My Yellow Pages

When I first moved to St. Louis a few years ago, my friend and native of St. Louis, CB, gave me a little spiral book called "My Yellow Pages".

You guys, this is one of the most thoughtful gifts I've ever received. Inside the book was lists of restaurants (less expensive, moderate, kid-friendly, expensive), the best places to get ice cream, good doctors, dry cleaners, grocery stores, banks, etc. She also had a map of St. Louis in the back of the book that showed where I was going to be living and all the major roads in the area.

Today, I was talking to friend who has been introducing herself to her new neighbors. As we chatted she explained that these folks that had just moved into town didn't know where anything was. That's what brought the "My Yellow Pages" back to my mind.

I have a set of neighbors that will be moving into our culdesac in the next few weeks. I think I might put together Kelly's Yellow Pages for them. I have no idea if they are from the area, so I might wait and spring it on them if they actually need it. If they are from this area, and don't seem to need it, I'll just tuck it away for my next set of new neighbors.

I hope that for someone, I can save them a little time and offer them a welcome by taking the time to help them connect with the community, even if it is just a list of names and phone numbers of local services to start with.

Quick....Dessert!!

Here are some easy desserts for when you have folks over:

Sugar cookies, wafers, or choc. chip cookies and ice cream. I love, love, love Lifesavers rainbow sherbert with sugar cookies. So good!

We also love to serve rasberry sorbet. It's kind of expensive sometimes, but if you catch on sale, put it in your freezer for a summertime dessert.

Sometimes I like to put brownies in the oven before my guests arrive so the house smells good while we are eating dinner. Add some chocolate chips to them, makes them really yummy. My dad is from New York, he likes to ice his brownies with cake frosting. White cake frosting. (Too much sugar for me!)

Popsicles. Especially banana pops.

Pudding pie. Mix chocolate pudding together, pour it in an oreo pie crust. Put in fridge for about 30 minutes to an hour. Serve with a a little whipped topping and garnish with a berry/cherry/hershey kiss.

I have more desserts to share-but they take a little more time.

A Girls Night Out Baby Shower

My sis in law is getting ready to have her first little girl. She already has a precious little man, but she finally gets to shop in the girls clothes section and have tea parties!

For her baby shower, we decided to take her out for a Girls Night Out and surprise her with a baby shower. We ate at yummy downtown restaurant. We had the restaurant replace their stark white napkins with pink cloth napkins, tied with a simple pink bow and a little plastic pacifier dangling from it. (We brought these with us) We ordered a baby pink flower arrangement to sneak on to the table. (Also brought with us, avoiding a delivery fee). We also ordered a corsage for the guest of honor. I think I may skip flower corsages for my guests of honor in the future. They are expensive and most people really don't enjoy them that much.

We ate dinner and decided to have dessert at a family member's home that lived nearby. When we arrived at the hostess' home, she had a Blue Moon Bakery Cake (local Cary, NC bakery) on a beautiful white cake stand and china sitting on the table. We had our choice of coffee or several varieties of sparkling water. The cake, chocolate with a strawberry mousse was really good! The presents were mostly pink and really precious.

This evening was fun, because we were able to celebrate this new life over a meal, where someone else cooked, cleaned and lets face it, moms rarely ever go out to dinner as a group. So this was a special treat. Moving dessert to someone's home took a little more time, but it provided the opportunity for us to have a more intimate time to talk, share and watch the guest of honor open her gifts. The best part of the evening was hearing about my sister in laws hopes and excitement for her new little girl and getting to ask God to bless this little life.

___________-tasting party!

KB has been wanting me to share about something I had done back in seminary days. We had a Girl's Night In to hang out and watch a movie together, but started the evening with a popcorn-tasting test. I got several brands and types of popcorn (in hindsight I probably should've gotten several different kinds of "butter" popcorn...or something that was more consistent, it's hard to compare orville redenbacher kettlecorn with act II light butter popcorn) and popped a bag of each and put them in bowls (numbering the bowls from 1 to 10). I had everyone try the different popcorns and rate them from favorite to least favorite so that we could see the results. It was fun how several people were surprised that their favorite was some cheap no namebrand. I was inspired by a friend who had had an orange soda tasting contest (I would've done root beer, but not everyone likes root beer). Anyways, it's a fun social thing and you can pretty much use anything you want (ice cream?, potato chips?).

flylady helped me clean my sink....

