West Chester Bar Crawl

For the past 5 years, at least one of my girlfriends has lived in West Chester borough.  Jen is the last one standing and she will be moving at the end of this month...big frowney face :(  For a send-off, we decided to do one last bar crawl to take full advantage to being able to drink yourself silly and stumble home to pass out.  Since it wasn't for an actual cause, we didn't have shirts made.  Instead, we all bough "funny" shirts.  This is the shirt I got...

This is the one that I REALLY wanted but, they didn't have...

Everyone's shirts were great!!

Gina, Jen, Lynn, me

We had some lunch and ate some of the cookies I brought, peanut butter chocolate chip pretzel cookies (recipe to come)

The girls really liked the cookies!  We had a good base in our stomachs and we were ready to get our drink on!  I gathered up the imporant things you need for a bar crawl:  itinerary, games, and make sure you have some good junk food ready for when you are all done!

Our first stop was going to be to Jake's.  Jake's holds a special spot in my heart because Mike and I used to walk there for fortys (I know it doesn't sound romantic but, it was a lot of fun)!

This place is the definition of a dive bar!  My favorite type of bar!  the beers are only 50 cents!

We had a few brews and then decided to head to the next place.  We headed to Ram's Head.

We sat around and played "Would You Rather".  It was a really fun game, that I am terrible at!  Lynn ended up winning...by a lot!  We didn't stay at Ram's Head long.  We started to wander and we were walking by Alibi's (the old 15 North).  Anyone who has lived in West Chester and is around 25-30 ish has some type of obscure memory at 15 North.  Typically it is of falling down the steps!

We actually hesitated going in because there was no one in there.  As we stood outside trying to figure out if we were even allowed to go in, we heard a voice "you can come in if you want".  OKAY!  I think we all wanted to see what became of 15 North.  We were actually the only customers, the other two people sitting that bar were employees.  They didn't have any specials but, they did have $2 PBRs

Since we knew we weren't going to be disturbing people, this was the perfect opportunity to pull out Catch Phrase!  I LOVE this game and soon so did everyone else!  We even had the bartender and the other two guys at the bar playing as well.

Surprisingly, the guys were really good at the entertainment category.  The one dude used "The Devil Wears Prada" as a clue.  I think we almost peed our pants multiple times.

We hung out there for awhile and really didn't want to leave but, no one can stop the progress of a bar crawl!  We had other places to go.  You could tell that after three bars we were feeling the effects of a proper bar crawl.  Example A....

On the way to Side Bar Jen made me do this!  haha

We hung out here for a bit, played a little bit more Catch Phrase and met some more friends.

Starting to feel the effect of the brewskis, someone (who is very smart) decided it was time to get some food.  We headed to Landmark to get some munchies.

We got what you expect:  nachos, quesadillas, and crab fries

And of course...more beer!  We hung out for a bit, ate, laughed some more.

 

And took some goofy pictures...

Before heading to the next bar.

Where we ran into West Chester's favorite Jackass

He was actually really nice and very cordial but, no time for niceties, it was time for some more games and beer!

Nothing like dice to keep things going!  We only stayed at Kooma for one beer before venturing to Kildares.

But, we weren't feeling it there so we didn't even bother getting a drink.  We decided to head down to the other bar owned by McGrogan's...Doc's

This actually ended up being my last stop...I couldn't do it anymore...

I had one last beer before heading back to Jen's to pass out.  This was the last group picture of the night.  BIG difference from the first! (Lynn really isn't as drunk as she looks in this pic)

We had such a great time!  It was a great send off to our West Chester days.  We relived memories and shared stories.  We only got to 8 out of 15 bars we had on our list.  But, beware, we may be back to finish what we started!

Tex Mex Mac and Cheese

Mike played in a softball tournament all day on Saturday.  He must have had a Colie moment blond moment and didn't take anything with him to eat...all day!  So, around 3 I get a phone call "What are we having for dinner?".  Bugger...I didn't think that far, I was too wrapped up in the marathon of "Kourtney and Kim take New York".  I asked him what he would want but, he said "whatever you want babe".  Well that drives me nuts because then I go frantic.  But, after looking through the cabinets and seeing a small can of green chilies, I was inspired.  It was a cold day and with Mike being in the elements all day, I felt a warm comfort meal was in order.  I decided to make Tex-Mex Mac and Cheese.  This was going to be a "wing-it" recipe, shoot from the hip.  I am happy to announce that this was not a flop!  It actually turned out really well.  It was nice and spicy to warm Mike from the inside out!

What you need:

• 1 box of your favorite macaroni pasta (I used whole wheat shells)
• 2 lbs ground beef (roughly two lbs, mine was a little less)
• 1onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 pack of taco seasoning
• 1 c water
• 2 tbs butter (or margarine)
• 2 tbs flour
• 2 c milk
• 2 1/2 c grated colby jack cheese (cheddar would be yummy too)
• 1/3 c jalapenos (if you don't like it spicy use less or admit all together)
• 1 sm can green chilies
• tortilla chips

Boil water in a large pot for the pasta.  Get it started now because it takes SO long to get up to a boil!

