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Do You Fondue?

Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope you all had a wonderful day, whether attached or not… After being surprised with a mani/pedi from one of my favorite spas, Adam and I spent a relaxing day at the public library and doing our taxes, and then got going on tonight’s special romantic meal.

It’s such a stereotype: the newlywed couple spends their first Valentine’s Day as husband and wife over a lovely slow meal of fondue… and it’s a stereotype Adam and I were thrilled to indulge in!

When we were first together (Winter 2004-2005), I used to make us pots of cheese fondue for dinner. We’d go through a good 2 loaves of French bread, and probably 2 lbs. of cheese over the course of a night. Things have certainly changed, though my fondue recipe hasn’t! We so rarely indulge in food such as cheese fondue, so we figured Valentine’s Day was the perfect opportunity.

Adam cut up some fluffy French bread:

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and a crisp Fuji apple:


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as I stood at the stove and made my favorite cheddar-beer fondue. I asked around about what I should make, Cheddar or Swiss fondue, and while the response was overwhelming towards Swiss cheese, I just couldn’t do it. The intent of staying in on V-Day was to save money… and spending $30 on enough cheese and liquor for white cheese fondue defeated that purpose! Instead, I went with Cheddar. For those of you without a fondue pot, never fear! A small sauce pot and hot plate work just fine. In fact, this is the first fondue set I’ve ever had!

The process and recipe is easy, as taught to me by my mom:

Ingredients
14 oz. extra sharp cheddar cheese
1 12 oz. bottle dark beer (I used Negro Modelo)
1 Tbsp. dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 Tbsp. olive oil
flour for dusting

Directions

Grate 14 oz. extra sharp cheddar cheese. Dust lightly with flour. Set aside. Heat the olive oil and garlic in your fondue pot (or other pot). Add mustard and stir well until lightly browned. Add the bottle of beer and cook until reduced by about 1/4. Whisk in handfuls of the floured cheese, stirring until fully melted. Add handful by handful until all the cheese is added and the fondue is thick. Simmer on low heat a few minutes. Transfer to your fondue burner (or hot plate) and enjoy!


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Originally, this was going to be a two-course fondue meal with a meat/seafood cooked in broth course… but we got too full! (Don’t forget to SpringPad the fondue recipe!)

We finished off the carbo-loading meal with decadent chocolate lava cakes from Jenn! She was kind enough to get us a kit with ramekins and the mix as a wedding gift, and we’ve been saving it since! I had every intent of doing the double dessert thing I spoke of yesterday in Cute Food Saturday, but we both wanted chocolate… so chocolate we had!

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These were supposed to be inverted onto a plate and served out of the ramekin… but this is what happened when I did one of them:

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Big gooey chocolatey mess… with a curved divot in it from where the ramekin fell. It was still amazingly decadent and delicious, and I now feel like I have a brick in my stomach. I think I’m going to have some tea while we watch a movie… there’s cool stuff coming to our house this week that I’m SUPER excited for, but I’ll save the surprises. You may have noticed the OpenSky picture in my sidebar…that picture will bring you RIGHT to my shop, where you can buy all sorts of amazing kitchen goodies. Check them out!

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine’s Day!

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

I’ll be back tonight with a dinner post, but I wanted to wish all of you a very happy Valentine’s Day with some vintage food Valentines I found… so, to all of you who have made this year so sweet, thank you! And a very happy Valentine’s Day to everyone!

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8753

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9012 9020 free-vintage-kids-valentines-cards-two-fried-eggs-in-pan

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I love you all from the bottom of my nerdy foodie heart!

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Honeymoon, Take 2 or We Went Chasing Waterfalls

Did you miss Part 1, Part 2 or Part 3 of our honeymoon recap? Go catch up… I’ll be here when you get back!

Now, where were we? Oh right, I had a sunburn, and after a day of pure relaxation including massages (i left that out in my Part 2!) we decided there was a need for just one more day at the beach before heading out on our scheduled excursion.

