More Cook Islands Dancer Videos

Here are the rest of the videos I took. They bring back good memories and man can they shake their hips!

Cook Islands Fire Dancer

I finally got a chance to join Vimeo and convert my movie files to a format that blogger would allow. Here is the craziest fire dancer I've ever seen - not that I've seen many fire dancers!

P.S. I know it may sound in the video like I'm saying "Oh my God" but I don't take my Savior's name in vain.

My New Favorite Kiss

I was sitting here at my desk craving some candy and debating with myself if it's really worth the money in the vending machine. Deciding it wasn't and forcing myself to make the healthier choice, I retrieved my apple from my bag and proceeded to the cafeteria to wash it.

And lo and behold what should be sitting out on the table for everyone to help themselves to? These little delights:

I admit it. I took 4. But, I didn't allow myself to eat them until AFTER I ate my apple.

Thank goodness St. Patty's Day has already gone otherwise I may spend all my spare change on buying up bags of these things from the store.

Why One Should Be Careful When Using a Flat Iron

I was in a rush this past Saturday to get out the door and on my way to DC.

I managed to oversleep my alarm clock by one whole hour and then in my mad dash to flat iron my hair, put on some makeup, pack an overnight bag and get out the door, my mind somehow shut off.

As a result, I now have these:

Thankfully the one on my ring finger has already gone down, but the one on my middle finger is going to be here for a few more days probably. Worst burn I ever had at the hand of a flat iron. It was so bad that I knew the instant I peeled my fingers off the hot ceramic plate they were blistering regardless of how much ice or cold water I subjected them to.

Oh well, thankfully the rest of the weekend ended up much better than it started.

Going on a Misson

This weekend I get to play a mix of Jack Bauer and James Bond.

Hubby and I are heading down to Washington, DC (hopefully it won't be completely filled with Obama-mania) to visit our dear friend Katie and hubby's cousin and his wife.

I'm excited because we're going to the International Spy Museum. Hubby and I have been wanting to go here for quite some time now...me because I love museums and hubby because he thinks it'd be so cool to be in the CIA or work as a counterterrorism agent. The museum has this experience where you actually get to play the part of a federal agent who's trying to stop an international terrorist activity and work to solve the case. It should be a lot of fun.

Besides that, my weekend will be filled with glittering invitations, getting a haircut, cleaning and laundry. I don't think Jack Bauer or James Bond have to do their own cleaning or laundry...hmmm.

Movie Weekend

This past weekend hubby and I used up a gift card someone gave us for Christmas. First off, I didn't know anybody actually used Blockbuster anymore and after renting four movies, I know why we don't!

Four movies at Blockbuster cost $21. We watched all four movies in two days (even though we have them for a whole week). Had I gone to a Redbox like I normally do when movie night is calling I would have only paid $8 to rent the four movies for two nights (or better yet, rent two one night and pay $2 and then rent 2 the next night when you return the original 2 and pay $2 for a total of $4). Hmm...$21 or $8? You do the math.

Anyway...thank goodness we had a gift card so I didn't feel bad about dropping that much on movie night.

We rented:

We loved An American Carol (finally a second side to Hollywood...to bad it didn't do too hot in theaters) and What Happens in Vegas (good for some laughs). Swing Vote wasn't bad (not as funny as I thought it'd be) and Hancock was pretty food for an action movie too.

How about you? Have you seen any good movies lately?

It's like Easter grass

Remember when you were a kid and you had that plastic Easter grass in your baskets? Remember how that stuff got everywhere and you'd still be picking up little pieces of it months after Easter was over?

I think I'm going to be doing the same thing with teal glitter.

Last night I started the tedious (yet enjoyable) process of glittering 200 invites for my cousin's wedding. The fine little sparkles were E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E! All over my black coat, my black pants, my craft room white carpet, my face, my fingers. Whatever it was, I guarantee you it had some sort of blue sparkle on it. Very pretty, but also a little too childish when wearing your black dress pants out in public.

If only it had been green for St. Patrick's Day today.

Blinded While Driving

Today, for the second time in my life, I had something really strange happen to me while driving - and no I'm not talking about the lady who honked at me to get me to roll down my window to tell me my left rear light is out. Thank you very much, ma'am. A cop told me the same thing about two weeks ago, but every time I check my rear lights, they're all working just fine. Go figure.

