Catching Up

Since I have a few days off of work, I thought I would catch up on posting. We went to San Diego at Thanksgiving and we brought the cold rainy weather with us. During a break in the rain, we went to Balboa Park and walked around a bit.

This is a beautiful building with a Lily Pond in front of it.

This is the Casa del Prado Theatre. We didn't get inside but I heard that it isn't as nice as the outside. Oh, well.



Close-up...it might not be that grand inside, but this ornate facade is pretty amazing.




Here is the Botanical Building - very nice with lot's of Orchids, Christmas Cactus and Poinsettias.








More posts to come about our trip. We really had a lot of fun there and hope to go back this summer.

Christmas Gift

I have enjoyed reading Country Living for years now and was introduced to
"The Farm Chicks" through the magazine. I saw their exhibit at the Country Living Fair a few years ago when it was held at the Chicago Botanical Garden and purchased their first book last year. So, one of the items on my list this year was to get The Farm Chicks Christmas book - which I got! I can't wait to start some of the great projects and recipes. I'll let you know how they turn out. What did you get for Christmas?

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

We hope that you all have had a lovely Christmas! It was a great Christmas here - we opened our presents and then went over the river and through the woods to Grandma's house. Lovely dinner - polish sausage, ham, scalloped potatoes, pigs in a blanket (my fav!) and pumpkin pie.

Driving back through the city was a bit hairy, lake effect snow hampered driving but it was nice to catch up with my brother, who met us at my MIL's house. He and I drove back together.

Even Holly and Roadie had a nice Christmas, a few new stuffed animals to tear apart. Time to call it a night...Merry Christmas to all!

Happy Halloween To All!

Well, the kids are all dressed in their costumes and ready to hit the neighborhood.

Michael is a Chicago Blackhawk Hockey Player, Holly is a "Queen Bee" and Roadie is a King...not "The King" but that gives me an idea for next year.



Holly - Miss Queen Bee. She was a trooper and the costume stayed on the whole time!


King Roadie and Holly. I had to bring Roadie home because he wasn't behaving well - little Brat.


As we progressed, Michael shed most of his Costume and I ended up carrying his gloves, his roller blades and then his helmet. Next year, he's on his own! But it is a beautiful afternoon here - we've had worse Halloweens. It seems like it was always raining and cold when I was young. Then again, we got to go begging for candy on the actual Halloween day, not matter what day of the week and it was at night too.


I hope all of your little goblins have a safe and Happy Halloween!

It's all happening at the zoo

Just a few photos of our trip to the Brookfield Zoo. We especially enjoyed the butterfly house.

For about a week, these lovelies hung out back...aren't they beautiful?


There were 3 bucks and a doe. They were eating the leaves from the maple trees.


Michael named the two that were the bravest and came the closest to our back yard. This is Frank.


And this is Rudy, coming in to munch from the salad bar.

Be Still My Heart...

Rick Bayless Book Signing

Last night, I went with some friends Anita, Linda to our Village's Cultural and Civic center to see Award-winning chef-restaurateur, cookbook author, and television personality - Rick Bayless - it was awesome!



The place was hoppin'. We went an hour early for a wine and cheese reception and dined on excellent hors'dourves - especially the Salmon Risotto. This reception was not catered by Rick Bayless, but everything they served was wonderful.

This is Chris (a friend who works with Anita), me, Anita and Linda enjoying the event!


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Chef Bayless talking about how he wanted to become a Chef after falling in love with the sights, sounds and flavor of Mexico. His family had restaurants in Oklahoma, where he grew up. He seems very down to earth and humble, relaxed, not like some of the other crazy chefs that you see on TV. There were a few glitches with the sound system but he couldn't have been nicer about it and improvised with a regular mic, the sound system problem did get fixed.



He talked about his Frontera Farmer Foundation which he established in 2003 to attract support for small Midwestern farms. Rick and Deann Bayless, along with the restaurants’ staff, created the Foundation out of their concern for struggling farmers and the importance of local produce to the vitality of Chicago’s culinary culture. It was very interesting to hear where he buys his produce locally.


We waited about an hour to have him sign our books and take a few photos with him, it was well worth it. Then we headed over to The Vine in Grayslake to have a few dessert martini's - I had the Mudslide Martini and it was delicious.





I now have my cookbook proudly displayed on top of my cookbook cabinet and cannot wait to whip up some authentic Mexican cuisine!

Jbien Provecho everyone!

Carnage out my backdoor

Well, in my earlier post about the critters we have seen this spring, I wrote about the coyotes who have made themselves heard and seen. This morning Roadie was making a ruckus, so I looked out to see if our neighbors were out in their backyard and I saw this critter chomping down on something.



I grabbed my little point and shoot and managed to get a couple of pictures of it after I had interrupted its breakfast.

