Family

I’m a firm believer in welcoming as many people into your “family” as possible.  I was blessed with phenomenal parents and a sister who is my very best friend.  I married an exceptional partner – a man with an incredible mom (whose dad I wish I could have met because I’m sure I’d love him too) and brothers who treat me like I am their sister (I am, after all, but it feels very special to be welcomed like that), and a multitude of cousins and aunts and uncles.  They love me so much that they never stop asking me when I’m going to get pregnant because they want a grandchild/niece/nephew to spoil! 😉

But I also have other people I consider my family.  People my heart has “adopted.”  People who are more than just friends to me.  Maybe it comes from my parents – after all, I grew up calling (and still call, yes, at almost-32-years-old) their best friends “Aunt” and “Uncle.”  I grew up with three sets of grandparents, too, and not because of divorce.  My mom had been “adopted” into a family when she first came to California, before she met my dad.  Once my dad came along, he was quickly accepted (in fact, he became best friends with the patriarch) and we were their first grandchildren.  They didn’t treat us any differently once they actually had biological grandchildren of their own.  When someone is family, they’re family – no matter who they were born to.

I didn’t decide to make these people into my “family” – they just were.  Sometimes completely subconsciously.  Sometimes from the moment I met them, sometimes completely out of the blue.  Further proof that how well you know someone, or how often you talk with them, doesn’t determine how important they are to you.  It also doesn’t necessarily make any sense at all.

Sometimes I feel like a momma duck with ducklings, even with the “family” older than me, checking up on them to make sure they’re going to be safe and happy.  I think it’s my personality to want to make sure the people I love are okay.

My best friends from high school and college are my “brothers” – in fact, when we weren’t sure if my dad’s back would hold up long enough for him to walk me down the aisle on my wedding day, my second choice was walking up the aisle with one of them on either side of me.  One is married now, and I am so thankful that he found someone I could love like my sister; the other has just started dating someone and I am pretty confident I’m going to love her, but I’m still holding my breath (seriously, these are worries that go through your head when your male best friend first starts dating someone, silly as it sounds…  Will she like me?  Will she feel weird that he’s already got a girl that he shares so much in his life with?  I suppose I’m lucky, too, because my husband’s best friend is a girl, so I know she went through the same thing, and I know I passed that test!).

In Kindergarten I was best friends with two girls.  We’d dance around the soccer field, singing doo-wop songs in harmony with choreographed dance moves.  One of the girls moved to another school shortly afterward; the other moved a few years later.  Fast forward to the end of Fifth grade (I went to a Catholic school from K-8) when I found out that (my favorite) one of the two was moving back to town and coming back to school.  We were together almost constantly that year until disaster struck (her dad was killed in an accident) and she moved away again.  Thanks to the magic of technology we’ve stayed in intermittent touch ever since; we even got to see each other for a nice long day when I was visiting relatives a few years ago (and we’re hoping to do the same this year).  We might not talk every day, but when we were together it was like we’d never been apart.  We’re always laughing, too, that we’re sisters separated at birth, because we’re still so similar – we even get sick at the same times (yes, 2,000 miles apart).

About 9 (!!) years ago I met six women I consider sisters, all through the same thing.  I won’t get into it here (nothing bad, just slightly embarassing to look back on…  Itwasasillyfanthingokay?), but from the first week I knew them I knew they were going to be a big part of my life.  For two of them, we’re just months apart in age, and we’ve grown from nerdy 23 year olds to…  Well, less nerdy 32 year olds (I hope).  We’ve been in each other’s weddings.  We’ve had sleepovers like teenagers, staying up giggling all night.  They’re the first people I think of when something amazing happens, or when I need an honest opinion.  The others range in age from just a few years older than me to a few months older than my mom, and while we don’t talk as often as we used to (I remember one day in particular when we stayed up until about 3 am chatting via e-mail; considering one lives on the East Coast, that was awfully late!), we keep tabs on each other, celebrate with each other, and support each other.  For a long time I was the baby sister, and I guess I still am, but they’ve helped me to grow up into the woman I am today.

Two summers ago I was introduced to someone who would open my “family” circle even wider – at the time, just someone else I was singing with, with an amazing voice, who could sight read music (okay, I was more than a bit jealous!); I didn’t get close to my “little sister” until last summer, when we sang together again, in a similar group, along with several other members.  One of the members was a young girl who reminds me so much of myself at her age; her mother and I started chatting and realized we had so very much in common.  Soon the three of us grew close.  Within a few months my “little sister” and my “older sister” and I could hardly think of life without each other.

Around the same time I was introduced to another “sister.”  We’re both wedding professionals, and officially met over coffee.  But it was as though we were just picking up a conversation where we left off; we immediately started talking about all the great things we were going to do together.  We’ve collaborated on projects and created beautiful things, come up with ideas and will (hopefully) be starting something else amazing together soon; the latest was a photo shoot we put together in just one crazy week, an insane ride where it felt like we were sharing a single brain.  We disagreed on one single point throughout the whole process, and we were both totally surprised by it.  It’s strange to me that I’ve known her less than a year, since it feels like I’ve known her my whole life.

