What's Your Craving??

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I live in a house divided when it comes to cravings. We aren't on the same page when it comes to getting a treat that makes you feel like a warm teddy bear inside.

It comes down to this:

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versus

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I'm the cookie lover and he loves his ice cream. He was born in the land of dairy (that would be Wisconsin and not California, happy cows don't live in California :) so is it really any surprise? I'm not a huge fan of ice cream mainly because it makes my teeth hurt ( sensitive teeth) and shocker, it makes me cold. If I am eating ice cream most likely I'm also wrapped up in a blanket which all seems a bit counterproductive to my efficiency loving life.

Growing up the grocery store that my mom would go to (Oh Publix, how I miss you!) would give kids a free cookie. Sounds like heaven. Maybe not to the moms that had to fight the sugar surge a few hours late but it was pretty awesome as a kid.

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"C is for cookie, thats good enough for me"

You tell 'em Cookie Monster, a cookie is always good enough for me.

So this is what it all comes down to, which side of the fence are you on? Cookies or ice cream ?

Monday Morning Brain Dump

Just some stuff on my brain...

- Being sick on Thanksgiving, and most of the holiday break, made me realize how much of a Type-A planner I can be. I was sick, stuffed up and feeling pretty sorry for myself that all my perfect plans weren't going to work out. Guess what, we still had a good Thanksgiving and after my medicine head wore off I realized that it probably wouldn't have been that much different if I was fully healthy. I was still able to eat some good food and the cold actually helped me lose a few pounds! Can't complain about any of that.

- My husband was a rock star and took care of me and our Thanksgiving dinner and guest. He is amazing and we are a great team. I will always be thankful for him.

- Our Jamaican guest made us festival (fried dinner rolls) and Jamaican jerk chicken. Jamaican jerk chicken is really good for your nose when you have a cold.

- We had our first snow on Thanksgiving day, it wasn't much but oh boy, snow. Snow is really pretty to watch when its falling. That is about all the positive things I can think of when it comes to snow. I'm not really looking forward to more of it.


Did you have a great Thanksgiving? Any special moments or dishes?

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing you a blessed Thanksgiving full of yummy goodness and a heart full of thanks!

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Easily Entertained

The blog post title kinda says it all. I'm easily entertained. And I'm about to give you some examples. My top 3 favorite YouTube videos. I've watched each one over and over again and they never cease to make me smile.

The Standing Cat





The Two Talking Cats



If you are just starting to catch on that I have a semi-unhealthy fasicanation that is easily tickled by cats you haven't read this blog long enough. My goodness, my cat has its on feature on this blog even!


Weezer- Gone Fishin'






I really really love this music video. I just find myself wondering about who I'm more jealous of. The fact that Weezer got to jam with the Muppets or the fact that the Muppets are in a Weezer video. Either way, I really love it.


So what YouTube videos always get a smile out of you?

When I Grow Up

When I was little I wanted to be a veterinarian. Nothing else mattered. I loved when we had to take our pets to the vet because then I could see everything that went on in a vet's clinic. I borrowed every book our little library had about being a vet. I was really proud of myself when I learned how to spell "veterinarian" correctly. And I was always trying to get my parents to let me have just one more pet. Never got that ferret that I begged for for many years. My parents even recruited our vet in hopes to get me to give that dream up.

Even today when we take our own pets to the vet I feel a tiny twinge of envy when I talk to our vets. I kinda wonder if I could have every pulled it off. I have decided though that as much as I love animals that if it came down to me having to start a new job, totally different from the one that I do now, not art related, that I wouldn't want to be a vet anymore. Nope.

If I could start all over again I would want to be a chef.

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Ok maybe not that one but you get the idea :)

Now if I would have made this announcement about 5+ years ago my mom would have fallen on the floor laughing hysterically. And my mom is one laid back lady. She did her best for years and years and years to try and get me interested in cooking. I just didn't care about it. I grew up on home made foods prepared by my mom every day. Very little junk food and going out to restaurants. And lots and lots of reminders that "Someday you are going to need to know how to cook". And then I went to college and my mom's reminders seemed to be a little more urgent. Maybe she imagined me in a macaroni and cheese coma some day, since that little blue box was all the I knew how to cook at that point.

So what was the turning point?

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Rachael Ray and Top Chef.

Yep, so not kidding.

I'll start off by saying right now that I'm not a HUGE Rachael Ray fan. But she did make me want to learn how to cook because she made it look easy and because she made it look fun. Top Chef basically did the same thing. They made me want to learn to cook. I saw the art and the creativity in it all and heck, in this case you got to EAT your creation.

I think cooking is kinda scary to a lot of people. When people give me compliments on my illustrations a lot of them point out that they can't draw. I'm sure that they can, you just have to want to draw and believe that you can. Anyone can draw. Just like anyone can cook.

Just ask Remy.

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Some of us will be better at it then others but believing that cooking is possible and even FUN was a big door opening for me. And now I really love it. I just hate the dishes part.


So if you got a "do-over" card what would you do? Do you enjoy cooking?

A Morning In The Fall

All photos are my own

No words really necessary.

Preparing for Turkey Day

I don't know why it is but lately I seem to be behind on keeping track of where this year is going. Everytime I look at the calendar it seems like things that were planned far in advance are inching their way closer to present day then I expected. Take Thanksgiving for example. I thought for sure I had a good 3 weeks to just think about it before having to spring into action.

Nope.

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Last year the husband and I spent our first Thanksgiving away from our families but with each other. We watched some Food Network shows to prepare us on how to cook a turkey and we had a really nice Thanksgiving meal.

This year we are having a guest at our Thanksgiving dinner which is pretty exciting. We both like to entertain guests and this is a great excuse to roll out the hostess skills.

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And since she isn't coming to cook my Thanksgiving dinner then it sounds like I have some planning to do.

I used Paula Deen's recipe for Pumpkin Pie last year and was really happy how it turned out. For one reason because it turned out 2 pumpkin pies. And 2 is wayyy better then one in this case.

Last year I was pretty much new to everything about making Thanksgiving dinner. This year I'm thinking about taking it a step further and trying something a bit more challenging.

For starters I'm thinking about making my pie crust from scratch. I'm also thinking about trying a 2nd pie for dessert. Here is the issue. I have never tried to make pie crust from scratch before and I have no idea what the second pie should be. I don't want to make apple pie because I don't really like it. And since I'm the baker I can make rules like that.

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So what should my 2nd pie be? Any tips on making pie crust?