Olympic Pizza

Two years ago, C and I found ourselves at my parents house for a weekend visit during the Winter Olympics 2010. My sister, her husband and their son were living with them at the time so it was a full house. We thought it would be fun to do homemade pizza for dinner, and thus was the start of Olympic Pizza.

2010 Olympic Pizza

This year, C and I decided to recreate Olympic Pizza, and a tradition is born. This is the first tradition C and I have "started" for ourselves, so I'm pretty excited about it. This is going to be a great tradition to experience as our family grows over the years. Feel free to make this your own Olympic tradition, too!

Our Olympic Pizza is made with a premade thin crust by Pillsbury (the refrigerated canned kind). We topped it with a little garlic olive oil, pizza sauce, black olives, bell pepper, leftover diced tomatoes, and turkey pepperoni.

2012 Olympic Pizza

Fab Five takes Gold!!!

Have I mentioned how much I heart the Olympics??? We have watched non-stop Olympic coverage since Friday night in this house. And tonight, we got to see some great swimming races, including watching Michael Phelps become the "most decorated" Olympian ever. 19 is a lot of medals. But even more exciting (for me at least) was watching the Fab Five Women's Gymnastics team win GOLD!! I have extremely fond memories of watching Shannon Miller win Silver and Bronze in 1992, after which I immediately signed up for gymnastics. Unfortunately for me, I was already an overweight 7 year old, which isn't exactly the making of a gold medalist.

Then in 1996 I sat glued to the television (my gymnastics "career" long over by this point) watching the Magnificent Seven take GOLD! I probably cried that day. True story. In fact, I may have cried twice, once when Kerri Strug landed her vault one-legged, and then again when they officially won. I didn't cry today, but my heart did swell and it was truly enjoyable to watch Jordyn Wieber do her whole floor routine with a smile on her face.

In the spirit of the Olympics, C and I have continued our World Food Tour. This week we've been supporting the Asian countries, with Sushi one night and Indian Food for lunch on Sunday.

Sushi Haru is a little sushi restaurant near our house. We drive by it frequently but have always been scared to try it. Sushi restaurants aren't really something we generally try on a whim, without recommendations. After seeing some good reviews on Urbanspoon we decided to check it out and are glad we did. Prices were pretty average for sushi and everything we had was good. C even said he would go back, and he's definitely not sushi's biggest fan. I'm just really excited to know there is good sushi so close to home!

My and C's first date was a cooking class where we learned how to cook Indian food. That was almost 4 years ago and we haven't eaten Indian food since. While we like it, we just don't think about eating it very often. There are a number of Indian restaurants in the Kansas City metro area so we poured through some reviews before settling on the lunch buffet at Chilli n' Spice in Overland Park. While we almost never eat at buffets, we do prefer a buffet when we eat Indian food so we have an opportunity to try many different things. Overall the experience was good. It's a pretty small restaurant but the food was displayed well, hot things were hot, cold things were cold, and they brought us an entire pitcher of water when we sat down, which I especially appreciated. I can't say we'd be back just because it wasn't that close to our house, and let's face it, it'll probably be another 4 years before we go out for Indian food again.

Pictured below: Lentil cake (donut looking thing), rice, cheese cubes cooked with spinach, naan, cauliflower breaded kind of like sweet and sour chicken, eggplant cooked in a spinach sauce, and a rice cake. Sorry I can't remember the actual names of the dishes!



Germany Style Soft Preztels

Olympics are in full swing and we are loving it! Friday evening we watched the Opening Ceremonies with some good friends. Overall I thought the ceremonies were pretty good. There were a few parts that were a little odd, like the swing dance to celebrate the National Health System, or the dancing through the ages where giant Kiss heads were featured. But overall, it was entertaining.

 

I would like to give the worst dressed award for the Olympic parade of athletes to Germany. There were many crazy outfits throughout the parade, but Germany's just seemed so far off the mark. It didn't fit with their culture or the colors of their flags. I mean, seriously, what's with the bubble gum pink and baby blue jackets?

photo from msnbc.com

Despite the worst-dressed award, I kicked off my Olympic culinary adventure this weekend with German Style soft-pretzels. I have been wanting to make soft pretzels ever since I found this recipe on Pinterest. I actually ended up using a different recipe for the pretzels, but made 3 different kinds, which included the ham and cheese bites. So I think I can count this as both an Olympic post and actually making something off pinterest. Yay!

 

The recipe I used for these pretzels can be found at Kitchen Trial and Error. My pretzels did not stay together well during the boiling step, so I had to reshape them a bit. Also, I really didn't want all big pretzels, so I opted to make about half the dough into pretzel bites. Otherwise, I had no issues following this recipe. The whole process was a bit messy, but overall pretty simple.

