January 22, 2013

Meat Cupcake Delishus

OK, as you know, I have a tendency to share foods that I have consumed here (wait - isn't that what they said Twitter is for?).

So, this weekend, I managed to squeeze into the menu this concoction at right -> the bacon-wrapped meatloaf cupcake (topped with mashed potato "icing").

We saw this in some magazine (Food Network Magazine, perhaps?) and ended up making a version from the internet, and it turned out great.  Even my meatloaf-disliking-spouse said she'd eat these again, and I felt it necessary to share just because of the deliciousness (and sheer absurdity) of a meatloaf cupcake.

I thought they were great myself - the only downside being how to extract this bacon-wrapped-potato-topped-meatball from the muffin tins without utterly destroying them, and the excessive muffin tin cleaning required afterwards.

Kudos to whichever magazine got us to make these, and to the recipe, which we got here:

Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf Cupcakes

Enjoy!

January 21, 2013

Brushes with Fame

By Photos by flipchip / LasVegasVegas.com
 [CC-BY-SA-2.0
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)],
via Wikimedia Commons

So every now and again, when you are traveling, you run into "famous" people.  It makes sense, actually, since famous people need to travel, too.  In fact, you might could make an argument that many "famous" people have professions that require them to travel, which means it is actually more likely that a person of some stature is traveling than your average Joe or Jane.

Still, it's fun to run into them and have your brush with fame.

The last time I ran into someone of note was in Dulles airport a little over a year ago, when one of my coworkers pointed out Henry Rollins waiting on his plane.  By the time I decided to go talk to him and perhaps get a picture, he had moved on (ostensibly to get ON his plane).

So, when I got on the plane home from Vegas last week, I was treated to a double dose of traveling with fame.

Seated in first class was former WWE wrestler Shawn Michaels - I didn't speak to him, as I'm not particularly a big fan of wrestling, but it was still nice having celebrities on the plane.

It wasn't until I got off the plane and went to the baggage claim, that I saw Doyle Brunson (pictured above). I most definitely am a fan of professional poker playing and the World Series of Poker, so I did not pass up on this one.  He was waiting on his luggage, and I did get a little fan-like giddy and told him I was really glad to see him in person and that I had watched him play for years and was a fan.  He smiled (much like he's doing in that picture), nodded, and said "Thank you."  Kind of a nice interchange except I did leave rather quickly since I was ready to get home.  I wonder if he would have chatted some more.  Anyway, I may retroactively document some of my other brushes with fame (as that provides for nice blog fodder), but I thought I would at least hit this one relatively shortly after its occurrence.

January 8, 2013

New Year New Tricks?

By Bird33ou (Own work)
[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Well, another year has come, and that probably means it is time to make resolutions and whatnot.  So, here we are, a week in, and I am thinking, probably not going to make too too many this year.

Here's why.

When you are looking at having not one but two pretty major life events in a single year (both GOOD ones, by the way), there's not much room to fit in other little goals.  But I still like to throw a little fuel on the fire, so here goes.  Most of these are writing resolutions, so I guess I could move this over to the writing blog, but whatever.


  1. Not so much a resolution, but I am going to see how many days in a row I can write "something" of fiction.  I'm at 7.
  2. I'm going to post a few more times than last year, but not sure how many more.  But more.  But still scattered around the various blogs.
  3. I'm going to play golf more than once - the number of times I managed to play in the last 2 years.
  4. I'm going to try to adjust to all of the changes from the last 6 and next 6 months as quickly as possible (and before year end)
  5. I'll keep a regular poetry schedule.  Maybe.
  6. I'll start revision on a work of fiction.  Preferably a novel-length work of fiction.
That's it.  No more promises.

Things that I also expect.  There will be times I am extremely tired, grumpy, cranky, or generally feeling like that dog's face looks up above.  I will slow down brewing any beer early in the year (probably only 1 more brew day in the near future), and HOPEFULLY will get back to brew a few batches before the end of the year.  And I will, at times, disappear from the internet for a few days.  And then return.

I don't know - that seems like a lame list, but it's a list.  So there.  If you don't like it, tell me what your resolutions are in the comments, and you can one up me.  Happy New Year.

January 4, 2013

Bowl Madness

By Torsten Bolten (Own work)
[CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)],
via Wikimedia Commons
Writing a football post because I don't feel like writing the resolution post yet and I need to get back to working on fiction stuff instead of blogging.

So here's some thoughts.

Apparently every team I am pulling for in the bowl games is losing (or almost losing - talking about you Louisville), with the exception of Baylor, who spanked UCLA - the score made it appear closer than it was, and the score wasn't close.  Sic 'Em.  Still, I've been disappointed with just about everyone else that I have wanted to win.  I guess this is not my year.

In other news, my first attempt at fantasy left me out of the money and in fourth place, but we will see how the playoffs go... maybe I can do better.

Also, that 1 point safety in the Oregon - K State game...  let's all remember - if you block a kick and recover outside of the end zone, do NOT run back into your end zone.  1 point safety negates the whole point of blocking the kick.

That is all for the weekend, kids, have a nice one.