Friday Recipe - Cruise Edition

What's the first thing you think of when you think of cruising?

Is it the food? I thought so!


The food on our cruise was top-notch as always.

We had beautiful venues...

Salads almost to pretty to eat...

Elegant soups (my fruit soup fascination started here!)

Scrumptious appetizers...

Yummy entrées...

And of course?  The desserts!

Served by a crew who always does their utmost to make certain our dining experience is unforgettable!

I never got any pictures of Holland America's famed bread pudding, but rest assured, it is delicious!

Holland America's Bread Pudding


Ingredients
9 oz lowfat milk
9 oz heavy cream
2/3 c. butter
3 x vanilla beans, split open
Salt, to taste
5 x large eggs
5 oz sugar
1 loaf bread, no crust
3 oz raisins, soaked in warm water
1 tsp cinnamon mixed with sugar

Directions
Bring lowfat milk, cream, butter, and salt to boil. Mix eggs and sugar, add in warm lowfat milk mix. Arrange bread slices in buttered dish. Sprinkle raisins between layers of bread. Cover with lowfat milk mix. Place in a bain marie.

Bake at 350 for 40-45 min or until golden. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Serve plain or with vanilla sauce.



For more great recipes, check out The Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap! If you have a recipe to share, please join in the fun!









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Happy Veteran's Day

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of those who have served our country.  You have paid for our freedom with your service and your lives.  I don't have words strong enough to express how grateful I am to those who have kept and continue to keep the watch.

I thought you might enjoy a little history on how Veteran's Day came about...

The U.S. President Woodrow Wilson first proclaimed an Armistice Day for November 11, 1919. In proclaiming the holiday, he said

"To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with lots of pride in the heroism of those who died in the country's service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations."

The United States Congress passed a concurrent resolution seven years later on June 4, 1926, requesting that the President (Calvin Coolidge) issue another proclamation to observe November 11 with appropriate ceremonies.[2] An Act (52 Stat. 351; 5 U.S. Code, Sec. 87a) approved May 13, 1938, made the 11th of November in each year a legal holiday; "a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as 'Armistice Day'."

In 1953, an Emporia, Kansas shoe store owner named Alfred King had the idea to expand Armistice Day to celebrate all veterans, not just those who served in World War I. King had been actively involved with the American War Dads during World War II. He began a campaign to turn Armistice Day into "All" Veterans Day. The Emporia Chamber of Commerce took up the cause after determining that 90% of Emporia merchants as well as the Board of Education supported closing their doors on November 11 to honor veterans. With the help of U.S. Representative Ed Rees, also from Emporia, a bill for the holiday was pushed through Congress. President Dwight Eisenhower signed it into law on May 26, 1954.

Congress amended this act on June 1, 1954, replacing "Armistice" with Veterans, and it has been known as Veterans Day since.

Although originally scheduled for celebration on November 11 of every year, starting in 1971 in accordance with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, Veterans Day was moved to the fourth Monday of October. In 1978 it was moved back to its original celebration on November 11.


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Back from Vacation!

We had a FABULOUS cruise with our family! I'll share some more pictures and details later, but here's a quick summary:

We had wonderfully fun and delicious dinners with the family...

Walked through charming Mazatlan and saw beautiful cathedrals (I have a great story about this one!)...

... and some daredevils!

We stopped in Puerto Vallarta...

... and had fun imitating the many statues on the Malecon.

We even zip-lined in scenic Cabo San Lucas!

All in all, a wonderful trip. We've truly got memories to last a lifetime!

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Cabo San Lucas

We're hitting Cabo San Lucas today....

At the tip of the Baja Peninsula, where the blue Pacific mingles with the Sea of Cortez in a whirl of watercolors. Even more spectacular: waters teeming with marlin, swordfish, sailfish, tuna and other fighting fish. Feast your eyes on exquisite black coral; take in the annual migration of the gray whale.

Back in San Diego tomorrow!


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Puerto Vallarta

Today we are in Puerto Vallarta!

No longer the well-kept secret of the artists, writers and Hollywood stars who first "discovered" it in the 1960s, "PV" (as it is affectionately known) still retains the essence of the quaint fishing village it once was. Here is Viejo Vallarta, the quaint Old Town, An enticing mix of red-tiled buildings, cobbled streets, chic shops and bustling open markets. Here are Mismaloya Beach, Gringo Gulch and Conchas Chinas, the Beverly Hills of Vallarta. Nearby: the rugged canyons and luxuriant jungles of the Sierra Madre.



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Mazatlan!

Today we are in Mazatlan!

Home of the largest shrimp fleet in the world, this cosmopolitan resort city tempts with every variation of this tasty crustacean: grilled, al mojo de ajo (with garlic), or in the shell with a tangy squeeze of lime. Other temptations: miles of uninterrupted sandy beaches, busy markets, and sleepy mining towns tucked into the Sierra Madre.



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Checklist for Vacation

My sisster is in town!

She had a kind of a crazy day getting, here, what with the crazy weather in the Midwest, but she made it.

And now, I can feel vacation close at hand!

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Tuesday Garden Party - No Fail Perennials (and a garden UPDATE!)

