Thanksgiving with Sandra Lee and Joshua Bell‏ and Giveaway

My whole family loves watching the foodnetwork, the girls even play Cake Challenge. One of the many cooks and shows we watch is Sandra Lee. She always has great recipes and ideas for entertaining.

*Tip from Sandra:

1. “Re-name your cocktails for a signature touch and serve them in an array of glasses in different shapes and sizes for a glamorous effect. If you have a special album playing, review your song list and allow the song titles to inspire your cocktails, ie. Peach Cider can be turned into “Cinema Paradiso” to match the beautiful duet of the same name on Joshua Bell’s new album At Home With Friends. Brilliant!”
2. “If you’re facing a time crunch—pick party foods that are delicious and impressive, without being fussy. I recommend, Savory Bread Pudding and Fig and Port Tartlets—both of these tasty treats can be prepared before your guests arrive and served at room temperature.”
3. “Sometimes you need the culinary equivalent of a big warm hug. Praline Sweet Potato Casserole is a classic, comfort food creation that is baked to perfection.”
4. “Thanksgiving is the perfect time to bring everyone together to celebrate a year of blessings. Serve savory and decadent dishes such as Savory Bread Pudding and Praline Sweet Potato Casserole on an inviting table, filled with rich colors and seasonal textures. Simple, time-saving shortcuts to create a meaningful feast can be found in my new book Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade Cocktail Time. Give your gracious gathering a heartwarming start with my personal favorite, Joshua Bell’s album, At Home With Friends and greet guests at your door with a vibrant cocktail, such as a Peach and Apricot Cider or Pumpkin Pie Martini . The main attraction is food, so try turning your Turkey or Pork Roast into a colorful centerpiece, served with a side of cornbread stuffing or cranberry sauce. For a quick and easy dessert try Semi-Homemade Glazed Spice Donuts with Pecans or a Sweet Potato Cake with Citrus Glaze, so you can spend less time in the kitchen and more time celebrating with your family and friends.”

Last month I reviewed Joshua Bell’s album, At Home With Friends (click here for the review.)

Now I have a copy to giveaway to one of my readers.

To enter just leave a comment about Thanksgiving, an idea, recipe, memory or anything you like. Ends 12/10/09 (Thursday) at midnight PST.
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Click the click below to listen to the wonderful album and don't forget to enter to win your own copy of this CD, Joshua Bell’s album, At Home With Friends
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I am being sent a CD to give to my one of my readers, I am not being compensated in any other way.

Making Bread

I think the girls like watching the bread machine more than eating the bread, and they love eating bread!

I took this picture a little over a year ago and the girls still love watching the bread machine mix and knead. Of course Princess A is usually at school so now it is mostly just Princess G looking through the little window.

Mexican Grill

Our new favorite fast food restaurant is a Mexican Grill.

The food is yummy and not too heavy, kind of light Mexican food. The girls love going and I always bring crayons and pages to color while Daddy orders our burritos, one chicken and one steak. Of course tonight we went for Pho and Thai food instead.

Portraits at Walmart

It has been a long time since I had pictures taken of the girls so yesterday I took them to Walmart. We used to get portraits taken a few times a year but the Walmart sort of near us lost their studio a while ago so it has been a year and a half since we last went. The girls were wonderful, Walmart was horrible.
We showed up a ten minutes early as I was asked to. I was told they were very behind but to come back in 45 minutes. I came back after 25 minutes to check and they were just about to start taking pictures of the people scheduled after us. I was mad but they implied they had already started and were almost done. I figured out later they had not started at all.

55 minutes later they were done. Then I got to wait another 15 minutes while they paid, a couple of people made appointments, more people picked up pictures and then bought more. Finally an hour and 45 minutes after our appointment we had pictures taken. The pictures went fast but the viewing of the pictures took forever and the extra stuff they try and sell you. Princess A asked if we could never go back FOREVER! It was horrible but the pictures looked great!
Note if you ever go to Walmart for pictures only go if you have the first appointment of the day. It was my old rule and now I remember why I made it!!
The pictures are ones I took during our very long wait!!! The girls were not wearing the sweatshirts during the photo shoot.
I think we might try JC Penny's next time, they recently opened one not too far from us.

Messiest Room

Princess A and Princess G completely destroyed this room and yesterday I told them to go clean up. They spent over an hour cleaning this room. At least you can see the floor now, you could not before they started cleaning. (I should of taken a picture yesterday since it was even messier.)
They did a bit better in the closet.

