Saturday, October 21, 2006

Celebrations!

I actually did not blog yesterday, and I was kicking myself for it. I started blogging for the creative writer buried somewhere inside of me, and I try to do it every day. Unfortunately, I think I was a member of corporate America for way too long. I forget that there’s no one around to give me a negative annual review if I miss a day of blogging. (At least I hope not.)

Last night, I took a much-needed break and went out with Amy and Heather. We went to Johnny Carino’s, where I enjoyed a few Bellinis, to celebrate Heather’s 30th birthday. I used to be great at getting awesome birthday gifts for people. But this week, I don’t think my brain was functioning properly due to lack of sleep. I got Heather a box of picture frames. A big box with 10 picture frames. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Heather and BL just got married and they have tons of photos, so it’s a functional gift. Right? Okay, fine. I’m slipping. I will have to work on my gift-giving powers before Christmas. I knew I was in trouble when she unwrapped it and thought there was something else in the box (because surely I didn’t get her a box of picture frames). Oh, but I did. I just sunk down in my chair and nursed my second Bellini at that point.

Now, to my blog celebration. My goal was to break into the top 100,000 at Technorati by the end of the year. I thought that was a daunting task since I started out at 542,000. So, I went to Technorati yesterday to do my weekly check. I am 33,000. Oh yeah! I rock! I still don’t see my parade anywhere! Jeez, what is up with that? No parade when I got bestest blog, and no parade for being 33,000 at Technorati! Oh well, I shall have another Bellini and celebrate.

I actually woke up this morning to make bread, because honestly, I need more carbs. Plus, it’s raining. For some reason, I want to bake when it’s raining. I am making beer bread. My husband walked into the kitchen as I was popping open a bottle of beer at 8 a.m. He looked slightly worried. I think he’s concerned that more and more of my recipes take alcohol. The other day, I made this awesome ravioli lasagna recipe that I got from Rachael Ray. It took 1 cup of red wine. What was I supposed to do with the rest of the bottle? You can’t have left over wine, right? So, I drank that. At least I wasn’t sipping the beer at 8 a.m. this morning.

Tonight, the celebration continues. We are going to a party. An actual real-life adult party at Eric’s friend’s. They said children are welcome, so we’re bringing the kids. They said this last time, and we were the only ones who brought our kids, but considering I have no family here and no one to watch my children, everyone can deal. I am not missing a party!

Now, enjoy my simple, but extremely yummy recipe for beer bread:

3 cups self-rising flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 12 oz. bottle beer (whatever you like - I use Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat)

Mix together and pour into a greased (or sprayed with Pam) 9x5 bread pan. Batter will be very sticky. Top with ½ stick of melted butter. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes. Let set 10 minutes in pan and then invert onto cooling rack. Best when served warm or toasted topped with butter or cheese spread. Yum-o!!

8 comments:

Mo and The Purries said...

I love beer bread...
I also love the image of Eric walking in on you popping a cold one at 8am!!!
Great post ~
Enjoy the party!

Scribbit said...

Beer bread, I've never heard of that. But breads are something I can't live without, the Atkins thing would never work on me.

Mo and The Purries said...

Okay, I've got technical technorati questions for you.
I clicked on your technorati button and it took me to their site.
I'd never been before.
I signed up, and I'm ranked 35,054.
Does this mean I'm 35k from the top of their 57 million blogs, or 35k from the bottom? I assume 35 thousand from the top... but they could TELL you that somewhere on their site, instead of letting you just stew...

but get this: because my cat Daphne is part of Thursday 13 and I have their blogroll in my sidebar, she actually ranks in at 34,586! WTF, my cat is more popular than me by 468 points???

Irene said...

I could do with those picture frames. I have too many photos lying buried in a box in my closet. Sigh!

Bobby Griffin said...

Neila...I will tell you a secret. If you remember correctly, I chose you for "Bestest Blog of the Day" on a Premium Saturday. The next Monday was to be Morgen's first week guest blogging for me. Due to a fundamental lack of communication, both Morgen and I chose you and wrote up a review. So, your blog is the only one to have 2 reviews written for it. Morgen is a nice guy though and wanted to be on my good side, so he picked a new blog so we could use mine. But, they were actually very similar in content. Now, that's parade worthy!

Also, for whatever reason, Technorati does not show my rank any more...the last time I saw it, sometime in July, I had just broken the 10K mark. 3 months later, I could be in the top 1K for all I know, but it doesn't show up. Let me know if you can fix it for me!

Unknown said...

That Bellini thing looks yummy! I love beer bread! my mom makes it with a little shredded cheese sprinkled in it! yummy!

Sparky Duck said...

I must be missing somehow on the beer bread revolution since this is the 2nd recipe ive seen. Ill have to try it.

RR is always awesome

Matt said...

Congratulations on breaking the top 100k! I have no idea how technorati (sounds like some kind of government from the Terminator future) works but that sounds like a pretty big deal. I bet if you break the top 100 you'll at least get a t-shirt.