Easy Pear Cobbler

So, food blogger I am definitely not, but I do occasionally try to turn on my domestic skills at home.  I have been under so much stress lately, and I just wanted some comfort food to ease the pain.

I ate at this Southern Style cafeteria in STL, and they had the most phenomenal pear cobbler that I
have ever had.  Well, it was the only pear cobbler, but I love pears, and it was amazing.  So, I decided to give it a try.  I consulted Southern Food and found a recipe by Diana Rattray.

The ingredients are:

- 2 to 2 1/2 cups sliced fresh pears (I used four)

- 2 cups sugar, divided (fancy way of saying in separate cups)
- 4 ounces butter (or one stick)
- 3/4 cup flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1 egg

Just remember, I told you I'm no food blogger, so the pictures are going to be fairly sub par.  The directions:

- Mix pears with 1 cup sugar and let stand.
- Put butter in 2-quart casserole and place in 325° oven until melted. (I just microwaved in dish, and it was fine)
- Combine all dry ingredients, including the remaining 1 cup of sugar. Mix well.
- Whisk together the milk and egg; slowly combine with dry ingredients to make a batter. Pour over melted butter. Do not stir.
- Spoon pears over the batter. Do not stir. Bake at 325° for 50 to 60 minutes, or until nicely browned and pears are tender.

The verdict?  It wasn't exactly cobbler per se, but it was tasty.  it came out softer, almost like pear cake, and I admit I'd prefer the crunchy cobbler taste.  I would also recommend using less sugar on the pears.  They were super sweet!  But, overall I will count this as a baking success.  Joel even liked it so much he didn't want to share it with the guys at work, like we normally do.

Weekend Update

I feel like this is becoming quite the Tuesday tradition.  I do have a valid excuse this week, though.  I swear!  Joel and I took the day off yesterday to finish up the house to get ready to put it on the market today.  The realtor will be by after work for us to take pictures and to get everything ready for the listing.  To say I am nervous is an understatement.  The market hasn't really rebounded in this area, and we haven't owned the house long to get much equity into it.  Fingers crossed for a quick sale!

Last week, I forgot to mention that Joel and I say Il Divo in concert.  Don't know who they are?  Well, if you are a lover of musical theater, Google them.  I don't have enough great things to say.  We had total nosebleed seats, but the music was beautiful.  We also stopped by Hard Rock on the way there, and I discover that they had margarita flights.  The food was sub par, but the drinks?  Worth the trip back.

I also had the chance to finally get a picture with an STL Birthday Cake.  There are 250 all around the city, and while I have seen plenty, this is the first one I've snagged a picture with.  How fun!

I also made a fabulous discovery.  Folks, I have found a new favorite beer.  For those outside of the Midwest, you may just have to take my word for it.  I don't know if you could find it far from this area, as it's made at a local Missouri place.  It's called Crown Valley Brewery (they also have a winery), and it's their seasonal ale.  Run, don't walk, to get yourself some.

Other than that, it was a lot of cleaning and reorganizing.  And I finally got a chance to put down our new rug in the dining room!  Ignore the mess behind the table (that's all clean now), but I couldn't be happier with the rug.  We bought it from Rugs USA online, and I was nervous buying it sight unseen.  I'm a pretty picky person, but I am just so in love with it.  I think it really adds a pop of color to the room.  Don't you think?

Weekend Update

Happy Tuesday, friends!  Wow, what wonderful weather we've been having the past few days.  Yesterday it was 79 and sunny, and today it is supposed to get up to 81.  Tomorrow?  Yep, you've guessed it...snow.  It is the Midwest, I suppose...

The weekend was pretty good!  Lots of cuddle time.  And lots of shedding.  Exhibit A from Jaeger...

Yes, that is what I brushed out of him in about five minutes.  There were many more similar piles out of him over the weekend.  Poor guy...

Saturday morning I was tempted into a detox wrap as a half off special at this fabulous little place down the road from me.  The owner is such a doll, and I'd never had one, so I decided to give it a try.  It was very relaxing, but other than that, I'm not sure there were many benefits.  It was pretty inexpensive though, so worth a try.  It was such a gloomy day, too.

Saturday night we went out to Pi in downtown STL.  If you hadn't heard, it's our President's favorite pizza place.  There's even one in D.C. now (the only one out of the STL area), and I must say that it's pretty tasty.  Usually...  This time was a bit of a disappointment.  There was barely any sauce on the pizza, and it especially made the leftovers pretty dry.  We normally have great success there, so I won't let this setback deter me from going.

Then we saw the new 300 movie next door at a place called MX movies.  I've written about them before.  I really love the concept of this place, but the execution is terrible!  It's a full restaurant and bar that you order from electronically from your seat.  The food has been pretty sub par, which is why we ate beforehand, but I love their leather seating and bar.  Who doesn't want a fancy drink with their movie?  We ordered two rum and cokes (simple drinks), and they weren't very busy, but it still took a half an hour to get them.  And they were a bit watered down.  I really want to love this place, but I don't think I'll be going again anytime soon unless they step up their game a bit.