We spent Monday of our honeymoon at the beach on a pier jutting out into the Caribbean sea, soaking up rays, reading, and enjoying each others’ company. Dinner that night was an easy decision, as only 2 of the restaurants on our side of the resort were open, and we’d already been to one!

This restaurant was “Mediterranean” themed, and, much to my delight, many of the dishes on the menu featured some of the amazingly delicious and bright red tomatoes that were everywhere on this trip. First off was a trip to the “antipasto bar” which was a fantastic array of cold cheeses, salads, meats, and smoked salmon as well as a few focaccia type pizzas. I helped myself to a nice assortment:

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I didn’t care for the soup that night, so I ended up with another plate of green salad instead. My entree was one of my favorites of the whole trip: a grilled filet mignon atop a potato cake with fried onions and spicy tomatoes

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And, after a couple of days of trial and error, I finally found a chocolate dessert that was worthy of my chocolate-snob palate:

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And Adam got tiramisu.

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We finished off the evening with a “reggae” show. I say “reggae” because, well, when YOU think reggae, you usually think of this guy, right?:

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When we went to the “reggae” show, the performer we got was well, a lot more like this guy:

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Yeah, that’d be Carlton Banks of Fresh Prince fame. It was, though, without a doubt a very fun night! We decided to head to bed because we had quite the excursion in the morning!

At 7 a.m. Tuesday, we awoke and had a light breakfast, and by 8:30 we were aboard this gorgeous boat:

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It was a large catamaran that would take us along the northern coast of Jamaica to climb Dunn’s River Falls, go snorkeling, and then on the way back, turn into a “party boat”.

We had about a 20 minute boat ride until we got to the falls, which, at first glance were beautiful:

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Little did I know that climbing these 600-foot falls would be one of the scariest moments of my life! We were instructed by the tour guides to hold hands in a long line (about 15 of us) and we’d be climbing the falls together. I made it up the first level of the climb just fine, but upon reaching the 2nd level, the water fell a bit faster, the terrain was rougher, and the ground was harder to see. At one point, I was crying and yelling “This isn’t fun anymore!” BUT, after much thought about getting out and taking the stairs down, I toughed it out with Adam and we made it to the top!

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I’m pretty proud of myself for doing the climb even though I didn’t feel up to it at the time, but I have to say, I don’t know if I’d do it again! Maybe I’d take the stairs…

We hung out on the party boat and relaxed, and then a group of the people went snorkeling out on the reef. I was too shaken up (regrettably) to go, but Adam went and had a ball. Upon returning to the resort, we were just hungry and tired… so we ate and napped… ah vacation…

Dinner though, was quite fun! Coincidentally, Adam’s sister and brother-in-law were on their honeymoon too at the same resort! We didn’t think we’d overlap at all, but when our trip got bumped up a few days, we had a couple days together. We all decided to do one dinner together at the resort’s fancier Asian-style restaurant.

We started with a shrimp and scallop skewer on garlic noodles: DSCN5403.JPG
I got a spicy pumpkin and green bean soup (my favorite of the trip)

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And my entree was a sweet and sour duck breast with veggies:

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Dessert was a coconut cream cake:

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It was definitely nice to have dinner with another couple, and great to see Riv and Alex again! We hadn’t seen them since our wedding!

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The final installment of our honeymoon recap will be tomorrow, featuring our favorite-by-far food from Jamaica, and some beautiful scenery.

Don’t forget to enter the Progresso Soup giveaway!



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Honeymoon, Take 2 or Ya, Mon! Goes International

Did you miss Part 1 or Part 2? Catch up!

On our third day, we spent a good amount of time hanging out at the main pool, which conveniently had a swim-up bar. Just check out this scenery:

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It was quite possibly the most relaxing day at the pool I can remember in a long time! I tend to associate spending time at a pool with spending time with 12 screaming four-year-olds, but this was just relaxing. And it helped that we both had cocktails most of the day as well!