There was a mama duck in the pond going crazy so I though that it might have eaten papa duck. Carlos & Anita came over and Carlos found 3 dead baby ducklings..sniff, sniff...mama duck is still flying around looking for them, it is quite sad to see. Anita and I had Carlos bury them so the coyote couldn't get them again.

I know that nature is not always pleasant and I am a huge animal lover but the coyotes are really worrying me. I think this one could easily take down Roadie, heaven forbid. Would it be horrible to get a b-b gun to scare it off if I ever see it again?

So Excited - Going to a book signing tonight...

for a famous Chef/Author. Stay tuned...

Spring Critters Out My Backdoor

Here is a little photo essay of the animals that we've seen this spring just out our backdoor.

One of the male mallards. He and his mate were in our backyard looking for a nesting place but with our two dogs, who love to chase birds, they decided to move in down the street.



"There arose such a clatter". On May 1st, I heard this loud clacking noise and saw these two Sandhills out on the park grounds. I sent Ron out with his new camera to get some shots. Aren't they cool?



More clattering, but this was from the Canada Geese - one late afternoon they were just honking and carrying on, it was quite annoying. I decided to see what was going on when I saw these two out back. This scrawny yearling...


and it's Mama. Love it!!!


We've also had a lot of coyotes out back but I can never take their picture because it's too dark. They have been very active and noisy this spring. Our next-door neighbor saw one jump our 4' fence from his yard to ours. Kind of scary actually so we have to watch Roadie and Holly when we let them out at night.

Contest at The Vintage Workshop

I have a been a fan of The Vintage Workshop for years now. Here's a neat contest going on and you can win one of two “Fresh From the Garden” Gift Sets!

What do you win? Two gift sets will be awarded. The first set will include: garden seed packet apron, seed packet tote bag, tomato journal, set of gardening/floral imagery, and a set of garden themed note cards from Indygo Junction. The second set will include: strawberry apron, seed packet purse with crystals, seed packet pillow, little girl gardening journal, Faber Seed Co. tissue box cover, several CD’s with gardening/flower imagery, & a set of garden themed note cards from Indygo Junction.

Click here The Vintage Workshop to enter the contest and good luck!

Holly Retouched

 

I was playing around with the photo of Holly in Picasa. I can't wait to learn how to use our new Canon 7D. So far, I'm impressed with the photos it has taken.

Fun at the D-O-G P-A-R-K

Yes, we have to spell out Dog Park or else we will have two very excited and persistent Aussies on our heels.

Ron bought a new camera, a real fancy one and last week when it was in the 60's we took the pups to the DOG PARK! Here is Holly coming back to me at a full gallop.



My beautiful girl...isn't she precious?

Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun...

with two Aussie dogs!



Introducing the newest member of the family, Roadie!



Isn't he the cutest little bugger? We found him and adopted him through Aussie Rescue two weeks ago. We took a road trip to Ohio to get him and he's settling down pretty well. He's a little dude, a Mini-Aussie and is about a year and a half old. Seriously, what's a little more dog hair floating around and making incredible dust bunnies...whoop de-doo!

Michael thinks he's great...



I think he'll be a great at agility too, but first he needs to learn some basics.

Holly likes him too, just like I knew she would.

Candy Girl

I received my coveted 90th Anniversary Edition, Candy Apple Red, Kitchenaid Stand Mixer the other day! Yippee! I have been eyeing this baby up for a few months now and voila - she's mine and it makes me want to sing...

Candy Girl - Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons -

~I've been a-searchin' all this wide world
Now finally I've found my
Candy girl Candy girl

I-yi-yi-yi found me a girl (Candy girl)
She-ee-ee-ee sets my heart a-whirl (Candy girl)
With huggin' and kissin' and lov-in'
(She's mine) mi-ine (mine) mi-ine
Whoa-oa-oa-oh-oh (Candy girl)

We get along so well (Candy girl)
I know just why I fell (Candy girl)
She's thrillin' (thrillin') oh, chillin' (chillin'),
yes she's so divine
(She's mine) mi-ine (mine) mi-ine
Whoa-oa-oa-oh-oh (Candy girl)~



But I digress...

I can't say enough about www.everythingkitchens.com - great price, free shipping and it arrived in 3 days. I will definitely order from them again.

So this morning, Michael and I baked some of Grandma's Peanut Butter Cookies - I think Michael likes "Candy Girl" as much as I do!





Michael is very interested in cooking so I am showing him how to get all the 'gredients out on the counter first.





Nice looking cookie dough



Michael had fun rolling the cookies in the balls before we used a fork to make the criss-cross on top.




Fresh out of the oven and cooling on the bakers rack.



Fresh Home Made Cookies! Yummmmmmmm.