Favorite Recipe: Triple Chocolate Cookies

Each Tuesday, there is a girls' night for all of the significant others in the MBA program that one of the spouses, Carla, put together. Two weeks ago was game night, last week was a recipe night where we each brought our favorite recipes (oh right, I didn't have time and brought pretzels with MnMs) and this week, Kelly will be hosting a chocolate bash at her place. A couple of the actual MBA female students were invited to these spousal bashes since we are such a blast so therefore, Rachel (my roommate) and I make our way to the party each Tuesday excited for some relaxed and non-competitive fun. As we are with 100+ men each day, we cherish our Tuesdays!
Since this week was a chocolate bash, I made Triple Chocolate Cookies. They are delicious although this may be slightly biased, but I do think they will be a hit once the party happens. 

Here is the recipe taken from the Food Network Kitchen:

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves (I left this out as reviewers had mixed opinions on whether or not this added to the recipe)
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick)
• 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 2 large eggs
• 1 large yolk (ha- i just threw another egg in)
• 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
• 6 ounces white chocolate chips

Directions

Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and cloves together in a medium bowl. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Remove pan from the heat, add the bittersweet chocolate, then set aside until melted.

Whisk the eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla together in a medium bowl, then slowly whisk in chocolate. Stir in the flour mixture to make a loose dough. Don't overwork the dough. Fold in the chips. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (or 325 if convection option is available).

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Form dough into balls, about 2 inches or 1 1/2 ounces each, and put on the prepared baking sheets, leaving a couple inches between the cookies. Bake until outside is crackly, but the center is still moist, about 13 to 15 minutes, or 12 in convection. Cool on a rack.

Favorite (Old) News Article: Stanford Prison Experiment

We watched a 20/20 video today about the Stanford Prison Case and the power of conformity. It was absolutely mind-boggling to me to see these perfectly "normal" men participate in a science experiment, only to have themselves transform. I cannot do it justice by typing about it so if you have the time, check out this youtube.com video and see for yourselves:

Prisoner's Case

Favorite Website: Home and Away

Thanks to Notre Dame, I have a very diverse group of students that I get to interact with on a daily basis. It is honestly amazing to hear everyone's stories. Some of the most amazing people I have met actually were in the Army and Navy prior to joining my class of 2012. Since I have never had really known many of my close friends to go into the military, I find their stories of heroism amazing; if they even discuss them. Anyways, I thought that I would share this website that I found the other day. It puts the names and faces of those who have died in the wars on a map that corresponds to a map of the USA. If you dig deeper, you can find out more about these honorable men and women who have died fighting for our freedom. Whether you believe in the wars or not, I believe there can be no amount of gratitude shown to those who gave their lives for our country and our people.

Here is the website: War Casualties

Favorite Events: Andrew Michael's Birth

We have a new Ritter!!! Coming nine days late in true Ritter fashion, Andrew Michael was born on Friday, August 20th at 12:07 pm. Mike Allio wanted the name to be Wally Walper, but I guess we cannot be choosy as I am sure when he has his first kid, Mike will be given name suggestions like Alli Allio.

Anyways, Andrew is the fourth son of Sharon and Michael. For all of my friends trying to keep track of the family tree, Sharon is the youngest sister of my dad. Andrew's older brothers are Nick, Matthew and Christopher. Please try not to get this family now confused with my mom's side of the family as her brother Steve, has Matthew, Christopher and Andrew too. Therefore, I now have 2 Matt's, 2 Chris', 2 Nick's, 2 Brendan's, 2 Andrew's, 3 Mike's (if you include mine) and 2 Joe's.

I have attached the pictures that the family passed onto us. Do note Christopher's face in all of the photos as I think it emits his true feelings towards this new baby. Love it :) No matter how Christopher feels though, Andrew is here to stay and we are so excited for the newest member of our family!

Andrew Michael Ritter

Mom and older brother, Christopher, who is not so sure about this new addition

The happy family...again, how can you not love Christopher's face in this photo?!

Favorite News Article: True Blood..Truly Naughty

s

I personally never watch True Blood, but Mike and many others I know are HUGE fans. The show is very intriguing because it is basically an adult version of Twilight with lots of...sins? I don't know how else to describe the constant blood, carnal sex and beautiful people.

Anyways, Rolling Stones is making waves with its new cover. Why wouldn't it? I guess it is good that Sookie, Anna Paquin, and Bill, Stephen Moyer, are engaged!

Favorite Video: Hans Rosling: No more boring data: TEDTalks

Today and yesterday, I have been blessed with 3 1/2 hours of accounting and then ANOTHER 3 1/2 hours of statistics. However, we actually have amazing and entertaining professors. This is one of the videos our stats professor shared with us. The video is 20 minutes long so I don't expect you all to watch all of it, but it is very insightful. Feel free to google Hans Rosling and GapMinder.com. Who knew statistics could be....fun?

Favorite New Activity: iChat

Mike and I have been loving the ability to iChat the past weeks. I never imagined that I would be in a separate city as he, but the fact that I can see his face while talking to him makes things so much easier. Tommy is also enjoying it too, although he has no idea what is exactly going on when he sees my face on the computer. He gets excited, tilts his head and then starts talking. I actually took a video of it the other day on my phone...sadly it is the wrong way and needs to be rotated so I will have to shoot another one later this week to share.

