Gift Giving - Simpler is Better I Say!

I LOVE giving presents!  One of my favorite things to do is make little gifts to give our neighbors at Christmas. For years I did the traditional bake-a-bazillion-types-of-cookies-all-day thing and give the neighbors a smorgasbord plate of them.  It took a lot of ingredients (expensive), a lot of time, made a HUGE mess, and to be honest it was difficult to get them to all turn out well and stay fresh by the time I could get them finished, packaged, and delivered.

The traditional "plate of Christmas cookies".

A few years back I watched a revolutionary episode of Martha Stewart in which she declared that often it is better to make one type of high quality cookie and package them simply and beautifully for gift giving.  That year I searched for the perfect recipe and decided upon a simple Scottish Shortbread recipe that I found on a blog.  Taking a cue from Panera (where they charge $2-3 for one of these massive shortbread cookies) I made a giant version of this cookie and packed them in pairs for Christmas gifts.  Here is a picture of something similar I did for a tea later that year.

Large shortbread cookies wrapped in cellophane with raffia and lavender sprigs.

This year I decided upon an awesome gingerbread recipe that I found on Food.com.  I love it because the dough is really easy to roll out, it is super spicy and flavorful which gives it an heirloom quality, and the cookies hold their shape well while staying soft with a nice chew.  I iced them by brushing on a simple vanilla icing (1 cup powder sugar, 2 tbsp milk, 1/2 tsp vanilla) and then sprinkled on some raw sugar crystals for a nice simple sparkle.  I also like how the sugar crystals give the cookie a tiny crunch factor.  (Can you tell by reading this that I watch WAY too much Food Network TV!)  For packaging I used clear cellophane bags with a pretty bow.  I placed a piece of green card stock on the bottom to keep the package nice and flat and tiny squares of wax paper in between each cookie so that they wouldn't stick to each other while stacked.  The entire endeavor only took me an hour and 45 minutes from start to finish for eight half-dozen cookie packages which is two batches of this cookie recipe.  You can find the recipe here on Food.com.  Don't over bake them (unless you want crispy cookies)!  My cookies finished in four minutes.  They will firm up as they cool.  Also make sure you let the dough rest at room temperature for at least two hours like the recipe says and for Pete's sake! don't use margarine - only real butter will do if you want quality cookies!

This is what my neighbors got this year:  Vanilla Iced Gingerbread Rounds with Sugar Crystals

One year my oven wasn't working so instead of baking I made homemade greeting cards out of pictures from our trip to Europe.  I chose all pictures of interesting doors we had photographed on our trip.  I packaged the cards in clear plastic and tied the tops with pretty ribbon much like I packaged the cookies.  It was a nice change from baked goods but I still love to bake!

This was one of the door photos we took in Venice, Italy when we were there.

This was one of my favorite door photos from our trip to Old San Juan, Puerto Rico

So what do you gift your neighbors or special people in your life?  I would love to hear some of your ideas!

Baby Girl Shack's First Shower!

Some of the very lovely ladies in my family!

This past weekend we had my first baby shower with family and work friends in honor of Baby Girl!  It was great to celebrate our long awaited girl with pretty outfits, fun toys, and practical accessories.  The prize for the most creative gift goes to my neighbor Ginny who made this personalized diaper cake! 

The BELLY at 27 weeks!

My mom surprised me by restoring many of my baby dresses that I wore in the late 1970s and displayed them with pictures of me wearing the outfits.  My cousin Rachel planned a few really fun games with prizes and my cousin Karen spoke some special words about me and Baby Girl Shack and then prayed over us.

 My mom, sister, and sisters-in-law worked hard to make yummy food and drinks to go with the bright colored decorations. 

Thanks to my family and friends for making this day so special and exciting!  I will post pictures of the progress in the nursery soon!

Ah Vacation....

So it has taken a bit to detox from the end of the school year.  Dan and I went into full vacation mode this past weekend when we went to stay with friends at the beach.  It was so relaxing to just play games, take walks, play a little Wii, and visit with good friends.  The gorgeous view of the ocean from the balcony (see above) helped the relaxation factor considerably.  We had a fun European style breakfast with various cheeses, meats, fresh baked baguette, apricots, blueberries, and sundried tomato pesto.   Thanks for the invite J&J!

On the 4th we spend the day and evening with our family.  Dan was the BBQ master for this family event.  He did a great job in the 90+ degree heat! 

Post BBQ we had a ton of fun with the little cousins and nephews setting off fireworks.  It was a tiring but SUPER fun day! Our poor dog Jersey was the most tired of all!

Camping

End of the trip.  It was a such a beautiful day!

John and Julie!

