Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Vegas Fun Fact


In Vegas you will  see *Elvis*!
That's right, today I saw him in Walmart buying frozen veggies.
Last Month I saw him playing bingo!

Just a fun fact from living here in Las Vegas!

*(Elvis impersonators that is! but still fun when you see them out doing everyday things and they still look like Elvis!)

Monday, June 25, 2012

Summer Dish: Shrimp with Asparagus

I found this recipe on Tasty kitchen Blog, It comes from Stellabskitchen.blogspot.com
it is a wonderful dish, nice and light for a summer dinner! Charlie really enjoyed it! I followed her recipe to a tee, except I added crushed red pepper at the end cause we like our pasta spicy!
Try it this week for a fast, took 15 minutes, light summer dish! I added a loaf of crusty french bread with balsamic and olive oil for dipping!! YUMMY!


Ingredients

  • ½ pounds Linguine Pasta
  • FOR THE ASPARAGUS:
  • ½ Tablespoons Butter
  • ½ Tablespoons Olive Oil
  • 1 pound Asparagus, About 1 Bunch
  • FOR THE SHRIMP:
  • ¼ cups Finely Chopped Onion
  • 5 cloves Garlic (large), Minced
  • ½ Tablespoons Butter
  • ½ Tablespoons Oil
  • 1 pound Shrimp, Cleaned And Deveined
  • ¼ cups White Wine
  • Salt And Pepper, to taste
  • Chopped Parsley And Grated Parmesan Cheese For Serving, Optional
  • 1 whole Lemon, Cut In Wedges For Serving

Fresh asparagus and buttery shrimp over pasta with a burst of lemon before serving. Yum!

Preparation Instructions

Heat a pot of salted boiling water for linguine while you begin cooking asparagus and shrimp.
For the asparagus: Heat a large skillet over medium, warm butter and oil. Toss in asparagus and cook covered for a couple minutes, depending upon the thickness of the asparagus, until slightly undercooked. (Asparagus will get tossed back in the pan after the shrimp to finish cooking.) Remove from pan and set aside.
Begin cooking pasta in boiling water. It will take around 8 minutes.
For the shrimp: In the same skillet used to cook the asparagus, cook onion and garlic in butter and olive oil over medium low heat until onions are translucent. Be careful not to burn the garlic. Add shrimp, cooking on first side until pinking slightly, then flip. Pour in wine. Stir and cook another minute.
Add asparagus back to the dish. Stir and cover. Reduce skillet heat to low until pasta is cooked. Add cooked pasta to shrimp and asparagus along with a little pasta water if more moisture is needed. Salt and pepper to taste and garnish with parsley and Parmesan cheese, if desired. Serve with lemon wedges.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Summer is in full swing!

Old photo from a few years ago, but I just love it, charlie is teaching Ethan cannonballs!
We spent the day at the pool with Ethan, swimming and playing and then order pizza. Pizza is fast and easy by the pool. But today we will grill up some fish tacos for me, and carne asada tacos for the hubby. Staying home and lounging today, taking it easy and enjoying the summer days!

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

My Favorite Day of the Year!!

Today is my favorite day of the year, yep, it is better then Christmas, and Thanksgiving put together!!
It is The First Day Of  Summer!!! I love the heat and today it is 104* 
My backyard is beautiful and the pool is cool!
Happy Summer Day Everyone!!!!

Monday, June 18, 2012

Make something fun today!

I read a post on Tanya's blog, Bead and Needle that she had made some really cool bracelets and posted the tutorial, she said it was easy to follow, so I gave it a go...It was easy and fun and I just love my new wrap bracelet!! Thanks Tanya!!

Here is a link to the tutorial to make one for yourself! Rings and Things Tutorial

Grilled fish Tacos!!!!!


I always thought fish tacos would be yucky and fishy and not something I wanted to eat....until I went to the Fish Market Restaurant in Del Mar with my sister and we were trying to not eat meat (beef/chicken/pork) so I went with the fish tacos because the waitress said they are famous for their fish tacos!! Well, I tried them and WOW!! I cannot imagine eating a taco that is not a fish taco now!! No fishy taste at all, as long as you use a cod, or tilapia or even mahi mahi!
So my new quest began, make a delicious fish taco!
I tried a couple recipes so far but they were missing something....Today I made them with the help of Greg at Ballistic BBQ on youtube: Check his cooking skills out here: Ballistic BBQ. He had the winning recipe for a fantastic fish taco!

So here is how I made them, slight changes only due to what I had on hand, I used tilapia, 1 pound, chop into large chunks.
The adobo sauce!

The marinade is: 1/2 cup olive oil, juice of 1 lime, handful of chopped cilantro, and 3 spoonfuls of adobo sauce, blend in the food processor until smooth, dump in a large baggie and add your fish, mix it around and then put in the fridge to marinate at least a half hour!


Make some crema sauce: 1/2 cup sour cream, 2 spoons adobo sauce, splash of milk. blend in food processor then put in a squirt bottle, this is a great tip! Now you can easily squeeze some sauce on your tacos!! Put in fridge to chill.


