Spring Pinterest Partying + Karaoke
by Jenn (eating bender) on March 8, 2013
I took a short break from blogging this past week to enjoy a visit to a city you may have read about once or twice on this blog…Chicago! Officially, I was in town for a work conference, which was very interesting with a lot of great speakers. Unofficially, I arrived a few days early in order to see a few friends, try out some new restaurants – and bring back the Pinterest partying!
You may recall our Winter Pinterest Party, during which Lauren, Monica, Kelli and I prepared a feast of epic proportions that was as delicious as it was fun to make. After the success of our initial party, the idea of which was concocted in a coffee shop last October, we decided that it would be necessary to have a Pinterest-themed gathering for every season. It guarantees more trips to Chicago from me – though I am also hoping that in the near future a Pinterest party can be hosted at my house in Arizona – and is a great way for us to try out new recipes at all levels of difficulty.
(Photo courtesy of Monica)
Once again, we found it was very easy to finalize our springy menu:
{Come Soon} Spring Pinterest Party Menu
Beverage: Roasted Blueberry Basil Margaritas (pinned here)
First Course: Hummus Cups with Cucumber and Tomato (pinned here)
Second Course: Caprese Pasta (pinned here)
Side Dish: Black Bean Sliders (pinned here)
Dessert: Pie Pops with Peach-Blueberry filling (pinned here and here)
Bonus Dessert: Mini S’mores Hand Pies (pinned here)
We always seem to find ourselves with a bonus dessert. Funny how that works. Our first stop on Saturday morning was the grocery store, in order to pick up all necessary supplies. We then came back to Monica’s apartment and got straight to work snapping pictures of us at work.
As you may have deduced by the giant container o’ fluff in my hands in the photo above, I started out by working on the filling for the Mini S’mores Hand Pies. It tasted as yummy as it looks.
Note: The majority of the food pictures below are courtesy of Monica’s amazing photography. You can check out her Pinterest party recap here. Thank you for letting me use your gorgeous photos, Monica.
I also worked beside Lauren to put together the Peach-Blueberry filling for our Pie Pops.
Meanwhile, Kelli rolled out our crust and began cutting the shapes for our pies. We decided that both the s’mores and the peach-blueberry fillings should be used in a mixture of both hand pies and pops in heart and circle shapes.
For the s’mores recipe, we brushed each side of the crust with melted butter before dipping it in the graham cracker crumb and sugar mixture. We then topped every other crust with a bit of filling.
The unfilled crusts were then placed on top of those with the filling to create the completed pie look. For about half of them, we also added the lollipop sticks.
The end result was pretty fantastic, if I do say so myself.
The Peach-Blueberry pies were a bit more challenging to put together only because we used such large chunks of fruit. But we made it through, coating each one with egg whites per the pie pop recipe to help seal them.
We were very proud of how these turned out, too – gooey with an ultra sweet fragrance.
You might be able to guess which culinary school grad made the authentic, latticed mini pie (cough, Monica, cough). It was really too pretty to eat, but we somehow managed to find a way.
Lest you believe we lost our focus with all of this dessert making, there was plenty more going on behind the scenes while the pies were in process. Lauren was reprising her role as expert chopper…
…while Monica put together the cups for which the Hummus Cups recipe is named. We decided to do both a regular and whole wheat version with the pizza dough.
Once the cups had baked in Monica’s awesome new mini-muffin tray, the ladies filled them with hummus – Sabra, to be more specific – and topped them with the veggies. The result was nothing short of pocket-sized perfection.
Kelli was also hard at work on the Black Bean Sliders. Tears of onion joy were spilled in the process.
I’d say they all came together quite nicely, wouldn’t you? I should add that this was a real labor of love because Kelli ended up burning her hand in her determination to save these burgers from a terrible floor fate. She deserves an extra round of applause.
And while we’re at it, let’s give a cheer for yummy burger toppings: sour cream, guacamole, salsa and shredded cheddar cheese!
While I was excited to try everything on our menu, I was most intrigued by and thrilled that the girls wanted to make Ari’s Caprese Pasta. I’m always on the lookout for new pasta variations since we make it at least once or twice a week. This recipe was so easy to follow, and the ingredients make it feel extra classy. What more could you ask for at a dinner party?
