Work in Progress

Please check back...I am blogging our trip to NYC and trying to do it in order. It is taking me a bit of time so, come back and scroll down to see all 6 days of our trip. Unless of course you become board. Then go and watch TV instead...speaking of which. Rick is now the proud owner of 3 TV's, 2 with HDTV and 4 receivers. This means over 300 hours available DVR time! Whoo! If you could only see how proud he is. It's the prefect set up for the 2 of us!

New York City

Rick had some business in New York City, so I decided to go along with him and enjoy the city and all it has to offer. While we were in Phoenix with Jake & Alicia, we went to a NY deli in Scottsdale. The owner was a NY native and gave us great ideas of where to eat. We decided we needed to check them all out. So, here is our glutenous week in the big apple. We started off at Stage Deli. We ordered a Reuben and Turkey dinner. Very tasty, but true to a NY deli - too much to eat.

We then headed down 7th, then Broadway to Time Square. We loved the lights, not too many people on a Tuesday night. We ended up on 45th and ran into the theater for Spamalot and bought tickets for the next evenings show.

We had walked off our dinner and needed more sustenance, so we stopped by Carnegie Deli on our way back to our hotel. We decided to take a piece of cheesecake back to our room.

When we ordered it, they said "strawberry, right?" I can see why it's the favorite choice.

We had about 4 bites of the most creamy smooth flavorful cheesecake we have every had and then we were finished. Blissful exhaustion.

Day 2 in the Big Apple!

The view from our hotel room as we woke up Wednesday morning. The Upper West Side.
The Upper East Side.
And a straight on view over Central Park. Fabulous. We could see the horse and carriages on the street below, ready to take a stroll through the park. We loved the excitement in the air.

We strolled around the upper east side searching for a place to grab breakfast. We came upon this tiny deli. As you can see,there are tables a long the left that seat 2 and a bar on the right. As we entered they yelled, "come in, sit." So we did - quickly. Then a waiter was at our table asking us if we needed a menu. We started to look it over and he waited...we got the hint and ordered quickly. It was like organized chaos. Next 4 people came in and sat at the bar. Obviously they were unaware of the process. This gentleman handed them menus and within minutes was asking to take their order. After a few minutes of frustrated waiting on his part he said, "you can take the menu home and decide what you want, then come back and order". He wasn't kidding. It was hilarious.

As we were leaving, I had to take a picture of the name so I could remember. Then I noticed the man...

who must have had to come outside for a breath of fresh air after the frustrating, agrivating slow-to-order customers. This is a place we recommend for those visiting. We'll have to go back there just for the entertainment factor.

We walked over to Rockefeller Center and watched the ice skaters. I grabbed the railing to walk down the stairs and put my hand in someones spit. Thanks for that. So we went inside to find a restroom to wash my hands. I could have done without that!

We decided to grab a bite to tide us over so we headed over to Carnegie Deli and passed by Radio City music hall on our way. We ordered a turkey sandwich to share and headed over to the David Letterman Show.

Okay, we ordered a sandwich to share. Did they think we were ordering one to share with a family of 8? I swear there was an entire turkey breast on that sandwich. How do you even begin to eat something this size? I had about 1/3 of my 1/2 and I was stuffed. I must say it was quite tasty.

Here we are, standing in the standby line. It's not looking too hopeful. But wait, they did come and take numbers 1-30. There's just 8 more of us. Could we be so fortunate? Maybe...

...but no. They did let the 4 girls in front of us in, leaving us at the front of the line. Then they came back and said it was full. Rick was feeling like a big loser, but he let me take his picture anyway.

After such a rejection we needed comfort. Magnolia Bakery on the upper west side was calling to us. They are famous for their cupcakes and banana pudding. Ah, the aroma that hits you when you walk in. We knew we were in the right place. The choices were difficult, everything looked fabulous. But we narrowed it down to three choices. Well, 4 actually...

Kitty corner from Barnes and Noble in what appears as another office building is the temple.

Quite an amazing site in the middle of a city.

For dinner we went to Sardi's across from the theater. This resturant is frequented by the actors after the plays to hear the reviews of their performances. We decided to beat the crowds and go before the play. The atmosphere was very fun and the food was great! The play was fantastic. True to Monty Python humor. We had great seats, 5th row center. We had a great time.

After the play we stopped by Carnegie Deli. We picked up a couple of potato pancakes and Rick ordered some chocolate chip cookies for a late night snack.

Uh, did we forget we had purchased goodies from Magnolia Bakery? Oh well, a little bit of this and a little bit of that...

