Tag Archives: Food

Weekend Happenings

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Good Afternoon!! I trust everyone’s Monday has gone splendidly, and all have survived the beginning of another work week. Or looking forward to some time off if you are amongst those who don’t work a traditional 9-5 Monday-Friday. As with the past couple of Monday’s, I wanted to share a little recap of my weekend. I do this mainly for myself, it’s fun to look back on the weekend past, it also helps to ease myself back into the work week.

So, let’s start off with Friday shall we?

Every evening my Bubba and I walk the dogs, sometimes we take them somewhere new but most of the time we walk them through our neighborhood and eventually end up at “our” park.  It’s our park, simply because it’s close to the house, we have no ownership of it, nor do we have any sweet story to make it our park, it’s just where we walk our dogs. Anyways, Friday I happened to bring my camera with me and snapped a few shots.

It was a gorgeous sky the other night, if only I’d been on higher ground and above those electrical lines.

So, we were walking along, enjoying the sunset, making sure Annie didn’t eat yet another stray morsel of potentially deadly left over hamburger, when suddenly there was a couch.

Odd isn’t it? Actually, it’s not that odd considering there’s a yet another thrift store on the other side of that wall. But still, a couch in a park? Bubba was brave enough to venture over to it, apparently the couch is the base for someones camp. I guess an old couch makes a better crash pad than a box or the dirt.

Saturday morning brought good things, more specifically, it brought waffles with strawberries. Every Saturday morning, Bubba and I try to make a good breakfast and relax. Meaning we stay in our PJ’s until the neighbor stops by at 11:30am and apologizes for coming over so early. Yeah, that was embarrassing…

Then it’s time to hop in the shower and see what kind of trouble we can get into that day. Usually we hit up some thrift stores, since we basically live on thrift row. I’ll have to show you all the thrift stores that are within walking distance of my residence. It’s a dangerous place for this little thrifter to live, let me tell ya.

Sunday we didn’t do much, but battle ants….sooo many ants! I guess it’s that time of the year with the monsoon here and all. But goodness, one would think that one of the 5,683  non-toxic solutions I’ve tried would be toxic to the actual ants! I’ll have to show you the ant-y army currently invading my home. It’s frightening and disgusting all at the same time.

What did you do over the weekend? Discover random pieces of furniture in odd places? Battling your own ant-y army?

Weekend Happenings

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With the end of Monday near (Thank goodness! Survival was questionable there in the beginning.) I’ve been playing the weekends events over in my little head, it helps to escape the stress of coming back to work ya know.

Pardon my grainy phone pictures, I finally remembered to bring my camera, but lo and behold, the stinkin’ battery died on me. Between Bubba and I  we’ve got a handful of point and shoots and two SLR’s in our house, but did we bring a back-up camera? Nope. So, I had to resort to my camera phone, I was actually surprised at how well some of these came out.

Saturday didn’t entail too much aside from doing the normal weekend chores, but on Sunday we took a little drive out to Edgewood. It’s a little town about 40 minutes from Albuquerque, a nice little drive especially if you’re ready to see something new.

Like a pay phone, I hadn’t seen one of these in years! Since everyone has a cell phone now payphones aren’t very common. Or maybe I haven’t noticed them much, since I am part of the cell phone carting masses. But I was pretty excited to see this one and his buddy outside.

After admiring the historic pay phones and receiving odd looks from the locals we indulged in a road trip classic, dipped cones from

Dairy Queen.  Mine was butterscotch, much to the dismay of my jeans, thank goodness for spandex riddled denim!

After a nice fattening ice cream break it was time to see the sites:

That there’s a meadow, with the stinkin’ camera phone I couldn’t quite capture the colors and the “lifeness” of it all.

Also….there were sunflowers.

Then it started to rain, we took that as a sign it was time to head back home.

Our casa is just on the other side of that mountain. I love summer rain storms in New Mexico, they smell so fresh and the air has an energy to it. But notice that patch of blue sky? Yeah, I theorize that’s exactly where our house is, because it was bone dry when we got home. No glorious summer rain storm for us that day.

With it still being dry and hot at the house, we decided to take a little trip to a local thrift store, just for grins and giggles, we didn’t buy anything. I don’t want my own episode of Hoarders thankyouverymuch. Here’s what I found:

These embroidery hoops are great for wall hangings, just group a bunch of them together with a graphic fabric or even paint them a cool color for some drama.

Sorta like this scene from Apartment Therapy:

Something similar could be done with these guys to add a little more texture to a room. They are meant to be used as paper plate holders, but I think they would be awesome clustered together for a focal wall.

