Where There's Smoke, There's...Monkey Bread

Several years ago, a girl I knew told me about monkey bread, several times.  She said it was really good and her sister made it a lot.  She couldn't tell me much more than that so I finally asked her mother what monkey bread was.  Was it shaped like a monkey?  Was it something monkeys liked?  Her mother wasn't entirely sure how you made it, but said her oldest daughter made it sometimes (and by the way it does not look like a monkey and as far as I know monkeys don't eat it, so I'm still not entirely sure where the name comes from, but I've heard it's because you pick at it).  Anyway, I didn't give monkey bread a lot more thought after that until someone brought it into work one day and it was GOOD.  I looked up the recipe, but it said you needed a Bundt pan or a springform pan to make it.  I had neither so I didn't make it.  Fast forward to a few months ago and I was at one of those Pampered Chef parties and felt guilted into buying something so I decided to purchase a springform pan and then I could make monkey bread (and other things).  The springform pan came in and proceeded to sit in a cabinet for quite some time.  The one day around Easter time while at the grocery store, I saw some of those Pilsbury biscuit mix things (when looking for something else) that had a recipe for monkey bread on it and decided I'm going to buy this and try to make monkey bread. If it came out good, I could make it for Easter. So that Saturday, I made the monkey bread, put it in the springform pan, and put it in the oven, then went about my weekly house-cleaning.  The house smelled great, and then it didn't.  It smelled like something was burning.  The bread had been in there for fewer than 20 minutes so there was no way it could be burning as it was supposed to cook for at least 40 min.  I checked the oven and the springform pan was leaking!  I tried to put a pan underneath to catch the drips, but I was too late.  A few minutes later the smoke detector went off and my kitchen was a smoking mess.  Thankfully, it was nice out as I opened windows, put on fans, etc. and was quite depressed about my monkey bread.  I saved what I could and finished cooking some of it in the toaster oven.  Some of it turned out okay, but much of it ended up in the trash.  :-(  I don't know if it was me or the pan.  But hey who doesn't want to spend a Saturday cleaning an oven or airing out a house?  :-p  I tried reassembling the pan later in case I'd made a mistake (though really it was two steps, not that hard to "assemble" even for me), tried filling it with water to test for leaks and it leaked through so either I'm a moron re: springform pan assembly, which is quite possible or I got a bad pan, which is also possible I suppose.  Needless to say we did NOT have monkey bread on Easter (but we did have too much other food, surprised?  I didn't think so, especially if you read my previos blog).  Well, fast forward again and one day at Target while looking for something else I saw a Bundt pan on sale and bought it and long story short, it too sat in my cabinet for WEEKS, but I finally made monkey bread in the Bundt pan on Sunday morning and guess what?  No smoke, no smoke detectors, no need to clean the oven, just delicious monkey bread.  In fact, it was so good, there was only a little leftover.  We picked at it all morning.  So here's to the Bundt pan!  And if you've never made monkey bread, you should, it's really good, just don't use a bad springform pan.   

Brunch anyone?

Do you ever host parties, dinners, etc?  Do you ever worry that you won't have enough food even though that's NEVER really been a problem.  Well, that happened to me over the weekend.  My brother was home for the weekend and my grandmother was up visiting so I hosted a family brunch for 10 (supposed to be 12, but two were out of town).  Apparently, I must have thought there were going to be 110 or 112 instead of 10 or 12.  My mom said she'd help so since it was brunch I agreed to do the breakfasty food and she said she'd do lunch (i.e. sandwiches and salad; she also bought Sunchips and bacon and sausage in hopes that my uncle would cook those).  I made:  fruit salad, stuffed french toast, crabmeat quiche, strawberry pizza, chocolate chip muffins, blueberry muffins, monkey bread (in a bundt pan this time not a springform pan so no smoke detectors went off--hmm, I can't remember if I ever blogged about that, that might have to be tomorrow's blog) and chocolate peanut butter cup cupcakes.  Oh, and I bought bagels.  I also was going to make scrambled eggs, but my uncle made those.  Well, Mom  also brought more muffins and a dessert (kind of like homemade ice-cream sandwich brownies, I'm not doing a good job explaning them).  My uncle brought bacon, sausage, eggs (so he never ended up cooking the ones my mom brought) and then my aunt brought a fruit platter with dip.  Let's just say there is no room in my fridge despite my begging people to eat more.  One person ate before he came, one person wasn't hungry, and one person only had a bagel.  I managed to freeze a few things (the muffins and leftover monkey bread).  I sent Mom home with some of the leftovers and my aunt took some leftover fruit, but basically my fridge is full so if you'd like to come over for brunch please let me know, you'd be doing me a favor as I hate wasting food.  Oh, and I didn't even mention the beverages lol.  I have company coming for breakfast tomorrow and I shared some strawberry pizza with some friends yesterday.  And to think I worried I wouldn't have enough food! Below are pictures of:   my freezer full of leftovers, Mom's ice-cream thingys, my Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup cupcakes, stuffed french toast, and strawberry pizza. 

