Cake, Anyone?

I just love wedding cake. My brother's wedding had 2 fabulous cakes for our gluttonous pleasure.

Here's the main wedding cake...love the detail and the "W" at the top:

And here's the groom's cake. Bill is a HUGE pizza fan, and this cake was made with him in mind. It was vanilla inside with chocolate marbling, and all the decorations were icing. It was yummy, too.

They were both delicious! I need to find a picture of my wedding cake...it was beautiful. Where is that photo album????

Wedding Bells are Ringing

Life has certainly been busy lately. First we had our long road trip to the Midwest, then I had to go to Georgia for my uncle's funeral, then I spent the better part of 2 weeks going through his papers and trying to get his affairs in order, and then I topped that off by taking yet another trip to Georgia, this time for a most joyous occasion. My brother Bill, after nearly 39 years of bachelorhood, finally took the plunge and got married this past Saturday.

Here is Bill and my new sister-in-law, Stacie, at their rehearsal dinner:


I bought the hats at Party City and forgot to give them to the bride and groom until the end of the dinner, but it was still funny. The rehearsal dinner was the last one at Washington Hall in Augusta; the place went out of business the week before, but thankfully honored their committment to Bill and Stacie. The food was delicious, and my brother, who is a huge trivia nut, arranged for his favorite Live Trivia guy, Mike Thomas, to do a Trivia Night after dinner. Our table came in 2nd, and we won little plastic trophies. It was a blast!

Here's the groom with his nephews, my boys:


Three good looking fellas there!

Here's the beautiful bride:

This is the table for the guest book, which I never saw put out. The bridal couple chose to pass out bubbles instead of birdseed to toss after the ceremony, and next to the bubbles is a picture of Bill's and my parents. So it's like they were there.

More pictures of the week to come...

Congratulations to B and Stacie and welcome to the family to Stacie and her 3 children, Caleb, Tyler, and Hannah!

It's a Fiesta!

I made a new dish tonight for supper...Grilled Fiesta Shrimp. I got the recipe from Cooking Light magazine, so it was healthy, too! Eric and I enjoyed it, but I think it needed a little more spice.

First, I peeled and de-tailed 2 pounds of shrimp. Place shrimp in a long layer of heavy-duty aluminum foil (I didn't have heavy-duty, so I used 2 sheets of regular). Then drizzle 1 tablespoon olive oil over the shrimp and sprinkle 1 teaspoon Creole seasoning. Add 1 can corn with peppers, 1 can black beans, 1/2 cup Mexican shredded cheese, and 3 tablespoons cilantro. Top that with another teaspoon of Creole seasoning.


Fold and seal the packet and place on a grill set to medium-high for 15 minutes or until the shrimp are done.

Meanwhile, make rice...I use Uncle Ben's long-grain. Yummy.


Plate the rice, spoon shrimp mixture over, and serve. Delish!


This is a reader recipe courtesy of the July 2009 issue of Cooking Light magazine.


Grilled Fiesta Shrimp--serves 6

2 pounds large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons Creole seasoning, divided
1/2 cup shredded Mexican-blend cheese
1/2 drained canned whole-kernal corn with peppers
1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
4 cups hot long-grain rice

Prepare grill to medium-high heat.
Arrange shrimp in the center of a large piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil (or a double layer of regular foil). Drizzle oil over shrimp; sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of Creole seasoning. Top shrimp with cheese, corn, beans, and cilantro, and sprinkle with the last teaspoon of Creole seasoning. Fold opposite ends of foil together and crimp edges to seal.
Place foil packet on grill, cover and cook 15 minutes or until shrimp are done. Serve over hot cooked rice.

Enjoy!

Pretty in Pink

Last May I ordered some cute vases from the secretary of the middle school I sub at. Since it was close to Mother's Day, they've been backordered, and I finally got them a couple of days ago. I'm so excited at how cute they really are! I got some simple pink carnations, and placed them in the vase earlier.

Sometimes it's the little things that make one happy.

Weird Things I Saw on Vacation

I saw some odd things on our trip to the Midwest...some that just kind of tickled my fancy, others which were downright weird. Here are a few:

Now I just HAD to Google this when I got home! What the heck is a Jake Brake? Apparently they are a type of compression brake used on diesel trucks that make a very loud noise. So Cambridge, Ohio, does not wish to see the use of them in their town. Too funny...

