Winterfest 2011

Or Embrace the Camera - Winterfest Edition (with Emily).

Or, How to Wear Out your Child

Any of those titles work for today's post.

The BOK Center, in downtown Tulsa, puts on Winterfest every year. I don't know how long they've been doing it but it's a pretty big hit. They have live music, an outdoor ice skating rink, food vendors and a gigantic Christmas tree. It's really pretty at night but it's also pretty fun during the day.

Last Saturday the weather was gorgeous so we took Sweet P down to check it out. So, this pregnant lady not going to ice skate, the husband has ice skated once and hated it and there was no way we were going to attempt getting a 16 month old to wear skates - if they even had her size!

So what do you do? Well, aside from people-watching and just being out and about?

You pose for some pictures and laugh when you come home to notice the wipe-out in the background...



You find the hill next to the stage with live music and have a dance party.





You get lots of kisses.



And you watch your husband and daughter run/slide up and down the giant hill until they're both about ready to collapse!



Oh, and don't forget about getting a family picture next to the gigantic Christmas tree!



You can find out more about it here.

Oktoberfest Feasting

As I've mentioned, Oktoberfest was this past weekend here in T-town. The plan was to save money by going during the free-admission time and not eating anything while we were there because we had a German feast to come home to. Such was the plan anyway. We made it inside the gates with seconds, and I mean seconds, to spare. We didn't plan on the traffic and had to run for the gates. Sweet P and I made it through, then Eric and then the ticket-takers started moving out saying time was up and everyone needed a ticket. My mom held her phone up with the time showing there was still one minute to go as she pushed on through. They ended up letting her through - along with a drove of others!

It was a fun start to the event. We walked from tent to tent, hearing various sounds of music and cheering and smelling all kinds of tempting treats.



We hadn't been there 20 minutes before the beer (the husband's beverage), potato pancake and Ludgar's Bavarian cream cheese cake had been purchased.



With full bellies it was time to work a little of those calories off with a little chicken dancing. Sweet P once again wooed the crowds and had everyone around her clapping and smiling.



It was a good time. I think I need one of those German hats for me and Sweet P next year.

The rest of the weekend was filled with family, a lot of football watching and more German feasting. Last week I mentioned a few recipes I wanted to try and I made all but one. I also added one I didn't mention so here's the reviews...

First up, the Wiener Schnitzel and German potato salad.



I tried this chicken schnitzel recipe but used tenderized-boneless pork chops for the meat. The husband said it was the best schnitzel he's ever eaten and that it reminded him of the one he would order as a kid at Ursula's (Tulsa restaurant no longer in business). I thought it turned out pretty good.

Then there's the German potato salad recipe that I mentioned last week. Again, the husband loved it and said it was the best potato salad I've ever made. Personally, I prefer a cold, smashed potato salad but it went well with the dinner.

Next up is the recipe for apple strudel I also mentioned last week.



After I converted everything in her recipe, I decided to use puff pastry instead of phyllo dough. I like puff pastry, it's easy and I'll use the leftovers. Plus, I didn't feel like taking the time to do the whole buttering the 4-5 layers or phyllo. I'm lazy.



The puff pastry ended up working out really well and the strudel was amazing. Really folks, delicious. I used honeycrisp apples inside and topped the strudel with some icing to really take it over the edge in the healthy department.

And, last up, I tried this recipe for homemade pretzels.



They were a huge hit. I read a lot of the comments on the recipe and ended up going with 4 cups of flour and using my kitchenaid with the hook attachment to knead the dough. That thing made this recipe SO easy. The pretzels smelled amazing and were perfect right out of the oven.

The recipe calls for sugar but the husband didn't care for the sweetness of the dough. I didn't mind but will probably use less next time I make them. They were also really good covered sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar and coated with melted butter. Such a great treat.

After all the German food cooking and eating I have determined that the German folk aren't too concerned with calories and I'm happy Oktoberfest only rolls around once a year.

Oktoberfest

Did you know Oktoberfest is this weekend in Tulsa!? We'll probably make it out to the festival sometime Friday - when it's FREE to get in!

Why Oktoberfest? Well, other than the fact that it's another fun outdoor festival with food, music and entertainment, one side of the husband's family just happens to be of German ancestry so we always feel the need to celebrate his roots with brats, pretzels, a little chicken dancing, strudels and all things Oktoberfest.

Instead of spending a lot of money at the festival, we're going to be having a little German feast of our own at home over the weekend. I have done some research and found several recipes to try out and I'll let you know how they tasted next week. But, if you're looking to get in the spirit of Oktoberfest, here are some recipes from my pinterest boards:

Source: asweetspothome.com via Lesley on Pinterest

Source: allrecipes.com via Lesley on Pinterest

Source: allrecipes.com via Lesley on Pinterest

Source: peppercornsinmypocket.blogspot.com via Lesley on Pinterest

Prost!
(that's German for Cheers!)

Here's the website for more info on Tulsa's Oktoberfest: TulsaOktoberfest.org

Birthday Weekend Celebration

My birthday was last week and we celebrated all weekend. It was awesome, especially since the fair is always in town on my birthday weekend!

