Blues Game

We have finally attended our first Blues game!  I gave Scott hockey tickets for Christmas and we went the last Friday of 2011.  Our seats were pretty good.  When I was looking to buy them I wanted to get as close to the "Towel Guys" seats as possible.  I had remember from the game we took Catherine to that he was in 314. 



The game wasn't as good as we had hoped.  Nashville had scored before we even made it to our seats, never a good way to start the game.  The Blues looked sloppy and not together on their power plays.  But they managed to get a goal and we saw the Towel Guy in action.

They ended up losing in shoot outs.  They went to the 4th and 5th shooter before there was even a goal!  It was just so sloppy.  But we can't wait to go again!

Christmas Vacation

We have survived our crazy and fast road trip to San Antonio for Christmas!  We left work early on December 21 to try to get some daylight driving in.  That did not happen, we didn't get on the road till 4:30 and then we were stuck in St. Louis rush hour traffic for 40 minutes.  But once we got past St . Louis we had a lot of open road, stopping in Rolla and Joplin for food and gas.  We made great time getting into Oklahoma City around 11:30. 

After a restless night's sleep, we met up with Kelly at her hotel in OKC.  We went to the only Starbucks in Oklahoma City, in Bricktown.  It was a short but fun visit.  We dropped Kelly off at work, aka the tallest building in OKC. 

[caption id="attachment_1787" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="At Kelly's work"][/caption]

We then stopped at the Oklahome City bombing memorial. 

[caption id="attachment_1788" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="OKC Memorial EntranceInside OKC MemorialA chair for each victim"][/caption]

Even at 8:30 in the morning, it was beautiful to see and chilling to walk around and see the pictures of the victims still up, 14 years later.  We then went to the Oklahoma State Capital building.  We walked around the inside, which was fairly new and took our capital pictures with Reily. 

 

[caption id="attachment_1791" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Outside OK Capital"][/caption]

And then we were on the road to San Antonio.  We arrived Thursday evening around 6.  On Friday, Scott and I decided to take a little drive around the Hill Country.  We started in Johnson City, TX and saw Lynden Johnson's boyhood home and visitor center.  We then drove 15 miles to the Texas White House and took a tour of the LBJ Ranch and House. Cows on LBJ Ranch 

We left Johnson City and headed towards Luckenbach, Texas.  This was the coolest, smallest town I've ever been to.  The population is 3.  It has 3 buildings, a hat store, outside diner, and the Post Office/bar.  We got some hot chocolate and then wandered through the Post Office and listened to some live music.  There were about 4 guys with guitars and a woman singing.  It was the best stop of the day. 

[caption id="attachment_1795" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Everybody's Somebody"][/caption]

We started heading back to San Antonio with a quick drive through of Fredericksburg, Texas.  The town was pretty busy with shoppers in and out of all the little antique stores on Main Street.  I really want to go back there when we have more time to check things out.  After Fredricksburg, TX we went back to San Antonio for dinner at Alamo Cafe.

Saturday we woke up to rain.  We still were determined to go to the outlet mall.  I know, it was a crazy idea to go up there on the day before Christmas but we lucked out.  There was hardly anyone there because of the rain.  We managed to get a few good deals while we were up there.  We had lunch with the Holtzinger girls at Rudy's.  The BBQ and visit was a great way to spend the afternoon.  I can't believe how big the girls are getting.



Christmas day was still chilly, for San Antonio.  We opened presents and left to get our movie tickets.  Scott and I drove around a little bit to show off some of San Antonio and places I have lived while down there.  We ate our dinner/lunch and then left to go see Mission Impossible.  The movie was decent, a lot of action.

The day after Christmas we were on the road very early to beat the other drivers.  We made it through Austin by 8:30 and through the state of Texas by 12.  In the middle of Oklahoma we saw a man riding a horse down the sidewalk.  We couldn't believe what we saw.  We hit more rain East of Springfield, MO and then

Last weekend before Christmas

What a busy time of year it is!  I always want to do more than time will allow.  I wanted to go look at Christmas lights and have a Christmas Brunch, those didn't happen.  What did happen was we finally got our friends together for the First Annual Allender (yes, I used the last name) Christmas Dinner, this past Sunday.