Yes, that's lots of dollar bills hanging in a bar! This is the popular Thurman Cafe in Columbus, Ohio that I spoke so highly of yesterday. For many years people have been signing their names on dollar bills--some fives, tens, and twenties, too--and the bartender hangs them up. The walls, ceilings, even counters are covered in money! And yes, there's one there from us, too!

I thought this banner was so funny. New York-style pizza. Why is that funny? We were in Chicago, on our way to eat Chigaco-style pizza. I guess some people are never satisfied...

Not a great picture, but Grant Park in Chicago was full of these metal flowers. There is a rotating art exhibit here. When Eric was here for the Obama acceptance speech in November, there were lots of legs on display here. I'm sorry I missed that one!

I have a better picture of this with feet in the shot, but for some reason it wouldn't load straight. This is the view of downtown Chicago, from the new plexiglass-floor box in what was then the Sears Tower. 103 stories straight down! I still can't believe I stood in that box and looked straight down...it was more scary than weird!

I don't even know where to begin with this one. This was a picture that was hanging in the bathroom of our hotel in Chicago. Right over the toilet. I think that was a good location for it!

This was in the parking garage at the University of Wisconsin. I didn't realize Wisconsin was a tornado-prone area. Snowstorms, maybe...

This neon sign was in the window of The Mill in Iowa City. I have no idea what it is...maybe a business? A drink, maybe? Anyway, it's kind of amusing.

I guess pedestrians don't have the right-of-way at the University of Iowa! But hey, it's a smoke-free campus!

The Great Midwest Food Tour

We ate at a lot of wonderful places on our vacation a couple of weeks back.

In Columbus, Ohio, we ate at the Thurman Cafe, which has the best hamburger I've ever eaten.

Eric found this place on Trip Advisor, and it was worth the stop. VERY small restaurant, and very popular...we had to wait 20 minutes just to sit at the bar!

This was Eric's hamburger...it was huge and juicy! I just ordered a plain burger with ketchuo, but it was as big as this one and just as delicious!

If you're ever in Columbus, give this place a try!

In Lafayette, Indiana, we ate at the Triple XXX...sounds like a porno restaurant, but it was great!

This was a featured restaurant on the Food Network show Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives with Guy Fieri, and there were pictures of him all over the place. Even though it was nighttime, JJ ordered the pancakes (they serve breakfast all day). They were HUGE!

Once again, I had the burger, but I liked the Thurman's better. Fun atmosphere in here, though...very much a dive!

Of course, you can't visit Chicago without eating pizza! We had lunch at Lou Malnatti's downtown.

The pizza was yummy...we each ordered our own personal pizza. The kids has cheese, I had pepperoni, and Eric has some veggie one.

For supper that night, it was Gino's East.

Now THAT was some good pizza! It was dark in here, so the pictures didn't come out well, but trust me, this pizza joint was worth visiting!

In Iowa City, before our tour of the University, we ate lunch at The Mill, a bar and grill just off campus.

There was a jukebox here that JJ gave a great workout...lots of Metallica! Once again, I had the hamburger. Seemed to be a theme to this vacation for me! Nothing beats the Thurman, though.

I love the bar area name.

No visit to the Midwest would be complete without a stop at the most famous hamburger joint ever...

We had these for breakfast our last day, when we were headed back home. There's just something about a little square burger...

Now...I'm in the mood for a hamburger. How long will it take me to get to Columbus?

And Then There Were None

It's been a rough couple of weeks. We got back from our fun vacation/college road trip to the Midwest and came home to the news that my uncle in South Carolina had passed away while we were gone. He was my last remaining uncle on my mom's side of the family, and I'm his next of kin. So after a long ride home after vacation, I re-packed us all up and the kids and I drove to stay with my brother for a week while we planned Uncle Sam's funeral and began the long job of cleaning out his apartment.

I have many pictures of Uncle Sam through the years, but I love this one. It's a picture of my mom and all her remaining brothers at the funeral of my Uncle Swift in 1983:

My mom is in the front--and I remember she was so mad when this picture was taken because she had just changed out of her funeral clothes and felt she wasn't dressed right for this picture!

Left to right in the back: Uncle Babe (loved Baby Ruth candy bars), Uncle Sam, Uncle Fat (I guess he was rather portly back in the day), Uncle Pepsi (loved Pepsi Cola), and Uncle Everett.

Here's to the last of the Carter family...I raise a can of Budweiser (Uncle Sam's beverage of choice) to Uncle Sam and his unforgettable existence in my life.