Naturally, I decided to celebrate the birthday (it was a big one – I’m no longer in my mid-twenties… I’m in my mid-late twenties!) the whole weekend throughout Cleveland. It was a great time and involved a lot of food, surprises and more food.

Friday

Friday began the celebration! Our building had an event so B and I spent the evening enjoying Happy Hour drinks and free bowling at the Corner Alley. I didn’t take any photos because I really didn’t need any evidence of my poor bowling skills (I scored a 48 first round) or sexy bowling shoes (I got them a size up just so I could wear them comfortably with the swollen toe). Friday for dinner B let me choose what I wanted, so we enjoyed a simple feast of cheese (goat, brie and chipotle cheddar), meat (two types of salami) and bread!

Friday also brought the first of my gifts, cards from my parents and Uncle Mike and packages from Jane and my brother arrived. Jane’s gift ended up being a belated wedding gift and one of my favorites thus far – a homemade wedding photo scrapbook. Seriously, this thing is legit and includes our wedding photos, some bachelorette party and shower photos, our invitations, and more. Jane is amazing. My brother also got me an incredible package of a book, a homemade CD with specially-picked tunes (already loaded on my iTunes!) and TWO packages of my favorite ginger candies which I can’t seem to get here.

Saturday

Saturday morning and afternoon involved two of my favorite activities – shopping and a manicure! I woke up early and got my nails done a fun navy blue color and then dragged B along shopping so I could find a perfect outfit for our dinner date that evening, which ended up being a fun plum colored sparkly dress!

After shopping, B went for his 6 mile run outside while I moped that I couldn’t run did the elliptical and got ready. When B got home from his run he excited me with #1 of the 2 surprises of that night – a new necklace, one I’d been eyeing for some time! Then we headed to Blue Point and enjoyed an amazing dinner dinner. I got the My Blue [Pointe] Heaven, a plate full of scallops (yum), shrimp (double yum), lobster tail (yum yum yum!) and lobster mashed potatoes. Jealous?

For dessert, I decided I wanted Ben & Jerry’s. So we walked to Constantino’s to pick up some ice cream to enjoy on our couch at home … or so I thought!

We walked back toward our apartment and decided to take a shorter, warmer route through Tower City. The next thing I knew, we were in the Ritz and heading up to our own room that B had secretly booked, checked in AND stocked with an overnight bag (including workout clothes!) for me AND champagne (all done while he was on his run). That was Surprise #2 in case you didn’t figure that out.

Sunday

Sunday included a short workout (elliptical, still no running) in the Ritz’s pretty nice hotel gym/spa area, followed by brunch at the Diner on Clifton. I enjoyed a pretty awesome ahi tuna club sandwich and sweet potato fries (not the only fries of the day). After lunch involved relaxing and watching some Luther episodes (a new favorite show of mine!), afternoon mass (we got chosen to bring up the gifts … they must have known it was my birthday) and then the Greenhouse Tavern for the Chef Sawyer Iron Chef America episode watch/tweetup!

The Tweetup was great. While Chef Sawyer didn’t win , B and I enjoyed a night out, fun people and of course, great food. Being neighbors to the restaurant, it was really cool to see the Chef in person and even shake his hand. The chefs had specially prepared some of the food from the show and handed them out as the show aired. The secret ingredient was mint and we enjoyed a mint salad with lamb (I love lamb!) some zucchini – mint fritters and an amazing dessert, the Stoner Sandwich – a mint ice cream sandwich made with a waffle. We may have also splurged on some of the famous gravy frites before the event.

Monday

Monday was my real birthday! Finally, right? Monday involved work and then a homemade requested dinner by B. We tried out our pasta attachment for our KitchenAid (B made the dough, I just had fun putting it through the attachment) and B made sauce and turkey meatballs, one of my favorite meals by him.

Thanks so much to everyone who helped make my birthday a great one. I got so many calls, texts, cards, emails, Facebook messages, and so on, and felt so loved. Last year was pretty awesome (moved downtown, got a promotion, got married, went on a honeymoon to Tortola, BVI) and I’m excited about what’s to come. Here’s to another great year!

Now if you know me, you probably know that I really shouldn’t be excited about that. After all, I typically average anywhere from 15-30 miles a week and run 3-5 mi most mornings during the weeks and even longer on the weekend. So why am I so excited?