About a month ago I was going about my business when I was suddenly struck by worry for someone I’ve known for two thirds of my life, the father of my ex boyfriend.  I know it sounds bizarre but I was suddenly (and when I say suddenly, I very nearly pulled over on the side of the freeway to check on him) worried to distraction for a man I haven’t seen in over a decade.  I followed up and it turned out that he was very sick (sicker than anyone knew at that moment, in fact), and he had surgery a few days later.  I kept tabs on his surgery and recovery, and a few weeks later was struck by the same worry.  Sure enough he’d been airlifted from the recovery center to the hospital about the same time I was thinking of him, with an infection, which (thankfully) cleared in a few days.  I’ve always felt a lot of love for him and his wife – they were so very good to me for many years (before, during, and after I dated their son; in fact I was thrilled to send them a Christmas card last year) – but I had no idea I’d “adopted” them until this experience.  I guess you can never have too many godparents.

This week it appears I’ve “adopted” another sibling.  It’s kind of a strange case, and I’m still not 100% sure I understand it.  But regardless of whether it makes sense, I was introduced to my new “brother” several years ago, as potential boyfriend material.  It would have been a rather spectacular failure in any case, for a lot of different reasons, and I’ve never been sorry that it came to a quick end (okay, maybe for a few hours), but I’ve always felt slightly protective and concerned toward him.  Over the course of the last eight years he’s had more heartbreak than anyone should ever have to; it hurts me to think about it.  Regardless of how we initially met, I am now firmly in the “protective big sister” category in both our minds, and that’s exactly as it should have been all along.  He actually apologized for treating me not-so-well all those years ago, to which I replied, “Actually, I’m glad you did; if you wouldn’t have, we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation right now!”

Earlier this week, out of the blue, he started pestering me about when my husband and I were going to have kids.  “Why,” I asked, “are you so looking forward to becoming an uncle?”  “Yes!” he answered.  “Only I’m way more excited about spoiling your kids than my [biological] sister’s!”

I couldn’t help but feel the warmth come through in that sentence, and I grinned.

There are lots of ways to become family with someone.  You can be born.  You can marry.  Or you can somehow connect and simply choose to be.  And when it comes to what’s important in my life, the family in my life trumps professional success or personal accolades every single time.  I just feel so blessed to have every one of them in my life.

Oh, and even though my heart is full, there’s always room for one more.

Fritatta Breakfast Sandwiches

I started a new job a few weeks ago.  It’s absolutely perfect for me right now – doing precisely what I was looking to do in exactly the place I was looking to do it – and my coworkers are super supportive of my business too.  But my time is seriously at a premium.

To tell you the truth it’s been a tough transition – to go from working full-time on my business to working full-time plus my business.  I’m starting to find a balance, though.  One of the most important things for me to get control of was how we were eating – for the first week that I was back I think we did nothing but eat out, because we just didn’t have anything prepped.  Now we’re trying to plan our meals out on the weekend and at least make sure everything is in the fridge.  We’ve actually been more on top of everything this week, including doing dishes after cooking.  Getting ourselves re-trained to manage time has been good for us!

One of the things I started doing the first week of work was preparing protein for breakfast.  I notice that I’m far more awake and alive if I eat something substantial in the morning (I tend to just gravitate towards toast and coffee otherwise).  And we’re trying to get more vegetables and fruit worked into our diets (we’ve actually started to pack “salad wraps” – lunchmeat + veggies in lavash or tortillas – for lunch).

This is my favorite breakfast so far – and it’s so easy to make.

Fritatta Breakfast Sandwiches

• 8-12 oz portobello or crimini mushrooms, cut fine
• One 10 oz bag fresh spinach
• 3-5 cloves fresh garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 4-5 pieces turkey bacon, cooked, cooled, and cut into 1/4 inch pieces
• 2-3 oz Swiss cheese, shredded
• 8 eggs
• 1 tbsp cream or milk
• 12 toasted English muffins or sandwich thins

In a large pan, heat olive oil over medium heat for 1 minute.  Add garlic and cook until softened (1 minute).  Add mushrooms and cook for about 5 minutes or until soft.  Add spinach and stir until wilted.  Put spinach mixture into a medium bowl.  Add bacon, cheese, eggs, and cream and stir well to combine.  Pour into a well-greased (I used Pam spray) 9×13″ baking pan and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until set.

All I can say is that it might not look pretty but it tastes AWESOME.

The result is less than 1/2″ thick but it’s packed with flavor, protein, and vitamins.  Cool, pat dry, and cut into pieces.  If you’re using sandwich thins you can cut the fritatta into 12 pieces and it will be perfectly sized.  For English muffins you may even be able to cut it into 16.  Place one piece onto each toasted bun/muffin, bag, and freeze.  When you’re ready to eat it, you can bake or microwave it for a yummy breakfast that is lower in fat and calories than any fast food sandwich with more flavor and one serving of veggies!