Check out the beautiful colors, too! I will definitely be making this with Bobby again soon.
Let’s see…what do we have left? Oh right. The cocktails!
The Roasted Blueberry Basil Margaritas were a blast to make. It’s not often (read: never) that I have a chance to roast blueberries. We stuck them in the oven and watched the transformation.
Before:
After:
Once the blueberries were roasted and the simple syrup cooled, we combined them in a blender.
Add a bit of salt to the rim and you have one very refreshing springtime sip.
Before we knew it – this menu took a lot less time than our previous one – the spread was complete!
Monica’s husband Patrick – who also happens to be Susan’s brother – snapped a photo of the Pinterest party planning committee once we had all filled up our plates with our creations. Simply ignore Lauren’s miscellaneous can of Dr. Pepper and paper towel napkin to complete the masterpiece. Just kidding, Lauren…kind of.
Everything turned out beautiful and tasted like – dare I say it? – spring!
We had such a wonderful time dining and dishing, but the fun didn’t end there. We played a competitive game of Mario Party before making our way to a new experience that will forevermore be a part of the Pinterest party tradition. Thanks to Monica, we now know about Lincoln Karaoke, and our lives have been changed for the better.
Lincoln Karaoke is a private-room karaoke club. Parties of all sizes – from four like us to as many as 30 if you have a big group of professional karaoke singers in training – can rent out a room for a certain period of time, complete with flat screen televisions, tambourines and flashing disco lights – not to mention a song list that features anything you could possibly imagine.
After warming up with some classics like Ace of Base and Aqua, we let ourselves get lost in the likes of Kelly Clarkson, Olivia Newton-John and Blackstreet, among others. It was an absolute BLAST.
No diggity, no doubt.
I had video evidence of these shenanigans, but I seem to have conveniently misplaced it…
Hanging with these ladies never fails to be a (P)interesting overload of fun. I can’t wait to see what our summer pins will look like. If the past two parties are any indication, we’re in for a treat.
Have you had a Pinterest party yet?!
I can’t recommend them enough. Especially with such great company.
Thanks again to Monica for hosting and for supplying the amazing food photos!
Abrazos,
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Sweets + Slap Bracelets: Ragnar Del Sol
by Jenn (eating bender) on February 26, 2013
I don’t even know where to begin but I’ll warn you, this post will be a long one!
Ragnar Del Sol was a thrilling, challenging, exciting, nerve-wracking and unbelievably fun 36 hours of my life. The entire experience practically blew by from when we drove to the starting line at 3:00 am Friday morning to when we crossed the finish, 202 miles and nearly a day and a half later. I am proud of what our entire team was able to accomplish. The 12 ladies who comprised “Run Through the Desert? We thought they said Dessert!” – or Team Dessert, for short – were so awesome and inspiring. I will definitely be taking some great memories with me.
Our journey began on Thursday night when the team met at my house for a pizza dinner and packing the van party. Karla and Melissa had arrived in town on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, respectively, and the three of us had been nervously chatting all day about what was to come.
After stuffing the vans with all the necessary supplies, the team went to work on decorations. Though collectively we were Team Dessert, we were also the ice cream and cupcake vans, and so the windows were painted to match. Curling ribbon was also involved.
The “honk” is for “honk if you love sprinkles.” As you can imagine, we had a lot of sprinkles enthusiasts show us their appreciation throughout the race.
The vans were split into teams of six based on our legs…
Ice Cream Van: Nicole, Jaime, Jenna, Melissa, Tara and Megan
Cupcake Van: Betty, Stacey, Karla, Lara, Chris and Me
You can read all about us on Nicole’s blog. She created an awesome introductory post!
Once we were satisfied with the level of window paint on each van, we snapped a quick picture of most of the team – with the exception of Megan and Chris, who joined us a few hours later – as well as our rocking team shirts. I couldn’t wait to wear mine at the finish!
And then it was time for sleep! Or as much sleep as one can get when they know they’ll have to wake up at 2:30 am to start a 36-hour relay race. It sounds counter intuitive to say it’s hard to sleep before you are going to get no sleep, but there you have it.
