This year, for Christmas, I had this crazy notion in October (yep, definitely October as I sat on the van floor while we drove South drinking tea in the middle of the night looking for a spot to camp - Dirty Devil adventure) to create special blends of tea for office giving and then some others. But as my mind likes to do, my thoughts rambled on… What if they don’t take caffeine? What if they only like herbal? What if they don’t drink tea at all?
HOT CHOCOLATE! Why not do a custom blended tea in addition to hot chocolate? Well, boy did I ever think I was a creative genius when I thought of hot chocolate on a stick… but no. I googled it and found many, many sites on the topic. Apparently, Oprah named it as one of her favorite things! *If anyone can discover something ingenious, it’s Oprah.
What better way to end a trip then a relaxing day down the river?
Labor Day Monday, we rented a couple of duckies, inflatable kayaks, and went with Red River Adventures down the Moab Daily.
Cinco de Mayo - Booze and chips and desserts. That’s how I like to celebrate. Okay, okay… maybe something more sustainable as well - tacos, taquitos, nachos, anything along that deliciousness. But dessert, that is the most precious…
So, flan and tres leches! Thanks to David Lebovitz, there were recipes in his book, Ready for Dessert: My Best Recipes, for both desserts that I could utilize.
*Butterscotch Flan (or in the closest online variation I found: Chocolate-Dulce de Leche Flan)
*Victorian Sponge Cake (which I could transform into tres leches)
What’s a better way to start the four-day Thanksgiving weekend than awesome friends, wine, food and… more wine!?
Call it “holiday spirit,” “Thanks-eve,” or just a good ol’ excuse for celebration — A couple of weeks ago, while prancing about town, Alex and I decided we should do a wine pairing dinner with a few close friends. We split six of us into groups of two to take on a type of wine (red, white, sparkling/dessert) and pair it with at least 2-3 food items. It turned into quite the memorable (or not so memorable to some of us in our drunken stupor) event.
Last week, we had a Thanksgiving potluck at work. No. No. No. This time, we did not get all buzzed after work and go home then pass out. Honest.
From the hat (or leftover from the pieces of paper I shook about in my hand), I pulled the dessert assignment. Pumpkin pie. Done. Except… Heather doesn’t like pumpkin pie so I needed to be creative.
Surfing recipes, I decide to go with the go-to classic American dessert chef… Paula Deen. I wanted pumpkin pie. And to get it in Heather’s mouth, I disguised it with pumpkin cheesecake. Pumpkin pie atop pumpkin cheesecake! Individual servings — created by the use of a cupcake tin.
Thanksgiving potluck… ahh, the ultimate feast of the office luncheons. While scouring the web for something pumpkin to impress my fellow co-workers, I found David Lebovitz’s gallery of goods: his recipe collection.
Amongst a sea of candies and sweets, I found a recipe for homemade ricotta! *Cheese is dairy crack!! I love it. It’s over here at Simply Recipes. Who knew it’d be so simple?! It took maybe 2 active minutes to cook ‘er up after work today. See it manifest through photos…
Merry Christmas II You — Mariah’s second Christmas album comes out today! It may be over sixteen years since the first CD of holiday tunes came out, but she still has it.
Video of home-made retractable Wolverine / X-23 Claws shooting out. Learn how to make these claws in the previous post: How to Make Retractable Wolverine / X-23 Claws.
Halloween. One week away.
I asked my friend Heather to pick something from the Marvel Universe — someone female, black or dark hair, something easy. Oh! And someone that did not have a super tight outfit. Nope, I am not that confident… nowhere near that confident to pull off that look. Plus, I am a creature of comfort… If I’m going to a party to drink and eat, I need extra room to grow.
Five minutes after linking Heather with the Marvel Women, she found X-23. Black hair. Younger gal… seemingly not too tall, normal clothes **translation: not too tight**. Done.
I could pull off the pants, owned a black tank top and already had the black hair. But, how could I pull of the claws?
