I should have gotten water for the reunion

Can you believe that no-one thought to buy bottles of water? I thought of it but I didn't drive so I was at the mercy of someone elses car. We did have some soda but it wasn't enough. We ran out of that really quickly.

I know the next time to just say I'm bringing cases of water and/or soda.

I sure hope we have shrimp kabobs

Our family reunion is the weekend of Labor Day. The family has been having fund-raisers all year in order to be able to pay for it. All we have to do is bring side dishes. All of the main courses will be provided. Two of my uncles will be running the grills with all types of hot dogs, burgers, ribs and of course chicken. I'll probably have ribs first because we all know they're the first thing to go.

I hope we have shrimp kabobs too. My uncle makes a mean kabob even though he doesn't put everything I like on it. He cooks like he's in one of those Cook off's he's always entering. Like the great American seafood cook off. I'm not a big seafood eater but I will eat shrimp.

I don't think he's even won although he's always excited to enter. He loves sharing recipes with people that they would have never thought of. I can't wait to get there to see what he comes up with.

Oh the kabob recipe. It's just shrimp, sausage, onions, peppers and tomatoes on a skewer. Really plain but it's the spices that he uses. I know he marinades the meat in alcohol and then uses seafood spices. I'm just not sure exactly which spices he uses.

I can't wait to get there and eat now.

Family reunion's are so boring

My uncle has invited me to another family reunion. I usually find some way to get out of going to them. It's going to be mostly his side of the family with a few of my family members there. That's if they decide to go that is. They usually don't go either.

The only people that are guaranteed to show up are the ones that plan on mooching for food.

Cutting back on junk food

I really need to cut back. I usually try to watch my portion sizes. If I eat chips or candy, I try to stay within 1 portion. Today I ate 2 servings of chips and 2 servings of candy. That doesn't include the peppermint candies that I ate. The worse part is that I don't feel bad (sick) after eating all of that.

I'll pay for it later though. No wonder I'm having trouble getting the rest of this weight off.

Ok I'm seriously hungry right now

I'm watching Sunday Night Football, the Patriots vs. the Bills. I don't care about the game at all. I just have it on for noise more than anything. Anyway, whatever city they go to, they show what food they're serving the announcers and/or crowd just before halftime. They're in Buffalo so of course the dish is buffalo wings.

Oh man they looked soooo good. They deep fry them then coat them with the buffalo sauce. Yummo! I am getting so hungry right now. I guess I'll have some tortilla chips since I don't have any buffalo wings.

It's the holiday season and I need a drink already

Does your family drive you crazy? Mine does. It helps that I live 300 miles away from my nearest relatives but they can easily find ways to get under my skin. I told my mom that I was coming home for either Thanksgiving or Christmas but not both. The reason is that I can't get the days off. I don't have seniority at this job so I can only get 1 day off instead of 2.

She's mad because she wants to go shopping so she can cook her big meals. She cooks like she has a army platoon coming instead of 4-5 people. She already has her Eclectrics® Mixer out so she can make her meals. As long as she makes her sweet potato pie I don't care what else she makes. Her pies are soo good. She uses her Hamilton Beach® Mixer to mash up the sweet potatoes. She probably makes 3 or 4 pies. I get one, my step-dad gets one and everybody else shares whatever is left. Yeah me and my step-dad get our own pie. lolol. We're greedy like that. No seriously, I get a pie so I can bring it home.

I think my mom wants a new Hamilton Beach® Stand Mixer as her Christmas gift. She uses her mixer so much that it's starting to clunk out. And I know she hates trying to mix all of that stuff by hand. Just in case you're wondering about her pie recipe, I've included it below. Be sure to have vanilla ice-cream to top it off. Talk about heavenly!

1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust
2 cups mashed sweet potatoes
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup light whipping cream

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
In a medium bowl, combine potatoes and margarine. Stir eggs, sugar, milk, nutmeg, vanilla, lemon juice and cream into potato mixture. Beat until smooth; pour into pie shell.
Bake in preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Serve warm or cold.

Jerome Bettis opened his restaurant today

Unfortunately, it was a invitation only event. The restaurant is called Grille 36 and it's on the North Shore over by the stadiums. There were Steelers players past (Kordell Stewart) and present (Hines Ward and Mike Logan). Also Steelers President Art Rooney II was there.

The restaurant is in a great location. Like I said, it's right next to both of the stadiums so I'm sure the place will stay packed. There are 50 flat screen tv's to watch the games on. Plus a patio with a great view of the city.

I can't wait to go see what the place is all about. I'll probably wait a few weeks before I do go though. The first 2 or 3 weeks will be packed with fans and people hoping to see celebrities. After that, it should calm down a bit. I also plan on making sure the Pirates are out of town. Otherwise, the place will be jam packed with people trying to get a bite before or after a game.

Edit: Casey Hampton and Eddie George were also in attendance.

Pistachio Fever

Two weeks ago I went to Walmart and bought some pistachios among other things. Ever since then, I can't get enough. I go to the store every chance I get and buy more. This is after I ate the whole humongous bag that I already had. I need to stop, or get more, whichever comes first.