No, the strange thing was that all of a sudden I went almost completely blind due to my eyes watering uncontrollably and being incredibly itchy. Not to convenient while one is driving 50+ mph. It was way worse than when the opthamologist dialates your eyes and then sends you to drive home wearing the goofy pair of paper glasses. The first time it happened about two years ago, I had to pull over and wait about 5 minutes until the watering subsided. Thankfully today I was able to pull to the slow lane and drive while blinking like a maniac for a couple minutes, and then just as quickly as it came on, it was gone.

Strange. I know. Hopefully it doesn't happen again (well, at least for another two years).

Spring is on its way!

Spring is finally on its way here in the northeast. Yesterday was a beautiful 60 degrees and I arrived home to purple crocuses blooming along the front walk. Today, its back down to 43, but at least I know spring is trying to make an appearance. Yeah!!!

Introducing Caleb Scott Eggar!

I finally got to see some photos of our new nephew. Needless to say, big brother does not look too happy about having to share the attention!

My sister & her family. Caleb can't take his eyes off his big brother, while Braden doesn't know quite what to make of him.

My beautiful mom with her grandsons. Braden is not happy at all that he has to share Grandma's lap! Granted, it was 10pm or so by this time, too.

"Do we have to keep him?"

Thankfully the latest report is that Braden is warming up to his new little buddy, but the poor kid (Braden) had a fever of 103 the other day and is now all covered in the red spots associated with roseola!

So glad you're finally here, Caleb! Can't wait to meet you in June!!

Randomness

WARNING: Random post ahead!

We'll this last week has been a week of catch up. I'm ashamed to admit that I still haven't unpacked or done the laundry after returning home from our Cook Islands trip. It's almost as if I'm avoiding it because as soon as the suitcases are unpacked and put away, the trip of a lifetime is behind us. Very sad. Thankfully, we got some amazing photos and I'm hoping to post some of them shortly...maybe even by tomorrow...with a little post about all the fun things we did there. And, tonight I'm biting the bullet and unpacking while hubby is at his meeting.

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We received some very exciting news this past weekend - our second nephew was born on February 28th around 9:30pm! He was due on the 21st, but was too cozy in my sister's belly I guess. They had scheduled an induction for March 5th which my sister was really bummed about because she wanted a February baby, so thankfully Caleb Scott (my dad's middle name) decided to make his appearance on his own in February. Although, technically in my part of the country he was a March 1st baby! I'm still waiting to see photos of the little guy, but I've been told he looks exactly like his big brother, Braden, only with thick brown hair. I won't get to see him in person until our cousin's wedding in June, so hopefully some pictures will be sent my way soon...HINT! HINT!

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Yesterday we had our biggest snowfall of the year. Silly me passed up on the opportunity to take a day off and made the drive in to work. Being from Colorado, I always laugh at the way people drive on snow. My typical 30 minute commute turned in to an hour only to arrive at work and realize 2/3rds of the office took the day off. Oh well, it earned me some brownie points with the boss which I'll need seeing how...

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Hubby and I are going to ITALY in April for a friend's wedding! I'm so excited because I got back in touch (via Facebook) with one of my college roomies from freshman year (we also went to youth group in Colorado together in high school) and she invited us to her wedding in Italy (where she's been living/working/met this American soilder stud of hers). I'm really looking forward to going because I've always wanted to go to Italy and because I'm eager to see "Josh" again! Plus, the trip is practically paid for already because we had about half of what we saved for "spending" money from the Cook Islands left over (thank you New Zealand dollar for having such a favorable exchange rate!) and between that and the steal of a deal on airfare tickets we got, we shouldn't have to put anything on credit! Such a blessing from God!! We leave on April 15th from NYC, change planes in Madrid and arrive in Milan on the 16th. There's a couple days of partying before the wedding on the 18th in LaSpezia and then on the 19th we take the train back to Milan where we'll sightsee until we hop a plane home on the 21st with a 6 hour layover in Amsterdam (hopefully we'll be able to go see something in the country of my ancestors) before returning to NYC that afternoon. I'm so stinkin' excited!!

