Sitting, Waiting, Wishing.....

Today is my beloved's birthday.

For his birthday, Anthony wanted "a whole chicken"

No fear here.

I love roasting chickens.

I thought I'd get a head start yesterday;

roasting garlic and to make a butter for the skin.

(yum!)

I even left early today from work...

(early at GCS means when the kids leave instead of 5:30)

yet somehow, it's 8:30pm and we still haven't eaten...

Can you figure out why?

I was so excited about the sides.....

(leek stuffing wrapped in bacon, what?!!!)

I cooked the chicken UPSIDE DOWN.

Luckily for me, my husband didn't bat an eyelash....

and there is an abundance of presents, beer and pbs specials on horseshoe crabs in our house.

so we wait.... :-)

Happy Birthday Love!

Running from the law....

My dear hot dog blog has been missing something lately....

Hot Dogs!

Anthony must have read my mind.

When he picked me up from work today

my camera was already in the car.

We headed over to Felony Franks,

a place I've wanted to try for a year now.

Yes, this is my poor version of a Lindsey Lohan mugshot. :-)

Much like actual felons,

we could have left without paying.

The guy at the counter was too worried about the ladies

(mostly their booties)

who were in front of us in line.

When Anthony tried to pay him,

he had no idea why he handed him a twenty.

Hahahahaha.

And now to the food......

2 Misdemeanor Wieners (each)

Fries and a drink.

Little did we know that each wiener came with it's own set of fries.

The hot dog?

Eh.

Soggy bun, bland tomatoes, mediocre at best.

The fries?

DELICIOUS!

(and with 4 orders, I was happy!)

Lesson of the day:

Jax should be the one in "jail" while we eat hot dogs.

....more hot dogs coming soon!

*kb

The time my grandpa called out a 24-year-old.

Anthony and I went home this past weekend to visit my family....

And it truly was a wonderful weekend.

My niece, Peyton turned 1

She's the cutest baby.

She's the sweetest baby.

She's the best baby.

Yes, I get it, I'm partial.

But if I would be to have a child right now,

I could only hope that she or he would be like this darling little girl.

And watching my baby brother choke up after seeing her take a couple of steps

was one of the most wonderful things I've ever witnessed.

~~~~~~~

On a completely different note,

Anthony and I both love donuts,

so I took him to my favorite donut shop at home,

The Donut Bank

I definitely got called out by the locals for taking a picture of the donuts.

But they understood when I told them I now lived in Chicago.

"We couldn't live without Donut Bank!"

they exclaimed.

We couldn't either that day....

I think we collectively polished off 8 donuts and a bag of donut holes.

Oops.

Another reason I love being home

is that there is always tons of family to spend time with.

Take in point, Friday night.

We went to to see a friend of my parents' band

with a my parents/aunts/uncles and grandparents

Yes, I said grandparents.

This is them dancing.

After midnight. Having a blast.

Did I mention that they've been married '57 years?!

My favorite part of the evening

was when my grandpa started laughing at a guy dancing.

"What's so funny?" I ask.

(thinking it's gotta be his crazy calf tattoos)

"He has no rhythm!" he says.

~~~~~~~

Man, I'm such a lucky girl to have such a fantastic family.

I had always heard that after time couples start to look like one another...

One of my favorite blogs

(and even non food related!)

is Kendie Everyday

For everyone who knows me,

you know I'm always going to choose comfort over style

So I'm always looking for style inspiration....

And today it came from a funny and surprising place.

Picture me walking into church this morning...

Light blue J.Crew chinos

Creme H&M sweater

Blue tank underneath

I glance to my left at Anthony as he's taking off his coat....

Light blue J.Crew chinos

Creme sweater

Blue t-shirt underneath

Hahahaha

love it.

Happy 13th of February!

Neither Anthony or I are big on Valentine's Day.

But.....

When he offered to cook me a great Valentine's Dinner,

there was no way I was turning him down.

Jax spent the entire time laying in the middle of the kitchen acting like a neglected dog

(cue the Sarah McLachlan sad animal shelter song)

I guess I would be sad too if there wasn't a steak for me.

Needless to say, the dinner was delicious.

I feel very blessed to have a husband who loves

(and is awesome at) cooking.

And yes, I do have two drinks.

No judging folks....

I have the Sunday Night Blues.

A true Chicago gem....

If you live in Chicago and have not been to Stanley's,

you're missing out.

Anthony and I giggle

like kids anytime we're in there

because we're so excited about the deals

($40 for 25 different items!)

The find of the day today was blood oranges....yum!

Anthony surprises me every day.

As I skipped over to the cart with GIANT shallots

thinking I had found treasure

He quickly exclaims,

"No! Big shallots bad!"

(again with the giggling like children)

How does he know this stuff?

Happy Weekend!

Just like Noah and the Ark......

In the Wassmer family, we do important dates in twos.

I share a birthday with my grandma.

My mom shares a birthday with my aunt and uncle's anniversary.

Anthony and I share an anniversary with my aunt.

My grandpa and uncle (his dad).

My sister-in-law and uncle....

and my dad shares a birthday with his parent's anniversary.

Which happens to be today.

(My dad and grandpa)

My father is one of the most positive, genuine people I know.

He taught me to love life,

take setbacks in stride,

treat people with kindness,

and the value of hard work.

He also is much more dedicated than most people I know.

(especially with P90x!)

All these things,

he makes look effortless

Dad, I love you dearly!

Although you always say "Everyday's my birthday",

I hope today is especially "super".

He's also a HUGE Packers fan

so is my niece Peyton!

What a better Birthday gift than a Superbowl win?

Super Sunday

After walking around the city all day

(and seeing this FANTASTIC exhibit)

In true Kim and Anthony form

we decided we needed to make two dinners

Corn Chowder (new favorite!), Curry and Manhattans

Not a bad way to watch the Superbowl,

if I do say so myself.

Weekend #2

Because I spent Wednesday-Thursday

all footloose and fancy-free....

(couch, snow, food, beer)

(YEAH!)

I am now paying the price

with report cards, reflections, and staying inside.

(Boo!)

Don't worry, I'm still not complaining....

too much :-)

Happy weekend everyone!

*kb

A new Snow Day tradition....

As many of you know,

I really like food.

And because of this,

I also really like to cook.

Recipes for homemade Pop Tarts have been all over food blogs for the past year.

What better time than a Snow Day (#2!)

to give them a shot?

I used a recipe from Brown Eyed Baker

(hers is quickly becoming one of my favorite food blogs!)

Jax mistakenly thought he was getting some as well :-)

SUCCESS!

They were more like Toaster Strudels than Pop Tarts,

but luckily for me (and Anthony),

we both like those better anyways.

Happy Snow Day!

"I wonder if we could climb onto the garage roof and jump off"**

Hey! Did you hear?

We got snow in Chicago!

I figured a snow day would be a good time

to end my hiatus from blogging.

Here are some pics!

Our car is the first one on the left.

Yes, it is unrecognizable.

And incase you haven't met our dog Jax,

here's a video of his favorite snow day activity....

Hey Jax! Go find your collar!

I plan on spending the rest of the day on the couch with the pup and a white russian.

Good day.

****The title of the blog was a direct quote from Anthony.

We have yet to bundle up and try it yet :-)