2009 The Year In Review

How do you describe 2009? It was a year where everything happened and nothing happened. Strange, huh?

We started and ended the year with a crappy economy. The 'change' that the new Obama administration promised amounted to very little actual change. Now I'm not entirely blaming President Obama, anyone with half a brain knew he couldn't fix everything at once, but I am a little upset about the planed troop surge in Afghanistan and I think the new "Health Care Reform" amounts to a lot of nothing that doesn't address the real problem with our health care system - cost. It would have been simple and easy to fix everything - just tell all medical providers that if they take ANY government funds, then the most they can charge ANY patient (regardless of their insurance status) is the Medicare/Medicaid 'reasonable and customary". Then the undue burden of excess charges wouldn't have to be laid at the feet of the people least likely to afford it. Seriously people, if I sold my marshmallows to one group and charged them $5.00 but to another group charged $1000.00, how long would you think most people would put up with that? But that's what happens and why the cost of healthcare is astronomical. Insurance companies would still exist (in fact it would help encourage more insurance companies to exist because smaller providers could then compete with the huge conglomerates) and doctors who wanted to charge huge fees would still exist, in fact it would create more 'boutique' and 'concierge' doctors because rich people will still pay more voluntarily. All it would do is create a reasonable pricing structure. Not socialized medicine. We'd still choose our doctors, we'd still have uninsured patients but they would be more likely to be able to afford their bills. Does it solve every problem? No. But it does address the biggest problem without costing a single dime. Feel free to use this, you Washington politicians who have NO CLUE about the realities of dealing with the problem. If you need more advice, call me.

On a personal level, this year was one of huge change and yet I still haven't felt the impact of that change very much. Will and Val got married in May, after much stressful planning on my part. I don't regret a minute of it, the bride got her Masters degree on time, the wedding was beautiful and if I ever find my Mr. Close Enough, I'm eloping. Seriously, I'm so happy for them and I think they are both wonderful people who are committed to making their marriage a great one. It's not always easy, but they know that marriage takes work and communication. Bravo!

The wedding not only let me plan and execute a wedding but simply baking some cookies for the bridal shower led me to a new path on my life journey. Last year at this time I had no idea that I would be a small business owner. But those cookies led to more cookies, that wedding cake led to more wedding cakes and all of that led to a marshmallow empire (okay, not empire but still a thriving marshmallow enterprise.) I'm still in a bit of shock and awe of it all. But it proves to me that if you love something and you are willing to put in the time and effort, the American dream is still alive and well. And it also proves that if you love it, it doesn't feel like work. Plus I get to eat leftover cookies, cupcakes and marshmallows, it's like a dream (of course, considering the size of my ass, it's probably more of a nightmare.)

I also acted in my first feature film this year, and it was a BLAST. Seriously, if you ever get the chance to make a movie with your friends, jump at it. You will have so much fun (and now I know why directors like Wes Anderson, Kevin Smith and Jon Favreau use the same casts over and over again, because playing with your friends is so cool.) I don't think the reality of the movie has hit me yet and it probably won't until I'm sitting in a theater watching it. The first cast and crew screening should happen in January and the film is being sent for consideration at film festivals around the world. Our goal is ten festivals in 2010. So hopefully it will be coming to a theater near you!

The Graminator continues to slowly fade away in memory and this year has been really rough. But she got to go to her grandson's wedding and she continues to teach me patience and understanding. We laugh together every day and she lets me sing my silly songs (I use songs and repetition to help her memory as much as I can) and when I get angry or frustrated or upset, she is compassionate and helpful and encouraging. She is my burden and my blessing in one. So I guess though my family I've gotten the wedding I never thought I'd have and the child I never thought I'd have (although she's my 88 year old baby!) I've learned that you may get everything you want in life, it just might not be the way you thought it would happen.

Okay, so what's up for 2010? With the New Year starting on a full (and blue) moon, who knows? But tomorrow is resolution day!

Favorite Christmas Memory

I have lots of Christmas memories and I hold each one dear in my heart. My family is my blessing and for them I am grateful. This year I have chosen to hold onto and remember forever - me and The Graminator singing loudly (and most decidedly off key) "Meet Me in St. Louis" on Christmas Eve.
I don't know how such a silly little thing can mean so much. Bless you Judy Garland.

Cards and Greetings

Today I go the first my first Christmas card of the season. Or should I say holiday card? Because while I'm not particularly religious (and had parents of varying faiths) I generally adapt to the tradition of a secular Christmas. (But to my Jewish friends and Loyal Readers, Happy Hanukkah!) In past years I have bought cards that had the message "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings" not to be 'politically correct', but out of respect for my friends and their various multitude of religious, spiritual and secular beliefs. Plus it's cheaper than buying Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice and all other kinds of cards. So I can completely understand why the first card I received had "Season's Greetings" on it. Non-denominational means that all of your recipients can place their own meaning on the season and you respect everyone, equally. But it seems that while I took the card in the manner in which I'm pretty sure it was intended, a lot of people are mad about this same card.

Oh, did I mention that the card was from the President and Mrs. Obama? From the White House? Yeah. It's nice and I like it, but I'm pretty sure the Obama's didn't say, "Oh, yeah, don't forget Shae!". I think that I got it because as a Democrat and a caucus volunteer last year I made someone's list and that got me on the White House list. I'm flattered because, no offense intended, I never got one from the Clinton White House (and I voted for that dude twice!)

It's a lovely card, much nicer that any I have bought to send out. I usually get my cards at the Dollar store or on sale for 75% off after Christmas. Heck the last two years, I haven't even sent out cards, I've sent our economical and eco-friendly emails. This one is nice and thick and classy looking so I'm betting the Obama's didn't get them at "99 Cents Only". But I guess a lot of people are mad that the card didn't specifically say "Merry Christmas". Um, okay, but then the White House would have to send all it's Jewish supporters a Hanukkah card. And what if they send the wrong card out? I mean, not all people with 'Jewish sounding' last names are Jews and not all Christian sounding names are Christians. Think of the mess that could lead to. So I think the formal and lovely "Season's Greetings" card is both lovely and appropriate. But Fox News doesn't. So I hope the White House didn't send them one.

I do have one dilemma about this card. Does this mean I have to send the Obama's a holiday card now?

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The First Snacksgiving

So yesterday my family celebrated it's first Snacksgiving. Because it was just going to be the Golden Girls for the holiday, I didn't want to do the whole turkey thing. So instead of making one giant meal to consume (and have tons of leftovers) we decided to eat all day long.

First, wardrobe. I had a new pair of lounging pants that were all fleecey and cozy. (They also shed all over the house, but they were cute and comfortable while they did it.) I baked yeast cinnamon rolls and we settled in to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and read the Black Friday ads from the paper. This was the first year in a long, long time, that I actually sat down to watch the parade. I'm usually stuffing the turkey or, when The Graminator was living at her house, driving to her place to put the turkey in her oven. So it was nice to watch the NBC smug-a-thon and do running commentary. I particularly enjoyed John Stamos' performance from "Bye, Bye Birdie".

After the parade is the National Dog Show, which we love. John O'Hurley isn't quite as funny a commentator as the one in the movie "Best in Show" but he's still better than the Westminster guy. We were rooting for the Scottie, and she won. During the dog show we enjoyed the 'cheese and cracker' course of Snacksgiving. I made our Thanksgiving staple, which is homemade cranberry sauce over cream cheese served with Ritz crackers (I know it sounds weird but it's actually really good, and so addicting. Plus the cranberry sauce I made this year turned out extra good.) I also made spinach artichoke dip which we ate with flatbread crackers. Yum.

It was two o'clock when the dog show ended and The Graminator wanted a nap. Mom and I decided that a nap sounded good to us too, so we each headed off to our rooms for a little snooze as well. Our nap was interrupted by my bother calling to say that they made it to Modesto okay. Even with the interruption, we agreed that it was a lovely nap, so very indulgent and decadent.

After the nap, we cleaned up the kitchen and I started making the 'hot snacks' portion of the day. I made tenderloin of beef crostini with blue cheese and caramelized onions. (In the interest of full disclosure, while technically we didn't have a holiday 'meal', on Wednesday I did make an herb crusted beef tenderloin, twice baked potatoes and haricot vert. I used the leftovers from that for the crostini. I did all of the prep cooking on Wednesday so that Snacksgiving would be as easy as possible.) I also made some crab cakes and supplemented with mushroom turnovers and mini cheese souffles from Trader Joes. Oh, and deviled eggs, you can't have Snacksgiving without deviled eggs. We consumed that while watching the movie "Almost Famous" which is my favorite Cameron Crowe film and I thought my mom would enjoy the period piece featuring her favorite style of music.

