Dining with Seattle in Milwaukee

'Twas an action packed, fun-filled weekend! Bruce's brother,sister in law,and nephew all flew in from Seattle to go with us to 2 Milwaukee Brewer games versus the Seattle Mariners (appropriate). After Saturday's game, we headed to the Comet Cafe, which was featured on Diners,Drive-Ins, and Dives :)

groovy menu

The options were so diverse and varied from Bacon martinis and bacon apple pie, grass fed beef burgers, to vegan salisbury steak and salads with marinated tofu.

The little jumpin bunny indicated the option of "veganizing" a dish.

Bruce's sister in law had her brother and fam drive into town and meet us here. Therefore, we were a party of 10 with the 6 adults and 4 kids.

It was a funky, laid back, un-kid friendly cafe. But, I have to give props to the servers who were very tolerant of the all the high-strung excitable kids.
I just stuck with a simple salad as it was the end of the day of already eating alot! Everyone thoroughly enjoyed their meals and would recommend the Comet Cafe to the adult crowd with a daring food attitude :)

Brew Crew blowout!

Milwaukee Brewers vs. Seattle Mariners.

Our Seattle family who flew in for the weekend were yellin' "Ichiro!"

We were yellin "Ichi-No!" ;)

Let's go Brewers Let's go!

Friday night.

The Seattle crew comin' into "our" house! (Miller Park Stadium)

Little man was a bit skeered of the racing sausage in the parking lot.

Of course the first ball is delivered on a Harley Davidson. This IS Wisconsin after all ;)

Saturday.
We are very normal.

A tiny and legendary Robin Yount visiting for Retro Weekend!

Racing Sausages!

Trin with her Brewer pennant :)

 

The Brewers dominated the Mariners 2 out of 3 games!!

Thanks in part to my fave Brewer-Prince Fielder. He's a BIG vegetarian :)

Thanks Seattle, for a great weekend! I sure hope it's not another 3 years until we see you :)

Winner Winner Birthday Dinner!

Going out to eat is usually a frustrating and pointless endeavor for me, as it usually ends up with me just sitting and watching other people eat while I drink coffee. Or I have a measly little salad, while everyone else feasts.

But, there is a place in our tiny midwestern town, El Mariachi, that has blessed me with making the PERFECT grilled veggie salad that has no food allergy triggers in it whatsoever!

My dad took us out to dinner to celebrate my birthday :) I only took pics of the kids, because they're the best looking out of all of us! Aren't they GORGEOUS?

DISCLAIMER: I requested he place his hands this way! He does not normally hold them like that :)

I just happened to notice for the first time (bad mommy) how nice his hands and nails are! I seriously think he could be a hand model.

Now, he sees his future as a skydiving instructor/hand model.

Could happen!

Siblings, eh?

Birthday documentation picture. I'm wearing my fave 50 cent dress ever. Bruce says it makes me look very post WWII.....guess I just need a nurses hat, cuz I got my sailor ;)

OOOOH, and garden growth! We have peppers!

Roma tomatoes. They should be changing color soon.

Snap pea flowers :) This poor plant has taken such a beating with all the severe storms and hail we've had.

Thanks again to all my friends and family who made my birthday such a memorable and special one! You are all the best part :)

Summer, celebrations,storms,surprises, & sports

The week started off with a celebration for and of dads.

*me and my daddy*

On Monday, the first day of summer was full of surprises.

It truly was the longest day of the year!

After picking up Trinity from summer school, we headed to the library,

 where I found Season 3 of Fraggle Rock!

I figured I'd have fun watching this bizarre nugget of pop culture history with Trinity.

After the library, we passed the filling station where I spotted Ty's car. Hmmm?

To continue home or embarrass him at his new job?

THAT didn't take long to decide! :)

I think he was actually happy to see us....or at least Trinity.

We got home and chilled out. I was excited to watch VH1's Behind the Music about Courtney Love.

There was a phase, yes. It was short-lived. She's still intriguing, no?

Unfortunately about halfway through, I was rudely interrupted with this:

Grrrrr! So, we stayed glued to the tv with the doppler radar and every time the warning sirens went off (4 or 5 times!), we were prepared to expect the worst.

Thank God it bypassed us.

What didn't bypass us, was a frightened 6 year old who was only consoled by the promise of a Thunder Party.

What is a Thunder party? Well, apparently it consists of party hats, balloons, firecrackers, and sparklers.

I'll let you know how that goes!

Tuesday rolled around, and it took me a long time to recover from my tornado siren hangover.

Ugh. It took us a long time to calm our nerves and get to sleep Monday night, so Tuesday came a little too early.

But, by the time Tball rolled around in the evening, excitement overtook exhaustion!

RED DRAGONS VS. GREEN GIANTS.

My little red dragon is 5th from the right with the piggy tails :)

Boooyah! Look at that swing!

Wednesday morning I awoke to birthday cards, gifts, and cake. Yay!!

Hubby got me a gym membership :)

Dad got me some moola :) Whole Foods here I come!!

And a cake. Which I can't eat! ha ha ha! Oh well, it's so dang pretty and it will get eaten by mi familia.

The decoration was Trinity's idea. I LOVE lighthouses!

