Valentine's Day Celebration

This year for Valentine's Day I hosted a card making party.  I served two of my favorite dishes which I have previously blogged about: Amish Cinnamon rolls and egg casserole (I have to say I did add a twist to the egg casserole.  I sauteed spinach {fresh not frozen} with onions and cherry tomatoes.)

For drinks we had peach mimosas (peach sparkling wine and orange juice), coffee, tea, and mineral water with Meyer lemon wedges.

The night before the party I went out and bought some supplies.  I chose the night before the party because I guessed that most of the Valentine's items would be on sale since it was getting really close to the big day. I guessed right!!

Here are some things I got from the craft store or had on hand for the party:  material glue, two glue sticks, 5 scissors, 50 blank cards and envelopes, seasonal tissue paper, 5 different kinds of ribbon,  coloring pencils, needles, embroidering thread in white,pink, and dark pink, a big bag of buttons, and Valentine's Day bags for guests to take their creations home in. 

 Before                                                                        





After

Here are a few examples of our creations:

A Small TV Room

My mom has always been a great home decorator.  About 2 years ago, my parents moved into a 1920s farmhouse, which needed a lot of work.  I don't think the home had been updated since probably the 60s, so my mom had some work cut out for her.  One of her latest projects was an upstairs TV room, which is connected to the nursery where she watches her grandchildren when they come over to play. 

I wish I had some before and after pictures for this room.  She truly transformed it from a not so lovely bedroom, to a very comfortable TV room, and I finally talked her into sending me some pictures so I could share them with all of you.  I particularly like the color choices - beige and a deep blue.

Decals

When you rent - you can't paint and you can't wallpaper.  Luckily my landlord had some sense and painted our walls a lovely beige with white trim.  I really like it.  However, if your landlord wasn't so sensible, and you have white wall fever, here is an idea for adding some texture to your home without (1) breaking your budget and (2) damaging your apartment. 

http://dalidecals.com/Retro-Swirling-Branch-Corner-Piece-Wall-Decal-Sticker-Graphic.html

http://www.dezignwithaz.com/modern-wall-decals-abstract/brazilian-swirls-wall-stickers-p-1413.html

Okay some of them are lame, but others are really neat - at least I think so.  But if don't like the pre-made kind, you can also customize your own decal (which is what I plan to do). 

So my problem isn't that I have white wall fever. I love my beige walls, but my fireplace is on an outside wall, and that makes it really tricky to hang a picture over the mantel.  Plus, I can't really put anything on the mantel because it isn't wide enough.

Enter decal?  So I was thinking I would use a decal frame (I like the oval shape below, right), to frame a silhouette my mother-in-law had of M and I done when we were on vacation (I will also have to have the silhouette made into a decal as well).

                              

You may be thinking that my fireplace looks just fine without anything above it, but I have the TV hanging on the adjacent wall, and I don't like that the TV is now the focal point of the room. I want the fireplace to be the focal point.  Well, it might be awhile until I get to this, but it is on my home improvement list.

the real superbowl is at the grocery store

Okay.  I know I already posted today, but I went to the grocery store after my latest post.  Two things:

• I have NEVER seen so many people at the grocery store! Every line was open, and every line was down the food isles.  This isn't a very good picture, but it does tell you how busy it was today.  The kids in the cart behind me had eaten all of their mother's groceries before we got to the counter.  She was literally buying groceries that were already eaten.  It was hard for the counter guy to weigh her produce.  The kids ate all of the apples.  I didn't stay to see if the check out guy, weighed the kids.  He was so nervous his hand was trembling when he took my coupons, so who knows what happened with re to the eaten apples.

• Great deals today.  Macadamia nuts and almonds were on sale for a 1/3 of their normal price; beer ($12.49 for 12 pack of imported), avocados (1/2 of their normal price), and of course chips ($1.88 for Ruffles), and specialty ice cream about (1/3 of the price).  So stock up if you are brave enough.  Better yet, if you don't like football go do the grocery shopping during the game.

treat the "little" people well

For all of you that don't know yet my husband is directing a short film he wrote this year.  We are so excited that this next project is underway, and it really feels that a weight has been lifted off of our shoulders.  Now it is time for the fun.  I'll keep you posted on this "new" adventure, and our progress. 

Today, was M's first casting call for the film, and I got the privilege of helping out for the day.  The morning started at 8:00 a.m., M and I got up and started getting things together for the auditions which was scheduled to start at 10:00 a.m.  At 8:05 a.m., I ran to the grocery store for all the ingredients I would need to make my friend Lizz's Taco Soup for the crew (this recipe, which was a huge hit, can be found here - http://keepingupwiththecoders.blogspot.com/2011/01/taco-soup.html).

At about 9:45 a.m. I arrived at the production company where the auditions were being held.  M's producer was there, an actor friend of M's who was reading opposite the auditioning actors, and of course M and I. 

