Crazy Days

First Stop -- No, we did not go in!

Chris and I jumped in the Subaru and headed downtown to take photos. What a blast. There are so many great things to take photos of in Helena. Have a Helena Day!

Across The Street From The Base Camp

Helena is known for great murals painted on the sides of buildings.

What?

Off to the Last Chance Casino to see our buddy Chris, eat breakfast/lunch and play live keno. OMG. No keno. The motherboard went out. Hopefully, they will be back in business Tuesday. Crazy Days just got more crazy. What is a girl to do? We probably each saved $4, so probably not the end of the world.

Off to the store. Five ingredients each. We spent most of our time at the casino coming up with the rules for the Crazy Days Food Challenge.

Crazy Days 2013 Rules: (Maybe these will change from year to year. You will have to stay tuned.)

Each person secretly selects:

1 protein (meat, fish, tofu? probably not)

1 vegetable

1 item in a can

2 at-will items

Check-out. Still a secret. You still can't see what the other person selected.

Go Home. 

Draw for ingredients.

Looks Like We Are Having Tenderloin

Well, our challenge turned out to be pretty funny. We both picked tenderloin and fresh green beans as two of the five items. Maybe you don't think that is funny. We did. It is sort of like how you and your dog start looking alike after many years of being together. I guess after 24 years of being married, we think, shop and eat alike.

Our other ingredients included a can of crab, a can of peaches, black truffle goat cheese, fingerling potatoes, Ciabatta bread, and an assortment of fresh mushrooms. Nice.

Crostini/Black Truffle Goat Cheese/Peach Chutney/Sun Dried Tomatoes

We oven cooked the steak (that steak cooking method deserves a post all to itself); made a crab hollandaise/bernaise sauce; steamed the beans and potatoes; sauteed the mushrooms in butter and wine; put the mushrooms on top of the potatoes and beans; made a peach chutney; made crostini out of the Ciabatta; topped the crostini with the goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes and peach chutney.

Great Meal

Wow. It was a GREAT meal and a CRAZY day.  I would highly recommend you plan for next year's Crazy Days Food Challenge, the first Sunday after the Super Bowl. Mark it on your calendar now. Happy Birthday, Ron!

"Don't stop having fun when you get older because you will get older when you stop having
fun." ~ author unknown

Writer's Block

Anyone Can Get It

Yep, I have it.

The pressure is getting to me. I haven't written a new post since December 29, as my sister so directly pointed out, but not because I haven't tried. The truth of the matter: I haven't eaten good food, drank great wine, or done anything worth writing about for the last six weeks. I even had a birthday in that time period. Not that it wasn't a good birthday, but it was kind of a boring birthday, as birthdays go, especially after the last birthday, the Big 5-0, which was a birthday that created an arsenal of blog post topics.

So one day in January I sat down and started writing about new year's resolutions. Oh, please. Delete. And, yes, you're welcome.

Then I started writing about not giving a damn, which, frankly, my dear, I didn't give a damn. Delete.

For the last 45 minutes I have been staring at this screen waiting for the perfect topic to pop into my head. Didn't happen. So the winner is: Writer's Block. And now I am out of coffee and will move on to a ManMosa.

ManMosa

My brain is always going a million miles a minute. Why, oh, why, can't I come up with one single thing that is entertaining or funny? Life must be on auto pilot for me. It is time to change it up, starting today.

Typically, on a Sunday morning, I would jump in the shower, put on my Nike fleece sweats, a Macalester sweatshirt, and put my hair in a pony tail. I would then get some keno money out of the money jar, and Chris and I would head to the Last Chance Casino for breakfast and some live keno. I would play the same three numbers in the corner, 10, 19 and 20, and I would get one push and lose the rest. After spending about $4, 8 or 9 games, I would be bored, and we would then head to the grocery store. We would buy ingredients for the meal that we had planned that was hopefully going to be really great and really fun. Well, for the last six weeks, we've bombed out. Nothing great to eat; therefore, nothing great to write about.

Today: Crazy Days. You know how the stores change it up one day a year and put their stuff out in the street for cheap and dress in some silly costume? This will be my version of Crazy Days:

Just Another Day In Paradise

I am going to NOT shower (sorry, I showered), wear something absolutely crazy, maybe a spring skirt with my snow boots (it snowed last night). I will still wear a Macalester sweatshirt in honor of Kellen and his hard work. I will put on my North Face down coat and wear something in my hair with no pony tail.

Let's See, What Should I Shoot?

We will start by going downtown shooting (with our cameras, not our Red Ryder BB Guns). We will then go to the Last Chance Casino because it is the only place in town with live keno. I will pick three NEW numbers and play until I win. We will then take our winnings, go to the grocery store, where Chris and I will split up, each picking 5 ingredients not known to the other, then meet up in the checkout line. We will then go to Island Liquor and pick out something that we have never had. We will then go home and figure out what in the heck we can make with our 10 ingredients. This will be a fun day, and hopefully a Crazy Day. Crazy Days will be a new made up holiday the first Sunday after the Super Bowl.

A Really Cool  Mural

My new holiday is all about people having fun and being whacky. As I like to say, "Live a little or live a lot. The choice is yours."

"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming – “WOW – What a Ride!” -Anon.