The sad thing is that it really is cleaner than it was yesterday.

The girls said the room was clean but when I stood in the door and asked them if Daddy would think it was clean, they did admit it was "a little messy."

I helped them and now it is 'Daddy clean!'

Now I just need to vacuum since there are feathers and glitter all over the floor.

Hopefully I have the messiest room so I can win an Oreck Halo for my husband on MomDot.

Wordless Wednesday: Making Maps

During our trip to Seattle Princess A drew us maps, one for Seattle and one of the hotel, just so we would not get lost.

Chanukah Fever Review

Chanukah Fever is a just fun and different. At first the girls were not what to make of this CD. The music made me think of disco but it is not disco. The music is funky, silly and fun! I just can't do it justice instead watch this video.

From the press release:


KIWI magazine called Doni Zasloff Thomas, “Part Weird Al’ Yankovic (for the hilarious and surprisingly insightful lyrics), part Sarah Silverman (but much cleaner and only the parts of Sarah’s show where she innocently sings her little heart out), and that adorable mom down the street who manages to wear bright red lipstick and cute track suit to put out the recycling at 6 a.m.”

Doni Zasloff Thomas, a.k.a. Mama Doni, is the lead singer/songwriter in The Mama Doni Band. Doni’s “wacky, Jewish indie-rock band for kids” (Carrie Stetler, The Star-Ledger) won the Simcha Award for “Inspiring Joy Through Music” in competition with more than 100 bands from 15 different countries at the 2008 International Jewish Music Festival in Amsterdam. Quirky, zany, off-beat, and unpredictable, The Mama Doni Band expands the horizons of traditional Jewish music with a contagious and unexpected blend of reggae, rock, disco, Latin, klezmer and “Jewgrass” – all woven together with a hip Jewish sensibility.

In a spirit of outrageous fun, Mama Doni brings her special brand of “funky music with a Jewish twist” to this year’s holiday season, with the release of a new CD, Chanukah Fever. The album is resplendent with Mama Doni’s signature wild and wacky style, about which kids’ media authority Amy Kraft enthused, “Listen as Mama Doni spreads around some challah-day spirit in her inimitable cross between Sheryl Crow and Tone Loc.”

Chanukah Fever will be released on November 24.

Rebecca Frezza & Big Truck Review

The girls and I have been dancing to a new, great CD lately, Rebecca Frezza & Big Truck. The music is fun and very catchy. We liked the Big Truck song the most. Princess A just kept playing it over and over.

From the press release:

Rebecca Frezza & Big Truck, familiar to families across the country through their their music videos on the Noggin Channel and PBS KIDS, will release
their fifth album in time for the holidays. Rockin’, Rollin’ and Ridin’ features Roscoe Orman – known to millions for his 35 years as “Gordon” on PBS-TV’s Sesame Street - as guest artist.

Rockin’, Rollin’, and Ridin’ is a 23-minute EP, featuring six new Rebecca Frezza songs, plus two
special, remixed audio tracks and a bonus video, each one highlighting the high energy, tight ensemble work of vocalist Rebecca Frezza and the
precision backup singers and instrumentalists of Big Truck. The album will be “stocking stuffer” priced at only $8.99.

Rockin’, Rollin’ and Ridin’ was released on November 10.

Cookies for our Troops

Princess A's school is having a food drive and each grade is suppose to collect different types of food. The fifth graders were collecting cookies, preferably homemade, to send to our troops. On Tuesday they sent out a request for all students, if able, to send in cookies not just the fifth graders. They asked that they were made fresh on Thursday and sent to school on Friday. While Princess A was at school Princess G and I made m&m cookies. I should say I made the cookies and Princess G tasted them to make sure they were perfect for the soldiers. We did keep a couple for our our veteran, Daddy. It was a day after Veteran's Day but a great way to show our support.

(I have no idea why that picture is upside down and I am too tired to figure it out right now!)

Ballet Recital Costumes

This is the costume Princess A will be wearing next month while dancing to the Nutcracker Reed of Flutes.
Princess G will be dancing to the Waltz of the Flowers, also from the Nutcracker.

