He's my lobster......

At 11 am this morning, 18 years ago, Sal and I said "I do". Oh what young, naive kids we were then. It blows me away to think how much he and I have gone through in these 19 years--18 married ones--together. Here's how the love story started: It was the summer of 1990, girl is at Smithhaven Mall on Long Island, NY raising money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Boy is at mall and stops to make a donation to MDA. Girl and boy start chatting. Boy gives girl his business card, girl calls, there is a date. Two weeks later (yes, 2 weeks!), boy and girl get engaged. The next summer boy and girl become husband and wife.

We have been through so much in these 19 years together--many 'friends' saying we were crazy for getting engaged so soon, my parents fighting the impending marriage with all they had, lots of moves around the country, the launching of Sal's accounting business, the losses of lots of family members including both of our Dad's, the birth of one gorgeous daughter, 2 car accidents, a few heated discussions, one knee operation, lots of great vacations, 3 saved souls, the gain of 4 kitties and the loss of 2 of them, a few tears, some frustrations and just bucket loads of laughs.

Through all of it, the good, the bad and the ugly--I cannot imagine my life any other way. He is truly my best friend and I would move heaven and earth for him. I like knowing that no matter what happens on any given day, I can count on him to have my back and I, his. I love, love, love you baby. To quote Phoebe from Friends "He's her lobster". Yep, he is.

A beautiful weekend, full of family, friends and food....

So the weekend started with a quiet dinner with my husband and daughter. I spent part of the afternoon cooking dark chocolate brownies and white chocolate, macadamia nut, dried cranberry blondies for our neighborhood cookout. While pulling them out of the pan, one of the blondies 'accidentally' broke, so it became my taste tester brownie. Man, are they good. The right amount of buttery....buttery-ness, brown sugar richness, white chocolate sweetness and the slight tartness from those cranberries. I had sprinkled a little kosher salt on top to offset the extra sweet from the white chocolate, which was the perfect call. The way I can tell if the food worked is if the platter is cleaned shortly after I set it down and it was. I mean there wasn't a crumb left. yay!

I went to see Julie and Julia Saturday with my friend Kellie. Wow. What a fun movie. Anyone who has any interest in cooking--or eating--would love this movie. And Meryl Street---just owned the body, voice and mannerisms of Julia Child. She was brilliant, as she always is. If the storyline was true to the actual life of Julia Child, she would have been someone I would have loved to hang with. She was so fun and full of life and had a great sense of humor. The love that she and her husband shared was beautiful--they were truly in love with each other. Even though French cooking is not my thing, I'm more of a rustic cook, it made me want to grab Julia's French cookbook, pick one of the recipes and just do it in her honor--kind of like Julie did in the movie with the entire cookbook. The scene with the lobsters was sooooo me. I've never 'knifed' a live lobster and will probably cry the first time. lol....it is really good.

Dinner today with the family went very well. The weather was just perfect around noontime, so we ate outside on the porch. The neighborhood was quiet and it was the perfect Southern luncheon. On the menu: baked eggs and poblano peppers stuffed with homemade turkey chorizo (for the spicy), baked eggs with a light pork sausage (for the mild), sweet potato & leftover shortrib hash with maple syrup, homemade roasted 4-nut & fruit granola, an heirloom tomato parmesan tart, organic chicken sausage (those were bought) and lots of fresh fruit. Also cinnamon bread and mimosa's. It was all spectacular. I have to say out of all of it, the tomato parmesan tart still blows me away. It is soooo simple and so rustic, but just incredibly delicious and very light. I could have eaten the entire tart myself! I had a blast making this brunch. There were lots of leftovers for the family, too. I love when someone says "if there are any leftovers, I want some of this!". That is the greatest compliment to my cooking ever--that is was so good, you want it a second time.

While the family nibbled on some of the eggs for leftovers tonight, I had a pomegranate mimosa. To me, one who doesn't usually drink, it's a perfect way to cap a perfect weekend. I hope yours was blessed and beautiful as well!