This week's Garden Party is all about our favorite perennials. Living in San Diego, we can grow many things year-round. When we moved into our house, we had many different varieties of day lilies already planted.

Originally I kind of thought they were no better than weeds, and I hacked them way way back. Well, they grew back. Even bigger. So I hacked them back again.

But this time when they grew back, I decided to enjoy them. And the flowers were beautiful!

Right now they are ready to be cut back... but just wait for Spring!

And now for my update! Remember my poor sad peas and lettuce after the heat?  Apparently a month or so of "Seattle-like" weather agrees with them!

The carrots like it too!

Next week I'll share what we'll be doing for our fall and winter pots. In the meantime, check out An Oregon Cottage for her weekly Garden Party.

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On a Monday

Whew. We've had a super busy several weeks.

- getting used to my new job {it's been fun, but hard to get used to not being the expert at my job.... it will come though}

- getting ready for our upcoming cruise {halleluja! we are in desparate need of a vacation and some SUN!}

- planning for the holidays {just found out that my beautiful niece and her wonderful hubby will be visiting us over the Thanksgiving weekend! yea!}

- getting the house ready for visitors this week {my sis is staying with us for a couple of days before the cruise, and my parents will be here afterwards}

- watching The Mr perform in his annual concert over the weekend {the concerts were FABULOUS! certainly worth all of the effort and time}

- enjoying time with a visiting old friend {haven't seen my friend, now an engineer for NASA, for 20 years maybe... back in the days when he was an art student, I was a journalism student, we both lived in MN and had many philosophical conversations over beer and pizza... back in the days when I drank beer and ate pizza... ;-) very fun to catch up on the last 20+ years and The Mr and I enjoyed some great meals and conversation. good to see you!}

- celebrating my FIL's birthday {75!}

- enjoying a couple of kid-free weeks {they were on vacation with their mom over their fall break, came back last night and had fun telling us all about their trip. good to get back to normal.}


I love being busy, but I'm ready for a break. Good thing the holidays are coming. Ha ha ha. (I mean ho ho ho?) I'm hoping the rotten rainy weather stops for a couple of days so that I can get my garden in order. It does look incredibly green and lush, but it could use some SUN!

How is your week starting?



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Sunday Snapshot - Happy Birthday!

We went out to dinner on Saturday night to celebrate my father-in-law's 75th birthday!!

The restaurant was very dark, and the food fabulous so I kept forgetting to get pictures. ;-) This is the Lobster Pumpkin Soup - yummy!

My FIL got a rich chocolate mousse for dessert...

... and blew out the candle.

The Mr and I shared a Chocolate Lava Cake Smore. OMG.

While we were eating, we saw the ship that we will be sailing on next Saturday leaving the Bay for this week's trip.

Today was spent cleaning for our guests next week and getting ready for tonight's football game. I do NOT want to talk about it.

Hope you all had a great weekend!!





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Cherry Angel Squares

This is a great quick dessert. Just two ingredients, ingredients which are easy to keep on hand. Add some shaved chocolate and whipped cream, and it can be quite elegant for guests! We had it the other night and it was a hit with everyone. If you don't like cherry, other fruit pie flavors can be substituted.

Cherry Angel Squares

Ingredients:

1 package angel food cake mix, about 14 1/2 ounces
22 oz light cherry pie filling

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.

Combine cake mix with cherry filling (do not add any other ingredients). Pour batter into an ungreased 9 x 13-inch baking dish.

Bake for 30 minutes. Cool and cut into 24 pieces.


For more great recipes, check out The Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap! If you have a recipe to share, please join in the fun!

If you are looking for some healthy and budget friendly recipes, check out the recipes at Get Healthy Cheap:

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Ch-ch-ch-changes!

I started a new job last Friday.  New job, same company.  But a HUGE change.
For the last 10 years I have worked in the IT organization for a large manufacturing company.  I've been a Project Manager.  Not a bad job.  Sometimes pretty interesting.  I did get to work with some fairly nice people.  I even met The Mr working there.  Excellent side benefit!

But for the last 5 years, I've been doing basically the same thing.  With no opportunity for growth or movement.  Most of my job I could do with my eyes closed.  Not that I would.  That would most likely be a safety violation.  We're all about safety here.

So, I've been pretty dissatisfied with IT.  And I've been wanting to do something that is closer to our end customer.  We are a supplier to the energy industry (primarily the oil and gas industry).  I've been wanting the work that I do to make a difference.  Sometimes it is tough to see the connection between our IT projects and the company's bottom line.  ("sometimes" is a significan exaggeration actually)
So when I had the opportunity to move into a differnt, role, I jumped at the chance!  I am now working for our legal department.  I'll be reviewing commercial contracts, identifying areas of risk for our company, and negotiating with the customer to mitigate those risks.  Out of the frying pan and into the fire!  

Three best things about my new job?  1) Not working in IT anymore (these people here are so much nicer... and frankly more "normal" than the IT folks I've been working with);  2) finally using that JD I've been letting gather dust for the last 10 years (just for you mom!);  3) working at the same location as The Mr in an office with a view!

I've got a big learning curve to get up to speed in this new role, but I'm excited about it and having a good time so far!



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