Smash Burger

Among other things.

I have determined that Mike is my 

Food Emissary.

It's an official title.

He travels a fair amount and he is in charge of eating 

all the food I will never get to.

Pinks.

In-N-Out Burger

Both fine California establishments.

I'm not a big Cali fan so chances are

 I won't be partaking of these myself.

His reviews: 

Pinks, fine but don't need to go there again.

In-N-Out, he's glad it's a chain, he can get another one

easily enough. Oh, and he likes that they are "neat", 

they come all wrapped up in a paper holder. 

Go figure, that would appeal to him :o)

We have been able to try 

Nathan's Hot Dogs, no big whoop, 

and Five Guys, big whoop!

together. 

I love that I am married to a guy who finds adventure in 

searching out and trying trendy foods.

Leave the paragliding and spelunking to others.

This is my kind of thrill!

So, our latest joint venture:

Smash Burger.

This is where it gets funny.

I had to pull images for In-N-Out and Smash Burgers from the internet

because Blogger won't upload the picture from Mike's 

phone, and we didn't think to bring the camera to

Smash Burger.

This is not at all what our Smash Burgers looked like.

Our burgers were truly "smashed."

As in flattened out and kind of griddle fried.

Think Steak and Shake.

Which definitely has it's place in burgerland, 

it's just not this one represented as a

Smash Burger. 

That being said, our review,

eh, wasn't a waste of time. 

The sides were great, onion haystack and 

sweet potato fries with olive oil and rosemary.

But the burgers were just OK.

Five Guys Burgers and Fries is opening

just blocks away from my home.

If you wait long enough the mountain will come to Mohammed.

Now I'll just wait for that mountain called

In-N-Out.

It's Dirk's Birthday

I'm glad he's my brother. 

I slept in a castle with him once.

I've driven through Paris with him once.

I watched him take off in a hot air balloon with our mother once.

I went to East Berlin with him once.

(back when there was an East Berlin)

I went to the San Diego Zoo with him once.

I went to the Grand Canyon with him once.

I danced to Whip It with him once.

Some of these things you only want to do with Dirk once.

Paris and dancing come right to mind.

But one thing there is no end to is;

I love Dirk.

A LOT!

PSA

I love these babies and it occurs to me that the 

rest of the world needs to know about them.

You see, I'm a walker.

I walk a LOT.

We're talking 20 to 30 miles a week.

We very deliberately live "in town" so I can walk

to where I need to go.

Now, I do cut drivers some slack. I get it when they "almost" 

run me over in crosswalks. They really aren't looking 

for little old me, they are more on the look out for other cars.

I am fine being a defensive walker. 

But I do have a pet peeve.

And, you knew I would.

People who park across the sidewalk and by so doing, forcing me to 

walk in the mud around their driveway (cause you know,

it's always muddy there) or worse, force me to walk

in the street, into traffic, giving aforementioned cars

another opportunity to run me down. 

And worse yet, when I'm pushing a stroller!!!

Enter Pier One Imports and their

Parking Citations!

http://www.pier1.com/Catalog/Gifts/Pier1ToGoProductDetails/tabid/978/CategoryId/121/ProductId/6289/Default.aspx

They have a line for parking on a sidewalk.

Occupying more than one space.

Blaring a useless car alarm.

There are 20 infractions to choose from. 

I'm not sure if tucking one of these under a wiper blade

would be considered passive aggressive but it 

sure does help take the edge off that impotent rage. 

I'll explain that phrase another time :o)

Mother's Day

This one's for Mom and Big :o)

We don't traditionally do a big Mother's Day.

It's a "Cards and a Call" kind of day.

I had been planning on going to Mom and Big's church on Sunday

to be able to see Big Mary "accept" a baby on behalf of the church.

It's an honor to be asked to do that and the young mother

who asked Big to accept her baby had been partnered with 

Big during confirmation as prayer partners. 

Big prayed Marissa through confirmation classes. 

Sweet, huh?

I really thought they should have put the baby in the

little basket under the seat on the walker.

I was overruled but little Gunter did 

make use of the seat later.

He was the best baby! 

He's going to have some surgery to correct the plates in his skull.

Or something like that, but just send up prayers

for the little guy.

Shanna surprised me with a trip home so I decided to share 

the gift of Shanna and took her with me as a surprise

for Mom and Big. 

The spur of the moment times together are the best.

And "spur of the moment" is also the perfect excuse for 

experimenting with food on your loved ones.

Enter:

Chili Bowl Burger Sliders

They scream Mother's Day.

Don't they?

Mom and Big love it when they get the chance

 to eat the food I write about.

Here's the low-down on the meat muffins.

They don't really hold their shape.

I really thought they would be mini "bowls" in which

to serve the chili but they turned out to be more like "platters."

Additionally, I didn't think on a bun was the best 

way to eat these, so I just served them as is with

cheese muffins on the side.

Yep, heart attack on a plate.

Nothing says, "I love you, Mom" like it.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/aaron-mccargo-jr/chili-bowl-burger-sliders-recipe/index.html

Hamburger Cupcakes

Totally looks like a plate full of burgers, 

huh?

Nope!

They are cupcakes!

I found these on Glorious Treats blog.

http://glorioustreats.blogspot.com/2010/06/hamburger-cupcakes-with-cookie-fries.html

I had no reason to make these other than I just had to.

So I did.

I did stray from her instructions in that she called

for you to make chocolate cupcakes and cut them into thirds

for the "meat" part. I used a half sheet pan

and then used a circle cutter to cut the patties 

and then sliced those in half. 

It was really hard to get the red *red* enough but as I

suspected, it got a bit more intense as the frosting dried.

This is the site that I got the inspiration for the Black and Pink Party 

as well as the instructions for the water bottle labels.

Head over for some fun and check out 

the Hydrangea cupcakes.

I think those will be next :o)

Life Lesson Number 672

While loading vases with black beans may look cool. 

Leaving beans in said vases overnight is not cool. 

Remember this?

And how I said the vases looked great with the beans in them

but I was not quite sure what kind of mess 

they would be by the end of the evening?

Well, Lory read that blog.....

in the morning. 

Oops.

So the next question is, 

can dry beans that are now

re-hydrated beans be extracted from narrow neck vases?

The answer is:

YES!

...given enough days and a cork screw.

...don't ask.....

But Lory still loves me :o)

New Toy, Old Toy

Well, not exactly *toys*, but fun things!

One of the Blogs I follow, Reluctant Entertainer,

http://reluctantentertainer.com/

posed the question, 

what do you do to be green in your kitchen?

One of the responses was glass straws.

Have you ever heard of such a thing?

I had not, so a-googlin' I went.

Turns out they are made from the same kind of glass 

as Pyrex bowls and actually have health benefits.

They say the chemicals from the plastic straws 

can leach out into your drink. 

Whatever... maybe....seems excessive.

However, between my smoothies and margaritas, 

I do go through a few straws.

I just couldn't wrap my mind around glass straws.

But then I stumbled upon these:

And, honestly, I think the little brush for cleaning them sold me. 

And what better thing to pair them with but my aluminum glasses!

So there you have it!

My old with my new :o)

My little green thing, I don't put my produce in those

plastic bags at the grocery store.

I just let it all roll around in my cart. 

It makes me chuckle.