The weeeeeekend!

It's gonna be hot again! I have some little landscaping things I want to do. It will be very little because of how hot it's gonna be.

Tomorrow morning, a friend and I are going to go see Julie and Julia, the movie about Julia Child and the cook who discovers her own passion for food. Kellie and I both love to cook, so we’ve waited until both of our schedules would allow us to go together. I’m so excited about seeing her and the movie. If you are a foodie of any level I understand it’ll make you wanna cook even more!

After that, the family will go to church. We are right in the middle of a series about the Exodus out of Egypt. It's all about digging deep and staying truly committed in your faith, even during the toughest of times. Always a good thing to be reminded of from time to time!

After church, our subdivision is having a cookout. It’s our Labor Day celebration, one weekend early. We figure no one will be around during the actual holiday weekend. The ‘odd’ addresses on the street are to bring a side dish. Ours is an ‘even’ address on the street so I have been charged with bringing dessert. Tonight I am baking big batches of dark chocolate brownies and white chocolate macadamia nut blondies….yummmmmy.

Sunday, I’m having my family over after their Sunday church services. I love breakfast for dinner and so do they, so Sunday, I am doing breakfast for lunch--baked eggs & Chili Rellenos stuffed with turkey chorizo, homemade granola, cinnamon bread french toast, sweet potato hash, grilled fruit & mimosa’s. I make my own chorizo using ground turkey, instead of the pork and beef that is standard. It lightens it up considerably and I can control what goes in it. If you’ve ever read the ingredient list on packaged chorizo, you understand! You have to make it a couple of days ahead though, so those spices have time to really develop, so that’s what I’m doing later today. Sunday night will truly be for rest.....oh, yeah, and for watching True Blood too!

I am very excited about breaking bread with family and friends this weekend. I hope you have a lovely weekend! Stay cool!!!!

A thousand shades of green.....

It was one year ago this week that I was in Ireland. It was a gift to myself, a reward for having reached my weight loss goal previously in the year. It was my first trip abroad and given the whole world to pick from, Ireland was the first place I wanted to see.

Ireland is stunningly beautiful. It’s is rustic and old-world. It is soooo green and very stoney. It is magical and steeped in history. It is kind and deeply religious. And it still, thinking about it a lot this week, takes my breath away. I finally sat down earlier this year and scrapbooked about my trip, which gave me a chance to go through all my pictures and memories once more. I’m so glad I did that. Those little things, people I met, food I ate, things I saw and felt that I had forgotten about, that are now chronicled for me in that album. This is me at the Cliff of Moher. Yes, it was a very windy day!!! *sigh*

Do yourself the favor--pick that one place you dream of seeing and go--sometime. It may take you years to save up and then more to pay it off, but those memories, those stories, those feelings will last you a lifetime.

“I close my eyes and picture the emerald of the sea
From the fishing boats at Dingle to the shores of Donaghadee
I miss the river Shannon and the folks at Skibbereen
The midlands and the moorlands with their forty shades of green
Again I want to see and do the things we've done and seen
Where the breeze is sweet as Shalimar and there's forty shades of green”

~Johnny Cash "Forty Shades of Green"

Cookie monster.....

I love cookies. They are delicious, little hand held pockets of flavor, aren’t they? Individually sized, portable, filled or not, crispy or chewy….you can make them anyway you like them. Hands down, my favorite cookie is the classic Chocolate Chip cookie. There is nothing fancy about it or anything really difficult about making them. I think it’s the simplicity of them that make them so good. The butter, the salt, the sugar and the bittersweet chocolate….it’s ALLLL good! So my daughter did a field trip to the USS Midway Museum last year and they gave all the students a recipe card for the Chocolate Chip cookies that the ships cook made while the Midway was out at sea. I finally decided to try it a few months ago and WOW! It is the best recipe for Chocolate Chip cookies that I’ve made---and I’ve made a lot, believe me! It is such a straight forward recipe. Nothing fancy or unusual, just the usual ingredients, but MAN are they good! This is the original recipe and it makes a large amount of cookies so find some neighbors you can share with! You can easily cut this recipe in half though if you want a smaller amount. Enjoy!!!

