Saturday, October 28, 2006

Ornament Swap

This international Holiday Ornament Swap has over 220 participants already. There's only one more week to sign up - send them an email by November 1st.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

What's next?

Do you feel like once you get done with one thing you are immediately onto the next?

I'm done with the Pumpkin Carving Party. The next event on my list of things to think about every minute of every day is our upcoming vacation!

November 3rd we will be flying to St. Augustine for a wedding. Then heading up to Savannah (to relax) and Charleston (visit some friends) for a few days. Not exactly sure on the itinerary yet - that's what I'm obsessing about.

This morning I was checking rental car prices and figured I might as well try Priceline. I got our car for about half of what it was on Orbitz. Yes!

Our front porch project has slowed down tremendously. We didn't see any contractors for a few weeks but they showed up yesterday and put the floor down on the upstairs. They still have to stain all the shakes and finish off about a hundred other odd things around here.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Compliments

During the day I watch and listen to many people. Sometimes quite close and sometimes from across the room.

Today I heard a regular "patron" named Ricardo compliment a woman on her earrings. She absolutely lit up with a smile and said "Thank you, my mother made them for me." Then she actually sashayed out the door. He's made me smile many times - by enthusiastically telling me about his new job and by just saying hello. Now I'm sure your thinking that Ricardo is hitting on us women, but he's not. He is just always genuinely happy and kind to people. Imagine if more people commented on the good, like Ricardo, rather than complained about the bad. I'm sure I would see many more smiles during the day. His simple thoughtfulness probably made that woman's drive home a bit easier.

Monday, October 16, 2006

Pumpkin Carving 2006

The party was a blast! We had about 30 guests and 15 pumpkins in the contest this year. The winning team brought a drill with them...this is a serious competition!

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****I played around a bit with my template - do you think these images too big?****

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Get set...

This Saturday we're having a Pumpkin Carving Party. Last year's was such a blast that we had to do it again. This year we're co-hosting which means more guests, more pumpkins, more food, more drinks = more fun! It rained and the wind almost blew us away last year - this year it may just snow!

Menu:
2 kinds of chili (I'm using turkey & chorizo, Erin is making a Nigella recipe)
raspberry bars
brats on the grill
spinach artichoke dip (this is a crowd pleasing recipe - we make it all the time)
cupcakes
hot apple cider

Monday, October 09, 2006

Weekend of eating, no cooking involved!

Friday - we saw David Sedaris & ate delicious fish fry at Prosperity
Saturday - feasted at Soul Hot Pot. I am very upset I didn't bring my camera because it was ridiculous the amout of food and dishes we had on a table for 3 people.
Sunday - Breakfast at Jigsaw Saloon and dinner at the in-laws.

FYI -the banana bread I made last week turned out great!

Thursday, October 05, 2006

it sounded good

Just a quick post...

Yesterday I scoured the internet for a slow cooker recipe that used chicken thighs and/or legs and no cans of cream of chicken, mushroom or celery soup.

I found Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken on allrecipes.com. The recipes from that site have been hit or miss for me. Reading all the comments and ratings does not help either. They are all over the place and everyone tweaks the recipes anyway.

It was ok but I want to eat come home to dinner and say "mmmm good!" The chicken was a bit dry - which happens more often than not when there's no SOUP in the pot - and the sauce wasn't anything memorable. Is it necessary to use some version of a creamed soup in every slow cooker dish?

This morning I made a loaf of banana bread from the cookbook I am in LOVE with - The Best Light Recipe. Unlike the above mentioned website, every recipe I've made from a Cook's Illustrated publication has been a success. The lovely loaf was cooling on the kitchen table when I left for work this afternoon. Another reason to be excited about going home....in only 3.5 hours.