This is possibly the best breakfast you will ever reheat.

This recipe is great because there is no mess – unlike making homemade McMuffins, where all the ingredients are stacked and tend to squish out when you bite them, you can take a bite of egg, cheese, veggies and meat all at once!

I’m Still Here!

I just came on my own site to look for a recipe (Buttery Plain Muffins, if you must know… Breakfast!) and realized it’s been over two months since I last posted.  Oops.  I wish I could say I’ve been out saving the world during those last two months, or that I have an exciting announcement (nope, no babies around here for a while), or that I’ve been cooking up a storm and can share all my latest recipes with you…  But really, I’ve been working.

I’ve been without full-time work for over a year now.  This economy just stinks, jobs are scarce in non-computing and non-healthcare fields, and most employers want a specialty (I tend to be a generalist, and can usually do anything you put in front of me, but this fact takes me out of the running for a lot of what’s available).  I LOVED my last job and would go back in a heartbeat, but because of some regulations with how I was hired (nothing I did – and no one did anything wrong at all, I was just classified as a special interim employee, and because the last position was at a government institution, there are a ton or regulations about employee classification…  No one expected the position to still be vacant by the time the regulations kicked in, or I’d have been hired in a different way), I had to leave after a certain amount of months.  If they called me up tomorrow and asked me to go full-time I’d take the position without any hesitation whatsoever.

I’ve been planning events for a really long time (like, more years than I’d care to admit at the moment), and worked for several years as an event planner for a nonprofit.  After the wedding I planned last November, I realized how much I really loved it.  Once the photos came back I started thinking seriously about starting a wedding planning business.  Of course this was something in the back of my mind since I planned our wedding in 2008…  But I was always stalling out with the details.  What should I name the business? What should I specialize in?  What should I charge?  Was I ever going to have a free weekend?  I finally just decided to go for it, whether I came up with a killer name or not.  In a single week I just jumped right in, found a name that I liked well enough, purchased the URL, started a Twitter, and created the basic outline of my business.  I then spent a painstakingly long few months designing my logo, writing out my website code by hand, and putting my thoughts in order.

I’m still learning how these things go, taking each client as an experience to learn from, and finding that some things are harder than I thought.  I’m still learning how to charge for things like my time (8-hour-marathon-design-session anyone?), figuring out what crafts I can handle (I made a giant mess of the first fabric bunting banner I created until I realized I could use my paper cutter to make beautiful straight lines!), and looking for clients.  I’m actually teaching myself things – like how to use Illustrator – and have been really pleased with what I have been able to create (when you visit my site, because I know you will, check out the Design section of the Gallery for an art-deco peacock invitation.  It was my very first custom art piece using Illustrator and I’m ridiculously proud of it).

And of course, I’m still looking far and wide for a “real” job too (I have an interview!Tuesday! that I’m really excited about), since I’m currently not making enough money to buy ramen noodles for the month without one, and the costs of starting a business are seriously understated!!!  But at least this a) keeps me busy, b) is an awesome creative outlet, c) is something else for the resume, and d) is potentially laying the groundwork for my future.  I may decide in a year or two or five that I am so done with weddings and social events and I want to go back to having my weekends free, but I may also decide in a year or two or five that I am ready to go full-time (er, since I’m currently not working any other jobs, I guess that should be “go back to full-time”) in the event planning world.

My husband has been SO patient with me, not complaining when I took over the office with my boxes and boxes of event supplies or when I forgot to make dinner for days in a row, or when I didn’t shower all day because I was working on a deadline, or when we didn’t have any food or water or TP in the house because I hadn’t gone grocery shopping in three weeks…  He is my rock, and the reason I can even do all of this – if I didn’t have his full support I’d never have considered spending money on a new business in a financially-strapped time like this.  I am blessed to have him, and blessed to have the incredible network of family and friends that I do (several of whom are in the industry – and who have been invaluable resources!!!).  I am blessed, too, with some incredible clients.  It’s the best feeling ever when you can meet someone and realize you’d actually want to be friends with them, even if they weren’t paying you to help them create something awesome.