Our third night’s dinner was at the “Caribbean” themed restaurant where we were treated to some more “traditional” Caribbean food. It was beyond dark, and I couldn’t capture a picture of many of the dishes, but my meal included:

  • cod and tomato terrine
  • fresh vegetable salad
  • fish chowder
  • snapper and eggplant seasoned with cinnamon and hot pepper
  • “black cake”, a small gingery cake dotted with mango sauce

We had a fun time at this meal watching the little geckos skitter around the tables

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I awoke the next morning a bit before Adam and took advantage of the light to take some photos of the view outside our window. This is my favorite:


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Ok, and this one too:

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I really couldn’t get over how lush and green it was there! After breakfast, we decided to spend the day at the beach and take advantage of a couple of the activities the resort had to offer. First, we chose to ride the giant aqua-trikes. What is an aqua-trike you might ask? This is an Aqua-Trike:

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The one we rode was blue and green though, and it terrified the heck out of me! It worked a lot like a typical paddle boat, but made this awful clunking noise every third or fourth paddle. We “rode” out about 50 yards, then turned around and came back. We did manage to get this adorable picture though:

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We then proceeded to relax on the beach the rest of the day. I finished reading Julie and Julia and now look forward to seeing the movie! Upon returning to the room, I realized that, while I applied sunscreen, I apparently didn’t apply enough… I was quite red!

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Adam was calling me the reverse raccoon!! It was slightly painful, but luckily almost all the redness was gone by the next morning. We changed into nicer clothes and went to dinner at the nicer of the restaurants, and Italian-style place. We had a small wait, so we took advantage of the photo op:

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Dinner was quite delicious, and I finally decided to suck it up and use a flash to capture some of the food we were eating. We both started with a ricotta and spinach ravioli with a creamy walnut sauce. I think this was both of our favorite dishes we ate on the whole trip!

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Continued with a chicken and meatball soup:

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Caprese salad:

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Crispy snapper on fried polenta with yellow squash and garlic cream:

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Adam got salmon in a tomato sauce with scallops:

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Dessert was non-bruleed creme brulee:

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And Adam got an apple tart:

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It was a delicious meal, and while not “Italian” as I know it, the food was definitely good!

Make sure you come back tomorrow for part 4, in which we eat Mediterranean food, watch a “reggae” show, and have dinner with another couple!

Thanks for reading my spread-out recap… it’s helping me cope with going back to work!





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Honeymoon Take 2, or This Chicken is a JERK!

Did you catch Part 1 of our honeymoon update? I’m trying to come up with more fun names for each part than “part 1″ and “part 2″, but this is most definitely part 2.

Where’d we leave off? Oh right, we’d landed in Jamaica, gotten cold drinks at the Sandals lounge, I’d changed into flip flops and we got into a bus to take the 90 minute ride to our resort. I tried to get pictures out the bus window for you all, but only managed a couple of random ones:

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The bus ride was bumpy, and in Jamaica, they drive on the “wrong” side of the road, so picture-taking wasn’t faring well for my slightly travel-upset stomach. I decided to just sit back and enjoy the fact that we were finally there!

When we finally arrived at the resort, our bags were taken directly to our room, and we were asked to fill in some information on a form. We were then handed our keys and escorted to our cottage room. The resort was interestingly laid out. There were two sides: the Manor and the Riviera. The Manor was the side that had the main pool, and the Riviera side had the beach…and we were on the Riviera side! The rooms were in two main types of buildings: typical “hotel” types and the cottages. Each cottage had 4 rooms separated by hallways; two upstairs and two downstairs. I loved how tropical our room was!

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We got a different towel sculpture on our bed each night, but this was my favorite. Once we got the air conditioning going, we both realized exactly how hungry we were for dinner! We quickly changed and went to the nearest and most easily accessible of the 8 restaurants in the resort. There was a little bit of a wait for a table, so we enjoyed our first piña colada and waited while watching the ocean.

