Simply Sunday - Simple but Superb

In a way I'm glad that Thanksgiving is over because I cannot look at another turkey until next year.  For whatever reason, I am not as excited anymore as I use to.  It must have been my last year's bad experience with the turkey dinner that we got from Boston Market.  Everyone did not have a problem after except me.  The good part is that I still love food and not afraid of trying new things.  When my friend Maria was visiting she was so helpful in the kitchen.  Sometimes we had eat out for lunch but breakfast and dinner is at home.  Let me show you some of the meals that I remembered to take photos.

San Francisco Chicken made by Maria.

Maria's lunch - bacon and tomato sandwich.

Mixed greens with a nice home made dressing by Maria.

Tacos al pastor on the left and Carne Asada tacos on the right.  The lunch I served on Maria's first day.

 

Succulent Saturday - Not the prickly ones

After this year of not having enough rainfall, Jeff and I are beginning to think of how we are going to change the front yard so that plants won't need a lot of water.  Once he removes those damn ivy, then we have to make sure that replace it so that ivy don't grow back.  You may recall about our visit to the a garden when my friend was visiting.  There was a particular section of just succulents and this gave us an idea of how we might be able to have something similar.  Our only problem is that there's not enough sunshine in the front of the house.  But if we can pull it off, this type of plants does not require lots of water and will be less maintenance.

Thanksgiving Thursday - Happy Thanksgiving USA

A fresh 20 lb turkey, special stuffing, creamy mashed potatoes, yummy gravy, steamed veggies and fresh dinner roll.  That is our thanksgiving dinner prepared by Jeff.  This is one of those holidays that I don't get involved.  If needed, I will help with table setting and clean up.  Since our kitchen is small and there's not enough room for two cooks, I am going to step aside and let Jeff have the kitchen all to himself.  I will probably sew more items for the up coming boutique sale.  One thing for sure we won't be doing is shop at midnight nor wake up early to take advantage of the black Friday sale.  I am happy to announce that we have done our Christmas shopping early this month.  From our home to your...

Wild Wednesday - Can't help but show

If it wasn't for my friend Maria who is an avid gardener and just loves flowers, exotic plants and more, I would have not seen some of these wild plants.  I know that photos won't do justice to the actual plants but I can't help but brag the ones I have taken.  Instead of writing about it which I probably will not be good at it anyway, let me just show you some of these wonderful natural beauty.

Tackle Tuesday - So behind

Tackle as a football term or tackle as determined efforts to deal with.  Today I am doing both. I decided to watch the Patriots and Lion's game from last Sunday while doing my sewing and some housekeeping chores.  I am so behind with my blog posts, email, sewing and I haven't played golf since November 13th.  Please don't take this as me complaining, I just wanted to catch up and tackle as much as I can.  That means today I am also all over the place. Although this will be a short post. I have some photos to share to show what I have been up to.

My latest collections to wear when my team gets to the Superbowl.

My new Cranberry Portage coffee mug and Maria's new spoon rest.

The little girl's apron I made for Maria's granddaugther.

Fitting Friday - Happy Birthday Maria

It is fitting that I do this special post for my friend Maria who is celebrating her big day today.  She arrived last Sunday and we have been doing a lot of different things as part of her birthday week.  If you have been following my blog, we have been to a winery and did some wine tasting.  We spent three hours at Petroglyph making our own piece of ceramic item that we painted.  It will be ready on Saturday and we can't hardly wait to see the finished product.  She managed to prepare two dinners for us (San Francisco Chicken - so fitting) and (Cannelloni - she's Italian).  Yesterday we had our spa day at Preston Wynne and had a bit of time left to walk in their downtown area to check out special shops.  This morning was breakfast with my friend Nikki which is also fitting because Maria's BFF in Canada is also named Nikki.  There's still a few more days before she returns to freezing cold temperatures. We were able to do quick manicure last night before going to bed.  She received a lot of text messages, emails and phone calls this morning.  The sweetest one is from her mother who sang her a happy birthday which I recorded on my phone.  So, happy birthday Maria.  This is your special day and today is all about you.

*Remember to look back and appreciate what you have done in your life.  Don't waste time regretting what you haven't done.*

Tasting Tuesday - Gilroy Wine Trail

On the second day of my friend's visit, we decided to take a mini road trip and check out the Gilroy Wine Trail.  Since I am not comfortable driving all the way to Napa or Sonoma, I thought it would be great to just take her to somewhere local.  It's a shorter distance and we can still do other things during her second day.  When I did some research there were so many wineries within the Gilroy Wine Trail.  Although some of them are only open on weekends, the rest were open daily from about noon to 5 pm.  The tasting fee are very similar and I guess you really have to search hard to find that are free.  Times are tough.  We had five different wines - Pinot Noir, Lila Cuvee, Zinfandel, Cabernet Blanc, and some other mix I cannot remember.  The best part about this Winery - Clos LaChance is the view.  It is overlooking the Corde Valle GC.  Maria loved the garden, the view and of course the wine. There were two other ladies sitting at the bar doing exactly what we are doing.  We all started chatting and sharing lifes stories. We also took photos outside. It was a great day.

Almost forgot.  Happy birthday to our friends Lulu and Liliana who are celebrating their birthdays today.  We send our happy wishes and our hugs.  Our apologies to the weather they are having today.  Cold, blustery, freezing temperatures.  Maria was thankful she's here with me in sunny San Jose.