Hosting friends!

Heya!

While Bryant watches Top Gear in the kitchen I thought I would peel myself away from Pinterest and post an update on the DittmerDigest.

Life is going along swimmingly at our cottage and we have even made several successful meals in our foreign kitchen. Bryant and I have been feeling so confident in our skills that we have invited over friends. But not just any friends, mind you, English friends. Well, Stella is technically Welsh, I think, but that's getting a bit technical.

The young pals from Church we always sit with at our Freedom in Christ course are coming over tomorrow for a Chili Dinner! Bryant has cooked up a spicy bean-less chili recipe and also a beany, boring version for those who like to taste their food without heartburn (me). You can find the recipes here and here although Bryant thought his wasn't spicy enough and I thought mine was rather bland. :( Super disappointing, Martha Stewart! Tomorrow when we heat it up for our guests I plan on adding some brown sugar, more chili powder and a bit more salt.

Boilermaker Tailgate Chili (spicy)

Martha Stewart's 30-Minute Chili (not spicy)

I have a recipe for a yummy cornbread casserole that a coworker gave me that I think you'll like, and hopefully our guests will, too. I don't have a photo because I haven't made it yet, but it's just a big yellow dish that tastes better than it looks. Most yellow foods are like that, aren't they?

• 14 oz can of whole kernel corn (drained)
• 14 oz can of cream style corn
• 1 box of 3.5 oz Jiffy corn muffin mix
• 1 stick (melted) salted butter
• 8 oz of sour cream

• Mix together & Bake in 9x13 pyrex dish @350ºF for 45 minutes or until lightly browned

In other endeavors, we have made another Coconut Pumpkin Pie for tomorrow and managed to find ice cream sandwiches to introduce to our English friends. Who knew that the UK didn't have these? Our friend confessed he thought it was ice cream between two slices of bread when he first heard of the idea. I am SO excited to show them that they are SO GOOD!!

...make that two coconut pumpkin pies.

Well, do you think our guests will enjoy their American meal and paper-wrapped dessert? We do plan on sending one of those pies home with them, by the way. If they like it well enough they shouldn't go home hungry!

Minnesota State Fair 2011

We love the Minnesota State Fair! I think it's a safe bet that we were really excited to go this year more than any other because we knew we wouldn't be able to go again for another three years. We pulled out all the stops in our excitement: chose two days we were going to go, downloaded the iPhone app, scoped out the new foods, and bought our admission tickets in advance.

That iPhone app helped make this the best State Fair yet. it gave us our GPS location and told us what foods were nearby and we could even filter foods from the bargain book and the new 2011 food options. We didn't even have to plot out a course for activities or their timing throughout the day because a handy schedule of all of the events were conveniently organized at our fingertips.

The first day we met up with my parents, my aunt, my sister Sarah, and my brother Caleb. It was on Saturday, August 27 and Bryant, Sarah and I got there at 7:30am and B and I ended up being there for 14 hours. We were a little of tired at the end of that day. :)

We took several snapshots of the food and fun things we saw so I'll show you some here!

DAY ONE

Bryant and I took the city bus and met Sarah there at 7:30 for breakfast because the SF bus routes begin at 8am. We had always wanted to have breakfast at the fair! Here is Sarah with the blue ribbon bargain book that gave us some good deals. We had pancakes and coffee at the Lunch Box.

Before we went to the Lunch Box Sarah and I were pumped to try the new Breakfast Lollipop at Axel's. It was a sausage patty dipped in corn meal, fried and finished off with syrup. It was yummy.

The 27th was 4H day! We got to see kids show their animals and the most adorable prize went to all the kids showing their rabbits! It was so cute!

OK, the lambs look funny when they're in their "pajamas" for the evening so I had to get a picture of this one. He sure took a liking to Bryant. :)

This was lunch time. I had a new food-- a Pretzel-wrapped hot dog. It was pretty good! A bit salty for my taste, but that is the best part of going to the fair with a fun group--you all get to taste the stuff and share! Sarah was eating cheese curds here (classic!) 

Deep-fried candy bars are not new to us, but we still revel in their amazingness. These workers in the booth were from Iowa and were fun to talk to. The fried oreos are my fave.

Sarah needed to try a new kind so she got the fried snickers bar.

I love how we were on the hunt for dessert right after our lunch. A big part of the fair for us really is experiencing food so we were all pumped that Caleb wanted to get deep-fried cheese cake. Caleb was so excited he took a bite before I had time to snap a photo.

Up on Machinery Hill was the GIANT SING ALONG! This was a super fun idea! We loved getting up there and singing songs we really didn't know (I'd like to Teach the World to Sing).

Dinner time! This is my Aunt Ellen who joined us that afternoon. We all went to the Texas Steak House on Machinery Hill and Ellen had the potato-curl-wrapped foot-long hot-dog (or something like that) while wearing a really clever hat from Gander Mountain. I had a phenomenal bargain-book meal: Texas Dinner on a Stick! (I thought this was original until I realized it was just a kebab...see the below story about a deep fried pie) but hey, it's the state fair! So it's BETTER! Seriously, though... the dry rub on the steak... and the tender potatoes... and the sweet bell peppers... oh my gosh my mouth is watering...