But I don’t think this guy really liked that idea, either that or he was ready to get out of the bag. He kinda scared me…

What happenings from the weekend have you been revisiting to get through this Monday? Is there ice cream? Or a scary tribesman staring back at you from a plastic bag?

Bottega Louie

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When you heard from me last I went on about my lodging while in Los Angeles. Today I wanted to talk about where I ate while in LA., honestly there should be more pictures of food as I did eat at more than one restaurant and did have more than just beautiful baked goods. But apparently other meals weren’t nearly as camera ready as this particular dining experience.

The first meal was had at the beautiful Bottega Louie in downtown LA. I had the lasagna with the traditional meat sauce. It was pretty good, not amazing, but very edible.

Honestly though, the draw for me was the gorgeous baked goods and sweets that ol’ Louie offered.

Oh yeah, and those colorful cookies up there are called macarons they are not pronounced nor anything similar to their coconut laden cookie cousin macaroons. Theses guys are the most light and DE-licous thing I’ve had, well ever. I want to learn how to make them and decorate my home with them, they are that pretty and yummy. And of course I had to buy some to bring home. If you ever find yourself in downtown LA, I highly suggest you pay Bottega Louie a visit, but expect to pay a pretty penny. My box of five cookies was $10.

But oh so worth it, I even saved the box. Isn’t it pretty? I don’t know what I’ll do with it, but my hoarding tendencies tell me to hang on to it. Maybe I’ll keep it to store stray earrings.

Aside from the cute little cookie hamburgers, I brought back truffles for the ladies in my office:

And butter cookies for my Bubba:

All baked goods were gone in less than two days, I’d say they went over very well with their recipients!

Meals had after Bottega Louie were just as delicious but apparently weren’t nearly as photo worthy, but believe me when I say I had more to eat other than lasagna and cookies while visiting the great City of Angels. Although cookies and lasagna wouldn’t be a horrible diet, but my jeans would say probably say otherwise.

Stay tuned for the next post, I’ll be sharing all the sights I saw while in LA!

Long time

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By the time you read this post, I should bin the air on my way home from LA. Yup, you read that right, Los Angeles, The City of Angels. It’s not a vacation though I am here on account of a conference for my 9 to 5 job. But I didn’t come here to talk about work, I came here to dust the cobwebs off my old blog home.  I know it’s been a long time, apparently I inadvertently took a blogging break. There’s been a lot going on around these parts lately, and I’ve got A LOT to share and show you. But it’s going to take sometime to edit all the photos I want share with you. So stay tuned for those.

But for now, I’ll leave you with one of my favorite memories of LA.

Nom, nom, nom….

 

Poke me with a stick, it’s Monday!

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Shall we start the week off with a weekend recap? I hope you said yes, because that’s what you’re getting!

This weekend was marvelous! It started out with dinner at our favorite pizza joint, JJ’s, I’ll be doing a post about that soon. (JJ has the best pizza in all of the Duke City, if you ask me!) Then on Saturday, my sweet mom and I went to see a live performance of Anne of Green Gables, performed at the Albuquerque Little Theater. Honestly, it was one of the most enjoyable experiences I’ve had at a live performance. Then we had another yummy meal, this time it was at a chain, Taco Cabana. But still yummy. Sunday flew by, since we lost that hour. But that didn’t some me from trying a little project, I got ambitous and thought I’d clean out a spare room. The room where Bubba keeps his “gaming” equipment. This included 12 gaming systems, countless games, an excuriating amount of cables, and so many dust bunnies I’m still coughing them up.

It was a great weekend, and if I’d had half a brain there would be pictures to share with you. But alas, my half brain wasn’t working this weekend, so I have no pictures. Only the sweet memories of a great weekend.

I do however, have pictures from past weekends that pretty much sum up an average Saturday and Sunday in my life right now.

I usually try to cram in a chore or two, nothing too involved. That’s something I have to build up to. (Like cleaning out Bubba’s toys. Not that I don’t have any of my own.) A couple of weekends ago, I finally pulled out a new shop vaccuum that sweet mom bought us. It was time to vaccuum all the Goldie needles and Annie fuzz out of the car anyway. This would be a great test of how much this thing sucked.

I must say, I’m mighty pleased, and it even rolls now that I’ve installed the wheels! I’ll spare you the hairy before and afters though.

After cleaning the car out, it was time to take the girls somewhere so they could re-needle and re-fuzz up the car.

They only tolerate the camera when they know there is a car ride and eventual walk in it for them.

On this particular day, we went on a picnic to a quiet and empty elementary school. (Where dogs are allowed I might add.)

(Yummy red enchiladas! No wonder my jeans are in a constant state of panic.)

The girls wanted some, can you tell?

After lunch and begging it was time to run, and then eventually get poked with the ball thrower for not coming when called. Annie is the only shepherd dog I know that must be shepherded herself. She would never last on a ranch.

