It Was An All-Star Week!!!!

Well if you are not a sports fan and don’t live in Cincinnati, then you may not even know what I am talking about 🙂 but for a year the city has been planning for Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game.

Let me say the city was crazy, I did go downtown a couple of days but if you didn’t get down there early to find a parking space, lot or garage it was nuts.  So to say the least I just drove around and then went back across the river 😛

But the Home Run Derby was exciting since Todd Frazier of the Cincinnati Reds won it this year!!!

All and all I think Cincinnati and Northern Ky. did an outstanding job hosting this years All-Star Game.

I did take some pictures, I have some here that friends took as well, but as I say it was an “All-Star Week”

There were are couple birthdays in our family and of course I made a few things, so check out my pictures and enjoy!!!

First of the birthdays was my little niece I made cupcakes 🙂

She likes presents and bubbles 🙂

Around town they made these mustaches statues here are few of them

here is the picture of all of them that they made, pretty cool 🙂

Here are few of my souvenirs

Buskin Bakery made the cookies got to love that!!

Here are some pictures of the Red Carpet Parade,
the players start at their hotel and end at the ball park, all on red carpet 🙂
Grand Marshall – Barry Larkin

 

Mr. Red and Gapper

 

Rosie Red

 

Some other mascots

Todd Frazier and his family

 

You can see on Todd’s hand the blisters from the Home Run Derby 🙂

 

Few other Players 🙂

Some of the city skyline and downtown

yes they had a zipline too

 

My All-Star Pizza, half spinach & garlic
other half was spinach, Gorgonzola cheese,
sliced almonds, sliced strawberries and
balsamic glaze…so so GOOD!!!

 

The other birthday was my Mommy!! 🙂

I made her cookies peanut butter with no flour 🙂

Dinner – Braised Short Ribs, butter noodles and carrots 🙂

Peach Ice Cream (I just scooped some out to take the picture)
she took the Ice Cream, cookies all home 🙂

And for actual dessert I made Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting 😛

I must say I agree is was an All-Star Week 🙂

My Birthday 2013

Well as I mentioned in my last post, this past week was my Birthday

(This came up when I signed into Google..SO COOL!!!)

and I had a little party this weekend celebrating along with  a friend who also had his Birthday this weekend

The day of my Birthday was great, spent some time with my folks and we had cake…I made this cake with bright food coloring…I loved it!!

Before we cut it

A slice

I love my Tye-Dye Cake

Then later that night I met up with a friend of mine and he took me out to dinner, we went to the “Blue Elephant”

and I had “Pad See Ew” and I ordered this only because  Miranti  from the blog “The High Heel Gourmet” post this recipe click here http://highheelgourmet.com/2013/04/18/pad-see-ew/ and I thought is sounded so good, that I would make it sometime 🙂

It was really good, I would definitely go back to this restaurant again for sure 😛

So Saturday the 14th was my party and I shared this party with my good friend Paul, we had food, drinks, cake and lots good times with a few friends 🙂

Oh and if you were wondering…Pinnacle Rainbow Sherbet Vodka mixed with Fruit Punch…is really good 😛

So here is how is went 🙂

Making my candle holders 

My candles

Little touches to my flatware holders

The cake – Which was made at one our stores,
by Linda she is awesome 🙂

The table

Outside on the deck

Some friends ready to eat

Sam’s says bring on the food 🙂

Okay Food is Ready, picture is kind of dark, but we had
BBQ Ribs, BBQ Chicken Legs, Apple Slaw, Bean Salad, Fresh Tomatoes, Caramelized onions on grilled Bread
my homemade Pickles, deviled eggs, and what is not in the picture is Paul’s Haluski 🙂

More Friends

Then we sang and had Cake

It was a great Birthday and I thank Paul for sharing with me and all my friends that made it
Abe, Laura and little Ben
Chris, Shannon, Sam and little Anna
Jason and Jamie
Danny, Joe, Monika and Michael Todd 🙂

And thanks to all you who took the time to read this, thank you for indulging me!!!

