Christmas M&M Cookies in a Jar

That’s it everybody, Christmas has come and gone, wait what am I talking about the year has all but come and gone!  I know, it was hectic leading up to it, with all the shopping, the party planning, the food preparation, the present wrapping and name tagging and then the crafty creative gift giving!  Now that it is somewhat behind me (minus the tree and all the decorations that need to come down) I have time to get back into the swing of things, sorta kinda!  So here I am! 

On a side note I just wanted to say, everyone has their own idea of what style of tree they like to have in their home.  Me, I like a family tree.  You know the ones with the personal affect to it!  Our youngest has a thing about decorating the tree.  The only thing is he tends to place the ornaments all in the one area he is sitting in front of!  So every time he isn't looking there is some rearranging that goes on. Here are some final product shots!  Love that little guy!  :)

Okay, back to my story.  

Every year since we moved here during Christmas all the neighbors give each other a little somethin-somethin.  Nothing extreme just something sweet, something with a little expression to wish a Merry Christmas.  Let me share with you what they shared with me.  One of our neighbors owns a couple of chain restaurants and they brought us over a family picture they had taken on a trip and with it came a letter telling us who they are as a family, where each one is at whether it be school or career, and what they have been doing throughout the year. With that came a tag with a cute saying and a bottle of their business signature sauce that went along with it.  I thought how thoughtful is that! 

Our next door neighbor got us a Christmas gift, one year we received an ornamental ball decoration, we have also received a moose and this year a set of one reindeer and one bear dressed like elves.  I have no idea where they go to find these gifts but I love them, they just have that little special touch, it is a gift they put thought into for the season and it is just right every year. 

Now I don’t want to discredit the cookies and the pumpkin bread I made the previous year’s, because I was very happy about the whole idea and the outcome (I do not have any pictures but you’ll just have to take my word for it).  But I really wanted to think of something that I could make myself with that special somethin-somethin.   

The idea...

The Pad Thai Experience

I love Thai food!  On the occasion when I don't feel like cooking Thai food at home or I am at work and the girls in the office have a craving there is no question as to where we should go, it comes down to who will drive! 
 

We go to Pad Thai, it is a family owned restaurant. This ties into my previous post Think Thai Food, Then Eat it.  It is authentic Thai cuisine and I have enjoyed my visits there for sure. It is slightly tucked away from all the major chain restaurants in Layton so if you aren't familiar with the area google for directions.


I am always looking for that spicy heated something.  I have a love for spice I just do, it is not right I know but it's my thing.  It seems like when I hit my early twenties my taste buds took a change in direction from something sweet and tangy to hot and spicy.


My favorites that I would reccomend at Pad Thai are Som-Tum, Pad Thai (of course) Fried Rice, and Pad Seew to name a few.  I also really liked their spring rolls, ummm tasty!  One time we took my dad out to eat there and I had ordered there Som-Tum and asked for it spicy...and yes it came spicy! How do I explain?  Well I don't want to discourage anyone from trying it out because they make plenty not spicy dishes, so let's just say the desired affect was achieved. Most of the time at restaurants, when you ask for a dish to be made spicy it comes out with a hint of heat. So a tip for you to know ahead of time, if you want spicy, then spicy you will get!


If you have the chance to stop in there and try it out for yourself you should try it by all means.  Thai food is just lovely, and if we want to cook it we need to be familiar with the taste of authentic Thai food, this way when we work on making it you will be able to know the desired taste and consistency.

Sautéed Zucchini and Mushrooms

Sizzling seasoned zucchini with delicious mushrooms sautéed with garlic and green onion tossed in olive oil and butter sauce topped with Parmesan shavings. Need I say more?

After much delay and wanting to lounge around the house we pulled ourselves together and got ready, there was going to be be some running around. Yesterday we took a drive to Idaho, partly to chase a dream and partly to get out of the house for a little drive; it was a win-win situation.  To me Idaho is a quiet and quaint town that seems to be in the middle of nowhere at least as far as my eyes could see, I know right about now you must be thinking about how you wish you could have tagged along right!  It was a good thing trust me those weeds aren’t going anywhere while we are away! 

