Beer Brats

One of my most famous recipes! I usually use Johnsonville Stadium Brats, but pretty much any brat will do.

The Recipe:

  1. Pour 1 can of light cheap beer and 1 can of water in a pan for every 2 brats
  2. Boil the brats and beer/water mix for about 10 minutes
  3. Grill up the brats
  4. Serve with ketchup, mustard, diced onions, and pickle slice
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The Daily Grind for 9/15/06

Lori and I had another group and private dance session. We are starting to get into some complicated Salsa and Merengue steps. It gets confusing with all the turns and bits of flare. We had fun, but we were rushed due to the early start time.

I finally got rid of the brown color scheme and developed this maize and blue one based on the University of Michigan colors. Thanks to Kelly for her yeah’s and nay’s while I tweaked the colors.

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The Daily Grind for 9/14/06

Lori and I had our first Arthur Murray party tonight. We showed up about 15 minutes late and things were in full swing (actually full Salsa). they were celebrating Mexican Independance Day, so there was a Mexican flag, some streamers, and a table of spicy dips. Most of the dances were of the Latin type: Merengue, Salsa, Cha-Cha. Each of the instructors welcomed us at some point in the evening and most of them dragged us to a “safe corner” and had us Box-Step. We were doing very well with our three Box Step moves by the end of the night. A random student even started teaching me to Salsa. I did alright until she started moving her arms and I told her, “Whoa, too many body parts moving!” We mostly watched the other students to see where our lessons could lead, and had a lot more fun than we thought we would.

Ben, you are a genius!

The instructors used a bit of reverse psychology at the first party. They told us that we wouldn’t have to dance if we didn’t want to, and that if we did decide to dance to only do the Box Step. Of course, this is to encourage frightened students to attend the party (Hey! We don’t even have to dance! We can just watch!). Once we got there, all of the instructors had us dance, but a little ways away from the main floor. Also, telling us to only do the Box Step will make us defy their advice and get us out there for a couple of the other dances we have learned. Although the ruse did not slip by me, I think it’s an excellent technique to get new students (especially wary husbands) to the party and dancing.

 

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Chicken Ceasar Salad

For some reason, people seems to like my cooking, and it seems to be somewhat of a lost art among my generation. The meals I make at home are (very) rarely made-from-scratch, but they are never unmodified frozen or box meals. So I’m going to start a new category today called, “Ben’s Famous Recipes,” and post the process whenever I cook up some grub. We’ll start with the Chicken Ceasar Salad I made for dinner tonight.

The Recipe:

  1. Marinade un-frozen chicken breasts in Zesty Italian dressing for at least an hour
  2. Grill up the chicken breasts
  3. Make up a bag-o-salad of the Ceasar variety (available at most grocery stores)
  4. Add carrots (because I like carrots)
  5. Add grape tomatoes (because Lori likes tomatoes, and I will actually eat the grape-type)
  6. Cut the grilled chicken into strips and place on the salad

The Result:

  • It didn’t take long to make and it turned out quite tasty and well-portioned.
  • The longer the chicken marinades (up to 48 hours in the fridge), the better it gets.
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The Daily Grind for 9/13/06

Tonight was the complimentary free night of bowling for my Wednesday bowling league at Hudsonville Lanes. Our team was the only one that showed up, but we had a good time. I rolled 189, 199, 212 and finished with five strikes in a row to beat Matt by six pins for totals. Davey started the night with a 278 and Gary whipped us all (as usual) with a 726 series.

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