I had not intended to take a week off from blogging. I had plenty of things going on, and lots of stuff to blog about. Honestly, I had too much going on and as a result, I was too exhausted to sit down and write about it!

There will be recipes this week – Posole, Moscow Mules, Perfect Steamed Artichokes, and more. Then on Friday, I’ll be off to San Francisco to “Say Yes to the Dress” with Marissa, along with her maid-of-honor and a couple of her bridesmaids. We will be dress shopping, eating out, and having girl-time all weekend long!

But for today, I shall share images and notes from my busy exhausting week.

On Friday night, Dave took me to Café Monarch for an early birthday dinner. The Café has a prix fixe menu that changes weekly. The only thing you choose is your entrée. I had the trout and Dave had the filet. The ambiance, service, and food were all pure perfection. I highly recommend it!

After dinner, we drove to Sky Harbor to pick up Marissa. Having my girl home, making it the perfect ending to a perfect evening.

Saturday morning brought a shock in the bathroom. While in the shower, I looked up. There above the bathroom door – a scorpion! I got out, dried off, and yelled for Marissa. It was beyond hilarious as we tried to decide how to kill it without risking it falling on us. There is a video, but it contains too much swearing and screaming to share. Rest assured, the thing is dead and we were not stung!

Later that morning, Marissa, Connor, and I went to El Chorro to meet with a wedding planner and to show Connor the wedding venue.

That evening, Connor went to work while Marissa, Dave, and I went to Steve and Tram’s annual Okbirthdayfest party. Steve’s birthday is October 9th, hence the “Okbirthdayfest” instead of the usual Oktoberfest.

But, as you can see, Birthday Boy-Chef Steve cooks up a traditional Oktoberfest menu. How about that gorgeous job Tram did on the chalkboard menu!?! Love me a chalkboard menu!

Chef Steve with his prized heat lamp-board of outstanding tender and delicious Sauerbraten!

Plus a very happy Marissa – holding sweet Zoey!

Guests were asked to bring their favorite cocktail to share. I brought Moscow Mules. Recipe later this week.

Sunday was our neighborhood Fall Fling. It was a blast! I spent the entire preceding week hunting and gathering items for the party.

All patios and nearly every flat surface were covered with party fixings. This is the part of event planning I love.

I love the party part too. Over 100 neighbors had a great time.

Even the setup was fun.

We had plenty of things to do for young and old alike.

As usual, I didn’t take nearly enough pictures. Darkness fell quickly on a cloudy night. The cleanup consisted of getting everything off the street and onto my driveway and patio.

This is what greeted me on Monday, my birthday, morning. Thankfully, my kids and my fantastic neighbors also woke up early and helped clean it all up.

An added bonus – my beautiful friend and neighbor, Karin, brought me birthday flowers! How sweet and thoughtful!

Before the day was through, I had flowers from not only Karin but also from Dave and from my beloved friend, Lori, all the way from Tokyo! xoxo

Connor took the day off work, which was a gift in itself. After cleanup, he and Marissa took me to The Biltmore Spa where the three of us had hot-stone massage pedicures! The perfect thing for weary legs and feet! We had a delicious early dinner at Pizzeria Bianco Town & Country.

To end my “mom and kids” birthday, after we dropped Marissa off at the airport, Connor and I stopped by the Salty Sow and tried a bunch of different cocktails and had quality mother and son time.

Tuesday brought a birthday lunch with my dad, an HOA committee meeting, and work that night.

Wednesday I spent most of the day trying to put away all the party stuff. As of today, it’s still not all put away! Maybe by the end of this week.

Peggy and Anne took me out for birthday dinner at Rusconi’s. We met at Peggy’s house, where grandson Cruz was visiting and Anne fell in love.

If you haven’t discovered Rusconi’s American Kitchen yet – get over there and thank me later!

As you can see, we loved every bite and wished it was in good taste and manners to lick the plates.

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Things are getting real around here. My daughter, Marissa, is getting married one year from today!!!

It’s time to get busy! When she got engaged over Mother’s Day weekend in May and when we picked the venue and set the date, way back in June, it all seemed so far away… now it seems so close.

No more procrastinating! I’ve only got 365 days!

Speaking of Marissa, she flies home tonight to spend the next 3 days with me for my birthday weekend. I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before, but I’ll tell you again, “I have the best daughter in the world!”

Plus, she’s going to be helping me with the Fall Fling that I’m working on. It’s our neighborhood’s fall festival. My house is overrun with Fall Fling fixings.

The front porch is getting piled up with buckets, tubs, tents, umbrella bases, and more.

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OK, I posted about the awesome Hatch Valley Salsa from Trader Joe’s for the Green Chile Salsa and Pork Stew … and now it seems as though it may be gone for the season.  You Snooze – You Lose.

That being said, I do not want you to lose out on this fabulous frozen pizza at Costco.

Honestly, I want you ALL to run to Costco and buy this frozen pizza so that they don’t ever get rid of it.  Don’t you hate it when that happens?

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My BFF, Peggy, and I try to walk in the early morning hours at least 4 or 5 days a week. Either she drives to my house or I drive to her’s and we walk our neighborhoods.

When I entered her house a couple of weeks ago, I smelled something delicious. She said she had made Green Chile Stew for a family dinner.

From the smell alone, I knew I HAD to have the recipe. I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned it before, but Peggy’s a great cook. She didn’t have a written recipe but she did share that she’d found a new product at Trader Joe’s that made her stew super easy.

Do Tell!

Hatch Valley Salsa! I’m not sure how long they’ll have the salsa in stores since Hatch chiles are seasonal, so get over there and grab a bunch while you can.

After our walk, I drove directly to Trader Joe’s and bought seven jars of the stuff!

