Whirlwind Weekend

 Well well well, OK having blogged in a few days. This weekend we were pre-occupied by enjoying the time together.

Mike, not normally having weekends off, came out to my place this weekend. We enjoyed the time spent, it was well spent. We didn't cook at all on Saturday after he showed up and promptly went to sleep, due to having worked a midnight shift.

So while he slept I decided to go out, run errands, tan, do my thing and blast my music in the car as I cruised down the road on a lovely Saturday morning. When I got back I figured I could try the "Happy Bread" I had recently found a recipe for. It was simple and the ingredients weren't too out there. I had everything except flour which I promptly picked up from my local Hyvee and it happened to be on sale for under $2. Always a plus for baking supplies.

So I began with the dough base, and of course as I start making bread that is when Mike wakes up.

Dough cut into 8 relatively same size pieces

Bread rolled out then layered so I now have 4 pieces.

Layered dough rolled for spirals

Happy Bread, happy Sarah

Happy bread up close

You can find the recipe here. Super easy, just takes a bit of time when you have to let the dough rise before baking. Not bad though. It was easy and actually didn't get my kitchen too warm. I will tell you if you are in the US and do not use metric then you will need to convert some measurements and temperatures in the recipe, but with smart phones and Google, I'm sure that will not be an issue, just do it BEFORE you start baking.

So after I baked and Mike had gotten up and stirred around a bit we went out to Westport for Imo's Pizza, a pizza place native to St. Louis. He's a big fan of Imo's and I had never eaten there. We got a bacon and black olive thin crust pizza. A "medium" I think it was, a 14 inch. It came to us piping hot so it was tough to try and eat until it cooled a bit, once it cooled the cheese was creamier and marvelous. I am not spoiled by being served provel cheese. If you have not had that cheese you MUST seek out provel cheese. Make pizza and make cheese sticks. Mmmm, went to St. Louis with Mike a couple months back and oh my word, we went to Rigazzi's and had their cheese sticks, which are made with provel cheese. You will never want to eat a plain mozzarella cheese stick ever again. Creamy, soft, not too stringy and so delicious. I could just eat that as a meal.

So after Imo's Mike said it was off and should try the other location. I think it would be better to stop at one next time we go to St. Louis.

So then we came back home and napped before heading out to my local hangout bar to people watch. Sitting at that bar is always interesting and there are always interesting people working or walking in and out. To top it off we were able to watch the Olympics, which I have not watched at all due to the lack of cable and even basic antenna TV, since I'm a cheapskate and refuse to pay $50 for a converter box.

So we ate like crap at the bar with chips and salsa, jack bites (pepper jack cheese squares battered and fried), chicken tenders and chicken egg rolls. All greasy and so delicious and washed down with Jack and diet Coke and Long Islands. Was a fun and good night. It was nice to get out and just chill.

So Sunday we went out to Village Inn for breakfast before the church crowd showed up then hit up some stores to scan prices and compare as well as pick up ingredients for our fish taco night we were planning. So we picked up tomato, avocado, red onion, broccoli slaw, lime, mahi-mahi fillets, whole wheat tortillas, and then some ice cream for dessert.

But before cooking we tried the new burrito place "Freebirds." That just showed up in town. That was actually quite delicious. We shared a chicken burrito bowl with black beans, roasted veggies, tomatoes, guacamole, onion, and corn salsa. We then tried their BBQ sauce, queso and chips, and their mild and hot sauce. We even tried their "Death" sauce. Which, quite honestly tastes too much like cumin, lighten it up guys. It was good food and you get A LOT of it.

So after coming home and hitting up the pool, while the kids were all away, we started up dinner.

Mahi-Mahi ready to be cooked after being seasoned

Seasoned and being pan seared

Broccoli slaw mixed with lime juice
and cider vinegar

Fresh made salsa, salt, pepper, lime juice
tomato and red onion

Such a lovely lime it deserved its own picture

My first fish taco, you can see the avocado
hiding under the broccoli slaw

So after the fish tacos we had ice cream, picked up the mini Ben & Jerry's single serve containers. Mike enjoyed his cookie dough while I had peanut butter banana Greek frozen yogurt. I, however, decided to doll up my ice cream by using a peach to serve it up on.

Grilled in a panini pan with cinnamon and sugar

Topped with peanut butter banana frozen Greek yogurt

 Mike even enjoyed a bite of my ice cream. He doesn't like yogurt at all. Frozen or otherwise. But being peanut butter and banana, it just had a great flavor and he could care less about the Greek yogurt part.

All in all our fish tacos were OK, they weren't something to write home about but they satisfied that fish craving I have had for a few weeks now. Only would have been better had it been Ahi-Tuna instead. But seemed that people were sold out. Mad dash on tuna it seems.

So this morning Mike left to go home and I left to go to work, blech. Granted who really WANTS to go work. I'd be content doing my own thing on a daily basis but still get paid what I earn, not gonna happen I know.

But before he left I insisted on a photo of the two of us. I like pictures of us every couple of months ha ha. :) I think this one turned out pretty good considering the low light.

Mike and Sarah 8-6-2012

Ciao!