Let me start from the beginning.Last week was the first official week of marathon training. What’s that? I forgot to tell you I was training for a marathon? Woops! So yeah – I signed up for my first full marathon (I did a half in Columbus a few years ago), Cleveland, May 2012. Anyway, long story short, B signed up too and jotted down Hal Higdon’s training schedule for beginners and determined that Day One of training would start January 17.

So January 17 starts out like any other day. I wake up, groggily, and head to the laundry area to get my running clothes, which I had put in the dryer the night before. As opened the dryer (which is on top of my washer) the iron that I had put on top of the dryer the night before also happened to fall – from about 6-7 feet- right onto my big toe. Before you close your eyes or shudder, let me answer a few of the frequently asked questions:

• When was the incident? The incident occurred approximately 6:55 a.m. on Tuesday, 1/17/12. Coincidentally Day One of marathon training.
• What exactly happened? The iron fell from the top of my dryer and landed on my foot. I don’t know how it landed – it hit my foot and bounced off and then I screamed in pain.
• Was anyone else around? Yes, B was sleeping but the sound of the iron hitting the ground, combined with my screaming obscenities, woke him up.
• Did it hurt? Yes. A lot. Thus the obscenity-screaming.
• Was the iron on? No. It was not plugged in and was not hot.
• What did your toe look like? It was swollen and bloody. The toe nail was purple. Because I had painted my nails the night before.
• Can I see a picture? No. I did, of course, take photos, but I will not post them on the blog. Gross. The last thing I want is my blog coming up in weird toe fetish searches!
• Was it broken? No, it wasn’t broken. I went and had XRays taken on Wednesday, 1/18/12. The dr also burnt a hole in the toenail to relieve some of the pressure from the blood that was pooling under the skin and nail. This was after they took the nail polish off my toe nail that I had just painted purple, the night before.
• Did you run that morning? NO! I had my toe iced and bandaged and elevated until about 3:30 p.m. when it finally stopped bleeding.
• Did you run at all that week? No. Sadly, marathon training was put off a week, while B continued to run. Oh, the irony (typically he is the non-runner).

So marathon training was put on hold for one more week, as was wearing heels, wearing my new Hunter boots (they were too hard on my aching toe), and walking to work (B drove me). But that didn’t stop me from having an awesome birthday week and hopping on the elliptical when I could finally, comfortably fit my foot back in my sneakers on the 22nd. And running 4 miles this morning!

From PainterseofLouisville.com – the Psychology of Color:

BUT of course B forgot a few things. Like tomato sauce. And cilantro. Though the cilantro was probably on purpose because he hates it. Determined to still have a crock pot meal, I adapted the recipe somewhat and turned it into an Italian dish – served on top of orzo, instead of rice! It was yummy and I’ll definitely be making it again, especially since B and I finished it the first night. What can I say – he’s training for a marathon and was hungry!

Italian Crock Pot Chicken (a.k.a Slow Cooker Chicken, Tomatoes and Olives)

(Adapted from Skinnytastes.com’s Crock Pot Chicken a la Criolla)

Here’s what you need:

• 4-5 skinless boneless chicken thighs (about 1 lb)
• 1 medium sized white onion, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, either finely diced or crushed with garlic press
• 1bell pepper, finely sliced
• 4 plum tomatoes, chopped into cubes
• 6 – 8 small pitted Spanish olives + 2 tbs olive juice
• 1 c tomato sauce (I used homemade sauce that we had on hand … B or I make it at least once a month for pasta, etc. but you probably could use a can)
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp cumin
• 2 bay leaves
• Handful of fresh basil (if on hand)

Here’s what you’ll do:

1. Put chicken, onion, garlic, pepper and tomatoes in the crock pot.
2. Add salt, cumin, basil, oregano. Stir it all up so everything is well-seasoned.
3. Add tomato sauce, olives, 2 tbsp of the olive juice, 1/2 cup water, and bay leaves. Mix well.
4. Set crock pot on high for 4 hours or low for 6 hours.
5. When done, add fresh basil and adjust spices as needed.

Serve over orzo or with a big chunk of Italian bread for dunking in the broth. Or both!

Everything in the crock pot, ready to go!

