sarah's bachelorette weekend part 1

a couple of weeks ago i flew out to san diego to celebrate my sister, sarah's bachelorette party.  emily drove down from mountain view and me, renee, sarah h, and ashika flew to cali to hang in the pacific beach rental house sarah had booked for the weekend.  we had ridiculous quantities of fun at beaches, bars, and sarah and dave's stunning apartment in north park (where of course we all watched frozen while trying to get less hungover).

after the most nauseating turbulence i have ever experienced, and a temporary horror-inducing lie about having to land the plane in fort collins instead of denver where i had a connecting flight, i finally landed in san diego late friday night.  we loaded too many people into dave and sarah's hyundai (it was pretty hilarious) and after larding out animal style at in and out burger on friday night (sooo good), we woke up saturday and headed to coronado island for beaching and lunch.

 we ate lunch on coronado at this cafe called tartine, (isn't it cute??) a place where sarah had taken me and my parents last time i was in san diego.  it was even better than i remembered it being for lunch, though when sarah and emily ordered a lemon meringue tart for dessert, the meringue had some strange stabilizer in it, giving it more a texture to marshmallow fluff versus meringue... kinda plastic, not the #1 best, though the lemon curd was delicious.  my brie and ham baguette and cappucino were both excellent as well. 

we went to the del coronado hotel where we laid on the beach and i got a tan line, if a little pink on the nose.  i did not know this prior, but all of the beaches in california are public by law.  after getting pretty toasty in the 90 degree heat (now i know why there's fire there- you barely notice how hot it is because the air is so dry) we stopped up at the del bar for water and cocktails (a $16 del mule...ouch, but totally worth it).  it's been a long time since i've hung out on a beach with a bunch of friends, way too good of times!

after hanging on the sand (sadly i couldn't play in the water because apparently shaving my legs and putting them in sea water several hours later made them red and itchy... ew) we headed back to the beach house to clean up and get ready for the most delicious thai food i've ever had.

get ready for thai food, more food, cliff views, and drunk girls coming up in part 2.

recipe: insanely easy, over the top incredible, ultra- creamy crockpot cheese fondue

i am a woman who is passionate about dip.

call me crazy, but sometimes life just tastes a little better when you're dunking food into other food.  when i was growing up my family always held a fondue night on new years eve, which was essentially an excuse to feast excessively for many hours on end.  every year someone attempts to whip up the tres gourmet cheese fondue recipe that is full of expensive cheese without letting it burn or curdle.  while i can honestly say it's always phenomenal-tasting, i wondered if i could invent a yummy, easier-to-make, budget friendly version for steve and i to stuff into our bellies.

not trying to brag or nuthin' but the results were pretty darn amazing tasting!!  it is sharp, it is creamy, and it is guaranteed to be a whole lot easier than constantly stirring a double boiler.  it's definitely going to be a go-to party dish of mine, and i can promise, despite the excess of velveeta, you won't be able to stop eating it until you're out of dipping supplies.

note: the following recipe yields a very large quantity of delicious fondue, some measurements are approximations

you will need:

crusty bread for dipping (or crackers, salami, veggies, whatever)

1 (32 oz) brick of velveeta

1 (8 oz) brick of cream cheese

3 slices kraft swiss singles

1 1/2 cups semi-dry white wine (riesling is your best bet)

2 tbsp cumin

2 tbsp onion powder

2 tbsp garlic powder

salt and pepper

optional: water, beef broth, or chicken broth

 cut up the bread, velveeta, and cream cheese into cubes.  resist temptation to carbo-load on bread whilst making fondue.

put cubed velveeta and cream cheese into the crockpot with 3 slices of kraft swiss singles.  set crockpot on high for 1-2 hours to melt the processed cheese products.  once the cheese has melted enough, stir the combination into a blended consistency (a few remaining unmelted lumps are fine).

when cheese is blended add the white wine and stir into a smooth consistency.  stir in cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste.  switch crockpot to low and let it sit for about another hour.  if the fondue is too thick once ingredients are all blended and melted add broth (i used beef broth, but i imagine chicken works fine as well) or water to thin.

dip your bread (or whatever form of cheese to mouth transportation you've selected) and enjoy!

it's feasting season

hello lovely readers!  the americans among us have a short week otherwise known as feasting initiation night otherwise known as thanksgiving!  essentially we've arrived at the time of year when the influx of food never stops.  even though our double thanksgiving dinners (yes read that: dinnerS) aren't coming til tomorrow, steve's birthday last weekend got us a head start on stretching our bellies.  last friday several of our friends from out of town came over for a surprise party i threw for steve (it was only so surprising, seeing as he requested such a thing).