Ok, so it's been a crazy week....my 7-year old started last weekend with a fever/stomach bug.... my twin 1year old girl had pink eye in both eyes on monday, I got a fever on tuesday (along with headache and sore throat) ends up it's strep...and my twin 1year old boy has gunky eyes today! Whew....needless to say, the house isn't in any condition for visitors (not that i would let anyone near this germ infested place)...however, today I did get a Lysol wipe and wipe down every doorknob and light switch (plus the telephones and computer mouse). And, yesterday, I shined my sink! I think that there are times that if I can just get something done it does my mental health well. It was that way with my sink yesterday. Here's the link: http://flylady.net/pages/FLYingLessons_Shine.asp I know that there's more to life than a clean sink....and I know that this has nothing to do with hospitality, but my week hasn't had much to do with hospitality....just survival. :)

A Shared Anniversary

We have friends and neighbors, D & B, who share our same wedding anniversary. Except they've been married 32 years and we've been married 9.

Last week we got an invitation from D & B to come over to their home for dinner, so we could celebrate our anniversaries together. Maybe this is a new tradition! My mother and father in law have friends that they go out with every year that celebrate their anniversary around the same time. They've been doing this for over 20 years. I think it is a great idea!

D & B fed us well- steak, baked potatoes, yummy rolls and salad. They had a pretty table set, with fresh flowers. The company was great and conversation really fun! We learned a lot about Nascar/car racing and movies. I also finally got to walk around and check out all of D & B's collectibles. They've got some really great stuff!

One of the best parts of the evening was dessert. Our hostess served us, in tall sundae glasses, a banana split sundae. (I think that's the right name...picture coming) But it was layers of tiny vanilla wafers, banana, banana pudding, chocolate sauce, strawberrys, whip cream and topped with a cherry. It was sooooooooooooo good! I highly recommend it!

D & B were great hosts. It's nice to have friends, that also feel like family. And it was really fun to share an evening and anniversary with D & B.

I Hit Every Single Red Light in Town.

Our family was bringing bagels in to church for our "hospitality" area. My husband goes to church early because he is the music guy, so he and my 8 year old took the bagels with them. But I didn't send the cream cheese with them.

I planned on arriving early to the church, so I could make sure everything was all set up and deliver the cream cheese. Wouldn't you know the morning didn't go according to plan? As I pulled out of my driveway, I knew I was cutting it close on arriving early. I got about 4 minutes down the road and realized I'd left a necessity at home, so I had to turn around. At this point I am starting to seriously freak out. I get back in the car realizing that I am going to now get there when everyone else does. I am pretty upset at this point, but at least I am not going to be LATE.

Wrong.

Then I proceed to hit every red light between my house and church. As I get further down the road, I see traffic backed up. Utility crews had a 5 lane road down to 2 lanes. Yeah, it wasn't pretty. I was really getting worked up at this point. I now knew, hope was lost, I was going to get to church late. People were going to arrive, be delighted to see the bagels and then realize there wasn't any cream cheese.

Most of the drive, I tried to blame everyone I could (except for myself) for the cream cheese not being there on time. I had suggested my husband take it earlier and he insisted I should bring it, leaving it in the fridge as long as possible. I blamed my 3 year old for being cranky and uncooperative. I couldn't figure out why on earth utility work had to be done on Sunday morning and I was mad at God that He didn't make every light between home and church GREEN.

I hit the world's longest traffic light, the one in front of our church's meeting area right as it turned red. I sat there for what had to be several minutes. That's when I began to realize my husband was right, he gets there a whole hour earlier than everyone else and I needed to keep the cream cheese cool. My 3 year old was just being a 3 year old-she is time challenged and it isn't anything I don't deal with on a daily basis, so I should have expected her resistance. The utility work probably had to be done. And as for the red lights, I am sure that was just part of the lesson.

Right there in sight of my destination, I realized that I was being an approval freak. A perfectionist. A blame shifter. Not a person looking forward to church but a person worried about what everyone was going to think when they saw these nicely arranged bagel platters and no cream cheese! And somehow, they were going to know that I was responsible for things not going perfectly. It was at that moment, I had to apologize to God and say I was sorry. I was being ridiculous. The bagels and cream cheese were about offering hospitality to others..some how I made it about me.

I got there and nobody cared that the cream cheese was 15 minutes late. Seriously, the only mention of the cream cheese was when someone thanked me for setting up the bagels and cream cheese.

After church I was visiting with a friend. I told her that I was thinking a lot about hospitality, and she said she'd always struggled with it. But she heard a quote once that went something like this, "It doesn't matter so much what was is on the table, but what matters is who is sitting in the chairs."

