My dog, the rock star

A good friend of ours, Ana, sent my puppies these rock star, diva, coolest ever shades. I can’t believe they make this stuff!  Of course the dogs had to model these at all of our Christmas gatherings this year too.

Quick Blanket

I found some really great soft fabrics at Joann the other day that I couldn’t resist.  I came home & quickly put a blanket together for my niece.  The back of the blanket is a 1 yard of really great flannel with little birds all over it. I had 4  other fabrics cut in 1/4 yard increments, so I wouldn’t have to do any cutting when I got home. I sewed the 4 squares together like you would a quilt, and then I sewed that to the bottom panel. I then top stitched the top with a decorative stitch, and I was done. These are the kind of projects I like .

Vietnamese Noodle Salad

I found this recipe in my Donna Hay cookbook.  I keep going back to this cookbook because of the simplicity of the recipes. This meal took no more than 20 minutes to prepare. It’s called a salad, but it’s warm, so I didn’t really think of it that way. This is the first time I have cooked with bean thread noodles, but certainly not the last.  They are ready in 5 minutes! Warning, one bag makes a lot.  The only thing I omitted from the recipe was the Vietnamese mint. I couldn’t find that at my supermarket. This is a great meal when you don’t have a lot of time to prepare, and I will make it again.

Lunch Bags

I found some oil cloth a few months ago, and put it to use on these lunch bags. They are very easy to sew. I used velcro to seal, and I’m not a 100% satisfied with how it closes. If anyone has any other ideas, please share.  I found the instructions & pattern for these little bags over at Skip to My Lou. I haven’t decide who I’m going to share these with, but I am definitely keeping one for myself.

Raspberry Cheesecake

At most family gatherings growing up, I remember we always had my grandmother’s homemade New York style cheesecake. She always had blueberry topping on the side for anyone who wanted it. And who didn’t? Somewhere along the way, we became “cheesecake” people. I can always appreciate a good piece of cheesecake. At Christmas I was really struggling with a dessert to take.  I settled on a cheesecake mostly because of the great memories I have of my grandmother’s cheesecake growing up. Since my grandmother has passed away and I do not have her recipe, I had to settle with a recipe by the Barefoot Contessa. Next time, I am definitely replacing those raspberries with blueberries!

Salted Nut Roll Bars

I randomly received this magazine, Cuisine at Home,  in the mail. I think it was a complimentary issue or something. I flipped through it, and it really had some good ideas. I like that it didn’t just list recipes, but it also gave full tutorials on different techniques. On the last page of the magazine, I found this recipe for Salted Nut Roll Bars. My weakness is dessert, so I’m always looking for some type of sweet snack. The good thing about bars is that they are easy to share too.  I had all of the ingredients on hand for these bars except for the nutter butter cookies. They turned out pretty good. They remind me some of a rice krispie treat with a crust.  Definitely a must try for someone who likes peanut butter or peanuts.

Christmas Card – Pictures

We received so many picture Christmas cards this year. I love getting these cards. There are many people that I do not get to see at Christmas, and getting these cards kind of feels like I’m keeping up with my family & friends. When it came time to clear my Christmas cards off of my counter, I was so torn over what to do with them. You don’t want to throw them away, but you don’t really know what do with them if you keep them. Well, I got a great idea from my husband’s Aunt Libby. When we went to her house over Christmas she had an album she had scrapbooked from Christmas 2007 with all of these pictures. It was a lot of fun going through them.  I decided to do the same with my cards. I didn’t go all out with the scrapbooking, mainly because I just didn’t have time. I just got a basic scrapbook, and I glued a picture onto each page. I didn’t embellish or antyhing like that, but it would look great if you did. Because I didn’t do anything but glue the pictures on  the pages, it took me less than an hour to complete this project. The finished product is an album of all of our family & friends at Christmas 2008 that we can enjoy all year long. I will probably set this album out on my coffee table when we have guests. Hopefully, I can keep doing this each year, and it will be fun to look back & see how people change over the years.

Lupa

We were in New York City last week after Christmas. We came back before New Year’s Day because we had to work and because we were trying to avoid the crowds. I had done a little restaurant research before hand and found this restaurant called Lupa. It was located in the SOHO – Greenwich Village area. It caught my eye because it is partially owned byMario Batali. We love Italian food, so I went ahead & made a lunch reservation. We got up that Saturday morning and ventured down to SOHO & shopped until time to eat. Did I mention the sales!!!! I cannot believe how good the sales were!!  We finally made it to Lupa, and were immediately seated. The restaurant was so quaint. It was the kind of place you could just sit at your table all day & talk. We both ordered homemade pasta, and it was just wonderful. In fact, everything about our experience at this restaurant was wonderful. It was the best restaurant we visited while in NYC, and my husband even thinks it’s one of the best restaurants we have been to, ever. I wish I had taken a picture for the blog, but I was too captivated with Lupa to think of anything else!

Gran Torino

I didn’t know much about Gran Torino before I saw it either. I just knew that Clint Eastwood directed & starred in the film. There are a lot of  issues  going on in Gran Torino. Clint Eastwood’s character is dealing with aging, recently losing his wife, and the evolving racial make up of his neighborhood. I really, really enjoyed this movie. I even cried, and I’m not sure you are supposed to cry in Clint Eastwood movies . My boss asked me if he could take his 10 year old son to this movie. No, no, no.  This is definitely an adult movie. If you get a chance to see it, you definitely should. And, yes, the movie is about the car too.

Slum Dog Millionaire

This time of year is prime movie going time for us. The high quality movies all start popping up in hopes of academy award nominations, I’m sure. We ventured out the other week to see SlumDog Millionaire. I had never heard of this movie before we went to see it. My husband had done some research and had read some good reviews. The gist of the movie is that a young, orphaned Indian boy faces and overcomes many obstacles in life and ultimately makes it to the Indian version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.” The movie flashes back and forth between the game show & the boy’s childhood revealing how he knows the answers to each question. And, of course, he’s trying to get the girl too. I found this film quite entertaining. There are no big name actors in this film, but it is really well done. Go see this movie!