Catching up

Hey friends!

We have some catching up to do don't we?

My friends Melissa and Molly came into town from Omaha so that Molly could run the Lincoln Half Marathon on Sunday, May 1st.  She finished beautifully in 1:52!! Melissa and I were proud to cheer her on along with my cousin Jamie who finished the half in just over 2 hours! They were both so inspiring that I decided to run the half next year!  Yikes!  That will definitely be something I will keep you posted as I train, but let's be honest here. Right now I'm lucky if I can run around the block.

Releasing the foodie on the city of Lincoln!  So I am a total foodie, I will try anything once, so I've wanted to post restaurant reviews here.  Unfortunately I tend to forget to take any pictures of the food before I dig in!  I'll work on that, promise.  But I can tell you a couple places that have been absolutely amazing!  El Toro is a great kind of hole in the wall Mexican place with amazing food and to.die.for margaritas!! The same family that owns it owns several other Mexican restaurants in town, all with equally great food I've heard!

I also took in a Lincoln staple, The Oven.  Excellent Indian food, so good!  I had Tandoori shrimp which was amazing and just the right portion.  Both places were introduced to me by good friend Kristin who has been a fabulous tour guide since I moved to town.

The city is full of great restaurants, coffee shops (LOVE The Mill!), bars, etc. I'm so excited to try them all out and definitely have a list of places to check off!

This weekend is full of errands unfortunately, but weather permitting I'm hoping to check out one of the two farmer's markets in town this weekend.

Also, I ask you all to raise a glass tonight to the MU HMI Class of 2011 who are graduating tonight!! I so enjoyed spending my second year of grad school with these people and am so excited for them!!

Nicole's Banana Cake

So one of my favorite things to do is cook - but above all I love to bake! So I typically volunteer to make dessert for our family gatherings at holidays.  For Easter this year I decided to make a dessert I have made for my family before - partially because I hadn't had it in so long!! The recipe is actually a Better Homes & Gardens recipe but to me it will always be Nicole's Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting.  I snagged the recipe in graduate school from my friend Nicole (of Sean and Nicole - see blog list at the right) who had made this delicious cake for a department potluck we had.  It is pretty simple and simply scrumptious!  Unfortunately I neglected to take a pic of the cake before it was cut into but here's a shot of one slice!

Originally found at: BHG.com (cake)

Banana Cake
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup shortening (I use butter!)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs

Grease and lightly flour two round cake pans or a 9x13 pan.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Add bananas, buttermilk, shortening and vanilla.  Beat at a low speed until combined.  Add eggs, beat on medium for 2 minutes.  Pour batter into pans.  Batter will be very thick!

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes for round pans or about 35 minutes for a 9x13 pan or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Cool cakes in pans on wire rack for 10 minutes and then remove from pans to cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat until smooth, apply generously to cooled cakes! :)

I love love LOVE this cake so I hope you do too!! Many thanks to Nicole of course for sharing!!

LOVE at First Sight

"Here's to the corkscrew - useful key to unlock the storehouse of wit, the treasury of laughter, the front door of fellowship, and the gate of pleasant folly." - W.E.P. French 

Hey there friends! As promised I'm hoping to share some of my "loves" with you! And I feel perhaps I need preface this post with the reassurance that I don't overindulge, and I am very responsible when it comes to this love but....

I do LOVE my vino!!

So, in honor of that affection, from time to time I'll share some wine reviews with you!  Keep in mind, in my opinion, wine is very subjective.  My sister is a bit of a wine lover as well (I learned at the feet of the master) but we don't always see eye to eye on what wine we enjoy.

This past Friday was the culmination of my first week on the new job so in celebration of that I cooked my first big meal in my apartment and picked up a bottle of wine.  Unfortunately the meal didn't turn out so hot, so even better that I had the wine!  :)

One of my favorite wines of all time is the Francis Ford Coppola Director's Cut Cabernet Sauvignon from 2008.  I'm usually a white wine drinker, but this rich, red wine is still my go-to for special occaisons.  However, as you can expect, moving is rather expensive and so my budget has been a little tighter as of late, so when faced with the $35 price tag for Director's Cut (modest really for most wines) I was a bit hesitant.  So as I perused the wine aisle at Hy-Vee, what to my wondering eyes did appear but a wine which at first glance was another Director's Cut??

Turns out, the wine, also a Cabernet Sauvignon from Francis Ford Coppola, is called Director's and is from 2007.  AND it was only $18.00 a bottle!  What's not to love?  Surely it was love at first sight!

Despite the dinner being a bit lackluster (fingers crossed that the next recipe I hope to put up here turns out!) the wine was wonderful.  Rich, just like my fave, but a bit spicy and with hints of blackberry.  The bottle mentioned a couple different berries, but I for the most part noticed the blackberry.

So if you're on the hunt for a great red wine, at a reasonable price, I highly recommend the Coppola Director's!

I'll be baking dessert this week for our family Easter dinner on Sunday so stay tuned for one of my favorite sweet treats!!  

Live.Laugh.Love.Lincoln

Hopefully by now you all have discovered the new blog address and new title!!

It probably would have been easier to direct you here if I had just started a new blog, but quite honestly i didn't want to go through all the work of getting the design and the fonts and the colors just right when I know I loved what I have!!  :)

So here we are!! I finally have internet so I thought it was time to get going on the new blog.  Live.Laugh.Love.Lincoln.  My hope is that through this blog I can share several things.