Card from Trinity:

Tyler's gift will be babysitting while Mr. Laws and I go to a movie one of these days. Thanks Ty!!

So busy and the week's only half over.

Tonight I plan to visit the Farmer's Market and stock up on fruits and veggies.

Thursday: First Day of Town and Country Days, the local carnival/festival.

Friday: Brewer game in Milwaukee vs. the Seattle Mariners with Bruce's brother, his wife and their son. They're flying in from Seattle for the weekend!!

Saturday: Town and Country Day Parade. Trinity will be marchin' with the Daisy Scouts!

Saturday afternoon/evening: another Brewer game with the Seattle clan and swimmin' at the hotel pool.

Oy vey-gotta remember to take my vitamin D and a little extra caffeine ;)

Blessed beyond measure

Once again it's Father's Day and I had the impossible task of coming up with a gift to express my gratitude and what my dad means to me.

Once again I fall short.

I mean....

What do you get the man:

 Who raised you from the age of 8 months old?

Who has protected you from day one?

Who gave up an insurance payment to afford a bike for your birthday?

Who bought you your first car (a 1987 Monte Carlo SS with glasspacks!)

Who would pick you up from school and take you out to eat for lunch, and drop you back off with roses?

Who paid for your first tattoo as a birthday present when you turned 18?

Who didn't freak out (too bad) when you call to say you're marrying someone you've known for 4 months?

Who accepts your new husband and stepson 100%?

Who supports you and gives you help EVERY time you need it?

Whose ex-wife's current husband told him that he was an awesome representation of Father God to me, and that's one reason I'm so close to the Lord?

Who makes you feel like you're the best daughter in the world, ever, when clearly you're not?

I don't know either, but if I ever figure it out, I'll let you know. :)

I think I may have outdone myself

WARNING: this is NOT low cal,low fat,or low sugar.

It IS HIGHLY delicious.

Behold, the culmination of many hours of contemplation and imagination.....

a dessert that will blow your mind, rock your tastebuds, and change your world ;)

The first layer with a very thin sheet of the Happy Herbivore's black bean brownies.

Generally these are made in an 8x8 inch pan, but for my purposes, they were made uber thin

The ingredients for the top layer of chocolate "bark"

Coconut oil, cocoa powder, and sugar (you could substitute the sugar with stevia for a sugar free version)

Melt all in a pan on low until sugar *mostly* dissolves. It tends not to dissolve completely.

That's ok :)

The special ingredient-the inspiration of the mind-blowing experience-BACON! (actually, pms and its resulting desire to consume salty and sweet things at the same time is probably a more accurate source of inspiration)

If you are turned off by bacon, you could always use fak'n (a fake bacon), or soy-based bacon bits, as these slices will be crumbled into bits anyway.

Sprinkle bacon, or fak'n bits into melted bark mixture. Pour into shallow vessel. Freeze.  This won't take long at all-15 minutes, maybe.

The middle layer of "ganache" is made of coconut milk (must be high fat-yum), cinnamon, cocoa, and not pictured-maple extract flavor.

mix all together.

Layer all the components:

brownie

ganache

bark

It's time-consuming, messy, and fatty. But, so worth it. The piece above is more than enough to satisfy a sweet and salty craving.

So, are you intrigued? Disgusted? Both?

I'm already dreaming up more delicious/disgusting/intriguing things to add to the chocolate bark....how do wasabi peas sound?

Thursday's theme...

soul music. love it. makes me move.

super simple single serving sweet snack

I've seen many variations of this CupCake floating around the blogosphere.

Some include eggs, mine does not, and it still comes out deeeelicious!

In a microwavable mug:

1/4 cup flour (Bob's Red Mill gluten free all purpose for me)

1 scoop chocolate rice protein powder

1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tablespoon baking powder

1 tablespoon cinnamon

stevia (or sugar) to taste

Next I added 1/3 cup coconut milk and mixed

Into the microwave for 1 minute 30 seconds

So yum!

There are so many variations on this, you can be totally creative

You could add:

egg if you are not intolerant

 flaxmeal (which I would have, if there was some here!)

 chocolate chips

 peanut butter

mashed banana

vanilla extract

You can also top it with:

 melted peanut butter

frosting

powdered sugar

agave

honey

Totally hits the spot when you want a fast and easy chocolately treat :)

Pure.Food.

A couple days ago Trinity and I were playin' around outside. We had the urge for some snackage...so I grabbed some hyuge romaine lettuce leaves and mashed up avocado.

We enjoyed the sunshine, the breeze, and some leaves.

My little stinker loves to munch lettuce leaves. Her favorite part? The rib-that hard center part. Weird, but a good weird.

I had mine with some mashed avocado ;)

And then there was last night's dinner that I didn't want to end....

Sweet potato topped with natural peanut butter and cinnamon, some carrots, and my farmer's market finds: snap peas and organic strawberries.

I got the berries for a "steal", too! They were only $4 for a quart. For organic strawberries that is super cheap!

For dessert I had some watermelon,grapes, and pineapple that I snagged from Trinity's Daisy Scout meeting when I picked her up :) 

Many thanks to Jan and Brianna for being such involved and caring leaders....see you at the parade!!!