Before boiling

 

After boiling, I tried to put them back into pretzel shape

Straight out of the oven!

The beginning of the ham and cheese pretzel bites. The idea was to stuff the bottom third with ham and cheese then roll them closed and cut them into bite size pieces. However, I didn't roll tight enough and they kind of fell apart after cutting. 

They were molded into pretzel "balls" filled with ham and cheese since it was obvious the ham and cheese was not going to stay in them as they were after cutting the long dough. These were delicious!

All 3 Varieties

• Pretzels with salt (in both the twisted shape and pretzel bites)
• Pretzels with cinnamon and sugar
• Pretzel bites stuffed with ham and cheese

Summer posts are few and far between

Work is busy this week, so I'm thankful for a quiet night at home to myself. C is out for the night, which means I get a few hours of quiet time to blog, look through old photos, and generally do whatever I want. Consequently that meant doing laundry as well. Let's face it, even quiet nights at home can't ignore chores that need done.

Summer has been busy, but in a relaxing way. We kicked off our summer with a trip to Portland and haven't stopped moving since. We were blessed to find 4 weekends this summer to go to the lake and enjoy some time in and on the water. With the heat wave in the Midwest (can you really call it a heat wave when it's been over a month?), and the severe drought conditions, I'm grateful for the pool and lake. The rest of our summer weekends are starting to pick up with activities and events, which means less lake time. I just hope the end of summer brings some cooler weather with it.

 To Do lists have been pretty non-existent around our house this summer. There are things that need fixed, cleaned, upgraded, etc. but summer relaxation is key. In addition to the lake time, we were able to go to Shakespeare in the Park this year, as well as spend the 4th celebrating both Independence Day and a dear friend's birthday. We participated in the Color Run Kansas City. We spent an evening at a winery with my parents. And we have been to farmers markets. I have even baked a cherry pie. I would definitely call this summer a success. 

That all being said, I vow to start blogging more again. I have a really cool idea (at least I think it's cool) to make recipes from around the world in honor of the Olympics. The Olympic Opening Ceremony is Friday and C and I are completely stoked. We heart the Olympics. I've already told C to make sure we had plenty of space on our DVR because I'm recording...everything. Okay, maybe not archery, handball, or weightlifting. But everything else is fair game.

So join me in making some of your favorite international foods to celebrate the Olympics in culinary style. Or feel free to suggest food items you'd like me to make. I have a few recipes lined up already but am totally open to suggestions! What's your favorite all-American recipe?

 Also! I'm hoping my pictures start getting better because C bought me the Canon Rebel T4i pictured below for my birthday! Isn't he just the bees knees? :)

I'm crafty

Like many of you out there, I have a love for pinning recipes, workout plans, and DIY projects. Somehow I find plenty of time to peruse Pinterest but never seem to find the time to actually make anything I pin. Today that changed.

There's Color Run fever in Kansas City this weekend. (Thank you pinterest for teaching me about the Color Run!) C and I are running in it tomorrow morning and I have to wear an all-white shirt. Conversely, it's approximately 100 degrees here in KC and just thinking about wearing a normal t-shirt tomorrow made me start sweating. I'm sure most of you have seen the DYI Tank Top pins made out of old t-shirts, so I thought this was the perfect time to give it a shot. I used this post because it didn't require any sewing.

I started with my plain Garmin shirt. This shirt is given to employees at orientation and I think I've worn it approximately never in the past 3 years. This seemed like a good shirt to experiment on.

First I cut off the sleeves and collar, being sure to stay close to the seam.

Next, cut about 1.5-2 inches further down the neck line. Cut the sleeves starting about 1.5 inches from the neckline at an angle to the bottom of the sleeve holes. I then turned the shirt over and cut in another inch or so into the back so it gathered a little easier.

I didn't get a picture of the final step, but cut a 2 inch x 8 inch strip from the sleeve scraps and tug on the ends a little so the cloth curls. Gather the back and wrap the cloth around a few times and tie into a knot to hold.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. And at least I'll stay a little cooler tomorrow morning!



26 Before 27, Final Update

My birthday is Friday and it turns out I didn't accomplish my list. But!--I do think I got a lot accomplished this year, even things that weren't on the list. Plus, now I've got a few items to start out my 27 Before 28 list! I've had an incredibly blessed 26th year and am excited to see what 27 has in store.