For anyone who is wondering, the reason that a wedding planner (or a graphic designer, for that matter, since a lot of what I’ll be doing and I’ve been doing is graphic design) charges so darn much is because we’re always working.  Like, seriously, all hours of the day and night.  I will probably just have to figure out a way to go without sleep once I get a full-time job because I’m already waking up early and going to bed late, working through meals and time with the hubby, getting up on the weekends to finish projects, and having to physically be dragged away from the computer.  It’s grueling work, and wedding season is just gearing up!  It’s not glamorous, but it is rewarding to see the faces of the people you’ve helped to have the best event possible.  I’m currently making about $.05 an hour (maybe I can raise that up to minimum wage by the time this year is over?) because a lot of what I have to do is marketing, recruiting, creating content, designing and redesigning my website (after less than 6 months, I’m already realizing I want things that aren’t there, and I don’t like things that are…  oops), and working on things like invitations, which are so much fun to do but which are, after costs, not what I’d call money makers.  I’m also spending a ton of time in thrift stores, since I’m offering unique and vintage pieces to clients and performing event personal shopping too), and even the most focused and rewarding thrift store mission (like when I happened upon a 75% off sale on a TON of vases, scoops, cake plates, etc.) involves sifting through junk for an hour.

Anyway, that’s why I haven’t had much time for this blog, or for the activities I so love to share on this blog.  I’m hoping I can achieve balance, but at the moment I’m just trying to achieve.

If you’d like to check out my site, please visit http://www.EventsbyElisa.com.  While you’re there, leave me some blog love, or like me on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter.  I do try to keep up with those forms of social media, at least somewhat.  I can’t guarantee when the next time I post here will be (although I do hope it’s next week when I attempt – and hopefully score big with – some baked goods for my friend’s bridal shower – which I’m technically planning with myself as a client…  that’s fun). If you have any friends you know who are here in Southern California and are planning a wedding (or a shower, or a birthday party, although I do tend to focus on weddings because most people say they can’t afford a planner for a shower), please share my site with them.  I try to keep my rates as reasonable as possible (reason #438 why I am making $.05/hour at the moment?) and offer a lot of services (event design, planning, and/or coordination, graphic design, event shopping, etc.), so I’m a good value too.

Oh – and if you’re curious, the muffins were YUMMY. 🙂

<3

It’s during the holidays that you miss the most the people you love who have passed away.

Christmas always makes me think of my grandma Noni, who was probably the best cook I’ve ever known.  She would make mountains of cookies and keep them in tins in the basement.  She’d hand roll and shape hundreds of tortellini and spinach-filled tortellachi by herself, keeping them in big freezer bags until they were ready to be turned into soup or topped with creamy tomato sauce.  She taught me to make bread (and pizza and pasta fritta, which is basically just bread dough that’s been stretched and rolled out and fried)  and never, ever said no when it came to cooking with me.

When I was very little and my mom went back to work as a teacher, my grandmother would watch me during the day.  We’d watch Sesame Street and Mister Rogers, and then Julia Child and The Frugal Gourmet, on PBS.  We’d walk to my grandfather’s accounting office a few blocks away and I’d play with the typewriter and the copier while she helped him with tax-season paperwork.

During Christmas she always had two trees – a giant one, by the front window, impeccably decorated with angels and flowers, and a smaller one, in the corner next to the piano, with ice cream cones and wooden trains, especially for us girls.  We were the only grandchildren, but we had so many relatives nearby – cousins from both sides of the family, and aunts and uncles – that we were never lonely.  In fact, the house (where we’d go every year at Christmas, even after we moved back to California) had an open-door policy and was always busy.  My grandmother always had incredible food to share with whoever decided to stop by.

She’s been gone for 17 years, now, and I still wish she was here.  She would have loved my husband.  She would have loved to be around to see my future kids.  She would have been proud to watch us grow up.  I would love to be able to call her up right now and ask her for all of her recipes (they’re somewhere in my grandfather’s house, but I couldn’t find them this past summer, so my sister and I are recreating most of them for a gift for my mother – don’t tell!).  She’d be able to tell me all about family history too, and dig out photos.  She kept everything – this summer when we were looking for the recipes we found every birthday and Christmas card that had ever been given to her).  She had a beautiful singing voice and would be preparing right now for her Christmas Eve solo at church.

I dug these photos out this morning, of her reading to me.  I miss you Noni!

 

Banoffee Pie, and Pies With Friends

My family and I traveled to Ireland in 2005, and the tiny town of Ennis, in Shannon, had the most incredible meal at an Italian – yes, Italian in Ireland – restaurant.  After the meal our host (my 5th grade teacher and my mom’s friend, Ms. Sutherlin) suggested we order Banoffee Pie.

Banoffee Pie (or Banoffi pie) was created in the late 1960s by Ian Dowding, a British chef.  I’ve linked to his website below,  but it seems everyone in Britain has their own variation on the dessert.  Whatever recipe you use, one thing is clear: it’s a mixture of bananas, toffee (or, as we’d say in San Diego, dulce de leche), and whipped cream flavored with a little coffee.  It sounds seriously weird but it works.  It’s creamy and sweet but surprisingly not cloying or heavy.  It’s INCREDIBLY easy to make.  And while it may not be the most beautiful pie in the contest, it’s darn tasty!