Then … on the morning of the Craft Party, I browned up a bunch of pork and when Peggy came early to help me set up, I made her help me put the stew together. Below is the delicious result!

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At the Craft Party last weekend, it may have been warm outside and most of the guests were wearing shorts and sundresses …. that doesn’t mean we can’t begin to dream about and enjoy the fun and flavors of fall and winter!

What the heck!??! We were making fall and winter crafts so we may as well eat food associated with the season! With that in mind, I made these tasty gingerbread muffins.

Gingerbread Muffins

• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 8-ounces sour cream
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger

Grease 12 muffin cups; set aside.

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This is Rainy and the crafts she made at the Craft Party. Cheryl and Angie provided the Fall Wire Tray (with all the trimmings) as their craft and Sloane brought the Thankful Glitter Leaf Garland that Rainy chose to make.

Below is the second egg dish I served at the Craft Party. A quick note about it – leftovers are only good the day after. By the third day, the tomatoes have given off too much of their liquid and it gets soggy. If you don’t have a crowd of 10 to 12 to serve, feel free to cut the recipe in half and assemble in an 8-inch square baking dish, bake for the same amount of time.

Z & T Strata

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 4 cups cherry or grape tomatoes
• 1 green zucchini, ends trimmed then sliced in half diagonally, then thinly slice
• 1 yellow zucchini, ends trimmed then sliced in half diagonally, then thinly slice
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 8 cups dry French bread cubes
• 3 cups shredded Swiss cheese (12 ounces)
• 8 eggs
• 3 cups milk
• 1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh Italian parsley
• 1/4 cup julienned fresh basil
• 2 tablespoons snipped fresh chives
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

In a large skillet, melt butter over low heat. Use a brush and take some of the butter and grease a 3-quart baking dish; set the baking dish aside.

Add tomatoes and zucchini to the skillet, and season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes begin to lose their firmness but do not allow them to pot; remove from heat.

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The original craft that Tram planned to bring for the Craft Party was a very cool black and white-painted harlequin pumpkin. She and I looked at several options on Pinterest and we were both quite excited about it.  Then… time passed and well, if you’ve read this blog for more than a few months, you know that Tram has adorable 7-month-old twins, Zak & Zoey. 

Yeah, I know! They are just about the cutest thing on this Earth! And to think that when they start talking up a storm, they will be calling me “Aunt Linda” – I’m super excited about that!

Anyhow, Tram has her hands more than full. As the party approached, I decided to take the pressure off and offer an easier craft option. One that I could help her with and one that was close to her strength. One with coffee! You also probably know that Tram and her husband, Steve, own Press Coffee Roasters.

So… I found some awesome bottles. Here are the bottles we used. Next, I gathered up all the ingredients needed – except some cinnamon sticks, and the coffee, of course, which I left to the expert! Somehow, between the two of us, we came up with the most popular craft at the party.

Photo courtesy of Tram Mai

Cocktail Infusions!

And not just one flavor, but three delicious options!

Shopping Notes: All of the dried fruits were purchased at Trader Joe’s.  The whole spices can be found at any grocery store. The brown sugar cubes at Cost Plus and the rock sugar at an Asian market.

They come together in no time and make THE perfect hostess gift for the holidays. Or just a super cool thing for your own bar. Enjoy!

To make the Cranberry Infusion:

Gently remove the cork topper.

Place about 5 of each of the three varieties of cranberries in the bottle. Add 2 brown sugar cubes and 8 white rock sugar pieces. Tear 2 of the large pieces of the dried Mandarin fruit into the bottle.

Return the cork topper and add the Cranberry Infusion label.

 (Trader Joe’s carries at least three varieties of cranberries. All have slightly different coloring and textures, so I bought 3 packages for added interest. You can use just one variety and drop in 15 cranberries of the same type.)

To make the Ginger-Cardamom Infusion:

Gently remove the cork topper.

Place 4 pieces of the Crystallized Ginger and 6 pieces of the Uncrystallized Ginger in the bottle. Add 2 brown sugar cubes and 8 white rock sugar pieces. Add 1 tablespoon of Cardamom seeds to the bottle. Tear 2 of the large pieces of the dried Mandarin fruit into the bottle.

Return the cork topper and add the Ginger-Cardamom Infusion label.

(Same thing with the ginger. It would be perfectly fine to just use either ginger, but the two add a better look to the bottle with more variety and interest.)

To make the Espresso Infusion:

Gently remove the cork topper.

Place 2 tablespoons of coffee beans (preferably Press Coffee!) in the bottle. Add 2 brown sugar cubes and 6 white rock sugar pieces. Next, add 1 piece of vanilla bean (cut a vanilla bean in thirds and just add 1/3 of the bean) plus 1 piece of cinnamon stick, and 3 whole loves.

Return the cork topper and add the Espresso Infusion label.

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This was the most popular recipe from the Craft Party, not surprising since it’s basically a dessert disguised as breakfast food. Tomorrow, I’ll post the instructions for one of the most popular crafts that were offered … Cocktail Infusions. Those may not sound exactly crafty, but they are easy to assemble and make great hostess gifts!

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Yesterday, I held my 5th annual Craft Party. This time around, I only provided three craft options and asked the attendees to provide crafts they wanted to share too.

Just as only one of my three crafts sold out while the other two went nearly or completely untouched – some of the guest crafts were very popular and others only had one or two that were made. But, it’s all good – everyone had a great time crafting, eating, drinking, and socializing.

I made two egg dishes, a sweet crêpe option, muffins, and, as promised, the Frosted Pumpkin Cookies.

The first recipe I’ll be sharing is a fun breakfast or brunch lasagna.

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