A few photos from a small dinner Paulette and I threw for Grant and Paris as a congratulations/appreciation/bon voyage dinner. They are both so loving and serving in the area, so it's neat they were baptized on the same day, and that Grant is headed to Australia temporarily for a few weeks, and Paris is headed to Edstone for a few months.
The duo's lovely parents. Mr. Turgeon is sporting a necktie I made for him. Yeah! I can see where their children get their character from. The Mr. and Mrs. are both so loving, kind, and always busy serving everyone! We are blessed to have them here!
Brandi D. came with Paris. These gals have been friends for a loooong time! I remember having them over for sleepovers when they were little girls. Good memories!
Above: Alexa looks like she's thinking "oh no...there she goes with her photo taking." Everyone always knows it's going to happen, it's just a matter of when! :-)
Below: It looks like Alexa has accepted the fact that I'm taking her photo. :-)
Paulette smiles!
...so they were thinking that this could possibly be the "last time" that Grant was going to see his dad before he flew to Australia for a few weeks, so when I saw them hugging their goodbyes, I asked them to hold the pose so I could capture it on camera! Ahhh!!!
Yours truly posing with Paulette's dog Mya after the guests had gone.
....so I made mushroom beef in the crockpot using red wine, etc....Paulette is allergic to onions and garlic, so it was a challenge to try to cook something since garlic and onions are my usual big staples. I thought it came out okay, but the mushrooms cooked COMPLETELY down in the crockpot, so it made the beef a little more "dense" than I was hoping for, but the flavor was good.
A pic proving there were mushrooms in it before they were obliterated in the crockpot. :-)!
Switching it up!....Here is a VERY LATE THANK YOU to Reniel who sent this below treat via someone who was at the Philippines for the FOT. I have been meaning to say thank you for awhile now! I'm impressed that he remembered that I eat rice products; gluten free and sugar free, and love the "with stevia" part. Wow!!! Thank you so much Reniel!!!
Switching gears again.....last week Ramona came over for some good old fashion girl pal time. It had been awhile since we had gotten together, so it was a great time granted we both were not feeling well...sicky icky :-), but we made the best of it in our "under the weather" not 100% conditions. :-)! Below are some pics I took of cinnamon rolls I baked along with the breakfast I made for Ramona. I was impatient, and didn't give the yeast time to rise, so they weren't as fluffy as I'd like, but they were still yummy, I think! :-)
As of this month, I have been really into making my own cooking extracts. They are so expensive in the store if you buy the real natural extracts, and the imitation extracts are so unhealthy, so I learned how to make my own via pinterest, and voila!
....so easy to make lemon extract.....you zest a lemon...aka peel the skin off.....add the lemon zest inside the small containers....amount of zest is about half the lemon zest of one lemon for one container..........fill two small air tight glass containers with vodka around the lemon zest, seal her up....wait a few weeks and there you have it....homemade lemon extract that is all natural, cheap, and tastes so much better than the store bought kind! The beauty of it is that you can keep refilling it for awhile using the same zest....you don't have to add new zest in when you use up the liquid, just refill. Pretty cost effective and cool! :-)
You can't make homemade extract without making probably the most popular in demand, vanilla extract. ...so ABOVE....I ordered vanilla beans....wow...those things are not cheap...they are like 7 bucks for two beans, but I found a deal online where I got, so they say, 5 extra beans for free, so I went with it! I used a lighter brand of vodka with the vanilla guessing the beans would be a bit lighter than the lemon.
To make the vanilla extract....I cut the vanilla beans in two....let me tell you...that is not easy...those things are like cutting a piece of hay in two, but apparently, that is how you use vanilla in any form. I confess, I've never cooked with a real vanilla bean before! Once you get the bean cut without cutting yourself....LOL....then you cut it down small enough to fit into a little air tight glass container....the amount I used was about 2.5 cut beans per container......then I poured the vodka around the vanilla beans....and let sit for a few weeks. Like the lemon extract, once all brewed after a few weeks and you run out of the extract liquid, you don't have to buy more vanilla beans....you just keep the same ones in and refill with vodka. So much cheaper! I just started "brewing" the vanilla extract this week, so you can see how it's already darkening after a few days....
Above is the first day....the vodka is still clear
Below is the second day.....the vodka is beginning to look like vanilla extract.
Above: I had to get a pic of the lemon and vanilla extract together....Next extract project....mint!
Below: After a few days the vanilla extract has become even darker....and here I was thinking they put artificial coloring in even the natural store bought kind. I was wrong, ding dong! :-) I learned from someone that if you add coffee beans to the vanilla beans and vodka, that you will have homemade Kahlua liquor. I may try that some day! So much cheaper!
Final project that will get finished this week...been in the making for about two months now..... is finishing up these two separate napkin and table cloth sets for two couples here who were married recently...well when I say recently I mean like 3 and 4 months ago...LOL. I'm late!...but better late than never, and making napkins and tablecloths is very time consuming....really it is, but it's so fun to do!