Today I had the occasion to try out a recipe for Banoffee pie.  You see, my friend Carrie has a tradition, for the last several years, of hosting a Pie-Off at her home.  Like a Bake Off, competitors’ creations are judged for taste, creativity, and looks, with awards handed out according to a very scientific voting system!  🙂  It’s kind of competitive, but mostly, it’s about friends getting together and sharing food.  We were invited this year for the first time, and I knew I had to bring it.  Hubby and I had actually each planned on making a pie, but ran completely out of time to do a ton of baking, so it was lucky that this recipe had very little baking time!  I’d never made this recipe before, and of course I made a tweak or two to the original, but it turned out quite nicely for a first attempt!

The only thing that gets tricky, time-wise, is making the toffee – it’s not like you can just whip it up in two minutes – but you can probably purchase a tin of ready-made dulce de leche and cut out the toffee making entirely if you’re in a real hurry.  Either way, prep is minimal, taste is awesome, and it’s a keeper of a recipe!

Oh, and if you’re wondering, I “won” 2nd in the Taste category, behind a nut-and-raisin pie passed down from another guest’s grandma, so I consider that a victory!

Banoffee Pie (adapted from Ian Dowding)

• 1 pie crust.  I used a Pillsbury crust because my own luck with pastry making is terrible, but Chef Dowding has “the” recipe on his site.  Most of the recipes I’ve seen – and the first pie I ate – had crusts made from British digestive biscuits (which are like graham crackers without the brown sugar).  I’d actually intended to make mine from digestives too but didn’t have a chance to get to a store that carries them.  You can find them at Cost Plus and subsitute them in your favorite graham cracker crust recipe.
• 1 can of sweetened condensed milk
• 3-4 large ripe (not overripe!) bananas.  They should have almost no brown spots, so that they don’t look brown and gross when you cut into the pie.
• 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream
• 1 tbsp powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp instant coffee (I used Starbucks VIA Columbian, and it lent the perfect hint of coffee without being overpowering or bitter, but you can use whatever you have or can find inexpensively, as long as it’s not flavored)

The day before: This is the EASIEST way to make the toffee; there are several very effective ones but this is a no-brainer for me: Remove the label from the can of condensed milk.  Place it in the bottom of a crock pot and fill the crock pot with enough water to cover the can entirely, with a 1/4 to 1/2 inch of water above the top of the can.  Turn the crockpot on low and walk away.  Let the crockpot cook for 6-8 hours and then turn it off and leave it for another 3+ hours or until cool to the touch.  You want to make sure that the can isn’t hot enough to explode when it hits cool air, so just leave it until you’re sure.

Assembly of the pie: Bake and cool your crust completely.  Open the can of toffee and smooth it over the bottom of the crust.

Crust, meet toffee.

I told you this was easy!

Now place your bananas in a single layer on the toffee.  Sort of push them in so the carmely goodness oozes around them.  You will get messy, and the top of the bananas won’t look too pretty.  Oh well.

Sort of like a bananas foster pie, minus the pyrotechnics

I should note here that the original recipe called for 5-6 bananas.  I don’t know if they just have smaller bananas in the UK, or if the chef squashed them together differently or had multiple layers of fruit, but I only really needed 3.  As you can see, it’s not an exact science.

With a stand or hand mixer, whip together the cream, powdered sugar, coffee crystals, and vanilla until the cream is thick.  I make whipped cream on a relatively regular basis (several times a year) so I know the texture I like is somewhere not quite to the stiff peaks stage.  But if you don’t, you’ll need to experiment.  Just be careful not to whip too much, or you’ll get sweetened curds and whey.  Which might be a treat for Miss Muffett but won’t be very tasty on your pie.  Smooth your cream onto your bananas and make the top as pretty as you can.

The finished product

And just because, here’s a photo of the Pie-Off table.  All NINE pies (and no repeats!).  Mmmmm…  That was some good eating!

Clockwise, from top left: Raspberry Velvet Tart, No-Bake Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Pie, Coconut Cream Pie, Lemon Cream Pie, Chocolate Orange Mousse Pie, Apple Pie, Banoffee Pie, French Nut Pie, Bourbon Carmel Truffle Tart!

I think the best part of tonight – I mean, aside from the utter decadent deliciousness – was the company.  We’d never met any of the other guests, and most of them were strangers to each other too.  But when you get together a good group of people, eating and talking and being just slightly competitive, it works.  At least with good hosts!  Thanks Carrie for the invite – can’t wait for next year!

Autumn Wedding Inspiration

My friend Liz is getting married in TWO!DAYS!!!  I’m over-the-moon excited for her and her awesome fiance.  They’re one of my favorite couples – truly in love and ready to face the world together – and I am honored to be their wedding coordinator/planner.   While this isn’t something I think I’ll be giving up working full-time to do, the experience of helping her to put the wedding together over the last two months has been awesome, and I will definitely be looking for some more brides to help in the future!

Liz’ wedding theme is seasonal – Friday will be full of autumn colors, pumpkins, and fall leaves!  She’s picking up some fresh flowers tonight and we’re making her bouquets – like my friend Lynn, Liz has chosen to make her budget wedding very personal and I have no doubt that it will be GORGEOUS!

