It’s been nearly a month since Christmas and ever since then, I’ve been meaning to share with you my two favorite gifts.

The first is the fabulous Arizona cutting/cheese board that Marissa gave me. Isn’t it wonderful?

Oh, how my girl knows me!

She knows I adore my beloved AZ. I love cutting boards. And, of course, we share the love of CHEESE!

… speaking of cheese…

The second favorite thing is this vintage dairy display slab that Marissa and I found and then Dave gave to me to open on Christmas morning.

Dairy and butcher display slabs were commonplace in English shops in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. The slabs were used in markets and grocery stores as countertop displays for sausages, butter, lard, and cheese. These white stoneware slabs were seen as the ideal blank canvas for advertising, thus serving a dual purpose.

A few years ago I purchased two reproduction slabs.

This rectangular “Pure Butter” slab sits by my stove …

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This is another of the recipes I made for the bridal party lunch on my niece’s wedding day. The lunch was served in the Presidential Suite at the Hyatt Magnificent Mile, which is where we all stayed in downtown Chicago. Maureen and her bridesmaids were in the suite having their hair and make-up done. The girls had been there since 9:15 and the wedding was at 4:00, so they needed nourishment in the middle of that time.

Photo

How beautiful is she?!?

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Serendipity is one of the coolest things!

I was honored to be asked to provide the wedding day bridal party lunch for my niece, Maureen. Actually, this was the second time I had such an honor, I provided the bridal brunch for Mo’s older sister, Katie, who was married in 2010.

The serendipitous part has to do with a certain cheese ball I served at the lunch…

A week or so before Christmas I had seen an image of a cheese ball, decorated with whole almonds, created to resemble a pine cone. I intended to make it on Christmas day. I had all the ingredients but simply ran out of time.

When I was planning the menu for the bridal lunch, I thought the pine cone cheese ball might be a nice addition.

A few days before we left for Chicago, I received an invitation to the rehearsal dinner. I didn’t make the connection when I saw the pine cones on the invite.

At the rehearsal dinner, I thought the place cards were really cute but still didn’t put two and two together, even though I’d begun to put together the cheese ball earlier that same afternoon.

I loved how the cheese ball turned out and as I was setting up the lunch buffet it finally dawned on me just how perfectly it fits in with the theme.

Later that afternoon, at the wedding, when I looked at the wedding program, I just had to smile.  Pine cones were everywhere.

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Last week, I posted this Friday Funny.

Beneath it, I wrote, “Seriously! If Google could make that a reality, I’d get at least 8 hours added back into my life each and every week!”

I wasn’t kidding! Let me tell you a little story to illustrate how my life typically goes:

One thing, you may or may not know about me is that I LOVE my car! It’s a 2002 Acura MDX. I know, it’s nearly 13 years old! But I love it all the same. I’ve never been one of those people who needs a new car every other year, I don’t subscribe to that sort of “disposable” lifestyle.

My friends and I call my MDX the Magic Car.

It is magic because it can haul and hold any and everything we ever want it to haul or hold.

When I go to Sweet Salvage with Peggy, Anne, Sheila, or Kim – even though they all have newer cars, we always take my car. Because we know, without a shadow of a doubt, that if we find something big to buy – it WILL fit in my car.

Sure, little things are falling apart on it, but it still drives like a dream, it gives me no headaches or heartache. It is simply The Best Car Ever!

One might ask, “Linda, your car is 12 years old, if it’s such a great ride, why not trade it in and get another Acura MDX?

That sounds like a good plan, trouble is, the newer MDX models do not have the same cargo space as mine. They’ve made them smaller and that is a problem! So I hold on to it. I love it, I want it to last forever!

All that being said, yesterday I was thinking that my treasured MDX had its last ride…. all because I lost the keys. Not just one set of keys, but two sets of keys in the span of about 15 hours!

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Yesterday, I shared Barb’s Baked Eggs with you – today I’m giving you another of her fabulous recipes! Many thanks to Barbara Fenzl for allowing me to share her Les Gourmettes cooking class recipes with the masses.

