A whole lot of Sweet

Oh, just another morning at Alterra. I was starving when I woke up this morning, so the baked oatmeal tasted especially delicious. I tried to savor it, to try to figure out how to make my baked oatmeal a little more like theirs, but when something is that good, it's hard to take it down slowly.


Speaking of delicious breakfasts, have you seen Jessica's Cinnamon Sugared Bacon? Yeah, you heard right. Cinnamon. Sugared. Bacon. I want to rush home and make some right NOW. They pretty much scream "DUMP ME IN SOME PANCAKES!" I'm also thinking they're a must for my maple-bacon cupcakes, which have already been requested for this year's Brewers' Opening Day tailgate menu. (Which ALSO happens to be on my birthday! Double win!)


Now that I'm dreaming of candied bacon, might as well keep chugging along on the pig-out track. As everyone under the sun in Wisconsin knows, the Packers are playing in the Super Bowl tomorrow. I'm not the world's biggest NFL fan, but I do like excuses for cooking, baking and wearing jeans to work, which is what I got to do yesterday for our office Packer party. There was a chili cookoff and a "best dip" contest, so what did I bring? Well, cornbread, of course. I figured you can't have chili without cornbread, so I made my special cheesy, spicy-sweet cornbread, and it went over really well! There was quite the smorgasbord of treats, including three kinds of chili, two types of salsa, queso, guacamole, shrimp dip, pizza, chicken empanadas, four kinds of tortilla chips (!), shrimp cocktail, and jello squares. Of course, because there was a contest going on, I had to sample everything. Everything was really delicious, and it was definitely hard to work the rest of the day on such a full stomach.


But even though there was all that delicious food, the one thing that really got me excited was this:

This store-bought, plastic-encased, a-little-too-green chocolate cupcake. Light, sugary and just what I thought I needed as a 3 p.m. pick-me-up (note: I did NOT need it). What is it about these store-bought baked goods that make them so addicting? (I'm looking at you, Wal Mart frosted sugar cookies....). 99% of the time I am a purist in the fact that homemade baked goods are best, but these sucrose-laden confectionaries get me every time. Clearly, I'm extremely eager to please.

It's a good thing I did a tough Insanity workout after I got home, because I needed something to burn off about a fifth of what I ate at the Packer party. 

It's also a good thing that Wheel & Sprocket is having a 50% off sale on cross-country skis today! So I think I'm finally going to bite the bullet and buy my own equipment today - it will pay itself off after about three more XC ski outings, and the snow isn't going anywhere soon, so I might as well invest now. I'm really excited to have my own gear! 

So the rest of the day will be spent skiing, and then we're going bowling with friends (and pizza) this evening. I haven't been bowling in probably a year! So let's all cross our fingers and hope I break a 100 tonight..... 

Do you share a love for those cheap, sugary cakes and cookies like I do? Surely I can't be the only one who has a hard time walking by those hot-pink Wal-Mart cookies without wanted to eat the whole package.... or can I?