Good Morning, Darlings!

Eric reminded me that I had an inkling to start a blog when we were in Los Angeles. I thought you all might get a kick out of a couple of those vintage posts.

From November 23, 2008.

Tonight we finally made the pilgrimage to L.A. from Santa Monica to Pink’s Hot Dogs for one of their legendary franks. After standing in line for an hour and ordering up, we enjoy our meal alfresco – a pastrami-swiss dog with fries and a coke for me and a chili dog and a sauerkraut, tomatoes, mustard and bacon with onion rings and a coke for Eric. Consuming the dogs took no longer than 10 minutes, I’m afraid.

Of course we had to check out the bathrooms – they serve over 2000 hot dogs a day and I was feeling brave. Although I took no photos of the bathroom, it was spotless. This was a well run operation.

2008 Photo by Laura Fries

Hello Darlings!  Today is so very special – it’s Chomp and Stomp Day! Now, for my friends not in Atlanta, this is something akin to Christmas. It is Cabbagetown’s huge chili cookoff and blue grass festival.  There’s beer vendors, chili vendors, celebrity chefs and all kinds of adorable crafts to buy. Not to mention that everyone in Atlanta will be there.  I would say that it’s another event that makes Atlanta feel like Mayberry – like the pie off we just had in our neighborhood.

I will be there helping my dear friend, Lisa, at her booth. Word is that she is roasting a pig and will have brats and arepas to offer something other than chili.  Do you know what an arepa is?  Oh my goodness – Eric and I had one at a street festival in Manhattan years ago and I’ve been trying to find one ever since.  They are corn cakes filled with cheese and grilled – like a Venezuelan grilled cheese. Check this out – a restaurant devoted solely to arepas – its foodie heaven!

And our bestie Teague will be there, defending his Cabbage King crown.  Teague has been the king three years in a row. To win the crown, one must shred as much cabbage as possible in the alloted time. No one has beat our buddy.  We will be there en masse, screaming our lungs out for him. Go Teague!

Tomorrow will bring the wrap up of Chomp and Stomp as everyone hits their bottles of Pepto and aspirin.

Go, Teague!!!

xoxo, Patti

What could be more luxurious?

Breakfast in bed is a golden opportunity to show your love.  It doesn’t cost anything, but it can certainly start anyone’s day in the best possible way.  Accoutrements you might need include a tray, some big, heavy coffee mugs and big napkins (i.e – those Ikea tea towels for $.49).

What to serve for breakfast?  This is a great time to get creative. Use last night’s leftover pizza, homemade scones or whatever is laying about that seems good (this might be the time for that Halloween candy that didn’t get handed out).  Whatever might make your beloved smile.  It’s that easy.  Eric and I like english muffins (all those nooks and crannies!). They’re easy to make and that crunchy, butter-drenched goodness would happily wake anyone up.

If you feel you need to shop before you venture making breakfast in bed (not that you’re actually making the breakfast in bed, you are just bringing it to one very happy recipient). Here are some shopping ideas that would make the experience just that much nicer.

A gorgeous serving tray.  Some like a flat bottomed tray (like we use, in the photo above), or you might prefer the type that has legs, for all you tall folk. Like this one.  Here’s a whole website devoted to breakfast trays – how cool is that? You could get one that holds the newspaper so you all could snuggle in on a weekend morning.

Big coffee mugs. I seem to have a lot of luck finding great ones at Cost Plus World Market. These are my favorites:

These hold lots and lots of coffee

Here’s a link to those Ikea towels I swear by. For forty-nine cents each, you can have a whole flotilla of these. I use them for everything.

Another nice touch would be a single stem in a tiny vase. My knockout roses are still blooming like crazy, but I know that is going to be short lived. Plus, this would involve me going outside in pajamas to cut roses and the neighbors would look at me funny. So you might want to scrap that idea unless you already have some flowers inside.

The most important thing you can serve with your breakfast in bed is a sunny disposition.  I know a lot of you are not morning people, so I might be asking a lot. But if you are (like me), bring your tray into the room with a soft, gentle greeting – we don’t want our victim beloved jumping up with fists in the air because you startled them.

