Dessert Friday #20, etc.

That "etc." is for not updating in over a week. This is shameful.

Last Monday and Tuesday I went to Oregon for work. This means I got up at 4:30am Chicago time (2:30am Oregon time, for those of you keeping score), sat on a plane for 4.5 hours, was in meetings the entire afternoon, and then had dinner with work people. Dinner was great, but by that time I'd been awake for approximately 18 hours and was no more than an empty shell (who could still eat a lot). The next morning I got up at the crack of dawn again and flew back to Chicago. And for some reason I thought it was a good idea to not have a drop of coffee or any other form of caffeine during this entire adventure. So that was good.

Apparently this completely wiped me out for the rest of the week, because I a) couldn't ever get up in the morning, and b) would sit on my couch immediately after I got home from work and not move. Thankfully Nick had tacos ready for dinner the Tuesday I got back (what a keeper), because I certainly wasn't going to feed myself.

Thanks Nick.

Bailey was pretty upset with me when I got home last Tuesday. First she wouldn't let me out of her sight.

I will be right here watching you.

And then she got all emo.

You left me for two whole days.

But it wasn't anything a few (five) treats couldn't fix.

We can be friends again.

Did you think I forgot about Dessert Friday? Worry not.

Cream puffs.

Yup. Again. And guess what? They had extra filling this time. So it seemed.

:D

This past weekend, we went down to Illinois (yes, I realize that Chicago is in Illinois, I mean Illinois as in the home of the Fighting Illini) to visit Nick's sister and to watch the Illinois-Wisconsin football game.

Players standing around.

Nick is a Badgers fan (I really have no preference - in fact, I can name maybe three positions in football, and aside from the quarterback, I really have no idea what anyone else does), and although they played a pretty ugly game the first half, thankfully they won so Nick didn't have to mope the rest of the day.

And the rest of the day was spent...cooking and feasting on a pre-Thanksgiving meal! We figured since we were down there visiting, we might as well have an early Thanksgiving. Which was just fine by me, because that meant I could basically have two Thanksgivings.

Don't worry, I've got some large sweatpants stashed in the back of my closet.

Oh. I should mention here that there were also....snakes!

Aaah!

No, we didn't eat them. Nick's sister and her boyfriend, Mark, breed snakes (ball pythons), and they had an impressive setup of bins for their snakes (if you're in the market, let me know and I will let them know). And I held them! Multiple ones (not at the same time)!

This is proof that I held at least one snake.

They felt really interesting. Pure muscle, smooth, and any bigger than they were would have had me running as fast as I could out the door.

So that was exciting. Aside from that, the afternoon consisted mainly of sitting around the fireplace, playing this game called Dominion (I have to say one of the few games involving cards that I actually enjoyed playing), and eating.

I wish we had this in our apartment.

The meal was, in a word, epic. Mark is a fantastic cook, and the turkey he made was definitely hands-down the best turkey I've ever eaten. The rest of us pitched in here and there. Mainly for moral support. Although I did make some potatoes, Chinese-style (recipe from my mom, which was possibly the most aggravating thing in the world to figure out, because it mainly consisted of directions like "put in some corn starch and some soy sauce" with no actual measurements). Maybe if I ever figure out real proportions, I will let you know how to make them. For now, I'm still guessing at how much of everything to use.

Thanks 95% to Mark, 5% to the rest of us.

I had multiple servings.

Round 2.

And then I gained 10 pounds.

I made some turkey hash tonight for dinner, which was basically a mixture of potatoes, turkey, stuffing, any leftover food there was, some garlic, green onions, a tiny bit of butter, and basil (again, thanks to Mark for the idea - and the demonstration during brunch the day after our feast). I didn't take a picture of it because it's not exactly the most attractive looking meal (as the name suggests), but it was delicious and I promptly gained another 10 pounds. So naturally, I'm off now to run around the block 25 times sit on my couch and watch TV.