The idea was mine actually, it has been mine for a little bit now.  I thought one day when we have no pressing certain-something or another going on, we are going to get a wild hair go down to Idaho and do you know what we will do, we will buy a lottery ticket!  It will be fun! 

We made it there checked out the different types of tickets, made a selection and bought our tickets and just like that we were done and made our way back.  The drive seemed to take up a good chunk of the day and it was time to start putting dinner together in my head.  The first thought that came to my mind was spaghetti.  So after a visit to my sisters and a visit to dad’s it was off to Smith’s for some grocery finds. 

The moment we walked into the store it was as if a force had taken a hold of us and pulled us towards the seafood display!

Shrimp in Cream Sauce With Pasta

Here I was sitting at home.  I had just got off work and was home alone.  While it seemed like a peaceful moment (and it was don’t get me wrong after a long day at work it was almost tranquil) but I just knew in the back of my head that they would be here soon.  Who are they?  The people with mouths, hungry ones!  They come home every day at or around about this time and they are hungry and eagerly waiting!  They are my family, my poor starved and deprived family! 

There is not enough time left, I must begin prepping they will be here soon.  But what will I prep?  What is good to me right now?   For this dinner on this particular evening It will be shrimp in cream sauce with pasta and garlic bread.  It will be rich and beautiful!

4 Steps To Spinach With Eggs

Now I want you to think outside the box for a moment.  Take a leap of faith and taste life on the wild side!  This is an introduction into spinach with eggs.  It is very simple, it only takes two ingredients, six if you want to count the oil sugar, salt and pepper.  Be brave it's good for you and all you can do is like it right! 

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Click below for the recipe

Staycation, SLC Bees vs Tacoma Rainiers, Game 49

Here is another of our many staycation.  For anyone who hasn't heard, a staycation is taking the time you would use to leave the state for vacation and using it in your state, and taking advantage of the great things it has to offer you not to far away from home. An interesting concept right?  I thought it was.

The itch came on around Monday.  We have been working in the yard and working in the house, which by the way can I tell you my back is killing me! Mental note to self bend knees when pulling weeds!

This along with work in general, plus handling all the other extras in life that have a way of showing up when you least expect it.

By Tuesday the itch really came on, we thought to ourselves, the kids were all going to be off doing the things that they just love to do, and we were all caught up, even if only for the moment we were caught up! Here we are open with a free weekend and we hadn’t been to a game this year what are we waiting for? Our own short and sweet staycation!    

We looked for tickets online at the Bees website.  They really didn’t have any good seats left we should have looked sooner, I think that itch had a delay in it!  So here are with the stars aligned telling us this was our turn to get out, and we couldn’t find any decent tickets, at least not any we could have and sit together!  If you ever find yourself in this predicament I have an idea that ended up being worth the try for us.
 Use the internet to look for someone selling tickets online. 

In my case I went to KSL Classifieds.  Always make sure you check out the sellers information the best that you can, find out all the information you can and call to verify.  That is exactly what we did and it worked out dandy!  It turns out our tickets were worth more than just a seat, we ended up with two tickets, section 20 in the front row which put us in between third and home base plus a VIP parking pass that was VERY convenient that in itself!  Trust me if you have ever tried looking and paying for parking this is a definite bonus feature, you feel like your sneaking in and out! Our tickets also included fireworks after the game, and all this went for $30.00 it worked out great!

Five reasons why baseball is a great choice for a staycation?

1. To watch the game (of course). Cheer for your favorite team.
2. To get out and have fun without dumping a ton of money into it, (date night or family night.)
3. Step up to the concession stands and have one of their famous All Star Dogs.
4. Catch a foul ball. Oh the determination and don't forget the maskcot shoots off shirts to the audience too!
5. See the expressions and hear the comments of the players live and in person.  It's always amazing to me to see the size of the players, the T.V. is very misleading, these guys are good sized players!
6. Keep your eye on the ball, you never know where that it's going to go!  True story, I swear one time at the game a player hit the ball and it shot straight into the girls bathroom!
7. C'mon it's baseball, an all American sports!   

