Lexington, Joe B's, and Bobby Flay

Blogger decided to go all crazy on me yesterday... I tried posting this on Sunday, but Monday came around and the blog was unrecognizable and you couldn't read the post or see the pics. Again, I am pretty illiterate when it comes to computers.. my only solution was to delete and start over. So.. here is the post again.

This past weekend, Team Hardison, including our furry third, headed up to Lexington to visit the Hardison ‘rents. We had originally hoped to get tickets to the Alabama-Kentucky game, but after the Florida debacle the week before… I’m slightly ashamed to wear blue in public, unless it’s a t-shirt with a head shot of John Calipari (sorry Mom).

Regardless, we were pretty pumped about going to Lexington for an extended period of time, something we hadn’t done since last Spring. We left after clinical/work on Thursday, stopped at Baja Burrito on the way up (that and SatCo are the things my tummy still craves after a year), and got to Lexington around midnight. Friday, Matthew and I had the whole day to peruse around Lexington. We hit up one of our favorite restaurants, Cheddars, and enjoyed lunch despite the horrendous service. Afterwards, we went to see the new Ricky Gervais comedy, The Invention of Lying. If you like Steve Carrell/ Office humor, you will like this flick, although I thought it was a little slow at times.

Sandra always makes us welcome home signs when we get to Lex...this time she made one for Lexi!

They are big buds

Friday night we headed down to Joe Bolognas (the BEST pizza place EVER), and then headed over to Memorial Coliseum to check out the thousands of people camped out in line to get Big Blue Madness tickets.Unbelievable. Some of these people had been there since Wednesday! I wish we had stuck around because we heard the next day that Calipari showed up with his son to camp out with all the fans!

Pumped about my bday present...a pillow from PBarn I really wanted!

David’s birthday is next weekend, so Matthew and I planned to make a homemade german chocolate cake and take it up to Lexington. Little did we know that this little project would turn out to be a 4 hour endeavor Wed night! Let me interject here to inform everyone that this was a Bobby Flay recipe…but more on Bobby later. Despite the time commitment and someone’s mistake of adding whole milk instead of buttermilk (it was either Matthew or Lexi), the cake turned out looking and tasting fabulous! We were super impressed with ourselves, and now I even more want to open up my own bakery… baking is always a good reason not to study! So after a very healthy meal of Joe B’s pizza, we cut into that baby and it was awesome.

I made the cake, Matthew made the homemade caramel with coconut and roasted pecans...and then the homemade ganache on top!

After 4 hours... finally done!

I think he liked it.

But…. Everyone get ready, because here comes the best part of the weekend. Saturday, D and S had gotten us tickets to the Lexington Food Show…with special guest BOBBY FLAY! Now, everyone knows that Matthew and I adore this man. He is the butter to our bread, the cheese to my macaroni, etc… We watch every show he is in on Food Network (Throwdown and Iron Chef are our favorites), and always bake/cook his recipes. We had been looking forward to this for months. As soon as he stepped out onto the stage, we were mesmerized. How can a guy be so funny, nice, and a good cook… all at the same time?! My excitement however took a turn when he asked a lady (who was not me) up on stage to help him cook. I was so jealous. In my head, I kept thinking how much more clever and funny I could be on stage with Bobby than this woman! It did not damper my mood for long, because the show was fantastic, and it only deepened our admiration for Bobby. Matthew promised to take me to one of his restaurants for an anniversary…someday.

So excited!

Bobby working his magic!

Then the Cats lost… No need to dwell on this, basketball season is on its way.

We headed home early this morning because Matthew has a stats test on Tuesday. We’re glad to be home, but sad we’re not in Lex anymore. Always so fun to visit and get away from the “real” world for a while! Thanks D and S for a great weekend!

Please watch this video below. Had it not been for Bobby Flay, this would have been the highlight of my weekend. Also, please note that Lexi is ok... Watch it more than once, it only gets funnier.