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Showing posts with label recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recipes. Show all posts

~Mosaic Monday: Italian food!~

Happy Monday!

What a busy day it has been.
Errands errands errands

Ooooh and a fun coffee date with my dear Cynthia.
We went to Starbucks on the 40th floor of the Columbia Tower downtown Seattle, and what a view!
(my new camera was broken NYE by a drunk . . . new one on it's way . . .so only Cynthia's iphone for pics)
My lovely Swedish friend!

Always fun to chat and sip on some coffee with a dear friend:-)

So moving on to my
Monday Mosaic . . .


Wouldn't it be so nice to be in Tuscany right now . . .
sipping on some divine wine, and eating some amazing food?!

Awwww I do miss their cafes, pizzerias, mmmmm and don't forget the gelato!

So as I said before, I am not doing any actual new years resolutions,
but I am sticking with my 101 in 1001 days!

So one of my goals is to cook my way through a cookbook,
and I've found the perfect one!
Thanks to my dear mom for the Christmas gift!
I've already bought the food for my first recipe, starting out in the
 "antipasta" section!
I'll keep you guys posted on my fave recipes, etc.  BUT don't worry, food will not be taking over my blog, nor my waistline! Just a little post here and there to share,
cause who doesn't love some Italian food?!

I am already planning an Italian dinner party night this month, so excited!

Ha ha I plan on keeping in shape with all this yummy food!
(My hubby and I went running in the 32 degree weather tonight, crazies.)

Have any of you been to Italy to taste the real authentic Italian food?
Any favorite Italian dishes???

Soooo excited to get this going, and actually follow all the way through with a goal! (hee hee)

Here's to an amazing Monday!

Buona notte.
Ciao!

Halloween Weekend Re-cap!~

~Our Halloween Festivities~

Work dress up:
"Cat in the Hat" with Thing 1, Thing 2, etc:
 The hair was fun!
Our office hosts Halloween Parties for the referring denstist,
a few pics from those nights:


Oscar is actually a pumpkin!

Then off to a friend's Halloween Party:
My hubby didn't really want to dress up, so he was "DJ Ken Barbie" lol
I was Strawberry Shortcake:
(p.s. which I LOVED as a little girl!)







Then we had the In-laws over for our Harvest Festival

Harvest Pumpkin Cupcakes (with yummy orange zest frosting, mmmmm!)
Spiced Cidar




Cornish Game Hen stuffed with wild rice, water chestnuts, cranberries, celery, mushrooms, etc. 
And the roses that the In-laws gave me (along with a bottle of bubbly!)
And that sums it all up! Ha ha
All in all a fabulously fun weekend!

How was your weekend?

Did you dress up?

Eat or make any yummy food???

P.S. I have a few fabulous Giveaways lined up, getting back to the Blogging Groove finally!

Our very own "Harvest Festival"

Happy Saturday my lovely readers and friends!

So . . . the In-laws, Andy and myself take turns making gourmet dinners
Usually themed (such as Moroccan, Indian, Vietnamese, etc)
Kind of a friendly competition!
Lol . . . and for sure his mom has me beat, although they claim otherwise:-)
BUT she has years on me of great cooking, and they are just being kind.

Anywho tomorrow (Halloween!) is our turn.  We have invited them over for a

 "Harvest Festival"

Le Menu:
(for recipes click on the links)


Bread from "Great Harvest"


Mmmmm!!!

Le attire:
My inspiration:
Harvest Festival Attire




Le Decor:

(source)




Well there you have it! Soooo excited, and will post pics soon:-)
 
Have a Happy Halloween, whatever your plans may be!

How are you celebrating Halloween???

~My Weekend of cooking, shopping, eating, pampering~


Happy Gorgeous Monday!

We'll keep this semi-short for your reading pleasure:-)
(ya'll know that's hard for me! I always have something to say lol)

***My fabulous weekend highlights***
The hubster and I went to finish last minute shopping for trip clothes:-)

Heck yes! Joe's Jeans "booty fit".  I'm. In. Mad. Love.
Seriously amazing jeans, just saying:-)

Happy Tammy:
Bob's Burgers and Brews has been on our "to do list" for ever:-) 
Check!