Coconut Cake - yummy! But Nan's is better! As far as I can remember. I'd better bake one up one just to make sure.

And now for the cupcakes: Red Velvet with a cream cheese frosting and Chocolate with chocolate buttercream frosting - my oh my! I loved the red velvet. Great texture and flavor - the frosting was perfect!

Banana Cream pudding with slices of fresh banana and vanilla wafer crumbs - Heaven! I could only eat a couple of bites but this was everything I had heard about it and then some.

Day 3 - Fashion District

One of the many fabric stores I walked into...

On my long walk home from 25th St. to 59th St. I ran into my husband looking for the infamous Soup Kitchen that was made famous on Seinfield. It is no longer in use and has been borded up. We had dinner at The Palm. Here is a picture of some of the cartoons that adorn the walls.
We ordered steak and lobster to share. We couldn't eat it all.

Here is our waitress cracking the shells for us. I must say is was fabulous.

Here is the entrance to the beautiful Tracy Castle, where Porter and Brittany will be married Oct 3rd 2009.

We are so excited for them.
Here is where they will be married. What a view!

Here is a view from the back. They really found a gem.

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!! If you want to see a darling little girls costume, check out this website. It's also a giveaway contest that you will want to enter. What a beatiful creation and very talented woman.

October stitching

Ah, Porter's birthday. Can you believe my baby is 20! We had fun going to Outback for dinner and sharing great and hilarious stories from his childhood, now a thing of the past.
I had so many fun things I wanted to make for Halloween this year, but I think I was a little over zealous. This is the ONE I did get done. A embroidered pillow to put on my settee in the entry way. It was a fun project to see come to fruition. I think I'll start in January working on the other patterns in time for next Halloween.

Trying to get a jump on Christmas I made this little wall hanging. I love the little buttons that represent the 12 days.

Grapes

I called Haas farms in Wapato and they will be suppling Welch's next week, so if I want grapes now is the time to get them. I borrowed Kim & Matt's tahoe and away I went. I left at 6:15 in the morning. Going through the canyon was so beautiful, I decided to take a picture while driving.

This is the gorgous sunrise at 75 miles an hour. What?

One more shot - it really doesn't do justice, but I tried. I arrived at the farm about 8:30, gathered up the goods and headed home, after I stopped and picked up pumpkins. I was home by 12:00 and juicing by 12:30.

Grapes Galore

Aren't these beautiful. They taste as good as they look!
And so I begins...The house smells just like Grandma's. Memories, like the corner of my mind (join in any time)
I know, why don't I make Halloween cookies at the same time? So how many quarts of grapes can you get out of 15 - 20lb boxes of grapes? 126 quarts and then some. Whew!

Day 3 - more plums & salsa

Today I made plum sauce out of the plums I cooked down on day 1. I made 1 batch using a Plum Sauce recipe and the 2nd batch using a Tangy Plum Sauce recipe. Then after having my own little taste test I decided to make the 3rd batch using the tangy recipe, only adding a little more plums to it. It made it a little more tart but still very tasty. We had some of it on our chicken tonight. Fantastic!
I made the salsa today using up most of the tomatoes, peppers and onions. Isn't this colorful?
Here it is all mixed together. After chopping everything by hand it has to cook for 2 hours. It's sure worth it, blister and all. I love this recipe. It's sweet with a little kick, but not too spicy. It's just right.

Here is the finished product: 7 jars of Plum sauce, 11 jars of salsa, 8 pint jars and 13 8oz. jars of Tangy plum sauce. The little ones are so cute, they're perfect for gifts, don't you think?

Day 2 - more of the same

The steamer/juicer is hard at work again today. I am juicing the rest of the plums to drink and make plum jelly later this winter. I love plum jelly.
Porter's favorite dessert is peach cobbler. He always asks for it for his birthday. The problem is Porter's birthday is the first of October when the "ripe off the tree" peaches are gone. I decided the left over peaches from yesterday would make the best cobbler. "If you make it, he will come" applied to this situation. Hence, Porter's birthday was celebrated today!
16 quarts of plum juice.

I also made a frozen peach pie with almond flavoring. My 2 favorite combinations! Wouldn't that make a great icecream flavor. Peach Almond Ding! hee hee

I always wanted to have the job of making up names of icecream and finger nail polish. As you can see, I'd better keep my day job.

Tonight I had the Activity Day girls over to make invitations and cookies to give to their dad's for the Daddy/Daughter night. Pictured clockwise from top: Kayle, Meg, Emily, Kiera, and Katie.
Pictured clockwise from bottom right: Vanessa, Kelyn, Kate, Ashley, Taylor, Julia, and Cassidy.