weekend recap, dinner and other whatnots...

This past weekend kept us pretty busy overall.  I worked Friday night and then got up nice and early to pick Tex up to head into Manhattan for the German Day parade.  Marc was marching in the parade, as he does every year.  The weather was perfect for walking around the city.  

Once we finished up at the parade, we walked across town to the hall where the Steuben association (German police officer's association) was hosting their parade after-party.  There was a group who came from Germany to participate in the parade and they came to the Steuben party for a while.  

Marc dancing

Graceful Gertie Marc had apparently had a few beers and was invited to dance around the room with a bunch of German guys in skirts and make-up.  Their clothes were funny, but they were really nice.  I took some other pictures during dance time, but they're all really blurry from all that shakin'...


Once the party was over, we went to a German restaurant that was relatively close to where I had parked the car.  We really wanted to go to Zum Stammtisch in Queens, but just knew that it would be really crowded.  Marc decided that he would prove just how German he is by ordering the Pigs Knuckles entree.  Yes, folks, it's just as appetizing as it sounds.

If you like fighting with cartilage and bone to get about 2 bites of pork, then by all means, dig in.  If you're like Marc and generally enjoy gigantic hearty portions, this is not the meal for you.  He said it was the first and last time he will ever order pigs knuckles.  I told him he should have ordered the Jaegerschnitzel like I did, because it was delicious.


We had to take Marc's car to the shop, so we've been operating with one vehicle.  I have been rearranging my schedule so he can use my car to take to work.  It's frustrating, but there's not a lot I can do about it right now.


Yesterday, I was in Marshall's and picked up some Caldrea cleaning products.  They are delicious smelling and use essential oils.  They're usually $9 or more per bottle, but at Marshall's, they were $4!! I bought dish soap, hand soap, and counter cleaner in their Plum-Nutmeg scent.  I now want to lick my counters.  It smells SO good.  The unfortunate thing is that this particular scent is now discontinued.  Luckily, I bought 2 of each.  I also got on Amazon to see if there were any vendors carrying this Caldrea scent and I found hand lotion and a candle in the Plum-Nutmeg.  I'm enjoying the fresh scent and they seem to work really well for cleaning as well.


I decided to bake and make dinner today since I'm stuck in the house with no means of escape without a car this week.  I made an Amaretto-cream cheese pound cake.

pre-heat oven to 325

all of the ingredients

cream the 3 cubes butter, 1 8oz pkg cream cheese, & 2 -3/4 cups of sugar until fluffy, then add 2 tbsp Almond Extract

add 3 cups of flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda and 6 eggs alternating flour, eggs, flour, eggs, flour.

pour batter into bundt pan

smooth the batter out and then lick the spatula!

bake at 325 for 1 hour 15 minutes

turn onto a plate and enjoy! It's AMAZING

Once the cake was done, I made dinner.  Tonight's menu was grilled pork chops with a dijon-shallot cream sauce, fried okra, and blackened broccoli...and sliced beets, because I'm still on that kick I mentioned before.

Yummy...fried okra.  Have to make it myself because I can't find it anywhere here in Yankee land!

the pork chops before topping with cream sauce and baking at 325 for 10 minutes

after baking

Bon Appetit!

Dinner was delicious, and this blog was long!  Sorry about that.  Hope you enjoy and if you make the cake, let me know.  You won't be disappointed, it's scrumptious!!


Hope y'all have a great rest-of-the-week!
Cheers,
Kelli