It’s time to play “What the Heck is That?!?”   Here is a refresher of how it works – I post three closeup photos of items found in my kitchen. You leave a comment telling me what you think one, two, or all three of the items are.  And remember, a wrong guess is immensely more fun for everyone than no guess at all!

As with Round 1, there is one small restriction. Marissa, you may not post your guess or guesses until after 6 PM (Pacific Time). I am fearful of your knowledge of my kitchen. Connor, you can play whenever you want, I have no fear of your observation of my kitchen, nor do I believe you will even see this – until weeks from now… if ever.  Sigh…

I will post the answers and full photos of the 3 items tomorrow. Let the game begin!

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Although it has taken me much longer than usual to get into the Christmas spirit this year, here is what finally motivated me to just “do it!”  It is an essay written by my daughter, Marissa, when she was in elementary school. It used to hang in my bedroom, but was taken down quite a while ago.  Luckily, I ran across it yesterday, just in time. I hope it warms your heart, it certainly did, mine!

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Happy 24th Birthday to my gorgeous, talented, loving, conscientious, kind, beautiful, wonderful daughter, Marissa!

I’m hoping you won’t mind all these pictures I’m going to post here. From this top one taken during the last months of your senior year at the University of Arizona… to this one when you were the only ballerina in black tights – when you were just over four years old.

Then there is this next picture, taken on your fourth birthday. You were obviously NOT happy that there was snow on the saguaros on December 1st in Arizona! Some things don’t change – you’re still always saying it’s too cold.

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Everyone has their favorite way to eat up their leftover Thanksgiving turkey. I’d guess that a good old turkey sandwich would be the hands-down winner for most of us. I like my sandwich one way and one way only – on white bread that is slathered in Miracle Whip with sliced turkey breast only. I don’t eat any of the leftover sides, I just relish that sandwich and I am as happy as can be. If I haven’t remembered to purchase a jar of Miracle Whip before Thanksgiving so that it is ready to be cracked open on the Friday after… well, someone (someone who is not me!) is going to the store to get me my Miracle Whip! Mayo will not do! I buy the smallest jar because this is the only thing I ever use it for, leftover turkey sandwiches.

Connor, on the other hand, makes a sandwich that looks like this…

He’s got the required white bread, but tops it with turkey (white or dark), then spoons on the gravy and the stuffing, tops that with the other slice of bread and heats it in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Interesting, but not to my taste.  Marissa also must have the breast only and tops her’s with cranberry sauce and eats some stuffing and maybe some gravy on the side.  Finally there is Dave, he will eat it all and will eat it any and every way, sandwich or a full redo of the Thanksgiving plate.

After a couple or three sandwiches, I am through with the turkey, then it is time to remake it into an entirely different meal, such as this lasagna. Now this is how you get rid of leftover turkey!

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Happy Birthday to my dear mother-in-law, Patricia Hopkins, who turns 85 today! We are in Rockton, Illinois to celebrate with her.  It was a short five years ago that the whole family threw Mom an 80th birthday party. The pictures here are from that lovely November day, five years ago. The first is of Mom and her three sons; Roger, Tom, and Dave.  In the next, she is pictured with her three daughters-in-law; myself, Beth, and Debra. And lastly, a picture of the birthday buffet. (And now I’ve added a photo at the bottom from this year’s 85th birthday dinner)

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We had our friends, Steve and Tram, over for dinner on Sunday. Well, golf and dinner for the boys and antiquing and dinner for Tram and I.  As an added bonus, Marissa arrived home at about 5:00, just in time for dinner. She had been in Tucson for UofA’s Homecoming and was able to drop in on Scottsdale for a whirlwind 22 hours.

This was a new sort of dinner party for us, I had a co-chef in the kitchen! Steve is a fabulous cook and he actually ended up making more dishes than I did. Plus he and Tram provided the main ingredient – halibut – that they caught themselves, in Alaska last summer. So Good! Steve and I each took half of the halibut and cooked it our own way.

To top off the perfect day, Tram brought THE MOST gorgeous and delicious angel food cake that I have ever seen or have had the pleasure of eating. She made it from a recipe recently given to her from her mother-in-law. It was divine! If she decides to share it with me (I didn’t even ask yet – I mean she just got it from her MIL!), and if she gives me permission, I will share it with you. Until then just drool over that picture above! Oh my!

Today I am sharing with you Steve’s recipe for halibut with limoncello sauce. If you were smart enough to make the homemade limoncello I taught you how to make last year, then you are ready to crank this out. If not, purchased limoncello is perfectly wonderful to use too.

Thank you Tram and Steve! xoxo

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… from Mother Nature and Father Time!

Dave and I at our neighborhood Halloween Party on Saturday night.

It was always our Halloween tradition to make grilled pizzas before the kids went out to trick-or-treat. It didn’t matter if it was just the four of us, or if each of the kids had a dozen friends over, each person present made their own personal-size pizza. Dave and I and any of our friends who pop over will be making pizzas tonight out on the grill.  I’ll share the recipe and pictures with you tomorrow.

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Before your tip of the week… a huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my “birthday sister”, Laura Dileen Galloway Heffron! Laura and I have been friends since high school, when we discovered our birthdays were only one day apart. Laura was my maid-of-honor 26 years ago and is Marissa’s godmother. I was a bridesmaid in her wedding and I am godmother to 2 of her 3 sons. Happy Birthday, Laura! I love you!

This picture is of Laura and I visiting my Aunt Beverly in Del Mar, CA back in the summer of ’78 or ’79. Laura and I were just high school girls standing there all awkward – while Bev poses all sexy… too funny! Bev’s birthday is Sunday, so I’ll take this opportunity to say Happy Birthday, Aunt Bev, I love you too!

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It’s no secret, I love my birthday. You know that person who complains that they are another year older? Yeah, I am the complete opposite of that person. Birthdays are a gift unto themselves.

I love October, I love the 27th, I love that I was born in a year ending with zero, what can I say, I just love my birthday. In fact, when I schedule posts in advance on this very blog, I set them up to post at 10:27 AM. So there you go, now you know.

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photo courtesy of http://www.verdecanyonrr.com/

On Saturday, Dave and I drove 25 miles from Sedona to Clarkdale to ride the Verde Canyon Railroad through the Verde Canyon along the beautiful Verde River in Northern Arizona. The train passes by ancient Sinagua Indian dwellings carved into the mountainsides and ends up in Perkinsville, a deserted ghost ranch, and then turns around and comes back.  In the 1960’s a few scenes from the classic western “How the West Was Won” featuring George Peppard, Debbie Reynolds, and Eli Wallach, were filmed in Perkinsville.

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