The time has finally arrived and it is Matty’s turn for team sports. He loves soccer, so when registration for Westchase miniwee soccer came out we had to sign him up. His team is called “Team Fusion”. Each team has five players and each week they play the same team, our opponent team is “Team Mutiny”. All of the children in miniwee wear the number 1. Andy is one of the team coaches and Matty was so excited…you just can’t fake his beautiful happy face.
Filed under Soccer
This year for Holiday Tables Rochelle, Catie, and I decided to do two tables and decorate them baby shower shabby chic. We had fun decorating them and can’t wait until next year…
On our way home we decided to make a detour to Ellijay, Ga. We were so close to the best pumpkin patch ever, that driving for a little bit longer really didn’t bother us too much. Burt’s Pumpkin Patch is wonderful for families and the prices are so good. We went on a two-mile hay ride, picked out several pumpkins to take home, and drank apple cider. The boys had a great time.
Filed under Fun Outings, Georgia, Vacations
Day two of our trip to the mountains, consisted of a drive through Smoky Mountain National Park. We were hoping that the higher that we went in elevation, the more the leaves would have changed their color and the temperature would be cooler…we were right. Sometimes it is a little hard for us to tell whether the fog over the mountains is lifting or if it is moving in to stay. Instead of stopping at a few look out points on the way over to the other side, we decided that we would wait it out and see if the visibility improved at all. It didn’t, in fact it got worse. That was okay though, it all added to the fall experience. We stopped at Newfoundland Gap for a few photos, but the wind cutting through was freezing and we all raced back to the car…. 🙂
The view from Aunt Barbara’s deck.
Filed under Fall, North Carolina
This year for Columbus Day weekend, mom and I decided to take the boys north to feel a little fall. With only a couple of days to play, we thought that one day in Asheville would be a great stop. We had lunch downtown, stopped and wandered through a small festival, and then headed over to the Biltmore. Davy loves history, so visiting the Biltmore Estate or ‘the big house’ as he called it was just his kind of thing. They even had a children’s pamphlet which gave clues on each level to play I Spy. We went on the tour, stopped in the gift shop, and then drove around the property, it really is so beautiful there. For dinner, we headed back to Franklin and met up with Aunt Barbara and Ikey at Fat Buddies…Yum!
Davy gets a hold of my camera while waiting in line to enter….
Filed under Fall, North Carolina
Wrote this for the Junior League Cookbook Blog….
October is National Breast Cancer awareness month, and those of us over here with the Junior League Cookbook blog couldn’t let this pass by without raising our glasses to those strong, brave, and incredibly special women who have been touched by this in one way or another. We lift our glasses and say, “Bravo girls! We are here for you and we support you….all 1800+ of us!”
According to the American Cancer Society, September 2012, 1 in 8 women in the US will develop invasive breast cancer in their lifetime. The chance that breast cancer will be responsible for a women’s death is 1 in 36. Year after year these numbers are declining and that is believed to be the result of earlier detection through screening and increased awareness, as well as improved treatment. So ladies get those TaTa’s checked regularly, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
In addition to screenings, another way you can help protect your body from cancer is by eating foods that are rich in cancer fighting antioxidants and phytochemicals. The National Cancer Institute estimates that roughly one-third of all cancer deaths may be diet related. What you eat can hurt you, but it can also help you. Foods to explore are those that have the ability to help stave off cancer and some can even help inhibit cancer cell growth or reduce tumor size, such as: avocados, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, chili peppers and jalapenos, cruciferous vegetables, fig, flax, garlic, grapefruit, red grapes, yellow and green leafy vegetables, kale, licorice root, mushrooms, nuts, oranges and lemons, papaya, raspberries, red wine, rosemary, seaweed, soy products, sweet potatoes, teas: green and black, tapioca, tomatoes, turmeric, turnips, and more. So when you are planning your next meal, think about these foods and how you can slip them in for your loved ones. Here are some recipes to get you started…
Fresh Carrot Salad – Everyday Feasts
Mushroom Frittata – Savor the Seasons
Berry Crumb Cake – The Life of the Party
Florida Avocado Salsa – Capture the Coast
The Susan G. Komen 3-Day walk is scheduled here in Tampa Bay on October 25-27. Grab a lawn chair and head out to cheer on our fellow sisters; I’m certain they would love to see you. If you are looking for more resources on education or just on how you can support the cause, hop on over to http://www.nbcam.org for more information…Bon appétit! Kathryn Zahn
Pink Grapefruit Margarita
Combine the grapefruit juice, tequila, Grand Marnier, lime juice and sugar in a pitcher and stir until the sugar is dissolved (I used Simple Syrup instead). Add crushed ice to fill the pitcher. Strain the margarita into the prepared glass and garnish with a slice of lime or pink grapefruit. Process the mixture with ice in a blender for a frozen drink. You may moisten the rim of the glass and dip in the salt before filling with the margarita if desired.
