Posts from — March 2015

This is the blog post I’ve been putting off for weeks.

I’ve been struggling with how to begin.

I know it is what I want … and what I need to do, but…

OK, enough talking about it and procrastinating … I’m going to just rip off the band-aid and get it over with.

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Recently I read something that has given me the renewed strength to say “yes” to something that I’ve said “no” to for far too long.

Before I share the article I read and before I tell you my “Yes Thing,” let me tell you a little back story about my first encounter with the Power of Yes.

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For Sunday appetizers, Dave wanted to serve shrimp cocktails. He had the shrimp and assumed that I’d have cocktail sauce among the dozens upon dozens of bottles and jars of condiments, olives, pickles, sauces, and relishes I have in that fridge!

He was wrong. I told him he could easily make his own cocktail sauce, just go online and find a recipe.

He did, and then he zipped it up and called it his own!

The secret ingredient? Heinz chili sauce. Instead of all ketchup, like you’ll find in most cocktail sauce recipes, it was an equal combination of each.

Attaboy! I’ve trained my family well.

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This recipe combines parts of two recipes already posted here; the mac & cheese part is of this recipe. Plus roasted cauliflower from this recipe, which I posted nearly three years ago.

I’ve made a few tweaks to the original recipes and combined them.

One problem, I did not read my recipe and made the mac & cheese pictured below with a full pound of macaroni instead of the 8 ounces called for.  It was still delicious in flavor, just dry instead of creamy, as it should be.

If you don’t make the same mistake, your family will love this version of good old mac & cheese!

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My sweet sister, Sloane, along with my dear friends, Barb and Kim, are throwing Marissa a bridal shower in May.

They are the dream team of hostesses. Barb and Kim, the talented cooking instructors, are handling the food. And Sloane is an event and wedding coordinator. Dream Team, indeed!

Sloane asked for my help with the theme and decor. Since Marissa has a degree in Journalism and is a voracious reader, I decided on a literary theme.

Sloane and I are meeting each weekend between now and then, working on decor for the shower. I wish I could start sharing it with you now, but of course, we want it to be a surprise for Marissa and her guests.  Let’s just say, there is a lot of crafting involved!

Since they have been mailed and received, the one thing I can share now is the invite. I knew exactly what sort of invite I wanted to set the tone and theme, so I insisted on ordering and paying for the invites. It’s the least I can do for my gracious and generous sister and friends!

I ordered them from HERE on Etsy. Kendra was a dream to work with, I’d order from her again in a heartbeat.

Let me show you all the sweet details of these unique and one-of-a-kind invites.

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As soon as I received the invitation to Zak & Zoey’s First Birthday Party, I began thinking about a unique gift for them.

I knew they didn’t need more toys, as you can see! This space used to be Steve & Tram’s beautiful formal living room now turned into a huge playpen. Or as Tram calls, it Romper Room! Kids change your life!

I turned to Etsy. If you don’t already know about Etsy …” Etsy is a website where you can buy and sell handmade or vintage items, art, supplies and so much more. Etsy is the world’s most vibrant handmade marketplace.” You can literally buy anything crafty from this site, literally anything!

I typed “1st birthday gifts” into the search bar and began strolling through all the possibilities.

The first thing that caught my eye was this personalized chalkboard sign. I immediately sent an email to Tram asking for the twins’ favorite toys and foods and their first words, heights, weights, etc.

She replied, “Aww, you are SO SWEET!!!! We think alike! I’m actually having Steve work on this chalkboard 1-year mark too. I’m sure it’s similar to what you were thinking! I’m sorry to have spoiled your idea if that’s what it was.”

Darn, back to the drawing board.

Next, I spotted the party hats! I could not pass those up and absolutely had to order one for each, but that wasn’t a gift they would be able to open, so I needed something more.

Finally, I found this! The best part? I can make this myself! I have a boxful of scrabble letters, I have blue and pink craft paper leftover from Tram’s baby shower and I have glue. All I needed were the shadow boxes.

If you don’t happen to have extra scrabble tiles lying about and you don’t want to break into your Scrabble game to poach them, they can be easily found online, including on Etsy. Just type “Scrabble tiles” in the search bar and you’ll be amazed by all the options.

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Zak and Zoey, the darling children of my dear friend, Tram, celebrated their first birthday on Saturday!

Wow, the year has flown by! It seems like only yesterday that I was throwing Tram her baby shower!

Tram asked me to come over early to decorate. The twins were down for their nap, so decorating went smooth and quick.

We kept it simple, mostly just photos of the twins scattered on the tables, streamers, pom poms and balloons.

Tram had picked up a couple of light-up Z’s, so I placed them on either side of a family portrait for the buffet.

The breakfast table was the most elaborately decorated area, with not only the pom-poms and balloons but also chalkboard art that daddy-extraordinaire, Steve, had made for each twin.

Zak’s first-year milestones…

… and Zoey’s.

Of course, the three (yes, 3!) cakes were the showstoppers of the table.

Zak’s!

Zoey’s!

And a third cake that Chef Mel Mecinas, of the Four Seasons Scottsdale, had his pastry chef make for the twins, based on their favorite book, Five Little Monkey’s Jumping on the Bed. Adorable!

Then there was Tram’s beautiful handwritten menu board. I love that huge board, and I love Tram’s exquisite writing!

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If you love jalapeño poppers. And who doesn’t?

And if you love soup … I can’t imagine not loving soup …

Then you’ll love this jalapeño popper soup!

It has everything there is to love about poppers; bacon, cream cheese and, of course, jalapeño.

I have a jalapeño bush and I like to let my peppers turn red before picking. You may use green or red peppers for this and any recipe calling for jalapeño peppers.

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Cooking teacher extraordinaire, Joanne Weir, is teaching classes at Les Gourmettes this week.

One of her recipes really spoke to me.

Now, we’ve all had hummus with chips. And we’ve all enjoyed hummus with crudités.  But none of that compares to Joanne’s hummus with fresh vegetable chips. It is outstanding!

The vegetable chips are crispy and crunchy like a tortilla or pita chips and they are healthy like crudités.  Oh right, because they ARE crudités, just cut and treated a little “out of the box.”

An added bonus – it is a gorgeous presentation!

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Yesterday was my mother’s 80th birthday. My sister, Sloane, and her kids threw Mom a birthday party at her neighborhood clubhouse.

Sloane sent out the invite which included one of Mom’s old modeling photos.

I’ve mentioned before that my mom has Alzheimer’s, so the party was for family and a couple of her closest friends.

Mom started out sitting up and was pretty alert… but as the family arrived and the minutes passed …

… she faded fast and was slipping down in the chair. That is… until “Elvis” arrived!

Then she was wide-eyed and as happy as a clam while Elvis serenaded her and entertained the guests.

Now, I’m going to be 100% honest.

When Sloane said she hired an Elvis impersonator, I thought, “Really? How tacky.”

I could not have been more wrong! He was very talented (no lip-syncing for this guy!) and everyone loved it, especially the Birthday Girl.

Thank you, Sloane. Baby sister knows best!

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