Bananas Foster

My new obsession in cooking is to see what things I can light on fire. :) First, it was Saganaki (a recipe from Nealy's blog). Yummy... fried cheese with lemon and brandy!! So after making the saganaki, I of course had to think of something else to make with this brandy I had bought. I thought of brandy alexanders, but then my friend Deadra (a culinary school graduate :) suggested bananas foster.

So, the other night, Matt and I had the pleasure of having Katie & Eli and Sydney & Brandon over for dinner. I always like to get a little "girl time" in when we have people over, so the girls made dessert and had girl talk in the kitchen while the gentlemen smoked cigars and sipped brandy in the other room. Just kidding. Anyway, the bananas foster we made turned out quite scrumptious, if I do say so myself. Nice job, ladies!

Bananas Foster

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

3 t vanilla

2 t cinnamon

1/3 t nutmeg

a handful of walnuts

6 bananas, sliced

1/4 cup brandy

vanilla ice cream

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and walnuts. When mixture begins to bubble, add bananas and cook about 2 minutes or until bananas are warm all the way through. Take off heat, pour brandy on top, and light on fire! After the flame goes out, let banana mixture sit until it's not too hot. Pour over vanilla ice cream. Makes 6 servings.

The Zeigler Wedding

Amanda and Stuart got married! Their wedding was BEAUTIFUL. Tiffany blue satin tablecloths, coral bridesmaid dresses... and Amanda looked "regal" (Matt's word). Like a princess, for sure.

J-Baby

So my little sister Jasey visited us last week... I met my her, my mom, and Wes in Iowa City for the swap. Some of the best parts of our week together include...

1. Blasting out to Miley Cyrus in the car.

2. Blasting out to Jasey Rebarcak in the car. Yes, that's right. My sister is an awesome musician--she made her own CD with songs she wrote!! She played all the instruments and then mixed them on the computer. This was actually the first time I had heard her sing, and her voice is awesome, too! I'm pretty sure she's going to be famous!

3. Going to the opening showing of "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants." There were a whole 10 people in the theater. :)

4. Watching High School Musical 1 AND 2 in the same day. Gotta love Disney, G-rated musicals!

5. Making and eating a LOT of puppy chow!

6. Going to the Grand Lux Cafe downtown Chi-town. Yum!

7. Talking J "back to school shopping" with mom's credit card.

8. Wearing our matching Wheaton Tshirts to bed. :)

9. Taking lots of silly pictures, and

10. Being there while J led worship at our small group... I was so proud! :)

Audrey's Shower

Today Melissa and I threw a bridal shower for Audrey. She and Wes (Matt’s old roommate) are getting married at the end of September. Of course I have to mention the food… it was a 10 AM brunch shower, so we had two kinds of quiche (spinach mushroom quiche with boursin—secret ingredient—and mozzarella and a bacon asparagus quiche with cheddar and swiss), cinnabon mini muffins from Costco, fruit salad, mimosas, and coffee. The shower was really fun… we played game, asked Audrey some questions which Wes had answered, and opened gifts. I was thinking during the shower about how each couple has “their story,” ya know? I love hearing how couples first met and how they ended up together… it’s always fun to see the bride’s (or wife’s) eyes light up as they begin to gush about the first time they met their husband, or the first few weeks of dating. I think it’s good, too, for wives to always remember how excited they felt when they first met their husband (and vice versa)—and how much they really wanted him to like her, marry her, etc. There’s my infinite, 6-month marriage wisdom. :) Anyway, the shower was a blast, and I’m super excited for Wes and Audrey’s wedding!