After baby Layne was born, our original plan for me to go and visit got pushed back so for the last four months I have been dreaming about holding, kissing, and smooching him all over…and that’s when the idea popped into my head to make him a quilt. Although I won’t get to see him much as I would like to over the years, hopefully he will always know that he is loved. After tossing around different quilt pattern ideas, I finally decided on the Chevron pattern. It’s classic, clean, and works well for a little boy quilt. 🙂
Here’s how to make a Chevron quilt without piecing together all of those triangles!
First, select your fabrics.
Cut 2 strips 3″ wide x width of fabric from one of the print fabrics.
Cut 2 strips 3″ wide x width of fabric from the solid fabric.
Filed under and Stuff, Krulik Family
In 2005, I was 29 weeks pregnant with Davy and all of a sudden one day I just wasn’t feeling so good. About half way through the day I ran into my very good friend Debbie and at the time colleague (which being an outside sales rep was completely random) and I asked her about the horrible stomach pains I was having in which she replies, “That’s not normal at all! You should go straight to your OB and call them while you are on your way.” I am so thankful for her that day because I was in the process of going into premature labor and was having contractions. I probably wouldn’t have called or gone in when I did, I mean after all when you are pregnant all kinds of crazy things are going on (and it was my first baby) so I never expected this at week 29. I had a positive FFN test, meaning that there was a 60% chance that I would go into full preterm labor within 48 hours to 2 weeks. Needless to say, I was placed on strict bed rest for the next five weeks. I moved from the bed to the couch and then back to the bed. I watched a lot of movies and TV, two shows in particular “A Baby Story” and “Take Home Chef”. I loved this show, watched it whenever I could, and dreamed of having Curtis Stone come to our house to cook dinner. I even made poor Andy watch this show. Anyone who knows me knows that I love cooking, food shows, and Curtis Stone.
About a month ago, I received an email from the Rolling Pin, www.rollingpinonline.com, saying that he was coming to Florida, making this his only stop, launching his new cookware line, and doing a cookbook signing. I immediately called mom to see if she wanted to go with me and of course she did, so I went on-line and booked our tickets. This 50 person event sold out in less than an hour and a half. Squealing with delight I called Andy while he was at bible study (something that I never do), I tell him about the two tickets and he says, “Awesome! When are we going?…”. The crickets started chirping and after about 10 seconds or so I say, “Well…you aren’t, I asked my mom.” I could tell he was disappointed, but happy for her and I.
Over the last couple of weeks I have been talking about how I can’t wait for my date with Curtis, mind you it doesn’t bother me at all that there will be 49 other people there (including my mother). This is the closest I’ll ever get to it!!…
Earlier in the week Andy says, “Wait a second… Isn’t he in your top five?” Now we don’t really have a top five, nor could I even come up with five people, but it’s still funny. He says, “But I don’t look anything like him.” In which I reply, “Yeah so, and I don’t look anything like Ivanka Trump. What’s your point?”
Mom and I met for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory and around 12:30 made our way over to the Rolling Pin. Surprisingly to me, the place was very calm. They really did a great job getting prepared for this. We were checked in at the door and the place settings were assigned based on when you ordered your tickets. Ha! We were at the kitchen bar, directly in front of him!!! We were so happy.
He originally intended on doing around a 10 minute cooking demonstration, but it turned out to be more like 30. He made a shrimp stir-fry demonstrating his new cookware. The cookware line idea came up after he was done with the TV show “Take Home Chef”, and he says the thing that most anyone will tell you is that they wish cooking equipment was more user-friendly. For example, the mixing bowls in the picture above have a handle: easy to mix, even easier to pour. I completely agree with that! My own personal experience of a large mixing bowl filled with pound cake batter and then trying to lift, tip, and pour or scrape it out is really hard (I bought these bowls!!!Yay). I’m gonna share the rest in interview format…I think that it will be easier. Some of the pictures are blurry and the lighting wasn’t the best…but I don’t care! We had fun and I love him!
How did you decide that cooking was going to be your thing? Most people are either a cooker or a baker, and well my mother was a baker. She really was a terrible cook. My best friend however was Italian and I used to eat at his house all the time. I loved the food and also, I love to eat!
Tell us about your cooking journey. I started off in a Culinary school in Australia, where I’m from. From there I went to Melbourne and worked for the Savoy Hotel, they had a 3 year program. Next, I went to Europe and worked for a guy named Marco Pierre White. We worked together for about 8 years. After that I returned to Australia and hosted a few cooking shows like Surfing the Menu. Shortly after that I got a call from the Discovery Channel wanting me to come to the states and do a show called Take Home Chef and I’ve been here ever since and live in LA.