I think that captures hospitality. The pretty table is nice, the cream cheese being out with the bagels is a good thing, but in the end what matters the most is the people you are spending time with.

I learned my lesson, God loves me despite my failures, insecurities, blame shifting, etc. And of course, it's not about the cream cheese.

Baby Carrots

Ever notice how sometimes baby carrots are really bigger than bite size? Some times they can get kinda fattish.

My sister-in-law, Joy, came over to help me with the first party I ever threw at my house last year. She really was at my home for moral support b/c honestly I had no clue what I was doing. She asked me how she could help and I suggested that she could arrange the veggie tray. I pulled out a bag of baby carrots and expected her to wash and plop them down on the tray.

Joy washed the baby carrots and proceeded to pull out a cutting board and sliced the baby carrots in half and sometime quarters. Now, I was completely baffled by this. As I examined what she was doing, I realized that she was a genius! First of all, a lot of times the baby carrots are too big and it is awkward trying to eat them because they require such a big bite. So, the smaller pieces are more gracious for someone trying to maintain some manners, it is easier to carry on a conversation b/c you don't feel like you've got a huge piece of food in your mouth, it is probably a lot nicer to your teeth and it makes for more veggies to serve. Also, I find the carrots are addictive at the smaller size, a good snack for folks.

Baby Carrots is also the name of the first song my hubby ever wrote for me. (I know! How cool, I married a guy that writes me songs!)

A Luau!

I love our culdesac. Seriously, I have the greatest neighbors! It hasn't taken me long to realize that we just live in a unique situation and are blessed to have these great families living around us.

The gathering this time was spear-headed by A&G and they deemed it Luau night. They sent an evite. (I still love this method of invitation) The Evite was great! It had the whole Tiki theme going on in bright colors. Our culdesac tends to have cookouts and gatherings from time to time, but this time was different. We had so much to celebrate- a bunch of birthdays, a couple of anniversaries and a sweet neighbor who is leaving us in just a few weeks. Our hosts decided that we needed to get together and so they put together a Luau!

Our hosts would cover the main course and kid friendly food. Because we were all able to see the same evite and respond, it was really easy to see who was coming and who was bringing what side or dessert to share.

As usual, it was a feast!!! The great thing about A&G is even though they've got a busy schedule and 4 cute kids, they had luau decorations. A luau banner, a palm tree, tiki cups for the kids, palm tree centerpieces, themed plates and a flower lei for each person to wear. I found out they got all their decorations from the Dollar Store. (Love that place!) They even had a canopy set out for shade and everyone brought out their lawn chairs. A&G made a lemon slush drink for the kids and the kids kept begging for more. We had cookout food: burgers, mac and cheese, speedies, D&B's famous pasta salad, cheese and crackers, potato salad, a veggie tray and fruit tray. Yummy cake and a fruit pizza. And then later for double dessert or for some of us, triple dessert, an ice cream cake! The hostess was even armed with a sharpie marker, so we could label kids' cups to prevent mix ups and so they could have a souvenir to bring home.

A & G did a great job picking out a reason to party, a theme and they couldn't have had better weather for this event. I happen to know our hosts were packing up their Luau stuff for next year, so I better start looking for an island print shirt for future Luaus!

It's great to have neighbors. And to actually know them....even better! I am thankful God brought us to a place where we have had the opportunity to get to know ours. They may not know this, but we are extremely grateful for all of them! (I know you guys read this blog--I'm not just sayin' it--I mean it! We think you guys are great!)

Easy Banana Nut Bread

I used to make my banana nut bread from scratch. But recently I was in a time crunch and decided to pick up a banana nut bread mix and just add real bananas to it. It's less expensive than making from scratch.

It worked! And it as better than my homemade 'nana bread and a lot less trouble.

I use Krusteaz banana nut muffin mix. Follow the directions for the banana bread on the back of the box and just add 1 1/2 real bananas to the mix. I find that it takes longer in my oven than 50 minutes to bake-but you'll know once you stick a toothpick in the center or not if it is done.
I've made it this way several times and gotten lots of complements. I try to keep a box or two in my pantry all the time.

My 3 year old goes in the pantry every week and asks if we can make some 'nana bread. It's become a nice once a month cooking lesson for us both. It's been a good lesson in hospitality for her too, because it has taught her how fun it is to share something you've baked. She usually shares it with her dad, because he's her best friend.

FONDUE!!