Below the inspiration board I created for her.  You’ll see several elements that will be in her wedding, including her favors (Mexican Wedding Cookies, homemade by the bride and her future Mother-in-Law!) and others that have inspired her wedding (like the two cake examples).  I’ll be sure to post some photos after the big day!

Liz' Autumn Wedding Inspiration Board

Photo Sources:

Harbor View: Melissa McClure Photography, Autumn Aisle: Wedding Planning 101,Tom Ham’s Lighthouse: Gusto, Capeview Farms, Fall Leaves and Pumpkin Cake: Wedding Cake Pictures, Autumn Fruit: Bargain Bridezilla, Wedding By Color, Fall Leaves Invitation: Joyful Heart Design, Orange Ribbon Cake: 3 Tiers, Leaf Ribbon: EFavorMart, Mexican Wedding Cookies: 3BP, Bouquet Ribbon and Jewels: Botanic Floral Designs, I Do Pumpkins: Ruffled Blog, Bride with Autumn Bouquet: Wedding Planning 101, Purple and Orange Table (sorry, I’ve misplaced this link…  If it’s yours please let me know!), Gerbera Daisy Bouquet: Charlotte Geary Photography, Beau-Coup, Floating Gerbera Daisy: Lisa Dawn Photography, White and Berry Bouquet: Flowers By Design.

SUPER Quick Post

I am SO busy right now I don’t have time for a proper post, but I had to write a quick update since it’s been a while…  Here goes!

• I’ve got a job interview tomorrow!  EEE!
• A few posts ago I alluded to a pumpkin cheesecake…  I made it this weekend.  It’s not quite right and I need to try again later this week (but it wasn’t really the pumpkin or the cheesecake that was an issue but the spices I dumped in).  It will be legend…  wait for it…  ary!
• I had a grilled cheese party with friends this weekend.  I am now enamored with gruyere + nutmeg + green apple + carmelized onion, AKA “fondue grilled cheese”.
• At the party, I shared a pickled onion I made the week before.  It was so good that I got requests for the recipe.  Only I didn’t use a recipe.  And I didn’t write down what I did.  I made my first attempt to recreate it yesterday – too much vinegar, not enough sugar.  But I’ll keep working on it and once I get that perfected it’ll be posted.  Seriously, I don’t like raw onions or most pickles.  These are the best pickled onions I’ve ever had!
• Our garden rocks.  Seriously.  And we’ve got tons of tiny lettuce plants.  Yay for re-seeding! 😉
• I’m working with my neighbor on a Holiday decorating and design service!  So excited for the opportunity!  Check us out: http://ChristmasElves.wordpress.com!  Right now we’re working as private individuals – we don’t even know if we’ll make a single cent this year – but we both LOVE the holidays!!
• And of course I’m coordinating a wedding for L & J in less than 2 weeks!  EEE!!!

That’s my life in a nutshell…  And I’m off!

Halloween Party!

A few weeks back, we were at my parents’ house.  It was a party they were having for the annual Air Show at our local Marine Corps Base – their backyard is right in the flight path and it’s always a spectacular show, with planes screaming over just a few hundred feet overhead – you can even read the pilots’ names at times, if you’re quick enough.  Anyway, the point is that my parents invited my best friend and his wife to come along to the party, and we were sitting at the table with them.  We happened to ask them what they were up to for Halloween.  Nothing, they said, so we suggested they come over to our place.

We always have tons of trick-or-treaters, so even though Halloween is my least-favorite holiday (something to do with scary masks the year I was three, I think), we thought it would be a fun way to spend the evening.  Later in the month, we happened to be hanging out with two other couples and mention the idea of coming over to them too.  Suddenly we had a party on our hands!

First, decorations.  We’ve only got 2 boxes for Halloween (as opposed to about a dozen big Rubbermaid tubs for our Christmas stuff), but we were able to do a little bit of decorating.

I love these guys... I bought them about 5 years ago at Big Lots, and haven't seen any scarecrows cuter since!

Above the television sat my two gorgeous pumpkins, a bunch of our photos (including this one from our first anniversary, courtesy of Melissa McClure Photography!) and these little cuties, picked up for us two years ago by my grandmother.

I spent a lot of the morning cooking, including spinach artichoke dip.  A couple of years ago I posted a recipe for this, but I tried to make this a little more standard:

Elisa’s Spinach Artichoke Dip

• 1 bag (16 oz) frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 1 bag (12 oz) frozen artichoke hearts, thawed and chopped (they have these at Trader Joe’s)
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp granulated garlic or 1 medium garlic clove, chopped fine
• additional mozzarella for sprinkling over the top of the dip

Mix all the ingredients except the additional mozzarella in a bowl.  Smooth into a greased baking dish and cover with additional cheese.  Bake at 375 degrees until cheese is melty and browned.  Notice that I didn’t say what size a dish to use – that’s because you can really use anything it’ll fit into.  It depends on whether you want a lot of brown bubbly cheese on top (use a wide dish) or just a little (use a deep one).  This will feed 4-8 people, depending on whether you use it as an appetizer or a side dish.  Serve it with toasted baguette or tortilla chips.

