I really like this show! Tonight is the finale.
Please no! Not Lisa as the winner…
Richard would be great as the winner.
Stephanie would be wonderful. My personal favorite…
UPDATE: Yahoo!! Stephanie is Top Chef!!
I was so nervous because Lisa really put out a great meal tonight…
Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.
I have learned over the years to pamper myself when the time is right. I also can rationalize a dinner out any day of the week. So…because Dear has been in Seattle at a Pharmacy conference since Friday and I’ve been home alone I decided to have a treat and go out to dinner on my last night alone. I started the eating out alone experience when I was out of town at sports tournaments, etc. I learned that it’s OK to eat out alone. The first couple times it was awkward but I’m “way over it”. I like to eat early so Happy Hours are ideal for me. You can eat at a nice restaurant instead of a Fast Food Joint!
Tonight I hopped into my car and drove a short distance to the Safire American Bistro in Camarillo. The bar has great tables for two for a single person to feel comfortable at. These tables were out of the main hub bub and not real conspicuous. They have what they think are deals on their happy hour menu. I’ve had better deals elsewhere but this was nice never-the-less. (Is that one word?) I ordered their Safire Salad which was wonderful $5.00. I love that it had garbanzo beans (chickpeas) in the salad and Parmesan shavings. The tomatoes were grape tomatoes and not the scary salmonella tomatoes that are causing havoc across the US right now. Sheesh the $7.00 gourmet pizza was a medium size not a personal size so I brought 3/4 of it home. I suppose $7.00 for a medium gourmet pizza at a nice restaurant is a good Happy Hour price…
Ummm, I wasn’t going to mention it but since it’s in the photo collage the gin martini was $6.00. And since you are eating out alone, only have one drink please. 🙂 Now how do I rationalize this meal that cost me $23.00 with tip you ask, yes I generally tip 20%. I figure since Dear’s company is paying for all his meals the last 5 days we’re way ahead even though I splurged. Do you see my reasoning?
The pampering didn’t stop with dinner. When I got home I brewed myself a cup of tea and had a slice of Amish Friendship Bread that Willow sent home with me yesterday. Very yummy, Willow!
This is a new brand of tea I’m trying from St. Petersbourg, actually made in France. A Russian blend of China, Ceylon and India teas with natural scents of bergamot, lemon, lime, orange, mandarin, and flowers. (Earl Grey, citrus fruits and flowers). I love the little muslin tea bags.
Dear comes home tomorrow, yippee!
Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.
My extended family came together to host a bridal shower for our future niece, cousin, granddaughter. June 28th is the wedding day. I put together some photos from the event. Good food, Fellowship, and blessings all around. A lovely colorful afternoon.
Can you guess the color scheme we chose for the shower? Yep, lavender, green, and cream.
I’m happy to say the fondant cake turned out and if the fondant had been fresher (confession time: I had this box of fondant in my cupboard for over a year) it would have been easier to work with and a lot more pliable. I will try fondant again, fresh fondant.
We had savory blintzes filled with chicken and broccoli, tabbouleh, fruit salad, Italian Wedding cookies, and Kefili cookies filled with apricot and plum jam. My mom made the cookies. The Kefili are one of her russian recipes. Growing up we had a great Italian friend living across the street, Lucille. She always made these Italian wedding cookies for showers and weddings. My mom hunted down her recipe to make them for this shower.
Jessica ~ Jessica and her mom, Connie ~ Jessica with Kelly (my Sil) and Kelly’s mom, Lynn ~ Jessica with my mother.
My niece Michelle getting the Mojito Punch ready. We love details, so my niece Melissa made ice-cubes with mint in them. That’s my niece Debbee in the kitchen. Sadly the Mojito Punch was virgin (no rum), but it was very good and refreshing.
Speaking of nieces, here they are ~ Jessica, Michelle, Debbee, and Melissa.
Details, details, we placed sprigs of lavender on each of the blintzes.
My sister Kathy had these great vintage snack trays that we used for the food.
I love this photo of my mom.
The shower was wonderful. We ended up making each other cry (a good cry). Don’t you think that sometimes if there are tears that are shed we are being real with each other? We thanked God and prayed for Jessica and Tim and prayed for all of us. We wanted to give God the honor for all He has done for our family and friends.
I was exhausted but happy that everything came together well. I had left my condo at 9:30 am and returned at 8:30 pm. 181 miles round-trip. Today I’m a little brain dead. I hope to get around and see what you are all up to sometime today after I empty my trunk and put everything away…
Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.
My friend Willow from Willow’s Cottage has a friend with a Blueberry Farm and when she gets to pick blueberries on the farm she’s sweet enough to share some with me. So I found my blue rimmed platter to put my blueberries in and then I enjoyed my high fiber cereal with my daily banana and the lovely blueberry treat. Then it dawned on me that we are in the midst of project blue so I put this collage together filled with my yummy blue…
For more Project Blue click over to Anna Carson Photography.
Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.
I drove out to Orange County yesterday to meet up with some of my family at Darya Persian Restaurant. We were celebrating my Pop’s birthday.
My brother Leonard was in town overnight from Dallas so we celebrated early. Bottom left photo in the collage are the 3 who have birthdays in the next few days. My nephew Levi on the 27th, my sister Kathy on the 23rd and my Pop on the 25th. The food photos are what I ordered, a lamb shank with a plate of mixed rice with lima beans and that’s not cheese on top, that’s rice with saffron.
Here’s Uncle Leonard with some of his nieces and one of his nephews. Debbee, Levi, Michelle, Leonard and Melissa.