Since it was 80 degrees outside, we got to eat outside by candlelight, which made for great atmosphere, but as was the case the rest of the trip, I would find, made for terrible food pictures! I had to use a flash a lot, so please excuse the über-bright pics.

The restaurant was lovely

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and had a 5-course menu… but we didn’t figure out until our 3rd night that we were supposed to order one of each course for EACH of us, not to share. The appetizers were about 3 bites! We shared this shrimp spring roll:

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Then Adam got soup and I got an “antipasto salad” which had one of my favorite presentations of the whole trip:

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That’s onion, lettuce, eggplant, zucchini, fresh mozzarella, yellow squash, and tomato.

Adam’s entree was herb-crusted lobster with ravioli, and mine was a mini rack of lamb on ratatouille:
  

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Both tasted quite delicious, especially in our super-hungry state! We topped off the evening with desserts. I had a piña colada cake, and adam got a pineapple upside down cake:
  

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Then it hit us… we were exhausted! We went back to our room, and after emailing to let our families know that we’d made it, we passed out!

We awoke the next morning bright and early (8 a.m.) and went in search of breakfast. I have to say, the breakfasts were one of my favorite food things at the resort. There was a fresh fruit bar, omelet station, hot dishes, and a porridge/oatmeal bar complete with toppings. Regrettably I never got a picture of it… but trust me! It was stellar.

After breakfast our first full day, we spent most of the day outside looking at this:

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and this:

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And when lunch time rolled around, we were treated to a special Christmas lunch (oh right, it was Christmas day!) full of local foods, including Jerk Chicken.

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That was my plate, which had (from the bottom left) jerk chicken, jerk beef roast, sweet mashed yams, chicken skewer, and this stuff called “fried festival”. It was all fantastic! Expect to see many jerk-seasoned dishes on this blog in months to come!

Dinner was delicious and served out on one of the piers on the beach. It was a Mexican/Southwestern themed restaurant, and I ordered a grilled sirloin which was cooked to perfection… but one candle on the beach didn’t make for enough light for a picture… So I’ll leave you tonight with pictures of Adam and I AT dinner on the pier:

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Part 3 Tomorrow, in which we ride floating tricycles, visit the main pool, and eat Caribbean food!


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Happy New Year!

Well, Adam and I FINALLY made it to and from our amazing honeymoon in Ocho Rios, Jamaica… and while I wish we were still here:

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I’m also glad to be back and wishing all of you a very Happy 2010! This is going to be a great year!

I’ll be recapping our trip in the next few days, but in the meantime, have a wonderful New Year’s Day!



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The Latke Queen

Do any of you know the Hanukkah story? Did you know there IS a Hanukkah story? It’s one of my favorites…

In the tradition of Cliff’s Notes and Reader’s Digest, here’s the short version:

Way back when, there was a group of soldiers in Israel called the Maccabees. When the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, the Maccabees went back to the site to rededicate the altar with the eternal light (an oil lamp that continuously burns) and could only find enough oil to light the lamp for one day. But, miracle of miracles (cue earworm…now) the small amount of oil lasted for 8 nights, more than enough time for a soldier to go to the next town to get more oil. So, Hanukkah is celebrated for 8 nights to celebrate the miracle of that little lamp not going out.

Since the tradition of Hanukkah revolves around oil, many traditional foods for Hanukkah are fried in oil, my favorite being potato latkes. When my mom asked me to come over to help her cook for our annual family Hanukkah party on Saturday, I of course obliged!

