Kitchen Idea: Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Jalapenos - UPDATE

I had posted this recipe back in the day and recently I was making these for a gathering of people and decided to switch things up a bit.  I used goat cheese instead of cream cheese and I believe they got even better!
 

The Story Leading to the RoadTrip

I haven’t been writing as much as I’d like but since my 26^th year is the time of doing and I want to remember so many things, I am getting back to the pen and paper.  I have many stories to tell, pictures to share, restaurants to rave about, recipes to try, and DIY projects to start and complete but I want to start this story back in April of 2012.  M and I were living in St. Louis with our puppy, Sophie.

Sophie as a 10 month old.

We both had decent jobs and loved where we were living.  However, we were not sure about the longevity of the situation because neither of us felt like we were advancing at the rate we wanted within our companies and all of our friends kept moving away from STL.  So after multiple discussions with parents and friends and coworkers, we decided to do what so many want to do but so few actually do, we quit our jobs and went on a trip.

For me this was a giant deal, I had worked for the same company since I graduated high school, it turned out to be almost exactly 7 years.  We decided that it would be best to wait until our lease was close to being up on our town house which ended up being May 31^st.  We also had planned on moving to Indianapolis where M’s dad owned a small manufacturing company that she was in line to take over and I could work at until I found something else.

Now you have some of the back story and I can continue on; we gave our 2 weeks notice and began packing our stuff up but not before we spent hours planning a massive roadtrip across the country. Planning is a strong word because honestly we planned a route and had ideas of things we wanted to see and that was about it.  We also had an Iphone App that had seemingly ever campsite in the US, which we figured would come in handy; we were right but more on that later.

We strategically packed the belongs we wouldn’t be needing for the next 2 months into a UHaul and the stuff we thought we would need for a camping road trip into my Jeep Patriot.  And of course during packing, we took a break to see the Cubs play in St. Louis and stopped by our favorite spots in town for some meals.  

M and I at the Cubs game in St. Louis

We went to Bogarts, my favorite BBQ place ever (I will discuss this when I start writing about restaurants but I never get a picture of because I am always too excited to eat), Blues City Deli, which has the most amazing Reuben I've ever had and I love Reubens, a couple trips down to Park Avenue Coffee, and a beer or three at Square One Brewery.

Reuben from Blues City Deli

 

After saying our final good byes to the Lou, we drove our stuff to Indianapolis and left it in a storage unit and we were on vacation, or a sabbatical or unemployed with a purpose.

Another quick side story, M’s dad also runs a hot air balloon company.  I have been apart of the crew for take offs and landings before but never been up until one of the 3 mornings we were staying in Indy.  He called and told us to be at work at 6, a touch early for someone on vacation.  But we show up and start setting up the balloon thinking that we were just helping some new people learn how to be apart of the crew. But then he announces, “Billy, get in.”  So I jump in the basket and before I can think about it we were drifting over the east side of Indianapolis at sunrise.

View from the Hot Air Balloon at Sunrise

Looking up into the Hot Air Balloon

Later that same day, we were to celebrate a friend’s birthday, which of course involved spelunking or cave exploring.  Doesn't everyone celebrate birthdays that way?

We drove down to southern Indiana to the Marengo Caves and before we knew it we were underground.  In the caves, it is continually 58 degrees which in mid May turned out to be a great thing since outside the cave it was about 90.  Some other fun things that happen in the caves, you get incredibly wet from all the puddles, drips, creeks, and ponds.  You also inevitably get covered in mud from sliding around through cracks and crevices.  What I thought was one of the cooler things was that you also get to experience true darkness.  We all turned off our headlamps and sat for a minute or two….Nothing.  Your eyes will never adjust because there is zero light in the caves.

Spelunkers

After our trip into the caves, we decided to spend the night at the old stomping grounds in Bloomington, Indiana. B-town.  We started the night with some food and playing a drinking game called “Sink the Biz” at Nick’s, which is essentially, Classic Hoosiers Bar.  I almost forgot that on our walk to Nick’s we stopped at this new place called House Bar which is just a house but they have $1 PBR, so we had to stop and try out those.

After dinner at Nick’s and meeting up with my little sister and her friends, who were also in town to revisit the college days, we started a true bar crawl.  We traversed the long trek all the way across the street to Upstairs for one of the famous AMF drinks, which stands for Adios, Mother F-er. After one of those and blue tongue to prove it, we headed towards the dive bar section of the night with stops at Alley Bar for some spicy nuts and The Vid for some Pop-a-Shot and darts.

Now on the downside of our crawl, we stopped at Sports, which is a giant bar that turned it’s patio into a giant beach.  We sat in some chairs and drank like we were sitting next to the ocean.   After one more stop at House Bar to finish off the night like we started, with $1 PBRs and a quick walk through the drive-thru at Square Donuts, we were back at home at the Motel 6.

The next morning, we all felt like death and couldn’t get out of town quick enough, after getting a quick lunch from my old go to, Bloomington Sandwich Company.  M and I were heading up to Chicago to stay a few nights at my parents’ house before heading west and truly beginning the roadtrip.

We stopped off at M’s parents’ house to get Sophie and then on the drive up to Chicago we stopped at one of my college roommates’ law school graduation party.  This was a nice little perk since we hadn’t seen a few of those guys in awhile.  But with having Sophie with us and still feeling the effects of a college revisit, we didn’t stay too long.

We hung around my parents’ house for a few days, ate some Portillo’s as I always do when back in the Chicagoland area, and before we knew it we were leaving poor little Sophie there to head west. 

Portillo's Italian Beef with Hot Peppers and Cheese Fries

We had decided that we couldn’t do everything we wanted if we brought Princess Sophie with us and my parents were gracious enough to watch her for the next 35 or so days.