Quick Trip To Boston

I am trying to organize all of my iphone photos so get ready for a few trips down memory lane.

The first was a quick 3 day work trip Kat and I took in the early spring to the Boston area to meet with one of our favorite customers. 

While we were there we ate my favorite Boston meal Chicken Pot Pie at John Harvard's Brew House.  This pot pie is like nothing you have ever had before.  It is made with a phyllo dough and the filling has white wine in it. Kat introduced me to this tasty dinner the first time we made this trip and now it is a tradition to eat there after our meetings. 

gUEST pHOTOGRAPHER

I am happy to announce that I had a guest photographer come out and check the bees with me a couple of weeks ago to document the happenings in our little bee world. The guest photographer was..........

Kaycie

She took pictures of the bees in the hive

And Sweet Sweet Roma.

And mushrooms growing on a tree in the back yard....very artistic mushroom photos don't you think?

Yo where my beez at?

In honor of my bees who seem to have no interest in making honey I thought I would post this little video. I think my honey bees might be acting like this in their hive dancing and messing around too busy to make any honey. A little beekeeping tip for you.....don't buy bees on ebay they have no work ethic. Make sure to watch the video through to the end that is the funniest part. Thanks for the link Kat.

Bee-Boy dance crew drops dead

Fondue Fun

I had a few friend over the other night for a small fondue party. It was so much fun and so much food.

My favorite fondue was a Caribbean Cheese Fondue. We had this at the Melting Pot a few months ago and loved it. Here it is the recipe if you want to give it a try. I would double this recipe.
2 oz. white wine
2 oz. pineapple juice
1/2 tsp. chopped garlic
1 and 1/2 tsp. Peppadew peppers

Then simmer for 30 seconds.

Add floured Gouda cheese (2 oz.) and Gran Queso cheese (2 oz.)

Use whipping motion to mix and fluff cheese.
Fold in 1 tsp. lime zest.
Add 2 tsp. scallions

Breanne made a spinach cheese fondue that was so good and a little spicy. Maybe she can email me the recipe and I will post it here.

I am a total copy cat. I found this on Brit's blog. It was so much fun you should do it. Here is how it works........
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker.

The Questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name. (kid version: favorite animal?)

It is so much fun I might spend all my spare time making mosaics now. Thanks for the links Brit.

Cool Wedding

I am cleaning out the photos on my iphone and I came across these. I
went to a super cool wedding dinner a while ago and they had this
cool candy bar buffet. The cake below was the grooms cake.

Decorating Idea

When I was in Nashville one of the conference rooms had these
beautiful mirrors with a cool light fixture hung in the middle.

Pizza Class Inspiration

I felt so inspired to cook/bake something after the pizza class on Saturday but I was not sure what it was going to be . Then after going to the Farmers Market I knew exactly what I was going to make.
I love this book Sky High Cakes.

I have made a couple of cakes using recipes in this book and they always taste great and are so fun to make using the little deep dish pizza pans from Williams Sonoma. They make such dainty little cakes.

So I made the cake on the cover which was a Strawberry Shortcake and I used fresh strawberries and raspberries from the framers market...yum.
Here are the ingredients I used.......

And a brand new ingredient I have never used before Anisette liquor.

The bottle is so beautiful. I love the cool green color on the label and on the back it tells the story of how the liquor is made in Italy. I tossed the berries in the anisette liquor and let them soak for 1 hour. It has a slight licorice taste and made the berries taste delicious.
When I opened the bottle the smell totally reminded me of camping with my cousins and Aunt Glenda. Whenever we would go camping Aunt Glenda would give us all a spoonful of Paragoric so we didn't get sick...I guess. I LOVED LOVED LOVED the taste of paragoric and when she would ask me if she had given me any yet I would totally lie and tell her no just so I could get another spoonful of that delicious medicine. I have often wondered what happened to paragoric. Was it just some delicious memory I made up in my head? So I googled it today and guess where I found information about paragoric? On a whole bunch of substance abuse message boards.....hum so I guess paragoric is LOADED with opium and was taken off the market years ago. Oh good old childhood memories..........remember when we drank opium? Those were the good old days.
This is how the cake turned out. It does not look as beautiful at the photo on the book cover but it sure tasted good! And by making a mini cake you don't feel so bad if you eat the entire cake. It was only a mini cake after all right?

Saturday Morning Fun with Jake

Jake and I got up early to attend a pizza making class at Williams
Sonoma. It was so much fun. They mini deep dish pizza pans to make
this fantastic 4 layer chocolate cake....yumm.
After the class we went to the farmers market and bought basil plants,
a raspberry plant, strawberries and raspberries, and some yummy
pastries.

Vacation 2009

After spending the evening with super travelers Brit and Katie I have been feeling sad that I do not have an exotic vacation planned for this year. So I spent a little time today looking for great vacation to go on this year and I have come up empty handed. But, I have found this cruise next November. It is a total deal....10 night Mediterranean that starts in Venice and goes to Croatia, Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal for $899.
Pictures of Croatia

My Desk.......

This is what is covering my desk at work right now. Candy, candy everywhere you look....what a mess. Can you even believe I am working on Valentine's Day and Easter already....uggh.

I saw this movie last night. I loved the clothes, the beautiful hotel rooms in Monte Carlo, the beautiful french language and of course Audrey Tautou is amazing.
After the movie we went to Gourmandise bakery.

I had this cute little treat. Guess what it is called?

The Peach. It is two brioches filled with custard and peach liquor. Good Stuff!

Legally Blonde the musical

I am such a sucker for musicals.  I really think I am the only person I have every heard of who cried at the end of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang when it was on broadway a few years ago........yes I could blame it on the red eye flight I took the night before and it was just exhaustion but I really think it is because I am a freak.  

Anyway, there were not any tears shed during Legally Blonde but I loved it so much.  I am already trying to figure out how I can get back to NYC so I can see it again.  Until then I guess I can watch it on youtube or the reality show on mtv The Search For Elle Woods.

legallyblondeonmtv

Serious

Legally Blonde - Chip on Your Shoulder

So Much Better- Legally Blonde

Summer Fancy Food Show Finds

Here are some of the products I really liked at the Fancy Food Show.....

Choclatique is a chocolate company from California. I sampled a root beer float truffle. I know sounds so strange, I was surprised it tasted just like a root beer float and I loved it. They have some other unique flavors that I really want to try Jelly Doughnut, Chocolate Chip Cookie, Peanut Butter and Jelly and New York Egg Cream. I love that their chocolates celebrate traditional "all american" flavors.


My obsession with honey continues and my favorite new honey company is Honey Ridge Farms. They make a honey balsamic vinegar that was nominated for the best vinegar at the Fancy Food Show.

They also make a creamed honey in 5 flavors. My favorite was the blackberry cream. I think their packaging is so beautiful.
My favorite product was from Nettle Meadow Goat Cheese and Farm. This is my new favorite type of company.....family farms. I love everything about family farms and the great impact that buying local products has on the environment and supporting local farms . This family runs a goat farm in upstate New York. They make a lavender honey goat cheese that I totally loved. This product was also nominated for a fancy food show award.

Lady Liberty Gets a Makeover

The baseball allstar games are going to be held at Yankee Stadium in
the next couple of weeks.....actually I have no clue when they are or
if they are at Shea Stadium too. Anyway, as part of the celebration
there are Statues of Liberty all around the city painted in the colors
of all of the major league baseball teams. It is really cool but I
think the French got it right making her just gray....