After the movie, we cleaned up the kitchen (again, cleaning was minimal, mostly plates and utensils, no pans to soak or scrub.) we watched the CBS Monday sitcoms, which I DVR during the "Dancing with the Stars" season and enjoyed the 'sweets' portion of Snacksgiving. I made mini pecan pies in phyllo crusts and a pumpkin custard (okay, it was crustless pumpkin pie.) That way we had a taste of the holiday in mini-portion size.

My favorite part of Snacksgiving? The complete lack of stress. It was such a relaxing day (did I mention the Winter Sangria we drank starting with the "hot snacks' course?) No fuss, no muss, just good food, good conversation and good entertainment. Of course we missed the company of our larger family, but without them here, this was definitely the way to go. And because we ate small snack courses throughout the day, we never had that "oh my god, I'm so stuffed, I ate five carb dishes together" feeling.

I know what you are thinking, "But Shae, you don't get any delicious leftover turkey sandwiches". Well, we have that covered too. Today, after my mom gets off work, she's going to stop at Capriotti's and pick up a Bobbie. For those of you not from Delaware or Las Vegas, Capriotti's is a sub sandwich shop that makes their own turkey and roast beef (not sliced sandwich meat, but the real home roasted kind) and one of their signature sandwiches is the "Bobbie", which is turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and mayo on a roll. Yup, it's basically Thanksgiving on a bun. So tonight for dinner we are having 'leftover' turkey sandwiches without having to make the turkey. Smart, huh? The best of both worlds.

Whether you celebrated Thanksgiving, Snacksgiving or something else entirely, I hope, Loyal Readers, that you are as blessed as I am to have such wonderful family and friends. I am thankful for you. And deviled eggs. But mostly you.

Lonely Thanksgiving

Normally, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. But this year, not so much. See, if I could, I would have a giant Thanksgiving with tons of people. I love to cook and to eat and to share with everyone, and isn't that what Thanksgiving is all about? But my father was an only child with no cousins and my mother has only one brother and one sister, both of whom live elsewhere. And while my brother did get married this year, that means they split their time between families, and this year that means going to Modesto for Thanksgiving. My Uncle Stuart and his girlfriend Roberta usually come down to have the holidays with us (because Roberta is allergic to sage, I'm the only one who will cook a sage-free Thanksgiving meal for her.) But they have both come down with the swine flu and don't want to come and risk infecting The Graminator. So that means that this year, I will be cooking Thanksgiving dinner for three.

Now, I cook dinner nearly every night, and I usually make pretty good meals (so far this week we have had pork chops stuffed with apples, cranberries and pecans with an apple-balsamic reduction and crispy rosemary shrimp over garlicky beans and spinach. Just so you know that I'm no Martha Stewart, tonight we are having chili dogs). And I love the traditional Thanksgiving meal. But it's a lot of work. I make my own turkey stock for the gravy, stew down fresh pumpkins for the pies, etc. And I'm not sure I want to go through all of that for just the three of us (and The Graminator only eats enough to qualify as a half serving really.) Christmas will only bring Stuart and Roberta to the table (Will and Val are going to Modesto for that holiday too - we are trying to talk them into splitting it up next year so both families get them for one or the other holiday) but I could make the huge turkey dinner then. So what should I do for this Thanksgiving? The only recipes that I've found appealing so far have been one for Winter Sangria and one for Pomegranate-Rosemary Champagne Cocktail (hmm, do you sense an adult beverage theme?) So do I make a turkey? Do I make an alternative but equally festive meal? Do I just heat up a T.V. dinner and drink my way to Christmas? Help, Loyal Readers, what should I do?

So I have to add to my 'dream man' list of qualities I am looking for in a mate. In addition to smart and funny, he needs to have at least two siblings, with spouses and children, who want ME to cook for the holidays. Owning a large cabin in lovely wooded area (with Christmas being lightly snowy) would be a bonus. Yes, I want to live in a Norman Rockwell painting.

Long Time Gone

Sorry, my few Loyal Readers who still check the blogs to see what's going on, that I haven't been keeping up my end of the bargain.

After months of buying new accessories, pictures and painting huge swatches of paint on the walls, we finally started the redecorating process. Picking a paint was a HUGE ordeal! After starting with the idea that we wanted a blue-green, there was the search for the right blue-green. Not too blue, not too green. Then we found the perfect drapes for the Cape Cod concept my mother desired, only the blue stripe in them was blue, not blue-green. So we had to go back and find a blue paint. It took forever but we finally settled on a color called "Lament" (hmm, should we have taken that as a warning?) After months of not getting started, one Sunday I decided we would paint the hallway ceiling first. My mom was not happy about it, I think she would have preferred to procrastinate longer. But once the ceiling was painted she got into the swing of things and decided that the walls and doors in the hallway were next.

So off to Lowe's for a gallon of Lament in an eggshell finish and white semi-gloss for the hall doors. After getting it all painted, it looked very nice, but very, VERY blue. Maybe too blue for an entire house. So my mom decided that perhaps in the living room we would have one blue accent wall and the other walls would be perhaps a dried wheat color. So off we went again in search of samples, painting them on the wall. The first was too pink, looking like we painted the wall with my makeup foundation. The second, too white, it would have blended with the furniture. The third was just right. The only problem was that it was a Dutch Boy color called "Butter Cookie" and Lowe's doesn't sell Dutch Boy. But they said they can match anything so we get a sample can. Eureka, it was perfect. A lovely lightest dried wheat shade that went with the blue and the drapes. So off I go to buy two quarts in eggshell for the kitchen.

The man mixes the paint on a very busy night (the lady next to me was buying bright apple green for a bathroom, it was a really, er, bold choice) and puts a dot of color on one of the cans. It looks really light to me but paint dries darker so at first I'm not too concerned. But as I run my other errands (we finally found a great white chair for the computer desk) I keep thinking that it's not the right color. Maybe my mom gave me the wrong paint chip. But no, when I get home, it's the right paint chip but the wrong paint. Not the color we want at all. So my mom heads to Lowe's with the paint and sample to fight it out while I get the kitchen primed (since we are painting over semi-gloss, the paint store man says we need to prime). The paint and the sample were a different mix, the lady at Lowe's agrees, but with no instructions put on the sample can, she tried mixing it several times but can't get the shade we want. So after graciously allowing us a refund, Mom heads to the Dutch Boy store and buys a quart. I paint the kitchen by myself (using some Cirque du Soleil type acrobatics) and we step back to take a look. It looks nice, but it wasn't the exact color we wanted.

So, we decide to leave the kitchen alone, as it isn't seen from most of the other rooms and can stand alone. Plus we had already found this fabulous fabric for curtains in the kitchen window. But we still needed a color for the living room walls. So Mom headed to Lowe's and got yet another sample can. This one was definitely more brown. I could tell she wasn't happy but she was resigned to having to live with it. I can't stand to see anyone unhappy so I headed to Lowe's and picked two more sample cans (if anyone needs a small sample can of paint, please call me, I have plenty laying around). One, called "Baking Stone" looked great to me, but I picked up "Bayshore" as well, just in case. Mom agreed that the paint chip of Baking Stone looked the best. But when I painted some of the sample on the wall, it was quite obviously mixed wrong. AGAIN. It was about two shades darker than the sample chip and this weird brown/green. I opened the Bayshore with little hope. I painted a swatch on the wall. And do you know what? It was almost EXACTLY the color of the sample can of Butter Cookie that they couldn't duplicate. EUREKA!!! We had the paint!

So with a few days of vacation from the bread store we got down to the hard work. I painted the ceiling - not the most fun job in the world but it looks amazing. It's truly remarkable how much your ceiling yellows after the years and how white white can be. Buy the good Kilz ceiling paint, trust me it's worth the investment (and now I have to re-paint the ceiling in the hallway because it's a different white now). Then with the help of Will and Val on Sunday we got the living room painted (I could have painted it myself but I needed help moving furniture.) The transformation is incredible, it looks like a different house.

But we still aren't done. Because the two blue accent walls were primed before painting, they are now a slightly different shade than the hallway. So I have to prime and re-paint the hall. There is one wall in the living room that was painted a little sloppy so I need to go over it again. There are touch ups all over the place. We still have to hang the new pictures and accessories. We have to put the curtains back up. We were hoping to have everything done before Thanksgiving but we won't quite be done. But since it's just the three of us for Thanksgiving (I'll post that story later) we have some time to get it done.

