I consider myself a “seasoned traveler.”  If anyone knows how to start a trip off on the right foot, it is me!

Let me give you a prime example of my expertise…

On what was to be our first non-zombie day (as Lorraine called it) I woke up at about 6:30 (after going to bed at 7 PM the night before) and stayed in bed for a time, formatting photos for this blog. I decided I needed some tea, so I put on a pair of socks and walked toward the kitchen, making a slight detour to set my computer on the coffee table as I passed by it.

I know — how exciting, you’re thinking to yourself!  But here, my friends is where it all went wrong…

I ran directly into the coffee table with my left socked foot so hard that it took every ounce of self-control and determination to NOT scream out in pain… which would have promptly awoken my two sleeping beauty friends. I hopped around, sucked in a ton of air, and tried not to moan and cry.  Here is the result of my clumsiness…

A possibly broken middle toe. No, that is not a manicure gone wrong, that is not pink nail polish on my skin. And yes, that is the coffee-table-culprit in the background.

Now that is how you start a nearly two-week European vacation, heavy on the walking, off with a bang! If you think a broken little toe is going to keep this girl down, you are wrong.

For Day Two in Barcelona, we got ready and walked toward the Sagrada Familia, where we planned to jump on a double-decker autobus to tour Barcelona.

We stopped and had breakfast first and then popped into a corner farmacia to buy some tape for my toes.

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That is “Happy Birthday” in Japanese. You are in Tokyo and I am in Barcelona. That is even farther apart than we usually are, 6,470 miles.  When I’m in Arizona, it’s only 5,800 miles.

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By the time you read this, we will have already been in Spain for more than 36 hours. Just know that as I type this it is still Tuesday night in Arizona and it is Wednesday morning in Barcelona, but I’m setting this to post on Wednesday morning in Arizona and when it does, it will be Wednesday night where I am. I always have a hard time figuring out and communicating time differences, so from here on out, I won’t worry about my time vs. Arizona time!

Our flight on Monday morning from Phoenix to Philadelphia was packed, sold out. Sky Harbor was overflowing with travelers at 5:30 AM when we arrived. We then had a 4+ hour layover in the busy Philly airport, which we spent in the US Airways Admirals Club lounge. We drank too much free wine and ate their complementary snacks as our late breakfast.

The best news of the day came when we boarded our flight to Spain… it was empty! Just about everyone on the plane could have had his or her own center row to lay down in… and we did!

Bad news, even with the luxury of having a place to lay down and sleep the flight away, I barely slept a wink. No matter, it was a joy to have room to stretch out. Trust me, I tried to sleep, but after much tossing and turning, I ended up watching two movies instead; 2014 Best Movie Academy Award Winner, 12 Years a Slave and Enough Said with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and the late, great James Gandolfini, in his last film. Recommend them both!

When we landed in Barcelona, we were shocked at the emptiness of the airport. I think our flight may have actually been the first of the morning, arriving at 7AM. It was a virtual ghost town. There were no departing flights scheduled for hours! Spaniards know how to live right!

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Remember the Twins Baby Shower I had in January for my friend, Tram?

Tram and Steve had their TWINS yesterday!

Sweet Tram sent me a text at 2:06 AM on Monday morning saying, “MY WATER JUST BROKE!!! Heading to the hospital soon!!”

I already had an alarm set for 4:15 AM since I had to get ready to board the flight to Barcelona, Spain via Philly that morning.

When I landed in Philly, I sent a text to Steve, asking what was happening… and he responded with this photo.

“Zak first then Zoey- 4:04 & 4:05 AM  weighing in at 5.7 and 5.8 pounds.”

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By the time you read this, I will be on a plane heading to Barcelona, Spain!

The photo was taken in February 2013 at Peggy’s 50th birthday party.

Anne, Lorraine, Connor, Peggy, Stevo, Natalie and Samantha (standing)

Peggy, Lorraine (Peggy’s sister-in-law) and I are going for a nearly two-week long trip to visit Natalie, Peggy’s daughter, who is studying abroad in Barcelona.

How lucky are we?!?

There is supposedly internet in the house we’ve rented.  If so, I shall blog from there… if not, I hope to be able to blog at least intermittently.

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Here is what I’m up to today…

Who am I kidding?  It looks more like this…

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     “It’s like trying to pick your favorite child.”

Today I tackle the last of Lori’s four questions she’d posted after I asked for you, the readers, to pose questions to me for a new Friday Q & A feature.

I thought it was going to be the easiest of the four, so I “saved the best for last” – boy, was I wrong!  Here is Lori’s question:

“I know with your vast database, it is practically impossible, but can you tell us your list of the top-10 recipes that are quick, easy-peasy, crowd-pleasing, always get asked for the recipe, recipes? I am always overwhelmed when I get on your website and start looking through everything. I get so sidetracked sometimes, I totally forget why I went on in the first place.”