While Annie was getting herded I took a random shot of this school bell. There is something about the texture of the brick and the color of the bell. I love these old school buildings. It’s a shame they don’t build them like this anymore.

What did you do this weekend? Have a picnic? Poke your dog with a stick?

Finally Thanksgiving

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I’d thought it was about time to share my Thanksgiving with you before we got further along into Christmas. And before we get too wrapped up into, shopping, wrapping, sending, wishing, trimming, decorating, missing holiday linky parties that seem to come all too soon for my taste, and in general trying to simplify the holiday season without actually simplifying it all. *WHEW* Exhausted much?

Anywho, for Thanksgiving the Bubs and I visited my sweet mom. We ate until our jeans screamed out in agony, then we unbuckled our belts and ate some pie. Skinny jeans were totally out of the question with this feast laid out.

Fruit salad, yummy yams (that are so sweet they could rot your teeth), turkey, fresh roll, and over course the corn bread dressing. Turkey is not the main man here, it’s definitely the dressing. Thanksgiving at our house is just not complete without Grandma’s cornbread dressing. And it’s oh so easy to make. If you ever get a hankerin’ for some warm comfort food, here’s the recipe.

Corn Bread Dressing

1/2 cup onion chopped finely

1/2 cup celery diced fine

2/3 cup butter

2 quarts cornbread crumbs (be sure the cornbread is well browned)

6 hard-boiled eggs, chopped

Salt and Pepper to taste

Chicken or Turkey stock

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Saute the onion and celery in butter. In a large mixing bowl  crumble the cornbread and add the chopped hard-boiled eggs to the cornbread. After eggs and cornbread are mixed, add the sauted onion and celery to cornbread mixture. Season with salt and pepper, and moisten with chicken stock or turkey stock. Turn into a shallow well buttered casserole dish and bake until golden brown on top.

But before feasting on our traditional dressing and pie, I felt compelled to make a pretty table. Why should we eat a delicious dinner at an un-dressed table?

Simple, easy, and not so naked anymore.

It was so easy to dress the table too, my mom has all the fixins’ for a beautiful table. So, everything I used was just around the house. She’s got the prettiest serving dishes too.

And just like me, she likes her home to be festive for the holiday.

I can’t wait to see what she does for Christmas!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and aren’t forgetting the Reason for the Season.

Blissful Brownies

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So this past weekend, Bubba showed his love towards me in the most affectionate and romantic way. A way in which I couldn’t refuse, I was putty in his hands, he was the little red headed girl to my Charlie Brown, the Wesley to my Princess Bride, the Prince Eric to my Ariel (but minus the crabs, their pinchers scare me.) I think you get the picture, the Bubs had done something so extraordinary I just couldn’t resist.

He made me these…

My heart goes pitter-patter just looking at the picture of this long consumed brownie. The batch went so fast I had to snatch this photo of the last corner piece quickly, and then secretly snarf it down before Bubs found out.

The recipe came from our favorite vintage cookbook:

The dust jacket is worn, but the wealth of yummy goodness is still new to us. If you don’t know about the genius that was Helen Corbitt, then follow this wikipedia link. But if you are too lazy to click on the link here’s the run down, Ms. Corbitt was a Yankee who moved to Texas and fell in love with the Lone Star State. The LA Times has stated that Helen Corbitt is “the Julia Child-esque cooking celebrity with a Texas twang”. Which pretty much sums up her writing style and her cooking style. If you find a copy of her cookbook, I’d suggest snapping it up before anyone else does.  I  can guarantee it will be a good read, even if you don’t cook.

If I’ve gotten you so excited you can’t wait to get a hold of this wonderful book filled with many edible delights, here’s the recipe for these foot thumping, ecstasy inducing brownies:

Fudge Brownie Fingers

2 eggs
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. melted butter
2 squares bitter chocolate, melted
3/4 c. AP flour, sifted
1/2 t. salt
1 c. finely chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans usual; black walnuts divine)
1 t. vanilla

Beat eggs slightly; add sugar and stir. Add melted butter and chocolate. Mix flour, salt and nutmeats and add to egg mixture. Add vanilla and stir until well blended, but do not beat.

Pour into a well-buttered 9″ pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes. Cool and cut into 2″ fingers and roll in powdered sugar. Or grab a fork, dig in, and don’t share!! IT’S ALL MINE!!!

Slacking

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My slackerdom has finally cast its ugly net onto my blogging habits now. Today I realized it’s been nearly a month since my last post!  There’s got to be some sort of cure for this slackery. It’s even reached it’s craggly cold hand into my photo editing, as I am still working on editing all the photos for the much awaited and talked about party post. But rest assured, that is coming very soon!

