Month 7 (2011) - Polish Sausage and Sauerkraut

To continue my new years resolution of letting my husband pick one new food per month for me to try, in the month of July I tried polish sausage and sauerkraut. I have always liked polish sausage, so that wasn't an issue for me, but I have never really liked sauerkraut. I have always pushed it to the side in the past when it was mixed with sausage.

At first I just tasted a piece of sauerkraut, and I didn't think it was good, but then I took a bit of sausage with sauerkraut and decided that it was OK when paired with the sausage. I even went back for seconds. I liked the flavors mixed together and  would eat this again occasionally.

I give this meal a 7 out of 10.

Alcoholic Cupcakes

For my sisters engagement party, my mom asked me to make mini cupcakes. I thought, since the party is outdoors in July, why not make summery alcoholic drink themed cupcakes? I found recipes online for strawberry daiquiri and pina colada cupcakes, along with mojito bars.

Strawberry Daiquiri Cupcakes

The strawberry daiquiri cupcakes were made with white cake mix, strawberry gelatin and of course, rum. I also created a buttercream lime and rum frosting to top them off. These were the most popular of the three.

Pina Colada Cupcakes

The pina colada cupcakes were created with yellow cake mix and pineapples. The frosting was buttercream rum with coconut. These were the second most popular of the three.

Mojito Bars

The third thing I made was mojito bars. These are basically lemon bars, but lime with rum and mint added to the "batter". These were my favorite of the three, but not as popular with everyone else as the cupcakes.

These cupcakes were so good, my sister asked me to make her wedding cake. I will make a sample cake in September to make sure I can do it!

Congrats Jess & Luke, I hope you had a great party!

Vegas Themed Bridal Shower Cake

I can't beleive I didn't post this sooner. I made this cake back in May for a co-workers bridal shower. Her wedding theme was "lucky in love", so I made her a vegas themed wedding cake! This was my first experiment with fondant at home, and I was happy with the way it turned out!

New Foods in Seattle!



Crispy Roll



I am currently in Seattle for work. So far it has been a lot of work and a lot of fun.The food in Seattle is just about the same as in Chicago. I am sure that the seafood tastes better, but I haven't had the opportunity to eat fresh fish yet. I did discover a local beer called Mac & Jack. It is a darker beer, a little sweet, very tasty! I hope Binnys has it when I get home!

I have also had the opportunity to try some new foods while I have been here.

Our second night here, a coworker and I went to the Mexican Cantina. We started with an appetizer consisting of guacamole, mango salsa, ceviche and grilled provolone atop eggplant. The provolone eggplant was one of the best things I have eaten. It had amazing flavors that mixed in your mouth such as garlic and cilantro. Everything else was also very delicious including the chicken tacos we shared for an entree and the churros I had for desert!

Yesterday, I went out with some coworkers, including my bosses bosses boss! He took us to a Japanese restaurant (Izakaya Wann) and ordered a few happy hour appetizers for everyone to share. I knew this would be a good time for me to try new things.

The waitress brought us a sample of the crispy roll. I have no idea what was in it, and I have never been a fan of sushi, but I actually really liked it. I had the opportunity to try a California roll also, which I didn't really like. I do not like the seaweed that is wrapped up in the roll. The texture of it bothers me, but it wasn't horrible. The only roll I didn't try was the spicy tuna roll, I am not ready for that!