There are also the Christmas stockings I have been crocheting, the Graminator and her memory slide, the charity events I've been helping out with and the NaNoWriMo that I'm way behind on. That's what I've been up to. What have you been doing?

Crazy for Popcorn

I love good popcorn. I'm just old enough to remember when movie theaters had real butter, not 'buttery topping' as the man at the theater described it to me recently. (And the popcorn came in tubs, not paper bags.) When I worked at The Comedy Stop there was a popcorn machine and while it didn't have butter we would sneak in sticks of butter for the corn ourselves. (Shhh, don't tell the management, I may want to work the club again one day.) Microwave popcorn, while edible, isn't quite as good as the popper kind (and don't get me started on air popped, that's just wrong.)

I like the flavored popcorn too. Cheddar, herb, Parmesan, caramel, kettle, chocolate, it's all good. (For the best white chocolate popcorn, go to Danielle's which is also the only place in Las Vegas where I can get caffeine free Dr. Pepper.) A few years ago Will and Val got some popcorn from her folks for Christmas from The Popcorn Factory which is how I discovered the delightful combining of cheese popcorn with caramel popcorn.

Anyone from the Chicago area is familiar with Garrett's Popcorn and their 'mix' which is half cheese popcorn and half caramel popcorn mixed together. I'm into salty and sweet together so this mix is extraordinary. But Garrett's is pricey and has to be shipped. Ditto for Popcorn Factory. I tried a cheap kind from the discount store last holiday ($2.50 for a three gallon drum should have tipped me off, but no) and was sorely disappointed. So imagine my delight when we went to lunch last Sunday (to Cafe Deia for tapas, future post on that later) and I spotted Dyer's Gourmet Popcorn. We had to stop and try some (okay, I had to stop and everyone got dragged along) and boy is it good.

They have several 'everyday' flavors like butter, white cheddar, caramel, caramel pecan (whole pecans, delicious) and they had the "mix". He also has some specials like pina colada, jalapeno and chocolate (which is more like a cocoa kettle corn that a chocolate covered). It's fresh (never more than a few hours old) They offer samples and we had fun trying it. And I got my mix. Oh so good, the caramel is a great but not overpowering caramel corn and the cheese is such a fun orange with great cheesy flavor. Yum.

Now, I wish I could be the business advisor there. He has a lot of things I would improve upon, first of which is a functional website. I swear, I could increase his business by 30% if he's let me make a few suggestions. But instead I'll just keep my mouth shut (mostly to chew the delicious corn!) But if you are ever hankering for some Chicago style popcorn while you are in Vegas and you are out by Durango and Flamingo, head to Dyer's. Get the mix. While you're at it, get me some too!

Whip It Real Good

Friday I went to the movies for the first time in forever (I believe it may have been the first time in 2009) which is unusual for me but with the business plus raising an 88 year old I never have time. But I had received a summons for Grand Jury duty so Mom was home to watch The Graminator and I had already done my hair and makeup (wow, makeup, I know but for me it's a feat) when the court called to tell me I had been excused and didn't need to go. So I decided to get some supplies for a cake I'm doing and go to the movies.

I went to see "Whip It", the roller derby themed directorial debut of Drew Barrymore. It was terrific and I give it two very enthusiastic thumbs up. *SPOILER ALERT* Don't read more if you don't want to know about the film!

Ellen Page (Juno) plays Bliss, a small town Texas teen who doesn't quite fit in. She's not a square peg in a round hole, she just hasn't found her niche yet. When a classmate says to her, "So, you're alternative now?" she answers quizzically "Alternative to what?" Bliss tries to be a good daughter, competing in the town's beauty pageant to please her mother, a former Miss Blue Bell herself who now delivers the mail and lives in a tiny house and pins her lost dreams on her two daughters. Bliss' father loves his kids but can't quite relate to all that estrogen so he watches a lot of football (and looks longingly at the guy next door with his two rough and tumble sons.)

Bliss and her best friend Pash sneak off the bright lights of Austin one Friday night to see an exhibition match of the Texas roller derby league. After the excitement of her first encounter with derby, Bliss tells the captain of the Hurl Scouts ( the losingest team in the league) that "You're my new heros." Maggie (Kristen Wigg from SNL) tells her to come to try outs and "be your own hero".

Bliss straps on her Barbie roller skates and even though she's too timid to hit anyone, makes the Hurl Scouts. Her journey to become "Babe Ruthless" through derby is a fairly typical coming of age story. All of the things that happen to Bliss probably would have happened to her in college anyway. But derby teaches Bliss to stand up for what she wants, to be her own person, even if that person isn't 'mainstream' and that men are pigs (sorry guys). Sure, she takes some hits along the way, but the derby metaphor holds. If you get up, keep going and get a little help from the team, you can "Whip it".

This movie was Girl Power to the max but so much fun that I think even men would like it. It's less about Roller Derby and more about learning about yourself and your relationships with people around you. How the people who may not understand you can still love you and how important family is, whether they are you 'real' family or your teammates.

Brilliant performances by the cast, including Marcia Gay Harden as Bliss's postal carrier mom (I adore her as an actress but find her arched eyebrows just a bit distracting), Andrew Wilson as the Hurl Scouts' coach (he's the third and most underused of the Wilson brothers, Luke and Owen. He has their talent and he's as good looking so I don't know why he isn't in more movies), Juliette Lewis who was awesome as "Iron Maven" the rival team captain who fears that Bliss is going to steal her last chance at a moment of glory, and Daniel Stern as Bliss' dad, who had one of my favorite moments of the film. (Putting out his own yard sign of pride.)

The credits end with the dedication something like (I'm paraphrasing, sorry) "For all the girls who think they can, you can!" and that's how I felt leaving the theater. Empowered and happy. I've heard that some 'real' roller girls aren't happy, that they felt the derby stuff wasn't realistic enough but again, the movie wasn't about derby as much as it was about people. And I learned more about derby than I expected. My grandparents used to watch derby when I was a kid but that's about all I knew. Now I understand how it's played.

Drew did a great job directing, relegating herself to a fairly minor character, the Whole Foods cashier by day and roller derby "Smashley Simpson" by night. The scenes were well shot, the pacing was great and the movie never lost it's focus on Bliss.

I don't roller skate (fear of falling down) and I could never be a roller girl (see fear of falling down compounded with fear of elbows to head, flying over railings and concussion) but I loved the power and freedom those girls had. So while I may not be a derby girl on the track, I'm a derby girl at heart. They all had such awesome names that I wanted my own derby name. So just call me "Ginger Wail" as I wail on you while I pass you on the imaginary track in my head!

Get Out

A friend's sister was a battered wife for apparently a very long time and the years of physical and mental abuse ended in terrible violence. I know what toll emotional and physical abuse can take, and I know what it does to your self-esteem. In my opinion, abusers NEVER change. They can promise you anything, but they will abuse again and again and they will try to make it all your fault. If you are the victim of abuse, get help and get out. Don't hide it, don't excuse it and don't live with it.

Needed a Laugh

I'm feeling a bit sad today. Alzheimer's is robbing me of my sanity while it robs The Graminator of her memory. So here is a laugh from Mitchell and Webb. I love those witty Brits. I laughed out loud. Thanks guys, I needed that.

Hair!

So my hair appointment took four hours yesterday. I went to Marcy at Shag Me, who also does my brother's and sister-in-law's hair so I knew I was in good hands. I just laid down the guidelines and then let her go to work. Here were my hair issues:

1. I have no forehead. It's more of a two-head.
2. I have a widow's peak.
3. I'm not going to spend hours each day doing my hair, so it has to be easy care. But...
4. She had to show me three ways to style it or else it was just gonna get pulled back all the time.
5. I'm not a blonde. Ever.
GO!

First she decided I needed bangs. Although I was a bit nervous (I haven't had bangs since the fifth grade) I said why not - my hair philosophy is that it's grow back out. She asked if I wanted long side bangs (no, because once they get into my face I get irritated and pull them back, see #4) so she decided on "Betty" bangs (after pin-up Betty Page.)

Once the bangs were cut (they still looked awkward at this point because they wanted to go back in the ponytail) we talked color. She decided on a dark brown with red undertones to match my natural hair color (since I can be lazy about touchups) and then lots of thick red highlights all over.