On Friday night, Scott and I went to see the Nutcracker Ballet at the Touhill on University of Missouri - St. Louis's campus.  It was my first ballet to see and I wasn't completely sold on it during the first act.  Although, Scott was convinced that intermission was the end of the ballet, we hung around and what do you know, a second act.  The second act had more music that I was familiar with and the dancing was a little more  exciting.  Overall, I'm glad we went and I was able to see the ballet.  Who knows, we might even see Swan Lake in the spring.

Saturday was a busy day for me.  I was getting groceries at Soulard, Schnucks, pricing ovens at my old high school job (Slyman Brothers) and last-minute gifts.  All this was done while Scott was working on Clubvision.  I got home and we decided that we needed to get gifts for the Birch kids and then it was dinner and a movie.  We went to Bar Louie for dinner, it was great!  We hadn't been there in a while and the buffalo calamari was calling us!  After dinner, we watched a little of the Blues game before the movie.  We walked to the Chase and watched the new Sherlock Holmes movie.  The movie was great, even with the iffy reviews it seems to be getting.  These are the only Guy Ritchie movies that I seem to like.

Another insane day was Sunday!  I was up by 7:30, cooking, cleaning and more grocery shopping.  I had everything prepped and ready to go by 2.  I'm really impressed with myself on this one.  The roast took a little longer to cook that I had expected but I managed to have dips, stuffed mushrooms and jalapeno poppers for appetizers.  They all turned out great!  I'm super critical of my cooking so I thought the roast was a little dry and the potatoes cooked a little too long.  But it was just a fun night having our friends over and all hanging out together. 

I can't wait to have this party again next year!  Now we work a couple of days and it's off to San Antonio for Christmas!

Christmas Cookies

It's that time of year again!  Christmas cookie time!  I spent a lot of time this past weekend in the kitchen making cookies and listening to Christmas music.  I started with sugar cookies.  I never have a recipe handy so I'm usually googling the easiest recipe.  I threw everything together and then let the dough chill over night.





I started rolling out the dough Sunday morning, but it wasn't the best.  It was too sticky and needed a little more time to warm up to room temperature before it wouldn't stick to the counters and take the shapes I wanted.  But after a little patience the cookies were baked and ready for frosting.





I found a three ingredient recipe for frosting in a cookbook we have at home.  The red dye went in and I started frosting about half of the cookies.  It tasted a little too much like the powdered sugar and less like the vanilla that I had added.  So, I'm finding a new recipe for the green frosting.

I continued the tradition of making "No- Bake Cookies."   These are by far the easiest ones to make.  I think I may have added a little too much cocoa.  They are extra chocolatey, but I don't think anyone is complaining much.  I was able to start and finish these cookies on Saturday before I started wrapping gifts.







Yes, Saturday was a full blow Christmas day.  The shopping, the wrapping, the cookies, and of course the music!

Potato Soup

I've been coming across recipes for potato soup like crazy.  And since it's finally getting cold outside I figured I needed to try one of the recipes.  I found a recipe on Crockin' Girls website and decided this is the one I'm going to try.  It was super easy to make.  I think next time I'll use more real potato and celery and maybe a little more seasoning.  The recipe doesn't call for much salt or pepper, however, I added pepper and garlic salt for some more flavor.  But over all I think it came out very good for a first time.



Ingredients:

1 bag (32 oz) frozen southern-style diced hash brown potatoes, thawed

1/2 cup frozen chopped onion (from 12-oz bag), thawed

1 medium stalk celery, diced (1/2 cup)

1 carton (32-oz) Progresso® chicken broth

1 cup water

3 tablespoons Gold Medal® all-purpose flour

1 cup milk

1 bag (8 oz) shredded American-Cheddar cheese blend (2 cups)

1/4 cup real bacon pieces (from 2.8-oz package)

4 medium green onions, sliced (1/4 cup)

Directions

In 3- to 4-quart slow cooker, mix potatoes, onion, celery, broth and water.

Cover; cook on Low heat setting 6 to 8 hours.

In small bowl, mix flour into milk; stir into potato mixture. Increase heat setting to High. Cover; cook 20 to 30 minutes or until mixture thickens. Stir in cheese until melted. Garnish individual servings with bacon and green onions. Sprinkle with pepper if desired.

