Soaking up the December Sun

Next year at this time we will be back on the east coast...so this year, we are soaking up every minute of the warm weather we have been having in Southern California.  Yesterday we met up with our East Coast friends for a little picnic lunch...California style.

Preparing for the picnic...we made Ina Garten's corn chowder and kept it warm by heating a pizza stone and a Le Creuset and then putting the soup cups in the heated pot until we got to the beach. This kept the cups of soup piping hot until we arrived at the beach.  Box lunches included sandwiches, chips and chocolate chip blondies with sea salt wrapped in parchment paper.  We loaded the car with beach chairs, table in a bag, cooler and footballs and had a wonderful afternoon enjoying 75º temperatures.

setting the holiday table

Yesterday I stopped at Micheal's and purchased inexpensive Chargers (on sale for $1) and came home and painted them with chalk board paint.  Today I wrote our names and Merry Christmas in different languages on each.  I used a vintage bed spread to cover  the table, votives in jars wrapped with a little bakers twine, a crystal tree given to us by my mom and glassware purchased a long time ago at American Rag Cie in Los Angleles.

The Advent Calendar was looking a little empty...so as the cards began filling the mailbox, I started to hang them in the spaces that once held the bags filled with little gifts.  One more to go...

This arrived a few days ago...from Amber.  You may know her as The Girl is Craftee.  I have to tell you it made my day!  Thank you Amber and to everyone who leaves a comment or takes the time to send an email...it means the world to me.  Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

 

                                                                                     xo

                                                                                   annie

panini sandwiches + leftovers

left-o-ver - 1.  Usually, leftover.  food remaining at the end of the meal, especially when saved for a later use.  2.  anything left or remaining from a larger amount; remainder.

We love leftovers and generally make things that will eventually be used again in another dish.  One way we use leftovers is for panini sandwiches.  Almost anything goes...

It started with leftover biga or bread starter.  Since that is a 24 hour process I did not want it to go to waste...so what else is a girl to do?  Make more bread of course.  

We had a little very thinly sliced prosciutto, one apple and some cheddar.

A drizzle of olive oil on the top slice and thinly sliced apples on top of the prosciutto and cheese.

I'm not one to like a lot of kitchen gadgets, but a panini press is one thing I could not live without.  Thanks to my dear friend Eileen who was responsible for getting me a job at William Sonoma it is just one of the many items I purchased while working there.  The one I have is made by Breville and it's worth every penny.

Pink, more Glassybaby love and we have a winner!

First, to honor National Breast Cancer Awareness month I have changed my background color to pink.  Secondly, thank you Valerie at Glassybaby.  I absolutely adore my new "bff" glassybaby and use it all over my house.  Valerie sent me a link from You Tube and it sort of explains the feeling people have about the company and the product.  During the last year, two of my closest friends have been diagnosed with cancer and that is when I came across the company Glassybaby..  So, thank you to those reading my blog, leaving comments and sending emails.  I really really appreciate it. . .  the winner of a Glassybaby of your choice is:  Adrienne of the beautiful blog, The Rich Life (on a Budget).  I used Random.org and the winner was #16 and 16th comment was from Adrienne.       

October + Halloween

What I love about Halloween is that it's in the fall and I LOVE fall.   And I love that it's at the very end of the month so I can decorate on the first of October and enjoy it until the end. 

This makes me happy every single Halloween.  My friend Nancy (the same friend that gave me the thank you fold out book I wrote about here)gave me this little photo album to be  filled with photos of my kids and their friends dressed up in costumes throughout the years.  From Piglet to a Rockette, to Darth Vader and Dracula.  I love them all and it's so fun to look back through the years. 

                                                                   

Kelsey's homemade poptarts

My daughter's friend Kelsey knows how much Madeline loves poptarts and yesterday dropped off on our doorstep a sweet surprise.  Homemade poptarts!  They are as good as they look she got the recipe here.  These are not the kind of poptarts I would naturally think of...a dry pastry (if you could even call it a pastry) filled with strawberry and some sort of fake icing on top.  These are more like a delicious pie with a buttery, even flaky crust filled with strawberry jam, lightly iced and a dash of pink and green sprinkles that melt in your mouth.  I've never tasted anything more delicious!