My job today was to make the food and be the receptionist, "spy."  Basically, I got the chance to observe the actors when they thought no one was judging them.  It was so funny, I forgot how awful people treat others when they think they aren't important.  It brought back so many experiences I had working in city government.  Do people think the receptionist doesn't tell, in this case, the director and the producer how the people in the waiting room treat them? Hey that guy was a jerk to me , is hitting on me, or this actor just complained about such and such while she waited in the waiting room? 

Obviously, if you are coming for an audition (or even a job interview ) - you are being judged from the second you walk in the door. 

That aside, all in all, today went really well. I personally enjoyed getting to see so many different people from L.A., what they wore, what they thought was important to talk about etc.  The auditions were 5 minutes each, so for almost every five minutes we had a new actor scheduled from 10:00 until 4:00, so I saw a lot of people.

I am always so impressed with how many talented people there are in the world.  There were so many talented actors that showed up today.  Its such a shame that so few movies get made per year.  I feel like Hollywood has not scratched the surface of what is out there, as far as talent goes.  Well, luckily, M has some tough decisions to make re who to cast.

A Dinner For One of Those Days

So after I got home from work at 8:00 p.m. (yes, if you are wondering it was one of those days),  I reached into the cupboard and starting eating cheddar and sour cream chips, then I got a craving for sugar, so then I started eating salted caramel ice cream.  It was half way through the quart of ice cream, when I was picking out all the little candy bites, that I realized I should really make something good for me to eat.  After all tomorrow is going to be a busy day too.

But, 8:30 p.m., is really a weird time to start making dinner?  Nonetheless, I must do it.  Now, what am I going to have?  The dinner I had planned for tonight - a little too complicated.  It is also dinner for one, M was in bed sick when I got home, so that narrows down my choices.  Ah ha! Pizza!  Okay, pizza isn't exactly healthy, but it is better than chips and ice cream.  

And I may as well take pictures of the process for the blog, right?  Someone needs to see my creation since M is bed with a cold.

Okay so when you are making food fast, you have to be strategic.

First, heat the oven to 400 degrees.

SAUCE!

Very simple, but so much better than store bought pizza sauce.  Put a small sauce pan over medium heat.

Add 1/2 Tablespoon of olive oil, and one minced clove of garlic.

Allow the garlic to turn a light golden brown then add about 7 oz of crushed tomatoes (about half of a small can of crushed tomatoes).

3 Cracks of Sea Salt

3 Cracks of Pepper

1/2 Tablespoon of sugar (white or brown)

And allow all the ingredients to simmer for 5 minutes.

CRUST (This is my Mom's recipe)

Coat the bottom of a pan you can put in the oven with olive oil, and heat over medium heat

When the pan is hot, shut off the heat and put two whole wheat tortillas in the pan, one on top of the other.  Then flip the two crusts over like a pancake about 20 seconds on each side).

Add the sauce

Add some Motz

Add your toppings (Today, I used breakfast sausage because that is all I had.  I like to cook my sausage a little before putting it on the pizza to get rid of the extra fat.)

Put the pizza in the oven until golden brown (about 10 minutes) and then garnish with fresh parsley

And there you have it.  Dinner in under 20 minutes

Got to love it. :)

Keeping Herbs Fresh

I buy a lot of fresh herbs, and even though they are relatively inexpensive, I cannot stand the fact that fresh herbs seem to go bad after only a week in the refrigerator.  I tried growing my own for awhile, but lets just say - I don't have a green thumb (surprising, I know, since I come from a long line of gardeners i.e. - mother, grandmother).

This is what is left of my herb garden from last summer:

One sprig of mint.  I was so excited when it came back, but then I was quickly informed by a friend that mint is like a weed very hard to kill.    Ah well . . . I'm still excited about it anyway.  I am happy there is one thing I can't kill.

Well back to the problem.  Each week I usually buy fresh parsley and fresh cilantro, they are usually about a 89 cents to a dollar a bunch.  Not that much, but over a year I guess I am spending about $100 on fresh herbs.  That is too much.

Although the bunches are really big, enough for a whole month,  they usually go bad after only one week.  I tried storing them many different ways: storing them like you would flowers, storing them in a plastic bag with a damp paper towel . . . but to no avail, the longest I have gotten parsley and cilantro to last is two weeks.

Today, I did some internet research and found this cite.  http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_store_parsley_cilantro_and_other_fresh_herbs/

This person says that what I did before, storing my herbs in a glass jar like you would a bouquet of flowers, is only partly right: you have to make sure the leaves are dry, trim the stems, put the ends in a jar of water, AND cover the top with a plastic bag then place the herbs in the refrigerator.

This person claims that my herbs will stay fresh twice as long, so I am looking for these herbs to stay for about 2 weeks.  We are at Day 1 and counting, I will keep you posted. :)