Catty Date Night

Snuggle Up

Downtown in Melissa's neck of the woods (not really downtown at all) after some treats to eat we all settled in for a Twilight reading while I crocheted and Faith and Jenn got fresh under the blankets. Admittedly we should all be ashamed, but it was a lot of fun!

We will not be attending the premiere of New Moon this weekend, but are headed to Trailhead this Thursday instead. I will have to wait for the DVD.

See how happy they are..............

Pimp My Pumpkin

Presenting in no particular order

The Catty Pumpkin Patch!

The Wise Owl

by

Macabre Mel

The Crackhead

by

Oc Cult

Broken Wind

by

Jaunty Hutton

Orange Skellington

by

The Wilkes Witch

Apple Jerk

by

Killer Kuhn

Mel's 29th

Yes, we have been away from ze blog, but not from girls' night!!!! Me personally, I kinda got lazy there for a while, but have no fear I am back from the blogging abyss ready to wow you on Thursdays again. And what better way to start than with a celebration of life! Mel is turning 29 and embarking on a life-giving journey of her own. Miss and Chris............GOOD LUCK!!


So here are some pics from our crazy yet mellow, hilarious but yellow under-attended (some of our favorite girls couldn't make it ) birthday party. Above we have the birthday girl questioning whether her bottle is half full or empty and her present below. She received lots of cooking supplies because she is an avid chef and wonderful baker. You can check out her tasty blog here.


As an added bonus, Mel brought her lovely husband along to partake in the festivities.


We also received a surprise visit from my Hubble, made homemade pizzas, had brownie birthday cake and played a rousing bit of Scattergories and the Wii. If you are our friend on Facebook you can see the rest of the pics there.

Let's Trade

Time to pull out those old decorations you don't want anymore. Or maybe you just need to revamp them. That is what we did Thursday night amidst some great food (we stuffed ourselves).
Dearest Faith is getting an early head start on her Christmas gift making. All we know is that vodka and lemons are involved.

Fabulous Chicken Tortilla Soup (above)

Toppings (below)

The soup was amazing. We took a little tour through the garden to mark progress. I did some painting on a Halloween decoration that needed some help and we all went home with our arms full. On top of all that Melissa made lemon pistachio cookies that were heavenly. As a gift, we have included the recipe for Chicken Tortilla Soup to liven up your chilly autumn days.

Chicken Tortilla Soup:

1 onion, chopped (I use ½ large red onion)
3 cloves garlic, minced (or more if you like)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons chili powder (more like a palm full)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon cayenne
2 teaspoons cumin (more like a palm full)
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes (I use two reg. cans of petite diced w/green chilies)
1 (10.5 ounce) can condensed chicken broth (feel free to add stock to taste)
1 1/4 cups water (no water needed)
1 cup whole corn kernels, cooked (or one can)
1 cup white hominy (or 2 if you like) 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers (not needed if you use tomatoes w/ green chilies)
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained (or 2 – I usually don’t rinse)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 boneless chicken breast halves, cooked (or 4 – dice before cooking)
Optional Toppings (but totally a must)
crushed tortilla chips
sliced avocado
shredded Monterey Jack cheese
chopped green onions
sour cream
cilantro

Directions:
1. In a medium stock pot, heat oil over medium heat. Sauté onion and garlic in oil until soft. Stir in chili powder, oregano – then add tomatoes, corn, hominy, green chilies, beans, cumin, cayenne and cilantro. Add the chicken and simmer. Salt and pepper to taste.

*Note from Faith: I never really measure any of this but this is a good start. Play around with it until you love it. You really can’t go wrong.

FIELD TRIP!!!

The Catty Girls got a little crazy this week. We ventured out to the Tap Room to see none other than The Mad Titans play.

Here we are (minus Jenna) showing Octavia just how much we love her.

We showered her with love all night!

And as you may or may not know, to be a part of the Catty Kitchen also means you must be classy. Classy = pinky out!

Be careful Jennifer, that sure is a big glass for such a little girl...

See! Now you have it all down your shirt.

As Jennifer does the pee pee dance Octavia is showing off her mad photography skills.