Waiting to be uncovered and eaten... Spinach artichoke dip with chips!

I also made these babies, gorgeous fluffy cupcakes from one of my favorite blogs, Patent and the Pantry. 

Pretty and tasty!

I did make a couple of adjustments to the recipe, specifically the spices.  I used 2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (mostly because I actually don’t have ground allspice, plus I actually like the mixture), and a pinch of ground cloves.  I’m not a big fan of ginger in pumpkin dishes – I’m not sure why, I just have never really liked it.  Anyway, these were originally a Martha Stewart recipe, and sometimes her stuff is a little too fussy for me but these were quite easy and really delivered on flavor.  With the cream cheese frosting (at the same link), they were perfect.  Honestly.  My sister commented that they tasted like pumpkin cheesecake.  Which gave me an idea…  I haven’t tried it out yet, but I’m pretty excited.  Let’s just say that if my idea ends up being good I’ll post it next week.  Anyway, I digress.

Our dinner was a pizza bar.  I didn’t get any good photos, unfortunately, but I made a TRIPLE batch of my basic bread dough recipe.  I mixed up the dough Saturday afternoon and let it proof in the fridge overnight in two huge bowls, and then Sunday morning I took it out and let it warm up to room temperature and get all beautiful and puffy.  I divided it into roughly the same size pieces and rolled them into 1 1/2″ balls and pulled them into odd-shaped thin crusts by hand and poked them with a fork so they wouldn’t rise too much in the oven.  I made five or six dozen of them, dusting the bottoms with corn meal and baking them in batches, 5 minutes at a time.

The beginning of our pizza bar, with plates and sauces. The pizza crusts are in the big basket at the back!

The rest of the pizza bar was made of various sauces, meats, vegetables, and cheeses, laid out and labeled (you can see the cute little labels I made in the photo below).  On the menu:

• tomato sauce (bottled – the best one I’ve found is by Barilla)
• BBQ sauce (our favorite is Sweet Baby Ray’s – it’s very sweet but full of great flavor)
• Trader Joe’s curry sauce
• garlic oil
• homemade pesto (no real recipe for this one – I just blend up some basil leaves, garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil in my food processor)
• roasted garlic
• carmelized onions (cut and mixed with a little butter and salt, and placed in the crock pot on low overnight)
• roasted eggplant from the garden
• roasted zucchini
• roasted sweet peppers
• garlic mushrooms (sauteed with a little butter)
• artichoke hearts
• spinach
• olives
• cut basil leaves
• figs
• cooked chicken
• Trader Joe’s sweet Italian chicken sausage
• Trader Joe’s pepperoni
• garlic shrimp
• mozzarella cheese
• parmesan cheese
• cheddar cheese

I know it's a poor photo, and this was before I dished out the meats. But you can see our toppings and the labels I made!

I had planned on using goat cheese too, my Mexican hot sauce, and fresh tomatoes.  But I didn’t realize the goat cheese had been opened the week before (and it was no good, sadly) and forgot the tomatoes and hot sauce completely.  Even so, one of our guests said there were just too many choices!  I say there are never too many…  Especially during a party like this, it’s totally worth giving people lots of options.  Each person grabbed one (or two, or three!) pizza crust and decorated it with exactly the toppings he or she wanted.  My favorite was roasted vegetable; my husband loved the BBQ sauce with chicken sausage and figs (no one ever said he was conventional!)

Of course I got to wear my Wonder Woman costume again, this time with a modification to the belt.  It still sort of flopped down, but at least it wasn’t unsticking all the time.  You can also see the “golden lasso” I got at WalMart for $1.75 (that Iaccidentally left at home on Friday).

I love this costume!

I also made my hubby’s costume – he was Clark Kent, wearing a blue shirt underneath his button-up that I applied an iron-on Superman logo to.  Since he used mostly clothes he already had, this was an $8 costume, thanks to Old Navy.

We had an awesome time with our friends, even though L&J couldn’t make it.  We had over 200 kids come to the door, gave out lots of pencils and plastic spider rings (what can I say?  we learned how expensive candy can be at our house on Halloween, plus it’s kind of fun to be different), and watched Halloween cartoons (including my very favorite “Disney’s Trick or Treat”, with Donald and his three nephews and Witch Hazel!  Thank you ABC Family for showing it this year!).  By the end of the night we were totally exhausted, but it was such a fun time that hubby suggested this might be an annual event.  We’ll see…  More than 6 people in our teeny living room would be a bit of a stretch, but maybe by next year we’ll have a new place?

