Me, Mabel & My Meat

Minnesota is a great place to live. We have over 10,000 lakes, the boundary waters, Joe Mauer, the Minnesota State Fair (home of the deep fried cheese curd) and meat raffles. Last weekend I learned that the meat raffle may be Minnesota's secret weapon. It is a very simple process and very fun.

Step 1. Meet Mabel

Step 2. Buy your ticket

Step 3. When Mabel shouts "I'm spinnin' the wheel" you yell

"SPIN THE WHEEL MABEL!"

(This is the key to success)

Step 4. Win and enjoy 9 pounds of hamburger, 9 pounds of chicken or both.

Step 5. Have a celebratory beer.

Adam and Miley

Shhhhhhhh...

The Corner Table

My mom is the best gift-giver that has ever lived. For our birthdays this year she gave us a gift certificate to Corner Table. This wasn't just any gift certificate but one for the chef's table in the kitchen.

We were advised to get there when the restaurant opened around 5:30pm and the concept is that the chef continues to feed you course after course of the most delicious food you can imagine until the place closes or you can't take it anymore. My goal was to make it all night and get down as many courses as possible. Adam and I strategized for over a month on how we were going to pack it all in.

When we first arrived I was feeling pretty intimidated about some of the comments left on the blackboard behind our table. Not knowing exactly what we were in for, seeing things like "full frontal bacon", "19 courses? OMG!", "I need bigger fat pants" and "Please make him stop" made me question if we really had it in us. Especially since wine pairings were to be served with every course.

Words cannot begin to describe how delicious our entire meal was. My camera only lasted 7 courses and Adam was ready to crap out after the 10th. Somehow Adam regrouped (or purged) and we went another 8 courses, most of them dessert. I have been in a food coma until the posting of this blog so I apologize for the delay. I know half of you reading this (ie: Cassie) have been anxiously awaiting the details.

Here are of some of the highlights:

This was our favorite course: Chicken Rillet on pickled carrots and onions.

This gnocci was fantastic. The picture does 't do it justice.

You don't have to be Polish to enjoy this chocolate perogie

According to the other chefs working we did pretty well- 18 courses total.

And thankfully we planned on taking a cab back home...

Vegas baby Vegas

I have the best friends in the whole world. Here are some pics from our trip to Vegas in January. Highlights include In-n-Out, Cirque, dancing, gambling and lots of belly laughs.

Christmas Tree Hunt

Here's some pictures of Adam and I killing our first Christmas Tree. I felt a little bad about chopping down such a nice tree that never did anything wrong to me but I got over it after I saw how nice it looked in our living room. Hopefully it doesn't pay us back by bursting into flames.

And here's some pics of our new house. I hope this post generates lots of visits :)

I am excited about our new pink bathroom

We are scheduled to close on our first house this Thursday and should be moving in on Saturday or Sunday. Adam and I are both really excited. He likes the yard and the 2 car garage, I like the kitchen.... and the pink bathroom. It may have to stay for a while.

Don't tell Adam

After much consideration, much free time and a glass of wine I have decided to finally post my first blog. For obvious reasons I have entitled my blog: Shhhhhhh... Don't tell Adam.

After ruminating about creating this blog and what I would write about I came to the conclusion that I would like to share what I should not share with my husband, Adam.

Don't get me wrong- it's not that I want to keep secrets from my husband. I just know how much he hates the idea of this blog. Shhhh... don't tell Adam.