Yelp Event



Last weekend we had a Yelp event for the Yelper who could build the best cocktail! It was a bit of a cocktail showdown, and let me say up front that the drinks we tried were pretty damn bad. There was one drink that was okay but the other drinks killed my tastebuds so it's hard to say it I would like it today. The event was held at a local liquor store, which was a little awkard. On one half, you had a bunch of Yelpers drinking the bad drinks, tasting wine and eating popcord. And on the other half you had normal people buying liquor and beer. It was a good event, not a great event. After the tasting we headed to the Nomad bar with friends, where we ate a little bit and drank a little bit :o)

Dawn and Jim at Nomad

Nomad




Jim, Jake, Dawn and I enjoying our Pink Lemonaid shots

Steak and horseradish sauce on a crostini. This was okay... the horseradish sauce totally overpowered all other flavors.

At the Yelp event, we had a drawing for a prize,, this is my hoping that our tickets would win. We didn't. BOOOOOO.

Dawn is enjoying her bottle of wine.

Isabella, Dawn and Lindsay. The hot Elite Yelpers

There was a jazz quartet playing at the Yelp event, they played really well

This was one of the drinks that we got to sample at the Yelp event. Jim makes a drink called the beer margarita, and it has WAY more flavor than this little drink. Seriously, the drinks were not good. Thank god the people we met up with for the night are super cool!

Matt, Jim, Dawn and I

Orange Pistachio Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies

As soon as I saw the recipe for these cookies, I knew I had to try them. Chocolate, pistachios and orange all in one cookie... Hell to the Yes! These cookies were easy to make, and loved by all that tried them!! They did seem a little flat but there was a ton of flavor.

Now that the summer heat is going away (YAY!!) I can start baking more! I love making cookies, but I hate using the oven when it is 101 degrees outside. I have quite a few dessert type foods I have been wanting to make.





Adapted from Lora Brody’s “Chocolate American Style”

Makes about 4 1/2 dozen cookies

2 1/4 cups (11.25 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup (6 ounces) granulated sugar
3/4 cup (6 ounces) light brown sugar, packed
2 extra-large eggs
2 teaspoons almond extract
Grated zest of 2 large oranges or 1/4 teaspoon orange oil
1 1/2 cups (7.5 ounces) milk chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) shelled pistachios, salted or unsalted, left whole

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F, with the rack in the center position. Line 2 baking sheets with silicone pan liners or parchment paper.
2. Sift the flour, baking soda and salt into a medium bowl.
3. In an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar on high until it’s light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Reduce the mixer speed to low, and add the eggs, one at a time, and mix well after each addition. Add the almond extract, orange zest and the flour mixture. Once the flour mixture is totally incorporated, mix in the chocolate chips and nuts.
4. Drop the dough by rounded tablespoons 2 inches apart on the prepared sheets. Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, until they begin to brown around the edges, 10 to 12 minutes. The centers should remain pale. (If you like flat, crisp, chewy cookies, slam the cookie sheets down on a work surface halfway through the baking time. If you like softer cookies, skip that step.) Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool. Bake the remaining cookies in the same way.
5. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

Note: These make great freeze-and-serve cookies. Form the dough into 2 logs 10 inches long and about 2 inches wide. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and again in aluminum foil and freeze for up to 3 months. To bake: Use a sharp knife to cut the still frozen dough into 3/4-inch slices. Place the slices 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets and allow them to defrost for 15 minutes before baking them according to the directions above.

Not the prettiest picture, but this is the zest of one orange. Looks like a pumpkin threw up :o)

First Game of the Season

The first game of the UT season was on Pay Per View. Kind of bullshit if you ask me since they played a team that was clearly going to get crushed by UT (final score was UT: 59 LA- Monroe 20). So we were just going to find a bar to go watch the game (Shooters was our first choice :o) ), but we got the e-mail from Courtney saying that they were going to purchase the game. SWEET! So we had a potluck dinner and watched the game. It was great because we could catch up with friends, eat great food and watch the game. I only watched about half of the game since it was a blow out but UT looked good. I'm excited for the season to be here. Or maybe I'm just excited because I associate football with fall weather, and I am SOOOO ready for cooler temps!

