Friday, October 09, 2009
Turkish Coffee
Sunday, September 20, 2009
We are still up to our eyeballs in unpacking, painting, and settling in. Most of the boxes are labeled, some of them aren't, and I've forgotten what's in many of them and what all we had. The other day, I said, "It's a little bit like Christmas, opening so many packages and being surprised!" Anyway, we finally got all of the floors finshed, the office and bedroom painted, some plumbing work done, and the air conditioner fixed. We absolutely love our new condo and the complex. It's a gated community and has 4 pools, one of which is a heated indoor pool with a spa. There's a sauna, and an exercise room. Additionally, there is a newspaper box where you can purchase the ABQ Journal whenever you want as well as candy, snack, and soda machines. There are 4 immaculate laundry rooms, an onsite manager 5 days a week, landscapers, handy men, and 24 hour security which walks the premises at night. The complex is just minutes (within walking distance) of the Winrock mall which has plans to expand and renovate under a new name and the new ABQ Uptown Center which is gorgeous w/ shops and restaurants. There's a Starbuck's and Trader Joe's nearby as well as a couple of lovely parks and bike paths. There are also several bus stops nearby. The complex was originally built as a retirement community, but over recent years discontinued that practice. Lucky us! We had planned to rent out our old unit to a typical renter, however, it appears that a movie company may want to rent it for a while, so hopefully, that will work out. We recently visited family in Arkansas and are looking forward to visiting more family in New York via Amtrak next month. In the meantime, we are both working full time and sometimes find ourselves a bit overwhelmed. Oh, and today is our 13th wedding anniversary! We commented yesterday about how we've survived a lot of stress together over the years and are happy to report that we couldn't be closer or more in love.I am slowly getting the kitchen in order, but I cannot find my pots! They are buried in one of the few remaining boxes...I hope! I can't wait to start some serious cooking in my new little galley kitchen and am looking forward to sharing recipes again.
In the meantime, please enjoy this video clip of a new cookbook I've ordered, titled, Alice's Kitchen; Traditional Lebanese Cooking
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Moving Angst and Anticipation
Funny thing, we both woke up the other day reporting a sleepless night and crazy dreams of misplaced light fixtures and things not falling into place like we planned. We looked at each other and for a moment panicked wondering, “What have we done?! We’re leaving our home. All the familiar will be gone, except for our stuff. What if we don’t like the new place. What if we don’t like our neighbors. What if they don’t like us? What if we don’t get everything ready in time for the movers? What if….what if…” We’ve lived in this place for nearly 15 years. We have made many wonderful memories here. We raised Charels’ two boys, celebrated many holidays and birthdays, shed tears, experienced joy, made plans, been sick, been well, faced challenges, and climbed mountains. Together. Once the freak out passed, we realized that we made this decision based on all the reasons we DON’T like this place and why we chose the new place. So we’re “chill”. We are imagining all the wonderful new memories and fun we’re going to have in our new place. One thing I’m real excited about is the fact that the new place has a, albeit small, little patch of dirt that I can plant some herbs and flowers. I can’t wait for next Spring to get going on that! Anyway, I don’t have time for any more blathering. We must get busy! Together.
Saturday, August 08, 2009
One Bite at a Time
The new condo is wonderful. The complex has 2 indoor and 2 outdoor pools, an exercise room w/ machines, a lovely club house, nice landscaping, and 24 hour security. It is in an area where there has been and will continue to be much development w/ shops, restaurants, you name it, all within walking distance. We can’t wait until we are there and settled. The settling part will take some time because we are planning a trip to visit my husband’s family in Arkansas in early September and a visit to my family in New York later in the fall. Oh, did I mention the condo needs to be painted?
Then of course, there’s extra work for me. I’ve taken on extra cases and will be doing some traveling 2 hours west of ABQ at least once a month to see clients. So all of this begs the question: “How do you eat an elephant.”

Friday, July 10, 2009
God Gave Me Cotton Candy For Breakfast
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Towers, Heads, and Bavarian Treats
We enjoyed this lovely meal at the Bavarian Inn in Custer, South Dako
Enjoy this clip of the North By Northwest trailer. It's one of Hitchcock's best, so put it on your must see list if you haven't already!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
A Vintage Find and a Comfort Cake
A couple of weeks ago, we visited our favorite antique mall where I picked up this great find for only $20.00! It was in pristine condition with NO stains! I love these old cotton tablecloths from the 40’s. They are quite a collector’s item and one can find many to choose from on Ebay.
I have been doing a fair bit of cooking and recently made this wonderful coffee cake. My version, below, was inspired by a recipe on the Food Network site.
Sour Cream Coffee Cake
Cake Ingredients:
1 ½ sticks of softened butter
1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ¼ cups sour cream
2 ½ cups cake flour (not self-rising)
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon kosher salt
Streusel Ingredients:
¼ cup light brown sugar, packed
½ cup all purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
3 tablespoons cold butter, cut into pieces
Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a Bundt pan.
For the cake: Cream the butter and sugar with a mixer for 5 minutes, until light. Add the eggs, one at a time, then add the vanilla and sour cream. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture to the batter until just combined. Finish stirring with a spatula to be sure the batter is completely mixed.
For the streusel: place the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, and butter in a bowl and pinch together with your fingers until it forms a crumble.
Scatter half of the streusel into the bottom of the pan, spreading it out. Spoon half the batter on top, in globs to make spreading it out easier. Sprinkle the rest of the streusel on top and then finish with the remainder of the batter.
Bake for 50-60 minutes, until a thin knife comes out clean. Turn upside down on a cooling rack, dust with powdered sugar and let cool. Place on a plate, slice, and enjoy!
Enjoy this clip about how to care for your teeth after you've eaten this yummy cake!
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Snickerdoodles
1 cup shortening (part butter or margarine – I used ½ cup Jungle shortening and ½ cup butter)
1 ½ cups sugar
2 eggs
2 ¾ flour (I used Gold Medal Organic)
2 tsp. cream of tarter
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Mix shortening, 1 ½ cups of the sugar, and eggs thoroughly. Measure flour by dipping method. Blend flour, cream of tartar, soda, and salt; stir in. Shape dough in 1” balls. Roll in mixture of 2 tbsp. sugar and 2 tsp. cinnamon. Place 2” apart on silpat mat placed on cookie sheet. Bake 10 minutes.