If you do have a video camera and want to chat tete-a-tete one day, just let me know! It is much better than over the phone.

Favorite Week: Welcome Weekend

I started my orientation on Monday, August 9th at Notre Dame and I swear it feels as if it has been about a year since I first stepped onto campus. I have had such an incredible experience meeting my classmates in the two-year program and I have no doubts whatsoever of my choice to come here.

We did a lot this week learning about the school and the breadth of its history, but we also had a ton of fun too. Sunday night kicked off at a BBQ Mike and I attended. Then on Tuesday, I went to The Pointe's pool and afterwards, Kildare's, with about fifty of my classmates. Wednesday was bowling, Thursday was a huge pool party and BBQ, Friday was an Irish pub and Corby's and finally, today, we went up to Saint Joe's to go swim in Lake Michigan and get some much needed beach time.

I have attached some pictures of our tour of the locker room and then the view from the luncheon we had in which Digger Phelps spoke. (What a motivational speaker...)

Standing in front of the team's entrance. If you look carefully you can see Touchdown Jesus (on the Hezburgh library) which is perfectly centered.

Slapping the the famous sign.

The view from the press box (and also the floor Brian Kelly's family sits on).

Favorite Food: Irish Nachos

Now that I live in South Bend, I have my new favorite version of Coney cheese fries. These are amazing!!! I have only ate them in restaurants, but you can make your own following this Rachel Ray recipe. You probably don't need this extreme of a recipe and we had bacon instead of corned beef, but try it out!

Ingredients

1 20- to 24-ounce bag waffle fries

2 tablespoons EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 pound deli-sliced corned beef, chopped

1 small onion, thinly sliced

1/2 small head green cabbage, thinly sliced (about 2 cups)

Salt and ground black pepper

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

1 cup light beer

1 cup chicken stock

1 cup shredded white cheddar cheese

Preparation

Preheat oven to 450ºF.

Arrange the waffle fries on a baking sheet and cook according to package directions, adding about 10 minutes onto the baking time to make them extra crispy.

When the fries have about 10 minutes left, place a medium skillet over medium-high heat with 2 turns of the pan of EVOO, about 2 tablespoons. Add the corned beef to the skillet and sauté until light golden brown and heated through, 2-3 minutes

Add the onions and cabbage to the pan, and cook until the onions have softened and cabbage has wilted, 4-5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and reserve warm.

While the veggies are cooking, place a medium pot over medium-high heat and melt the butter. Add the flour to the pot and cook for about a minute.

Whisk the beer into the mixture and cook for about 30 seconds to cook off the alcohol. Whisk the chicken stock into the pan and bring up to a bubble. Simmer until thickened, 2-3 minutes, then remove from heat and stir in the cheese to melt. Season the sauce with salt and pepper.

To serve, arrange the crispy waffle fries on a platter, top them with the corned beef and cabbage mixture and douse with a good helping of cheese sauce.

Favorite Moment: First Day of School!

I just had my first day of school orientation today. Rachel, my new roommate, and I drove up to campus together at 8am for a full day of activities, including a scavenger hunt across campus in the insanely humid weather. I met a lot of nice new people and have been paired with my 'mod', a group of students who I will be grouped with over the next year. There are 26 of them with five to six of us in each. My class hails from (if I remember correctly) over 30 states and 14 countries. We have the highest average GMAT score ever in the history of ND (which I didn't contribute to), but the second highest GPA (class of 2003, ugg)-- which I did help with! Also, there are only 27 women out of the 130-ish students, but no worries, Mike made sure to tell people that he was the trophy boyfriend at the BBQ last night hosted by a new classmate.

Anyways, all is well. Miss everyone!!!

AND my new favorite campus

And while I am at it, we went to mass at the basilica and here are some photos of our tour on campus:

Golden Dome

The library and reflecting pool.

View of ND's stone hedge, the golden dome of the admin building and the basilica.

Grandpa Ritter's name on the plaque of donations to the school's library.

The stadium!

New Favorite Room and Apartment

I moved this Saturday with the help of my mom, dad, Michael, and two hardworking folks at Burrow's Moving Company named Al and Ken. Over a period of 48 hours I slowly transported all of my life from Chicago to South Bend minus the dust bunnies. I cannot believe that I have accumulated so much of my life over the past seven years. Examples include my dancing mouse that sings I'm too sexy for my shirt, my Roma & Chicago paintings, my nannerpus from the Denny's commercials, and Gus Gus. Oh and the 100 books I have been transporting in the hopes that one day I will have a library. Take a look below for the photos of the new place. Of course there is stuff all over the place right now, but you can get the idea with the slides and descriptions below:

When you first walk into the place we have huge closets that hold my quarter-free washer and dryer.

The dining room. We have so much room in here it is hard to know what to do.

The family room. We have a nice deck where my back is. You can see Tommy felt right at home here!

The kitchen is very 70s, but has updated metal appliances.

My bathroom. Very small and floods actually. Fabulous... they will need to fix that up!

The Saint Joseph river is right behind those trees. Also note the dog friendly trash cans :) There are about 200 units I would say throughout the entire complex.

Mike played a game as these later photos were taken to get in all of them. My bedroom....