Category: Food and dining

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Cake Shop To Be?

My sister has been baking a lot of cakes as of late. It seems like every week she’s putting together another three tiered something or other. A lot of people have even suggested she open her own business. She has an amazing talent and she seems to really enjoy baking and crafting delicious and beautiful desserts.  I told her that she should really start taking people’s suggestions and begin looking into a location to open up shop.

One of the first things she’ll have to get are Bakery display cases.  Once she sets out a few cakes on those displays orders will be rolling in.  She already has a pretty big word of mouth clientele but having a few cakes on display would definitely boost her business.

I told her to check out Tiger Chef.  They have a huge variety of restaurant supplies and everything she would need for the bakery and store.  All of the prices are really reasonable as well.  She won’t have to fork over tons of money to continue gathering equipment for the business using this company.

I know her focus is  decorating and baking cakes but, I wonder if I can convince her to add in cookies and cupcakes too.  Cupcakes don’t seem like that far of a stretch.  I mean after all, they are nothing more than miniature cakes.  Cookies on the other hand, are a little different.  But I ask, who doesn’t love a good cookie every now and then?   Then again, maybe she should start with what she knows and expand from there.

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Chicken Enchiladas

Although I really love to eat beef, my favorite meat for dinners is usually chicken. It is so versatile and easy to work with. And I believe that chicken is healthier for you in many ways.

I have a great recipe for chicken enchiladas and make a big batch of them about once a month. Then we feast on fresh enchiladas for a night, and I freeze the rest in serving size portions for a fast, easy meal once a week until they are eaten up. I found the recipe on the internet several years ago, and it was a hit with my family the very first time I tried it.

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Special Night Out

We haven’t lived here long enough, nor had the special occasion yet, to go out and have a nice romantic dinner, just the two of us. But my sweet hubby just came home tonight with the good news that he’s been offered the new job and we want to go out to celebrate tomorrow night. We don’t have a local yellowpages because we did not get a new home phone when we moved here. Each of us has our own cell phone and I just didn’t see any reason to pay for a home phone. The downside to that is you don’t get a local directory with all the ads for nice restaurants and other places you might want to go after you get settled into your new place.

So, I used the internet for a local search on fine dining and was pleasantly surprised at how many choices there are within a 30 minute drive of our new house. Of course, choosing the best place is the hard part.

At least we both agree that we want a nice American food restaurant with a good reputation for their steaks. Sometimes I like to try other nice places – especially Italian restaurants – but we haven’t enjoyed a nice steak dinner in a very long time. So I picked three local restaurants that looked good to me and gave the list to hubby – he can pick from those three and then we’ll call in the morning to make reservations for our special dinner tomorrow night.

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Flowers Just Because

After lunch my husband said he had a few errands he needed to run and that he would be back in a few hours.  He returned two hours later with everything to make yummy ice cream sundaes and beautiful flowers.  He brought me flowers today for no reason other than he loves me.  I love that man.

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A Night of Fun and Relaxation

Karen and her husband Joe were over tonight for dinner. We had the best steaks, baked potatoes, pasta salad, and lots of yummy treats for dessert.  I’m not the biggest meat eater but that steak was delicious!!! We got the steaks as a gift from my in-laws.   They ordered them online and had them sent directly to us.

I told Karen we should have dinner together more often because we had so much fun.  After dinner we played a few games and then decided we should all go over to their house to go swimming.  I love their pool.  It doesn’t make me nervous to bring the kids either because they have one of those really nice pool covers.  If they didn’t have the cover I’d be really worried every time I bring my kids over there.

We swam for a bit and then hung out in the jacuzzi.  It really was a great night. I can’t wait until we can do it again.  I told Karen I wouldn’t mind hosting dinner again if she would host dessert and swimming in her pool.  We set a date for next weekend, just in time for Memorial Day.

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Go West for the Best Candy

Until I started reading about chocolate and learning about candies, I did not realize that candy making was such a regional specialty.  People who live out West have always had See’s candies to enjoy, while those of us on the East Coast have not had the pleasure. The only reason I was ever introduced to See’s candies was when my Dad went on a business trip to California and he bought a box of See’s chocolates to bring home for my mom.  She opened the box right away and shared her special chocolates with everyone. They were so so good!

I’ll always be glad that my dad went on business trips once in a while. Although my mom was not happy to have him gone, sometimes for up to a week, we were always so happy to have him come home. He always brought us back something for a treat, and we always celebrated with a special dinner, including dessert!

Dad would tell us stories about the cities where he had traveled and about the people he met. Most of the time he would take the train, but when he had to go out West he would have to fly. I remember standing at the big glass window watching his plane taxi away from the gate. We were all standing there waving goodbye, jumping up and down, and we would always be there to meet his plane when he got back. But with security like it is now, no one is allowed to do that anymore. I miss those days.

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Chocolate for Breakfast?

When did someone decide that chocolate was a good thing to have to breakfast? I have never really paid attention to the chocolate flavored breakfast cereals, although it seems that Coco Puffs have been around since before I was a kid. But now the Poptarts and frozen pastry strudels come in chocolate flavors, too.

The Poptarts have been out for a while, but I guess I never paid that much attention to the variety o flavors. I rarely buy them, and if I do, I buy the strawberry or blueberry filling flavors. I just can’t wrap my head around serving chocolate for breakfast.

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Cookies!

As we all know, Christmas is a time for cookies!  Sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, and gingerbread men!  Every season I do tons of baking, my favorite food, cookies!  So far I have made six dozens of cookies and I am just starting the second week in December.  I think I might start a business.

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Thanksgiving Dinner

Here it is again… Thanksgiving.  I love all of the cooking and preparation and traveling  when it comes to Thanksgiving.  Every Thanksgiving that comes around I  travel home to be with friends and family.  There’s always traffic, family, and a bunch of food.  I’m not sure just yet what I am going to bring but I’m sure it will be tasty.  I’m thankful for my family wanting me around for turkey day!  So I guess it’s time to start cooking and then hit the road again!