USS MIDWAY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE RECIPE

1 lb (4 sticks) butter
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp salt
4 cups & 8 Tbls all purpose flour
1 12oz bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375.

Cream the butter in a very large bowl. Add both sugars to butter and cream well. Add the eggs and vanilla.

In a smaller bowl combine the baking soda, salt and 4 cups plus 8 Tbls flour. Add these dry ingredients to the butter/sugar/egg mixture. Mix in bag of chocolate chips.

Spoon onto parchment lined cookie sheet and bake 8-10 minutes for smaller cookies. If you use ice cream scoop for large cookies, bake 13-17 minutes, depending on desired doneness.

"Get your tentacle out of my face!"

This is one of the funny lines from the movie District 9. I went to see it yesterday and it was really, really good. There were a couple of spots where it’s rather brutal, but as the movie rolled on, I so totally got sucked in. I’ll never be able to eat prawns again, that’s for sure. It is rated R, so not a kid movie, but if you are a sci-fi geek and wanna sneak off to the movies on your own—you should see this one. Peter Jackson is a master….

….and on a similar subject—what is it that makes movie popcorn so good? I don’t add butter to it or extra anything, but it’s just darn good. And it’s not like it is popped fresh right that moment. I’m sure you’ve seen them drag those monster bags of popcorn out of the back room and re-fill the bins…..maybe it’s that storage time—maybe it’s the ‘curing’. Mine was really, really tasty yesterday.

Best thing I ever did was give my daughter a crash course in making smoothies. I wanted to give her a healthy, quick breakfast idea that she could make on her own and she makes them almost every day now. I’m very proud of how creative she is on flavor combinations. She adds to my weekly grocery list the fruits and yogurt flavors she wants to ‘smoothie’. Click here for a link to some smoothie recipes I just ran across.

I read a great quote today: “Being negative drains us, while being positive energizes us”. I totally agree with this. Have you noticed when you have one of those negative days (we all have them), things just get more negative as the day rolls on and by the end of the day, you are just worn out! It’s like that old saying: “it takes more muscles to frown than to smile”….negativity uses a lot more energy that being positive does, for sure!

I hope you have a wonderful, positive Monday!

Doors closed...what next? Greatness!

So I had a couple of really big doors, that have been slightly cracked open the past few years, suddenly get shut in my face this past week. Initially, I was surprised, but clearly, it wasn’t meant to happen. The ‘old me’ would have spent the past week stomping her feet, pouting and trying to fix something that she knew she has no control over, but would waste a bunch of time and energy spinning in circles, before she finally realized that she couldn’t do anything about it anyway. The ‘new me’ now knows that if the door doesn’t open, or re-closes in my case, that that is what is meant to be. I let myself grieve the loss of something I really wanted to do for a brief second, but then let it go. I thank God that He has given me the wisdom, patience and confidence to know and truly believe that when doors do close, other bigger better ones will open in the future. So I am looking forward, in great anticipation and excitement as to what is coming my way in the (hopefully) near future!

My birthday yesterday was fantastic. I got “Happy Birthday” sung to me twice by my daughter—the best gift(s) ever. Dinner was simple and my homemade cheesecake (recipe on yesterdays entry) was deeeee-licious. It was a really nice day.

Am going to the farmer’s market this weekend as I do every weekend. I get such wonderful inspiration for meals in the upcoming week, by what is fresh at the market.Can’t wait to see the bounty that our wonderful farmers bring tomorrow…..

I hope you have a spectacular weekend!

It's my birthday!!!

I love birthdays. Every birthday, I start by giving thanks to God for letting me see another one. We are never guaranteed a tomorrow, much less another birthday, so I am extremely grateful that I have been given another year. Yay!