i left work early to grocery shop, clean, and cook like a crazy lady.  lucky for me our apartment isn't too big so the place was good to go by the time andy and cha showed up to yell surprise.  not to brag or nuthin, but the food was pretty darn good.  in honor of steve's birthday bash and all the eating we've yet to do, i'll share a couple pretty delicious recipes i invented for the party.

black bean, corn, avacado salad (10 servings)

in a large serving bowl combine:

1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)

1 1/2 cup frozen corn kernels (thawed)

1 large diced avacado

1 large diced red bell pepper

1/2 large diced red onion

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1/2 tbsp cumin

salt and pepper to taste

christmas cranberry face-punch (25 servings)

(please drink responsibly... this stuff is delicious and FAR from baby formula...

consider yourself warned)

in a large serving bowl combine:

3 1/5 cups of vodka (1 fifth of a gallon bottle)

1 1/2 cups of triple sec (about 1/2 a bottle)

2 litres sierra mist cranberry splash

3/4 litre simply limeade

4-5 large scoops of lime sherbet

handful of frozen cranberries

hope everyone has a great thanksgiving!

word count: 34,149

good morning blogland!  i'm hoping this week i'll get us back on track here at loosefromthezoo.  last week was a bit of a panic-stricken one trying to get everything done in preparation to replace steve's car slash try and make a dent in our mess slash work on wedding details slash feel like i'm making any progress at work.  but the past weekend was one big pleasant surprise!

we accomplished some of our to-do list, but not all.  our living room is still a mess, but sans financial hardship, steve has upgraded from herman (chevy monte carlo) to hank (mazda tribute).  another extra big thank you to my mom and dad for saving hank for us, instead of trading him in.  even after driving the new car from kzoo back to ann arbor, steve couldn't get enough of his favorite new toy, so we had to take an extra little joy ride around town.  since i lazily took next to no pictures this weekend, here's a great shot steve's mom got of him and his new ride.

we're still plugging away at the wedding plans, but one of the exciting parts we got settled this weekend was "finding" our wedding officiant.  we met up with steve's roommate from his freshman year in the dorms, alex, along with his lovely girlfriend erin, last night.  alex has been there pretty much since the inception of steve & becky (steve's five AM profession of love, the dorm fort, wizard people: dear reader, etc.).  we all treated ourselves to some serious face-stuffing last night, and plenty of wine, fish tacos, mushroom risotto, chocolate pumpkin cheesecake, and brandy alexanders later, one of our best friends was signed up to officiate our wedding!  oh and the four of us are having a combination j.crew outlet shopping, hockey game watching, cat and kitten introducing slumber party next weekend.

a sunday feast of epic proportions with wonderful friends sure is the best medicine to get your week started right.  now it's time to get on with the cleaning house so we'll be ready to host my sister when she comes for a visit the weekend after halloween!  busy?  yup that we still are, but we're filling life up with happy times, so i'm ready to stop complaining!

hope everyone's week is starting out on as good a note as ours! we are feeling like lucky ducks these days!

word count:  33,365

game-day ribs recipe

toasting the day we got engaged... go blue!

whew!  hi again!  just now coming back to life after labor day!  hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend; we definitely did!  (dude check the success of that semi-colon there... writerly nerd here).

in ann arbor the seasons change a bit more dramatically than other places of the world.  besides the fact that we get all four seasons weatherwise (and to a pretty hardcore extent might i add), we have the influx and exodus of tens of thousands of students as well as the college sports calendar ushering in spring, summer, fall, and winter.  add to that all the special events (restaurant week, the film festival, top of the park) and you pretty much could live in this town without ever once looking at a calendar (in fact i did just that throughout most of college).

now that the students are back, there is more to look forward to than just frat boys in the semi-nude throwing keystone light cans off rooftops.  it is start of college football season!!

now don't for a minute think that I am sporty spice or anything (high school theater geek here... hand eye coordination... what's that?) but when you are born and bred U of M fan / alumna... well, let's just say if you aren't into college football yourself, you're just not gonna understand.

in honor of the first game of the season i did two things:

i wrote this other blog post that got a little bit of internet cred

(do not consider this an endorsement for brobible.com, they simply asked if they could republish content from my other blog)

and i whipped up some homemade spinach dip and barbeque ribs for a bunch of our friends who came over to watch the game!

