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I met up with Stephanie, who saw my 20 Questions in the Insider, for lunch at Abyssinia today. I had never eaten Ethiopian food before, so I didn’t know what to expect. Well, my friend Jessica told me about when she went out an ate Ethiopian, so I guess I had a little but of an idea. But still, not really. I just knew there weren’t going to be forks.

And sure enough, no forks! Stephanie and I got “Special #1″ which was made for two to share. The food was served on this pancake-like food, and the actual meat and veggies were on top. Then there were more pancake things rolled up in a basket, and you used those to pick up the food. It actually turn out to be pretty good! I had lamb for the first time and it is delicious. The beef (I think it was beef) was a little spicy for me though.  Also, that potato-looking thing is a hard boiled egg.  Raaaandom!

Us! And see Mom, I told you Stephanie was normal.   We ended up taking a long lunch.  I was late to the meet-up and the servers were very…hands off, I guess you could say.

I used google maps to tell me how to get their and it was very very wrong.  Luckily I had my GPS with me, and I used that to get to the restaurant.  I think I could have walked there from work, so I’ll keep that in mind next time I want to go on another adventure downtown.

Free Pancakes!

Today is National Pancake Day! (Which, apparently… according to Wikipedia, has a religious background…) And that means free pancakes if you go to iHop!

I didn’t make it out for Denny’s free Grand Slam day, and I don’t think I’m going to make it out for today’s celebration. So sad. But, if you’re in the Rochester area, there will be an opportunity for you to donate money to the Children’s Miracle Network at Golisano Children’s Hospital at Strong.

Or, you could just go get pancakes.  (BTW – the picture above is from my dinner on Free Grand Slam Day.  John made pancakes and eggs for us becaues I was sad I couldn’t make it out to Denny’s.)

How I spent my Tuesday Evening

I didn’t buy batteries for my camera until today, so I had to document the event with my phone. Sorry about that!

1. Little scallops, washed and drained & all the ingredients at my disposal.

2. The topping that the bread crumbs and oil made + scallops in butter, salt/pepper, and parsley.

3. The whole thing after it had baked! (Please note new recipe card holder which I got on sale for $2! So cute!)

4. My dinner! Yes, I drink wine with ice & a straw because I am classy like that. I made the pasta salad too, but I just followed the recipe that was on the label of the seasoning. I can type it up if anyone wants it.

5. Yum! (Horrible hair day, lol. BTW, it’s been straight since Monday. It will be curly again tomorrow.)

6. Twilight while I was cooking.

7. Twilight while I was eating.

I used the scallops recipe from here, but changed it a little because I didn’t have everything it required. I don’t know if it’s because I used little scallops or what, but I had TONS of bread crumbs left over. AND I put way too many on top! I would use maybe a quarter of what the recipe required next time I make this.

But over all it came out good, and it was good today for lunch too!

Cupcake Love

We had a dessert contest at work today, so of course I had to make my heart cupcakes. They came out pretty well; very very moist. Although… I think they might have been a little TOO moist! The confectionery sugar I sprinkled on top absorbed into the muffin overnight, so my little muffins looked like corn bread. Ah well. I think the sugar made them glossy though, which was kind of neat.

I didn’t win, but I learned a few tips for next year.

• 1) The mini cupcakes went WAY faster than the larger ones, (even though I think the larger ones taste better) so whatever I make, make sure it’s small!
• 2) Whatever I make should include chocolate somehow. Mine was the only dessert that didn’t! There was one cake that wasn’t chocolate, but it was topped with chocolate covered cherries. Not fair!
• 3) You get points for presentation, so buy cute cups and recipe cards. Also write out whatever you did to make the dessert b/c you get points for preparation too! (Example, I cut those hearts out by hand.)

Quick one

Just a quick post to make up for the fact that I didn’t post anything yesterday. Here is the banana bread I made a few weekends ago. It came out ok, but I didn’t let it cool enough before trying to take it out of the pan, and it split in half. Ah well.

I got the serving tray from a thrift store, and I love it! It reads “A joyous heart makes the loaves taste better.” So sweet. And it’s got these lovely little flowers on it. Adorable.

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Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand here is a graphic I made today for work that I’m sure you won’t find funny unless you work with me. But I’ll try to explain it.

Bob Lonsberry is SUPER patriotic, so everything I make that has to do with him involves a flag. So when I was asked to create a logo for “Dinner with Lonsberry,” of course I thought “Flag plate.” But then I was like, “Nah…that’s too much.” BUT THEY LOVED IT. In fact, they wanted me to add Lonsberry’s face to the plate! And I thought the FLAG was too much. So I called up Bill to tell him the news:

Me: Bill, the Lonsberry Dinner plate just. got. better.
Bill: That is impossible. There is no way such an awesome creation could get any better. It’s AMERICA on a PLATE.
Me: Ah, but it has. They want me to add Lonsberry’s face to the plate.
Bill: (snickers) I stand corrected.

And then I went and made it even better. Bill has a new facebook photo. This of course, is by no means the actual logo. Well…only because of Bill. The rest of it got approved.

Rainy Days

This weekend was beautiful, but today and the rest of the week’s supposed to be ugly. Also, my sewing machine is on the fritz. Looks like I might be hand sewing that slip cover. My, my.

I got fancy a new cell phone from my dad, and it is really complicated! I keep having to text my sister how to do things. LOL, I’ll be glad when she’s up here and can show me things in person.

So there is my cell phone, as seen via my dolla-dolla store mirror, and some mini muffins I made over the weekend. I took the muffin pic with my cell phone. Not too bad quality, eh? Technology!

PS: I WON Crafting with Cat Hair’s (formerly Crafty Carolins Girl) BLOGOVERSARY CONTEST! This means I get all kinds of cool stuff! I’m most excited about the little birdie family.

Dinner!

Nothing impressive today. I used to eat fried bologna sandwiches all the time when I was little, and I was craving it last night. But alas, no bologna! So I decided to see if fried ham was any good. And it is! I should have added more ham, but it was still good. Live and learn I guess.

Soup

John makes this minestrone soup and I looooove it. We have it about every other week because it is so good. He made some last night, let me show it to you.

I’ve been sketching, and I’m really excited about one of them. It combines “Take One” and “Take Two” with BOWLING PINS. How can this NOT be made of win?

I might be going out with people from work Friday night.  Yay hanging out!