DAY TWO

Just Bryant and me. This was our day to get everything we missed the first day. Beginning with: deep fried apple pie. Also thought to be a deliciously original idea... until you get it and realize it isn't original idea at all and McDonald's has been serving these 2/$.99 for years. BUT NOT AT THE STATE FAIR with CINNAMON ICE CREAM! It really was a treat, despite that realization......... okwhatsnext????

I'll tell you what's next! My mom bought two tickets for roasted corn on Saturday but only used one, so we got a free ear of the sweetest corn I've ever tasted. Bryant was pretty excited too. :)

A lot went on between the last photo and this one, but I don't have photos of all of it. However, this was certainly delicious documentation of a new food ala stick MNSF 2011: deep fried cookie dough! It was ooey gooey amazeballs of cookie dough.

In honor of George Michal Bluth and Arrested Development we bought a chocolate-covered banana (with a coupon from the bargain book). There's always money in the banana stand.

Finally, I got a fun t-shirt to remember the best state fair yet, also purchased with a coupon. "I Like You" was the best vendor at the fair, in my opinion. Fun, unique, and local! I wore this shirt yesterday. :)

Other favorites, not caught on camera:

- People Watching (entertainment in itself!)

- Learning about farms, animals, and agriculture. The milking demonstration was so fascinating! 

- Participating in all the traditions. Sweet Martha's Cookies, the 2:00 parade & Miracle of Birth Center

- The old fashioned photo booth

- Ye Old Mill (first time!)

Unexpected Good Stuff.

Yesterday afternoon when Bryant got off work we sat around the house doing nothing very constructive. I did manage to look through thousands of photos and swoon over our wedding day all over again (you can too, right here) but stuff like that usually doesn't count as being productive.

Before the afternoon moved into evening we forced ourselves out of the apartment and walked to a yard sale (bust), drove to a lampshade shop (closed--bust), walked to an antique store (expensive--bu$t), and then to Dairy Queen (major success!). Because Bryant works today we went to Bethlehem Baptist in downtown Minneapolis for church where John Piper was at the pulpit after 7 weeks of writing leave/vacation. I don't think Bryant and I have seen him preach since before we started dating in 2009, so it was nice to hear truth spoken through him again while sitting next to my spouse.

After church I am pretty sure we sat in the air-conditioned car for a good 20 minutes before deciding what do to for dinner. A few weeks ago Bryant won a contest through Facebook from South of Canada where he received a $25 gift card for the Loop Bar so we figured that since we were in Mpls we might as well head over there. This took such a long time to decide because although I love the Twin Cities, I don't like its night life. I was fearful that a Saturday night around the North Loop would be loud, cramped, and uncomfortable. Setting my premonitions aside, we decided to go anyway. Surprisingly, we got to sit outside at sidewalk seating where it was quieter and warmer (yeah, totally freezing inside) and the food was super yummy! We splurged and each got a locally-brewed beer. We enjoyed those while watching people walk by and we even saw Mark Rosen with his family--Minnesota celebrity sighting!

All of these unexpected good things happened to us and to top it all off we learned that our gift card was actually worth $65 instead of $25! It sounds like we have to return to the Loop before we leave! When we learned that Bryant just sat back with a grin on his face and said, "Gosh, sometimes I just feel so... lucky." Unexpected good stuff is awesome. :)

July is almost over!

Today is the "We've been married for 2-months" day! Wow, time has certainly gone by quickly. I cannot believe that July is almost over. We have so many things yet to do, people to see, places to visit! This may sound kind of depressing, but we have kind of created a "bucket list" of things to do before we move.

See Family in WI
See Family in IA
Go to a Twins Game in MN
Go to a Brewers Game in WI
Fly to Seattle to see Dave Matthews Band in Concert
Visit my sister in Washington state
Go to Wisconsin Dells
Make a headboard for our bed
Go to the MN State Fair
Visit Friends in Cook one more time
Visit a dozen other friends we will miss a TON

Not to mention all of the necessary things that have to get done before we leave:

Apply for a visa
Arrange a contract with the movers
Close cell phone account
Cancel internet (and other) services
Sell two cars
Forward our mail
Clean and store my wedding gown

... and we leave in less than two months! I am not overwhelmed (yet) but just looking at the long list of things, and I know this is not exhaustive, does make me a bit sad. A trip to the Dells and a DIY headboard is probably not going to happen.

We continue to have fun and take each day as it comes. Tonight we utilized a free appetizer from Buca di Beppo for joining their eClub! We got the cheesy bread florentine which normally costs $12.95 and we also received a free lunch-sized slice of lasagna for National Lasagna Day! All of that with the small pasta dish means TONS of leftovers for the next two meals, as Bryant showcased here:

In other news, the ceiling in the sunroom is all fixed! The painter was in last week and fixed her right up:

 

The weather is still really warm and we are excited to see my little sister this weekend! Garage Sale shopping? Mall of America? Como Zoo? So many possibilities (that aren't even on the bucket list!)