Bathing Suit Shopping=BLAH

I'll warn you now, this blog is about, bathing suits, blah.  When I was in elementary school, my parents bought a pool.  I was forced to take swimming lessons (which I did not enjoy, but was later glad to have taken) and then in the summer I spent many days in our pool or at the pool at my best friend's house.  Since I was often in the pool, I usually had at least two bathing suits each year.  Then I got older, got a summer job and spent less time in the pool and bathing suit shopping became depressing.  I used to like to shop, but there is nothing enjoyable about buying a bathing suit, or more specifically trying on a bathing suit and trying to find one you like/tolerate/are willing to wear.  A few years ago, I found a decent bathing suit at of all places, Target.  It fit, it works, life is peachy and I haven't shopped for a bathing suit in a few years (Thank goodness).  One bathing suit was just fine as I don't go in the pool that often any more (not because I don't like it, but it either means taking a trip to my parents' house or using the community one here and since I don't know a ton of people here, I usually only go when one of the neighbors I know is heading down, and our schedules don't always match).  Anyway, last year, I only went in a pool a couple of times and only went to the beach about four times so one bathing suit was plenty.  And truth be told, since I burn so easily it's not like my bathing suit gets a ton of exposure, it's usually worn under a t-shirt, shorts, etc in conjunction with a hat and lots of sunscreen and yet, I still sometimes get burned.  I once got burned in a parking lot after work.  I was talking to a co-worker after work one day in July for a while and the next day, people asked Cat, did you go to the beach yesterday?  My reply, "No, I got this talking to Erika in the parking lot after work yesterday."  There reply:  (A shocked look, a jaw drop and something  along the lines of Are you serious?!) Later that month when a bunch of us decided to go out to lunch one of my co-workers said we could NOT eat outside as she feared I would get a burn.  It's become a bit of a joke now.  Erika and I decided if we ever wanted to chat after work again, we should do it in the shade or at a restaurant/bar/anyplace that does not burn you.   But back to bathing suits...Well low and behold this year, I have plans to be at a beach for a couple of days in a row, which got me thinking, perhaps I need a second bathing suit, not because I can't wear the same thing twice, but because putting on a wet bathing suit is no fun.  So began the depressing task of looking for a bathing suit.  I was shopping with some friends earlier in the week and we peeked in a bathing suit store (like that's all they sell) thinking good place to start.  Well, they had some tankinis that were $68 a piece.  $68 for ONE piece.  So you still have to spend another $68 to buy the second piece because I'm not one of those people that walks around bottomless or topless.  Now, I usually get one pieces, but someone told me the tankini is good because it still covers anything--trust me, even if I lost 50 pounds, I doubt you'd see me in a bikini.  So then I checked the one pieces, but those were not much cheaper.  After seeing all the price tags, I nearly ran out of the store.  Later, I went to another store alone, that had lots of bathing suits on sale, but sadly, the only ones I liked were not in my size.  BLAH!  So then it was off to yet another store and after trying on way too many suits and whining to myself way too much about the price, I finally bought one.  So now I have two bathing suits and hope to not need to go through that process for many more years.  I'd much rather shop for shoes or books or purses or groceries or pretty much anything other than bathing suits. Wow I really just wrote a blog about bathing suits.  Sorry to make you suffer through that...

New Slogans

I don't think I'd ever make it in the advertising world, but nonetheless, I've got a few new slogans for various places.  And in the unlikely event that someone from one of these places is reading, please remember this supposed to be funny not offensive...

Abercrombie & Fitch--Our clothes are so expensive even our models can't afford to wear them.

Babies R Us--If you see it on the baby registry, we might have it, but there's a good chance you won't find it.

Target--Come in to buy one thing, leave with five more things you didn't really need, but had to get.  (This same slogan could apply to various craft stores and the clearance rack at Kohls.)

Gas Stations--Bankrupting Americans one gallon at a time.

Bank of America--Can you really call them hidden fees if we charge you a fee for everything these days? 

Facebook/Blogger/Pinterest--We're the reason you haven't gotten any homework/housework/work done for the past two hours. 

Hmm, and on that note, I think I better go get some stuff done...

Random Questions and A Random Thought

Random thoughts, there is no real rhyme or reason to today's blog...
Why do "short" work weeks feel long? 
Why is there always so much work to do right before vacation?  Perhaps to make us appreciate vacations more...
Why do squirrels run halfway across the road and then turn around and run back instead of just going all the way across?  Do you think they're trying to cause accidents? 
Why does the cable decide to go out the night you want to watch an "important" sporting event? 
On international flights, how come the taxes and fees cost more than the flight?  Seriously, I just booked an international flight and the taxes and fees were over half the total price. 
Why are the portions at The Cheesecake Factory so big?  And why is the cheesecake so good?  I guess for the price you pay for it, it better be good. 
Why did the birds insist on waking me up at 4:30am this week?


Speaking of waking up at 4:30am, I've been waking up early lately thanks to some annoyingly loud birds.  This is especially annoying as my alarm doesn't go off until 6:30 so as you can imagine I do not appreciate being woken up 2 hours before that.  I am NOT a morning person.  And the past few nights I stayed up 'til 11 or later (not always by choice, blame the workload).  Well, last night I went to bed just before midnight, woke up briefly at 6:30 (no birds, thank goodness) and fell back to sleep and woke up at, wait for it...10:49!  I was in shock!  I can't remember the last time I got that much sleep.  Do you think I was tired?!  :-P  Maybe I'm finally catching up on that lost sleep.  Of course that kind of messed up my plans for a productive morning and a relaxing afternoon.  Instead I had a productive afternoon/evening and then went to The Cheesecake Factory with Mike, which was good, but nearly a 3 hour event since it takes a little while to get there the wait was an hour.  It was good though, of course when I enter my Weight Watcher points I might get "slightly" hysterical.  Ooops!  Happy Sunday all!