HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

What better way to ring out the old year but with dear friends...let me introduce you to Sonny and Henry....they have been friends for 60+ years.

...and yes, they do have matching orange pants!!!

What better way to begin than with a bottle or two of Veuve Clicquot...poured by the very generous Sonny.

BTW...How adorable are the festive glass minders...I am mad for them. They encircle the bottom of the glass and become their own coaster as well. This falls into the "why didn't I think of that category."

These are the party favors. Bracelets of glow in the dark neon colors....

These are the party-ers....Amy, Melinda, Henry, and, the man of the night, Sonny (and me with the camera)!!

These are the glow in the dark bracelets glowing in the dark....and, as a follow up, I got up at 3:30am to go to the bathroom and was shocked to see the little bracelets glowing away next to the sink. (I love this picture!!)

Sonny was banished outside to cook...

Amy found some things puzzling!

The big question is how many people does it take to clarify butter---actually I think Henry was mentioning that he has no problem with white stuff in his butter.

Sonny's grilled veggies were excellent....as was the...

...grilled lobbies

Sonny found a new invention for taking off the top of a Champagne bottle!! V. Cool!

The cake came from Extraordinary Desserts and is called the Ivoire....perfect!!

Melinda was a wonderful hostess..

...and we toasted in a New Year!!

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME!

Cliff and I went to LA on Sunday and Monday this week and had a great time. We went to the Los Angeles County Museum, which we both enjoyed!!!(...and no I did not take this picture) Always a pleasure..anytime you can spend an afternoon with Diebenkorn, Twomby, Rauschenberg, Hockney, and Kandinsky and your son it is a wonderful day!!

We had lunch at the always wonderful Wolfe Burger...a Wolfe Size, whole wheat bun, hot chili, two kinds of cheese, and scallions.....yum-o.

The next morning we went to Farmer's Market...where nothing has changed since my mom brought me there when I was 5

...and then we came home. I have not mentioned "the renters" before...but we have renters across the street who evidentally are in love with Christmas. Running a Trim Department I love people who love Christmas...but there is overkill.

Allow me to point out the little penguins, the NOEL sign with some letters heading South,

the signs on the garage door..swing to the right and you will find Santa hanging from the roof.

I am only sorry that you cannot hear the music as well as being amazed by it when it is lit.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!

DUCK DUCK GOOD

Tonight, we had a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner prepared by Betsy and Clifford. They actually spent the entire day cooking with each other. A whole day spent with knives and no one got hurt--amazing!!

The prepared quite the adventurous meal...we had duck with a sauce of macerated raspberries (yum-o), green beans with pancetta, potatoes with mozarella, and, the piece d'resistance was the Christmas Cake.

The Christmas cake was Red Velvet Cake with Green frosting.

The meal was fabulous, the camraderie great, and the dishes astounding!!!

Can you hear the dishwasher as we speak??

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!!

BADGE BADGER

I know that it seems like I pick on Henry...but he always gives me fantastic sources of inspiration for blogging.

This week Henry began rumbling through the house.

"Where did you put my badge? You moved it!!! I put it right here?"

Henry, I have never touched or seen your badge!!

"Yes, you did!! It was right here....you moved it!!"

You have to have the image here of the bull in the china shop...moving things, throwing things.

He quit talking to me because I lost his badge.

Yesterday, I get a simple text...

"Deb found my badge in the grass by a mailbox on Del Dios Hwy!!!!! and a happy face.

Yup Hen....before work one morning, I took the badge and drove out Del Dios and dropped it in the grass.

Apology accepted!!

HIGH TECH OLD SCHOOL

It seems as though technology has been moving at the speed of light....haven't we all... iPhones, 8" laptops, Timex watches (oops! how did that get in there).

I have just begun to get comfortable taking my Mac into coffee shops and sitting down for a cuppa. But, it is now the norm...go into any Barnes and Noble or Starbucks and laptops galore. Everyone checking out everyone else's technology.

Tonight I entered the B&N in Escondido and to my amazement there was a gentleman sitting by the trash can with his desktop. You heard me...desktop, CPU...ad we are not talking an Apple box here, we are talking Dell big huge monitor. Don't believe me...see below.
Henry looked at me and said "How do you think he got that in here?"

I ordered my coffee, looked at the girl behind the counter, and said "Does he have his desktop with him?? " She said "yeah, he's been here all week."

I know you cannot see it but for a double dose of nerd-dom he is wearing two pairs of eyeglasses.

It was shocking indeed!!

ROSES ARE REDISH...

Peek... aren't you curious?
is a cute, childrens store chain with, just my opinion, the worst name in the history of chain stores anywhere. Seriously, can you imagine answering the phone:

"Peek, aren't you curious? This is Cathi, how may I assist you?"

Shoot me now!

At any rate, I am walking by the store today and they are doing their Holiday windows. Quote's are covering the windows...the first one said something about wanting a gun and the mother answers you may shoot yourself. I thought that was a bit odd...

...then I came upon the, again, in my opinion, worst, most inappropriate thing I have seen put on a window.

"Roses are reddish
Violets are blueish
If it weren't for Christmas
We would all be Jewish___Benny Hill"

Am I nuts, or is this seriously inappropriate,

for a holiday window,

in a childrens store

You tell me...sometimes I do overreact...

THE SANDWICH

This all began with TeaNY, which is a restaurant and tea shop in New York. OK, it used to be a restaurant and tea shop in New York, they had a "small fire" and now it is an on-line tea store, offering 98 different kinds of loose tea (and some really cute teapots).
Now, Teany is/was owned by Moby, who is a singer/songwriter (although I have no idea what he has done...except owned Teany. I have decided that he has a nice face and likes tea, so I like him. He also likes strange little robots, which I think are adorable.


So on to the sandwich. There is also a Teany book...not tiny, just teany. The book is totally fascinating. Recipes are interspersed with stories, romance, cartoons. It is great!

So I am reading through the book, quite fascinated and I get to a page that says.....and I quote:

"You do not know this yet, but you bought this book for this recipe. In fact, your parents had you so that you could one day try this sandwich. If you ake this sandwich, your lif will be richer, more fulfilling, and this world will be an all-around more pleasant place for you to be."

Come on now....what a build up!! I was off yesterday so I went off to Whole Foods and bought the goodies to make this easy-peasy and delicious (I might add) sandwich.

Here is the recipe for the Pan Bagna so that you can try it:

Assemble the following:

• Ciabatta bread sliced long way
• Olive tapenade
• Sliced Tomatoes
• Finely chopped red onion
• Jar of Yellow peppers
• Salt/Pepper
• Arugula (or Spinach)
• Fresh Basil
• Balsalmic Vinegar
  
• Olive Oil

Smash sandwich down and wrap in Saran Wrap for at least an hour and at the most a day.

Henry will not, absolutely not, believe that I made the sandwich. I find that annoying. The sandwich was delicious and I made it!!!