

Someone (ahem...) was getting antsy for some OCP goodness and I thought, well snap, I can make those myself! With a fancy little google search, I found a great recipe here, from The Nest. It was hiding under the sneaky alias "Oatmeal Whoopie Pie."

I did not use the cream filling recipe that was provided. Oh no, friends. I used THIS... And consequently discovered my new demise: fluff + OMP cookie dough.  I didn't hate it.

Here's the final product. I mean... good GOD. Delicious.

To sum up, these were a raging success. Going, going, GONE!!

SCHWINNSIES!!

Officially "bikers"

After much trepidation (a year in the making) we took the plunge and bought BIKES! 

We came across a good deal for these little gems and we never looked back.

Our new rides, March, 2012

Twin Schwinns. Twinsies... no, wait for it...

SCHWINNSIES!

brew baking Brussels sprouts.

For years I've been telling myself that I hate Brussels sprouts, because that's what every all American kid learns. My husband lays claim that he has had a burning love for the Brussels since BA (before Abby... that's a long time). 


I wanted to humor him, so I pinned this recipe for Braised Brussels Sprouts with Beer and Bacon, which I found here, at A Spicy Perspective. I'm just going to go ahead and give it to her, she made me a Brussels Sprouts Believin' Bitch (fancy some alliteration, anyone?). 

Brussels sprouts with bacon... can't go wrong with bacon!

The ceremonious pour of the beer. 

I conclude with; if you're not a BSBB, you will be. 

Pre-date this baby.

First of all, I'd like to pre-date this to when I had originally intended to start... oh, let's say...

01/07/12

There. Much better.

Happy 2012! !Feliz año nuevo!
Among our many ambitious (and not at all over the top) new years resolutions, we vowed to join the blogosphere. Because, why not? If our bloggin' icons can quit their day jobs, tool around on the internet, post up pics, and write all day, then by God, why can't we? (Yes, we acknowledge it's more than "tooling around on the internet.")

Okay, so the real purpose of our blog was to chronicle our time spent here in the Windy City (ahem, that's Chicago if you just crawled out from under a rock) away from our families and friends (insert sad face :(... ) - while simultaneously attempting to act like responsible adults (which we mostly manage). And always, always dipping our toes outside of the realm of our comfort zone, with epic failures and successes along the way. 

We really wanted to do a "he said/she said" publication, but those were all taken (don't even go look for them, they're lame-o). We like to think when we're on top of our game we can bust out some punch lines, and a his'n hers perspective on a bajillion things. We've only been attached at the hip fo'life, so we practically finish..."each other's"...."sandwiches." Gotcha. 

But since those were unattainable, we've settled on this baker/brewer theme, which in no way do we intend to post never ending pictures of food porn (don't hold me to that. -A), but to signify our differences in strengths and hobbies. 

John, the amateur brewer (one batch, choking it down) and champion beer drinker. And me, Abby, the surprisingly awesome baker. Yup. 

Fingers crossed for some snow (you know, because it's January... winky face)! 

....we know that's not going to happen.

Our block, Winter 2012.