Turquoise Thursday: Brahmin Handbags

In 2011 I wrote a blog post with this same name. Back then Brahmin had an amazing collection of lighter turquoise bags. Now, as you can see below, they have added some vivid turquoise to their collection.

This is definitely a bold statement piece. This handbag is from Brahmin's Melbourne Collection and some in lots of other more subtle colors if turquoise isn't your thing. 

Sometimes you only need a little turquoise like this Alexis Clutch.

This turquoise crossover bag also comes in a hot pink. 

Happy Turquoise Thursday! We are getting more rain today, which is great for our grass, but not great for planting corn and soybeans. The Boy is starting to get a little anxious. 

Hunk of Meat Monday: Jalapeño Popper Pastries

This weekend we had a few friends over to watch the Kentucky Derby. The Boy made his first Mint Julep ever, which if you like whiskey you'll like, if you don't don't bother trying them. The food portion of our evening took on a much more Cinco De Mayo feeling including my Baked Tacos and a new recipe Jalapeno Popper Pastries, which I'll definitely be making again. 

I found the original recipe on Pinterest from Lady Behind the Curtain. She put hers on popsicle sticks. Here is my recipe below with a couple of suggestions. 

Ingredients

Pre Made Pie Crust Dough - 2 sheets (usually there are 2 sheets in a box)

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

2 tablespoons picked jalapeños, chopped

1 table spoon pickled jalapeno juice

6 bacon slices, cooked and chopped (I didn't have any bacon on hand so I used those precooked bacon pieces and did 1/2 cup. They were great this way, but I think would be better with real bacon.)

1 egg

salt and pepper

2-1/4 to 3 inch biscuit cutter

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside. 

Mix together cream cheese, jalapeno jucie, jalapenos and bacon until cream. I think you can best control the hotness of this dish with the jalapeno juice. Add a little more if you like hotter, take away if you don't like as much heat. I would stay as is these are mild to medium hot. 

On a lightly floured surface lay out your pie crust and roll out any edges if necessary. Using your biscuit cutter cut out as many circles as you can. Mine was probably around the 2-1/4 inch size and I was able to get 26 circles out of my two pie crusts to make 12 pastries. 

Place half of the circles on the cookie sheet, and spoon in about a tablespoon of mixture. Mix up your eggs with a tablespoon of water. Using your finger dab the wash around the outside of the circle. Place your other circle on top of the mixture and using your finger to gently press together the two pieces of dough. 

Use a pastry brush to brush egg wash onto pastry, sprinkle with salt and pepper. I like the course ground pepper. Using a sharp knife cut a little slit in the top to make an air vent. 

Bake for 23 minutes, let cool and serve! 

You'll definitely want to serve these at your next get together or they would make a great side to some grilled steaks or hamburgers. 

More more Hunk of Meat Monday recipes visit the Beyer Beware Blog and link up. 

Five Guys and Raspberry Coke

I love burgers, which is a good thing. This month is National Beef month so I'll have even more reasons to grab a burger. I have blogged about my love of Five Guys Burgers before but now there is even another reason to visit them... Raspberry Coke!

I was so excited about my Raspberry Coke discovery that I am now just noticing that machine had Coke with Lime. 

Yes, you heard right. Forget about vanilla and cherry it is time to grab a Raspberry Coke. During our hours of Food Network watching the Boy and once watched a show about the history of Coke. During the show it featured something called the Coca-Cola Freestyle. This single machine contains every Coke product that exists and some unexpected twists like Raspberry Coke.

Now, I'll admit when I saw Raspberry Coke I was excited, but nervous. So I only put a little bit in my cup, and it was pretty sweet. So I decided that half a cup of regular Coke and half a cup of Raspberry Coke would be the perfect combo - and it was.

(If you click here you can find the closest Coca-Cola Freestyle to you.)

Nothing washes down a juicy burger like a Raspberry Coke! 

Have you ever heard of February 82nd?

We are lucky. No snow here, yet. Not a very pretty day though for our friends from Australia to be making a visit.

What's that smell

On April Fool's Day the Calgary Stampede played a little trick via their Facebook page.

In our ongoing efforts to create a stronger bond between urban and rural Alberta, the Calgary Stampede will begin our new Rural Scent Program (RSP) this week.
Over the past year, the Stampede has been working with university researchers to perfect a series of 12 authentic fragrances that capture the essence of southern Alberta agriculture operations.
On the first Thursday of each month the Stampede will fog one of the scents from high atop the Grandstand. And Calgarians will be transported to the farm.

Depending on wind and weather conditions we expect residents from Varsity to Lynnwood and Lakeview to Temple to enjoy the tempting scents. On a good day the effect of RSP may reach the airport – creating an authentic western welcome for tourists and those southern Albertans returning home.

At first I thought this sounded pretty cool. Yes, not all smells from the farm are ideal. Manure smells. There is no getting around it. But fresh cut hay, a newly plowed field, silage (a wet grain/hay mixture we feed to cattle), a newly opened bag of mineral are amazing smells. Yes, I can show you through pictures and video what the farm looks and sounds like but it is hard to capture the smell through this blog.

I began to read through the list of smells the Calgary Stampede would be using in their Rural Scent Program. They included damp straw, ripe farm hand, barn manure and turkey farm among others. Wait a minute if I live on a farm and am not entirely found of these smells why would I want to force people living in urban areas to deal with them. Oh wait - April Fools.

Maybe having this scent technology wouldn't be so bad. That way I could share all the wonderful farm smells with you to compensate with those sometimes not too pleasant scents that like to drift in the wind.