Barb made shrimp sliders in class, I made shrimp burgers, with the same recipe and bigger buns, at home. My family went crazy for them!

One super-smart thing Barb does with her sliders – is she cuts out the center section of the King’s Hawaiian rolls, making them a more manageable size. When you eat it, you get less bun in each bite and more shrimp.

She saved all the center portions of the buns from all six of her classes and used them in her Thanksgiving stuffing. See, I told you she was super-smart!

King’s makes hamburger buns too, so I used the buns in place of the rolls, changing the sliders to burgers. Either way … Delish!

Note: I was feeding a crowd, so I doubled the recipe and made 12 burgers out of 2 pounds of shrimp. The recipe, as written, would have made 6 burgers and makes 12 sliders. Don’t let the photos vs. the recipe quantities confuse you.

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Barbara Fenzl made the most delicious egg dish for her classes at Les Gourmettes this semester. One of my favorite egg dishes ever – and I love eggs, so that’s saying something!

I made it on Thanksgiving morning. We usually don’t have a big breakfast on turkey day because we generally eat the big feast in the early afternoon. Dave and the kids have the tradition of taking a long hike in the morning to leave me doing what I do best – in peace and quiet. Since we weren’t planning to eat dinner until 6:00, I figured that a nice breakfast would be perfect when they returned from their hike.

Before I say that it was perfect, I will admit that I severely undercooked the eggs, so it wasn’t all that it should have been. I used a different type of dish to bake the eggs than Barb used, and it made a world of difference. My casserole was too deep and the eggs didn’t cook as well as they did in Barb’s shallow flat au gratin dish.

Barb found her individual porcelain au gratin/casserole dishes at Standard Restaurant Supply at 2922 E McDowell Road in Phoenix, they cost $2.50 each. And I found my Le Creuset mini cocottes, which are not great for this egg dish but are adorable and amazing for French onion soup – at Sur La Table. They cost considerably more but did not do the job this time!

One change I made in Barb’s recipe was to replace the 1/2 cup green chilies plus 1 cup water she used with 1 cup of the Trader Joe’s Hatch Valley Salsa (that I love so much) plus 1/2 water.

Since I’ve had it both ways, I can honestly say the difference in taste is minimal, so if you have the salsa on hand, use it!

An unplanned and unexpected side benefit for me was that I was only making 5 servings of this for breakfast but the sauce makes enough for 8 servings. I used the leftover green chile sauce in my Turkey Enchiladas with my leftover Thanksgiving bird!

So Good!!! This is going to be my go-to enchilada sauce from here on out. [Read more →]

Twenty-seven years ago today was one of the best days of my life. I was 27 years old and on that beautiful day, I gave birth to one of the loves of my life.

Today that beautiful baby girl turns 27 years old herself. The photo above was taken in Tucson this past Friday at the UA vs ASU Territorial Cup game. For obvious reasons, Marissa and her finance, Jeff, both UA alumni, were all smiles!

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Since I failed to get this post up yesterday, I present it today as a rare Saturday post.

It was a glorious Thanksgiving at the Hopkins’ home. Dave’s mom is in from Illinois, my dad was here and we also invited Marissa’s finance, Jeff, and his parents, Dean and Amy. Dad and Jeff came over around 1:00 and we played cards…

… beer pong for Dave and the kids…

… plus bags/corn-hole…

… an ongoing jigsaw puzzle that the grandparents were working on.

… and, of course, cooking.

There was a brined turkey on the outdoor grill…

… and a traditional stuffed and roasted turkey – fresh from the oven.

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Marissa and I, along with her maid-of-honor, Kaley, and two of her five bridesmaids, Petra and Jessica, went wedding dress shopping on Saturday.

We visited two bridal shops and although the girls and I thought Marissa looked beautiful in nearly every dress, we have yet to find The One.

Marissa’s attendants were so helpful in finding dresses to try on! I just sat back and watched as they helped her choose dozens of dresses. What I loved most was how open she was to their choices. I knew some were not her style, but she gave all the dresses a fair shot.

I am not permitted to show you, Marissa, in any of them, but these “bottom half” photos will give you a small glimpse into our Saturday.

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