Once color was done (and an eyebrow waxing, I usually do my own but it was a 'pamper me' day) she started cutting my hair. Well, razoring my hair, into choppy little ends. Then she straightened and texturized it. Then she showed me not three but FOUR ways to style it. And the result?



I love it! It's totally not something I would ever have picked out for myself but it looks so cool. The color is amazing and the bangs hide my widow's peak and make my forehead look larger! I feel hipper and fresher than I have in a long time and even got flirted with by the guy at the pizzaria when I picked up dinner (new hair, new confidence, isn't that funny?)

I'll try to post better pics later, but that is one I took last night (please forgive the "no makeup" look.) And if you are ever in a hair rut, call Marcy at Shag Me Salon (702-823-5446). Trust me, you can trust her!!!!

Eclairs and Gougeres, Oh My

So I was obsessed with making gougeres (savory cheese puffs made with pate choux) so one day I just did it. I made a small batch, using pepper jack for the gougeres (which was not a strong enough cheese so next time I will use a sharper, more flavorful cheese.) I also made a vanilla bean pastry cream for the eclairs which I lightened by folding in whipped cream. (Sherry Yard had a name for this mixture in her cookbook but I can't remember for the life of me what it was.) Then I topped them with homemade dark chocolate ganache. They were sooooo good. I made them small, just a couple of bites big, and when I was eating them I wished I had made them HUGE - so it's probably a good thing that I didn't.

All the baking that I'm doing for GCS leaves me little time to bake for myself, but I'm still determined to make black and white cookies and French macaroons. But right this minute, I'm dreaming of big, spicy, gooey cinnamon rolls. Not the ones from the can, but homemade with lots of cream cheese icing. We have a VDE meeting on Saturday and if I have enough time on Friday night, I'm going to make some to take to the meeting.(I have several orders that have to go out on Friday so it's a big if.) As soon as the weather turns cool (it's in the high 70's, which may not seem cool to you but in Vegas it's practically sweater weather) I want to make cozy foods and bake like crazy. Guess I'm in the right business!

Okay, order to pack for shipping, then this afternoon I've got a hair appointment. I have no idea what I'm going to have done, but I'm ready for a radical change. I'll post pics, providing I look okay.

Things I'm So Sick Of

I'm getting really tired of a few things, so I'm going to get this off my chest. Feel free to add your own current peeves to the list!

John and Kate - Ugh! If I hear any more about these two morons I might just have to go postal. Does anyone besides me wish that CPS would take their kids away from them? Both of them need to learn to be responsible adults and quit airing all their dirty laundry in public. Stop acting more childish than your five-year-olds, get your act together and get some therapy for your kids, because they are going to need it! And while we are on the subject...

TLC - when did "The Learning Channel" become, as my mother calls it, "The Sideshow Network"? Shows about little people, families with dozens of kids, toddler beauty pageants and shows like "My Monkey Baby" (seriously, I can't make this up). I'm pretty sure it's only educational in the sense of what NOT to do!

Daily stories about the housing crisis - Is there anyone on the planet who doesn't know that the housing market is in the toilet? Do we seriously need daily reminders? It's bad, we get it, and not only do we get it, we're LIVING it! Enough already, at least make the gloom news weekly instead of daily. This goes for unemployment and slumping cars sales too.

Medication commercials - Okay, we need to ban pharmaceutical sales from television. Not only do I no longer want to hear about fibromyalgia, erectile disfunction, bladder control or cholesterol, but I also never, EVER want to hear the side effects of these medications again. I don't care how bad your nerve pain is, increased risk of suicidal thoughts or actions is not worth it. I also don't need to hear any more about priapism, vomiting, blurred vision, constipation or dry mouth. Remember the good old days when the doctor prescribed medication instead of the patient? Let's go back to that.

People who can't follow traffic laws - It's a law for a reason. For the safety and well being of ALL drivers. So quit running red lights, ignoring the 'right lane must turn right' signs, speeding through school zones, ignoring the right of way and all other gosh darned rude and illegal driving. We get it, you're life is far more important than ours is. But sooner or later you are going to hit someone or something and I don't want it to be me. You can be darned sure that these drivers are the ones complaining about the high cost of auto insurance and the litigious society we live in, but it's their danged fault. Stop it!

This is what's been bugging me lately. What's got a bee in your bonnet?

What I'm Working On

It has been busy around Glitter City Sweets, we doubled our sales in September and believe me, August was busy enough. I'm going to have to hire extra help for the holidays!

We are doing more custom cookies as our reputation gets out there and our marshmallow sales are still booming. We will be offering a homemade hot cocoa and marshmallow combination for the holidays along with pumpkin, caramel and peppermint marshmallows and a variety of holiday cookies. Whew. Bur I love the holidays!

Here is what we've done, just in the past two weeks.


These are table card cookies for a Bar Mitzvah in California. Mazel Tov Michael!


This is "Bunnicula". Apparently he is a vampire rabbit who sucks the life out of carrots. These were designed for the cast of the play based on the book of "Bunnicula". Notice that one ear has the play name and the other ear was personalized for each cast member. We hope those kids had a great show!



Cookies can serve multiple purposes. These, for example, were first an invitation to a birthday, then you can eat them. First birthdays are such a milestone and we are very pleased to be a part of such a special occasion. Happy Birthday Sofia and props to her mom Tami for such a fun invite.


These were favors for a big birthday. Life's a beach! Each cookie was embellished with royal icing on the umbrella, sailboat and starfish. Aren't they adorable? Happy B-Day Barbara.


Our corporate client list keeps on growing. Logo cookies are a great way to say thank you to clients or a unique way to introduce yourself. Who doesn't like getting cookies?


Custom "Welcome to Las Vegas" lollipops for a bride from Texas who came to Vegas to get married. She wanted these for the 'Welcome' bags for her out-of-town guests. I love them!


These lobster cookies are for a wedding in Rhode Island next week. They were sent off just yesterday. They were so much work but they were so worth it. And I love the personalized ribbon, it adds a very special touch. Mucho thanks to Diana at
Chic Favors and Invitations for the ribbons. I'm so happy to have found her and I know we will be working together a lot in the future. Sometimes fate gives you exactly what you need when you need it and Diana is one of those fateful things.


Same bride from Texas but these poker chip cookies were favors for the wedding. I wish Amanda and Craig much happiness, and thanks for letting GCS be a part of your big day!


Champagne anyone? A bit of bubbly for a 40th Birthday in New Jersey.


Huh? Why is there a picture of mushrooms in a post about sweets? Because they are MARSHMALLOW mushrooms. Popular in the U.K, but hard to find in the U.S., we were challenged by a customer to make her some. And they are both realistic and delicious. Even people who hate mushrooms will love these fun fungi!

Yes, that's just SOME of the things we have been up to. We now have handmade gummy candy as well. New products being worked on every day. I also want to thank Maura for her wonderful blog post about Glitter City Sweets, you are the bomb, girlfriend!

Okay, heigh ho, heigh ho, it's back to work I go, marshmallows and a special birthday cake are on the work orders today. Bless Georgie for letting me bake all the time now in her commercial kitchen. My 'couple hours a week' has become a 'couple of hours every day'. It's amazing the generosity you are given sometimes!

X's and O's

Since my last post seemed to stir something, I thought a bit of humor today was called for. You know how I love those Brits for their sassy comedy, so here is a bit of Mitchell and Webb to lighten the day.

XX (and no, I don't think you are twenty, even though you look fabu!)

What's Up With That?

For seven years I worked at the same job. I did my job (pretty well I think considering the evaluations I got) and made what I thought were a lot of lasting relationships. Then I left, not to go work for another company but to pursue my dreams, and I thought my "friends" would be supportive.

Now I understand how easy it is to have your life move on and forget the people you once had daily contact with. But I guess I thought I meant something more. Maybe we all want to feel that we are somehow important in this world and while I knew that life for everyone would go on without me, you still wish people would miss you, even if it's just a teeny tiny bit.

I have always been loyal to my friends. My blog and my life are a pretty open book. I don't write things anonymously and I have never revealed any of the secrets that I was privy to. That's who I am. There are others who write things under pseudonyms and tell tales out of school and I'll admit that while it's pretty entertaining it's not something I could ever do.

So it hurts me that my emails go unanswered and that my 'friend requests' are denied, mostly because I just don't understand. I always internalize and wonder what it is that I did. Of course it is a very small minority of people that I am talking about here but it wounds me none the less. To the best of my knowledge I have done nothing to these people so it leaves me in that odd limbo of hurt feelings and wild supposition.