The movie was about what you would expect.  I'm not going to lie, I really missed seeing Gerard Butler in this film.  He was amazing looking in the first movie, and his presence was missed.  It was gory, of course, and had some weird nudity scenes, but it was pretty much just like the first one, with a little different storyline.  It was fun to see on the big screen, though.

Sunday was an amazing day for a totally girly reason.  We went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to look for a new coffeemaker (our Keurig might be biting the dust soon), and we found an over the door boot rack!  I had nowhere to consolidate my boots and have them easy to access and look nice, but that is all over now.  Behold the wonder of the boot rack.

Monday, Monday

Did this weekend go by way too quickly for anyone else?  Wow, Not only the weekend, but where in the world did January go?  Oh, and my youth?  (I kid, I kid...kind of.)

We had a jam packed weekend.  First, a recap of the delicious Mexican place we ate it.  It just opened last week, and we are desperate for good Mexican.  It is fairly close to the base, and is called La Casa Mexicana.  They have a location established in Edwardsville, IL (that we've never been to), but we went to their O'Fallon, IL one.  It was delicious.  Not to spicy, but it had a ton of flavor.  There was a wait, which was expected since they were so new, but it was definitely worth the wait.  And on top of their delicious food, they had one of the best daiquiris that I have ever had.  Yum!

Saturday, my sister wanted to go and play mini golf, and just her luck there was a place in Chesterfield, MO called CHesterfield Sports Fusion that had indoor putt-putt, laser tag, dodgeball, video games...basically a kid's paradise.  It was fun to act like we were in our tweens again, and of course I had to stop by my favorite BBQ place in the area, PM BBQ.  It was amazing, per usual.

Oh!  And on Saturday morning, Joel ran a 6K across a new bridge that was set to open to traffic for the first time the following day.  I was supposed to run, too, but didn't on Doctor's orders.  Man, I am going to be so far back by the time I can run again.  It was cold and windy, but he got his best 6k time ever.  He is turning into a racing fool!

Sunday was, you guessed it...the Olympics!  We had a marathon day of watching the events, to include the Opening Ceremony which we DVRed.  It always makes me cry to see such unity, especially when countries like Israel are followed by places like Iran, and done so peacefully and respectfully.  If only for that moment.  I love the graphics of the world that made the athletes look like they were coming out of their country on a map.  So cool!  Plus, since this is our first Sunday sans football (a moment of silence, please), we needed a sports fix.  Score!

Weekend Update!

Hello and happy Monday!  Boy, am I tired.  It's been pretty frigid here in the Midwest, and I have not taken well to the change.  I love fall, but winter is definitely invading its' territory.  Oh, well.  Guess I better get used to it, because if history repeats itself, it's going to be a long, cold winter.

Anyway, on with the update!  Joel and I went to another concert that was a blast from the past.  Michael Bolton!  His show was great, and he sang for nearly two and a half hours.  He sang some Christmas songs, which even though I'm not a scrooge I hate Christmas music, but I guess they were tolerable in MB's voice.  Since it was a small-ish show, he agreed to stay after and sign some autographs, but he was a little Diva about the whole thing.  We waited over an hour for him to come out, and then when we got close (and 6ft was the closest we were allowed), we handed our CD to a security guard who handed it to MB, then back to a different security guard to hand to us.  He didn't talk a lot, but since I got him to at least acknowledge me, probably because I was one of the few women under 50 there.

This weekend, we made the drive up to Chicago to go to their annual Christkindel Markt, which is a traditional German Christmas Market.  I've been missing Germany quite a bit lately, so Joel and I, and a friend of ours, decided to check it out.  First off, we used AirBnB to book a room, which was an astounding success.  I mean, look at our view from our room!

Amazing.  Pugsley wasn't very excited about the room, though.  He was either afraid of heights or wanted out the whole time, because he just sat at the windows and cried.

Yes, that is a crap ton of snow, BTW.

Then, we set off for the market.  I'm glad we went early and bypassed the snow that the rest of the weekend had in store.  It was great!  It had gluhwein, stollen, gingerbread, and crepes.  It even had spaetzle and curry wurst!  I am so glad that we went.  It really did "scratch the German itch."  Well, for now at least.

I also have some food reviews!  We tried a new breakfast place in Streeterville that was amazing.  It's called Yolk, and it has a few different locations.  It was packed, and luckily we only had about a 30 minute wait because we went early.  When we left, it had to be up to at least an hour.  My advice?  Go early!  Here's the scoop on what we had.  Joel and I shared two savory items.  He had red velvet french toast, and I had the cinnamon bun french toast.  Both were divine, but I have to say I liked Joel's a little better.

Red Velvety goodness in the back.

Yum, yum...

