Thursday, October 18, 2007

Spider Web Cookies

So, do you want to see how easy it is to make Spider Web Cookies for your little goblins this year? First, buy the following at your local grocery store:
Pilsbury Create and Bake Cookie dough in Sugar flavor
One container of Betty Crocker Rich and Creamy Frosting in Creamy White flavor
One container of Betty Crocker Rich and Creamy Frosting in Chocolate

Bake the cookies and let cool:
Frost each cookie top with the Creamy White frosting:Be sure to get it most of the way to the edge, but leave a little room to be able to grab the cookie with your fingers without getting covered in frosting.Next, put the Chocolate frosting in a frosting decorating bag with a small writing tip. Pipe on three circles of chocolate frosting to make a bullseye. Don't worry if they aren't perfect. You will never be able to tell!Take a regular butter knife and, starting at the middle, drag the knife through all three of the chocolate circles.
Keep going, evenly, around the entire cookie.
When you are done, you will have a masterpiece like this:
You will be a hero to your kids. Everyone will oooh and aaah over your wonderful creation. But, they don't have to know that everything was store bought and all you did was assemble it! PM and DQ suggested that the next time I make these, I make a spider on each one as well. I think that is a great idea, so give it a try and let me know if you succeed!

Monday, October 15, 2007

My Weekend in Pictures

My weekend was jam packed full of activities. Here is a quick run through of what we did:
Soccer Game Number 1
Soccer Game Number 2:A kid on PM's team, who just loves to dive for anything to the ground, even no reason at all!
A trip to the local pumpkin farm:Lot's of fun things to do there:
PM showed off his monkey skills:After the pumpkin farm, we had lunch and ran some shopping errands. We headed home to wait for BD to come home from work. When he arrived, we all hopped back in the car and headed out to buy our big pumpkins. After that it was time for dinner out!

Once the kiddos were in bed, I made over two dozen of these puppies:
Tomorrow, I'll show you, step by step, how easy these Spider-web cookies are to make!

Sunday started out as usual, church and Faith Formation. Afterwards, I ran to Target and Goodwill for some last minute scarecrow making supplies.

Some friends came over and first we painted pumpkins:
After that, we were ready to make scarecrows!Oh, and that brown under the bale of hay, really is our front yard. That's what a major drought will do to your grass.

I just realized that I didn't take a single picture of the actual scarecrow making or the final product! DOH! Until I can get a shot of our wonderful scarecrow, this one of DQ will have to suffice:Did I mention that the kids loved playing in the hay in the front yard?
This is what they looked like when we were done. Worn out, but very happy!Oh, and they followed up these 3-4 hours outside with another 1-2 in the backyard while I made dinner. You can definitely say they slept good last night!

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Fun Times in Nashville

Well, at the beginning of last week, I was in Nashville for training. The training wasn't wonderful, but the free time was great! Monday night, we went to the Red Pony in Franklin for drinks. It was a very interesting place. We just had drinks and few appetizers there, but everything was great! In the women's bathroom, just a single bathroom, no stalls, I saw this on the wall:

Interesting you think? The whole wall was kind of like that. As you looked at it, you kept seeing different things. Very interesting.

From the Red Pony, we moved on to the Flying Horse, also in Franklin. WOW is all I can say. The looks of the restaurant in no way prepared me for the exquisite food! I definitely didn't expect that! I had the Salmon Glazed with Jack Daniels and Sorghum. It was supposed to come with cornbread pudding, but I had them substitute mashed potatoes. I wish I had left the dish as it was supposed to be, as I had never tried cornbread pudding, but I wimped out. Anyway, it was so good that I wanted to lick the plate when I was done!

Tuesday night, after enjoying a little bit of Happy Hour at the Embassy Suites we were staying at, we went for a nice dinner. (Side note: Always a great benefit to be able to stay at an Embassy Suites. Cooked to order breakfast is good, but free drinks are even better!) We went to a restaurant that was recommended by a gentlemen in the Embassy Suites bar. It was called Bound'ry Restaurant. There, we started with drinks. Check out the martini I got!
I can't recall the name of it, but the ingredients were; Absolut Citron, Pama, Sweet & Sour, Sprite and a cherry in the bottom. Yummy!