Here is how I went about finding game tickets.

•  Look online for a site such as KSL Classifieds, check out the deals.
• Make sure you compare them with the available seats at the Bees website.
• Never pay with credit cards over the phone.  Often they will give you a couple of options either to meet them at a arranged location for the exchange of money for the tickets, or you can pay with Pay Pal and they can take the tickets to will call for you to pick up on the day of the game.  
• Check for credibility, make sure you follow up call to see if the sellers name is known with the game ticket office prior to sending money.
• If you are meeting at an arranged spot let someone know who you will be meeting the address and contact information, and never go alone, it’s just good business.
• Remember the odds are they are perfectly legitimate but it’s up to you to keep the good people honest.   
  
  
  
  And so after the Pre-Wedding Bridal Shower Saturday I went to it was off to the Salt Lake Bees vs. the Tacoma Rainiers game, yay!
  
  We were excited and looking forward to spending the summer evening up at the Spring Mobile Ballpark watching the Bees take on the Rainiers for Game 49 and firework show after to celebrate.  The Bees had not been doing the best but maybe, just maybe this would be the game that turned things around.
  
  We made it to the game and I was able to jump out pick up the tickets from will call and jump back into the car before the light changed, talk about great timing.  We parked in our VIP parking and off we went to get seated. We got a drink, and headed for our seats.  We were happy with our seating we had to sit in the sun for about ten minutes before it moved over behind the stadium it was warm out there though!
  
  The more I think about it I think there was an another agenda to going to the game for sure! I think we had something inside that was craving one of the All Star Dogs from the concession stands!  Did I just put that down in typing?  Yes I did and I even went so far as to take pictures as well! I think it's fair to say everyone loves a good hot dog.
  
  
  
  
  The baseball game concession stands know just how to pull together a great All Star Dog, it had our taste buds going while we were enjoying the yummy hot dog!
  
  
  
  
  After we got what we came for we had time to kill so we watched the game!  I don’t mean that, they just have this sauce they put on it that is pretty tasty and with the toppings it is just tasty, we split though don’t worry about me!
  
  
  It was a great time, I don't know what they were thinking but from where I was sitting it looked like everything they put together was working, the Salt Lake Bees won the game 18-9 and that was a ball game.  The fireworks were great but I really hate traffic so we snuck out early.  Another staycation under our belts!
  

Bridal Shower Game Ideas We Played

Here are a couple of bridal shower game ideas we had played. I don't thing that there are specific names for the games I have listed below, I don't remember hearing any,  I was just a participant!

1.    Place a necklace around the neck of each guest (bride included), the guests are told that from this moment on they are not allowed to say the groom’s name.  Whenever a guest accidently uses the grooms name the person that hears it first will get to take that guest’s necklace(s).  At the end of the party whoever has the most necklaces will be the winner.

2.    Create a 20-30 question questionnaire that is given to the groom prior to the party.  Questions from where was the bride and grooms first kiss was, and what is his favorite sports team to how many children does he want and where his dream vacation would be are asked to the groom.  His answers are recorded onto an answer sheet.  A copy of that same questionnaire given to him is then handed out to everyone except the bride (who has no idea) at the party.  The guests then guess how many questions they think the bride will answer right.  The winner is that is closest to her total right answers wins.

HINT:Think of some questions she won’t be expecting such as an animal does the groom think the bride reminds him of and why?  This will keep it exciting and funny!  Remind her it is a game and not to take offense!

3.    A type of “Papier Coture”.  Break the group of guest up into evenly divided groups with a roll of toilet paper per each group.  The goal is to design a wedding dress on one of the guests in each group with toilet paper with a limit of 5 minutes to complete the dress.  Once the time is up the group shows and explains their dress and the magnificent idea behind it and it is up to the bride to decide which group is the winner.

4.    Give each guest a sheet of lined paper and a pencil or a pen.  Take the name of the bride and groom, example Jennifer and Jared Smith, and give everyone 1 minute to see how many words they can make out of the name.  The winner with the most words will receive the prize.

HINT:  Have additional or extra gifts on hand in the event more than one of the guests is winners.

HAVE FUN!