now i don't like to brag or nothin' but these ribs are just plain delish.  personally, i can't understand why anyone would make ribs without a crockpot.  they are so easy, so tasty, and so tender (literally falling off the bone with greasy goodness).  this is without question one of my top recipes to make when we are having company because it feeds so many people so simply.  you'll notice i doubled the recipe, since we inexplicably own two crockpots, and nobody's going to be stingy with their portions when tailgating.  here's how it's done:

you will need:

a crockpot (the bigger the better)

a rack of pork spare ribs

onion powder

garlic powder

chili powder

salt & pepper

a bottle of your favorite barbeque sauce (thicker is better)

optional:

a whole onion (sliced)

one-two peaches (sliced) or other fruit

you will notice that a rack of ribs does not fit super successfully into a four quart crockpot.  the most difficult step, step one, is to defy science and mash that baby in there.  i usually find cutting them down the middle and kinda sushi rolling them is decently successful.  it doesn't really matter how they fit, they'll cook down after a while.

once you've fit those suckers into the crockpot the hardest part is over.  generously season the meat with garlic powder, onion powder, a couple dashes of chili powder, and the salt and pepper.  don't worry too much about coating everything, the flavors will blend together while they cook.

once they are seasoned, smother them with the entire bottle of barbeque sauce.  again, no need to worry about coating them, they'll get saucy as they cook.

if you are so inclined, you can toss in a sliced onion or sliced peach for extra savory flavor or sweetness.  i didn't bother this time, but if you want to go all out, who am i to stop you?  stick the crockpot on low and cook for at least 6 hours.

that's it!  once they're cooked, grab a pair of tongs and serve yourself.  you won't even need to worry about cutting up portions.  they will fall apart, they are so tender.

when it comes to cooking i'm heavy on the enthusiasm and light on the finesse/paying attention/timing so recipes like this are pretty much how i roll.  hopefully i'll be able to share my spinach dip recipe soon (also one of the easiest things you'll ever imagine).

we definitely kicked off labor day weekend on a tasty note!  after dinner we played monopoly and ordered a dozen really expensive cupcakes for delivery (fat kids r us).  michigan beat CMU (duh) and we all spent the rest of the weekend playing in the river and going to the beach (i'll post pictures from our day in saugatuck soon).

hope everyone had a scrumptious and fun weekend!  happy hump day!

word count: 23,281

pinterest gold: recipe edition

so we all love pinterest right?  right.

good now that we've got that settled, let's admit it.  not every DIY, recipe, outfit, or idea on pinterest is awesome.  just because someone on earth decided to combine kale, sour patch kids, and mayonnaise, that doesn't make it a reputable salad, no matter how viral their blog post is on pinterest.  there are entire blogs devoted to the failed attempts at recreating pins.

i haven't personally been subjected to any pinterest fails as epic as this one, but i have definitely been disappointed by spending the time, energy, and money making a totally blah recipe i found on pinterest (i'm looking at you "omg taco bake"... for my improved taco bake recipe see here).  for this reason i've decided to share with you guys my "pinterest gold."  these are pins that i have tried and true experience recreating with excellent results.

so consider this your personally curated pinterest experience.  the following are the best recipes i have personally tried from pinterest:

marie's chicken and biscuit casserole is comfort food at its easiest and most delicious.

rita's crockpot white chicken chili is absolutely delicious and makes the best leftovers.

double crunch honey garlic chicken is one of steve's favorites.  i usually add a bit of sriracha to the sauce to give it a bit more kick.  and just a tip:  don't pan fry anything when you are wearing super-short cut-offs.  i have the scars to prove this idea is bad.

lisa's crockpot butter chicken is my go-to recipe when i'm craving indian food.

cara's two timin' pasta bake is possibly the easiest recipe to ever taste this good.  i make this about every other week.

so there you have it.  the top five recipes i have tried from pinterest!  next time you run across one of these, i'd urge you to give them a try.  they are all delicious and very easy to make!  happy cooking!

and p.s. if you find we share the same taste in recipes you should probably follow my recipe pinboard "chubby's kitchen."

instagram dump and a little extra

yesterday was officially steve's last day of college, which means we are now going head first into a whole new chapter... and we couldn't be more excited!!

the weather has FINALLY been warming up around here too (though the day i wore that shirtdress it ended up snowing and i had to change into something warmer on my lunch break... you can't really trust the weather around here until mid to late june).

right now we are playing chicken with this move to chicago because steve is currently competing in a staring contest with another company and we're daring them to make him an offer he can't refuse.  if they do we'll be stuck in michigan for at least another year (boo) but there would be some pretty excellent factors that would definitely make it worth our while (some logistical details i'll tell you about later and y'know top notch health insurance and dollah dollah bills).

suffice it to say we're totally looking forward to whatever we're doing... even though we STILL aren't positive what exactly that is.