My day today started super early with my daughter singing Happy Birthday to me while she was half asleep…THAT was the best gift ever! I asked hubby if he minded if I did my own birthday shopping on-line ‘cause I found a couple of really cute tops that I wanted. What are the chances they’ll show up on my doorstep today?

I made my own birthday cake yesterday, too. I prefer to do that as I continue to watch what I eat—yep, even on my birthday! I made a sugar-free strawberry cheesecake. We're staying in for dinner and I am making.....hmmmmm.....I don't know. I'm pretty sure my grill and some meat will be involved though!

Thanks for all the birthday wishes! You guys make my day even better!!!

The climb...more ways than one....

Cassie and I were creating in the kitchen again yesterday. She wanted brownies for dessert this week, but with my daughter, it can’t just be regular ol’ brownies. She enjoys adding stuff to them to take them just that much more. I make my brownies low-sugar, by cutting the sugar in the recipe in half. But by her adding chocolate chips, toffee chips and marshmallows, I think she made up for it! Bless her 11 yr old metabolism, she has no problem burning that stuff off in a micro-second.

One of my favorite things about my SUV is the sunroof. It is my window to the world! I have it open allll the time. But it’s squeaking like crazy every time it opens and closes. I’ve sprayed WD-40 on it numerous times and it’s still squeaking. Anyone have any other solutions?

I read Joyce Meyer’s daily devotional every morning to start my day. Today was about making sure credit goes where credit should go when you succeed—to God. I’ve heard people ask after awards shows “why do the winners always have to give thanks to God?”….well, when you believe, credit for your success goes to God—always. Anyway—Joyce had this great quote in today’s devotional that just spoke to me, because for so long, that WAS me: “Many people spend their whole lives climbing the ladder of success only to find that when they get to the top, their ladder was leaning against the wrong building.”

Til next time, my babies, make sure your ladder is propped up on the right building and give the credit to the one who is responsible for it. He’ll love you for it!

A random weekend.....

Back from the weekend. Very nice and very lazy. Went to the Farmer’s Market, to church and the grocery store and that is it. The rest of the time was spent catching up on stuff around the house, watching some stuff backing up on my dvr, like….

Finally watched the movie “Sense and Sensibility”. It’s a movie from 1995 based on the Jane Austen book and I’m just now seeing it---it was really, really wonderful!! I love those period movies. Amazingly wonderful actor, Alan Rickman plays Colonel Brandon in this movie. When I first see him, I say at the tv “Snape!”….he plays that wonderful evil character in the Harry Potter movies.

I am a major True Blood fan! It's much more adult vampire series on HBO. It is not like Twilight, that's for sure! At Comic-Con this summer, the cast said we would be in for some major shocks in the last half of this summer and MAN, were they right! Last weeks’ ‘human heart souffle’ was just insane! And Jessica’s ‘healing’ situation had me rolling with laughter. Last night was another major WOW episode. Life in Bon Temps is sure getting dangerous and freaky!!! When Marianne makes peoples’ eyes turn black---that just creeps me out. I do like Eric though. It's that 'bad boy' thing, ya know.

Cassie’s first few days in middle school were good. It’s a new school, new teachers, new schedule—she changes classes 6 times now vs. 2 before. She has her first locker too. She’s most excited about decorating it. I remember having pictures of friends and my favorite musicians on the inside door of my locker at school.

Numerous great messages at church this weekend. We’re in the middle of the series about having extreme faith. The topic this week was “You either have my back or your stabbing me in it”. That certainly got my attention when the pastor launched with that statement. In a nutshell, it was about gossiping and watching what you say to and about others. Ask yourself these questions the next time you speak: “Is what I’m about to say helpful?”, “Will it build someone up or tear someone down?”, “Will it benefit those who will hear it?”. Also--Complaining is contagious and destructive. Great service.

Until tomorrow….be good, be strong, have extreme faith and lift someone up today—either with words or in prayer.

..."Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the LORD is finished.” ~1 Chronicles 28:20~