Bros...brothers...brethren?

Yes, you Amanda Bynes fans...that was a quote from She's the Man! It's been too long since I've seen that movie. That is going back on the list.

Well today I learned a lot, particularly more appreciation for those two older brothers of mine. Today was QUITE THE DAY. I slept over at Rudi's house (Chicago area) and had planned to be back home before lunch so I could spend the day studying. Great plans right? Right! High five Anna! Well, then this happened.

I was all packed up after breakfast, off crusin' along in Remy the WonderBug, basking in the superior German engineering that accompanies the VW brand, and all of a sudden something was weird. The usual smooth driving felt a little floppy. And then I turned a corner, only to hear the FLAPFLAPFLAP of a flat tire hitting the pavement. I yelled "OH CRAP" to nobody in particular and threw on the hazards. Yep. This is the sight that met me. So my original plans for today went awry (cue the quote of plans and mice and men) and I had to move forward and deal with this. And by deal with this I mean stand watch while others deal with it. And by others I mean my brother.

After going 2 miles per hour to retrace my path back to Rudi and Steph's house, Stephanie and I called Rudi to come save us damsels in distress. Big brothers can come in handy. He changed that tire like a boss and I drove back to Wisconsin, 2 hours later than expected. I then drove to a shop near my house and they took care of the replacement. Finally, by 4:00, I was home in time to run, shower, eat, and head to a very special event. This is where the day took a drastic turn for the AWESOMER.

The whole family headed over to my Grandpa's house for his birthday party. The guy is awesome. He turned 89 today. This milestone, paired with family togetherness (always new babies of my cousins to oogle at), and cake made my day into a huge plus. 

Before we left I got a photo op with the birthday boy himself. (I love his napoleonic hand gesture.) We got home and I settled in my spot on the couch to catch up on reality television with my parents, and just when I thought the day couldn't end on a better note, I was reminded yet again how big brothers can come in handy. Lookie here, Alex went ahead and made frozen margaritas! My fave! Sugar on the rim, of course. Just add chips and salsa from Chili's, and you have my favorite meal. Yes, chips and margaritas create a complete meal. 

So while today veered drastically from my original plans, it was full of brothers, birthdays, and learning the definition of lug nut. I'll drink to that. Cheers! 

Sippin' Champagne

Hay layyyydiessss! Or guys too. Some guys enjoy drinking girly sounding things like strawberry champagne smoothies. Not that there's anything wrong with that. (Yep, you got it. Yet another Seinfeld reference. I can go on if you want.)

Yep, you're super perceptive and inferred from the above paragraph that I'm going to show you my new favorite drink: Strawberry Champagne Smoothies! Great reading comprehension guys! Usually I would say, "Hey friends, make this for those dainty special occasions that call for an adorable champagne toast!" Well, our circumstances were not as glamorous. It was a boring Wednesday night. Susan was on Pinterest. Anna had some strawberries. That's what happened.

Here's the (short but sweet) list of ingredients:
1 bottle of champagne (we chose a classy $7.00 variety from Dominic's)
1 16 oz container of strawberries
2 TBSP honey (preferably out of a container shaped like a teddy bear, believe me it's better that way.)
1 blender (or really fast and really strong person to stir manually, but just get a blender to make this work.)
2 ice cube trays
2 days (so plan ahead!)

First step. Pour HALF of the bottle of champagne into the blender (save the other half in the fridge for later!). Then, wash those strawberries! Who knows what's on 'em - they've been living side by side in the fridge with your roommates' leftover pasta and old sour cream containers. After cleaning them and cutting them up, throw your sparkly clean strawberries in a blender to join that half bottle of champ you added earlier. Finally, to finish this first step, add in that honey to top it off. Then blend it! (Make sure the cap is tightly on before you press that blend button. It's in the details, people.)

Now you have a good looking pitcher of stuff on your counter! To finish the first day's work, get out those ice cube trays and pour the delicious mixture into them to make little smoothie ice cubes once you put them in the freezer. (Now on the down low, do the classy thing and drink the extras yourself. Hey, if you supply your roommates with a drink this good, you deserve it.) 