Just don’t be surprised if you both call in sick and declare a hooky day!

xoxo, Patti

Special Note:  One person I would not like to see having breakfast in bed, is Jack, father of our darling, Matt, who is in the hospital.  If you could send some great thoughts, prayers, karma his way, I would most appreciate it.  I would much rather that Jack is jumping up and making breakfast for the family.

Alack and alas, Halloween is over. Say goodbye til next year, Jack O’Laterns. But before we do, let me share some shots.  First, you have to see Eric’s finished costume:

Didn’t it turn out great!?

A couple of our trick or treaters:

Love that money hat!

Eric and I went to a couple of parties last night.  The first, over at The Fourth Ward, was a doozy.  The decorations were really fab.  Despite the fact that Mother Nature did not cooperate, what with rainy, very cold weather, we had a wonderful time.  The costumes were so creative, too!  Some pics for you all.

A creepy seer….her head floated in the crystal ball

There’s always room for cake….or not.

Somehow, the Geico dude fell in the dip. So sad.

Pretty streamers just make a party.
I have to have these – aren’t they cool?

Halloween is the time to hang those old family portraits
This one had super sticky ooze dripping from its mouth. I like that.

J -E- L- L- O !!

Bobbing for eyeballs

I think our host was whipping up a little something….

I have the exact same candy bowl! Minus the hand trying to escape.

He just lost his head over all the excitement

Bjork hangs with Paulie and Juno

Spy vs. Spy

Our great friends, Christy and James

Eric and me as the Minotaur and Medusa
Aren’t our babies sweet?

Chris, our host and the creator of all this mayhem

PeeWee and the Vampire
Halloween brings everyone together!

As much fun as this was, we had to leave to go back to our neighborhood party, hosted by Garry and Poppie.  Everyone looked amazing, but I was so beat I forgot to take photos! Uh oh. Hopefully someone took a bunch that I can borrow and post. Some highlights included our besties Crystal and Teague dressed as The Pie Queen of Adair Park and the Cabbage King, respectively.  Taruan and Chioke really stood out dressed spectacularly as The Ringmaster and Thomas Jefferson.  We ended the night by the fire outside and decided to change it up a bit.

Oh, Minotaur Fur! Cozy.

Cutest story of the night came from Tiffany and Ashley, our darling neighbors that live across the street from us.  They both came as bloody, zombie doctors.  They were looking to liven up their costumes with blood stains and didn’t have any red food coloring – the conversation went something like this:

Tiffany – “I said to Ashley, you know who will definitely have food coloring?”
Ashley – “Uh, Patti?”
Tiffany – “Yes! But lets see if we can make it ourselves. We have some red candies to top cupcakes with. We can melt them down with a little corn syrup and water.”
Ashley & Tiffany – “Patti would be so proud of us!”

And so I was. They looked great. So great that a spartan wanted an exam, so I pulled Tiffany out of there. We were both grateful. LOL.

From there, Eric and I took our leave. Walking home in the misty moonlight with our shadows reflecting on the sidewalk, the Minotaur and Medusa cuddled up and called it a night.

Hope your Halloween was special. Because you are special to me.

xoxo, Patti

Oh Darlings, this week has been a flurry of activity!  What with getting ready for Halloween (almost done with Eric’s costume!) and all our other events.  Crystal and I took some time to breathe deep and enjoy a night out with our wonderful friend Kathryn, who just finished the 3 Day Walk for Cancer (20 miles per day!)  Our destination – The Atlanta Botanical Gardens.  Now, I have lived in Atlanta on and off since 1992 and have never been here.  Oh, what I’ve been missing!  And Kathryn chose this night so we could watch the Chefs Pumpkin Carving Contest.  Kevin Gillespie of this season’s Top Chef was one of the competitors (we saw him in the lobby after the challenge and he looked beat).  But there was so much more than that to see.  Custom Scarecrows dotted the landscape with their spooky and funny personalities.  I have just got to share with you.