But I am now another year older (yes, Loyal Readers, another birthday has passed, and the custard was delicious) and supposedly a bit wiser (although I'm not sure exactly when all that wisdom is scheduled to show up) and so, after this emo post, I shall let it go. I cannot control the actions of others (although my evil twin is currently conducting experiments to do exactly that) and I can only control my own (but just barely.)

And now my time for wallowing is done (I had a friend who only allowed 15 minutes of wallow time, which I follow and it saves me a ton of money on anti-depressants) and I must go decorate 150 lobster cookies for a wedding in Newport, RI. I am trying to make the world a sweeter place, one cookie at a time. I will post pictures soon of all the work I have done recently!

But Was The Custard Good?

Okay, let's settle this once and for all. Recently, writer/actress Mindy Kaling (better known as Kelly Kapoor on "The Office") was on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. On a previous occasion when Mindy told Craig that she was coming to Las Vegas, he recommended that she go to Luv-It Custard, a venerable institution devoted to deliciousness. (Craig loves Luv-It and we love Craig.)

Mindy was angry that Craig had recommended it, not because it wasn't good, but because it was in the "most dangerous and sketchiest neighborhood I have ever been in, in my life". This has caused a wave of Mindy hatred in Vegas. Now, I will admit that I'm not a fan of hers to begin with and I thought her personality in the interview left a lot to be desired. And I find it hard to believe that she's never been anywhere worse. But people, Luv-It IS in a sketchy neighborhood!

For those who have never been, Luv-It sits about a half a block east of the famed "Strip" on Oakey, which puts it in what is referred to by reporters and police officers as the "Naked City". This is an older (I.e. run down) area known for drugs, prostitution, crime, etc. Yup, dangerous and sketchy by just about any one's standards. Most dangerous? Not hardly, I can take her to a few places where you wouldn't want to slow your car down, even for a flat tire.

Mindy kept saying things like "I expected Vegas to be like in the movies, like Ocean's 13". Well, it can be. if you never leave the Strip and stay south of Sahara, then it's exactly like the pictures in the movies. But outside of the tourist bubble, it's a real town with real people and yes, real crime. (Uh, hello, CSI is based here too, remember?)

But back to Luv-It. I never recommend it without warning people about the neighborhood. It shares it's parking lot with a 'gentleman's club' (a stripper club) and a convenience store with a sign that says "we don't sell single cigs" to let the wandering homeless know that they need to wash enough windshields to buy the whole pack of 'cigs'. Luv-It has a walk-up order window and no place to sit so you have to eat the frozen custard in your car, or while milling about this parking lot. (It is also right by my old eye doctor's office, which is why I loved the eye doctor as a kid. A doctor that never gave shots and was next to the best ice cream in the world? Rock on.)

For those in the know, Luv-It also exists in what I think of as a sort of 'green zone'. Crime does not occur at Luv-It. It is beloved by all and so it is respected enough that you can go there in peace and safety. Which is only one of the reasons for long lines nearly every day of the year.

The other reason? Luv-It is freakin' AWESOME! Delicious homemade frozen custard. I cannot say enough about it, it really is the best I've ever had (and I have eaten me some ice cream, no doubt). We are going this Sunday to celebrate, well, never mind what, but I am already torn because one of the flavors is fresh Banana Nut, but I also want my traditional Desert Sundae (custard, hot fudge, homemade marshmallow cream and pecans, to die for!) Would I be a pig if I got my sundae and brought home the banana nut?

So people, don't ready the tar and feathers for actress Mindy Kaling just yet. She's just another vapid Hollywood celebrity who wants everything to be pretty instead of real. If she doesn't want to go to Luv-it, it just leaves more custard for the rest of us! (Oh, and by the way, she did admit the custard was worth risking her life for, so there.)

Here is the interview.

We Had the Time of Our Lives

I know millions of women are mourning the passing of Patrick Swayze and I just wanted to throw in my tribute as well.

I first became aware of Patrick when I was a pre-teen and he made "The Outsiders" based on the S.E. Hinton novel, then the short lived television series "Renegades" and then the teens against the entire Communist army film "Red Dawn" (soon to be remade but it, like "Fame" can never be surpassed.)

I fell in love with Patrick when he played Orry Main in the mini-series "North and South". You see children, way back in the Eighties the mini-series was a beloved staple of network television and as a TV obsessed teenager, I watched them all. But "North and South", based on the John Jakes novel, was one of my all time favorites. It had it all - sex, revenge, lying, overacting and overwrought dialogue, all set in the Civil War. It was brilliant and starred lots of Eighties celebrities, like Genie Francis, Jonathan Frakes (who married Genie Francis), Kirstie Alley, James read, Elizabeth Taylor, Hal Holbrook and Forrest Whittaker, just to name a few. But it was Patrick as Orry, a man driven by demons of war and the loss of the woman he loved that had me the first time I saw him in breeches.

But my innocent crush turned into full blown lust when I saw "Dirty Dancing". I still maintain that it is one of the most brilliantly cast romance films ever. I do not mean this as a slight on jennifer Grey but I think they were really smart to cast her as Baby because she was, well, plain. So many of us could relate to Baby's awkwardness because we felt less pretty than our sisters or best friends or the hot blond dancing partner. Every girl in that audience could see herself as Baby and when Patrick took a shine to our ugly duckling and helped her become the woman she was growing into, we all cheered. Plus, the sex scene, well it was the hottest thing this little girl had ever seen (at least up to that point.) A one point in the film, Baby hides Patrick's character Johnny from her father. Johnny gets mad because he thinks she is ashamed of him, afraid to admit that 'he's her man." I leaned over in the dark theater and told my friend, "If I was sleeping with Patrick Swayze, I'd put a sign on my front lawn!"

Sadly, I never got to put that sign on my lawn. Patrick was a happily married man who was married for over thirty years. That's like 210 years in Hollywood. And some of his post-"Dirty Dancing" films weren't the caliber that I know he was capable of. (Although if "Road House" is on I still try to catch the "Patrick is buck naked scene".) But he will always be my knight in shining armor, who would rescue me if anyone ever tired to stick me in a corner.

Rest in Peace, Patrick.

I Believe....

...that the people who care about you will help you, support you and cheer you on.

....that the people who only pretend to care about you will eventually show you their true colors.

...that life is, in turns, a constant surprise, a disappointment, an adventure and an experience.

...that you should never read the ending first.

...that dessert is the most important meal of the day.

...that I work way too hard to please other people, but I'm okay with that most of the time.

...that great writing can change your life, but mediocre writing can be pretty darn entertaining.

...you can't live life without trying.

..that little pleasures should never be belittled.

...that roller coaster rides and lives are rarely long enough.

...rewards will come from unexpected places.

...that I believe.

LBS Burger

The family goes out to eat nearly every Sunday. Visiting the same restaurants can get old after a while, although every now and then you can discover something new at an old favorite restaurant. (If you haven't tried it, go for the fried chicken at Memphis Championship Barbecue. I don't really like fried chicken but theirs is phenomenal. And it's served family style with all you can eat mashed potatoes, green beans, chicken dumplings, corn and rolls. Oh My Gosh good!)

So we try to discover new places, with varying degrees of success. After reading a friend's blog, we decided to try LBS Burger at the Red Rock Station casino. She proclaimed it the best burger in the city, even better than Burger Bar (Hubert Keller's restaurant) in the Mandalay Bay. Now when it comes to burgers, I'm a bit of a purist, so my favorite burger in Las Vegas is at a dive bar near my house. While they are a little pricier than when I first started going, you can still get a 1/3 pound burger with fries for less than eight bucks. And it's a great burger, hand pattied with all my favorite fixings (again, I'm a traditionalist, I like lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions and all the condiments) and it's on a toasted bun, which for me is what takes a burger to the next level. I would eat the burgers at this place more often if they didn't also have the best chili cheese fries in Vegas. Trust me when I say this causes no end of internal conflict.

So when someone tells me that they loved a burger place, I'm a tad skeptical. I'm not one for lots of exotic toppings or patties made from exotic animals. Beef, bun, cheese and my traditional fixings and I'm happy. But the pictures on her blog looked yum-tastic and we needed to get out of our rut so we decided to try it. The decor at LBS is southern Gothic meets rock n' roll. Black lace on the windows, furniture that would look right at home in the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland and way too loud music playing. (It was great music but just too loud). The economy has thinned out restaurant crowds so we got right in.