Italian Crock Pot Chicken (I need to work on my food photography skills)

Banana Crumb Muffins

Adapted from this recipe, makes 12 muffins

Here’s what you’ll need:

For the muffins:

• 4 ripe bananas, smooshed, either by hand or food processor
• 3/4 c granulated sugar
• 1 egg (I used 1/4c eggbeaters)
• 3/4 stick butter (3/4 stick is 6 tbs … you can use the 2 tbs in the stick remaining for the topping!)
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 c flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp cinnamon

For the crumb topping:

• 2/3 c brown sugar
• 3 tbs flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbs butter (the rest of the stick of butter from above)

Here’s what you’ll do:

• Use a food processor to mash 4 bananas until smooshy (yes, smooshy, not soupy). Add melted butter, sugar, vanilla and egg to food processor. You could probably put the banana in a bowl and then add the other wet aforementioned ingredients, but why make another bowl dirty that you’ll just have to wash?
• In a large bowl, mix together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon.
• Add banana-butter-sugar-vanilla-egg mixture to dry ingredients. Mix well until dry and wet ingredients are combined thoroughly.
• Spoon batter into greased muffin tin, or tin prepared with muffin liners.
• Make the topping! In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 3 tbs flour and cinnamon. Cut in 2 tablespoons butter until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle crumb topping over muffins.

Bake in 375 degree oven for 18 to 20 minutes – mine tend to be finished at exactly 19 minutes.

Enjoy! Try to keep yourself from eating before they get cool – I tell B this every time, but I still find him trying one before it’s fully cool and then the muffin sticks to the wrapper. It may be hard, but it’s worth the wait!

Which are you?

*thinking an infographic is cool is probably pretty geeky

From: MastersInIt.org

My vacation started off with dropping off food and gifts for the Boston College Adopt a Family program – B and I coordinated the program this year and our local alumni chapter was able to adopt 5 families and provide food and gifts for 37 people this year!

After the drop off, gathering with some of the volunteers

After the drop off, B and I headed to NY to spend Christmas with my family. Not before spending a few days in NYC first to visit friends and family and sightsee! As you may know, most of my family (grandmother, aunts, cousin, brother, uncles) all live in NYC so each visit I tend to spend time with family, and not have time to visit the sights. So B and I decided to take the train down and spend a few days walking around Manhattan, stopping by Brooklyn to get an amazing dinner with my uncle (SO mad I didn’t get a picture of my awesome Italian meal of grilled octopus and calamari!), getting lunch with my great-aunt at a Mexican restaurant in Murray Hill, visiting my brother at Columbia, and doing touristy thing like eating tons of bagels with lox cream cheese (my fave!), walking by Rockerfeller Center (but not touristy enough to take a photo of the tree), checking out Eataly, walking around Central Park, running through Riverside Park, window shopping at the outdoor Christmas markets, and checking out the window displays on 5^th Avenue.

NYC at dusk

Visiting my Grandma's Sister, Aunt Glad

In addition to our fun times in the city, we got to spend Christmas with my family. Never a dull moment in the Koski household, this year’s Christmas festivities included:

• Lots of cookies
• Even more tissues and cold meds as I had the longest and stuffiest cold of my adult life
• Walking Queenie … and then scarily witnessing her have a seizure a few days later
• Decorating the tree … and then it falling down, leaving me to hold it up while B and my dad attempted to trim some branches off the bottom so it’d better fit in the tree stand
• Seeing two movies (Sherlock Holmes AND the new Mission Impossible) in the theater and watching Love Actually with the family for their first time (possibly my 10^th)
• Lighting the menorah for Chanukah and going to Christmas morning mass
• One clogged toilet and a Christmas-day call to a plumber so we could once again use the water in our house … which has become a sad tradition
• Impromptu dance parties to All I Want for Christmas Is You with my aunt and mom
• Reconnecting with one of my bffs, Jane, and recounting who from our high school was pregnant, who was divorced, who had bought a house, and how old we are getting
• Lots of reading (almost made my way through the awesome book Cutting for Stone)
• Getting lots of amazing Christmas and early-birthday gifts from my wishlist! My favorites being my new Hunter boots (thanks B!), my new awesome laptop  bag/carry all purse (thanks Mom/Dad!) and new running shoes (which already have about 20 or so miles on them )

You should be seriously jealous of these hot Christmas sweatshirts

holding the tree while B and my dad cut the branches

The Menorah on Christmas Eve

All in all, it was a great time with my family and of course I was sad to leave and drive back to Ohio. How did you spend your holidays?

They are honestly so easy that I feel guilty sharing these with you. But they look cute, and Grandma loves them – so hopefully you’ll be able to share them with your family someday as well!

