Lucky Streak Continues

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I think people who say, "I never win anything" either don't try hard enough or are just looking for some attention. That, or they are forgetful.

Lately, it seems most of my "wins" involve food. My most recent win, for example, is a strawberry cookbook from the California Strawberry Commission.

Because I'm a little bit obsessed with strawberries, one day I decided to "like" their page on Facebook. I've mentioned this before, but we get THE BEST, big, fat, juicy California strawberries at Costco. I just can't get enough! Anyway, all I had to do was comment on a post on their page to win. It only took a few seconds and a few tries and then:

California Strawberries...The winner of today's cookbook giveaway is Emily Marie Woolstenhulme Harper! We hope you enjoy the cookbook! Please send over your mailing address to info@calstrawberry.org.

And a week or two later, this showed up in my mailbox. I love cookbooks! I love pretty food pictures. I love strawberries. Man, I am so lucky!

I'll tell you what isn't lucky, though, thinking you are going to fly out of the Salt Lake airport on a Thursday morning at 8:30 am only to sit in the airport the entire day until 6:00 pm only to go home thinking your entire trip to South Carolina has been cancelled. Fortunately, by some luck, it worked out and we were able to arrive in SC a mere 22 hours after we were supposed to on Friday afternoon, but it wasn't without many tears and feelings of disappointment.

But back to the strawberries. Here are some recipes I've been hankering to try.

Chocolate-Strawberry Thumbprints

Strawberries-and-Cream Cheesecake

Strawberry-Shortcake Cookies

Too bad I'm on a strict eating regime and exercise schedule because I'm still trying to lose that blasted 5-7 lb weight gain from the half marathon. Obviously I need to do something different the next time I get the bright idea to run long distances.

So, for now, I'll eat my strawberries plain or with a little yogurt, thankyouverymuch!

Good luck trying to be lucky all! And do tell me if you make any of these recipes. I probably will eventually, because cookies don't make me fat, overeating does, so I'm being a tad dramatic here.

Party Party!

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I can't complain too much about this week. On Thursday, I got to meet Cosmo the Cougar during our grad celebration at work. We're number 1!

We were being such gawkers, so I decided we needed to take some pictures. I graduated 7 years ago and never took a picture with Cosmo, so dagnabit, I wanted a picture with Kitty!

Tight squeeze! My awesome, beautiful coworkers, Allison above and Emma below.


On Friday, we had some friends and family over for our "Take it to the Bowl" Mac & Cheese party. I didn't take the best pictures, but it was fun to have everyone over.


Thanks Noodles and Company! You should patronize their establishment because they have the best Asian dishes. I love all of them, especially the Thai Curry Soup that a former coworker of mine got me hooked on! (Thanks Cristina!) The American and Mediterranean dishes are good too (try the Pesto Cavatappi). No, I was not paid to say that; I said it because I genuinely love their food and because they provided the food for my party!

I love it when Hylan wears his BYU Sports and Dance Camps shirt. He graduated from the U and never looked back...because he married me! And I bleed blue! HA.

So does Allison, she and her husband, Eric went to the BYU baseball game after joining us.

Sorry I didn't get a picture of Lynn and Nick (and Nick's awesome beard). I still love you guys too!

Oh, and I was craving some of those Easter Egg Krispy Treats with M&M's inside. So I made them...with strawberry marshmallows, though I couldn't really taste much difference, but they were pink and pretty.

And Hylan just told me he hates Rice Krispy treats, "because they taste like Styrofoam." Well, I think he's crazy, so please leave the treats for me, Hylan, thanks.


C'mon, adorable, right?

We celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on April 13th. Hylan turned the big three uh-oh on February 26th and my parents were in town the first week of April, but alas, I have no pictures of any of those things. Just thought I'd mention them.

That's all.

No, I'm lucky!

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Seriously folks, I can't make this stuff up. When I say "you're lucky" in response to "thank you" instead of "you're welcome," (see post below) I should be saying, "I'm lucky!" A few weeks ago I got an email from Noodles & Company about their "Savory 16" contest. Since I love their restaurant, and since I like contests, I entered it, not really knowing what the prize was or how the contest even worked.

The contest was set up like the Sweet Sixteen bracket. To enter, you had to pick a team from a list that included such names as: Noodleheads, Ciabatta Buns, Crunchy Salads, Team Pesto, The Pennes, MMMeatballs, Team Cheesy, The Currys, etc. I tried not to think too much about it because my thought was that it would be better not to pick a name that sounded too clever because everyone would pick that team then. So I picked team "Hot Soups," generic enough and not too appealing, I thought to myself.

Turns out the method behind my madness didn't really matter because shortly thereafter I received an email informing me that each Noodles team name was actually associated with the colleges in the real Sweet Sixteen (Men's) tournament. I looked at the bracket to discover that "Hot Soups" was UConn.

I was mildly disappointed because I found out that "The Currys" was BYU and because I was not at the time thinking UConn was going to advance much more in the tourney, let alone win the whole thing. (In my original bracket, I had picked Ohio State which we all know that didn't fair so well.)

Anyway, I completely forgot about all of this contest stuff during the actual tourney games, being too consumed with the excitement and disappointment of the BYU Florida game and then the craziness that ensued with teams like Butler and VCU.

So then, Thursday, April 7th, 2011 rolls around and just before the close of the work day, I checked my email before heading off to teach yoga. From Noodles & Company, in the subject line it read, "Congratulations are in order for you..." And then I read this:

You have been chosen as one of the 255 winners* of the Noodles & Company "Take It To The Bowl!" Savory 16 Tournament / Mac Bar Contest! There were nearly 20,000 entries so you should feel very special.

What? I ask myself. Oh yeah, wasn't the team that I picked in that contest linked to UConn. And didn't I just watch that atrocious UConn Butler game on Monday where Kemba and UConn came out on top? And then I clicked on a link that showed me this:

This is awesome. What the heck did I just win? Umm, dang it, it's 4:59 and I need to get out of here. "Hey, I think I just won something," I exclaimed to my coworkers and then left in a haste, forgetting my gym bag under my desk because I was consumed by my phone trying to read the contest's fine print.

What did I win? Well, a Mac & Cheese party, of course! Some day before April 30th, I will call up my local Noodles and Company and arrange to pick up a tray of each of the three flavors of their promotional Macroni and Cheese which includes: "Bacon, Mac and Cheeseburger," "Southwestern Chili Mac," and "Truffle Mac with Baby Portabellas." Noodles & Company will also supply my party with a large bowl of salad. In all, it's about $100 worth of food and should feed 20 people.

So, thanks UConn and Noodles and Company for giving me a reason to invite some people over for some delicious macaroni "on the house." Who are my friends now?

Sheesh! Last year at this time I was in O-town for the Pillsbury Bake-Off! What a lucky foodie life I live.