Rat Pack Christmas

what an amazing show at the Fox Theater!  I didn't know what to expect going in, all I knew is that I wanted to see this show.  And we were both amazed with the performance!

The performance started with Frank Sinatra being introduced at the Sands for his show with friends Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr.  Each artist sang a few of their hits mixed in with some Christmas songs mixed in with a few sketches.  Each actor had the voices and mannerisms of the artists. 

Everyone was singing along and even some in the audience let us know which songs they "hated" - Little Drummer Boy, espically.  I can't wait to see another show with these guys.

Oh Christmas Tree

We finally got our tree!  It was an adventure this year to go get the tree, this past Sunday.  On Saturday I hung out with Kristin and Tom and went here for lunch:

[caption id="attachment_1718" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Blues City Deli"][/caption]

Scott and I had decided that we would get our tree on Sunday.  I was completely fine with that until it was raining Sunday morning.  Plus I still wasn't 100% from whatever illness hit me Saturday.  So, we waited till 1 and grabbed some Bread Co. for lunch and went on a drive.

The last 2 years we have gone to Meert's Tree Farm in Festus.  It wasn't bad, it was an easy drive but a little far from our house.  This year Scott wanted to see if we could find some place closer.  I looked online and decided that Heritage Village was closer to home.  It wasn't.  We drove for about an hour and a half, some of it out of our way, just to get there.

Once we got there we were greeted by Santa and then found our way to the saws.  We picked up a sled and we were off to find our tree.



Somehow, this year it was much easier to find our tree, have Scott cut it down and load up the car than it ever had at the other farm.  Finding our tree was easiest part of the whole process.

[caption id="attachment_1720" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Us with our tree"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1721" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="And the wagon is good to go"][/caption]

Once we paid we loaded up the car and took a quick walk inside the house and we were back on the road!

[caption id="attachment_1722" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Last Christmas for the CR-V"][/caption]

Our drive home was a little shorter.  We found highway 94 and cut across that instead of going all the way back to 70.  Google Maps can give such interesting directions.

Once home we got the tree set up and Scott put the lights on while I made a roast for dinner.  By the time I finished cooking Scott was done with the lights and it was time to put the ornaments one.  We had to put the ornament from Scott's sister, Jeni, up first.



Then the rest of the tree went up rather quickly.  It turned out really nice and the house is officially maxed out with Christmas!



And don't forget the family picture with Reily!



 

 

A Christmas Carol

  We have another year of going to the Fox Theater and seeing A Christmas Carol in the books.  We went Friday night and it was the first show in the performance series.  Our seats were great and it didn't seem as crowded as it usually is when we go on Saturday nights.  I was busy taking pictures inside the theater and then I was the only one to was told to stop because of the flash, but here is a view from our seats.

[caption id="attachment_1714" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The curtain before the show"][/caption]



There was a new actor playing Scrooge this year and he played the role a little more comical that I'm used to.  I don't know if they were trying to please a younger crowd or not.  He was good, however, I prefer the more serious take on the role, like George C. Scott.  At intermission both Scott and I were on the same page.  The second half flew by all the way to Tiny Tim saying "God Bless us, everyone!"

Francis Park

We attended for the 3rd year in a row, the Francis Park tree lighting.  I'm loving the simple traditions that we have started.  We headed over to the Birch's house to see Reily for the first time since getting back from Chicago and hang with the kids.  We had a little chili and helped get the kids dressed and were out the door and down the street.

Ben was already busy helping people get on the horse drawn carriage rides up and down Nottingham.  The line was really long before everything started.  Then the Mayor said a few words and Fred Bird helped with the countdown and then the tree was lit!  And then it went out!  We managed to get some goodies and hot chocolate while we waited for the tree to come back on.

While waiting we walked around and I found out that this would have been the place where Scott was initially going to pop the question last year.  Oh well, just knowing that he thought about that makes it so much more important.  I love the history that I have with that park!



The lights cam back out and we took a quick picture and headed for warmth and home shortly after.  A great start to a wonderful holiday season!

December

I can't believe it's December 1st already?  Where did this year go?  I love the holiday season, from Thanksgiving to New Years Eve!

It's now the countdown till Christmas, trip to San Antonio and New Years Eve!  So much to look forward to in the next few weeks.  Happy Holidays!