This weekend we went to San Onofre State Beach to camp for the weekend.  It was our first camping trip since being married and we had a great time!  We relaxed by the campfire reading and playing card games with our good friends John and Julie!  We also went down to the water to watch the surfers catch waves.  One of my favorite things about California is that you don't have to go far to feel far away.  It was a great break from our normal routine and fun first in our marriage.  Dan has always loved camping but I haven't camped. . .well for maybe 20 years?? We will definitely go again! 

Dan, the camping expert, making his morning coffee!

Valentine Adventure

My Valentine

Several years ago Dan and I stopped doing the typical "eat dinner out on Valentine's Day" thing.  I hate crowds and the restaurants always find ways to charge more for a price fixed menu.  And, honestly we are not one of those couples that loves getting all dressed up for a "night on the town".  So a few years ago we began a new more adventurous and fun tradition:  a medley of stops at our most favorite local places.  This year we invited our neighbors and friends to come along and our stops included:

Breakfast pastries at J.J. Sweet

Our neighbors and friends Craig and Janee came too!

A visit to our favorite cheese monger in Beverly Hills

Have you every been to a REAL cheese store?  It's  amazingly fun!

A lunch stop at The Grove in downtown LA - The boys had Greek gyros.

The girls had carnitas tacos.

Dan bought our dog Jersey some treats from the doggie bakery.

On our way back to Chino we dropped by the hundred-year-old olive grove and the Graber Olive House to pick up a few cans of our favorite olives.

When we got back to our house we began to feast on our Valentine booty.

The cheese was such a tasty and fun treat!

L.A. County Fair

Hello everyone, this is Dan.  I thought I would share our adventure to the L.A. County Fair...enjoy!

In all my years in SoCal, it's surprising I have NEVER been to the L.A. County Fair. I didn't even know where it was. Pomona, CA (in case you didn't know either). Our friends Craig and Janee invited us to go with them after work on Wednesday, so we were excited to check it out.  We didn't let the rain stop us, there was actually a thunder storm on the way there.

One of the things I was looking forward to most was the FOOD! I heard they had “Pinks” world famous hot dogs, as seen on Bobby Flay's Throwdown on Food Network. I also was geared up to try some of those evil deep fried goodies everyone talks about: fried Twinkies, fried Snickers, fried avocado, fried Oreos, fried peanut butter jelly sandwich, fried White Castle burger...no, I'm not kidding. Just to name a few. As we walked in the gates I immediately smelled the fragrance of funnel cake, kettle corn, and chocolate covered bacon in the air. Oh look, there's Pink's!

Time to EAT! What should we get? Classic Pinks dog...Nah. Jumbo Mustard dog...getting warmer. Ah yes, the Huell Howser, one bun, two Pinks dogs, extra chili, extra cheese, and onions.

The fair grounds are so huge, it took us about 30 minutes just to walk from one end to the other, and that didn't include going up and down each row of: food, games, rides, exhibits and shops. We decided to check out the animals first for the kids' sake. Okay, for the grown ups too!

There were 100's of animals but I was intrigued the most by the pigs. How ironic after just finishing off a ½ pound chili cheese dog. This bad boy was a dainty 675 pounds.

When we finished our rounds I was on a mission for a deep fried frenzy. And what a frenzy it was. Rather than pay $6.50 for a fried cookie or cake or candy bar, I decided...hey why not go for a pound of garlic curley fries served in a giant cone. Oh yea! Elizabeth got one of those fresh squeezed lemonade drinks. It was so refreshing.

What about dessert? A bucket of fresh, deep fried, mini donuts sprinkled with cinnamon, sugar, and...wait for it...powdered sugar. Yes, that is MY name on the side of the bucket. There were about 35 of the best-est, warm-est, yummy-est mini donuts EVER! I washed this down with a hot cup of fresh brewed coffee. So far, I'm loving the LA County Fair.

No, we didn't go on any rides...probably a good thing considering what we ate, if you know what I mean.

All Star 5K and Fan Fest and Home Run Derby 2010!

Dan and I are both baseball fans so we were really excited that the MLB All-Star game was being hosted by the Anaheim Angels this year.  We participated in three events this year thanks to the generosity of friends and family who are season ticket holders.  (Thanks Joe & Craig!)

Our first event was the All Star Fan Fest at the Anaheim Convention Center.  It was filled with games, displays, and memorabilia.  We saw Babe Ruth's jersey, the world series trophy, and old baseball stars like Chuck Finley, Rollie Fingers, and Chili Davis.  (We missed seeing Tim Salmon, boo!)  After a fun time at Fan Fest we went to Fire and Ice at the Anaheim Garden Walk and had a blast eating and visiting!

Our next event was the All-Star 5k where we got to run through Angel Stadium.

 Lastly, we were able to attend the Home Run Derby.  Dan went with my brothers and I went with our neighbors and friends.  The boys all sat in the outfield and caught 5 home run derby balls!

Introducing John and Julie Stefan!

This weekend I participated in my childhood friend's wedding.  

Congratulations to Julie and John!