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The deadline I gave hubby for telling his parents about our house is looming. We also have to spill the beans about Italy so those should be a few unpleasant days. Hopefully everything will go well with all that. We're eager to get back to working on the house and we're hoping to head out there again come May when the weather is warmer. Our plans of finishing up the kitchen may take longer than originally thought because we just recently paid of two credit cards and I told hubby we're not allowed to put the kitchen on credit. So, we'll do whatever little projects we can as the cash comes in.

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I'm super excited because I have two new ventures I'm working on lately. The first is a "business" I'm doing with my aunt and uncle who are missionaries in Tanzania, Africa. It's going to be a way for them to raise some extra money for their orphan ministry and just to get their story out. We'll be selling handicrafts that my aunt purchases from natives in their area and the bulk of the money will go directly back into orphan ministry with a small part of the proceeds going towards the business maintenance side of things. I'm working on getting the website up and running and getting all the product she sent back with my cousin from Michigan to me so once those things are finished, I'll post the web address in case any of you are interested.

The other venture I'm working on is a long time dream of mine starting to become a reality. I'm opening up my own business! It's called Divine Creations and is an online store where I'll sell the jewelry, invitations, cards, other crafts, and graphic design that I do. Hopefully little by little I'll get some business and eventually it will be enough to make it so I can stay home when the kids come. I'm terrible at coming up with names for things, but feel lead to use this one. Not that I think the things I make are "divine" necessarily, but because whenever someone asks me where I come up with my ideas I have to respond that "they just come to me" which to me means that God placed them in my head. I was originally going to use Divine Inspirations (since they were God inspired), but that didn't really define a craft business, and thus the title of Divine Creations came about. I should be finished with my website in a few days, but then I have to replensish my stock of things to sell, so hopefully I'll be able to post the web address by the end of this month and start getting my name out there.

If you think of it, please pray that God would bless both of these ventures and use them to expand His territory. It's a big step for me to announce this because being a perfectionist, I'm very afraid of failure. But, it doesn't hurt (or cost anything really) to try!

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For those of you who may remember the story about my dad getting mugged at gun point in the backyard of our house in Detroit, I have an update. He had to go to trial again as a witness while hubby and I were away and the judge ended up sentencing the kid to 8 years in prison. Praise the Lord that he'll at least be off the streets for a little bit, but at the same time, pray for his salvation.

And while we're on the subject of my dad, if you remember it, please keep him in your prayers because he's in South Africa right now for work and on his flight back home he has to change plans in Sengala. For those of you who watch 24 you know all about the type of violence that's in Sengala (no that's not all fiction on the show!), so please pray for his safety and the safety of their two donors who are on the trip with him.

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Whew! What a random post! Stay tuned for an update from our Cook Islands trip and for pictures of our new nephew (if I ever get them, Mom & Chels!).

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake

Today we celebrated two birthdays at work so I made a cake that was a little extra special. I'm loving how I went with Bundt cakes this year because it gives me more time to be creative in the decorating department. Although, I'm still cheating and using boxed cake mix and frosting just for conviencence sake.

Ingredients:

1 box strawberry cake mix (and items to bake cake according to box)

1 can cream cheese frosting

red food coloring

strawberries

semi-sweet chocolate chips

Bake cake according to box directions. Allow to cool. Heat 2/3 can of cream cheese frosting in microwave until it will easily pour to cover the cake. Pour all but about 1/4 cup over cake. To 1/4 cup of frosting, add red food coloring until it's the desired color. Stir and drizzle on top of other frosting. Melt semi-sweet chocolate chips in microwave safe bowl on high 1 minute. Remove and stir and heat again at 15 second intervals if necessary. Dip strawberries in chocolate. Allow to cool. Once strawberries are cool, place them in the middle and around the sides of your cake. Enjoy!

This was a big hit with all the guys at work today and would be a perfect cake for Valentine's Day too (I had it in my head since then, but was a little hard to make in the Cook Islands!).

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

Hubby & I returned home late last night. It'll take me a few days to recoup from the jet lag and catch up on the mounds of work I have waiting for me on my desk. And, I no doubt have a ton of blog posts by ya'll to catch up on too.

