Dip-A-Palooza VIII

You know what's right around the corner? Dip-A-Palooza VIII! Or DAP8, take your pick. And thanks to Holden, we have another video to jazz us up. I think I'll go on record by saying: best video yet.

It is hard to believe it's almost here - Superbowl Sunday is a mere 2.5 weeks away. I don't know about you, but I've been scouring recipes for MONTHS. I might just try to add another tally by my name. I have some tough decisions ahead of me. (I will not be making this dip, that's for sure) Savory or sweet? Fancy or classic dipper? If you know of any killer dip recipes, please send them my way!

P.S. For past year's DAPs.

Showdown

For Dip-a-Palooza, we scoured the web for a winning dip. There were cheesey dips, gooey dips, chunky dips and ewww-ey dips. There are so many dip recipes out there, it was completely overwhelming! The pressure of DAP was getting to me.

So I thought to myself, what if we chose a dip from each of my cooking idols? PDubs and Martha. (I also like Giada, don't worry Carol!) Joe would bring one and I would bring the other. I present you the dip showdown.

PDubs Hot Olive & Artichoke dip vs. Martha's Sweet Onion dip.

Ding. ding. ding. [They enter the ring]

PDubs steps into the ring with one of my fave ingredients: black olives. Add artichokes, cream cheese, parm and a whole lot of other no-so-good-for-you ingredients, then serve it warm, you have one tough dip.

Enter Martha. A LOT of grilled sweet onions, cream cheese, sour cream and chives and you've got a force to be reckoned with.

Jabs are thrown. Blocks are made and then, BAM! PDubs wins. Very little contest. Though, I admit, I think if I was fair, I would have tackled a much more challenging Martha recipe, but I was going for ease.

In other DAP news, the results of the dip-making contest. Drum roll, please?

Mr. Holden Tenenbaum took the crown with a chocolate chip pecan cheesecake dip! (Delish!) The first to ever win a second time and first to beat the dessert dip curse. I think congrats are in order. It was a fight not easily won because Stephanie's queso rocked my world too (Also a PDubs recipe). I now count queso at night instead of sheep. No, really, I do.

(For full recap post, including a picture of the coveted plaque, go

here.)

pics/Martha & PDubs

Dip-a-Palooza VII

DAP teaser courtesy of Holden

The time is almost here, my friends. The most competitive dip-making contest known to man.

Dip-a-Palooza VII on Superbowl Sunday. (Last year's DAP post)

It's epic. Imagine the best dip you've ever had in your entire life, then multiply that by 100. The options can be overwhelming and stomach needs occasional timeouts, but you must try every dip to uphold the democracy of the voting system. (Or at least that's what I tell myself when stepping on the scale the next day.) Can't wait to see what deliciousness this year brings!

TGIF

You all remember Dubs? The one and only Husky mascot. Well, it turns out Holden's (my old roomie) girlfriend Stacey wanted nothing more than to meet Dubs for her birthday. (Well, I'm sure she wanted something else, but this was at the top of her list)

Sneaky Holden arranged a special Dubs meeting. Isn't that adorable?

The pictures say it all.

Happy Friday, all! Hope you have fun weekend plans. I'm looking at you, Miss I'm-going-to-the-beautiful-land-of-Hawaii. I'll be thinking of you while you're taking your Ukelele and hula classes.

Winter Pineapple Classic

A pineapple-carrying, 12-foot wall conquering, army crawling, cowbell dinging, load of fun! It was just plain awesome.

The Winter Pineapple Classic is a 5k obstacle course out at Magnuson Park that benefits The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Everyone races in teams of 2 or 4 and at all times one teammate has to be carrying a pineapple. (I made Holden carry it the whole time. Thanks!) The course is filled with about a dozen or more obstacles, including walls and rope nets to climb, pipes to crawl through, tires to jump, cowbells to ring out in the water, hurdles to leap and more.

I ran the race with Holden and we rocked it! Unfortunately our timing chips didn't work which means we have to go with our best guess, say 15 minutes flat? Yeah, right around there. Give or take. (We actually estimate that it was somewhere between 27-30 minutes which is pretty decent given the obstacles.)

As with all good races, it ended with a party at the end - complete with luau, live music, Hawaiian feast and Georgetown Brewery beer garden.