Make some garnishes: sliced avocado, chopped onion, shredded cabbage, lime wedges, some cilantro. and corn tortillas.

Now get your grill or grill pan out and heat it up, throw on the fish and cook about 4 minutes per side. Also heat up your tortillas, once the fish and tortillas are done, assemble a taco and prepare to be blown away! Excellent dish!!

The fish taco buffet!

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Etsy!

I added about 20 new items to my etsy store! I now have 46 items in my shop!! Whoo-Hoo!!!!
Check them out: www.peaceloveandartshop.com

Friday, June 15, 2012

Happy Days In New Zealand!

I just had to share this fabulous cake my sister in law, Violet made!! Wow, very impressive!
She lives in New Zealand and loves to bring a little slice of America to the folks there. She runs a little coffee shop cafe and she has become quite the barista cafe owner over there!
She will decorate for all the American holidays and the people just get the biggest kick out of it!
If you want to read more about all she does in New Zealand go to:  Violets.Coffee

Her husband, Alan, is Black Thunder Racing NZ and you have seen me post when they come to town to race at the Bonniville Salt Flats.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

The Allman Brothers Band



Everyone knows their music, you can all sing along,
 It's the best classic rock you can get...but do you know the whole story about how they came about, how they hit the heights and then crashed and burned, how they lost their leader, Duane, but little brother, Gregg, carried on?
I do.
I just finished reading My Cross to Bare, by Gregg Allman. It was a good read, my sister told me about it, and I picked it up and devoured it while Charlie was at the raceshop the past couple nights. The only time I can read is when it is quiet in the house, no tv, no radio. I have to have silence. So needless to say I have not been able to read many books in the past 23 years! My house is filled with books, one day I will be able to read them again. I love them, I have my favorites, I have all the Stephen King you could ask for. I love autobiographies. My sister would read true crime, about all the serial killers and all that, I could not do it, but we do share a love of SK though! But me, I turned to biographies, I like to see into someones world, how they lived their life and learn from their mistakes.
I loved reading Gregg's book, I was amazed at the people he met, he even hung out with Stevie Ray Vaughan (my idol) for a time!!! Gregg was heavy in the bottle and Stevie was getting sober, so they didn't hang out long together. But Gregg said he was amazed at the talant Stevie had. Love that!
If you love music and you love autobiographies, it is a light read, not too heavy, but it is a good look at what happens when fame and fortune finally comes to those who work their ass of for it. How a person can crawl through hell and come out happy on the other side.....

Monday, June 11, 2012

Fail!

Well, we were going to go to The Palms restaurant in Caesars Palace for our dinner  (I had a 50.00 gift card from american express) but I was still full from lunch and my husband was not feeling well at all, so we ended up coming home. We will go out some other time!
It is not a big deal any longer as I go out to eat all the time. When I was younger, I loved my anniversary and birthday because it meant a real nice fancy restaurant, now days I am more into saving money, so I was happy to just come home and save the money. As long as we are together, I am happy!

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Happy Anniversary! #23

I decided to re-post our 20th anniversary video since it can now be posted with the music!
We were married 23 years ago today at Harveys Hotel in Lake Tahoe...



We have dinner reservations for tonight at a new place..I will review it here tomorrow for you...see you all then!
Here is to 100 more years of happy times with lots of love and kisses!

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Wickles!

Have you ever had something so good you just can't stand it?? I have been craving pickles, because it was so hot here and I crave salty stuff when it is hot out. Chips and salsa, olives by the can load, pickles, blt's....yeah, the saltier the better...well, while I was at the walmart I came across this jar of pickles that said Wickles, the wickedly delicious pickle! I thought oh dang, I have to try these!
Oh My!! I cannot stop eating them, I snack on two or three every hour!! I am going back to buy a case of these Wickles!!! Fabulous Pickles!! Give them a try, you won't be dissappointed!!

Monday, June 4, 2012

More pics!

We had driven from orange county (newport beach) to south bay county (redondo beach) via the pch highway, it was a gorgeous drive, we stopped along the way to take some photos, it has been awhile since I saw the ocean! But I was glad to come home to my 100 degree weather, it was far too cold in california for me!
I had my rock star glasses on and my rockstar hair too!

Bolsa Chica


Bolsa Chica

On the Redondo pier

His name is Malcolm!

A little weekend getaway!

We ran off to California to watch the Rangers play the Angels. I got to see Napoli play! I wore my jersey and Charlie wore his jersey, I wonder if people try to figure out what player was Deguevara!! haha! Maureen got him a personalized shirt one year....so his jersey says Deguevara on the back!
Joe and Mary went to fridays game with us and then saturday we went to visit christy and had lunch with her then back to the ball game for saturdays game, just me and charlie. We had a fun little getaway....

They gave away free hats!
 We got to be part of a Guiness world record for the most cowboy hats worn in a location, everyone put their hat on and we had to keep them on for 10 minutes, it was cool to see, then the official Guiness guy declared it a record, 40,000 fans had hats on! Wow, we are famous!

The sea of black hats!
Napoli!