On Sunday, Eric's family came over to watch the Super Bowl with my family. Jeannette & Taylor didn't come. Jeannette couldn't pass up the opportunity to be at home alone (well pretty much alone). Taylor had tons of homework to do, so she didn't come. How much homework did you actually get done Taylor? I'll bet not much. We missed you guys.
Eric brought chips & dip, carrot sticks, candy and sodas. I made guacamole, salsa, nacho cheese & pizza. Jesse made hot chicken fingers and some mild ones for Eric & me (we are the wimps of the family). Everyone else wanted them HOT, HOT.
Mike made some very manly recipe called "Bacon Explosion". He found the recipe on someones blog through
ebay of all places. If you are interested, you can get the recipe & instructions on how to make it at
http://www.bbqaddicts.com/bacon-explosion.html. I personally didn't think it sounded very good. I could just feel my arteries clogging up just hearing about what it was made from. Mike has been wanting to make this for a month or more, and figured this was the right opportunity.
You start off laying part of your bacon in a
basket weave. I had to help Mike with this part.
You then sprinkle on some BBQ rub on the bacon. We have some rub we bought from Sam's Club that is pretty good. Then you take about 2 lbs of Italian sausage & make a huge square patty to lay over the bacon
basket weave. You cook up the rest of the bacon & break it up into small pieces & sprinkle over the sausage. Then you sprinkle more rub & layer on BBQ sauce.
You then roll up the sausage concoction into a roll.
Be sure to pinch all the edges to seal in the bacon pieces & sauce inside.
Finally you roll up the bacon around the sausage roll. Put it in your smoker (you could do this in your regular oven as well I imagine) and cook till internal temp is 160 degrees. I think that is what Mike told me.
This is what it looks like when it is all done. Doesn't it look good? Can't you feel your arteries already clogging up? It was actually quite tasty. Needs some potatoes to go with it though. So if I die of a heart attack in the next week, this is the reason why.
Here is Jesse frying up his delicious & very hot chicken fingers.
The chicken fingers right out of the fryer & before he covers them with sauce. Jesse loves making hot wings or chicken fingers.
The finished product. Don't they look good? I know you want some. The mild ones (BBQ sauce only with no hot sauce) were just right for Eric and me. Everyone else loved the hot ones. The hotter the better. Well, not quite. Jesse even made a batch that was almost too hot for him.
Here is the table with the
snacky foods. I guess I should have taken the photo before everyone started eating. But I didn't want to get trampled in their quest for food.
Brandon, Eric & Danica watching the commercials during the Super Bowl in our living room (I call it the living room, but everyone else in my family calls it the front room). Danica only came in to see the commercials. My favorite commercial was the one by
Jack in the Box (see post from Sunday). I also loved the
Doritos commercial with the "Crystal Ball".
Jase didn't watch the Super Bowl. He spent most of his time in Brandon's bedroom playing X Box games.
Danica, Jesse &
Cade in our family room watching some Ghost Chasers show. I call this room the family room & everyone else calls it the living room. We used to watch TV in this room when we first moved in (until we got our better TV in the living room), so we were in this room more often. That is why they (my family) still call it the living room as they feel we spent more time living in this room than the other. Have I confused you? I know my family is always confused when I'm talking about one of these rooms. I usually end up having to say the front room or room by the front door & this room is the room by the pool.
Mike, Brandon & Eric watching the game. I spent my time watching the game as well, but did not take a photo of myself this time. I know you are all so upset by that.
In case you were wondering, we were rooting for the Arizona Cardinals. Too bad they lost!!! They were their own worst enemies. Good thing I didn't video tape our watching the game. Eric & I can get quite vocal during football games. You should see us during Charger games. Lets just say that we can both speak "French" quite fluently during football games.
After the game we had pizza. It's not delivery, it's
DiGiorno's. They make a pretty good pizza (said in my finest Italian accent including hand gestures). I had originally planned on baking the pizza at the start of the game. But everyone was so full from the
snacky items, not to mention the Bacon Explosion and hot chicken fingers, that I didn't cook the pizza until after the game. Everyone was still pretty much full, so I only had to cook half the pizzas that I had planned.
Here is
Cade getting his pizza.
It was a fun filled day spent with family. Wish you all could have been there. Maybe next year.
Did you watch the Super Bowl? What team were you rooting for? Where did you watch it? What did you have to eat? What was your favorite commercial? Put your responses in comments or make your own post.
I've decided to once again participate in Tablescape Thursday. It used to be on Tuesday, but has now been moved to Thursday. If you want to see lots of beautifully set tables, hop on over to Between Naps on the Porch to see Susan's fabulous tablescape & find the list of all the other participants that you can visit as well.
The dinner plates are made in Japan & don't have a maker on the bottom. I picked them all up at various thrift stores over the years. I did not buy them all at the same time. I've heard this pattern referred to as "Moss Rose". But I really don't know much about my plates other than the fact that I love them.
The salad plates have a scrolly edge where the dinner plates don't. But since they have basically the same pattern on them, they work. The silverware is my Oneida set. Somewhere I have a set of silverware that has a rose pattern that my Grandma gave to me when I graduated high school, which would actually go better with these plates, but I can't find them. They are in my garage cupboard somewhere & this morning I didn't have time to search for them. Maybe I'll find them for another post.
Here is another view of my table. My tablecloth isn't actually a tablecloth. It is a lace curtain or drape. But it makes a fabulous tablecloth.