Before we knew it, our cell phone alarm clocks were ringing and it was time to make our way to the starting line in Wickenburg. As soon as we got there, it all became extremely real. Ragnar was happening (and it was freezing)!
Our fearless team captain Nicole was ready to tackle her first leg. The official start time was 5:30 am, which meant reflective vests, headlamps and LED lights were a must.
The rest of Team Dessert was ready to cheer her on amidst layers of blankets, jackets and hats.
Soon enough, the countdown began…and Nicole was off!
The ice cream van headed to the next exchange point to meet her. With Ragnar, you switch back and forth from being the racing van to the resting van depending on which legs are running (one through six or seven through twelve).
Those of us in the cupcake van had until a little before noon to head to exchange point six and rest before Betty began her leg. As we drove, the sun was rising, and within a few hours our surroundings looked a lot different and felt a lot warmer.
My mental state at that point was somewhere between tired and jittery, as I realized that it would be well after 6:00 pm before I even began my first leg. I knew it would likely be a long day, not boring by any means but just a true test of patience as I watched 11 people take off before me. But hey, runner 12 is what I signed up for and I was excited to cheer my teammates on!
As more and more vans began arriving at the exchange point, Karla and I walked around and snapped pictures of some our favorite team names and decorations. Among them were the Jelly Rolls…
…Worst Pace Scenario (you have to love a good pun)…
…and Kilty Pleasures, which featured a bagpipe and runners wearing kilts. It was fantastic.
It was a very relaxing morning for the most part, complete with temporary Ragnar tattoos.
Before we knew it, we received a text saying that Megan had started leg six – it wouldn’t be long now! Betty made her way to the exchange and prepared to accept the “baton,” or in the case of Ragnar, the official orange slap bracelet. The cupcake van’s legs had officially begun!
Our team opted to drive by and cheer for each runner along their route, pull over and wait for them to pass again, then cheer some more before making our way to the next exchange point so that the next runner could use the bathroom – we were pleasantly surprised by just how clean the porta potties were, by the way – change clothes and do any last minute preparations before their leg.
Soon enough, Betty was back and it was time for Stacey to take off!
Then came Karla’s epic first leg. This year, runner nine had the longest leg distance in Ragnar history of 13.5 miles – longer than a half marathon and awesome enough to earn them their own separate medal for being so hardcore.
Not surprisingly, Karla rocked it! She owned every one of those 13.5 miles as she made her way to her exchange point with Lara. The cupcake van was so proud!
Lara did a fantastic job on her run, too, before handing off the slap bracelet to Chris.
And then I was next. GULP. After so many hours of waiting, my leg was rapidly approaching. My stomach was in knots as I put on my night gear and prepared to tackle leg 12. As one of my shorter legs – 2.8 miles – I was feeling confident, but still very nervous. I had tried to spread out my food intake and drink enough water so that I didn’t end up cramping the moment I left the exchange.
As I waited for Chris, I could feel my throat going dry. It definitely didn’t help to ease my anxiety!
Then I saw something incredible. A car…hey, I know that car…hey, I know that guy sticking his head out the window and looking at all the runners, trying to pick one out of the crowd. HEY, it’s the Benders! Mama, Papa and Baby Bender came to “surprise” me in Surprise (the city where I was running). Their timing was perfect: less than a minute later, Chris came running down the street toward the exchange, and I was off at 6:52 pm!
I don’t know if it was the fact that I had waited so long to run, that I had seen my family or some combination of both (most likely), but when I started running, it felt like my legs were completely separate from the rest of my body. Call it an adrenaline rush, but it was as if I was gliding on air.
I had been consistently training at an 8:30 mile pace for the past few weeks and was feeling good about that speed for my first two legs, which were shorter at 2.8 miles each. My third leg was 5.6 miles, so I was aiming for a 9:00 mile pace in order to ensure I ran into no IT band issues. Since the North Shore Half Marathon, I’ve never felt confident enough to run more than four miles, afraid that I would hurt myself again. This relay promised to be challenging in that I was running 11.2 miles total – spread out, but still within a span of 24 hours. I wasn’t sure how it would go down.
