Last Chicken Post For Awhile aka How To Make Some Pretty Awesome Chicken Salad.........

I'm pretty sure that one of the reasons I am married today is because every now and then I take some time to rip apart a rotisserie chicken and make this delicious chicken salad for my husband. That sentence sounds kind of gross. I don't actually rip apart the chicken. I just tear pieces of the breast meat into small bits. I prefer to make this on New Years Day (my husband's Birthday) or on Sundays b/c Harris Teeter sells cooked rotisserie chickens for like $4 dollars (something like that) a piece. (This week I actually used regular chicken breasts and cooked them, ya know b/c of that HT chicken sale I keep talking about.)

Good Chicken Salad (adapted from a recipe that my mom got from somewhere)

-1 Rotisserie chicken (or a couple cooked chicken breasts)
-chopped celery (include some leaves, they add flavor)
-toasted almond slithers (you can buy a bag of almonds and toast them in a little butter or oil over the stove, get extra, I always, always burn the first round)
-dried cranberries
-mayo
-honey
-salt and pepper

Now I don't ever measure this exactly. But the idea is to get a bunch of chicken in a bowl. Then add however much of celery, cranberries and almonds that you like and then coat that with a honey mayo mixture. I would say about 2 parts mayo to 1 part honey. I mix these two things together until I like how it tastes. Also I like sweet stuff. Some people don't like sweet stuff that is traditionally savory (again, Beezus5, I am looking at you). So mix the honey and mayo together until you like the taste and then mix it in to everything else. Alter the amount depending on how "dressingy" you want you chicken salad to be. Add some S&P for extra flavoring.

So anyway, if you've been dating your boyfriend for like 3 years and he enjoys sweet savory stuff, make him this chicken salad and you are on the road to a happy marriage. Seriously. Or if you are single and ready to mingle go ahead and get some Tupperware and head on out to the bar with this. Or if you not in the market for a husband or are already taken just go ahead and take this to your next work function and or Easter Lunch.

****Disclaimer******-this stuff doesn't work on people who don't like "sweet" chicken salad

Do you like chicken salad?

Do you like sweet chicken salad?
Do you have a recipe that made your boyfriend propose to you?

Danger! Garlic Overload.

So my husband goes out of town a few times a month for work and when he goes out I like to experiment with food. So the other night I decided to try to make some garlic salad dressing because I had some that was really good at a party I went to. I think I may have slightly overdone it with the garlic but it was still pretty good. Tangy. Maybe a little too tangy. But still. Tangy. So if you are brave and if you are home alone you might want to try this. You will probably smell like garlic for hours though so seriously wait until your husband, boyfriend, roommate or special friend goes out of town. If you live alone, you are good to go. Garlic is good for you, right?

Super Garlicky Salad Dressing (makes about 4 servings)

1 clove garlic

1 squirt mustard

2 tablespoons oil

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

2 teaspoons sugar

a little salt

Wisk it all together and toss with your favorite Salad ingredients.

I also decided that for some reason radishes would be amazing in a salad. They were ok. I think I like them better when they are sliced super thin. The mushrooms and peas were good on the salad though. Frozen peas are my friend. I like to add them into all sorts of stuff. Regular Salad, Pasta Salad, Curry Dishes, Pastas, etc.

So do you like to get crazy when your roommate/boyfriend/husband is out of town?

What do you do?

How do you feel about garlic? Radishes?

Oh Yeah, How To Actually Throw the Murder Mystery Party

So I showed you how to decorate and I showed you how to make a costume but I didn't actually show you how to throw the murder mystery party. My husband volunteered to be in charge since he had actually been to one of these before. We got our party from this website. But I think there are other ones like it out there.

How to Throw a Murder Mystery Party

1-MOST IMPORTANT STEP. WATCH THIS EPISODE OF SAVED BY THE BELL AND THIS EPISODE OF THE OFFICE. THEY ARE BOTH INVALUABLE.
2-Send out an Evite to approximately 10-20 people stating that there will be a murder mystery party and that you need to know if they can come before assigning roles. Give the date and time and link to a website about murder mysteries.
3-Quickly re-send the evite when you realized you listed the wrong date for the party.
4-Send the invitees updates three to four times a day with things that you forgot to put on the original evite and then demand that they RSVP by a certain date.
5-Be sure to mention that if they RSVP and then do not show, they will be dead to you.
6-Have your husband (who is in charge of the murder mystery party) assign roles. Try to determine which of your girl friends will be the least likely to get mad at you for assigning them a male part due to the fact that 10 girls want to participate and only 4 guys.
7-Husband or leader emails the info on roles to everyone so that they have about a week to work on costumes.
8-Husband does a bunch of secret stuff involving secret files, lots of printed paper, sticky notes, etc. He finds it hilarious when your friends refuse to tell you their characters b/c he told them not to tell anyone, specifically you.
9-Work on Costumes and Decor
10-Have everyone agree to bring food or booze.
11-Have the party. The leader will have everything in the packet necessary to throw the party. Essentially when the guests get there they will be given a packet telling them how to act. One person will have a packet that says that they get murdered. Then mingling and eating happens. THEN THERE IS A MURDER! Everyone gets a second packet telling them how to act. One person is given a packet that says they are the murderer. More mingling and evidence is presented and then everyone guesses who the murderer is and votes on best dressed and best acting. Murderer is revealed and taken away, preferably in cuffs. Prizes are given. And then everyone eats, drinks and smokes cigars. Cigars are optional.