What to choose? The menu is descriptively delicious which makes you want everything. Burgers aren't cheap, averaging around eleven dollars. They did have sliders on the menu which come in three, six or twelve packs. After asking the waitress the size of the sliders (we have been to restaurants where the slider was the size of a regular burger) we decided to share a twelve order and get a few sides to share. We chose chili-cheese fries, onion rings and fried cheese curds (thank goodness casinos are required to have defibrillators on hand!) You can customize your sliders so we got six with American cheese and six with white cheddar. They come with fried onions, pickles and "LBS sauce" which is the same ubiquitous mayo-ketchup mix you get everywhere else.

The sliders were on shiny egg buns and a nice size of about three inches in diameter. Their meat is "dry aged 21 days" and while I don't know that dry aging has as much of an impact in a burger as it does in a steak, the burgers were nice and beefy.
The onion rings were some of the best I've ever had, large, well battered, shatteringly crisp and oh-so-delicious. The onions inside were nicely soft but didn't just fall out. (This was both good and bad, as I wanted a couple to fall out so I could give my brother the shell and eat the onion myself. he like onion rings but his digestive system doesn't like onions so I try to 'shell' a few so he can have some of the taste without the distress. We are kind of like Jack Sprat and his sister - yes, I know the story is Jack Sprat and his wife, but he had to have someone help him before he got married, didn't he?) The fries underneath the chili were good, but the chili itself was too sweet with too much cinnamon (great for you Cincinnati chili lovers, but I'm a Texas red kind of girl so this needed more heat, less sweet) although the roasted jalapenos and sour cream were a nice touch.

Cheese curds are a delicacy that some love and some hate. I personally like the 'squeaky cheese' and try to stop in the Cache Valley store every time we drive to Salt Lake to buy some. They are best very fresh so the store connected to the dairy is the right place to buy them. But even if the cheese curds at LBS weren't 'squeaky' fresh, they were delicious none the less. Deep fried cheese isn't high on my list because it usually involves mozzarella, a very stretchy cheese but fairly bland in flavor. The white cheese curds at LBS were nicely stretchy but with more flavor than mozzarella. The only downside was that the "tomato relish" on the side was really just a marinara. I just ate them plain.

Desserts seemed pretty standard except for the daily pie. When I inquires to that day's flavor and was told it was peach raspberry, we signed up for two (they are small, just about 3-1/2 inches so the waitress explained we would need two for the five of us. Why they get skimpy at dessert is beyond me, when all their other portion sizes were huge.) It comes out warm, with vanilla ice cream. It had a lovely flaky bottom crust and a crunchy sweet oatmeal streusel topping. The tangy raspberries were a perfect foil to the sweet peaches. Lovely and delicious and even though we were stuffed from lunch there was no pie left over (which proves my theory that you ALWAYS have room for dessert.)

So, best burger in Vegas? Not really. But a good burger with some good sides, yes. Besides the loud music, the only other downfall was the price. Even with us sharing everything and having only water to drink, the bill came to over eighty dollars for five people. Not exactly budget friendly. But we will probably return, at least for the onion rings and pie!

Things I'm Working On

I will go into more detail later but I had the most lovely (and incredibly overpriced) macaroon from Jean Phillipe Patisserie at the Bellagio. It was called a "Rose Macaroon" and was described as a "raspberry macaroon with rose cream and fresh raspberries". We are talking French macaroon here, not the American coconut kind. Since I have lately been obsessed with flavoring things with rose and violet and lavender, I had to try it. It was beautiful, crowned with a sugared rose petal. It was also $6.50. But again, I had to try it and I figure it is a business expense in the name of research, so I can write it off, right?

Well, there was no discernible rose flavor (even in the petal, though I munched on it happily anyway) but the raspberries were marvelous plump, fresh little morsels. I shared my tiny treasure with Mom and the Graminator so I only got a couple of bites but it was enough to convince me that I need to learn to make French macaroons. I never liked the coconut kind except for one I made but have since lost the recipe for, but the French version is more like a meringue with a ground almond base and since I adore meringue, it's right up my alley.

I am also going to make Black and White cookies of the New York bakery variety, which aren't really a cookie at all but more of a flat cupcake. I adore them and haven't had a true Black and White in years. Once I get them perfected, I think I'm going to call my friend Antonia to try them. She's a real New Yorker plus her husband used to work in a bakery in New York so I'm sure she can tell me if I get it right. And I haven't practiced my New York accent in a while so I'd love to spend some time with her!

Today I'm making gougeres, which are savory cream puffs with cheese. I'm going to Americanize them with a bit of jalapeno cheese instead of the traditional gruyere. And since I'll have the pate choux already, I think a few eclairs will be in order. In fact, I'm off to make the pastry cream filling. Jealous? Well, don't be, my ass will pay the price later on! Besides, you can always order them from Glitter City Sweets! (Superfluous plug for the day, check.)

Railing Against the Wind

I hate hypocrisy.

Seriously, if you are going to screw me, be honest about it. I won't go into the details to protect the incredibly guilty other party, but suffice it to say someone cut me out of a business arrangement siting an excuse so unforgivably flimsy and completely hypocritical that I am deeply offended. And never say 'it's not personal' when it is exactly personal. Be honest and up front and say "it's for completely personal and bogus reasons". I won't like it any better but at least you won't be a hypocritical liar. Just don't treat me like I'm an idiot. Cuz I'm not. And I don't forget, ever.

Okay, rant over. I will get over this and despite the efforts of those who work against me, I will prevail. Your pettiness will only resolve my will to succeed. I would thank you, but I don't want to be a hypocrite.

Whew!

I know it's been so long, Loyal Readers, and I have to apologize. Glitter City Sweets has eaten a huge chunk of my time. I barely had time to breathe.

First we had a bridal show with a large chain bridal store where I set out cake for tasting for the brides, grooms and assorted bridesmaids, moms, etc. Plus I made 180 little embossed wedding cookies to go in each bride's 'goodie' bag. I manned the store on the west side of town while my wonderful sister-in-law and adorable brother manned the store in Henderson.

For the event, which was titled "Girls Night Out" I invented little cupcake shooters, a small two-bite cake in a little souffle cup. For this event I made them in cocktail type flavors - Pomegranate Cosmopolitan, Mojito, Chocolate Martini and Shirley Temple (in case someone didn't want to imbibe.) They were a HUGE hit although the number on question asked was "Can you get drunk on these?" (The answer is no, you'd have to eat so many that you'd go into a sugar coma first!)


Since weddings are planned months, sometimes years, in advance, it will be a while before I know how successful the event was, at least in terms of selling cakes and favors. In terms of selling cupcakes, it was a huge success. My brother took the leftovers from his location to his job the next day to share with his co-workers (he even set up a cute little display.) From that I got an order for 48 cupcake shooters, a possible cake order and an invitation to put my advertisements into the bags of his company's upcoming health fair. (I know my product isn't exactly 'healthy' but everyone deserves a treat and most of my marshmallows are fat free.) That's two thousand potential customers, who are teachers, so they have lots of opportunity to need treats.

After the bridal fair was over I had to get to work on a huge corporate order for logo cookies. We did 12 dozen cookies with two different logos for a company based out of Arizona. The cookies went to Louisiana, California, Georgia, Michigan, and Washington. They were absolutely adorable! I also had an order for a couple hundred strawberry marshmallow for an engagement party this weekend in New Jersey that had to go out. (Congrats to the happy couple!) Then an order for another hundred cupcake shooters. Just when I though I could breathe, three more orders came in!


So I guess you can say that business is going well. I was even looking for a retail location, which I found, but even though they offered me the price I was looking for (thanks Mr. Becker! And if you are ever looking for commercial real estate in Las Vegas, call BEKS Group, they are so incredibly nice) I sat down and crunched the numbers and I just think I am under capitalized at the moment. I fretted and stressed and finally, on advice from my good friend - and great attorney, Tina Yan - I decided to wait. As Tina put it, better to be too busy for the space you are in than not busy enough in a new space. It means my plans for expansion will have to wait, but I just didn't want to invest all of my savings and have it not be quite enough to make it work. I have no doubt that GCS will be that big but it takes time and time takes money. So world bakery domination is on hold at the moment. I am still searching for a larger space to rent as I am much busier that I anticipated when I first found a place that would let me bake there. But I have faith that something will come through!