Volunteering at School

I finally was able to start helping at Princess A school. Her teacher wanted to wait a while until the kids were settled into the routine. The day I helped they had an assembly and her teacher said I could come after. I ended up going to the assembly and I am glad I did because her class earned three awards, the Golden Broom (cleanest classroom), the Golden Fork (best behaved and cleanest at lunch) and the Beethoven Bobble head (best in music class) and Princess A got to go up and collect the Golden Fork award. Every month the awards are given out and three at once is I believe a school record. I decided to go the whole time because I really can't help very long before I have to pick up Princess G. On the days I volunteer: I take Princess A to school (which means walking her to the back of the school and waiting until they go in), I then race over to drop off Princess at her Pre-K (which starts in 5 minutes but is 15 minutes away), I then go back to Princess A's school to help for a little more than 90 minutes, finally go and pick up Princess G and we go home for lunch. It is a little crazy what I go through to just help out for a little over 90 minutes but I love it and more importantly it means so much to Princess A.

My Birthday Seattle Weekend

We started my birthday celebration with a trip to the Museum of Flight and we had so much fun!
We then checked into the hotel which is near the Seattle Center. Princess A made a wonderful map of the hotel and Seattle so we would not get lost.

Princess G made a map too which Daddy nicely held for her. The girls just love playing in this exhibit located outside the Experience the Music.

We rode the monorail out to P.F. Chang's for dinner. We got to sit in the very front there and back! It really is so much fun to sit in the very front, you can see so much more!

Happy Birthday to me!!!!

The girls helped me with my birthday dessert and blowing out the candle.

Can you guess where we explored the next morning?

Pike's Market! Right behind us is the famous flying fish which we just got to watch. We had chowder bowls at our favorite resultant, Lowell's Restaurant & Bar.

Here are the beautiful flowers my Princess A picked just for me.

I had a wonderful weekend, thank you honey.

Wordless Wednesday: Seattle

Museum of Flight in Seattle

For part of my birthday weekend (yes I know it was two weeks ago, I have been sick) we all went to the Museum of Flight. I got to pick between the Museum of Flight or the Pacific Science Center. It was hard to pick but since it was a beautiful weekend I decided it would be better to save the Pacific Science Center. Some of the exhibits at the Museum of Flight are outside so we could enjoy the sunny weather.
Princess A thought a car that can fly was so cool.

She also loved climbing into a real fighter jet cockpit. She looks a little too comfortable in there.


Princess G sat in the first fighter jet but after getting bumped by some not so patient tourists she wanted me to climb in with her.

I just love this picture.

I love that you can see some of the many planes and jet hanging from the ceiling and that my cutie is in it.

We then wandered upstairs to the kid area. Everything is hands on and the kids can just explore! There are a couple of planes to climb in, a hot air balloon, control tower and so much more.

You can also virtually go hang gliding. The girls kept laughing as we crashed into the trees.

Finally we got to the part my husband was waiting for, the Concorde and Air Force one!

Here we are in Air Force One. To think that the leaders of our country have been in that very seat we are in!

There was a line for Air Force One but it meant that you got to explore the plane by yourself.

We also went to the barn where Boeing first started, the exhibits on NASA, WWI and WWII.
When Daddy ran out to the car to get change for the girls squished pennies we played in the gift shop. We were able to see almost everything in two hours. I would of liked to stay longer but the girls were done. My husband can't wait for his parents' next visit so he can take us all back. We had a great time and I recommend visiting the Museum of Flight . If you do go check the Entertainment book, we used a coupon from it that expired 11/1/09, I would check and see if the new one has the coupon too.

As we were leaving the usual chase Daddy game was played. Daddy just starts running in a silly manner and they chase him. Simple but lots of fun!

Have you been to the Museum of Flight? Any other suggestions for great things to visit in Seattle? We are trying to visit new places!

I know we will be planning a trip to the Pacific Science Center in the next few months!

Five For Fighting CD Review

As soon as I started listening to the new album Five for Fighting it became one of my favorites. My favorite songs are Chances and Slice. I put the whole album on my ipod and I listen to it everyday while I carpool the girls. My husband and I trade cars at least once a week. While in my car he heard the album and he liked it so much he put it on his ipod when he got home that night. The music is so much fun and exciting but also a little mellow.

I am listening to Chances right now. Below is the Chance video. I just love this song.



The complete play list is:

1. Slice
2. Note To The Unknown Soldier
3. Tuesday
4. Chances
5. This Dance
6. Above The Timberline
7. Transfer
8. Hope
9. Story Of Your Life
10. Love Can't Change The Weather
11. Augie Nieto

I sent a download of this album by One2One Network to facilitate this review and was not compensated in any other way.