Apple & Blueberry “Pie” cupcakes
Guitar Cake for my Brother Bruce’s Birthday
Bruce and Kim’s Black and White themed wedding cake
Labor Day Cake
Simple Blue and Purple themed wedding cake for my Sister Jill and Adam
sand and seaglass
Independence Day Cupcakes
Lacey’s Birthday Pixie Cupcakes
Lacey at 23 still has a love affair with Pixies and Fairies, so for her Birthday Niece Noelle and I baked a little magic for her. I just wanted to share because they are so pretty!
I would love to travel all the time (who wouldn’t?). This spring I had the opportunity to visit places I had either never been to, or didn’t remember driving through on family vacations long ago. The first place we went to was Dallas, Texas and the area surrounding. My idea of what Texas looked like was completely different from how it actually was. I guess I was thinking cowboy ranches and cactus plants. But in April, it was beautiful, green and much cooler than where I live in South Florida (fondly nicknamed “The Tropics”.) I actually needed a warmer jacket than the T-shirt thin pseudo-hoodie I had packed, never thinking I would be cold at night and in the early morning hours.
Depository Building, Dallas TX
We arrived at the HUGE airport pretty early in the day, got our rental car and the journey began. First stop, the downtown city of Dallas, full of large buildings and interesting side streets. We parked near Dealy Plaza to explore where history took place, the assassination of President Kennedy. I had watched many documentaries on the subject, seen the famous Zapruder film dozens of times and was familiar with the Depository Building facade as well. To see all these places in person really brought the whole piece of history to life. There was an “X” painted on the street right where the shooting took place, and the Depository Building had been turned into a museum with the shooting window half open just as it was that day. After this moving experience we walked the streets a bit and found a Tex-Mex restaurant to have some lunch. Wonderful food! So much better than the Mexican offerings at the restaurants in South Florida, it tasted smoky and full of flavor. We both devoured everything put in front of us, remarking that this was really, really GOOD, sipped Margaritas and enjoyed the beautiful non-humid weather. Afterwards , we walked off lunch, exploring the museum at the Depository building and gift shop. Finally, deciding our room must be ready by now, we climbed back in the rental car to our hotel destination.
Allen, TX was great. Our hotel/convention center was right across the street from a gigantic Whole Foods (everything IS big in Texas) with a large outdoor patio equipped with a fire pit for those chilly evenings aforementioned.
Parking Lot Car Show
The weekend we were there, a classic car show had taken residence in the back area of the parking lot and Mark had a blast looking at all the old cars and trucks. Adjacent to the store was an outdoor mall of high-scale and popular shops and restaurants with interesting little park-like pockets of trees and benches to rest your shopping-weary feet. The next morning I decided to spend the day at this little shopping mall while Mark and his business associates met. A lot of walking, but fun as well. I ended my jaunt at the huge Whole Foods to put together a healthy late lunch to enjoy outside before the final walk back to the hotel.
We only had little more than a weekend in Dallas, this being the business trip part of the getaway before the fun trip part. On Sunday we attended a Christian Fellowship home meeting at old friends of Mark’s (he had lived there years earlier) and enjoyed a beautiful Sunday in the country outskirts of the city. Before too long, it was time to say goodbye, pack it up and head to our next destination- Vegas, baby.
This is a recipe from one of my dearest friends, Brad. While visiting him in CT on our Girl’s Only Summer Road Trip 2 summers ago, we gathered at his apartment for an impromptu dinner party. Present were my daughter Lacey, my niece Noelle, “Uncle” Brad and his friend Peter. Noelle, who usually hates anything green, went wild over Uncle Brad’s Caesar Salad and shocked us all by clearing her plate. Whenever I make this salad, it reminds me of my good friend and how much I miss him.
Recipe:
Gather your ingredients:
Start by mincing garlic
Add it to your salad bowl or if you have a wooden bowl, just rub inside with garlic clove
Next up, everyone’s favorite Worcestershire Sauce
Salt and pepper
Lemon juice
Let your egg come to room temp, then pour boiling water over it and let steep exactly one minute for a perfect coddled egg.
Crack the coddled egg into the bowl and whisk. Stream in the Olive oil and continue to whisk until emulsified
Blend in your Romano Cheese
At this point, in our home it’s time to open up a can of anchovies…’cause Mark loves ’em!