Team #1: Holden and Erika

Team #2: Kenny and JJ

(Team #1 > Team #2)

A blast from the past

I just remembered this awesome interaction between my former roomie, Holden, and a stranger. I don't know why it's taken it this long to share with you all. Here is his "note" from facebook:

Last night I was sitting in my Legal and Regulatory class minding my own business and struggling to pay attention when all of a sudden I receive a text from a number I've never seen before. Here is what ensues:

Breanna: Hey its breanna. You have been calling or texting my old number. I am coming to your shower! [smiley emoticon]

Holden: You must be mistaken. I'm not having a shower.

B: Who is this lol.

H: Who the hell is this? Why wasn't I invited to this shower?

B: Who is this? You were texting my old phone.

H: That's completely unture. You're a liar.

B: Okay whatever

(Erika note: This is when Holden decides to make the most of this situation)

H: Just kidding with you. I'll see you at the shower. [smiley emoticon]

B: So rude! Thought you were serious

H: Haha, can't wait to see you [kissy emoticon]

B: I Know! Its gonna be fun

H: The baby is going to be beautiful

B: I Know! I cant wait to see her. Ill be a free baby sitter anytime!

H: You might need to breast feed her too

B: Ha ha ha when your done breast feeding her

H: I'm seriously looking for a surrogate breast feeder. Interviews will be tomorrow.

B: Oh whatever

H: Anyways, love ya and see you soon. Ta ta.

I have no idea who the hell this Breanna is. I guess she'll be showing up unannounced to a baby shower though...

[Update: tonight!]B: Hey what time is your baby shower? Cuz I just remembered i have to work saturday three to nine [sad emoticon]

H: Hey sweety pie. It's at three [sad emoticon]. That's too bad [sad emoticon]. Let's lunch this week.

B: That sucks! I wanted to go! Ill still spoil the baby. Tho lol

H: The baby can't wait to meet her godmother!!! [smiley emoticon]

B: Who is her god mother

H: You!! [smiley emoticon]

B: Are you serious

H: I couldn't wait to tell you [kissey emoticon]

B: You being dead serious

H: It was between you and sarah. You win!!

(Erika note: I suggested he say Sarah! Who doesn't have a friend named Sarah?!)

B: Who is sara

H: My cousin, silly!

B: This is not even bri nice try. I just her number from my friend. Who ever this is grow up.

H: You're silly [kissey emoticon]

The end.

Friendmania

Overall, fantastic weekend! I was able to spend time with so many different groups of friends and enjoy the crazy, nice weather we've been having. The order of events went a little like this:

• Pre-poker Starbucks and chatting at the lake with Steph.
  
• Poker night at the 304 with pretty much the usual crew: Steph, Holden (who recently googled himself in vain and came across PetesSpeaks... unbeknownst to him, I've posted on the world wide web about him more than once, but good thing I deleted that one post before he found it!), Phil, Jaison, JJ, James, Justin and me. I lost, JJ won. We hit up Teddy's for some ping pong and pool after the game. Classic poker night.


• Wedding dress shopping with Christina and Olita on Saturday. Christina is going to be a beautiful bride!


• Viking-themed Beer Pong Tournament for Nick's 26th! (Ironically, my 2nd beer pong birthday bash of the summer.) It was fun to see all of the guys we hung out with in college... but I'm disappointed at the lack of Kelly Clarkson tunes. It was a great tradition. Ben didn't even get the chance to punch a hole in the wall while going crazy to "Since U Been Gone"

Nickybutt

• More beer at the Ballard Bar & Grill where Maddie, James and I discovered the best game ever: Big Buck Hunter.


• BBQ and lakeside fun on Mercer Island at Ryan and Tyson's place. A lot of sitting in tubes, eating BBQ, drinking beers and even tubing!! And if you know me well enough, you know I love me some tubing! Now my legs (but only the front) are burnt to a crisp, almost as red as this.

Sarah and me

Tronics and me

• Ultimate Frisbee at Greenlake with Maddie, Holden (2 mentions in 1 post - aren't you excited?!), James, JJ and Kenny. It was awesome, but extremely hot.

Is it bad that I'm already gearing up for this Friday when it's only Monday?!