At the Ballet

Saturday night, I got treated to what is probably my most favorite of date nights: dinner and the ballet.

Tulsa Ballet put on a great production of Taming of the Shrew that made even my boyfriend laugh! And on his own freewill, nonetheless! There were no tutus in this ballet- it appealed to a broad audience with its laid back feel and comedic scenes making it a wonderful ballet for couples to enjoy.  The choreography did an excellent job of portraying all of the details of the plot just in case you weren't well versed in ballet pantomime. I also noticed that the symphony used a piano for this production- something I don't recall them doing in most of the ballets I have seen.

Going to see any performing arts event can be pricey. We were able to get our tickets half off and our seats could not have had a better view! Through subscribing to Tulsa Ballet's mailing list, you can receive great offers that make such luxuries affordable. You can visit their website here and enter your email address in at the bottom right hand side of the page.  You also may want to check with your employer- many businesses are offered discount tickets.

Tulsa Ballet still has two productions left in their season- don't miss out!

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Travel Lust: Bora Bora

I love to travel. But being new to the work force, I don't have a lot of time or money to fly to exotic places as often as I'd like. Or heck, even to the fairly ordinary places.

So I give you: Travel Lust Fridays.

Each week I will bring you to a new travel destination that I would love to explore, share some interesting tidbits about the location and, if nothing more, some beautiful pictures.

This week: Bora Bora

Because there is way too much snow on the ground right now.

Enjoy these pictures of this lovely island in the Pacific and let yourself thaw...

 Heaven.

That's my bungalow, on the right.

A perfect place for snorkeling or even swimming with sharks!

It's doubtful that I will ever make it to this beautiful island but man, oh man, wouldn't it be nice?

Photos from: Scottdunn.com, guarda.pt, wallpapersphere.com

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Banana Bread Showdown

My house is very, very cold right now. So, as the snow day progressed I decided I would need to do something to keep me from freezing to death. 

Slaving away over a hot stove was just the ticket.

It just so happened that I had all the ingredients I needed to make banana bread. I've been saving some very ...um... *ripe* bananas in the freezer and they were starting to look a little freaky. I have never frozen bananas before- it is not a pretty sight!

I feel like banana bread is one of those items that you prefer the way your mother made it. Well, I have no memory of my mother ever making banana bread so I was going to have to look elsewhere for a recipe.

Skimming through rows and rows of cookbooks, I landed on a recipe from a church cookbook. Surely the contributing woman was someone's mother so it should be great! Since I'm new to making banana bread, I thought I might as well try out an alternative recipe so I looked to a classic- Joy of Cooking.

This leads me to the main event...

Irma vs Myrtle: A Banana Bread Showdown

Who will come out on top? Myrtle the parishioner who uses butter and a splash of milk? Or Irma Rombauer who opts for silky shortening?

The ingredients for each recipe were very similar otherwise: flour , sugar, a fat, a leavening agent,  eggs, and nuts. I whipped up a batch of each and sent them to battle.

On my left, we have Myrtle...

And to my right, Irma...

And now judgment time!

While both loaves were pretty tasty, I'm going to have to go with Irma's recipe from Joy of Cooking as my winner. It was light and moist in comparison to Myrtle's. Sorry, Myrtle, better luck next time!

I do have to admit I may have toasted them up a bit too much. Both loaves lacked that moist, stick-to-your-finger goodness that I see when other people have made banana bread. Next time, I don't think that I will wait until the hour cook time is up to check their doneness!

Sounds like banana bread and I have some unfinished business. I will refrain from posting a recipe until I reach loaf perfection.

Do YOU have a delicious banana bread recipe you would like to share? Leave a comment!

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Grown-Ups Have Snow Days, Too

I thought I would never see a snow day now that I am all grown up and have a big girl job. I mean, hospitals are always open! So when we got the prediction that there would be a blizzard rolling in Monday night, I was so prepared to dig myself out the next day that any Girl Scout would be proud.

And then I looked outside Tuesday morning. Snow. Wind. Buried Car. Bad news. And that piece of cardboard I had placed on my windshield to give me a head start? No where to be found.

There was no way I was going to be able to make it to work. I wasn't complaining-I very much enjoyed staying home and doing as I pleased. Except for the fact that it didn't pay anything.

The dogs enjoyed running laps in the backyard and getting covered in balls of snow for me to clean off.

This is as good of a picture I could capture of them- they never stayed still!

Most of the time, they were just wanting to come in from the cold!

When the snow stopped falling, I decided to get my snow gear on and start shoveling. I figured I'd be finished in the couple hours of daylight left, no problem!

And then I saw this:

And this:

And the worst- this:

With snow drifts above my knees, there was no way I was going to clear all that snow unless my neighbor happened to own a snow blower.

Adult snow days are far different than that of a kid. The latter is let off of school to make snow angels all day and get greeted with hot cocoa at the door. As a grown-up, you have to worry about making sure you have enough food, milk, and toilet paper to last your confinement. And you get to shovel snow.

That is exactly what I did today. For 5 hours. By myself.

And now my ski slope of a driveway looks more like a half-pipe:

So, tomorrow morning I will see if I can make it out of my street to work. I'm bringing my shovel just in case.

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Homemade Dog Biscuits

Yes, you heard me right. No, I am not crazy.

Last year, I brought home some bacon biscuits from Dog Dish for Maggie. She was like putty in my hand. My dog that usually ran in the opposite direction when called was suddenly bounding toward me when I spoke her name.

I needed more biscuits. STAT.

I wasn't too happy with paying the price tag there so I decided to do some research. Happily, I found a super simple recipe to make them at home:

 

 All you need is whole wheat flour, milk, bacon, cold water, salt, and  garlic salt- because dogs deserve a well-seasoned biscuits.

 Fry up the bacon until it is super crispy (the crispier the better) and then crumble it into small pieces. Make sure to save that bacon fat- we will use it later!

Next, throw everything into your favorite mixing bowl and douse in bacon grease, then add water until the dough comes together.

Roll out the dough until it's about 1/4" thick and then you can cut it out into your favorite shape. I stuck with a traditional dog bone because I thought cat-shaped biscuits would be too cruel.  Now, to the oven!

Voila- a doggie-approved stash of bacon biscuits that can get even my wild mongrels to do this:

These biscuits are to be used with caution as they are irresistible to canine companions (and apparently, my mother thinks they smell pretty tasty, too). Now I have these two hairy things following me everywhere I go!

 Bacon Dog Biscuits
5 c whole wheat flour
1 c milk
1 lb bacon
1 tsp garlic salt
Pinch of salt
1/2 c cold water

1. Fry bacon and crumble. Reserve bacon grease.
2. Add flour, milk, garlic salt and bacon to bowl and mix.
3. Stir in bacon grease.
4. Add cold water until dough is moist. Add more water if needed.
5. Roll dough out 1/4" thick and cut out shapes.
6. Bake on a cookie sheet 35-40 min @ 350 degrees

This recipe is very forgiving. You don't need to worry about overworking the dough because hey- it's for a dog! I didn't even need to flour my work station to roll it out.

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