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