I also get out my jar of homemade croutons (star shaped because they are left over from the ones I made for Christmas gifts)
Add the Romaine lettuce, anchovies & croutons with some extra Romano for good measure and toss away!
Yummy!
Hope you all like it as much as we do! here’s the written recipe:
Well here we go, New Years resolutions and all, making a commitment to blogging again. Life has certainly been full of ups and downs since I last made an entry, and sadly there’s been more downs in the better part of last year. But now I am resolving to pick myself up, dust myself off and start all over again as the old song goes.
Sometimes I feel like I’m going through some kind of test- because that’s what this past year has felt like. My sister had her beautiful cruise wedding and all went really well, generating wonderful memories of a magic time for all of us aboard the ship. But after returning home, it seemed as though everything began to unravel bit by bit. First, I lost my job that I had for years and really enjoyed. The job paid really well, and as the bread-winner of the family going through hard times, it was really important for me to have this job. But poof- it was over and done with, suddenly leaving me with tons of time on my hands. It’s really hard to get in the slow lane after having gone 90 miles an hour for most of your life. I had a hard time getting used to not having to get up and go. After about a month, I did manage to land another job in my same field. I remember going through the door, getting in my car and heading out to my first day with great anticipation…innocently thinking all would be well now. I was wrong. Really wrong. The job was awful. The circumstances I was thrown into were a nightmare and I quickly realized I should have stayed on unemployment a bit longer. Anyway, I hated it there and in less than 6 weeks gone. So, back to collecting unemployment, back to trying to find another good job.
“When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.”
Finally, I did learn to slow down and to relish the time I had to myself to do the things I couldn’t fit into my hectic and overworked schedule of the past, but before I did so I went through a kind of withdrawal, finding it really hard to leave the fast lane. But time heals everything and now I’m enjoying the precious time I have to myself to bake, sew and enjoy my home and family. Hopefully I will be able to find another job, but for now I will appreciate the time I have to myself now, at this moment.
I work as a Social Director for a country club community in Florida, and one of my jobs is to do event planning for them. I love doing it, and I had the opportunity to create a special bridal shower r for my sister Jill, who will be marrying her intended, Adam, on April 22nd in a cruise ship wedding. Befitting of the upcoming event, I did a nautical theme to celebrate with friends and family. After all these years of creating events for other people, how wonderful that I had the chance to do this for my sister!
Ready to go
I started with a blue and white piece of fabric, ordered online that became the table cloth. It was a durable canvas material and I plan to finish off the edges to make this a “real” tablecloth.
Lifesaver anyone?
Details, details… next came a basket of cutlery wrapped with a napkin, some twine and a lifesaver candy.
sand and seaglass
My daughter Lacey and niece Noelle helped with the nautical cupcakes. They were so pretty! We decided to make edible sea glass to sprinkle on top along with some raw sugar for a “sand” effect.
making "sea glass"
They were vanilla with a touch of orange, and a cream cheese frosting. More decorations included 3 little “messages in a bottle”.
These little lighthouses were so pretty! They held tea lights which gave off a pretty glow when lit. Just the right touch. I filled glass vases with seashells I had gathered from Sanibel Island. For snacking, I had a couple of bowls of goldfish crackers, and of course the appetizers were shrimp puffs, made by my mother.
This big glass fish bottle was filled with “messages” written out by the guests. The messages were marital advice for the bride.
Also offered were wrapped Tuna, Egg & Chicken sandwiches with little nautical flags identifying the type of sandwich to choose.
And who could forget the Nautical champagne punch? Beautiful blue like the sea with frothing water…AND it was delicious!
Seaside Champagne Punch
All in all, a successful bridal shower for my sister Jill. She loved it! Happy Wedding Jill!
Bon Voyage! Mark, Lacey & I can’t wait to sail off with you and Adam after the cruise ship wedding.
My happy sister, Jill.
Exhausting weekend, each second of the day promised to an activity…Saturday morning dress fittings for my sister’s wedding, followed by singing in a church service, followed by stage managing a Doo Wop show at the clubhouse…then up really early to sing 3 services on Sunday morning…and on the way home a stop at Whole Foods. Once there, I felt the familiar tug to create a beautiful Sunday Dinner for my family. So drifting over to the meat counter at Whole Foods, I get the idea to make some gravy (the Italian pet name for pasta sauce), meatballs and homemade pasta. At the meat counter I buy some nice ground pork, ground veal, and ground beef, 2 mild Italian sausages plus a nice pork rib to flavor my sauce. I’m motivated despite being dead tired. I don’t want to miss one moment of what’s left of my weekend, and that means cooking.