According to our un-scientific word of mouth poll, everyone had a great time and we'll proably do this again. Should we go cruise, western, pirate or Vegas theme next time?

How to Make Your Home into a Roaring Twenties Style Juice Joint...

As I have mentioned, I participated in a 20's themed Murder Mystery Party this weekend. My friend $hanzie hosted it at her house. While she was not in charge of the actual murder mystery story line and game, she was in charge of transforming her house into a Juice Joint, which is apparently a Twenties Style Bar. Now while she did not get the Live Jazz band or Fog Machine (as was suggested), I think she did a great job.

From $hanzie herself...
A How To Guide for Turning your House into a Jumpin’ Speakeasy from 1920. Things to Purchase: Everyone needs to know that as hard as it may be to believe, the Dollar Store is an excellent resource for parties. Here is a list of things I purchased at the local Dollar Store...
Plates,napkins, plastic utensils
Black tablecloths
Candles and candle holders for both my mantle and as centerpieces for the tables

Party trays for food

Then of course there were a few items purchased at Party City...

Gold fringe outlining my stairs to give the feeling of a stage

Plastic martini glasses and plastic cups (I know I used a lot of plastic and that is not super environmentally friendly but I had enough dishes to clean from cooking as it is)

Hobby Lobby...

Feathers- feathers are key but are a little pricey- I just bought a few and featured them on the mantle in a vase that I filled with wine corks. I usually have a vase filled with wine corks sans feathers anyway.
And from ebay, I purchased The Greatest Hits of the 20s for $4.95. it was great background music when the boys turned down the basketball game.

As well as, candy cigarettes to place around the party. (JMJE say-I think shanzie got these from the Internet as apparently stores don't sale them b/c it makes smoking seem "cool")

Ok, the rest of the things used to decorate were just found on the Internet, in other parts of my house, or at Tiffany’s place. I used the tablecloths to cover my end tables and put those in the middle of the room with dining room chairs around them to give it a lounge/restaurant feel instead of living room feel. We took a few pictures down and replaced them with simple black and white pics of Chicago and various speakeasies from the 20s. I didn’t print anything out on photo paper, just normal white paper and we taped them up to the walls. I found pics of labels under google images of Bath Tub Gin (popular thing in the 20s since gin and most other drinks were kept cold in bathtubs) and printed them out and taped them to wine bottles around my house. And I found an awesome “this thread is closed due to Prohibition” picture of a sign on the Internet and printed that out for my front door. Everything else was sort of just found- some old ash trays courtesy of B’s granny (JMJE says-those were Gammy's not Granny's), poker chips, decks of cards, etc.

Then Curly T or Tiffy as she is called by $hanzie made this awesome sign......

As far as the sign goes...It was actually an old sign from my tutoring place (academic development services). I just attached (with ghetto push pins) some fabric to cover up that writing. "The Juice Joint" was hand drawn onto some poster board and again attached by push pins. Doesn't really seem all that exciting/impressive when the process is described.

That is wrong T. I thought the sign looked awesome. The party would have failed with out it and the 20 food dishes $hanzie made. Overall they did a great work on the decor and it really completed the party. I especially liked when the police sirens started blaring right after the "murder" happened. $hanzie says it was just an amazing coincidence but I'm not so sure.

Rosie Marie, Owner of the Juice Joint takes one giant final drink as the party comes to an end!

Miss Cindy Butt-Cigarette Girl Extraordinaire

Well the Murder Mystery Party happened last night and it was awesome. I'm going to do a couple posts about how we made it happen but first I'd like to talk about my proudest achievement... my costume. I was assigned the character of Cindy Butt-Cigarette Girl Extraordinaire. I found these costumes online. But you know I like making stuff. So I thought I'd give it a shot. First off I went shopping at Target where I found a ruffly skirt in the teen department. I decided that I'd make shirt to go with it so I bought some ribbon, fabric and fringe and just sort of started sewing stuff together with no real plan. I ended up with a fairly simple idea. Here is my diagram of what I did.

The top is a long rectangle of silky fabric that goes all the way around my body (plus extra). I sewed two pieces of ribbon to the top to make halter straps that tie around my neck and two other pieces of ribbon to the sides that would tie in the back. The second picture is how it would look tied. I sewed fringe (the gray stuff) all across the top of the shirt to the bottom. But only on the front.