I quickly settled into my comfort zone and the rest of the leg was a blur from there. All I can honestly remember is the fact that my family drove to several points along the route and got out of the car to cheer for me. It was truly the most motivating and wonderful feeling a girl could ask for, and pushed me to keep the pace as I ran to meet Nicole at exchange 12.
My official time for leg 12 was 23:44 for 2.79 miles, an 8:27 average mile pace! Woohoo!
After I handed off the slap bracelet to Nicole, the cupcake van had another six hours or so before Betty would run again. We decided to grab some dinner before attempting to sleep. Paradise Bakery seemed like the best option around us, and it really hit the spot. I went with the garden vegetable soup, which came with asiago bread, and the Thai peanut chicken salad. Yum.
We then headed over to exchange 18 to try to get some sleep. There was a community center where they were offering space to sleep on the floor, but Karla and I opted to stay in the van. We both dozed in and out for two or three hours. This was the moment in the race where we felt the most tired and dirty, but we made it through and came out the other side ready to run our second legs.
My official start time ended up being at exactly 5:00 am – another 2.8-mile leg in the dark. This time around, however, I had a very special pacer following behind me the entire way: Bobby!
He and Papa Bender woke up before dawn to come out and meet us. My second leg was only a few miles away from my parent’s house, so Bobby spent the night with them and drove with PB to the exchange. Once again, it meant so much to have them there!
One thing I hadn’t fully prepared myself for on this second leg was the addition of hills. My first leg was very flat, but this time around I started with a slight downhill that then turned into a long and relatively steep incline for the majority of the route. I knew pretty soon after taking off from the exchange that an 8:30 mile pace wasn’t going to happen, so decided to take the hill as best as I could and see what happened. Having Bobby behind me definitely helped me stay the course!
When we got to the Ragnar sign that told us we had one mile to go, I was a bit shocked – we were already at two miles! Three miles instead of 2.8 isn’t a huge deal, but at that moment the hills combined with some growing stomach issues (no details, promise) were starting to get to me. There was nowhere to go but forward, though, especially when you’re out in the middle of the desert at night. I was trying to avoid colliding with a coyote at all costs.
Ultimately the second leg was 2.94 miles, and we finished in 26:03 for an 8:49 mile pace. I was glad for this one to be done only because my stomach was really starting to bug me. Other than that, it was amazing to run with Bobby, especially so close to home.
Once again, the cupcake van had a break while the ice cream van took over, and this is where we really got lucky. Chris lives in Cave Creek, which happened to be where I ended my leg, and graciously offered to have us back to her house to take some quick showers and sleep until we had to head to the next exchange. Of course everyone felt incredibly grateful for the opportunity and we jumped on it. Readers of this blog may remember my troubled tummy history, and it was definitely rearing its ugly head. I can honestly say that the recovery time made all the difference in the rest of my Ragnar experience, so THANK YOU, Chris, more than you know.
By the time we left Chris’ house the next morning, it was a beautiful day for more running.
We headed to exchange 30 and caught up with the ice cream van. The ladies were nearly done with all of their legs and many of us had changed into our team shirts. The hours were flying by!
But there were still six more exchanges to go. Soon Betty was off, closely followed by Stacey, Karla, Lara, Chris and me.
During our breaks at the various exchanges on the last legs, we had plenty of fun with our fellow Ragnar teams, including the 70s group Fro-Motion, who not only ran in costume but also had a van complete with speakers on the back that blasted decade-appropriate hits.
We also showed off our “guns” – we look fierce, don’t we?
Soon enough, the time had arrived for my third and final leg – 3:35 pm, to be exact.
My final leg was incredible. A total of 5.6 miles that was mainly along a greenbelt full of parks. There was even a golf course! I somehow managed to snap a picture as I was en route. I haven’t mastered the whole camera while running thing, but you get the idea.
A little less than a mile into the route, I heard Mama Bender, Bobby and my brother – they had come to cheer me on for the final leg, too! I’ve never had a race photo I’ve liked before, but this one says it all. I was exhausted, but so happy to see them.
The route weaves its way further toward Tempe, ultimately crossing under a major highway and ending up along Tempe Town Lake. The final turn takes you across the lake via a pedestria