I walked into my mom’s house at about 10 a.m. on Saturday morning to find her already hard at work, and these already finished:

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Nothing like a sweet teriyaki chicken wing with my coffee! Soon, we got to work making cookie meatballs (a family Hanukkah tradition) and set them on the stove to simmer, and then out came the shredded potatoes. This is 8 pounds of cleaned potatoes, shredded in the Cuisinart, and then salted and drained:

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Then, we mixed a dozen eggs (I think) and some flour into these shredded potatoes, and about 8-10 grated onions, and heated 2 pans of corn oil on the stove. Now, let me rewind…

My mom is the latke queen. Seriously. I’ve never met anyone else who could successfully make latkes year after year in dozens of different scenarios! In my lame little kitchen with a crappy frying pan? No problem. At high altitude in Boulder, Colorado? Sure! In Los Angeles, for my cousin’s engagement party, and oh by the way, make them miniature and vegan? Absolutely! She’s made potato latkes, zucchini latkes, matzah latkes at Passover… yeah, she’s the latke queen. I think she needs a crown!

I tend to rush my latkes when I’ve made them, and this day of frying with my mom taught me one very important lesson: WAIT! The crispy shreds around the edges are the best part, and we can only get those with cooking them a bit longer than I ever want to.

Our first batch:
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These promptly got eaten with some sour cream, and we realized that the mixture needed more salt, and there was a hot spot in one of the pans. We continued to fry and fry, and I finally got one pan done myself that didn’t look any different than my mom’s!

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Next thing we knew, those two huge bowls were empty and we had an entire counter full of latkes:

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Since they were cooked the day before, we laid them out to cool like this, then they were stacked and wrapped and quickly frozen, and then warmed in the oven before serving yesterday.

My mom and stepdad’s dog was appropriately dressed for the holiday when we arrived yesterday:

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The menu was extremely impressive and delicious and included:
  • latkes
  • teriyaki chicken wings
  • cookie meatballs
  • hot dogs
  • baked beans
  • broccoli and mozzarella salad
  • applesauce and sour cream for dipping the latkes
  • Tarte tatin for dessert (I’ll try to get my sister to part with the recipe)
  • Chocolate chip cookie dough truffles (which I made WAY too big

And my plate:

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In all, it was a stellar evening in which we exchanged gifts, ate well, and truly enjoyed each other’s company. This was the first post-wedding get together of all the new family on both Adam’s and my side, and I think we all truly had a great time! And just another glimpse into how quirky we all are: my sister and her boyfriend bought Adam and I the Bacon of the Month Club!

ALSO! I know many of you have asked, so I thought I’d share: our wedding photos are online! Go to www.photosbydale.net and click on Mara & Adam Wedding. The password is rosenbloom and there are 1190 pictures!

Back to normal cooking posts tomorrow, and don’t forget to enter the amazing cookbook giveaway!

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Happy Hanukkah! (Giveaway Post)

Two quick things for you tonight:

Thing one:

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No no, not THAT thing one. That Thing One was for this Thing One (and her Thing 2, a certain Tornado)

Thing ONE:

HAPPY HANUKKAH!!!



Thing TWO:
200912112037.jpg Just in time for Hanukkah, Chef Levana Kirschenbaum, is offering up one of her cookbooks to one lucky reader.

Levana pioneered Kosher gourmet dining years back when she opened a restaurant of the same name. She now teaches cooking classes in New York City and has published three cookbooks, with a fourth on the way! Levana’s unfussy, straightforward approach utilizes fresh, all natural ingredients to create cuisine influenced by her native Morocco, as well as other international culinary flavors. On her website, LevanaCooks.com she shares delectable recipes (that you don’t have to be Jewish to appreciate!), and tweets cooking tips at @LevanaCooks on twitter.

To enter to win, go to LevanaCooks.com and tell me which of Levana’s cookbooks you’d like to win and why (even “it sounds interesting” is a good reason!)
For additional entries:

  • tweet about the contest: I’d like to win a cookbook from @levanacooks and @imadedinner and leave an additional comment letting me know you’ve done so
  • Link back to this contest on your blog and comment to tell me you’ve done so

We’ll start the contest tonight, the first night of Hanukkah, and we’ll announce the winner next Friday, the LAST night of Hanukkah.

Have a wonderful night, and Happy Hanukkah!