Please be patient with me as I get back into the swing of things. I'll try to post photos from our trip soon.

Did anyone make any of the recipes I had post while I was away? If so, please tell me what you thought of them.

Homemade Guacamole & Smoked Salmon Appetizer

Every time I make my guacamole it's slightly different. Here's what I normally try to do:

GUACAMOLE

2-3 gloves crushed garlic (through a garlic press)

1/2 small red onion, chopped

2 plum tomatoes, chopped

3 haas avocados, cubed

juice of 1 lime

salt, to taste

Mix all the above ingredients together in a bowl, mashing the avocados, until it reaches your desired consistency. Serve with chips.

NOTE: Guacamole is normally not lime green like above photo shows. Again, the camera. Hopefully it takes decent pictures for us in the Cooks! Guess we'll find out when I go to download them in a few days.

I also like these little appetizer bites:

SMOKED SALMON WITH CHEESE & CRACKERS

Smoked nova salmon

cream cheese

Ritz crackers

fresh dill

Spread cream cheese on cracker. Place thin slice of smoked salmon on top of cheese. Top with a bit of fresh dill.

Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Filling & Chocolate Ganache

CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH PEANUT BUTTER FILLING & CHOCOLATE GANACHE
Serves 12

2 c. all-purpose flour
1 t. salt
1 t. baking powder
2 t. baking soda
¾ c. unsweetened cocoa
2 c. sugar
1 c. vegetable oil
1 c. hot coffee
1 c. milk
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla

Peanut Butter Filling:
4 T. unsalted butter, softened
½ c. creamy peanut butter
1 c. powder sugar, sifted
1-4 T. milk

Chocolate Ganache:
10 oz. semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup half-and-half
1 T corn syrup (give it the sheen)

For cake: Sift together dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add oil, coffee and milk; mix at medium speed for 2 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla; beat 2 more minutes (batter will be thin). Pour into two greased and floured 9” round cake pans. Bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes. Cool cakes 15 minutes before removing from pan. For filling: In medium bowl, with mixer on medium, beat butter and peanut butter until well blended. Add sugar and beat until combined. Gradually add milk and beat until filling reaches desired consistency (may need slightly more or slightly less milk depending on your preference). For ganache: Place chocolate chips in microwave safe bowl. Add half-and-half and microwave on high for 1 minute. Remove from microwave and stir until chocolate chips are melted. Stir in corn syrup for sheen.

To assemble: Place one cooled cake on serving platter. Spread filling on top of layer. Place other layer on top of filling. Pour chocolate ganache on top of cake and let drizzle over sides.

Store leftover cake in refrigerator.

NOTE: Pardon the photo. I'm not happy with the way my flash is washing everything out lately. And, I didn't have time to let this cake cool completely before assembling it so it's a little sloppy. But, we all thought it was very delicious!

White Pizza with Mushrooms

Every weekend hubby and I make pizza together. We cheat and buy the pizza dough from my favorite grocery store. Sorry, but $2.19 is well worth it to me to save the time of kneading and letting dough rise. The package says it only makes one pie, but hubby cuts it in half and then tosses them in the air until we get two beautiful crusts...one for a medium size pie and another for a large.

Some weeks we do red sauce, others it's white. There really is no special recipe, but there are two very necessary ingredients/pieces of equipment. The first is a pizza STONE (not pizza pan) and the second is PAMPERED CHEF Italian Seasoning mix (no other Italian seasoning mixes come close to tasting as good).

This week we made:

WHITE PIZZA WITH MUSHROOMS

1 large pizza dough ball at room temperature

1 T. Pampered Chef Italian Seasoning

3 T. olive oil (eyeball it)

1-2 cups sliced baby bella mushrooms

Ricotta cheese

Mozzarella cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 400 F. Place pizza stones in oven while you split dough into two crusts and stretch them to the size needed. Remove warm stones from oven. Place dough on stones. Pierce dough with fork all over. Return dough to oven and bake for about 5-10 minutes. Keep an eye that it doesn't burn. Remove crusts from oven. Spread crusts with a thin layer of ricotta cheese. Mix olive oil & Italian seasoning and drizzle over ricotta. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top (I usually buy a big block at Sam's and split it into 5 squares). Put mushrooms on top of cheese. Return pies to oven and bake until cheese turns bubbly and starts to brown, about 10 minutes.