Meanwhile, it's now September and in the Wilhite household that means birthday month. Yup, my brother's birthday is on Tuesday and my mom's is on Friday which means that mine is just a couple of weeks away. We are going out this Sunday to a great restaurant (Todd English's Olives at the Bellagio Hotel). It is "Restaurant Week" in Las Vegas which means that lots of high end restaurants are offering special three course meals for $20.09, $30.09 and $50.09, with some of the proceeds going to a local food bank charity, Three Square. Will and Val are going to Capital Grill tonight and we are doing Olive's on Sunday (I'd love to go to La Fiamma on Saturday...anyone? Anyone?) Since dessert is taken care of on Sunday I'm going to make the birthday cake for my mom and brother for next Sunday. It's going to be a three tier 'topsy-turvy' cake in Bananas Foster. I'll post pictures. I'll also let you know how Olives was (Still open for Saturday. Anyone? Anyone?) and I have my review of LBS Burger still to post. Stay tuned, Loyal Readers, I promise I'll be posting regularly again! XXOO

This Summer's Guilty Pleasures

Summer is such a lovely time to indulge in guilty pleasure, don't you think? Here is my list of this summer's favorites.

1. Strawberry Ice Cream Sodas - Scoops of creamy strawberry ice cream with bubbly strawberry soda poured over. Yes, it's more artificial food coloring than I like to have (especially in the soda) but it tastes like happiness in a glass. If I close my eyes really tight, I can go back in time to the Swensen's ice cream parlor on Rancho with the black and white checked floors and cool marble counters. Ahhhh.

2. "Man vs. Food" - Why do I enjoy watching someone else pig out so much? Call it a vicarious pleasure. I love food and if gluttony is a sin, call me a sinner and pass the potato chips. Adam Richman gets to travel the county and devour enormous portions of food. What a dream job (hey, Travel Channel, how about a companion show "Girl vs. Food"?) I love to watch and only partly for the food. (The other reason is the little crush I have on Adam.) This week the show is in Vegas and if I'd known he was in town I would have stalked him. Check out the show, Wednesdays at 10pm on the Travel Channel.

3. Green Chile Cheeseburgers - I fell in love with these while I was in Alamogordo, new Mexico but had forgotten about them until I saw a "Throwdown with Bobby Flay" where they made them. I sizzled up a few burgers, topped them off with some zingy Hatch green chilies (stir frying them with a little garlic powder was the secret from "Throwdown" and it works wonders) and not only did I fall in love with them again, but Mom and The Graminator chowed down too.

4. "Wipeout" - I am not a fan of violence, I disliked the "Jackass" movies yet I love this show. I have no reason to except that it's fun to watch people take a header off of giant red rubber balls and the commentary by John Henson makes me laugh. I would actually try some of these stunts if I could be guaranteed there were no cameras on or anyone watching. Thank goodness there are people less shy than me willing to be humiliated for $50K.

5. "Finger Lickin' Fifteen" by Janet Evanovich - Yup, Stephanie Plum, Grandma Masur, Lulu, Ranger and the gang are back for another adventure. if you haven't read these books, get thee to a library immediately. They will make you laugh out loud at the adventures of bounty hunter Stephanie Plum and the crazy cast of characters she interacts with. It's enough to make me want to move to Trenton, New Jersey (and no one WANTS to move to Trenton.) Perfect beach read, no beach required.

6. Wii Sports Resort - Are you having to take a 'stay-cation' this summer? Well, you can visit a virtual Club Med of activities with Nintendo's new Wii Sports Resort game. It's as well done as the original Wii Sports game that made Wii the choice of gamers and non-gamers alike. Now you can add activities like Wakeboarding, Archery, Skydiving and Frisbee to your virtual athletic repertoire. I love playing virtual Frisbee with my virtual dog, who wags his tail enthusiastically no matter how many times I throw the darn thing, unlike my real dog who gives up after two throws. Now if only Wii had a virtual spa at this virtual resort, because my Mii needs some shiatsu, stat.

7. "Defying Gravity" - Slick style, attractive cast and interesting scripts turned this astronaut adventure into a must see for me. I was so thoroughly unimpressed by the previews that I never would have watched the show. But I caught the first episode and was hooked. It's part soap opera, part psychological drama, part 2001: A Space Oddessy. Why is the baby crying? What is in pod four that has Ted so freaked out? Why is the crew's DNA changing? Does Maxim Roy know she looks just like Stephanie Kramer? So many questions, I just pray ABC lets this show live long enough to answer some of them. If you haven't caught on to this one yet, you can see all of the previous episodes on ABC.com or download them for free on iTunes.

8. Time Management Games - Speaking of iTunes, y'all know I love me some apps for my iPod touch. And when I can justify the added thirty bucks a month I will be getting an iPhone (and if the Netflix rumors are true I may not even wait for justification). One of my favorite types of games are called 'time management', games like Diner Dash, Burger Shop, Sally's Spa, Turbo Subs. You wait on virtual customers, getting them their orders correctly and in time. These games are fun and despite the name 'time management' they are actually 'time sucking'. I managed to avoid working in fast food restaurants my entire life, yet I spend hours pretending to do just that in a game. For no pay. Strange world indeed.

9."Better Off Ted" - One of the funniest sitcoms to debut in years. It was only on a few episodes as a mid-season show but for some reason ABC trotted out new episodes this summer. Not hat I'm complaining. It's hysterical. Imagine if "Dilbert" worked for a company ran by, say, Dr. Evil from Austin Powers. That might give you an idea of what life at Veridian Dynamics is like. Portia Di Rossi is the best bitch boss ever. Jay Harrington plays Ted as the straightest straight man ever. And Lem and Phil crack me up every time I see them. The best part of the show ay be the credits, which are not credits at all, but a Veridian Dynamics commercial that explains the episode in a nutshell. Best episode? Probably when the new sensors installed at Veridian didn't recognize black people. Problem? Yes, but as Veronica points out "it does see Hispanics, Asians, Pacific Islanders and Jews." Too funny.


10. Bar-B-Que - This girl has her grill on this summer. From the most succulent grilled chicken breasts (brine then season then grill) to some killer smoked meats (indirect heat first for the smoky taste, then direct heat to finish the cooking and get a nice char going) I have been a 'que-n fool. And the best parts? No heating up the house and very little clean up afterwards. Score and double score!

Here is my list of honorable mentions: "The Big Bang Theory", Glitter City Sweets Marshmallows (I'd eat them even if I didn't make them), "X-Men: Wolverine", Simply Lemonade Raspberry Lemonade, Dasani Strawberry Kiwi water (I'm pretty sure it's discontinued because I found it last at the dollar store), Icee Frozen Cups (the Blue Raspberry will leave your tongue blue forever), and Entertainment Weekly magazine.

Okay, what is your guilty pleasure that didn't make my list?

Goodbye John and Thanks

Iconic filmmaker John Hughes has passed away. As a child of the 80's, I grew up on his films. Not only did his films speak to us because the characters were our age, but because the themes of these films were so close to our own lives. We have all felt like "a brain, and an athlete, and a basket case, a princess and a criminal". They made us feel like someone knew what we were felling, the teen angst, the self-doubt. And (unlike real life) they had pretty happy endings. We felt hope after watching a Hughes movie.

But he didn't just write and direct those classic 80's films, he also wrote some truly great comedies. "Vacation", which is one of my all time favorite movies (we'll just forgive the sequels, okay?) and "Mr. Mom" which made Michael Keaton a star. In fact, while he wrote 38 films, he only directed 8. And of those films he directed, he made 7 of them in only 5 years. When you are hot, you're hot. He continued to write until as recently as last year (the film "Drillbit Taylor" which I haven't seen but which does star my crush Owen Wilson) under the name Edmond Dantes. (Hmm, do you think John Hughes just liked the Dumas novel, or did he feel like a man who escaped some cruel machinations to achieve unheard of wealth and power?)

My hat is off to you. Mr. Hughes. I truly hope you enjoyed the ride. And when you get to Heaven, I hope the moose outside doesn't tell you it's closed.

"Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." Amen.


P.S. On a very irreverent side note, is it just me or did John Hughes look an awful lot like Billie Jean King?

How I Spend My Time

Yes, I spend my days creating things like this. It's legal, fun and tasty, how many things can you say that about? But when you look at the picture, are you hungry for dessert or Italian food?

Getting the Message Out There

The legend of Glitter City Sweets is growing, we got a mention on examiner.com! Check out the article.

S'more good reasons to party!

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Hmm, two Marshmallow Holidays in August. Guess we better start celebrating!

Baby Daddy's

Since the response to the "Who's the Daddy" game was underwhelming (thanks Maura and Chan for participating!) I'll announce that of the two, Chan is the winner. He got one right. Here are the babies and their respective fathers.