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Guest Post: Brandi from BranAppetit

Hi everyone! I’m Brandi, from BranAppetit and I’m so happy to be doing a guest post for Mara!

Instead of doing a normal food post, I’m going to talk about holiday strategies.

I know I’m not the only one that worries about my clothes still fitting by January 1st – it’s so easy to indulge in everything, every day, at every meal, especially with family around!

I’m not about being super strict during the holidays, but there are a few things I try to do to keep myself on track.

1. Pick what you want the most. If you’re having a huge family lunch/dinner or are going to a work holiday lunch/buffet, scope out your options before putting anything on your plate. Once you see what’s available, you can decide what things you actually want. If it’s something you don’t enjoy or you know you won’t eat, don’t even worry about getting it!

2. Family Traditions get first pick. My one rule I do have at Thanksgiving and Christmas? I’m having as much of my mom’s fudge pie as I want! She only makes it for those 2 holidays, so I normally have that as my only dessert during those times. I’ve never been a big fan of pumpkin pie, and the other desserts (cheesecake, etc) are usually things that I can have any other time during the year. But that fudge pie is what I want. It’s a family tradition and it’s what I love – whenever I smell that pie baking…I know it’s the holidays.

3. Drink Water and Move. I don’t normally bring workout clothes and stuff to do while I’m home. I do try to drink as much water each day that I can – for some reason, drinking water helps me remember to also try to get in some fruits/veggies every day. It’s like one habit fuels the other. Also, even though we don’t normally have “structured” workouts, we walk whenever we can and are usually running around like crazy, anyways. As long as you’re moving, that’s a good thing.

But most of all, enjoy yourself! The holidays are the times to be with family and friends and be thankful for everything you have.

And, for me, that usually includes a slice of fudge pie



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Guest Post: Laura from Hey, What’s For Dinner Mom?

Hi everybody! It’s Laura from “Hey What’s for Dinner, Mom?” I’m guest posting for Mara this week while she is busy getting hitched. Congratulations Mara and Adam I know you guys will have a wonderful life together and I can’t believe your big day is finally here. For my guest post I wanted to share some words of wisdom from Dear Abby that have hung on my fridge for 15 years.

Rules for a Happy Marriage

1. Never both be angry at the same time

2. Never yell at each other unless the house is on fire

3. If one of you has to win an argument, let it be your mate

4. If you must criticize, do it lovingly

5. Never bring up mistakes of the past

6. Neglect the whole world rather than each other

7. Never go to sleep with an argument unsettled

8. At least once every day say a kind or complimentary word to your life partner

9. When you have done something wrong, admit it and ask for forgiveness

10. Remember it takes two to make a quarrel and the one doing the most talking is probably the one who is wrong

These rules have served me well over the years with my real husband. May you have a blessed long and happy marriage and may we all continue to read about it! Cheers!

You might be reading it here first: I am hosting a Green White Elephant Gift Exchange! With the economy the way it is who can afford one more present for a blogger gift exchange? I can’t, but I sure do have some nice things that have been given to me that ‘aren’t quite me’ and that I’d love to give to someone else. And what’s more green than recycling a ‘not quite me’ present? Call it re-gifting. Call it recycling. Call it white elephant. Call it fun! Please join us as we celebrate a green earth friendly holiday season, re-gifters UNITE! To play along simply email me at jinxyjune@gmail.com and answer these questions:

name

blog name

email

mailing address

m/f

favorite color

5 things you love

5 things you despise

the best present you ever received

what are you most thankful for?

You have until December 1st to respond, then I’ll mix ‘em up and send everybody someone else. Please plan on shipping by December 10th so that they will arrive in time for Christmas. Also I need one or 2 little elves to help me spread the word and don’t tell anyone but elves get extra entries into my 1 year blogoversary chocolate extravaganza giveaway on December 5th, contact me for information. So what are you waiting for, send me info for the exchange and start looking around for something really cool in your house that just isn’t you.

Peace and Love,

Laura

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