How I love fondue.    It started when I was young, my Mom would make it on special occasions.  There’d be the giant bowl of sirloin, and all of the dipping sauces, and a big fondue pot full of peanut oil bubbling away.   When I moved to Chicago, my fiance and I (now husband, of course) [...]

Baby, it’s cold outside!  Yep, it’s winter… we’ve got this wet, cold snow coming down outside today.  It’s not even the pretty kind since it started as rain.  It simply looks messy so far today.  But, I guess this scrooge should be happy because it is a sure sign of Christmas and the holiday season. [...]

Ok, I admit, I didn’t take a picture of this.  And just wait, I took a picture of Sunday night’s meal (which I will blog later) and it is super-messy-looking!  Ah yes, you can’t have perfection here! So on Saturday night we had some friends over and their kids.  I wanted to make some things [...]

This morning I’m a bit sad.  The week already seems to be flying by.  Every chore I take on to get done before I start work seems pointless because the house gets messy again anyway.  And I’m starting to think about time away from my son and it’s making me a bit melancholy.  I keep [...]

Well, the “3rd year of Sir Caelan’s reign” (i.e. his 3rd birthday party, Medieval Times theme) was a hit.  I spent 2 days cooking/prepping, and people were here for 12 hours!  I’m not sure how I would have pulled it off if I wasn’t unemployed and had extra time! For food, I started with “trench [...]

Today my parents came to visit my son.  They usually come up once a month or so.  This time they brought a kite!  The whole family headed out to the park and tried it out.  My son was having a blast but the kite wasn’t flying at first.  Between my Dad and my husband we [...]

See, I told you snow… er… so.  Yesterday it was 60 degrees with people out in shorts and running along the lake, and this morning we woke up to snow.  You’ve gotto love Chicago. I am not happy about the snow, but it’ll melt in no time.  The change in weather seems to be giving [...]

Last night I spent a fun evening with friends for “game night” – hopefully the first of many to come.  Somehow we managed to eat, have some wine, and play a game of Cranium, all with the kids running around.  Now THAT is multitasking at its finest. When talking about some of my dearest friends [...]

Yesterday I made this for my parents’ visit along with some crackers and cheese too. I served it with pita chips. I’d recommend using a little less lemon. Other than that it was great! Clam Dip with Bacon Courtesy of Cooking Light, with my modifications serves 16 (2 tbsp per serving)… yeah, I don’t think [...]