Oooo. Champagne-y. And Strawberry-y.

Such a careful pourer. I can't be trusted
with tasks like this. 

Fun ice cubes amongst the Pizza Rolls

Yep. This happened. 

Next step in your list of instructions: Go to bed. Those ice cubes need time to freeze, so the best thing you can do is sleep. The next time you give me a list of things to do and include a command to go sleep for awhile, I will listen. What can I say, I give good directions. When you wake up the next day, there's a nice little extra incentive to get out of bed waiting for you in the freezer. Now isn't that nice? Take your cool new ice cubes and pop them out into the blender again. Bring out that other half bottle of champagne and throw it in with the ice cubes. Blend that together, and voila! You have now made strawberry champagne smoothies for everyone to enjoy! Now all that's left to do is find an occasion for which to have a fancy toast. We went with: It was Thursday. A worthy occasion, in my opinion. 

The strawberry ice cubes and the rest
of the champagne, just before the last step.

This recipe will also make your roommates indebted to you and
you might get a favor someday in return. I'm giving these away for free, people. 

It Ain't Easy Being Green

This post is rated 21 and up. Well, not really. You can still read it, but don't come crying to me that you aren't old enough to buy the ingredients. You've been warned. 

I whipped up a batch of these for my friend's bachelorette party the other night and it was a hit. I thought you, also, might enjoy being a hit, so here is the secret to holiday drink goodness. My friends, I give you: The Grasshopper. A sure-fire addition to any Christmas or New Year's party. Or any party for that matter.

I did a little research (Wikipedia is so handy) and found out that this cocktail originated in New Orleans at a bar named Tujague's in the 1950s. Well, my recipe originated in Cedar Grove from the Gesches sometime in the 90s or something. It combines minty goodness and ice cream and is fabulous. 

Here's what you'll need:

1) A thing of Cool Whip.
(And yes "thing" is a technical term of measurement)

2) A 5-quart bucket of vanilla ice cream.
Ideally a limited edition Green Bay Packer vanilla ice cream.

3) 1/2 cup of Creme de Cacao and 1 and 1/2 cup of Creme De Menthe
This is what makes it delicious, green, and minty.

4) A really big bowl

Let's do this. Before you start I would advise letting all the ingredients sit on the counter for about 15 minutes to thaw. It will let the ice cream and cool whip soften up and make this whole process a lot more painless.  

First things first, spoon almost all of the vanilla ice cream into the big bowl. I'd leave out a little bit because the finished product is going back in that 5-quart Packer-themed bucket. After the ice cream, add in all the cool whip in a similar fashion. 

Now, throw in the Creme de Cacao and Creme de Menthe. It will look really green and weird. Like this:

Now you start stirring. As you can see from the picture, I am using a massive spoon. It is the most handy spoon in our whole kitchen, but I have theories that it was once one of those decorative ones you nail to the wall to look country chic or something. However it got here, I'm glad it's around because it makes this job a lot easier. It will start to look more like this...

...which, I know, does not look appetizing, but we all know never to judge a recipe until it's finished. Or books by their covers. Or people by their appearance. Check you out, thought you were just getting a delicious how-to session and I slipped in a life lesson when you weren't looking. Anyway. When you break into Jillian Michaels beast mode and flex those stirring muscles, the end result will look like this: 

As you can see, in the end I called in the whisk for reinforcements. Your hard work is almost done. Now, all that is left to do is pour this finished mixture back into the empty ice cream bucket. This makes it super easy to tote around and seal back up. 

Keep it in the freezer and it will last you for a LONG time. Unless you have to entertain 40 people, then it will be gone immediately. Just scoop it out into little cups for everyone's happiness, minty-ness, and holiday cheer. Even if you are the lame one in the group, bringing a bucket of this will boost your ratings, guaranteed. Now go forth and conquer! 

2 out of 2 friends agree that this is delicious.