Thurston Blogging

Sharon's Birthday Belly Bomb Cake

Sharon's birthday is tomorrow, and I made her a cake.  Why?  Because I'm the best mofo husband in Ada!

Here is the recipe, courtesy of Paula Deen.  It's super-easy, and tastes like the cousin of UV.  What's UV?  I can't tell you.  Anyway, here is the recipe:

Ingredients & Directions:

Cake:
1 18 1/4-ounce package yellow cake mix
1 egg
8 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well with an electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 by 9-inch baking pan. Prepare Filling

Filling:
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 tablespoons butter, melted
1 16-ounce box powdered sugar

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter and beat together. Next, add the powdered sugar and mix well. Spread over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Make sure not to over bake as the center should be a little gooey.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Ease of preparation: easy

Recipe courtesy Paula Deen and Random House Publishing

Photos of a Sunday stroll in Gent

Took walk in downtown Gent on Sunday afternoon.  The weather was a total mess early Sunday morning, which was sure to confine me to my room.  The sky opened up, the sky became blue, and The Jay left the Holiday Inn.

Here are the photos from the walkabout:

Name this Bar

In honor of The Black Out Tavern having the the first keg brought in, I thought we'd play a game.   Okay, the BOT has had other kegs, but the first keg to be brought on-line in the new (to me) Kegerator.  Leinenkugel Red is ready to be tapped. 

On to the game.  The game is similar to Name that Tune.  "Thurston's Name that Bar" will feature a bar, and you users tell me where it is located and its name.  Here is the photo.

What do you win?  I pour you a tall, cold one from the keg your next time at The Tavern.

 

Budweiser sold to InBev

I'm a Miller guy.  My Dad drank Miller Genuine Draft as a kid.  In college, I chose Icehouse, a Miller product, over Bud Ice.  When I want a macro light beer, I choose Miller Lite over Bud Light.

I spend time often in Europe, and I will be in Belgium next month and always look forward to drinking their great beers, particularly Leffe.

With that said, I cannot believe that Budweiser has agreed to sell their operations to InBev, a Belgium brewer - the makers of Stella Artois, Hoegaarden, Becks and my dear Leffe. 

The Busch family has been brewing their average beer for over 130 years.  Now, the family will be selling out for over $52 Billion (with a B).  If this was ThurstonWeiser, and someone said I could have a chunk of that windfall, I'd be tempted as well.

With a terrible economy, one could say that people can't afford things like beer.  However, even in downtimes, people drink to forget their problems.  Yet, more and more people are turning to micro beers with a more robust and unique taste.  Not enough to make a massive dent in the profits of Bud, but enough for them to perhaps see the handwriting on the wall.

Fondue? More like Fun-Don't!

Fondue is for people with excess time and money to waste.  Yesterday, I went to The Melting Pot with a group of co-workers for a Going Away celebration.  Our reservation was for 5:00 PM, and we didn't leave until nearly 9:00 PM.  That's nearly four hours of cooking your own food.

I should say that, the food that I did have was good.  The first course was a spicy cheese, which you could dip chips, veggies and apple slices into.  My next course was a mango salad, with Caribbean flair.  The main course was a variety of meats - shrimp, jerk chicken, filet mignon, and some squash-filled ravioli to cook in the fondue pots, with a variety of other veggies.  I don't know if I was full, but I sure was tired of having to cook each bite for two minutes, transferring it off of the skewer, onto the plate, re-loading the skewer for the next bite and finding the appropriate dipping sauce.

Then there was a long pause.

Finally, the dessert (not desert) course came.  Chocolate, which you can dip fruit, or rice-crispy treats in, or drizzle over cheesecake.  Tasty, but again a lot of damn work.  All the while, you are positioning your skewer in a community pot with other jamokes, trying to make sure your food doesn't fall off of the skewer and into the void.

Meanwhile, I'm sitting next to a colleague who was acting like a caged animal.  He literally could not handle  being in that yuppie-scum place one more moment. 

These guys also have issues with fondue, for completely different reasons.

Let them Eat Cupcakes

Sharon made cupcakes today, complete with home-made frosting.  So, I've had two cupcakes today.  Cupcakes make for a great dessert in my lunch.   There was never a good way to transport a cupcake in my lunch.

Until now.

Much like Han Solo being frozen in carbonite, this shield protects my beloved cupcake from being destroyed by a frozen meal or applesauce container.

 

The Livery

Sharon, Audrey and I went to Benton Harbor last Saturday, while en route to Chicago.  We stopped at a brewery called The Livery.  In a word, the place was great. The bar is in an old brick building - the main floor has bar, and a stage, another bar in the basement, and an open air seating area.

I had the McGilligans IPA and the Double Paw IPA - both of which were hoppy, crisp and easy-drinking.

Sharon had the Mandeau Man Ruby Red and she thought it was fantastic.  I took a swig, and agreed.

Here are a few photos of Audrey and me, sitting outside.  The first photo is us being jovial, and the second photo it looks like we are about to tussle.  Not sure what happened there...

Quiche?

30 minutes until game time.  I'm making a quiche, and it's almost ready.  No idea if it's going to be good, but McDonalds isn't far away.  This quiche has cheddar and Monterey jack cheese, onions, green chilis diced up and a mess of eggs.  Oh, yeah - and bacon.  I like bacon.  Click here for the recipe if you're interested.

I'm Hungry

Man, I sure could use some tacos.  We are desperately low on food, so it's time to get to the store and get some provisions.  I sat some chicken out on the counter yesterday, and forgot about it.  So, I woke up this morning to warm chicken.  Yeah, that got thrown away.  So, no chicken tacos for lunch.  You can say it - I'm dumb.

Pasta Bene!

Once again, Jay has taken over the kitchen to produce a dynamic and outstanding dinner.  The guy is a triple threat - brewing magnate, Master of the Internet, and Commander of the Kitchen.  Is there anything he can't accomplish?  I think not. 

Below is a video of the bow-tie pasta with green and yellow bell peppers, garlic, oregano and gravy (pasta sauce), topped with some mozzarella.

Come on over, and make me dinner.  I'm John Elway - retired on top.