Paranormal Fest

On February 21st, there's a Paranormal Festival in Columbus, IN with an appearance by our favorite, Sammy Terry along with Wanda Lou Willis (the author of Haunted Hoosier Trails), and Sci-Fi Channel host Keith Age, among others.

Conchas at Mi Mexico Supermercado

We discovered conchas, a Mexican sweet bread, a few weeks ago when we were roaming a Mexican grocery in Phoenix. They intrigued us because of their cute shell shape (hence the name concha). We really liked them and were happy to find an equally delicious one close to home. Mi Mexico Supermercado has 3 locations in Indy; we went to the one on Franklin near 42nd Street. The whole strip mall looked new and nice and the grocery was well organized and full of friendly employees. Mr. WYA! found all kinds of goodies there when he was shopping for our Arizona themed Super Bowl dinner. Conchas are not too sweet and perfect for breakfast or a snack. The topper can be different flavors. We like the cinnamon one but this recipe also tells you how to make a chocolate topped one.

Mi Mexico

4240 N. Franklin Rd. Indianapolis, IN 46226 Tel 317.542.0834

7857 Michigan Rd. Indianapolis, IN 46268 317.334.0995

8170 E. 21st St. Indianapolis, IN 46219 317.890.8644

Siam Square- Indianapolis, IN

We've read nothing but good things about this addition to Indy's Thai restaurant scene and we have to agree with all of the praise. We love that Siam Square gives us an excuse to go to Fountain Square. We love the bright, beautiful interior and we love the food. Breaking out of our typical Thai entree routines, we ordered the Drunken Noodles and Green Curry with tofu. Mrs. WYA! wasn't sure if she had what it takes to handle the medium heat green curry but she loved it. The curry had bamboo, green beans, Thai eggplant, and bell pepper along with generous chunks of tofu (you could also have it with chicken or beef). It's presented in a long bowl with a bowl of white rice. The Drunken Noodles were wide noodles with onion, peppers, basil and green beans. You could choose from the beef, pork or chicken. We chose the chicken. This dish came in mild version, so we chose that (some dishes aren't available with the mild option). This was a comforting and tasty meal that had all of the flavors that make Thai food so good without the challenge of the heat.

We also highly recommend a couple of their beverage options; the sweet and cooling Thai iced tea and the delicious Honey Chrysanthemum hot tea.

Zydeco's- Mooresville, IN

When it gets close to Fat Tuesday, our thoughts turn to Zydeco's. Mrs. WYA! got to introduce a gal pal to Zydeco's this past weekend. It was, as it always is, a great experience. You are transported to the French Quarter as you pass through the screen door of this old building on Mooresville's Main Street. The Abita beer signs glow, there are beads and feathers everywhere, and there is a generally festive ambiance, even when you go at an off time like 3 in the afternoon as we did. We happily munched on our French bread with the delicious house dressing/dip that is on the table. We both ordered the Creole- one with chicken and one with crawfish. As you can see, it's a huge bowl punctuated with the bright red tomato base filled with celery, onions, spices, and your choice of meat. It's what Mrs. WYA! always gets here and it never disappoints. Well, the one thing that was disappointing was that it was too filling to order dessert. One note, soup or salad used to come with the meal but now either one is $2 so that they didn't have to raise their prices. We think that is totally fair. We went ahead and got the salad but it is pretty basic; greens, red onion and olives. Basically, it is just an excuse to have something else to pour that house dressing on.

Another great thing about Zydeco's is that you get to leave with souvenirs. The napkins are wrapped with a strand of beads that you can put on and keep and you might choose, as we always do, to buy jar of the house dressing/dip to take home.

Without question, one of the best gifts we received this past Christmas was a gift certificate for Kiva. We got to look through a list of entrepreneurs from around the world who need a loan and choose who we wanted to loan our gift certificate amount to from that list. We chose a lady from Ghana who sells onions and maize to support her 5 children. Once she repays the loan, we can then turn around and loan the money to someone else. This is our first experience loaning money through Kiva and we're pretty excited about it.

Is it just us or is there something imminently likable about Zooey Deschanel? We look forward to seeing her in 500 Days of Summer in July. The trailer is oddly dull but we do like that they don't give anything away in it. It's kind of a throwback to old trailers before they started telling the whole story in them. Here's a cuter clip.

The Chewy Brownie Cookie

We can't remember where this recipe came from but, when we want to indulge, these cookies always hit the spot. The original recipe called for the chips to be chocolate but we like to use white chocolate chips. Either way, it's hard to go wrong with this one. It's a good thing to make for your Valentine if you want to show some effort and save some $$.

2/3 cup Crisco shortening

1 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar

1 tbs water

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup unsweetened baking cocoa

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups (12 oz pkg) semi-sweet chocolate chips or white chocolate chips

1. Heat oven to 375
2. Combine Crisco, light brown sugar, water, and vanilla in large mixing bowl.
3. Beat at medium speed until well blended. Beat eggs into creamed mixture.
4. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Mix into creamed mixture at low speed until just blended.
5. Stir in chocolate chips
6. Drop rounded tsp of dough 2" apart onto ungreased baking sheet.
7. Bake one baking sheet at a time at 375 for 7-9 minutes or until cookies are set. Cookies will appear soft and moist- do not over bake.
8. Cool on baking sheet 2 minutes. Place sheets of foil on counter top. Transfer cookies to foil to cool completely.

yields about 3 dozen