Recipe for an Awesome Afternoon

Ingredients:

One Boat

A Captain and one lovely First-Mate

One Navigator

Few Friends

Beautiful Island setting

12 dozen Birthday Cupcakes w/ Butter cream Frosting(made by my Niece Hana-Yummm!)
A large campfire to grill cheese sandwich

Bottle or two of wine

Evening sunset on the water

Mix well and give thanks for a wonderful day!

Summer Solstice * Winter Solstice * Celebrity Solstice

I know it's spring, but I just wanted to let you know where you can find "Solstice" this time of year. Our Celebrity Cruise Line Sales Rep. came to the office this morning and told us of some the awesome specials on "Celebrity Solstice" and other Celebrity ships--it really makes me want to go--NOW!
Five Reasons to sail on "Celebrity Solstice" -
1. Europe 11 night Mediterranean cruise starting at $1499 pp BALCONY !!
85% of staterooms on board are balconies
2. Ten unique dining venues on board
3. Large staterooms with a new standard of design and comfort - Aqua Class staterooms
with "personalized spa elements"
4. On board shopping - 18 unique venues
5. Entertainment-three new production shows, Lawn Club at sea, Hot Glass show at sea...

Some other fabulous deals on Celebrity ships:
Alaska 7 nights cruises starting at $369.00 pp inside / $599.00 pp outside / $899.00pp balcony
Coastal/Alaska 11 night starting at $649.00 pp inside / $749.00 pp outside
Europe 12 nights starting at $799.00 pp inside
-- Celebrity Cruise Lines is my favorite, the service, food and ships are first class!

Spring Break

Spring Break definition - a break from the normal routine (no school lunches, no homework, sleeping in, staying up late), extra time to spend with your kids just hanging out at home or going somewhere to find sunshine. Many years ago, while in college I made the long trek to Florida with friends...this year my family went to Desert Canyon, Eastern WA. We found sunshine and relaxation, what a treat! It is one of our favorite places to go relax and just get away. Check out the link to their web-site you may want to give it a try. It is an awesome place for family reunions, golf getaways, or family vacations.

Happy Easter!

I love spring time and especially Easter, it is so great to celebrate "LIFE"! We went to church this morning to celebrate & worship with friends and then got together with family for lunch - what a special day, I am so blessed.
Some members of my family wanted me to share my Easter dessert recipe:

NOT YO' MAMA'S BANANA PUDDING BY PAULA DEEN
2 bags Pepperidge Farm Chessman cookies
6-8 bananas, sliced
2 cups milk
1 (5 ounce) box instant French vanilla pudding
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (12 ounce) container frozen whipped topping thawed

Line the bottom of a 13 X 9 by 2 inch dish with 1 bag of cookies and layer bananas on top.
In a bowl, combine the milk and pudding mix and blend well using a handheld electric mixer. Using another bowl, combine the cream cheese and condensed milk together and mix until smooth. Fold the whipped topping into the cream cheese mixture. Add the cream cheese mixture to the pudding mixture and stir until well blended. Pour the mixture over the cookies and bananas and cover with the remaining cookies. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
ENJOY!

P.S. "Happy Birthday Cindy!"

The Birthday dinner was for my friend Cindy, who does not like birthdays because it means growing older. She is forever young and I love celebrating with her!

Top Chef Jeff

My husband and I are faithful viewers of "Top Chef", a program on Bravo TV. It's a cooking competition where one chef wins "Top Chef" honors after all the others have been eliminated. I think my husband is "Top Chef" and awarded him this jacket a few months ago thinking it would inspire him to cook more often, so far, so good...
A week ago we put together a last minute birthday dinner for a friend and he did the cooking -- "Chicken Piccata", it was so delicious I had to share a picture of my chef in action.

Who Needs a Car?

In the "desert" a lot of residents own a golf cart (with its own mini garage), it's efficient and "cool" on the golf course and off. I even saw parking spots for golf carts at the shopping mall! We had the pleasure of experiencing the "golf cart ride" when invited for dinner at my husband's cousin Guy and his lovely wife Kathy who also lived in Rancho La Quinta.
Hang on--Chris is driving!
We had a wonderful dinner with good company and delicious BQ steaks.