First one up – A giant panda with a giant cupcake!

A dragon made from recycled cans

“Will work for food”

Me, with the cooking crow lady

Very hungry pumpkin baby

Pumpkins all laid out for carving

Part of the Henry Moore Exhibit

My favorite photo of the evening
One pink lady’s slipper

One of the pumpkin entries

Trophy?

What does any of this have to do with cooking? Well, not a whole lot. But we did see Kevin Gillespie from Top Chef and lots of those scarecrows involved food or cooking (Atlantans love to eat!)  We girls just wandered around, catching up with each other and getting to know Kat’s friend Gabrielle.

I arrived home after 9pm – Eric was just winding down from his workday.  Neither of us had eaten. What’s for dinner?  I’ll tell you what’s for dinner – pappardelle and boar ragu, that’s what.

Remember my advice about a stocked pantry?  We were sitting down to a gourmet dinner in less than 15 minutes.

Today – making lunches with Lisa at her Cabbagetown Market – come say hi!

xoox, Patti

UPDATE: Read more about our Pie Off at my friend Mr. Tim’s blog

Happy Sunday, Darlings.  Saturday was so wonderful. Just a perfect day.  I got up early to make my sweet potato pie for the neighborhood pie off. Eric got up very soon after (on a Saturday!)  There was a park dedication across the street from our house with a cookout and live music, as well as the pie off at Tim and Becky’s house.  The pie off is well loved by our neighborhood and this was the second annual. Becky made everything look so beautiful and the pies were so spectacular that every photo was fab.  Let’s share:

BBQ on the park

Waiting for the contest to start
(there I am in the green sweater and pink scarf)<

Pies awaiting judgement

The categories were sweet and savory

Miss Becky’s Incredible Key Lime Pie

My darling boys, Taruan & Chioke, enjoying pie<

Our bestie, Jeff, who would kill me if he knew I put his photo up – Shhh.

Someone liked my pie!

Kids love pie

This is still such a new contest that all the rules and regulations are still being set. When I first brought my pie to Tim and Becky’s house, I was told to write the type of pie on a card so no one would know who made it.  Then it was decided to have a “Parade of Pies” for all the contestants.  Um….wouldn’t everyone know who we were if were parading with our pies? Lol. I love our little small town neighborhood that lives under the guise of being “big city.”  Today we were all Mayberry.

Yesterday was a favorite type of day. Scheduled to make cookies with my friend Dawn and her little one, Megan.

But best laid plans – Dawn had a family emergency and could not make it.  I had just put together the sugar cookie dough for our afternoon.  Hmmmm….we had folks coming over for movie night and I had a bundle of candy, snacks and popcorn.  How about one more treat?

I saw online where someone had made finger cookies. So cute. I only wish I can remember where I saw it so I could give them credit.

Anyhoo, I shaped the dough into fingers and topped the fingernails with raspberry jam. Don’t they look cool?

Ohhh, spooky!

Tray full of spooky!

I baked them at what I thought would be the appropriate time and temperature, but they took longer than I expected. A lot longer.  And how did I not expect them to expand like crazy? Like any cookie would.  What I ended up with was what Miss DeVore called “Monster Fingers”.  Or “Ogre Fingers” – I like that one, too.

Oh! You would like to see a picture of the finished product? Well, ok.

Even scarier Monster Fingers

So, my advice to you, if you choose to make these, is use very small pieces of dough.  Roll them very long and skinny and they should look more like people fingers. But monster fingers are fun.

Last night at movie night we previewed Drag Me To Hell from Sam Raimi. Campy, funny and sometimes scary.  There were 10 of us nibbling on Halloween Candy, Swedish Fish, Twizzlers, Monster Fingers, Cajun Trail Mix and of course, Popcorn.  A fun night was had by all.

We had three snack stations so no one had to wait

More snacks and party favors

Today, we are off to the neighborhood Pie Contest, in which I am entering a Sweet Potato Pie. Yum. I will report back on all the pie-y goodness.

Make your Saturday count!

xoxo, Patti