Andy lovin his beer

***Sunday: the in-laws came over for Tex-Mex night***
I was so happy to finally use our margarita glasses from our wedding!!!
My cute hubby
Making the yummy Mango Salsa!!! OMG sooo good, for the recipe go HERE
Also I didn't take pics of the rest, but I also made a  Tex-mex salad (here)
and the BEST Corn Chowder ever (here)
Seriously, try it! And add extra hot sauce!!!
:-)

***Pedicure***

This morning I went and had a spa pedicure, amazing!!!
Now my toesies are ready for vaca too:-)


***Yoga***
Getting back to doing yoga more often, feeling good!

***Trip***
Countdown to Europe!
Here is a photo from our last vaca, in Venice


***New Items in shop***





Sunshine and Swirls Picture Frame

***My Most Recent Etsy Purchase***
Yummy and great for exfoliating!!! Love it:-)

And I leave you with an adorable picture of my niece, awww isn't she stinkin cute?!
Happy Monday!!! Hope today was a great start to your week:-)
~Tamara Nicole~

~Love is in the air~

Ok ladies (and gents if there are any, don't want to offend!)
first off I must say a huge
THANK YOU
to all of my new followers, and ALL of the AMAZING responses to my very first giveaway!!! I will have to start doing more of these:-) 
Sooo it's still open until Monday, and I'll announce the winner then!!!

In the spirit of
*Valentine's Day*
I wanted to post a few lil lovelies:

***Cookies***

I don't know about ya'll, but I LOVE cookies, chocolates, and all of the fun treats around Valentine's Day 
(in moderation of course . . . fitness challenge . . . fitness challenge . . . Remember?)
Soooo I decided to make my famous Snickerdoodles on Monday night for a 'lil snack for the hubster and myself, and of course for my co-workers (to get them out of the house!)

This is by far the BEST snickerdoodle recipe I've come across! Found on
where I find all of my yummy non-family recipes
(hint: Seriously! Just search any recipe and then sort by ratings, choose the one with the most number of high ratings . . . you can't go wrong!)

Mrs. Sigg's Snickerdoodles

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Cream together butter, shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar, the eggs and the vanilla. Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls.
3. Mix the 2 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls of dough in mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.
4. Bake 8 minutes, or until set but not too hard. Remove immediately from baking sheets.

A-MAZ-ING!!!  Just saying.
So my tips:
*add a little brown sugar in with the cookie coating
*take them out when the yummy little things are still a little soft, it'll harden up and they are WAY better softer, trust me! ;-)

***DINNER***

Ok not trying to brag at ALL
(maybe a little)
but my husband amazes me all the time!  You'd think it'd stop after being married a little while (just playin)
So here's the thing:
He gets off work before me (but I get Mondays off . . . ha ha ha).
Most days when I get home from work . . . I pull into the garage . . . and as I step out of my car I smell the yummy aroma of DINNER!!!
The funny thing is that while we're on the phone the whole way home
(yes I'm talkin hands-free set . . . thank you! Law abiding citizen here!)
he doesn't mention one thing about him starting dinner.  Sometimes he even throws me off by asking what we should make for dinner. Silly silly.
~I LOVE THIS MAN~

(photo from our cruise last July- why is he so stinkin tan and I'm a ghost?!)

***VALENTINES***
Sorry if you all are tired of Valentine's, but it's one of my FAVE holidays.  Seriously, all cutesy pink and red lovely things, treats, and little gifts. 
Just lovely!
Soooooo I am almost finished with my Valentine's gifts for friends! Will post these soon, and
I CAN'T WAIT!!!

To tie you over for now here are some lovely LOVE items from Esty:

Lovely Photography by irenesuchocki 
One of my fave photographers on Etsy. 
I've bought some cards from her in the past.  Great work, go chk her out!!!


Ok how cute are these?! Bath bombs from SimplyTempted! Good for that co-ed bath time???
Bow-chicky-wow-wow . . .


Another wonderful Etsy-er that I have bought from! spicerakdesigns Love her aprons

See:hee hee

Ok ladies with that I leave you for the night thinking about Valentine's Day!
Hope you all have something wonderful planned! If not, gather your girls for some vino or happy hour and go see
Valentine's Day
 (even if it has bad critic's ratings, it has like a gazillion famous people in it)

Sweet dreams!!!
~Tamara Nicole~