Does She Talk About Anything Besides Food?

Last night was a festival of calories. Stephen and I ate ourselves stupid. At the time it was painful and uncomfortable, but now in hindsight, it was glorious. But instead of grossing you out by listing out everything I shoved into my overeager mouth, I’ll tell you about some good things I’ve done. I have completed more of my 101 in 1001 list!

7. Paint our bedroom. (In progress)
This isn’t actually done. I had great plans to finish it this past weekend but apparently I’m awful at estimating the time it takes to do these tasks. I don’t want to talk about it.

12. Send out 10 cards, just because. (2/10)
If you got one, you already know. If you didn’t get one, you’re jealous. I know.

20. Make a cheesecake.
Anniversaries and Valentine’s Day are the same in the Hurst household. Stephen always makes a steak. He always marinates it in his favorite wine with a packet of Italian dressing mix. He’s always in charge of sides but I always end up making them because I like to and he hasn’t quite mastered the art of timing a meal to be completed at the same time. (That’s a skill people, it can be tough! That’s why it gives me nightmares to think about hosting Thanksgiving.) I always make a new, fancy dessert. Then we eat and drink all night. Last week I got a recipe in the mail for a Deep Dark Chocolate Cheesecake. The picture looked great. It looked like it was cooked in Heaven’s kitchen and shipped down here to the most talented food photographer. So I thought I’d attempt it. My very first cheesecake.

Check it out!

Please ignore the wood paneling in the background. It didn’t change the taste of the dessert so it shouldn’t be factored into your judgement. Oh good gravy, this was delicious. It was about as rich as Ryan Seacrest but, much like him, it was excellent in small doses.

47. Make 3 Pioneer Woman recipes. (1/3)
I think God wanted me to make this recipe. Yesterday P Dub posted this recipe for Potato Bundles. Potatoes happened to be on the Anniversary Menu so I thought I might try them this way. Potatoes, onions, butter, salt, CREAM, parsley… HELLO! The onions… there really are no words. They tasted like candy. I guess if you put enough butter and cream on anything it will taste like candy. But the beauty is that you still get credit for eating a vegetable. Right? …. Right? …. Anybody??

56. Fry something.
Really, I’m not obese. I’m not typing this from my laptop in bed, waiting for my sponge bath and my second helping of french toast. I just like food. Fattening food. I can’t help it, okay?! Leave me alone! Last week I fried some chicken breasts in oil and butter. I’ve never done this before. It was delicious and made me want to sop up the drippings with a crusty roll. I didn’t, stop judging me. I think I’m going to fry something else. I feel like this was an easy way out. I’m thinking about something more along the lines of onion rings or donuts. My mom makes a mean donut and I think she’ll teach me if I ask her nicely. Maybe if I give her a piece of my cheesecake…

Mom? Puh-lease? Pretty please, with ganache on top?

69. Encourage one person to do the 101 in 1001.
Sarah at Life on Dayton has already started this. The link to her list is posted on my 101 in 1001 page. A few of you told me you were going to make lists of your own. If you’ve posted yours, send me the link so I can add it to the list.

81. Grill something (instead of having Stephen do it.)
I did this. I made bacon wrapped venison back strap last week. It was pretty easy but it was gross. Stephen loved it, you might too. I just really don’t like venison. I’m trying. Really, I am. I make it often and always eat it. But I don’t enjoy it. I figured the marinades and the bacon would help. It did, but not enough. But that wasn’t the point of the exercise. I now know how to grill and will probably do more of it.

So there you go! A pretty impressive accomplishment. I’m really enjoying this 101 thing. Maybe because half of the goals revolve around food. I probably wouldn’t like it much if it was all work-out related. Oh well, it’s my list. And it will be my fault if I have two extra chins on day 1001.