I remember my first experience with fondue well. It was at Mimi's house. She was my other Grandmother, also a natural hostess, amazing cook, friend, encourager. In fact if she wasn't in heaven with Jesus, I could hear her cheering me on now! The thing is, Mimi had a bunch of kids and she passed on her hospitable nature to them all. And to this day they all love having folks around.

Mimi had this great fondue pot. It had to be from the late 60s early 70s. I think it was mustard color or somewhere in that color family.

I remember getting to cook my own food. I remember too, how much fun the conversation was. Everyone gathered around the table, talking, laughing.

Fondue to this day seems to be a great way to gather folks for a fun treat. You don't have to "fondue" at home you can go out and fondue. There is a restaurant chain around the US that is centered around fondue. One year a bunch of women all married to Grad students went out for just dessert fondue at a restaurant. It was a lot of fun. None of us had a lot of money, but we were able to all treat a guest of honor and participate for around $8 each.

We have done fondue with high school students at our home as well. I think we laughed the whole time. It was great!

I have some fondue cheese and chocolate recipes I'll be sure to share soon. In the mean time, why don't you think about getting out your fondue pot inviting some friends or neighbors over. Or borrow their fondue pot and ask them to show you how it is done.

My Company Meal...

I have a company meal. My husband, I believe, has gotten a bit tired of my company meal....however, I continue to make it because it is easy to prepare and make and it is tasty. The recipe is stuffed chicken rolls....we would make it in my apartment senior year in college.

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts (filleted to make 8 pieces)

3 oz. package of cream cheese

2 Tbsp of dried chives

Bread crumbs

salt and pepper to taste

Pound the chicken fillets with a mallet (or wooden spoon), Mix cream cheese and chives together and spoon 1/8 of the mixture into center of chicken, Roll the chicken up and roll in bread crumbs. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until chicken is done.

Serve with green bean casserole and rice.

I'd post a picture, but I don't have one right now...anyways, the recipe is a fine recipe...but the concept of a "company meal" is what has freed me up to enjoy having people over to our house for dinner. Granted, I need to have a 2nd company meal for people who come over more than once...but that's beside the point. The point is, because I've perfected this meal, I always have the ingredients on hand to make this meal....I am able to put it together quickly enough to not stress about it...and it tastes great! Feel free to try and make this dinner...but I would encourage you (more so) to find a meal that you can prepare relatively easily and make your own company meal. :) We have had about 13 families from church over to our house for dinner (not including people from outside of our church) and I think that at least 9 or 10 of those families have eaten my company meal. Crazy, eh? Like I said, my husband is a little tired of this meal.... but for my sanity he'll eat it.

Kentucky Derby Party

From the second I opened L & J's invite to their Kentucky Derby Party--it sounded like fun. First they sent out an evite out, so that when you responded, you could see who else was invited and who was coming. This works out great for an introvert! You can see the guest list before you arrive. And it doesn't break the bank on stationary and postage.

The Evite- covered all the details. They talked about dress code, included kids, talked about the activities. They let us know we'd be outside a lot. It was just very thoughtful. They announced a hat contest and traditional Mint Juleps in keeping with Kentucky Derby tradition. They encouraged us to bring an appetizer and drinks with us. The overall note was upbeat, centered on fun and made you excited to attend.

We brought our favorite appetizer, Spinach and Artichoke purses and filled up some water bottles for beverages for the kids (good for my hosts' carpet, good on a hot day!)

My 8 year old daughter and I "googled" Kentucky Derby hats. Then we pulled a couple of hats out of the dress up box. We picked one out for her 3 year old sister, that was fine as it was. We took a beat up old blue sun hat and pulled out some tulle and fake flowers and my 8 year old designed a great hat.

While all this hat designing was going on, I took time to describe the race to my daughter. Good thing! She thought the horses were going to race around in our neighborhood! Yikes! I wish I had taken time with her to find a horse to dub as our own and cheer on.

When we arrived at L & J 's home, I was greeted warmly by the hosts and their family. The lighting was perfect and what was really nice is they thought about room temp. on a hot day. (I alway forget this part). Also the hostess had arranged stations; beverages; good eats; a place to sit and watch the race; then a place for the kids to play. She had obviously thought about what the kids might like to play with and had it all ready for them. That was just inside! Outside they had chairs arranged on their deck, horseshoes in the backyard, darts in the garage-kids picnic table at the top of the drive.

L & J did a great job. They captured our attention from the invite and set us up for a bunch of fun! And fun we had! Hope they do it again and we are fortunate enough to be invited for a repeat.