Dice up the onion and garlic (try not to cry...it'll be okay)

Put into a greased (I just used PAM but, you can use oil) large skillet over medium-high heat.  Cook for roughly 4 minutes or until slightly soften.

Add the ground beef to the party and cook until you see no more pink.

kinda looks like dog food...

Drain any excess fat and put back on the stove.  Add the taco seasoning and the water.  Turn the heat onto low and stir occasionally.  Now it is time for the cheese sauce!

Melt the butter in a med/large pot.

Add the flour and stir to mix.

The mixture will turn the consistency of play-doh.  Cook for two minutes, stirring often.

Slowly add the milk as you whisk.  Do it in stages, if you add the milk all at once you will have a lumpy roux (that would be no beuno!)

Add the cheese 1/2 cup at a time, don't add the next cup until the cheese is completely blended in. 

Doing figure 8's in your sauce pan helps prevent lumps and gives you a really nice consistency.

When the pasta is cooked to al dente, drain and put back into the large pot.

Now it gets messy!  Add the cheese and the beef into the pasta pot...

Dice the jalapenos 

Add the green chilies and the jalapenos to the messy mix.  Stir well to combine.

That is a delicious looking slop pot!

Put into a casserole dish that has been sprayed with non-stick spray.

Top with 1/2 c of cheese (or go wild and use more, cheese never hurt anyone!). 

crumble about 15 tortilla chips and place on top

Put into a pre-heated 350 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes or until all the cheese is melted and bubbly!

This is a good spin on an old classic.  Mac and Cheese is one of those recipes that are really fun to play with the ingredients.  Once you have the basic steps down, the possibilities are endless!

The tortilla chips add a really nice crunch to the dish.  I like the different textures and flavors going on here.

My hungry man was very happy with this meal!  We ate a LOT of it too!  But, we couldn't finish it so, we had it for leftovers a few days later.  I just stuck it back in the oven for about 25-30 minutes and it was delicious!  The tortilla chips stayed crunch too!  I thought they were going to be a soggy mess but, they proved me wrong!

Enjoy!

Fluffer-Nutter Cupcakes

I don't know where my recent fascination with cupcakes came from.  I have loved the show "Cupcake Wars" for awhile, but I haven't made cupcakes since my sister-in-law's blog party...that was 10 months ago!  Now I have made cupcakes twice in two weeks!  I have really enjoyed making them though!  They are cute and fun to experiment with.  This cupcake I saw on a blog I read called Eat, Live, Run then Mike saw it and requested them as well.  I followed her recipe almost exactly but I (taking the lazy way out) used box cake and I adjusted the icing a bit.  I feel like it is one way to cut down on the prepping time and that fat little dough boy does a decent job.

These are vanilla cupcakes, filled with fluff and topped with peanut butter frosting...HELLO GORGEOUS!

 What you need:

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• the eggs, oil and water as directed on the cake box
• 1 stick (8tbs) butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 c peanut butter (creamy)
• 2 c powder sugar
• 1/3 c heavy cream

Don't pay attention to the marshmallows...that was a failure...

Prepare the cake batter according to the back of the box.  Water, oil and eggs...

Mix until completely mixed but, don't over mix or you'll have tough cuppy cakes.  Pour into your choice of mini or regular size muffin tins lined with cupcake liner.

Bake according to package turning once during the cooking time.  Cool completely.

To get the fluff into the cupcake, make a hole using a small cylinder.  I have heard of people using apple corers.  I used one of my icing tips!

Pull out the inside and use your finger to smash down some of the cake to make a nice well.  Do whatever you would like with the cake shrapnel...I used it to feed the birds.

Using a piping bag or a plastic baggie with the tip cut off, fill with fluff.  Fill the hole you created with the fluff.

It is okay if it overflows a bit, you can cover it up with the icing.  Plus, there is nothing wrong with a little extra fluff!

Now, it is time for the icing!  Start by creaming butter, vanilla and the peanut butter until smooth.

Add the powder sugar with the mixer on low (you don't want to cover your kitchen in white powder...the neighbors might start talking)

Add the cream and start the mixer out slowly and increase to a medium high speed for about 4 minutes.

The frosting is light and fluff and completely divine!

Put the frosting into a pastry bag or baggie and pipe on top of the fluffed cupcakes.

When you bite in you get a great bit of hidden fluff!

They are so good and they make you feel like a kid again.  You are back in the elementry school cafeteria, but this time, you have the good lunch!

I took them down to the Phillies opener and they were a big hit!  These two goofballs liked them!

 

I recommend you try making these!  If you have any questions or concerns don't hesitate to contact me!