I wore the shirt and skirt together and added a blazer I had from the Gap. Since I was a cigarette sales rep at the Juice Joint, I thought I should look a little professional. I added black hose and some high heels and then the thing that I think really finished off the costume....The black wig. I ordered this wig online last week and it ended up being perfect. I added some bright red lipstick and black eyeliner. Then of course I had to have a cigarette box. I bought a basket on sale from Michael's and added candy cigarettes and some cigars my husband coerced me in to buying and then tied a ribbon on both sides so I could put it around my neck. Then I added some left over fringe from my shirt to some earrings for a finishing touch. The glue was still drying as we drove to the party.

And ladies and gentleman here it is...the finished product. Miss. Cindy Butt...who as it turned out is actually not that nice of a person or such a great saleswoman.

Uh, and yeah, guess who tied for the best costume prize? Thats right Miss Cindy Butt (who tied with Curly T's amazing rendition of a female Chief of Police). This is perhaps one of my greatest achievements in crafting thus far. I'd like to thank my husband for his unwavering support and Hobie for only running across the fabric like 7 times while I was sewing it.

But honestly everyone did an amazing job with their costumes. I had no idea that people would go all out for this but they did and it was awesome. Special shout outs to Beezus5 who cross-dressed for us as Mayor Biggs due to our lack of dude participation, B for his organizational, leadership and printing skills, and $hanzie for power hostessing.

Cindy and Private Investigator Pinkerton. I think they may actually end up together after everyone gets over the whole Murder situation.

Do you like my costume? Should I dye my hair black and get a bob cut? Do you think the PI and the Cigarette girl will end up together in the end?
Tomorrow I'll get with $hanzie and Curly T on how you turn a regular home in to a Juice Joint!

Office Thursday...My Baby Shower Continues with PB & J Cupcakes

PB and J for PB and J!!!!
Did you watch my suggested video yesterday? If not, this post may not make sense. Oh well. Continuing with my baby shower for JAM (that's Jim and Pam of The Office, guys), I decided that the next step would be Refreshments! What would JAM like served at their baby shower? Then all the sudden it hit me. Cupcakes with Jam in them. Then it hit me even harder... Peanut Butter and Jelly cupcakes. PB and J. Pam Beesly and Jim. It's not a waste after all, Kevin.*

So, yes, to some people, PB and J cupcakes might sound gross. But actually they are slightly amazing. I found this recipe on the line and decided to go for it. I used my amazing tool from the other day to insert raspberry seedless jam in after the cakes had cooled. And then I made this peanut butter frosting. Good stuff. I just substituted creamy peanut butter for the crunchy.

OK, now on to the final part of my JAM baby shower....Games. Well technically just one game. And since it will just be my husband and me, we will NOT be decorating onesies or tasting baby food. Instead it will be an intense, high stakes game...winner take all. There is only one question.....

What is the sex of the JAM baby? And since B thinks I have secret Internet knowledge (which I do not) of gender I let him choose first and.....

B is saying GIRL.
And therefore I will be taking BOY.

If B is the Winner then I will make him a t-shirt of his choosing. If I'm the winner then B will buy me a "going out" shirt of his/my joint choosing (as he says I need something more exciting to wear out). B, if you agree to this please sign and date the form I left on your bedside table (I'm not letting this end like our 24 Tony Almeida dead or alive bet circa 2006).

Do my cupcakes look good?
Are you excited about the JAM baby?
Boy or Girl?

Do you think they will name it after me since I'm hosting their shower?

What is one of your favorite JAM moments**?

*Kevin's PB&J quote from the episode Fun Run when he is trying to determine if Jim and Pam are a couple. "Oh well, if they aren't together now, then they probably never will be. I thought they'd be good together, like PB&J. Pam Beasley and Jim. What a waste. What - A - Waste!"

**My fave is from The Job when it flashes back to Jim and Pam on the beach....and they said....
Jim: The real reason that I went to Stamford... was because... I wanted to be... not here.
Pam: I know.
Jim: And even though... I came back, I just, I feel like I've never really... come back.
Pam: Well, I wish you would.

Congrats JAM!***

***I know they aren't real people and that I'm still a big dork.

My Favorite Thing I Made This Weekend aka Hobie T-Shirt

I have a craft problem. As in I like to start a bunch of different crafts all at the same time and not finish them all. This weekend along with making stuff out of buttons and baking, I also made this lovely t-shirt for my husband. It was a semi-experimental project to see if the paper I was using actually worked. I know what you are thinking....why did I make a bright yellow t-shirt with a picture of a poodle on it for my husband? Well I had to use a light colored t-shirt for the transfer paper I was using and I thought he would prefer yellow to pink. And why did I put a picture of a poodle on there? Well that is a picture of his best friend, Hobie. Who doesn't want a t-shirt with a picture of their best friend on it?

Do you think this t-shirt is?