The lack of posts doesn’t mean that Bubba and I have been sitting around twiddling our thumbs, or that I haven’t been snapping copious amounts of dog photos (believe me, my furkids run when they see that huge black clicky box). It just means that I’ve been too preoccupied enjoying the summer. There’s been too many fun things to do out and about rather than sitting at home typing away at my laptop. Even with all those great and spectacular things that have been keeping me away from my beloved blog, it was high time to come back for a little RR in my cozy net cottage.

So pull up a virtual chair and grab a glass of virtual lemonade and cozy up on my virtual front porch for a photo story of what we’ve been up to these days.

Like observing the local wildlife. Be very quiet, the native Annie dogs are grazing.

Notice how intently my Golden girl is still observing the grazing Annie. This is what the evening dog outings entail. Run, eat grass, run, watch other dog eat grass, repeat as needed.

This tail, although it may look harmless,  has caused the demise of many a milk glass vase. But isn’t it beautiful?

Aside from observing grazing Annie’s and avoiding happy dog tails, there’s also been other wildlife to enjoy. I’ve got a pair of praying mantis’ living in the front flower bed.

Annie loves to observe Bubba in his natural habitat, the couch, with a Sponge Bob Square Pants Gameboy.

Sometimes the observing pays off, and you get a new frisbee.

A tail wagging new Frisbee.

And a tail wagging and sniff inducing chew bone.

Also crazy eye inducing bone.

After the new toys had been sufficiently chewed, torn, and otherwise played with, it was time for an evening drive. Goldie loves car rides.

Annie not so much.

But once one has arrived at one’s destination, it’s all business. SNIFF SNIFF

We take our walks seriously around here.

We also take our sunsets seriously. And I mean seriously, is God a great artist or what? He creates a beautiful sunset for us to be blessed with every evening. And they are all different. I hear sunrises are just as awe-inducing,  someday I will wake up early enough to enjoy the beautiful sunrise our Lord has made for us….someday.

All that running and chasing and picture-taking calls for a special treat. How about some peach cobbler? Bubba made this from fresh peaches, baked in his new vintage Fire King dish.

Here’s what it looked like a couple of days later.

We may or may not have had cobbler for dinner one night this week, and it may or may not have been eaten straight from the casserole dish. And my jeans may or may not have screamed out in agony.

After all that cobbler it’s time to snuggle up on the couch with your sweetie.

That pretty much sums up the goings on at Casa de Yellow. We have been slacking on some of our chores, but certainly not on our enjoyment of summer.

Give Thanks

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“1O give thanks unto the LORD; for He is good: for His mercy endureth for ever.”

Psalm 136:1(KJV)

Happy Thanksgiving all!! I hope your Thanksgiving is just as bountiful as ours. Remember to give thanks to those you love and to the One who is good!!



Upside-Down One-Bowl Apple Cake

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I found this awesome recipe on Better, Homes, and Gardens. It’s called the Upside-Down One-Bowl Apple cake, it only requires ONE bowl!!! That means only one bowl to wash! Did I mention it only requires one bowl?!I will definitely have to try this recipe out this weekend! And doesn’t it look pretty?

 

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup  butter, cut up
  • 6 very small  red cooking apples (1-1/4 to 1-1/2 pounds total)
  • 1/3 cup  packed brown sugar
  • 1-1/3 cups  all-purpose flour
  • 2/3 cup  granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoons  baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon  ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon  ground cinnamon
  • 2/3 cup  milk
  • 1/4 cup  butter, softened
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon  vanilla
  • Cinnamon or vanilla ice cream (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Place the 1/3 cup butter in a 9x9x2-inch baking pan. Place in oven about 5 minutes or until butter is melted. Halve apples; remove stems. Using a melon baller or small spoon, scoop out apple cores.

2. Sprinkle brown sugar over melted butter; stir to combine. Spread evenly over bottom of pan. Arrange nine of the apple halves, cut sides down, in butter mixture. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until butter mixture is bubbly.

3. Meanwhile, peel and coarsely shred the remaining three apple halves; set aside. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, ginger, and cinnamon. Add shredded apple, milk, the 1/4 cup softened butter, the egg, and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed until combined. Beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Gently spoon batter over apple halves in pan, spreading evenly (some apple may still be exposed and some butter mixture may come to the surface).

4. Bake about 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool cake in pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes.

5. Using a sharp knife or narrow metal spatula, loosen edges of cake from sides of baking pan. Carefully invert onto a serving platter. Spoon any butter mixture remaining in pan onto cake. Cool for 20 minutes more. Serve warm. If desired, serve cake with ice cream. Makes 9 servings.