Thank you to everyone who participated and left comments for the 7th Blogiversary.

My special guests arrived yesterday morning to draw the winning names out of the saucepan. I made two videos, one for the Grand Prize Winner and the other for the Seven Individual Cookbook Winners. Unfortunately both videos were too large to post here and I have not idea how to fix that, so I’ve posted them to YouTube. They are fun, so be sure to click on the links and watch.

The special guests were Tram and her sweet twins, Zoey and Zak.

We’ll begin with the Grand Prize Winner drawing.

The eligible contestants are Amy K., Nancy B., Amy G., and Sheila C.

Please click on THIS LINK to watch the drawing and discover who won.

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For those of you who’ve already entered and commented, please go to the bottom of this post for a special note of thanks and some additional info.

Today is the last full day to enter and have one of seven chances to win a stack of Seven Cookbooks and/or a chance to win the opportunity to make YOUR favorite recipe in MY kitchen and be my VIP Guest Blogger!

Read THIS for all the nitty-gritty.

Deadline and Details

GRAND PRIZE:

Leave a comment with your favorite recipe (not from this blog) to have a chance to win and be my VIP Guest Blogger.

One of SEVEN INDIVIDUAL PRIZES:

Leave a comment with your favorite post from this blog from the past 7 years to have a chance to win a Stack of Seven Cookbooks from the “Overflow Cookbook Armoire” (sample stack is pictured above)

1. All eligible entries/comments must be posted by 8:00 a.m. PST on Thursday, August 18, 2016.
2. You may enter to win both the Grand Prize (by leaving a comment with your favorite recipe) AND one of the Individual Prizes (by leaving a comment with your favorite post from this blog). There is a chance that one person could win BOTH the Grand Prize and one of the Individual Prizes. Only one entry in each of the two categories of prizes though.
3. All eight winners will be announced (along with an accompanying prize-drawing video) in the Friday, August 19, 2016 post.
4. I will personally deliver the cookbook prizes to you if you are local. I will mail them to you if you are not.

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Incredible! This blog is 7 years old! Last year, on the 6th Blogiversary, I was on a “wedding break” so I missed that celebration. That means that this year we need to go all out!

As such, there will be Seven Individual Prizes and One Super Cool Grand Prize.

Before I explain how to enter and what exactly it is that you can win – a little history.

Two and a half years ago, I posted THIS… all about how I cleaned out and reclaimed a large part of the kids’ playroom upstairs as my new craft room. At the time, Connor still lived here, so about half of the room had his stuff in it. Three months after the reclamation, Marissa and Jeff got engaged.

Photo

Slowly but surely the room became the dump-room for all things bridal shower, wedding, and after-wedding brunch related. In other words, I trashed it.

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There will be a contest.

For Prizes!

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Our last night before joining the land-tour group was spent in Germany, in the resort town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

On the way there, from Munich, we stopped at Ettal Abbey, a beautiful Benedictine monastery.

One thing I noticed was that the monastery gift-shop sold not only wine but also beer. It was a pretty great gift-shop!

We stayed at Hotel Zugspitze, which is named after the highest Alps peak in Germany.

I really wanted to take the cog-wheel cable up to the peak, but at 49.50 euro per person (about $126 total) … on second thought… no thanks!

I can just image how packed this sweet hotel must be during the popular ski season.

Just as in Oberammergau, many of the buildings are covered in beautiful frescoes.

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As I mentioned in the last post, before we joined up with the land-tour portion of our river cruise, we were on our own. First in Munich with Hope & Nick and then in a rented car as we traveled toward Switzerland.

We visited two of the three castles of King Ludwig, king of Bavaria from 1864 until his death in 1886.

First, we toured through the Rococo-style Linderhof Palace.

The grounds were especially beautiful with a breathtaking fountain.

Next, we went through the fairy-tale Romanesque-style Neuschwanstein Castle.

It honestly looks like Sleeping Beauty’s castle!

Not surprisingly, my favorite part of this castle was the kitchen.

I’d love to get my hands on all those copper pots and the vast variety of vintage molds!

