our fourth of july...

was great! We started off driving down to Burleson for a pool party hosted by one of Lynn's vendors. Great food, good company, disgustingly hot though. After the kids swam and played for a couple hours we loaded them up and then drove to Frisco. That's 156 miles round trip in case you were wondering. Ridiculous, I know, but the driving time was equal to time spent in air conditioning so nobody complained.



We went to the game. At halftime a military widow and her children were presented with a portrait of her husband (sponsored by the Fallen Heroes Project). All active and retired military personnel were cheered for and thanked. FC Dallas won! It was fantastic. Afterward, we watched the fireworks show. The FC Dallas announcer informed us it was the largest fireworks display in the Metroplex...I don't know if that is self-proclaimed fact or actual fact, but it was a pretty good show. Lynn and I decided it would've been better if we were further away to get the full effect of the clusters. In any event, still a very nice show:





As the finale wound down we noticed Fireys (from Labyrinth) in sky:



* * * * *
As good food goes, my contributions to the weekend were stuffed jalapeños and "straight to your ass" cake (as Lynn calls it).

The jalapeños are super easy to do:

You will need:
→12 - 15? jalapeños (I always end up with left over cheese mixture which precipitates an emergency trip to the grocery store for more jalapeños.) I think if you had 30 medium sized ones you could probably use up all the cheese mix.
→8 oz. brick of cream cheese
→bag of finely shredded Mexican blend cheese (sharp cheddar is really good, and I bet blue cheese is AWESOME I can now personally attest to the fact that blue cheese is awesome , but seriously, whatever cheese floats your boat would probably be delicious.)
→your favorite seasoning mix (we LOVE Julio's seasoning around here).
→package of bacon (we like Hormel Black Label)

First, put on a pair of disposable latex gloves. I don't even know where I came across the glove tip originally, but my eyes have never been more thankful for a kitchen tip... also, if you're allergic to latex use an appropriate alternative.

• Slice jalapeños in half lengthwise. LEAVE THE STEMS ON! You can trim them a little if you want, but do not cut them off or your filling will ooze off the pepper when you broil. Trust me. This is experience speaking here.
  
• Scrape out the seeds and ribs (I use a metal ½ t measuring spoon, works like a dream).
• Set the peppers aside. Keep your gloves on, they're about to come in handy again:
  

Place cream cheese and a cup or so (sorry, I always eyeball it) of finely shredded cheese into a mixing bowl.

• Use those gloved hands to mush and mix the cheeses together until combined well.
• Sprinkle the surface of the cheese mix with a HALF tablespoon or so of seasoning salt. Taste and add accordingly...again, I just eyeball it.
• Mush and mix again.

Cut your bacon strips in half and then cut the halves in half. Which is to say, cut the strips into quarters, though, when I read "cut it into quarters", it doesn't seem clear to me. Moving on...set the bacon aside.

Take a sheet pan and place a cooling rack in it. (I have no idea why it works better this way, but it just does. I know now because I paid attention to what was going on this last batch, and it's because the peppers don't sit a pool of grease and jalapeño juice. Amen.) Fill all the jalapeños completely level with the cheese mixture and top each with a piece of bacon. Space the stuffed peppers evenly on the cooling rack/sheet pan rig and place in the oven, set your oven to low broil. Let 'em cook until the bacon is done to your liking. We like our bacon extra crispy so we cook ours for ten to twelve minutes twenty or so minutes (I only typed ten to twelve because my brain wants it to take that long or less if at all possible). Again, this is something I eyeball, so WATCH them! It would be a travesty to burn a batch of these lovelies.

Once they're no longer molten lava hot, prepare to eat the entire tray in about three minutes. No lie.

And the Straight To Your Ass cake?

It's even easier to make. And it's also known as Tennessee Chess Cake everywhere else in the universe. I got the recipe from one of my sister Katie's friends. That friend (I can see her face and her cute house, but for the life of me, I cannot remember her name. Katie, help me out here) also gave me a fantastic corn salad/relish recipe that I can't find anywhere! My own observations and findings are referenced in green.

You will need:
*a boxed cake mix (I usually use Yellow, but have had great success with carrot, chocolate and lemon).
*a stick of butter, melted
*4 eggs
*8 oz. brick of softened cream cheese
*1lb box of powdered sugar

Set your oven to 350°.

In a mixing bowl, combine by hand: cake mix, butter and ONE egg. It will combine to form a sugar cookie dough like consistency. Press the mixture into the bottom of a 9 x 12 inch pan and prick holes evenly across the surface. Set aside.

In the same mixing bowl, add the remaining three eggs and the cream cheese. Using a hand mixer, combine until the cream cheese is broken up enough that it resembles largish chunks of cottage cheese. Add the powdered sugar to the mixture a cup at a time, mixing thoroughly between each addition.

Pour the mixture over top of the dough. Tap and jiggle the pan several times on the counter to let some of the air bubbles escape from the cream cheese mixture.

Place the pan into the preheated oven and bake for 35 minutes until golden on top.

Now, this is the hard part: let cool to room temperature. Do not pick at the edges while it's cooling. Once cool, cut into bars and save all the corner pieces for me.