Food: Cowboy Party!

Every year Jay and his best friend, Greg, have a joint themed birthday party. This year the boys decided on a cowboy theme. Secretly, Kelsey (Greg's girlfriend) and I love planning themed parties and the guys' birthdays are a perfect excuse. Here are some pictures from the event. 

Birthday Boys! 

 We named and labeled all of the food after famous Westerns and their characters! I made two recipes from The Pioneer Woman Cooks cookbook, which Jay requested. Together we cooked the rosemary scallop potatoes and a beef tenderloin, delicious! Kelsey made, chicken, her famous coleslaw from a secret family recipe, and corn salad!

 
 This is the gorgeous cake Kelsey made.  She got the recipe from the Vintage Cakes cookbook, this is the Goober Cake! Perfect for Jay and Greg who love peanut butter and chocolate! I keep telling her she needs to start a side business, all of her cakes are beautiful and so scrumptious.

  

 The party was a blast, lots of great food, costumes, drinks and a few rowdy games! What is your favorite theme party? We need ideas so we can start planning for next year!

Ellie

Food: Peanut Butter and Chocolate

In my house, there is nothing more important than peanut butter and chocolate. Every weekend, Jay and I indulge in a special dessert. We only eat dessert on the weekends, as a way to curb our sugar consumption, so the dessert we choose is paramount. This week I read Jay a list of cookie recipes from my new cook book, Smitten Kitchen, and he obviously chose the cookies with peanut butter and chocolate!

The cookbook is so easy to follow and Smitten Kitchen's recipes are delicious. The most challenging part of this recipe was forming the dough into rolls to chill. The dough was fairly dry and it did not stick together easily. Otherwise everything went smoothly.

What are your favorite dessert recipes? Any great recipes with peanut butter and chocolate? We are always eager to try new ones.

Ellie

Craft: Slouchy Star Hat

To get back to Portland from Northern Idaho, we had to drive nine hours in the car! Sounds pretty painful but actually wasn't too bad. My husband drove the whole way, he rocks, and my sister, mom and I road along and knitted! It was fun. We all are working on new and exciting projects. I found my hat pattern on Ravelry, and thought it was stylish and wouldn't be too challenging to knit.

In Idaho, I was lucky enough to catch up with a good friend from college, Taylor. She is an excellent knitter, and a great friend, check out these baby hats she knit.  Taylor taught me a knitting stitch which is used on my hat. It is a simple and clean way of casting on, which works great for a hat where the edge is very visible. I also used a new method for making a new stitch called M1.

What craft projects have your completed in the new year? Have you tried anything new?

Ellie