Baby One - Ben Affleck. This should have been an easy choice. Everyone knows my Ben Affleck obsession. But after seeing this kid's picture, well, not so much. I'm sure Ben's actual children are much more attractive.




Baby Two - Owen Wilson. The cutest of the babies has the least conventionally attractive dad, although I love this quirky actor. Anyone who hasn't seen it needs to rent "Bottle Rocket".




Baby Three - Ryan Reynolds. This Canadian actor is hot, hot, hot (as in not only good looking but also starring in some mega-movies. It's about time, I've seen how talented Ryan was since "Two Guys, A Girl and a Pizza Parlor". He has eclectic taste in women (Alanis Morrisette and Scarlett Johannson seem like polar opposites to me, but hey, whatever.) His baby though is a pasty kid, which I guess you should expect if a Canuck mates with a mayonnaise woman (I'm so white I'm opaque.)



Chan wins marshmallows in his choice of flavors. See, aren't you sad you didn't participate now?

Who's the Daddy?

Okay, my biological clock doesn't tick very loud (I'd rather borrow than own) but sometimes I wonder what my fictional offspring would look like. Well, VW has an answer with it's Routon Babymaker. You scan your picture and the picture of the 'dad' in and it shows you what your baby would look like. Since I'm not seeing any potential sperm donors at the moment, I went with my fantasy crushes. I wanted to see which celebrity I would make the cutest kid with so I could then stalk with confidence (just kidding, I don't have the time to devote to being a really good stalker, and if you can't do something right you shouldn't do it at all.)

Now, I know that this program just computer generates a picture based on two sets of facial features, which is not a good way to determine genetic compatibility. But based on these pictures, I should probably not reproduce. I've always suspected that any fruit of my loins might be less than preternaturally attractive, but this makes me frightened. I matched myself with very good looking mates and this is what happened.

Baby #1

Is it just me or does this kid look a lot like Rumer Willis? No, the 'father' isn't Bruce. Can you guess what celebrity helped me make this kid? It's enough to make me refill my birth control.

Baby #2

In my opinion, this is the cutest of my 'children', which is strange because of my celebrity crushes, this 'dad' is the least conventionally attractive. Hmmm, maybe two wrongs make a right? Can you guess the celebrity?

Baby #3

This baby's 'daddy' is Canadian. I think this celeb is hot, but the baby is not. Sigh. Name that daddy!

Okay, while I go and contemplate the expiration date of my eggs, you need to guess the celebrity daddy's and match them to the correct offspring. Put your guesses in a comment and I will tell you the correct answers and who wins the contest (prize to be determined.)

Bless the Girl Scouts

They have great cookies, but I'm not grateful for the Thin Mints today. I'm grateful for the training I got as a Girl Scout.

Yes, I was a Girl Scout. From second grade until I was a sophomore in high school. I even earned the highest honor you could at the time, the First Class award (equivalent to an Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts.) I learned many things in scouting and I will never, ever go camping again (unless "camping" involves a large, luxurious fully equipped motor home with satellite TV.)

One of the things I learned in scouting was first aid. I can bandage wounds, make a stretcher from campsite materials and diagnose heatstroke. And I kept up on my first aid training even after my scouting years were through, keeping up my CPR certification (I never want to do it, but I could if I had to.) So all of that training kicked in last night when The Graminator started choking.

Now you have to understand that The Graminator coughs a lot. She has allergies that cause her to cough until she sneezes. Plus she and I have a tendency to have things "go down the wrong tube" and you just have to "cough it out" which has led me to major embarrassment many times (somehow this almost always happens to me when I'm in public, rarely when I'm alone.)It isn't really choking, even though it sounds terrible.

So I night not have noticed right away when she started making a strange sound when I gave her dinner last night. Except that it wasn't a cough, it was a weird noise like someone trying to suck in air but being unable to. It only took me a couple of seconds to react and I got her up to a standing position. When a few whacks on the back failed to dislodge the food (I was concerned with hitting her too hard, she is 88 after all) I performed the Heimlich maneuver. I had to do it twice but got the food out and she was able to breathe normally again. My mother was grateful, since she doesn't know the Heimlich and since she is too small to have gotten The Graminator up and her arms around her. I was just glad I didn't have to sit there helplessly watching my grandmother choke.

My mom says I saved her life. I don't know about that, she might have been able to dislodge it herself, or maybe there was enough air going around the food that she wasn't in any real danger. But I do know that I really appreciate the first aid training I got so many years ago. And I never want to do it again. So please, people, chew your food!

Advice

A good friend, Dyann, is thinking about starting her own business. She sent me an email saying she wanted to pick my brain for advice. While I'm pretty sure I'm NOT the person you want that kind of advice from, here are a few random thoughts that someone may be able to glean a tiny nugget of inspiration from.

Just do it - There are lots of people who will tell you that you need to do copious amounts of research and develop a well thought out "business plan". There are also lots of people who have 'business plans' and no business. I myself have several 'business plans' that never came to fruition. Yes, you need to know what you are going to sell and who you are going to sell it to (so you don't open an "All Pork" restaurant in an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood for example) but you can spend years and years making plans and never actually do any of it. Many entrepreneurs just went out there and did it. They had an idea and they went for it. Sometimes all the planning can lead to fear and discouragement before you even get started. In today's "marketplace" thing are less traditional and structured than they were before so you can go about things less conventionally than before, like making your business plan up as you go along. (Note: If you need loans and investors, you do need a business plan in hand.)

It's okay to fail - Sometimes you can have a great product and it still doesn't work out. For example, years ago my Uncle told us about this company he was investing in that had a machine you could dump your change into and it would count the change and spit out a voucher you would redeem for 'folding money'. They would put these machines in grocery stores. My parents thought the idea was weird (because it would cost you to use these machines instead of just rolling your change and taking it to the bank like people had done for years) but I thought it was genius. And it was. There are Coinstar machines in grocery stores around the country. The problem is that the company my uncle created wasn't Coinstar. It was a rival company and Coinstar was able to get their machine to market first. So my uncle's company died and someone else got rich. Now please don't feel too bad for him, he has a place on the beach in Hermosa, a Porche that's paid for and he travels the world whenever he wants. Because he understands that not everything is going to work out every time. He acknowledged his loss and he moved on to his next idea. It is okay to fail, as long as you get past it.

Don't underestimate the power of the Internet - Because my start-up costs were so low for my business (since I bake on-demand I don't have inventory to go bad, I just have the rent at the bakery I rent space from and my Internet costs for the website and marketing) I could take a chance and see what happened. So I thought it could be months before I got my first order. Well, it wasn't months, it was actually before we opened. But it was the second order that surprised me. It was from someone in New Jersey. And the third was from someone in Kentucky. The Internet has literally made it a small world after all. So use the tools that the market has to offer (I can't say enough good things about Google Adwords!)

Be prepared to give up your 'free time' and your brain - I am thinking, constantly. It's always been that way but now my brain is focused on baking all of the time. What should I change, what should I do next, how can I do more? It invades my every waking thought and my dreams as well. And the little Internet business that I thought would take up no time has consumed my life. That's going to happen, especially when you are a sole proprietor. You're it. But when (see, I said when, not if) your business takes off, you get to reap the rewards (see beach house, Porche and travel above)

Don't stop there - Be ahead of the curve. Plan for success and what you are going to do next. My uncle (yes, he is my inspiration for business models since he has owned many a company and made many of them incredibly successful, to the tune of money that most of us can only dream about) doesn't just stop when he has a great business venture happening, he looks and sees how to improve, expand or even move on to the next big thing. Bill Gates didn't just stop when he sold his first PC, did he? I'm looking at how to grow my business and to do so I have a second entrepreneurial idea. Will it work? We'll see...

Surround yourself with great people - I have an incredible lawyer. Honestly, she is wonderful. She specializes in business formation. I'll give you her number. I have a terrific accountant. I use a great web hosting provider. I have great inspiration and advice from my uncle. I have an incredibly supportive network of friends and family. Honestly, I couldn't do it without them.

So what does it all come down to? Be bold, be brave, believe.

Hot Days of Summer

When it is hot (and it's pretty hot now) I just want to stay inside with the air conditioner and do nothing. Ah, that would be lovely. Of course, real life intrudes on the fantasy so you just do the best you can. But until October or so, when it finally cools off around here, this is what I fantasize about.







Hope that it helps you cool off too!