The Cooking Vent: Random Things on A Monday:

1. Wow - is January really almost over! I can't believe there is only one week left in this month. It flew by, and I don't even know where it went. Being sick the first two weeks of the month really made my life feel so unorganized! My husband and I are trying to get all organized for the year, do a "winter cleaning" instead of spring, and feel more on top of the house this year. Besides, we'll have visitors in 2 weeks!! My sister and family (all 6!) are coming on their way to China for a week. Yes, I said CHINA! They're moving there for 2 years. So, we needed to do a organizational overhaul in order to prep! :)

2. Our church has been part of a 21 day fast called "Awakening" which we do every year. It's really a great time to get refreshed, refocused, and to grow closer in your relationship with God. This year we chose to do without cheese, bread, and sugar. YIKES! I have a COOKING blog for goodness sakes! :) This is very hard, but so worth it, and it feels oh, so good after all the indulgences of the holidays!

3. I have been offered a chance to do a review for CSN, which will work out perfectly for all the Valentine's baking I want to try and haven't been able to with the fast. I have several new recipes I cannot wait to try out bookmarked and ready. I think most everyone who's been reading my blog for a while has heard of CSN by now since I have hosted several giveaways by them, but they have an excellent selection of everything from baking tools, home decor, amazing shoes, or you can choose the perfect laptop messenger bag for your new mac or ipad you got for Christmas. It seems like everyone got an ipad for Christmas... I did not! :) So, stay tuned for the review!

4. Archie and I stayed up in San Francisco last weekend, and we discovered a whole new side of town that we'd never seen before. The neighborhood is called "Marina/Cow Hollow", but we found a whole new shopping center, tons of restaurants, and even this cute little cupcake shop.

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Of course, I didn't get to try it because I'm not allowed any sugar for the month of January, but I took a picture of the front of the shop so I wouldn't forget it! :)

We also found a great gourmet burger shop - Barney's Gourmet Burgers. So yummy. We had the burger's "protein style" - the In & Out slang for "with no bread", so it came with lettuce instead of a bun. Really yummy. I had mine with barbecue sauce, sauteed onions, and avocado!

5. The Super Bowl is coming up! (Not that we care about it at all other than yummy snacks!) That means you'll need game day recipes! I have a great one for you. This is my friend Mary's cheese ball. She made it for me for the first time when I was in high school and we hosted a sleep over for a bunch of junior high gals. I ended up sitting in front of the cheese ball, and when it was gone at the end of the night, everyone blamed ME for eating it all. I know I wasn't the only one eating it.... or maybe I was. It's just so good, you may want to make it and hide it!

It's so super easy, that it's a cinch to throw together. And there's a secret ingredient. If this wasn't a cooking blog, I wouldn't tell you because you might gross out, but I'm telling you, this ingredient totally makes the cheese ball amazing!

I promise it's different than Spam! You'll love it and everyone will rave.

Mary's Cheese Ball:

Ingredients:

1 8 oz. bar cream cheese, softened
1 8 oz. bar extra sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1 larger can of devil ham
1 splash hot sauce
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 splash of worcheshire (sp) sauce

Topping:

Extra shredded cheese or chopped toasted pecans

Serve With:

Fresh veggies

Ritz crackers

Wheat thins

Directions:

1. Grate cheese