We also ate at our favorite Italian spot in Lincoln Park.  It's called Sapori Trattoria, and they take reservations, which at least on the weekend are a must.  We both order the same thing: rigatoni bolognese.  It is a must try.  Best pasta we've had outside of Italy.  Their tiramisu is also pretty tasty.  They do valet for 10$, but we found street parking for 2$ an hour, and opted for that.  But believe me when I say if you like Italian food, eat here.

Bellisimo!

Our Chicago trip was amazing, and even though it was bitter cold and snowing, we enjoyed our big city life for the weekend.  Until next time, Chi-Town!

Chicago = Food Coma

I love St. Louis BBQ.  It is the best (save Kansas City), and I can't get enough of it.  When I lived in Germany, do you want to know what the only food I couldn't get was?  That's right, BBQ.  But, do you know what Southern Germany had plenty of (besides beer, schnitzel, and pretzels)?  Delicious Italian food.  The area I lived in had a large population of Italians, and there was definitely no shortage of tasty pasta places.  Do you want to know what kind of good food St. Louis doesn't have?  That's right, Italian.  (Following me here?)

When we moved here, we were informed of a neighborhood in St. Louis known as "The Hill" that supposedly had terrific, authentic Italian food.  Not to sound all fancypants, but living in Southern Germany I visited Italy many times.  The Italian food at The Hill tasted nothing like anything I had in Italy.  The sauce is super duper sweet (almost like they add sugar), whereas (for example) the bolognese I had in Italy had a nice salty taste to it.

So, whenever we make the trek up to Chicago, I bet you can already guess what type of food we go for.  Oh, yes.  Chicago knows how to do its' Italian right.

I decided to try a new restaurant called Scoozi.  I honestly just picked a place that received good reviews on Open Table and booked a reservation.  Open Table (so far) has not failed me, so off we went.  First impressions were great!  The hostess was super friendly, and we were seated right away.  We were immediately served water, fresh bread, and olive oil with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.  Yum!

The waitress appeared shortly, and helped us pick out a wine to go with our meal.  It was delicious, so score one for her!  We then ordered, and I got the bolognese, which I always get.  I figure if they screw that up, there was no point in ordering something more expensive that won't be what I expected.

It was really good!  The meat sauce was very flavorful, with just a hint of spiciness.  It had carrots and celery (I think), which is typically find in a good bolognese.  I was super pleased with the whole experience, and would definitely recommend and return.

The second thing I always make sure to eat?  A good gourmet pancake house.  This time we tried the Wildberry Cafe.  We got there super early, so there was no wait.  (I'm talking 0800, people).  When we left, there were probably about 40 people waiting.  Yikes!

I ordered a vanilla latte to start, and got a huge, delicious mug of it.  I wanted to just order a coffee, but decided to go a little fancier.

They had a specialty menu, and I saw what I just knew I had to order.  White Chocolate and Raspberry pancakes.  That just combined most of my favorite sweet things.  When the pancakes arrived, they were so beautiful that I almost didn't want to eat them.  Almost...  The were pretty tasty, but I wish that had done a better job of layering with the white chocolate and raspberries.  There were some raspberries in the middle, but all of the white chocolate was on top.  Regardless, they were absolutely delicious.  It was definitely a gem of a breakfast place.

Weekend Update

So, it's becoming more and more common for me to do these updates on Tuesday versus Monday.  I tell myself I'm going to knock it out before work on Monday, but I never do.  Blogger problems...am I right?

Anyways, this weekend was a good , albeit a quick one.  I started out the weekend seeing a throwback favorite in concert...Richard Marx!  The man is still insanely talented, and pretty hilarious to boot, so it was a great experience.  It was at a local casino in St. Louis, the River City Casino, and Joel and I had never been before.  We went to the buffet for dinner (shocker...he and his family are all about the buffets), played about $5 in the penny slots, and went to see the show.  Afterwards, I even got a head shot with his autograph.  It was a fabulous night!!

The casino.

Apparently I eat like a child at buffets.

Joel's loot.

The best part of buffets...the dessert!

Us waiting for the show to start.

The man himself.

Fun graphics.

My heart be still...he rocked it!

The rest of the weekend was fairly uneventful.  The closet in our spare bedroom that holds our random stuff (coats, miscellaneous military uniform items, dresses, etc.) came crashing down due to the previous owners of our house not caring when they installed it.  It was drilled straight into the drywall.  So, we decided to re-do my closet (the smallest walk-in in the world) and then put my old closet stuff into the spare room.  Joel did a great job, and it was nice to re-vamp my closet.  It desperately needed a makeover.

The before.

The solution,

Joel's handiwork.

All done!

A tie rack for my tank tops...brilliant idea.

Then we spent the remainder of the evening doing a puzzle (what are we...80?) and catching up on the DVR.  Obviously, Pugsley was bored with this.

I am super excited for this week to come to a close already.  We have a musical and a concert this weekend, and then we jet off to Portland, OR to visit with Joel's family.  This is only my second time going, so if anyone has any must-sees that they could recommend, that'd be great!