Category — Random

Today I send blessings and love to all of the wonderful mothers out there. Just like all of you, I am grateful for all the joys that have been given to me by my own amazing children. Thank you my darling Marissa and Connor for making me the person I am. I love you both more than words or actions could ever express. xoxo

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This is our 25th Anniversary picture/card from my son, Connor. I found it in my email inbox when we returned from dinner on Tuesday night. It depicts Connor hazily studying for finals – the last of which is today.

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Today, May 4th, is our 25th wedding anniversary~
Happy Anniversary, Dave ?

Thank you for the gorgeous flowers!
xoxo

Love,
Linda

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I’m often asked, “How exactly do you come up with new recipes?”  Well, sometimes, it comes from inspiration; such as beautiful fresh produce at the farmer’s market, a new product at Trader Joe’s, or even a great sale on a favorite cut of meat at the supermarket. Other times, it is the result of the rule, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” That is the case today. Here is a word-for-word text I just received from my husband of nearly 25 years, (May 4th), David. “I forgot I was supposed to bring some kind of side dish to the (company) picnic today 🙂 if you have something you could easily throw together…” This is from a man married for, just weeks away from 25 years, yet it sounds more like something that would come out of your 4th-grade child who forgot he had a project due the next day!

If you’re a married woman with children, you are thinking, “Yup, no surprise, been there- done that.” If you’re a man, you are most likely thinking, “What is the big deal, obviously the woman knows how to cook.”  Whatever! Of course, I do “have something” and I can “easily throw it together”. After all, Dave does know what our refrigerator looks like at any given minute. So here is how the side dishes for today’s picnic got thrown together.

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My Dad in front of his farmhouse on 7th Avenue and Missouri in Phoenix, Arizona on his 2nd birthday in 1933

Today is my Dad’s 79th birthday. I’m still out of town, but I didn’t want the day to go by without acknowledging his birthday.  I love you, Dad! xoxo

My Dad with all 8 of his grandchildren on Connor’s 1st birthday in 1992. (surrounding Dad and Connor from bottom left, clockwise; Race, Marissa, Ben, Joel, David, Raina, and Jeremy.)

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You may remember a post back in September about a raffle that, my friend and former private student, Larry Fitzgerald, and I were doing for a charity event.

The winner, Bill Nassikas, was announced on October 1, 2009, and last night we finally held the cooking and dining event.  Bill’s guest was Beau MacMillan, chef at Elements at the Sanctuary Camelback Mountain Resort and Spa, which received a rave review in yesterday’s Arizona Republic.

Bill is the President & COO of Westroc, owners of Sanctuary, so there is that connection, and congratulations to you both!  We had a great night cooking together and then sitting down to enjoy the fruits of our labor. A BIG thank you to my BFF, Peggy, for assisting with the class and the evening, I couldn’t have done it without you! xoxo [Read more →]

No recipe today… the reason… my house should be deemed a national disaster area! I am hoping for some catastrophe funds from the government to be flowing my way very soon!

Every day since Easter, I have boxed up, thrown out, or donated car-loads of goods. Our house is 24+ years old and we have lived in it for 11 of those years and until today, the original carpet was on its floors.  But although the picture above looks nice, with the new fresh carpet, the rest of the house… not so much!

Although I would never categorize myself as a hoarder, I will have to admit that I am a pack rat. I find myself continually cramming all those things, that I can not bring myself to part with, into every nick and cranny of the house.

To clean it out, I began with the upstairs carpeted rooms; a huge playroom, Connor’s bedroom, and an office. The office was easy, it has a built-in desk and bookcases all the way around the room, and although those are packed to the gills, nothing had to be gone through in that room. Connor’s bedroom was another story, he has inherited my tendencies and doesn’t want to throw out anything, not even birthday cards received from family and friends for his 3rd birthday, which of course he can’t even remember receiving! Sorry, Connor, when you went back to school after Easter, some of those things ended up residing in the recycle center.

The playroom – I can barely talk about the playroom! Before Marissa went back to Tucson on Easter Sunday, she helped me go through three cabinets full of games, videos, and arts & crafts stuff. Almost an entire carload of that went to Goodwill. Everything else that was in those upstairs rooms went into Marissa’s wood-floored room. See the pictures of that sad scene below – I don’t know when I’ll find the strength or courage to open that door again and face it.

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…cooking for brunches to actually post a recipe today… good one tomorrow though!

…That is the slogan for a fab new restaurant in town, The Grind.  My beautiful sister, Sloane, and I enjoyed a delectable dinner there last night.

Chef Matt McLinn is at the helm, so you know it’s gonna be good (that’s Sloane and Matt, pictured above). I first met Matt nine or ten years ago when he and Sloane worked together. They dated for quite a while and that meant that we shared some wonderful holiday meals together too.

It’s no wonder Matt’s food stands out, he has cooked alongside some of the culinary world’s most recognized names – such as world-renowned Chef Alain Ducasse of the Michelin three-starred restaurant Le Louis XV of the Hotel Paris in Monte Carlo and Chef Dominque Bouchet of the Michelin three-starred restaurant, Les Ambassadeurs, located in Paris, France. He also studied at the Michelin two-starred Le Hotel Carlton in Cannes, France, and Michelin one-starred Le Maison du Seigneur in Brussels, Belgium. He is a graduate of the California Culinary Academy and a member of the James Beard Foundation.

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OK, how crazy is this? I’m doing a little late-night shopping last night on the Williams-Sonoma website and I come across a quote from….. me!?!  Ya, that’s right, I’m just innocently perusing along and suddenly the words, “Scottsdale, AZ” catch my eye and I see a favorable review I gave one of their items. Seriously, I don’t know how long it’ll be on the site, or if will even be there in the next hour, so I took a “snapshot” of it.

And, by the way, it is a completely heartfelt review.  I do love those darn sponges, even though they cost $15 for a dozen, they are worth every penny, as far as I’m concerned!  I even give them as gifts (alright, stocking stuffers) to Marissa and my mother-in-law every Christmas. Alas, that’s why I was there in the first place, to buy more! I wish they would send me a few free packages and then I could have a contest and give them away to you too! Well, you never know…