Jack & Jill Put Up A Blog » Jill

For the love of all that is holy, give me a treat

Jack and Jill — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 01:20:18 +0000

You see that blue thing he is so comfortably sleeping on…Yes, that thing, you can’t miss it…it’s obstructing his face. You see? Okay. That blue thing is what we put treats in for Spot. So, his way of letting us know that he wants a treat is throwing this blue thing in our laps ALL DAY. I am pretty sure at this point he had been ignored by his humans and this is the…”maybe I’ll just (yawn, chew, chew) lay here and close my eyes for a second and get after them again in a just aaa…(yawn) few minutes or so.”

He Said. She Said. – What female/male instincts, societal and/or natural, pressures do you feel in your relationship?

Jack and Jill — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:55:07 +0000

He Said

I’ve got to be the breadwinner. ‘She’ shouldn’t have to work so hard. If I were a better provider she could do something she really loves. If I’d work a little harder we could do all the things we’d ever dreamed. I should bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan. And I really wish I could. Cuz, we love bacon.

- Jack

She Said

Sure. I’ll admit it. I have an instinct that says ‘I want to be taken care of by my man while I tend to the home and family.’ It’s not a dominant instinct but it is there and I am not sure where it exactly comes from. Is it my personality, upbringing, society or maybe it was handed down by the hunters and gathers living in caves eating dinosaurs? Tastes like chicken.

I will say it is natural for me to be motherly and be a care giver to people I love. It is an overwhelming feeling I have to make Jack and Spot comfortable and happy. When work gets to be too busy and Jack ends up picking up most of the slack, I miss it in a way and wish I was doing it. Yes, I said it. It’s in writing. Jack will never let me forget it. Curse you blog and your questions!!

With all that said, this motherly instinct is about wanting to be the boss and having things just how I want them. Am I right? Or am I right?

-Jill

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Date Night Idea | Recreating A Restaurant Favorite At Home

Jack and Jill — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:25:45 +0000

We swear we followed the directions.

One of our favorite restaurants is in Denver Colorado called Vesta Dipping Grill. Not only do they have a wide selection of proteins; seared tuna, grilled lamb, smoked duck, of course chicken, and my favorite madras grilled venison. They have vegetarian choices as well. *suppress yawn*

What makes Vesta Dipping Grill unique however is, you guessed it, the dipping. My G’d the dipping.

To accompany your entrée you select three dipping sauces from over 36 dipping sauces (37) in three categories: Sweet, Savory, Spicy with names like Blake St. BBQ, Wasabi Cream Sauce, Steuben’s Chimichurri.

Each dipping sauce, and they make pairing suggestions for you if you’d like, creates a completely unique experience for every bite. Many times the dipping changes your meal into a completely new dish.

The reason we bring this up is because one dipping sauce stood out from the rest. The almighty “Black Pepper Aioli.”

Just hand us each a spoon.

And so we set out. The directions were easy enough.

six cloves garlic: pressed.
two yokes: yoked.
olive oil: half cupped.
pepper
simple - blend garlic and yokes. drizzle oil. constant beating until thick. Add pepper

What’s to mess up? ’Parently plenty.

All we could taste was the burn of raw garlic swimming in a mess of a mayonaise. Our Aioli sauce had an outcome that the recipes didn’t mention. It sucked balls. We added more oil. Wrong.

We wish we had a better outcome to report. We did try again and simply cut the garlic in half. Nope. Still sucked.

The only thing we can think of, cuz we’ll be trying this again, is our choice of olive oil. We think we bought a cheap brand. Garlic is garlic. Egg yoke is egg yoke. But oil… there’s the rub.

We went with Extra Virgin First Cold Press. For those that make this well (and you’re probably not reading my post about it anyway) you may recognize this as my mistake. To be determined. For we are determined. To make my Black Pepper Aioli Sauce NOT blow.

Wine was good – that’s what’s really important.

We want to hear from you! Tell us how it went for you on making a restaurant favorite!

He Said. She Said. “When do you announce you’re pregnant?”

Jack and Jill — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 18:19:20 +0000

He Said

If it’s my wife, 14 weeks. If it’s a mistress, as long I can keep it under wraps while I figure a way to make certain that it’s mine because she’s pulled this shit on me before.

- Jack

She Said

12 weeks is standard, but I would tell someone very close to me right away. I would want my close someone there to help me through if something were to happen, just like they are there for everything else.

Mind you this person has to have a proven track record of keeping secrets and could emotionally handle whatever you throw at them.

And Family, I know what you are thinking and no we are not. I’ll have plenty of wine on our next visit just to prove to you, but only for that reason and absolutely no other.

-Jill

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He Said. She Said. “First Kiss”

Jack and Jill — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 06:32:55 +0000

He Said

Well as I recall, and I’m certainly not known for my recollection, we were in ‘hers’ apartment, late.

Her sister (my roommate) and her boyfriend were out of town for the weekend. The four of us at that time were pretty much inseparable, so for the first time we were left alone to our own devices. Uh oh.