Leonard, Melissa, Jack, and my SIL Kelly.
My nephew Levi, niece Michelle, and my brother Leonard.
Me and my brother Leonard
The party moved from the restaurant to my parent’s apartment for cake and chai (tea). I hit the long road home from the restaurant. It’s good to “love one another”.
Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!
We started our beach walk at 6:00 AM today! The sun has not shown up in all it’s glory yet…
The colors in my photos change as the sun comes up over the hill.
We saw a lot of crabs today. The tide was not as far out and we couldn’t get as far on the sand this week.
The Pirates were afoot and we snuck by their ship.
Dear braved the surf while I took the higher road.
“Here’s looking at ya”
We finished our walk on the beach and were home by 7:45 AM. I then got ready to head out to San Marino, California to meet my nieces, sister, and mom for a birthday breakfast.
On the way to breakfast a car fully engulfed in flames was worth a photo! :0)
Julienne Restaurant in San Marino, California
My sister Kathy and her daughter Michelle
The sisters, Michelle and Melissa
My niece Debbee and me
My Mom
I decided on the Earl Grey Tea. Look at that pretty little bag the tea leaves come in.
A Gruyere omelette with scallions and avocado and rosemary potatoes.
Me, my mom, and my sister Kathy
Kathy and her daughters. Happy Birthday Kathy.
And yes it is hot in Southern California today. This was the hottest my outside temp registered when I hit Woodland Hills. (109 degrees) Notice that I’m standing still in traffic so no one was in danger when I took this shot. We’re breaking records today. Thankfully it is a lot cooler than Woodland Hills in our town…
Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!
The theme this week is Candy. I decided to make a trip to my favorite candy shop in Southern California, See’s.
Look how sweet the See’s saleslady was. When I told her I was taking photos of candy for Photo Hunters she asked if I’d like her to take some out of the case to photograph. What a good sport..
I’m just going to post all the photos from the store because I don’t ever get tired of looking at chocolate.
Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!
I think I showed a lot of restraint and only came away with 5 pieces.
For more Photo Hunters click over to Tnchick’s!
will be at Whatever Things…
Recipes Around The World
This month’s recipe category will be recipes unique either to the part of the world or country you live or where you’re from originally. It’s a bit like “The Great British Menu,” but with a worldwide focus.
The recipe can be for Snacks, Starters, Main Courses, Desserts, Cakes, Biscuits or even a Hot or Cold drink recipe.
My heritage is Russian (100%). I have several Russian Recipes featured on my blog already so I’ll inclule the links to click on and you’ll be able to see some step by step recipes and photos.
We’ll start with Borsch
Then how about some Golubtzi? (Stuffed Cabbage)
And lastly although I have a few more recipes is this simple version of Lopsha.
For more recipes with an International flare or to join in the fun click over to Whatever Things.
Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!
Our Mother’s Day Celebrations started early this year. I was away from all my children this year so they got together and created the best gift I could possibly ask for. Each of them wrote to me and included a photo of themselves. Each note was unique just like they are. They were put together in the book cover you see in the center of the collage. I was in Mom heaven! On Mother’s Day morning Dear was very sweet and took me to the Rose Bowl Flea Market with a pocket full of cash. I’ll post more about that later. After we walked the isles and isles of goodies at the Flea Market we headed to Whittier for a smaller family gathering with my Sister’s Family and my Mom and Dad. My brother Steve was able to come, too.
As we drove through Whittier to my sister’s house we were greeted with the beautiful purple blooms on the Jacaranda Trees.
My Father and Mother who are always a joy to be around.
My Father and Jackson (Great grandson)
Jackson with his friend.
We were surounded by beautiful blooms on potted plants and fresh bouquets.
We started lunch with my mother’s Borsch and then had fondue. Main course of beef, chicken, cheese, bread, and vegetables. Then a dark chocolate and milk chocolate fondue mix for our fruit and wafers and biscotti. Everything was very good.
I brought my mom, sister, and niece these Johnson Bros. mugs filled with 3 kinds of Tea.
My nieces gave me the potted pink hydrangea in the top collage.
It was a beautiful day of honoring mom’s and enjoying each others company. Thank you Len and Kathy for always opening your home to family. Len’s 95 year old mother was able to join us at the table for a little while and had us in stitches with some of her remarks. How lovely the day was. Thank you Lord.
Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!
This weeks theme is Tea Rooms and Ventures. In April my family met at the Gilded Rose Manor Tea House in Northridge, California to celebrate my mother’s 85th birthday.
I love the fact that the Tea House street address is on Devonshire St. It sounds so English and creamy 🙂
There are several different table settings. There are 3 areas of service. The Rose Salon is the largest area, the Atrium is a little separated from the Rose Salon, and then the Blue Willow Parlor is a private side room that accomodates up to 14 people. We were in the Blue Willow Parlor.
The Blue Willow Parlor with my sisters, mom, and nieces.
The Rose Salon
Rose Salon
The Atrium
We had assorted scones with Devon Cream and Lemon curd and then a variety of tea sandwiches.
Our dessert platter with another fun assortment of goodies.
Although these tea pots aren’t the dainty variety that really served the purpose well, especially with these great warmers that they sat on. Our tea was the perfect temperature to the last drop of each pot. The gift shop at the Gilded Rose sells these, too.
The Gilded Rose has a nice gift shop. Besides all these fun Tea Pots and Cups they sell Tea Magazines, Cards, cake plates, baked goods, accessories. They also have a wonderful collection of loose tea for sale.
We all had a nice time here.
For more Tea Rooms and Ventures visit LaTeaDah at Gracious Hospitality.
Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 