Tell me a little more about how Take Home Chef came about. Well, like I said Discovery Channel called and pitched the idea to me. They said you are young, good-looking, and can cook…here’s what we’d like to do. My response was, “Ok, so if I am understanding you right you only want to target young attractive-looking women because they are the target demographic, I’m supposed to just walk up to them in a supermarket and ask if I can go home with them, and then cook this beautiful girl dinner for her and her mate?” They said, “Yep, that sounds about right.” I called my dad to run it by him and he says, “What? Are you an idiot? You are going to go home with these women and cook? Don’t you know that over in the states those people have a lot of guns!” We taped a lot of shows, but never made it to Florida. I wish you had of… 🙂
In all of your traveling, is there one thing that Americans do that is the same? No, it’s all different that’s why it’s called the United States. Every state and everyone is different from cultures to family values. And the food is different here, I had never heard of meatloaf before. Someone was trying to explain it to me and I just couldn’t get my head wrapped around the idea of a loaf of all meat.
Of all the places that you have traveled, where is your favorite? Most memorable? It would have to be Thailand. Cat Cora and I were there and we had a little extra time so we went to an elephant refuge. We got to help with elephants and that was a really neat experience. I also like Buenos Aires.
Of the latest food trends that are out, what is your favorite and what is your least favorite? My most favorite would have to be Mexican food. You see it all the time now, it’s everywhere, but we didn’t have it in Australia so it was completely new to me and I just love latin cuisine. I would have to say my least favorite is molecular cooking. The best way I can describe it is, you know how you go to a fashion show and there are some really outrageous outfits that come down the runway and nobody could actually wear them day-to-day, that’s how I think of this. It keeps it entertaining and has to be done and I do go to places like Fat Duck and try the food…it’s just not my thing. Food should be about love and the people you love.
What is your favorite comfort food? Ohhh, it would have to be a roast. It doesn’t even matter if it is chicken, lamb, or pork, just walking into a home and it smells of chicken, garlic, and onions…that’s comfort food to me.
About this time, they wrapped him up and set up for the cookbook signing. A few of things that we picked up were the mixing bowl set, a woket (he says it is a cross between a wok and a skillet), and what he calls a bump and grind (a mortar and pestle) which I had signed as well. One of the neatest products that he is launching is bakeware where the bottom is made of silicone so that you can pop out your food versus scraping, lifting, and shaking. They were handing out individual baking cups just for showing up today…so fun! We had a great time, were photographed by Creative Loafing, and I still want him to come home with me to cook…. 🙂
Filed under Random
Pizza Rollups
1 package of Crescent Roll
2 mozzarella cheese sticks
16 pepperoni
pizza sauce
Preheat the oven to 375. Grease a cookie sheet. Unroll the Crescent dough. On each triangle place 2 pepperoni and a 1/4 of the cheese stick. Roll up and pinch the ends shut to prevent the cheese from leaking out. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Sauce on the side. Yum!
Filed under After School Snacks, Recipes
We were driving to church yesterday and brainstorming about what we wanted to do today, Monday Labor Day, and I had the thought, “Hey! Let’s go tubing!” Andy thought that it was a great idea so a little before 8am this morning we loaded up in the car and headed north to Rainbow River in Dunellon, FL.
The drive took a little longer than an hour and a half. We decided to go to Rainbow Springs State Park located at 10830 S. W. 180th Avenue Road Dunnellon, Florida 34432. It was $10 per person and that included the tube and the tram ride. The water was 72 degrees and the float trip was around 2 hours.
We weren’t even on the river for 15 minutes before we spotted an otter playing off to the side. The kids saw lots of birds, fish, and Davy said he even saw a turtle. What both boys loved the most were the dragonflies. They were all over us and landed on our tubes, feet, arms, everywhere. Along the way there were rope swings, tree jumping, and the water spray.
After we were done tubing, we drove the 7 miles over to the original State Park, Headsprings and had a picnic lunch. At the base of the park grounds there was a large swimming hole. It was crystal blue-green and the boys had a great time jumping into the river. All in all today was a perfect day. We are looking forward to heading back sometime soon… 🙂
Filed under Fun Outings
1.2020
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10.2013
Hunter Mountain, NY 3.13
AMI 4.12
Disney World 12.11
Amicalola Falls, Ga 10.11
Burrr It's Cold!! 3.11
Little Gasparilla Island 8.10
11.2013
AMI 8.11
12.2018
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12.2011
Mountains! Beach! or Both!... 