The End.

Have you seen Jenna?

Jeanna, are you there? Your catty sisters miss you and hope you are doing well. We understand that you are stressed and busy but come back to us as soon as you can.

Because we miss you so much, I have written you a little poem...

Dearest Jenna, you are so sweet

and about as cute as a birdies tweet!

Although you're super busy and have a lot of stress,

please know that we still think you're the best.

Congrats on getting into Lindenwood,

we always knew you could!

I hope you know how much we've missed you,

just thinking about it makes us boo hoo!

To close this out there's just one thing to say

I sure hope tonight you get a good lay!

Which Dress Should I Wear?

Granted none of the pics highlight our little fashion show that took place Thursday evening. Nevertheless, we played dress up first thing because I was tired of everything in my closet and needed some different duds for the weekend. And whilst Faith and I shed our threads and bared our dimples, Jenn played Farmville.........or is it Farmtown? She does both, but apparently one is WAY better than the other. E-farming brings her a sense of pride and fulfillment because she is helping the fight against world hunger.

This is an experiment to see is you can garden in your nose. This way you will never be without fresh veggies.

Fricking adorable, totally organic and lovingly grown and harvested by Farmer Faith.

Looks like Faith may have some rabbit trouble in her little veggie patch.

See how the rabbit longingly watches me eat my carrot? Right about the time my highlights were ready to be rinsed the hare's fangs came out and she attacked me Monty Python style. There was blood everywhere.

Facebook It

Yeah, that's right....you can now catch us at everyone's favorite social networking site......Facebook. Sidebar-Melissa we really need to get you in some group photos. Posting these pics without you just feels wrong.

Cheers!

You can always go.....Downtown

Not really......more like South City. Melissa hosted the kitchen at her house this week with special guest Katie Miller of Scarlett Garnet Jewelry.
My photos have been turning out really crappy recently so please bear with me. Faith and Melissa both made delicious treats from recipes found here. And the wine wasn't too bad either.

Oliver Noodle Jackson

Later on Melissa gave us a tour of her home and then teamed up with Katie for a glass bead making tutorial. We settled down on her new living room furniture before calling it a night. We left kind of early because we had to see Katie on TV the next morning revamping jewelry. Way to go KT!

Movie Review: P.S., I Love You

Last week was a quiet night in the kitchen-Jenn was in Florida getting run rash, Jenna was working her tail off, Melissa was entertaining an old friend and Faith and I watched P.S., I Love You. I don't know what it is about this film, but it makes me cry.....a lot.....and I don't really like that because I am not typically a crier.

The film is very sweet though and undeniably romantic, however, not so overdone that you want to vomit throughout the whole film. It even has its funnier bits to get you smiling amidst all the tears. Touting an all-star cast including Hilary Swank, Gerard Butler, Gina Gershon, Lisa Kudrow, Harry Connick, Jr. and Kathy Bates the acting is very good on most counts especially for the type of film that it is.

Now I know Gerard Butler is fantastically gorgeous and his arms are sooooooo dreamy, but I prefer him all naked and shiny in 300 better methinks (it's the beard). In this movie however, Jeffery Dean Morgan stole my heart with, of course, his arms and gleaming full-on smile.

Put that with the Irish accent and rugged laborer look and you have a formula for major swooning. Those deep brown eyes don't hurt either.

I hope the other kitchen members add to this because I think we have all seen it at this point.

Hutton's 27th Year on the Planet Earth

This party started with six pounds of ground chuck, three packs of hot dogs, upgraded buns, pita and hummus, pasta salad, salad, cookie cake, one dozen cupcakes and all the fixings............Jenna tends to buy a lot of food. :)

Chicken and Lunchbox being cute...
The berfday boi...
Faith trying to get her mouth around a 1/2 pound meatwad...

Not a great pic, but worth it as Jenn debates ever brushing her teeth again...

It looks worse than it is....

Loki, the other birthday boy....although poor thing had to endure a rather embarrassing bowel malfunction in front of everyone. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.

After many attempts at trying to take attractive pics together we finally made it work with a funny face. Those bags under my eyes aren't very funny. :)