So here goes:
First: meatballs! Grass-fed ground veal, pork & beef for the best flavor.
Add minced shallots and garlic, an egg and seasoned breadcrumbs plus a little salt and pepper.
Mix together well, roll into meatballs. I like them to be on the small side- less fattening this way!
ready for the frying pan
Once around the pan with some olive oil, then start frying the meatballs
At this point I add some mild Italian sausages to fry as well. My plan is to cut them into 3's so I have nice bite-sized pieces of sausage along with my little meatballs.
remove the meatballs and sausage and drain on a paper towel. Hmm a couple are missing...Mark strikes again!
And now it’s time to pour myself a nice glass of white wine. But before I take a sip…
Add minced garlic and shallots and red pepper, saute for a minute then deglaze the pan with white wine.
I refill my glass a bit and continue with the meal.
After a couple of minutes of cooking off the wine, add a can of crushed San Marzano tomatoes, and a cup or two of chicken stock. Season with salt and pepper.
Bring to a boil, then add the meatballs and sausage.
Nice pork rib to flavor the sauce
OK, here's some pasta dough ready to be made into noodles.
OK, the homemade pasta is going to have to be a separate post all it’s own, another day soon, I promise.
I decide to make nice, wide spaghetti noodles. Here they are hanging out, ready to be added to boiling water.
OK, the sauce is ready. I remove the meats and dump in the pasta, add a little past water and I'm ready to serve.
Here's the finished dish, delicious! And...my husband loves me 🙂
And tomorrow….back to low point meals. That’s what I love about Weight Watchers- you can have your nice weekend meal and enjoy it without guilt. As long as you count your points and know that the rest of the week you have to be careful and stick to your guns. Happy Sunday everyone!
I’m grateful that tonight I have Vocals rehearsal tonight at church. Sometimes my soul needs a little lift to help me get through life. How perfect is it that my rehearsal is on Wednesday, during the middle of a crazy week, to help put things in Godly perspective…
Having a bit of trouble with the diet this week. I’m trying to stay positive, but yesterday I ate too many goodies…my body was just CRAVING sugary, chocolaty, carbs and I felt powerless to resist. The 2 glasses of wine I had at dinner didn’t help either. I know there will inevitably be bad days along the course of this journey, but what I really want to do is to pick myself up, dust myself off and start all over again…(to quote Dorothy Fields & Jerome Kern).
So…for lunch, the usual diet TV dinner (in this case, Smart Ones Spinach Fettuccine) and a Weight Watchers chocolate chip cookie. Hopefully I won’t get the same horrible cravings tonight. The good thing is that I will be so very busy these next couple of days, that I won’t have time to indulge my carb cravings, only to come home and go to bed early from my exhaustive activities. (Board Meetings, vocal rehearsals, shows at the Clubhouse.)
So, that’s it. Hope your Wednesday (or what’s left of it) is awesome.
This is a non-fat salsa that is ZERO Weight Watchers Points Plus. I’m going to my sisters for Super Bowl Sunday, and we are having a Mexican themed feast. So…here’s my contribution to the festivities!
First, a Weight Watchers friendly staple:
Organic Olive Oil Pam
Get out your grill pan and spray with Pam. Let the grill pan get really hot. Meanwhile…
Round up your ingredients: a couple of Jalapeno peppers (one or two depending on how hot you like it) a nice red pepper, 3 garlic cloves, an onion, tomatoes, a lime and a bunch of cilantro.
Do a rough chop to prepare for the grill pan.
First, take the peppers, garlic (in their skins) and onion and grill them until lightly charred.
After the pepper, onion and garlic have a nice char, add the tomatoes and briefly grill them.
Coming along nicely...
Start by slicing open the jalapeno, scrapping out the seeds and membranes with a knife, then adding both the peppers, peeled garlic and onion to the processor and pulse lightly. Next add the tomatoes and pulse once or twice. Pour into a bowl.
Chop up a fresh tomato to add to the processed mixture to bulk up the salsa.Add the chopped cilantro.
Add the juice of one large lime and 2 tsp of salt, stir. Refrigerate for a couple of hours or overnight to let the flavors meld together.
Ready for eating! Get out your tortilla chips and enjoy.
Jacqueline 