Anyway, since we had costumes, we suggested our friends dress up too, and we took this on my camera’s timed setting:

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

I’m currently at work, where we had a Superhero dress up theme for Halloween, and I wanted to share my costume.

Wonder Woman!

I didn’t get dressed in front of a mirror (I used an empty office) and I probably should have, but you can get the gist.  This will be worn at least once more (but probably on Saturday and Sunday both).  It’s totally homemade and cost about $15.

The skirt was from Old Navy (their clearance section, for $1.97) and the top was from JC Penney (also on clearance, it cost less than $4).  I had some dark fabric iron on transfers left over from a friend’s birthday party that I used to get the logo and stars on the outfit.

The headpiece is a $1.99 foam tiara from Michael’s that I cut the spiky bits off of and stuck a pretty red star onto (the star came in a package of 25 for $2), and the bracelets and belt are made from the same foam material – three pieces set me back about $5.  I got a belt to wear underneath everything from Ross on clearance for $5.  I also have a golden lasso but left it at home.  Darn!  The boots are the only things that cost more but I’ll be wearing them later so they don’t count!

Wonder Woman is easily my favorite superhero, so it was a no-brainer when I heard that was our theme.  When I was itty-bitty, my mom made me a Wonder Woman costume for Halloween.  I wore it until I couldn’t fit into it anymore!

Yes this is me about 27 or 28 years ago...

We have a full weekend ahead of us, with a party to attend tomorrow night and a mini-gathering at our house Sunday.  I have to keep this costume looking fresh and clean so I can wear it again (and hopefully sew on the belt properly!).  My husband is going as Clark Kent, complete with a Superman shirt underneath his suit…  That I made from an iron-on too!  Yay creativity and thriftiness!

 

Have a Happy Halloween!

I’m still here!

I know you’re probably tired of me saying how busy I am…  But it’s true!  Yesterday was my day off and I had every intention of updating my blog with pretty photos…  Unfortunately I tripped and twisted my bad ankle (ruined 20+ years ago when I fractured it stepping in a gopher hole at my grade school, and prone to horrific twisting and swelling ever since) and spent most of the afternoon flat on my back.  Apparently, while nursing that injury I favored my right side, thereby tweaking my left lower back.  Yeah, I’m a mess.

So I’m updating this morning.  No pretty pictures.  Sorry.

I did experiment a little bit last weekend with baking – I came up with a beautiful savory muffin recipe that I will make some time soon for the blog.  It’s basically a biscuit dough that you add things to, but it comes out light and fluffy and gorgeous.  I was planning on making my Asti Spumante cupcakes for a birthday party and ran out of time.  Now I remember why I didn’t do too much “fancy” cooking when I was fully employed – lately if I cook it’s been either a crockpot dinner or a casserole I can toss together in under an hour (Last night was a tuna-noodle casserole riffing on my childhood.  The only time my mom would do something separate for me for dinner was when the rest of my family would have Kraft mac and cheese and tuna salad sandwiches; I hated both, so she’d leave a scoop of plain noodles and cook up some onions, garlic, and celery if she had time and I’d mix those with a scoop of plain tuna.  YUM.).

Speaking of fully employed…  I think I said a week or two ago that I’ve been working part-time.  It’s a testament to the whole “who you know is more important than what you know” idea – I got this job through a friend who happened to know the people running the department.  They had an opening, called my friend, my friend referred me, and – presto! – I got hired.  Now, I absolutely adore this department and I would stay here without hesitation, if I had a full-time position (or one that paid like a full-time position) and benefits.  The boss is amazing, the coworkers are incredible, and even when the mood was stressy (I’m working at a University and for the first few weeks of class we had some long lines of students needing help), there was far less pressure than at my previous jobs.  It’s about 180 degrees away from the environment of my former workplace.

Unfortunately there probably won’t be a full-time job for me here.  There’s a tiny possibility that a job will be created, or that the staff member who is currently out of the office will not return.  But the odds are about 100,000-to-1.  So I’m looking elsewhere.  I had an interview on Tuesday for a job that I think I would really enjoy.  Here, too, is a case of “who you know is more important than what you know” – I’m no more qualified for this position than for any of the dozens of positions I’ve applied for – at the same University – over the last year.  But since I have someone who works for the department who can vouch for me, I got called to come in to meet with the boss.  Will it work, so I can ultimately obtain gainful employment?  Who knows?  But it was awfully nice to be called in.  For the record, they didn’t ask any of the scary questions one worries about when one is unemployed for almost a full year.

I’ve had a nonstop barrage of baby showers and other parties to attend, and in the next month and a half I’ll be coordinating a fundraiser and a wedding.  I’m still trying to find time to attend a meeting of the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.  I’m still working on PR for the production company my friend is launching.  My garden is still teeming with life, including some brand new blooms on my pumpkin plant.  I’ve been helping my husband in his classroom a lot.  Yeah, life is busy!

But I’m still here…  Life is good.  And I’m happy!