Tuxedo Hug Cookies

(stolen many years ago from the bag of the Hugs bag)

Here’s what you’ll need:

• One box of brownie mix that includes fudge packet (the box should say it includes a fudge pack… i use Hershey’s Original Supreme Brownie Mix with Hershey’s Syrup pouch)
• 1/4 c. vegetable oil (I always use Canola oil)
• 1/4 c. water
• 1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa
• 1 egg
• One package of Hugs! (the white chocolate / amazing version of Hershey’s Kisses)

Here’s what you’ll do:

• Grease cookie sheet. I usually spray Pam and then lightlyscatter flour along the cookie sheet to prevent sticking.
• Combine brownie mix & syrup pouch, cocoa, water, oil and egg in medium bowl until well blended. That’s it! Really! That’s your cookie dough!
• Drop by teaspoons onto prepared cookie sheet. They’ll look small, but beware- they spread!
• Bake in 350 degree oven for about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and cool 1 minute. Call your younger brother and have him press candy into center of each cookie. We ran out of Hugs this year, so we also used some of those those chocolate/regular chocolate swirled baking chips and they looked marvelous!

Anyway, long story short, I fell in love with baking, and especially cookies and bars, and was excited to bake some awesome bars for our holiday cookie exchange. Ever since I spotted these bar online and pinned them, I’d been excited to bake them … AND even more excited to share what was an AWESOME* recipe with you!

*note: this recipe is so awesome, it may make your taste-testers cry. No joke, a coworker who shall remain nameless started crying (of joy, naturally) when she bit into her first taste of cookie.

My cookies: Apologies – the photo was taken before I chopped them into triangles.

Snickers Cookie Bars … a.k.a. Chocolate Caramel Peanut Butter Blondies

(adapted from Bettycrocker.com)

Here’s what you’ll need:

For the bottom layer:

• 1  bag of sugar cookie mix (I told you it was easy!)
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 egg
• 10 Reese’s Peanut Butter cups, chopped into small pieces
•  1/2 c. Peanut butter chips

For the middle layer:

• 36 caramels (I used Werther’s creamy caramels)
• 1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)
• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup peanuts

For the top layer:

• Your favorite homemade chocolate frosting recipe (or store-bought and make it even easier)
• 1/2 cup chopped peanuts, lightly salted

Here’s what you’ll do:

For bottom layer:

• In large bowl, stir cookie mix, butter and egg until soft dough forms. Stir in Reese’s and peanut butter chips. Try to refrain from eating all the Reese’s before chopping!
• Press dough in bottom of greased (or in my case, sprayed with Pam) 13×9 cooking pan.  Bake 18 to 20 minutes at 350 or until light golden brown.

• While first-layer cookie is baking (or another day … I made my bottom portion ahead of time and made the other layers the next day) in 2-quart saucepan, heat caramels and condensed milk over medium heat, stirring constantly, until caramels are melted.
•  Stir in peanut butter. Heat to boiling. Cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat; stir in 1/2 cup peanuts. Spread over warm cookie base with a heat-resistant spatula. Try to refrain from licking the spatula or you’ll burn your tongue (trust me, it may have happened!).
•  Cool completely, about 2-3 hours OR about 35 min in the freezer. I chose the freezer method.

For top layer:

• While cooling, making the top frosting layer (or use your own store-bought chocolate frosting).
•  Spread frosting evenly over filling. Sprinkle with peanuts. Refrigerate about 2 hours or until chilled.
• For bars, cut 9 rows by 4 rows. Then cut each bar on a diagonal, making cute bite-sized triangles.
• Enjoy! Share with coworkers who will cry when they first bite into them.

Some of the cookies from our cookie exchange:

The weekend started off at 6:15 a.m. on Saturday when B and I were picked by his dad in a 12-person van, and it was already full with his parents, 2 of his brothers, 1 of his sisters, B’s coworker and our dentist and his wife (yes, you read that right – they’re family friends so we spend the 4ish hour carride, tailgate, and night/next morning with our dentist).

We arrived at ND and met up B’s aunt, 3 uncles, 2 aunts and 7 cousins. Yes, our tailgate was HUGE, family filled, and got even bigger when 4 of my friends from BC stopped by.

B* and me

There was tons of food, including my own first attempt at cake balls – shaped like footballs of course:

We stayed at a hotel after the game and then headed back to the CLE the next day.

Does your school have any big rivalries? What’s your favorite alumni sporting event?

*B does not usually look like such a creepster. He’s just doing Movember and raising money for man-cancers. If you’d donate to him, I’d appreciate it so he actually does shave it off come 8 days from now (and yes, I’m counting down).