First, Live.  To steal an idea from my cousin who also lives in the area, I'm going to be a tourist in my own town, much like I did (tried to do) in Aberdeen!

Laugh.  Let's be honest, there were a few laughs in the last blog too (i.e. Clark, SD) so I hope to share some good laughs and maybe some funny stories along the way.

Love.  I might have some ulterior motives (here's hoping!) but on this one I plan to share with you some of my loves!  I'm a foodie so I plan to share recipes, restaurant reviews and the like.  I'll also share other loves like travel, friends and family!

Hope you all are doing well!!

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes.....

Hi friends,

I know what you're thinking, this girl is incapable of keeping her resolution of blogging more often.  And while that does appear to be true, I think I owe you an explanation.  Not an excuse, an explanation!! I think you'll understand when you hear me out.

I've been a bit preoccupied lately because I was actually in the process of applying for a new job.  I think I've mentioned that my current position was for only a year.  It was supposed to be up in July but the right opportunity came along in Lincoln, Nebraska and I went for it!!  So unfortunately, my Adventures in Aberdeen will be coming to an end.  But never fear, I do plan to continue blogging.  I'm just not entirely sure about what yet!  Lincoln I'm sure is full of adventure but I would love to include some food blogging both from cooking and from going out to eat and indulging my foodie side.

Of course this also means the blog will need to be renamed!! If there are any great ideas for blog names or content, leave a comment!  I'd love to expand my horizons!

Thank you for your understanding through this transition and all thoughts and prayers are appreciated as this new adventure begins!

He’s on the dance floor yelling Freebird...

The title of this post is actually a line in a song that has come to have great significance in my life - that song being Neal McCoy's "Billy's Got His Beer Goggles On."

Now I know what you're thinking - Amy, you've lost it.  Completely. Over the edge.  But hear me out.

This past Friday Neal McCoy played a concert in Aberdeen along with Dustin Evans and the Good Times Band.  I ended up going with a couple of my girlfriends and after a lengthy but good performance by the opening act it was time for Neal McCoy.  Now we knew we wouldn't probably know all the songs but we did recognize a few - Wink & The Shake of course.  And then when Neal started singing "Billy" I started laughing out loud, forgetting that it was Neal McCoy that sang this song.  My friend next to me leaned over and asked why on earth i was laughing (legitimate question). I then proceeded to explain to her that every time I hear that song I think about my first job on the summer paint crew at my high school.  Every year we would create a "paint mix" with a bunch of songs on it that we would literally listen to the ENTIRE summer.  One of the three summers I worked there the first song on the CD was "Billy's Got His Beer Goggles On."  I can still remember one of my friends and coworkers singing it at the top of her lungs in her best Neal McCoy twang.

Isn't it funny how songs stick with us?  They can so easily take us back to a point in our lives that we may not have thought of in years.  I have to admit I kind of had a moment at that concert Friday where I felt reconnected to a part of my life that I really hadn't thought about in a while and remembered all the fun times we had those summers.  What a great bunch I was privileged to work with!

In other news, we're in another blizzard warning today and into early tomorrow morning!!  I'd say we have well over 6 inches now and its still falling for the time being!  The groundhog didn't see his shadow right??  :)

Little Motel on the Prairie

Once upon a time, well, almost two weeks ago now, I had a meeting in Sioux Falls on a Friday.  Seeing just some flurries in the forecast for Saturday I decided to stay overnight and hang out with my good friend Liz and her boyfriend Ryan.  Dinner, a night out and shopping the next day - what a great time!  And then, it started snowing.  A lot.

Now one thing you need to know about me, I have an extreme phobia of driving in inclement weather, and I drive an itty bitty car.  Can you see where this is going?  So I head up Interstate 29 and everything slows down.  Eventually through one lane roads at 35 miles per hour, I make it to Watertown.  Now an intelligent person would have stayed there.  Where there is a Hampton, Holiday, or Ramada Inn at least, a mall, and a Minerva's.  But having my new found bravery, I decided to try the highway going West, hoping the snow would be lessening and the roads would get better.  Well, I was wrong.  Very, very wrong.  I was able to reach Clark, SD and then there was absolutely no view of the road.  Now I don't know much about Clark, but I do know that there is a very nice lady that works at the convenient store that put up with my devastation and recommended one of the two motels (note the 'm' not the 'h') in town.

So I made my way to the Pheasant Inn where I met the very nice proprietors and their sweet little boy who definitely made me laugh when I needed it most!!  (I was about 90 minutes from home).  I got a room - bad weather rate and all - and settled in for the evening.  After some yummy convenient store pizza and candy, I watched some TV, read a book I luckily had with me, and got some much needed rest after a stressful day.  I found out later that the state had actually put out a no travel advised notice on the road I was trying to travel on so it was a fantastic decision to stop.  The next morning I was able to slowly make my way after the plows went through finally.  Here are a few snapshots from the room:

Loving me some wood paneling...

The ceramic heater....in case you're wondering it says 59 degrees, and that was after I'd been there for a couple hours.  Brr.  

Now I'm not trying to talk down the Pheasant Inn - it was a blessing that it was there and those sweet people were able to rent me a room for the night.  I had a lot of time to think and reflect and recognize that this was meant to teach me a thing or two.  Never under estimate His power to bring us right where we need to be at any one moment in time.

I promised in my New Years post that I would have more adventures to share.  In the words of my best friend who commented on my facebook when I posted my location for the night...."you lead such an interesting life." Tell me about it.  ;)