Hot Stuff

The party was a success!

All of the food turned out well (with the exception of the key lime tart being a bit runny...but it tasted good!) and everyone seemed to have a great time.

Several guests even stayed late to watch The Bachelorette. Because honestly, what healthy, normal 30 year old male doesn't want to cap off his birthday bash with some quality reality romance television?

But the biggest success of the night? Pioneer Woman's Bacon-Wrapped Jalepenos.

I bought about a pint of jalepenos at the Farmers Market on Saturday, and then on second thought bought some more at the grocery store on Sunday. And I am so glad that I did. Those suckers went down fast! I probably had about 50 of them (each pepper is cut in half) and there were only four left by the end of the night.

So simple. So delicious.

In a nutshell: Cut jalepenos in half lengthwise. Scrape out white membrane and seeds. Grab a spoon and a block of cream cheese. Fill each pepper half with cream cheese. Grab a slab of bacon. Cut it half or in thirds, depending on how big your peppers are and how many you want to make (I cut it into thirds, which was perfect for my smaller Farmers Market jalepenos but not quite long enough for the bigger grocery store peppers). Wrap each cheese-stuffed jalepeno in a piece of bacon and secure with a toothpick.

I prepared all of these the day before and put them in a sealed container.

30 minutes before guests arrive, arrange the peppers on a wire rack (like the kind you put cookies on to cool) over a cookie sheet (to catch bacon grease). Pop 'em into a 375 oven for about 20-30 minutes or until bacon is cooked and the peppers look a bit shriveled and tender.

Put on a plate and watch them disappear.

A few pics from the party to come, but I'm afraid I was not the best photographer. I didn't even get a pic of myself with the Birthday Boy! It is hard to take pictures of a party when you're the hostess (and I get a bit self-conscious of taking pics of food and decorations after guests have arrived...I don't want to look like an ego maniac or like they cannot disturb my picture perfect food arrangement. I dunno).

Oh, and my camera is a big fat loser. So that makes picture taking frustrating. And then I just don't do it.

Dear Santa,

I have been a very good girl this year. I even threw my husband an awesome birthday party out of the goodness of my heart. All I want in return is a Digital SLR camera that doesn't make everything look yellow or dark.

And a boat load of bacon-wrapped jalepenos.

Sincerely,

Leslie