I took Sweet P to the fair on Thursday with my mom and grandma. We went early and since there weren't any crowds yet, she got to run wild.



Then I went back on Friday with the husband. When we got there MC Hammer was practicing with his dancers for the concert that evening. He was too legit to quit.



Then it was off to eat the fair food.

Corndog.



Followed by cheese curds and fried green tomatoes.



And then we shared a pineapple whip to wash it down but didn't get a pic of that.

Then we walked down the midway and headed for the petting zoo. It was a success.



Sweet P kept saying, "goa" (goat) and really wanted to get in the pin and play with them. She made pig faces at the pigs, mooed at the cows and pointed to everything. It was so fun to watch.

Then we had to get the annual fair pics and monster cookie before we left.



Last year's pic:

Last year's pic:

There was a surprise party that evening for me, but, since I didn't know it was coming, I didn't have my camera. :( It was tons of fun though.

Saturday we finished up the birthday fun by taking P to Philbrook's Fall Family Festival. It was free to get in so we had to take advantage of that!

We had to finish our coffees before going in and that's when we saw the squirrel.



Sweet P finally saw it and tried talking it down.



But, sadly, it ran away.



After walking through the museum, we headed out back to the gardens. I snapped a couple of pictures of P.



Then she found the band. They were playing up on the rocks but came down and surrounded her and started up again.



I was so surprised she didn't run away! Instead, she just stared up at them and then started walking around dancing and clapping her hands. Show-stopper, folks. SHOW. STOPPER.



And that takes care of our weekend. Too many pictures? Sorry. That's not even close to the amount I took!!

Luchapalooza 2011

I gave you a little peek into my weekend with yesterday's photo:



Here's a little more on that. Saturday night was Luchapalooza, an outdoor street festival featuring the Elote Luchadors. A Luchador is a masked, Mexican wrestler.



These guys are "Stars and Stripes."

The event was downtown and it was also a fundraiser for the Tulsa Area United Way so we had to stop by and say hello. The weather was absolutely perfect, plus, we ended up getting to watch the matches from the VIP area!



If you've never been to or seen a Luchador match, here's a little taste of what you can expect:













That about sums it up!

Salsafest 2011

Despite the insanely hot weather this weekend, we still made it out to Salsafest. The temperature gauge on the car read 107 degrees as we pulled into downtown. Thankfully the setting for Salsafest was in the middle of some of the tallest buildings in Tulsa so that gave us some shade. It's kind of crazy but I didn't really notice the heat.



My goal for Salsafest was to taste the best, hot salsa I've ever had. Mission accomplished!

The only problem was there wasn't any to buy. BUMMER. Such a tease. 'Here, eat this and love it. Want more? Oh, I'm sorry, I just made this for the contest.' But, we did talk to the mastermind behind the salsa and he said if he won (and he did) that he would think about making it and selling it. Um, yes, that's a wonderful idea!

Funny little story about that. I thought the guy looked familiar when we get our samples so I asked him where he went to school and some other questions and then he said, "Corbett?" That's my maiden name, by the way. So, I say, "yes?" Turns out I recognized him from one of the first "real" jobs I ever had. "Real" being a kid's play place called Discovery Zone. Anyway, I worked there in high school for a little while and so did he. So now I totally have an in to harass him for more salsa!! YAY.

Ok, back to Salsafest. Like I said, it was set in downtown Tulsa and there were tons of tents set up with samples from 3 different categories of traditional, alternative and spicy. Guess which tent we hit up first! Yes, spicy. Oh, and notice sweet p's salsa dress! She fit right in.



We sampled each of the salsas and marked our ballots. About that time, a large group of people started making there way to the center of the festival. There were bright colored dresses and oversized heads! It was awesome.






They did a little dance and then it was time for the chihuahua race. I didn't get any pics of the race, mainly because I'm short but also because the crowd was so thick surrounding the race that I didn't feel like fighting my way through.



There was also a chili eating contest and I missed out on watching that because I was too busy sampling salsas, but I heard it was intense - straight from the girl puking in the trash can trying to get the peppers out of her system! Eww.

All in all, Salsafest 2011 was awesome. I'm already excited about next year. Did I mention Elote put the event on and proceeds went to Sustainable Tulsa. Awesome. Speaking of Elote, have you ever tried their puffy tacos?



You must.

Oh, and thank you to everyone for your helpful comments on salsas to try. I'll be hitting you for secret recipes (Amanda) and other offers (Ashley)!

Sweet P's First Fair

My little girl is 10 weeks old today. It amazes me how time flies when you have a newborn and I absolutely love being a mom. Everything is more fun with a little one.

Take, for example, the fair. The Tulsa State Fair is going on right now so we took little Sweet P and did the usual, eat a corn dog and funnel cake, people watch and stroll along the midway but it was totally different this year because we had a little one to push around.

Here are some pics from her first fair experience.

Dad and Sweet P next to Granny Sandy's quilt!

Also, check out my sister's blog today for Sweet P's one month and two month pics and enter to win a great giveaway!

5 days old:

1 month old:

2 months old: