I was actually kind of tired of eggs for breakfast, so I just started tossing things into my lunch bag and went with it. I ended up with a Chobani yogurt, a Nature Valley high protein granola bar, an ounce of pecans and an orange. Eclectic? Yes. Delicious? Yes! Peach is becoming one of my favorite flavors. Still have not found the coconut! I’ve probably set the bar so high on that flavor, that when I do find it I’ll probably be underwhelmed!
I changed my screen saver at work so now I get slides of about 20 snowmen! This makes me very happy! How can that picture not make you happy??!! Well, Tony, I am not talking to you about snowmen.
So we have an ugly sweater contest at my office today. It’s also our Christmas lunch. A couple weeks ago I saw a sign for a Goodwill that is literally five minutes from my office. When I went up and saw that the opnening date was yesterday, I told my co-worker we were going! It’s huge!
Of course, I found a few snowmen:
They had a D.J. and everything – it was quite busy! I heard over the loud speakers that they were having a raffle for a Food Network gift basket. I thought that was kind of weird, but of course sounded right up my alley. When I walked up to the desk to fill out a raffle ticket, who should be there but Rodney Henry aka The Pie Man from Season 9 of the Next Food Network Star!
He was a lot bigger in real life than he looked on t.v. and couldn’t be nicer. While I was filling out the raffle ticket, he looked at my email address “mybizzykitchen@gmail.com” and said “what do you do? Well let’s see, legal secretary by day, server extraordinaire by night and food blogger when I can squeeze it in! He said I looked familiar and asked if we were facebook friends. I said no, and he said “we are now!” It’s just weird how he ended up being at a grand opening of a Goodwill in a NW suburb of Chicago. I don’t think he has any ties to Chicago and his pie business is in Baltimore! Who knows, but it was fun to meet him.
Lunch was more of Tony’s chorizo minestrone. Still delicious, but the noodles are really soft after being in the broth for a few days. I think next time he makes soup with pasta I’ll have him cook the pasta on the side and store it separately and I’ll add it in as I reheat the soup. Spicy goodness!
Oh, and in case you are wondering, this is my photography studio at work – an empty office!
I knew I had chicken wings that needed to be cooked up. Of course with sriracha being in the news I am thinking all things sriracha! While Tony wouldn’t touch these wings with a 10 foot pole – holy shizz people – these were delicious! Spicy, slightly sweet. Just yum.
Sriracha Honey Chicken Wings
- makes 1 serving for 4 chicken wing halves
Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon sriracha
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon House of Tsang Szechuan spicy sauce
- juice of 1 lime
- zest from 1 lime
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
Mix all ingredients together. I toss my wings in seasoned flour – just seasoned with salt and pepper. Deep fry those bad boys and while hot, toss in the sticky, spicy deliciousness. Make sure you have at least two or three napkins because you will be licking your fingers a lot!
That picture really doesn’t do it justice, but these were a winner! After dinner I spent time making this muddy buddy recipe with snickers and I added peppermint M&Ms. It’s the take home treat after my office luncheon today. I made two batches for 12 people! I’ll take a picture of the containers I put them in and post it tomorrow – they turned out really cute.
And then I spent a bit of time sewing tiny ornaments on my ugly Christmas sweater – pics will come tomorrow too!
I have to give a shout out to my new friend Michelle who found me because her husband let her know THE DAY BEFORE that she needed to make a batch of chili for a work function yesterday. She found my buffalo chicken chili recipe and we emailed back and forth about the recipe. You see, Michelle has never made chili before! So I was happy to get an email from her last night that said “Chili was a success!!! I have attached a photo! His co-workers loved it and now has bragging rights at work 🙂 just next time he needs to give me more notice lol.” So happy it turned out for you Michelle! Here is her final product:
Great job Michelle! Alright, time to get all my muddy buddy packages in the car, put my breakfast together AND get dressed. So happy it’s a short day and I don’t have to work at the restaurant tonight! Looking forward to spending the evening with Tony.
Make it a great day!
that is too cool and yes, totally random!
What a cool story about the Pie man, I bet he can learn a few cooking tricks from you.
Ha – thanks Fran! Enjoy all your time off from work!!
That is so cool you got to meet the pie man! I really liked him on the show. Way to save the day with Michelle 🙂
I know – how random is that?!
I really need to make that chili ASAP. I know I’ll love it since I love pretty much anything with buffalo chicken. I love the peach flavor as well, that was my first favorite of the chobani…followed by pineapple and now the coconut, almond, chocolate flip. So good! Hope you have a great evening with Tony!
Thanks Sam – sadly I went to bed at 9:00 because I was so tired, but feel great today!
Thanks for the shout out! I feel famous 🙂 Everyone should make the buffalo chicken chili it is awesome! 🙂
So glad it turned out for you Michelle! 😀
Cool that you met the pie man. I’m sad because I’ve never heard of him (we don’t have cable and don’t watch TV because of the kiddo) and would have been clueless as to who he was!
I was going to guess your ugly sweater was a snowman design since you like them so much, but now I’m thinking you would never find a snowman sweater to be ugly. 🙂 Hopefully you found something garish and over the top!
That is correct – NO snowman sweater is ugly! 😀
You met the pie man?! So awesome!!!
Where is your picture of the ugly sweater?
I posted it today – I meant to do a group shot at the restaurant, but with the debacle about us sharing a private room got me all flustered!
That is so cool that you got to meet The Pie Man! I love watching Food Network Star! Yep, the Sriracha Honey Chicken Wings will be on the menu this weekend!
Our office is closing for the Christmas holidays and starting today I will be off for 9 whole glorious days!! Don’t really know why I’m so excited…I’ll just be busting my ass cleaning & cooking! lol 😀
Love all that time off! I don’t know what my restaurant schedule is yet – but hopefully it will be slow and I only work a couple shifts since I don’t have to be at my day job until next Friday!
Oh my gosh! I loved the pie man! He made a lot of amazing recipes. So cool that you got to meet him. I need to make these wings for Josh! I want to do a boneless version. So cool that you inspired someone to try making chili for the first time- and hooray for a success!!
Josh would love these – it makes a lot of sauce so I think it could be good over rice!
Chobani makes coconut flavor? Hmmm…
How cool that the pie man wanted to be FB friends–sounds like he was really nice!
He was nice – just weird that he was at a Goodwill opening in a NW suburb of Chicago!
Wow, so cool you got to meet Rodney…he was one of my favorites! 🙂 those wings sound amazing!
You would love them Sara!
Our Christmas lunch is today too and we just decided that next year we are adding the ugly sweaters. Must be a common theme in offices. Fun for us to have it on a Friday too as we get to wear jeans.
I can only find the Chobani coconut yogurt in a four-pack. Those are located below the singles in my grocery store. Try looking there.
Enjoy your evening off!
Thanks for the tip about the yogurt Helen. Enjoy your time with your daughter!
Wow, the pie guy and a bunch of snowmen. What a day.
It was an epic day! 😀 Love you Tony!
I got a kick out of you being so excited to meet a pie man, but then I remembered how excited I was to meet Bart Yasso (famous runner), so yeah, I understand strange thrills like that, lol!
Have a great party – can’t wait to see your sweater creation!
I think he was just happy someone recognized him!
Yuck. I am not a peach fan. Or coconut. Ew. lol
But Jay LOVES the coconut Chobani – says it’s the best one!
I know I’ve talked about the coconut so much when I do find it I’ll probably hate it!
Love the sound of those wings, even though I am not a wing eater. I will try this with chicken breast, though! Have a great night with Mr. Tony!
Yep, my brother and sister don’t do meat on the bone either – I think it would be good with chicken breasts and then served over rice!
It makes me smile that you took the time to “plate” you mish mosh breakfast. The Chobani people have dropped the ball. I am quite surprised that haven’t sent their number one fan a couple of coconut samples to try. You talk about how yummy the yogurt is and the super way cool soft and comy t-shirt. But then again… maybe that is why they are holding off sending you any maybe even in “cohoots” with your local markets. If you keep wanting it maybe it boost sales in other areas 🙂 I know I gave it a try because of reading your blog.
Kym, you got me – I keep thinking if I link to them they’ll send me more shit – ha!!
I love the coconut Chobani. I hate yogurt and the only two things I’ll eat are the Flips that Chobani makes – the Coco Loco and Key Lime flavors. Amazing! I hope you can find it somewhere soon.
I haven’t tried the flips yet – I’ll check those out!