Romain’s family is visiting the US this month and they spent four days in Springfield this past weekend. Most everyone stayed at our house in the spare bedrooms. We had so much fun. Thursday night we grilled some pork tenderloin and drank on the back porch. We were up super late drinking wine, ow my head. On Friday we went to Stockton lake. Romain rented a pontoon boat and a waverunner. Holy cow, I forgot how fun a waverunner can be. I want one! We got some pretty good sunburns. My dumb ass forgot the lunch meat so we have tomato sandwiches for lunch. Still waiting for the pictures from Amy. Friday night we had a kick ass dinner of sockeye salmon, asparagus two ways, mushroom risotto, sauteed spinach, and a fresh Bearnaise sauce. Romain’s mom also made a tasty salmon appetizer. The meal took forever to make and I think we finally ate at 11:30 PM. It was the best meal I have made at home in quite a while. We had even more wine! Saturday we all slept in and went to McAllister’s for lunch, mmm. After lunch it was a trip to Bass Pro to show the girls the big fish. We also bought some clays for sheet shooting. This is a lot of rambling, haha. Saturday afternoon we went my parent’s house for a party. We shot the shotguns for hours out in the field. That was freaking fun. It was even better when we started targeting actual birds while all three of us shot at the same time! We had a birthday party and some tasty food then it was time for fireworks. A giant storm caught us off guard so we had to shoot them off fairly quickly. The wind was gusting at 30 mph so more of the ground stuff did not work right. I was kind of pissed. The aerial stuff wasn’t too bad. I’m glad the house did not catch on fire. The rains came and we left shortly after. Everyone was super tired. We all got back to the house and went to bed. After breakfast this morning everyone loaded up their cars and they headed back to St. Louis. It was  fantastic weekend!!

We won our game tonight 6-3. Our goalie played super well tonight. I was a little slow as usual. One of these days I will need to go to the gym and/or start running again. I really need to lose 30 or so pounds. It was a fun game. No fighting or jerks on the other team.I was out of town, but I guess our team won on Friday and lost Sunday night. One guy was suspended two games. I always miss the fun!

Not a whole lot has been going on lately. We have been trying to save for our taxes so not much to report during the week. Friday night we had some people over to celebrate the warm weather. I did some beer can chicken and we had some tasty sides. Fun night. Saturday I wired the back porch for satellite! Cardinals games outside this season!

I bought a giant 3 pound potato from Dillons tonight. It took 2.5 hours to bake and threw off our dinner until almost 9 PM. I have no idea why I thought it would be a good idea to try to eat it. LOL. We also had some turkey filets with some fresh green beans sauteed with mushroom, red onion and balsamic vinegar. It was a pretty good meal minus the giant potato that tried to kill me.

Sarah and I made some delcious sushi for dinner tonight. Some of the ingredients we used were ahi tuna, smoked salmon, krab, asparagus, cucumber, shrimp, and avocado. It turned out really well. We did manage to make way too many rolls, about 16. Which is enough for 6 people! We’ll eat the rest for lunch tomorrow. I might sneak a couple more tonight if I get hungry though. We also had some crab & egg drop soup. Sarah and I are extremely stuffed.  After dinner we had some champagne. Great night!!

HuHot is a new Mongolian BBQ place in town. It is located in the old JBuck’s (we miss you) location at the mall. I had noticed it going in a couple of weeks back and emailed them about the opening. I received an email back about the soft opening tonight. Sarah and I both changed our plans to go and were pretty excited. We got there and it was a mad house. The wait was going to be 90 minutes and 10 minutes to just get our name on the list. Sadly we decided not to stay. We were starving! Sarah and I had a delicious dinner 5 Spice instead.

Friday night we had a few people and fried a 13 pound turkey. I had never done it before so I had to learn a few tings along the way. I can’t believe how easy it was! I mean it really was, the fryer had everything I needed and even had some marks on the side of the kettle for the oil line. I used peanut oil. It turned out amazing! I will definitely be doing that again. We are still eating tasty leftovers.

We won our hockey game tonight 7-6 despite more drama. From the beginning they were singling us out and calling non penalties. I think our team is marked. We will not get a straight call form here on out. I got a little pissed and hit a guy tonight with my stick. Stupid, stupid. Our entire team is very freustrated,. I may only play one more game next week and skip the final two. It’s just not very fun anymore with the current mismanagement at the rink. It’s a joke.

Our office had a Thanksgiving chili competition today and I won! I probably spent a little too much money, but dang it was good. I also won a $100 Grove Spa gift card! A perfect gift for Sarah this Christmas. haha

Here’s the recipe I found on the Food Network website. It was fairly easy to make and it turned out great!

Everyone at the office loved it.

Sarah & Tim’s Chipotle Chili

Ingredients:

Two 6 oz filet mignon, cubed
One pound ground pork
Eight slices double wood smoked bacon, ½ inch pieces
One red bell pepper, chopped
One yellow bell pepper, chopped
Two medium yellow onions, finely chopped
6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
Three Tbsp chili powder
One Tbsp ground cumin
One Tbsp chipotle chili powder
One Tbsp smoked paprika
Two Tsp oregano
Sea salt and black pepper to taste
One cup Budweiser
One 15 oz can rinsed black beans
One 15 oz can rinsed kidney beans
One 24 oz can crushed tomato
One 24 oz can diced tomato with juice

Directions

In large heavy-bottomed pot, cook the bacon over medium heat until lightly crisp, stirring occasionally. Once the bacon is browned, add the garlic, onions, bell peppers, chili powder, cumin, chipotle chili powder, oregano, and smoked paprika and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Cook until the vegetables are tender and seasonings are aromatic. Add the pork and break it up with a wooden spoon. Cook the pork until it begins to brown, and no longer pink, roughly 4 minutes. Stir in the filet, beer and beans. Toss together, then add the crushed and diced tomatoes. Turn the heat down to low and simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper, if necessary. Transfer the chili to serving bowls and garnish with lime wedges, sour cream, shredded cheese, and sliced scallions.

I know, I know. I am missing the food photography I shot a few years back. I just recently started using Wordpress and have not created that page yet. I’ll get to it eventually.

I am so stuffed! We went to the Cheesecake Factory tonight after we finished working and I ate way too much food. I really could have done without the giant piece of cheesecake and ice cream after my giant steak, haha. Oh well, you have to follow through on your dares when it comes to food, right? I hope I can sleep.

As far as the job goes, we were without our internet connection again so we are now a day behind. As soon as we get online it’s on! We will have to play some catch up. I hope we can get it all done by mid Thursday.