rachelleb.com on the iPad

A couple weeks ago Pek let me play around with his iPad. Pretty cool! Since then a few other guys around the office have also gotten iPads. I think they’re neat, but I don’t see myself getting one for a few more generations of it. Both so Apple can add more features and also so people can sort out what they’re good for and program apps and stuff for this new device.

Banana Toffee Almond Muffins

I made these muffins generally from the same banana bread recipe that I’ve been using for years. This time I tossed in a half cup of toffee chips I had in the cupboard and about the same amount of a mix of semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips. And then I tossed in some almonds. I poured the dough into muffin papers, sprinkled each with more chocolate chips and almonds and then baked them for about a half hour. They were delicious, if I do say so myself. You couldn’t really taste the toffee at all, but the chocolate with the banana and the crispy nuts.. YUM!

The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson


finished 04.26.10

The Girl Who Played with Fire is the follow up to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which I read back in February. I loved the first book and I loved the second book. I’m so looking forward, but also dreading, the final installment The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest. Only dreading because it’s the last book for sure, since Stieg Larsson is not alive to write any more!

Cubs vs. Brewers @ Miller Park + Steph’s Birthday

Last year I had a lot of fun with my brother going to a Cubs vs. Brewers game at Miller Park in Milwaukee so this year he got us tickets again. This year I brought Dallas and Killian with me.

We road tripped up to Milwaukee and hung out at my brother’s house for a while. I drank some beer from the Horny Goat Brewing Co., a craft brewery in Wisconsin. I liked the light Horny Blonde. I bet this is a good summer beer.

Stephanie’s 14th birthday was a few weeks ago so Dallas and I brought a gift that we went in on with my parents.

Her gift? A digital camera! This is the year that Stephanie got a cell phone for her birthday, then was allowed to join Facebook, and now she can post photos with her new camera. Big year!

Steph is pretty much taller than me now. I wonder if she’ll grow more or just stay around 5’4″ or so like I did. In 5th grade I was the tallest kid in my class then I never grew any more. Also, check out her hair. She dyed it a dark brownish red. I think it looks really cool.

Jessica’s birthday is in a few weeks. She wouldn’t talk to me while we visited (of course) but i told her she needs to tell me what to get her, or else I won’t know. She still wouldn’t tell me!

After visiting for a while, we headed out to meet Amanda (who had been at work) for a bit of dinner before the game. We’d wanted to tailgate but it was cold and rainy. We decided to go to the Milwaukee Ale House, where we ordered a bunch of appetizers to share. I tried a beer they make there called Downtown Lites, a light beer made with a bit of Wisconsin honey. Yum!

This was on the back of my coaster at the Milwaukee Ale House:

After the Ale House we said adios to Amanda and headed to the game. My brother had preferred parking so we got to drive right up to the stadium to park. Score! Before the game started, I got my photo with the German sausage, otherwise known as the brat, and the Italian sausage.

Our seats were right down from where this sausage display was. Last year we were just out from 3rd base and this year we were about the same distance out from 1st base. This was the view:

At the park I didn’t really eat much because I was stuffed from the Ale House, but I did enjoy some Leinie’s Honey Weiss and Lakefront Brewery’s River West Stein Lager. Killian kept making fun of the beer vendors because they were all wearing these florescent yellow vests, but I thought the hotdog vendor’s uniforms were even funnier:

Dallas was interested in trying some chorizo sausage so we went for a walk around the concourse. Not every stand had all the different sausages so we had to walk around a little bit. When we found the place, it sold a bunch of different kinds of sausage, maybe all the ones in the sausage race? When Dallas got his chorizo it was in a bun, like a regular sausage. Not strange, but last year when my brother and I shared chorizo it came in a tortilla with salsa. Dallas put the secret stadium sauce on his chorizo.

Dallas loved the chorizo and was still talking about it long after the game. My brother said they sell the sauce at the gift shop, but Dallas said it mostly just tasted like barbecue sauce. Klement’s is the official sausage of the Milwaukee Brewers and supposedly they’re making the chorizo and it’s in stores so we might have to look for it next time we go to WI. In the meantime, we just cheered for chorizo in the sausage race and guess what? He won! If you look close you can see him racing to victory here:

Side note: I was just on the Klement’s site and you can play a sausage race game. I like how 6/10 high scores are by someone called “Cubs Rule”. haha

The Cubs trounced the Brewers, who only made one run. For some reason this made it ok for Killian and I to act inappropriately towards the Brat. Poor guy!

Fun day with friends, family, baseball & WI microbrews! Looking forward to next year!