 for now i'm just going to soak up the longest stretch of sunlight we've had since october, the very temporary free time steve actually has for the first time in years, and keep rocking out to this song because, frankly, it makes me feel like a total badass.

p.s. if anyone knew how many selfies i take at work i would get made fun of so much.

pins and needles

1.  similar // 2.  similar // 3.  recipe // 4.  recipe // 5.  flats // 6.  bracelet // 7.  triptych

i'm always looking for awesome pinners to follow! let me know where i can find you on pinterest!

how to throw a cinco de mayo party in under 12 hours

last year around 11:59 pm on the 4th of may i was scrolling through the DIY section of oh happy day!  i stumbled across one of jordan's many pinata tutorials and decided i was going to throw a cinco de mayo party... which would be scheduled to begin in about 12 hours.  

now i'm not going to say i got a lot of sleep that night (thank god meijer is a 24 hour superstore), and it was a risky move considering nobody was going to be invited with more than a few hours notice, but ultimately, it turned into one of my better parties!  almost 20 people showed up (which was PLENTY considering the party was being thrown in a 800 square foot 3rd floor walk up).  everyone had a blast and for a few hours of lost sleep, this easy peasey party was totally worth it!  so in case you're looking for a reason to entertain, let me walk you through the essentials to pulling it off!

step 1: food

enticing people to drop their plans in favor of a last minute party is a lot easier when you promise to feed them.  the best thing about a fiesta is how easy it is to prepare mexican food in bulk.  here was the menu:

short notice calls for super easy recipes.  with no time to make homemade salsa or queso, i settled for my favorite store-bought brands: garden fresh gourmet, and on the border monterey jack.  the tacos and rice are effortless, idiot-proof recipes that require only a few inexpensive ingredients along with a crockpot and a rice cooker, which is perfect, as both appliances can be used to keep food warm throughout the course of the party.  see the recipe for tacos here and the recipe for the mexican rice here.

step 2: drink

the best part about mexican-themed anything is that it usually can be used as an excuse for margaritas!  but every good host knows that variety is key for happy guests so here is how we stocked the bar:

limes (and salt!) are probably the most critical element to a cinco de mayo bar menu.  they can garnish a margarita, take the edge off a tequila shot, or freshen up the neck of a cerveza (psst modelo is definitely worth the upgrade from corona)!  i went with frozen margaritas, so be sure you have a good blender.  if you are going with margaritas on the rocks i would definitely recommend daily's margarita mix.  cheaper options are fine for frozen, but won't hold as good a flavor without all the slush.  if you really want to add variety grab a bottle of jose cuervo's premixed flavored margarita as well!  it couldn't be simpler (already mixed in the bottle.. just add ice and blend) and it adds a sweet twist as an alternative to lime lime and more lime.  my favorite flavors are mango and pomegranate!

step 3: fun stuff

it is a party after all!

if you've never made a homemade pinata (tutorial here), i would really recommend you try it.  it is easy, it is fun, and it will save you so much money in the long run (those store bought things aren't cheap)!  i'm not talking paper mache, a balloon, and mess... you can make an adorable pinata like that alligator with nothing more than scissors, a cardboard box, crepe paper, and glue (or tape if you're in a pinch like I was last year).  if you're thinking it won't turn out like it does in the picture you're wrong.  they are easy peasey and so stinking cute! they're a total crowd pleasing party game too!  i mean, who doesn't like to bash an adorable box full of candy after a couple shots of tequila?

i also threw together a flag garland like the one pictured (which has a tutorial here).  i used construction paper instead of tissue, which gave it more structure and kept the flags from looking wonky from the tissue folds.  it made a great festive touch!

no party would be complete without some music.  obviously i say go with what your guest list likes, but for something that sounds a little indie-pop and a little mariachi band, i would recommend heading your playlist with the song mission bells by armistice.  it sets the fiesta tone without getting too over the top theme-y.

so there you have it!  the easiest way to throw a cinco de mayo party in less than 12 hours.  adios amigos!

steve is in pittsburgh right now

and i miss him quite a lot.

so i'm snacking and watching more fantasy television shows. don't judge.

and in case you need a food tip:

have you ever found yourself wondering: woah these pretzels are good... i wish i could up the fat content to make them even more delicious!

no?

well that's too bad because let me tell you a secret: pretzels dipped in cream cheese are the most addicting food known to man.

so good luck with your life in all its absence of cream cheesy pretzels.

sorry the blog has been lame lately.  there's lots of big stuff going on right now.  we'll share the love soon. 

<3<3<3

sometimes

sometimes i forget to take pictures of my life to blog about them.

sometimes i drink too much wine and forget to record the game we played.

sometimes i eat nutella banana crepes with a side of mac and cheese.