After dinner, my co-worker and I met up with some others from our class in downtown Nashville. We visited a few bars with live music. One of my favorites was Ana Popovic. I took a short video clip, but it isn't as good as what you can find on her website.

We left there around 1am, yes you read that correctly. When we got to where we had left the car, it wasn't there. Then, the adventure begins. You see, apparently, there was a sign, as you turned onto the road, that said No Parking 3:30pm - 8:00am. Down by the meter we parked at, there was no such sign. Nor were there any labels on the meters. When we parked the road was full, with the exception of our spot. When we got out there, no cars at all. We flagged down a cab and were driven to the impound log, where we were told it was at a different lot. Our cab driver was awesome. He got out at the lot to see if anyone was there, there wasn't. He called the number on the sign for us and waited until someone got there. Of course, we paid him for all of that, but still, he didn't have to wait. So, a $20 cab ride and $80 impound fee later, we had our rental car back. We still have to pay the $25 parking ticket as well.

So, if you ever go to Nashville, be very careful where you park. The cab driver told us it is pretty much a tourist trap and they tow people all the time.

Monday, October 08, 2007

Time to Slow Down

I returned this morning from Detroit and drove straight in to work. Over the next few days, I'll take you backwards through my whirlwind of a week.

Let's start with my trip over this weekend. Saturday, my plane left at 6:06 am and arrived back in my home town at 10:45 am. My sister, along with her adorable little boy "J", picked me up at the airport. We met my friend "C" and her daughter "A" at one of my favorite Mexican restaurants. "J" and "A" are a whole seven days apart. "J" is the older man in this relationship. "J" was not really interested in eating when the food came. He was more interested in what "A" was doing. I have a picture of her obviously imitating her mommy, as she is chatting her mommy's cell phone and writing at the same time. Because of their privacy, I won't share it here.

The rest of Saturday was spent in a similar fashion. We visited my parents before "J" went down for a nap. Then, we visited a friend "S" that I haven't seen since before PM was born! She looks great, and her two boys are so grown up! It was definitely nice to catch up. Saturday evening, we met my good friend "B" and her new boyfriend for dinner at one of my all time favorite restaurants. It not only has amazing food, but amazing desserts as well. The cheesecake creations rival the chain "Cheesecake Factory". One difference is that this restaurant's are twice as big! They also have hand whipped topping. YUMMY! But, I couldn't eat the cheesecake after dinner, as I needed to have some of my favorite frozen custard instead! I ate the cheesecake for breakfast on Sunday. It was nice to meet "B's" new man. He seems very nice and family oriented, having two adorable kids of his own.

Sunday was a busy day. We drove up to Detroit for my cousin's wedding. A little background here... My father is a Canadian citizen, still, even after living in the US for more than 37 years. His entire family is in Canada, with the majority around the Windsor area. My cousin is the same age as me, although a few months younger, as he reminded me yesterday.

The wedding was riverfront and gorgeous. The ceremony itself was outdoors, followed by a champagne reception on the deck. A strolling dinner was inside in a glass room, followed by a five piece orchestra with singer. In all, it was a very, very nice event. There were some things that were a little different than any wedding I had ever been to before though. First of all, there was a lot of clapping at the ceremony itself. When the groom walked his mom down the aisle, people clapped. When the son walked the mother of the bride down the aisle people clapped, and so on. It was very, very sweet when the bride walked down the aisle accompanied by both her father and her son, who will be five in a few weeks. Her son was the one that gave her away. Yes, I had tears in my eyes.

Anyway, her family is Ukraine and therefore had some songs and customs that I am not used to. They sang a congratulatory song at the beginning of the reception, after my father's family did the customary whiskey toast to my Zadi and my father's Zadi (my father's family is Jewish and therefore, Grandpa is Zadi).

Here is a shot of all of the cousins that came, along with their significant others. BD didn't come with me, so I am stuck in between my two boy cousins...
And, lastly, here is all of the family that came, on my dad's side:So, there you have it. I flew back home this morning. As we were approaching the airport, I saw this outside my window:
Always strange to see another plane in the air when you are flying. It touched down on the parallel runway about 30 seconds before us.