Sounds like an easy enough question, until you consider that I’ve posted 1,454 times over these last 4 1/2 years… that amounts to at least 1,000 recipes!

And as I considered the question more carefully, it became impossible to narrow down to ten. I found ten recipes I love and that fit Lori’s criteria before I got past the “appetizer” section of my Complete Recipe Index. In fact, before I knew it, I had over 25 appetizers alone.

I narrowed those down to six and started looking at the “Easy-Breezy” section of the index. Again, I had a list longer than my arm, so I just narrowed that down to two soups and two slow-cooker recipes.

As a result, I have to say, “No Lori, I can’t give you a definitive list of my Top 10 recipes on this site, quick, easy-peasy, crowd-pleasing or otherwise.”

Instead, here are six appetizers, two soups and two crockpot meals to get you started on a Top 10 List of your own. I can guarantee that each of these is crowd-pleasing and if you make them once, they will instantly become a part of your repertoire.

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Let’s begin with a little history of our neighborhood Progressive Dinners. The first dinner was held in April 2005 and the second in November of the same year. I was a participant in those first two dinners, not a planner. I became involved in planning by the third dinner, held in April 2006.

The one person who has planned these events for all nine years is my friend and neighbor, Ronnie. She is the real expert in how to pull off a successful Progressive Dinner, but since I have a blog and I’m the one writing this … I shall be your expert for today.

Last Saturday, we had our 10th Neighborhood Progressive. Here is a list of the ten we’ve had thus far:

As you can see, a couple of times we held two in one year and then there were a couple of years we missed getting it together.

It takes a lot of work and organization to put on a party of this nature for a large group. We have 118 homes in our neighborhood and every single household receives an invitation. If everyone showed up, there would be over 300 party-goers. That has never even come close to happening. I believe our largest group has been about 58 participants or 29 households.

The most difficult task is picking a date. It works best in the spring or fall. We generally avoid the winter since the holidays are already jam-packed and the summer as well because it is not only too hot but also too many people are out of town.

The problem with the spring is working around the various school spring breaks and the fall becomes difficult because around the time the nights get cool enough (late October) it seems as though the holidays are right around the corner and people’s calendars fill quickly.

Once you get over that hurdle and you have your date … here is our organizational structure and our step-by-step instructions:

We begin the evening all gathered at one home – this is the “Appetizer House.” The Appetizer Hosts provide bottled water and non-alcoholic beverages. Additionally, they decorate according to the theme and set the ambiance with theme-appropriate music and such.

Each participating couple brings a bottle of red wine and a bottle of white wine along with them to the Appetizer House. A few select couples are asked to bring two cases of beer (light and regular) instead.

When the invite is sent out, there is a call for “Dinner Hosts.” Participants can check this box if they would like to host 10 people at their homes for dinner. They set the table and ambiance and let the party come to them. In the past, we haven’t required the Dinner Hosts to provide any of the food, but we’ve decided to change that and will now let them have the first choice at what they would like to provide, instead of being assigned a dish, which is how all other participants discover what they will be bringing.

Finally, there is a “Dessert House” – this is where everyone joins back together after being divided up for the dinner hour. The Dessert Host is responsible for coffee, and liquors (if desired) and for making sure the leftover beer, water, and other beverages from the Appetizer House get to their house before everyone descends upon them after the dinner hour.

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I received a request to post the recipe for Chicken a la Rose, which I mentioned in an earlier post. It was the main course at one of our Progressive Dinner host homes.

Additionally, in an email from a follower, I was asked to give details explaining exactly how we organize our neighborhood Progressive Dinners.

Today – the recipe.
Tomorrow – How to Host a Progressive Dinner.

Chicken a la Rose was a popular main course during the 1920’s. You’ll find it on this menu from a dinner in February, 1924, for President Coolidge.

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Saturday night was our 10th annual neighborhood Progressive Dinner. The theme this time was “Speakeasy” and we had so much fun with it.

We started with appetizers at Ronnie’s beautiful home, then split up to have dinner at the various host homes and finally gathered back together at our house for desserts.

This was what greeted guests when they entered our house.

At Joanne’s, my “dinner host” home, I enjoyed a wonderful meal where we indulged on Lemon Drops and…

… not only delicious, but beautiful Chicken a la Rose, made by Kim…

… along with Waldorf Salad and Rosemary Potatoes…

… all in a perfectly jazzy dining room! Pictured are Flapper Ronnie, Cool Cat Scott (with his faux cigarette) and Flapper Kim. Can you even imagine a more perfectly themed dining room than this one, with its life-sized jazz band mural?

It all began at Ronnie’s and her beautifully set hor d’oeuvres table!

I made the appetizers for Ronnie’s house and she provided the desserts for mine. I made Piglets in a Warm Puffy Blanket, Bacon Wrapped Cheesy Mushrooms, Spinach Deviled Eggs, and the following recipe for Shrimp Canapes.

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