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Hi there! I had planned to be posting all along our #europeanvacation. Now, more than ten days in – it turns out that I should have taken advantage of the opportunity while I had it. That opportunity would have been during our stay in Munich or during the Switzerland land-tour portion of our scheduled Rhine River Cruise. The problem was, I really didn’t have a moment of downtime. I assumed that I’d have plenty of time and great internet access while we cruised down the Rhine River.

Wrong! The internet access has been spotty, at best. That red sad-faced icon is what I mostly see. We are now docked in Mannheim, Germany. Dave is off for a look around the city, while I’ve stayed behind. I decided this was my chance, maybe my one and only, to get a post put up.

Time is limited, so it will be a pictorial, for the most part.

We flew British Airways from Phoenix to London, changed planes, and arrived in Munich the next day. We were greeted at the Munich airport by Dave’s cousin, Hope. I’d never met Hope and Dave hadn’t seen her since he was a teenager. Luckily, they’d connected on Facebook a few weeks prior, so at least they recognized each other.

Hope took us to our hotel, The Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski, in the heart of Munich.

The hotel is beyond lovely and the included daily breakfast is “just beyond!” I knew it would be when I spotted this adorable bicycle at the entrance to the restaurant!

The next morning, we were off and running with Hope and her charming husband, Nick. Hope, Nick, and their two sons, Dylan and Owain, have lived in Munich for the last nine years. We could not have found better or more gracious hosts and city guides.

Their knowledge of the city and country was more than we could have ever wished for. Nick and Hope showed and shared with us EVERYTHING! We thank them from the bottom of our hearts.

Our one…

and only…

regret…

is that…

we did…

NOT…

plan…

and spend…

more than…

three days…

in Munich!

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This, my 1800th post, is being written at Sky Harbor International Airport at 7:00 PM on July 15, 2016. Dave and I are waiting for our British Airlines flight to London, continuing on to Munich to start our 2-week vacation.

By the time you read this, we will be done with Munich and on our way to Switzerland. We begin a land tour in Zürich and Lucerne before boarding an 8-day river cruise down the Rhine River which ends in Amsterdam.

I hope to write blog posts intermittently, but you can also follow our adventure on my Instagram page.

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At last, the final post from the 4th of July Pot-Luck Pool Party. It only took two weeks to get all the recipes posted, that’s not so bad.

If you want to see the menu in its entirety, you can always go to the link over on the left column of this page, click on the “Menu and Party Ideas” page and you’ll find not only this party but many others.

The good news is that the recipes for all the desserts we served at the party are already posted on this site. There is one more fun idea though, so don’t go running off.

First up is Tram’s Famous Key Lime Pies! Tram brought the pies to my 4th party two years ago, so the recipe is posted HERE.

It’s fun to go back and read that post since Zak & Zoey were only 4 months old at that gathering.

So sweet! As is Tram’s pie.

Next, I baked my super easy All-American Berry-Cherry Flag Pie. It is going to be at every 4th party from here on out. Maybe next time I can convince someone else to make it though.

I posted the recipe for these Mason Jar Lid Hand Pies on July 3rd. But how cute is this bakery display stand? I found it at The Painted Fox, one of my favorite shopping websites. Love it!

Lastly, we have the Mason Jar Ice Cream Bar. Above you see the cute sprinkles and toppings displayed.

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This is the second of the two main courses from the 4th of July Pot-Luck Pool Party.

Have you heard of Frogmore Stew? How about Lowcountry Boil? The Boil, I knew about, the Stew I didn’t. Or at least I thought I didn’t. Turns out they are the same thing.

Here is the history of this dish, according to Coastal Living Magazine, “Once called Frogmore Stew, this one-pot wonder was created by a National Guardsman when he needed to cook a meal for 100 soldiers. Richard Gay, who learned the recipe from his family, had everyone remembering his stew. The dish was named Frogmore, where Richard was from, by the guards who teased him about home. The United States Postal Service eliminated the name Frogmore, which changed this popular dish to Lowcountry Boil.”

You can use whatever type of cooked sausage you would like. I prefer Aidells Pineapple & Bacon Smoked Chicken Sausage, which I find at Costco. I also get the shrimp at Costco. It is already deveined and ready to drop in the pot.

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