1. Go to Chicago (check! We went over Thanksgiving.)
2. Find a church (check! We haven't been much, but I do feel confident that we found a church we both like)
3. Learn to sew (Does getting the sewing machine out of the box count? I have high hopes for this next year! If someone knows how to sew they are welcome to come teach me.)
4. Run a 10k (check!)
5. Cook all the printed recipes in my recipe folder (Between TheKitchn and Pinterest, there are just too many recipes. This won't make next year's list.)
6. Blog 30 days in a row (check!)
7. Read 10 books (check! Check out this post to see what I read)
8. Ride my bike more (check! Um, we rode a few times. Which was more than not at all)
9. Bake a pie from scratch (check! Cherry Pie was made this weekend and it turned out great.)
10. Pay off my Graduate School loans (check! We also paid off C's car this month so I'm pretty sure that counts as an extra item.)
11. Begin half marathon training (check! I ran TWO half marathons this year! That's like a WHOLE marathon!)
12. Plant a full garden (check! So far we've only gotten peas, basil, and sage from the garden, but it's looking great!)
13. Refinish the landscaping on the side of our house (I spent about 2 hours clearing out the trees and overgrown bushes this weekend, but we're a few weeks away from getting the landscaping completed. This goes on next year's list.)
14. Frame wedding posters (Nope, still hasn't happened.)
15. Make wedding album (Again, this hasn't happened. I swear I love my husband, but I don't love our wedding pictures, so my motivation is lacking.)
16. Spend the afternoon at a winery (check! I'm pretty sure I'm adding this to next years list anyway just so we can spend more time at wineries.)
17. Go someplace new (check! This year I went to Southampton, UK, Barcelona (twice), Milwaukee, Portland, and New Hampshire. It's been a busy year.)
18. Bake bread from scratch (check! I made French Bread this weekend. It was impressive.)
19. Make homemade ice cream (check! Our ice cream maker has a semi-permanent home on the kitchen counter now.)
20. Go on the Boulevard Brewery Tour (check!)
21. Visit the Nelson-Atkins Museum (We had intended to go this past weekend, but there just weren't enough hours in the day. This will make the list for next year.)
22. Take a day off, for no reason (check! I slept in, I cleaned a little, I shopped, I drank a frappuccino. It was great.)
23. Join a group/do more community service (I'm thinking Junior League or Big Brothers/Big Sisters) (I didn't get this accomplished and it's been weighing heavily on me lately. This is definitely on next year's list.)
24. Watch The Godfather (just something I've never seen but have wanted to) (check! We watched all 3.)
25. Read a non-fiction book (looking for suggestions) (check! I read Me Talk Pretty One Day, by David Sedaris. Hilarious!)
26. Take one week off from facebook (check!)

The Tale of the Jalapenos

Happy National Running Day! I had great intentions to run tonight. See that picture below? I totally have on my running clothes. And then, the events leading up to that picture happened.

On my way home from a work team builder this evening, I called C and asked him to meet me at home for a run. While waiting for him to get home from work, I thought I'd be productive and chop up some jalapenos we were using in tonight's dinner. Chopping went fine; C got home. Then I made the egregious error of rubbing my eye. It started to sting immediately, but just on the spot I had rubbed it. It was a sharp pain, almost like I had scratched it. I knew I hadn't scratched it. I had just gotten jalapeno oils in my eye. As I lay on the floor clutching my eye saying "Oh no....ouch.....oh my gosh...ouch...oh no!" C just sat there asking what was going on. I finally got out the words, explaining that I had just touched my eye after chopping jalapenos and C suggested I flush it with water. I honestly couldn't tell you if this helped or hurt it more because at this point the entire right side of my face was pretty numb. You know that numbness your mouth and tongue get after eating something really spicy? Now imagine your eye and cheek feeling that way. It was painful.

While I got an ice pack and rested it on my eye (which I think actually did help), C scoured the internet for "cures". We both had images of the worst. He was afraid he might have to take me to the hospital (this is also the point when we realized we have no idea where the closest ER is in relation to our house). I was afraid my eye was going to be swollen and red and I would have to relive this story for the next day or two. We found a suggestion to soak a paper towel with milk and rest it on your eye, so we thought we'd give it a try. At this point, nothing could really make it any worse. This is me, laying on the bed with milk paper towel on my face. It might be one of my most pathetic moments.

I'm happy to say that after about 15-20 minutes, my eye did finally reach the point where I could open it and cook dinner for C. However, we decided to forgo the run this evening since my eye still burned a little and it was getting late. Lesson learned.

When  you stick a jalapeno finger in  your eye, you get to eat cookies and watch a chick flick. We watched The Time Traveler's Wife. Spoiler Alert: It was creepy and weird, especially when he travelled back in time and kissed his future wife when she was only 18 and he was 38. Or when she got pregnant by "past" husband because real-time husband got a vasectomy. Weird. But, by the end I was in tears as I watched this couple have to know that he was going die and say goodbye to each other.

I think I should probably head to bed before I hurt myself any further. At least my eye is mostly better, and hopefully by morning all burning sensations will be gone and my pride will be back.