The details of this have always been in debate as ’she’ and I were sitting on the floor facing each other and yet when we discuss it…

"I was facing the dresser." "No, I was facing the dresser."

Well we were both sitting on the floor with the bed, the dresser and the desk around us. Fact.

I was smitten. Fact.

After loads and loads of talking ’she’ initiated the kiss. Fact.

I was facing the dresser. eh *shrug*? I got the girl. Fact.

- Jack

She Said

I remember it vividly. We were on the floor of my apartment in St. Paul, MN.

I was facing the dresser.

Jack was facing the desk.

-Jill

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Snicker Salad | A Holiday Tradition

Jack and Jill — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 21:36:05 +0000

It’s Jill. It’s my tradition with my family as long as I can remember. I am from Fargo, ND and I believe it was my aunt Pat who made it first. We have it at every holiday in our family because it is that good.

Snicker Salad Recipe:

Part bite sized Apples
Part bite sized Bananas
Part bite sized Snickers
Mix it all together and lather it up with whipped cream.

One big bowl of yummy goodness.

What is your food tradition? Can’t wait to hear the answers! I am so hungry.

Make sure to keep us on the radar. We will be launching our DATE NIGHT IDEAS soon. This will include recipes, wine, movies, activities and more.

Obama O-Victory Chili

Jack and Jill — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 01:18:29 +0000

No secret here who we voted for! As we have with every single debate, we are going over to a friend’s house for the election today. Being big on “theme night,” I looked into what Obama likes to eat. Now, there wasn’t too much out there, so what I found could have been all lies. Anywho, here is what I found: favorite restaurant is “Italian Fiesta Pizzeria” in Chicago and his favorite food to ‘make’ was chili.

So, it was pizza or chili for us. From the title, you can see the final vote on food was CHILI. We slow cooked it in the crock-pot for 8 hours and served with cheese and sour cream.

It was yummy. I usually will post a picture of the dish we make, but Chili is never a pretty picture. It just is not. I won’t say what I think it looks like, but it is the reason you hold a girlfriends hair back for her.

Now Barack Obama on the other hand is very easy on the eyes to say the least and makes for a great picture. Don’t even go there and say that I am voting for him to gaze at his hunk-ish mug for four years. It is just the cherry on top of the white house. Mmmmm…cherries

The best breakfast!

Jack and Jill — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:58:56 +0000

Well, we love it. Every morning during the week we have steel cut oatmeal. You might think to yourself ‘gross!’ But you have to doctor it up with yummy healthy things like fruit, nuts, yogurt. In this picture, we have strawberries, walnuts and old school peanut butter (not Jiff – the stuff without all the sugar).

Steel cut oats are different from rolled oats, so make sure to look. Steel cut oats are much better for you and a great carb because they are less processed than other oats. We have all heard the health benefits. But for me if it isn’t yummy – it’s a no go. If anyone out there is thinking they are going to go pick up ‘oatmeal with brown sugar’ packets, think again. That is not healthy. Those little packets are pure sugar. You might as well eat a Snickers for breakfast.

I love organic food, but I don’t like Whole Foods for most things. I think they have capitalized on being ‘organic’ and anyone who shops there will pay a price. Higher than necessary. On the show “Top Chef,” Whole Foods is where they shop and they always have a low budget for their challenges to buy food and we are sitting going “Good luck with that $20 that has to feed 40 people! You’ll come out of there with a head of lettuce and a pinch of salt.” Jack and I have decided that “Top Chef” worked out a discount deal with Whole Foods and that is how they pull it off. Yes, this is the kind of stuff we discuss and think about. BUT, steel cut oats out of the bins there is very very cheap. Also, a bag of almonds is reasonable too.

Two Bottles Of Wine

Jack and Jill — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 08:44:14 +0000

A pleasant surprise. Not the two bottles, that’s easy. Two bottles of wine, four people – now who is not impressed? But it is a Monday night and they announced they are engaged. 2nd Marriage, lots of dish. Congrats! It is about time.

Spot’s Horoscope

Jack and Jill — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 03:08:10 +0000

This cracked us up. I got an iPhone yesterday and I am having fun finding Apps. I installed a horoscope App, which is always a hoot. Mine was pretty good talking about work. I read it after work but it summed up my day. I had to sit back and wait it out while two other people in a project argued. My horoscope’s instructions were to “Wait before acting.” That was a good plan, glad I channeled my horoscope in early in the morning. Jack’s on the other hand was something about take control of your hectic day, but his day was pretty lazy…hit the pool early. Or is that somehow “taking control of a hectic day?” Good question isn’t it? Yeah, maybe he’s the smart one.

But then we looked up Spots. His Birthday being November 15th, he is a Scorpio. This horoscope is just too perfect. See below.

“Your desires may exceed your ability to fulfill them today and that leads to frustration. It’s a good time to relax and use other techniques to achieve contentment.”