Herb Crusted……Prime Rib

Do you like Prime Rib?!?!?

My family does, I fixed it for my Mom’s birthday dinner and it was delicious 🙂

I think some people are scared to make one but they really are easy to do, you can ask your butcher to help you out with the right size you need.  Our butchers in the Remke bigg’s stores are outstanding and will give you all the help you need.

They will also cut the bone off if you want and tie it up, I like the bone left on, I feel this will give you more flavor and it really is simple to remove the bone.

With our bone my Mom took it and added it to her stock pot and made vegetable soup, the flavor from the bone and the meat made for some mighty tasty soup 🙂

For this Prime Rib I went to Penzeys Spices to get some enhancements 🙂  We have a store in our area and I pass it every week and just never go in, a co-worker of mine loves going in there and trying all kinds of their spices and seasonings, so I finally made in there 🙂  So check your local area for a store or you can shop them online too at http://www.penzeys.com/

I used the Fox Point Seasoning, this is a combination of salt, shallots, chives, garlic, onion and green peppercorns , I also used the Horseradish Dip seasonings this had ground horseradish, salt, onion powder, lemon peel, dill weed, black pepper and chive.

Thought these would make a great crust for the prime rib 🙂

Mix seasoning with black pepper and kosher salt

add just enough olive oil to make a paste, I just eyeballed it
but start with 1 tablespoon and go from there

when it looks like this

I decide to lay the meat on a bed of baby carrots and sliced onions 🙂

lay with bone side down, and crust the top, and you can rub some on the sides too

Roast in oven and you have dinner 🙂

Recipe

2 tbsp. heaping, Penzeys Fox Point seasonings
2 tbsp. heaping, Penzeys Horseradish Dip seasonings
1 tbsp. heaping, Ground Black Pepper
1/2 – 1 tbsp. kosher salt
1 – 2 tbsp. olive oil

3.50 – 5 lb. prime rib (if you have a bigger piece just make another batch of seasonings to cover)

Ask your butcher  to tie your prime rib, you can also have them detach the bone for you, but still tie the bone up with the meat.  If you did not, you can tie it yourself with butcher string, this is a good idea, it just holds it all together as it cooks.

In a small bowl add seasoning, salt and pepper, drizzle in oil mixing with your hand as you drizzle, only drizzle enough to make a paste, take the paste and make a crust on top of the beef and rub some onto the sides.

You can put the meat on a roasting rack, or make a bed of veggies to set it on, then you have some nice roasted veggies for your meal.

Roast in the oven at 400 degrees for 25 minutes then reduce oven to 325 degrees, cook until the internal temperature is *125(rare) – 130(med. rare)* degrees with a meat thermometer, this took about 45 mins. to an hour.  Remove from oven and place a tent of foil over top and let rest for at least 10 – 15 minutes.  

Take a pair of kitchen scissors or a sharp knife and cut the string off, if you kept the bone attached, take a very sharp knife and just follow the bone and slice it off, this is much easier with a smaller piece of meat (3-5 lb.), if you get a large piece I would have the butcher remove the bone and just tie up with the meat.

Slice and serve, your center pieces will be more rare to medium rare, as you move towards the outer edge the pieces will be medium, medium well and the outside piece being well done.  

***Note – even if you don’t like your meat rare or medium rare, remove from the oven once meat has reached 135 degrees, trust me!!
Your end pieces will still be tender, as for your center pieces, if you want them cook through a little more, just make an Au jus – take some of the beef juices from the roasting pan, add to a large skillet add a can or two of beef stock/broth, bring to a simmer, then add your slice of meat to the liquid cook 30 seconds to 1 minute each side.  You can serve some of this Au jus over the slices of meat as well.  

Some people like to serve a Horseradish sauce with this as well, just take some fresh prepared horseradish, add to a small bowl, add couple dollops of sour cream, mayo, a little cream or milk, stir and add until you get the flavor that you want.  (Consistency should be like a little looser than mayo)

ENJOY!!!