I've used these goblets & flutes before. But I did finally find a fourth goblet to complete my set at Goodwill last week. I was so happy. I had to pay $3.00 for it which is more than I would have liked, but hey, I now have 4 matching goblets. The Goodwill's out here in California are expensive. I never find the deals I hear all you other ladies find at Goodwill.
My centerpiece consists of a cake plate that I made using a china plate which matches the plates on the table and a big crystal candlestick holder. I placed my teapot with the flower arrangement (can't really call it an arrangement. I just stuck the flowers & heart sticks in & called it a day). The 2 cherubs are from my wedding three years ago. Then I placed 2 crystal candlesticks on either side. I'm happy with my centerpiece.
Here is a closeup view of my centerpiece. My cherub is sending kisses & good wishes your way.
Here are some more bears I keep at work. The left bear is another Valentine bear. The middle bear I think was from Valentine's day as well. The bear on the right I bought for myself as it was too cute to pass up. I love her sweater!
This bear I bought off ebay for $2.00. Can you believe it? He is probably at least 15" tall. He stays at work as well. Doesn't he look a little sad? He shouldn't be, he has lots of friends to keep him company.
This is the last bear I keep at work. I got this bear in Munich Germany in 2003. Don't you love her outfit? I could kick myself that I didn't buy the matching boy bear as well. I also bought a Steiff bear in Germany, but he is hidden away in a closet somewhere. At least I hope he is.
These 2 bears are my Valentine Bears in my family room at my house. I do have a matching boy bear to the one on the left, but not sure where he is. Maybe he is off buying a Valentine's gift.
This Boyd's bear sits on a shelf in my hallway. I love bears with hats. I can't resist them.
This bear I bought at Walmart a long time ago. The dress came from Tender Heart Treasures years ago as well. I combined the two to make a cute country looking bear.
Not sure where I got this bear. Just thought it was cute.
This is my newest bear. It is a Steiff bear & I bought it at FAO Schwarz toy store in Vegas last month. Can you believe this store has a one year return policy? I couldn't either. So if I get bored with this bear, I could always take it back in a year. Yeah right. Me get rid of a bear? If it was ugly I might consider it, but he is too cute to return. He came in this cute little suitcase. It even has travel stickers on the lid. Toooooo cuuuuuute.
This is my real furry friend Missy. She is sleeping on my son's desk chair. It is her newest "favorite" place to sleep. She is about 12 years old. She was my MIL's cat until my MIL passed away. Missy is what we inherited. She is the sweetest cat.
My husband isn't too fond of Missy as she scratched up his beloved leather couch. After that, she was banned from the house for about 2 years. She has only been able to come back into the house since October & she must stay in my son's room. She is pretty good at doing so. Every once in awhile she ventures out & sometimes hides under our bed. She's not too fond of my hubby either (cause he is a meanie). The rest of my family adores her. Even my sister in law who is highly allergic to cats will pet her & love her when she comes over to visit.
Here is Gunner on Christmas morning right after he opened up the bear rug. He loved it. He carried around the house all Christmas day.
So as you can see, I love bears. Well at least the Teddy Bear kind of bears. I wouldn't want to meet up with a real bear. I guess my love of Teddy Bear's started when I was 8 years old & my grandparents took me to Yellowstone. I saw the grizzly bears & my Grandma bought me my first Teddy Bear. It came with a collar & leash. I thought it was the greatest. I wish I still had it.
You then sprinkle on some BBQ rub on the bacon. We have some rub we bought from Sam's Club that is pretty good. Then you take about 2 lbs of Italian sausage & make a huge square patty to lay over the bacon basket weave. You cook up the rest of the bacon & break it up into small pieces & sprinkle over the sausage. Then you sprinkle more rub & layer on BBQ sauce.
You then roll up the sausage concoction into a roll.
Be sure to pinch all the edges to seal in the bacon pieces & sauce inside.
Finally you roll up the bacon around the sausage roll. Put it in your smoker (you could do this in your regular oven as well I imagine) and cook till internal temp is 160 degrees. I think that is what Mike told me.
Here is Jesse frying up his delicious & very hot chicken fingers.
The finished product. Don't they look good? I know you want some. The mild ones (BBQ sauce only with no hot sauce) were just right for Eric and me. Everyone else loved the hot ones. The hotter the better. Well, not quite. Jesse even made a batch that was almost too hot for him.
Here is the table with the snacky foods. I guess I should have taken the photo before everyone started eating. But I didn't want to get trampled in their quest for food.
Jase didn't watch the Super Bowl. He spent most of his time in Brandon's bedroom playing X Box games.
Danica, Jesse & Cade in our family room watching some Ghost Chasers show. I call this room the family room & everyone else calls it the living room. We used to watch TV in this room when we first moved in (until we got our better TV in the living room), so we were in this room more often. That is why they (my family) still call it the living room as they feel we spent more time living in this room than the other. Have I confused you? I know my family is always confused when I'm talking about one of these rooms. I usually end up having to say the front room or room by the front door & this room is the room by the pool.
Mike, Brandon & Eric watching the game. I spent my time watching the game as well, but did not take a photo of myself this time. I know you are all so upset by that.
In case you were wondering, we were rooting for the Arizona Cardinals. Too bad they lost!!! They were their own worst enemies. Good thing I didn't video tape our watching the game. Eric & I can get quite vocal during football games. You should see us during Charger games. Lets just say that we can both speak "French" quite fluently during football games.
Here is Cade getting his pizza.
It was a fun filled day spent with family. Wish you all could have been there. Maybe next year.
