I Want One!!!!

Have you ever seen such a thing?

This is a little spot we stumbled upon while on Hilton Head Island.

This is the coolest concept and I don't understand why 

there isn't one on every corner of every town. 

It's an Italian style wine bar.

How it works is that when you go in they give you a

 "credit card" and you slide it into the slot of any given "bank" 

of wines and then choose from, a taste, a half glass or a full glass

of any given wine. These contraptions keep oxygen out of the wine 

and the wine at the correct temperature. They have a full range from 

whites to reds from cheap to pretty pricey. 

They have a smattering of tables about and a selection of

 "small plates" and artisan cheeses. 

What a great way to try some new wines, have a little snack 

and hang with some friends.

When your done you just take your card to the cashier and it 

reads the charges you made. How cool!? 

I totally want to open one!

Lynne says those machines would run about 150 grand a pop.

Any investors?

www.winetimes4.com

Pink Ribbons and a Suck It Pin

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

In case you didn't know.

I think I have more things to say about breast cancer

 than I have pink ribbons.

My mother is a 26 year survivor. 

Other survivors like to hear that "26" so I'm putting

that out there for you :o)

Mom and I have a contest going to see who can accumulate more

pink ribbon pins. 

I wear one every day during the month of October.

My goal is to have a different one for each day.

That is a hard goal to achieve when one has a daughter unit 

who takes off with them. 

But I digress.

My mother met cancer head on and showed it who was boss.

One year ago next month, a friend who is very dear to my heart

was diagnosed with breast cancer. 

Her family history was very different from mine. 

She lost her mother and quite a few other female relatives

to the disease. I didn't know Indra back then, 

or those amazing women, but I believe they managed

 to instill one killer instinct in Indra

 and I pitty the fool (or cancer cell) who decides to mess with her. 

Indra and I have lots of laughs together and don't tend to tolerate 

Debby Downers. 

Cancer can be a big downer. 

So, whereas Pink Ribbons have their place, in Indra and Merry Land,

the Suck It Pin reigns!

It is the biggest gaudiest thing you will ever see.

I gave it to her and told her that any day that cancer was trying to 

get the best of her, she was to wear that pin proudly and tell

cancer to

SUCK IT!

Happy Birthday Mom!

It's my mom's birthday.

I have an amazing mother.

My mom was Betty Draper before Betty Draper was.

But she was a brunette.

And for every day stuff she wore her hair more like Peggy's. 

But man could she rock a french twist!

She was that stereotypical 50's stay at home wife.

She had some jobs as a teenager during the war.

One was butchering chickens, she taught me how.

It's a very important life lesson.

Once you can butcher a chicken from stem to stern,

 there isn't much else in a kitchen you won't attempt. 

And she dated a lot of Bills. 

I dated a lot of Mikes.

 Another life lesson, if you date guys with the same name 

you never have to worry about having your 

Dad (in her case) or your 2 year old (in my case) 

call a guy by the wrong name. 

My parents got divorced when I was in 5th grade.

So, my mom who hadn't worked a day in her life to support

herself, figured out how to get out of a rotten marriage,

 dissolve a bankrupt business,

 dispose of a house she could no longer afford,

 and cloth, feed and shelter 4 children. 

She didn't do it on her own, she had an 

amazing mother (and sister) herself.

It wasn't always pretty but it worked. 

And the life lessons I learned in that 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom house 

on Oakton Street have served me well all these years. 

Thanks, mom. 

Pacific Natural's Everyday Chef Challenge Part Two

   I have my second recipe up on the Pacific Natural's site.

It's kind of complicated but it looks way cool and tastes pretty darn good too!

Surprise!

It's the first time I used egg roll wraps in a pasta kind of way. I have seen bunches of recipes that call for them when making ravioli so I figured they may work here, and they did. They are in the refrigerated section of the produce department at Meijer. 

http://everydaychefchallenge.com/everyday-recipes/floating-mini-lasagnas/

The other part of this challenge is for guest food bloggers, one of whom is my friend, Aggie. She has an amazing recipe up for Creamy Butternut Squash and Shrimp Pasta Bake. It looks amazing and I'm pretty sure I'll be trying it tomorrow. 

Here's the link for it for you convenience :o)

And while you're there, vote for her, K?

And then, go vote for me too, K?

http://everydaychefchallenge.com/everyday-recipes/creamy-butternut-squash-and-shrimp-pasta-bake/

This gives me the perfect opportunity to share a little something, something with you.

You know those recipes that call for 2 teaspoons of tomato paste, but those cans have what, 20 teaspoons in them? 

Here's what I do:

I use the scoop that I use to make cookies and scoop out the rest of the can, place them on foil, or parchment, or whatever, freeze them and then transfer them into a zipper bag. Each one is about a tablespoon. 

Genius!

I know.

You're welcome.

;o)

A Knives Tale

I was Santoku before Santoku was cool.

And quite possibly before it was a word.

Here is my Chicago Cutlery 10 inch butchers knife.

It was part of a set that my father gave us as a wedding gift.

26 years ago.

About 20 years ago I had the bright idea to use the tip of the knife to

pry apart two frozen chicken breasts.

This is what happened. 

Many people over the last 20 years have commented on my 

unique knife.

I love how it just stops right there.

It gives me great leverage and control when chopping away. 

I hate using whole butchers knives.

There is all this blade at the tip that I just don't need.

A few years back some Einstein came up with a bright idea.

Let's take the useless tip off the front of a butcher knife and give it a fancy name.

Lory and Ken gave me this beauty for my birthday.

I just know she's scared to death I'll show up on some cooking show

and take out my knives and she knows that Chicago Cutlery one will be there.

She doesn't want me to look a fool.

She has my back.

She must think I'm on to something with this cooking thing.

I need real tools. 

Well, fine, this knife may be more socially acceptable but I am here to tell you, 

I CAME UP WITH IT FIRST!!

Oh, and here's your take away,

When freezing chicken breasts 

wrap them individually in those fold over

plastic sandwich baggies. Place them flat in a freezer bag, 

don't just toss them all in there willy nilly.

They come apart just fine. 

Or, just use a knife to pry them apart.

It's all good. 

God and Pina Coladas

In case any of you were wondering what God looks like.

He came and said good morning to us each day.

I kind of wish I had an Illinois sunrise to share,

because God is is in the magnificent.

But He's also in the ordinary.

It's just my human short-sightedness that

keeps me from appreciating it. 

And while God may not be in my Pina Colada,

He has certainly provided me with the ability to be thankful

that Honey and I were blessed to be able to spend a week

together, reveling in His glory and able to kick back

and enjoy a couple or ten of these. 

P.S., Pina Coladas only taste good at the beach with a little sand 

dusted on top and a coating of sunscreen around the glass.

They should NEVER be consumed in Illinois.

That is all. 

I'm Baaaaack!

I've been away.

Did you notice?

I have all sorts of random thoughts from our vacay AND

a couple of really fun recipes ideas for that crazy 

Pacific Naturals contest.

Ok, I gotta get this one off my chest so I can think clearly:

So, we wound up sitting at O'Hare for 10 hours last Saturday

because a 10 minute rain storm totally threw the world's 

busiest airport into a tizzy. 

(Was gonna say tail spin but that wouldn't be right, would it?)

So, I singlehandedly kept the magazine store in business

 while my husband did,

nothing.

No book, no magazines, no computer, no nothing.

And he didn't go brain dead. 

How does a person do that????