My ladies... Kelly, Courtney, me and Nicole

Nicole and I

This is Hannah, Kelly's 2 year old. She was so cute, just hanging out half on the couch and half of the coffee table.

Busy in the kitchen

Nicole and I had a little fun with Hannah's baby doll. Perhaps a bit to much fun :)

We passed on bad habits to the baby doll. Before we knew it, she grabbed the beer and downed it, burped and smiled. I think we have a future party girl!! :)


Courtney was watching her brothers dogs for the weekend.

This is Hannah and she spent most of the night under the table.

She was kind of skittish and preferred to stay away from the humans.

Jason, Ashley holding Jackson, Jim holding Kyndal, me and Hannah

Kyndal likes to attack her Uncle Jim :) She is getting so big! Hard to imagine that she was our flower girl.

Jackson and I. Holding this guy is a work out. He'll be one in a month or so but according to Ashley and Jason, he is off of the charts for weight and height for a baby his age. He is soooo darn cute!

Jackson

Kyndal

Nicole the dog whisperer.... with Hannah and Holly

Dawn's Birthday at The Liberty

We ventured over to the East side to get some drinks with Dawn the birthday girl. The Liberty was a damn cool bar, and I look forward to going back. It is pretty laid back with a large "back yard", pinball, pool and a decent size inside seating area. The east side of Austin can be a little scary, but there are some great bars and restaurants. I look forward to visiting more areas on the east side!

The hubby and I

All of the ladies at the party,,, and Jake (down at the bottom)

Jim giving Dawn a birthday smooch

The fierce ladies! Lindsay and Dawn

Jake and I... no I do not have a new habit, I just needed a prop for the picture

Dawn and I... No freakin idea why my arm is up. We'll just say that I am cheering Dawn's birthday


The bar at the Liberty

Jim, Rachel, Jake, Dawn and the picture crasher, Matt

Me doing a fabulous hair flip... a little fuzzy but you get the idea

I took a few photos of this picture before I realized I could use the light reflections to my benefit....

Here is the picture before....

And the picture after I moved around a bit to get the light reflections in the eye sockets of the skeleton. Creepy, huh!

3 different sunsets at the house within the last 10 days

Birthday Party

Last Friday we headed out to Saba Cafe to celebrate Tammy's birthday. The night started off a bit rocky. We were told the reservations were at 7pm, so we showed up at 7pm. We had to bust our asses to get off of work, get home, change and get downtown by 7pm. We showed up to 6 other people (out of 30) to find out that the reservations were actually at 7:30pm. Huh. Really? So I'm pretty sure it was done because most of Tammy's friends are a bit time challenged and they wanted them to show up on time. It's a petty thing to get pissed about, but DAMN I could have taken more time to relax after I got home rather than running around getting ready. Okay, enough about that. Now I know for next time... it will be okay to be late since they probably lied about the reservation time.

Lindsay, Jennifer and I

At the restaurant, there was this awesome blue lit up wall at the end of the restaurant. I kept an eye on this wall knowing that it would be used in pictures. It didn't take much to get Lindsay and Jennifer posing on the wall :o)



I had Mikes date taking the pictures (ummm, I think her name was Whitney,,, or was it Britney). I changed the settings up a bit and turned off the flash. As you can see below, the pictures came out fantastic.


THANK GOD I have camera whores for friends :o) They had no issues posing on the wall... near people that were eating dinner. Yes, we are those people that make asses of themselves in random places at random times.

After Saba we headed over to Lanai, which is a rooftop bar. I hadn't been there before, but it was pretty cool. The people in the bar were.... ummmm.... kind of douchey. It was the type of bar where people went to go to be "seen" and we aren't exactly that group.

We still had a good time!

Mike, John, Tammy, Nick, Jim and Charlie

Doing my best Thinking Man... not sure what Jim is doing... checking out the hot blonde that just walked by?

Chris and Lindsay

I really liked the blue tiles in the bathroom.... so I took a picture

We fell in love with Longboard beer in Hawaii, and we were SUPER excited to find out that Saba had it on their beer list

We tried the pot stickers, the steak empanadas, and the jerk chicken panni. I wasn't super excited about the food. It was just okay, nothing great and I doubt that I need to go back.