No matter who we have over for pizza night, our pies always get rave reviews.

Pistachio Cake

My mother-in-law made this cake. I don't have her recipe with me, but here is a very similar one that my mom uses.

PISTACHIO CAKE
12-15 Servings

1 pkg. (18-1/4 oz.) white cake mix
1 pkg. (3.4 oz.) instant pistachio pudding mix
1 c. lemon-lime soda
1 c. vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 c. chopped walnuts

In bowl combine the first five ingredients. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes; stir in walnuts. Pour into a greased bundt pan. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.

Happy Valentine's Day

Any special plans for today? I don't know what we'll be doing seeing how I'm writing this a little more than a week before the 14th, but I hope it involves something like a candlelight dinner, stroll on the beach, and a professional massage.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Ham & Cheese Brunch Squares

HAM & CHEESE BRUNCH SQUARES

2 cups Colby & Monterey Jack cheese blend, shredded, divided
1 pkg (22.5 oz) frozen toaster hash brown patties, thawed (10 patties)
8 oz cream cheese, softened
12 eggs
1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
8 oz thickly sliced deli ham
4-5 green onions with tops, divided (about 1 cup sliced)
3 plum tomatoes
Additional coarsely ground black pepper (optional)

Preheat oven to 450°F. Lightly brush large jelly roll pan with vegetable oil. Crumble hash browns over pan; press gently into an even layer. Sprinkle half of the cheese evenly over hash browns. Bake 13-15 minutes or until crust starts to brown and cheese is melted.

Meanwhile, in large bowl, whisk cream cheese until smooth. Gradually add eggs and black pepper; whisk until smooth. Coarsely chop ham. Slice green onions, reserving 1/4 cup of the tops for garnish. Place ham and remaining green onions into 8-in. sauté pan; cook and stir over medium heat 2-3 minutes or until hot. Stir ham mixture into egg mixture.

Remove pan from oven. Pour egg mixture over crust. Return pan to oven; bake 6-8 minutes or until center is set. Meanwhile, slice tomatoes in half lengthwise; scrape out seeds and dice.

Remove pan from oven; top with remaining cheese, tomatoes and reserved green onions. Sprinkle with additional black pepper, if desired. Cut into squares and serve.

Yield: 12 servings (generous sized)

NOTE: This is a Pampered Chef recipe. If you have the large stoneware bar pan, it's perfect for making this dish. Also, the first time I made it I used the hashbrown patties that look like the kind you get at McDonald's this is what the recipe calls for. This time I couldn't find those so I used shredded hashbrowns and it didn't work as well. Tater tots might work in a pinch.

Blueberry French Toast Casserole

My husband has been wanting this dish ever since the first time Jen made it for him when he was visiting his cousin (her husband) a few years ago. The recipe is originally made with strawberries and strawberry jam, but we used blueberries because those were Gram's favorite and it was for her birthday after all! I'm sure any berry/jam mixture would work. Although, my husband did say he prefers the strawberry version after having tasted both.

MAKE-AHEAD FRENCH TOAST WITH BLUEBERRY SAUCE
(from May 2002 issue of Southern Living)

1 (16 ounce) challah bread loaf, cubed*
1 (8 ounce) pkg. cream cheese, cut into pieces
6 large eggs
4 cups half and half
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 cups fresh blueberries
1 (10 ounce) jar blueberry preserves

Arrange half of challah bread in a lightly greased 13 x 9 inch pan. Sprinkle with cheese pieces, and top with remaining bread. Whisk together eggs and next 3 ingredients; pour over bread mixture, pressing bread cubes to absorb egg mixture.

Cover and chill 8 hours.

Bake, covered, at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake 20 more minutes.

Heat blueberries and blueberry preserves in a saucepan over low heat, and serve over toast.

Prep: 25 min., chill: 8 hrs., Bake 45 min.

*French bread may be substituted (but it's not nearly as good!)

To lighten: Substitute 1 (8 ounce) pkg. Neufchatel cheese for cream cheese, 1 1/2 cups egg substitute for eggs, and 4 cups fat-free milk for half and half.