[Flashback] December 2013: A Blessed Christmas to You!

Yes, my favorite season is here!

From our home to yours,

a Blessed Christmas to you and your family!

From top to bottom, clockwise:  handmade Christmas tree ornaments, Santa's hat tarts, Handmade cards for the in-laws, Egg tarts, Christmas tree sugar cookies, decorated handmade tree

These Christmas Tree cookies are delicious.  I tweaked my sugar cookie and icing recipes and it turned out great!  Mr. C made a paper mache tree where we attached the cookies for display during our church luncheon.  The santa hat strawberry looked cute.  It took me awhile to make the tart shells - I had a hard time putting it on the baking pan.  

Oh, I tried making egg tarts that wasn't too sweet but nevertheless delicious.

For our gifts, we gave out "Some of our Favorite Things" this year from Trader Joe's.

Trader Joe's English Toffee

Cocoa Drizzled Kettle Corn

Pecan Pralines

Dark chocolate macadamia toffee

Almond butter cookies

Cookie butter:  regular, crunchy and swirl

Trader Joe's Goodies

Thank you for support and time in reading our blog.  

As the new year dawns, I wish good health and more blessings from God.

Cheers!

♥  michelle  ♥

[Flashback] October and November 2013: Sweet Reunions

October was an exciting month for Mr. C and I because my parents and sister came to visit us.  Yay!  They arrived on October 1, the day when President Obama announced the Government Shutdown after Congress failed to enact legislation appropriating funds for fiscal year 2014.  It was the third-longest government shutdown in US history after the 18-day shutdown in 1978 and 21-day 1995-1996 shutdown.

We planned to drive to Maryland to visit loved ones and then to Washington D.C.  Oh well... all the museums were closed which meant we had the streets all to ourselves.  LOL.  We went to Mt. Vernon where we had a great time learning about George Washington and viewing all the museums. The drive home was long but fun!  Mr. C drove 95% of the time - I drove 5% of the way, just to let him sleep.  LOL.  My dad insisted on driving but no way!   He's a very good driver in Manila but we didn't want to satisfy his "need for speed" - not in the US and certainly not with us.  LOL.

We had a busy schedule when we got back to Houston.  Mom had to fly to San Diego for her reunion while my dad played golf with friends.  We took my sister, who is into running , to Memorial were I surprisingly finished running 5k in under an hour after not being sedentary for a long time.  Whew!  

We were able to see Gary Thomas during one of his special engagement where I was able to let him sign my book.  

A vacation in Texas won't be complete without a trip to San Antonio, right?  Well, on the day that my Mom flew in from SD, we picked her at the airport and drove straight to San Antonio.  We were able to see more of my dads relatives.  It was during that drive that we were introduced to Buc-ee's.  Wow, talk about clean and huge bathrooms and delicious beaver nuggets!  

San Antonio

With good company comes great food and we had lots and lots of it!  

Oh, so many fond memories etched in my mind.

It's almost 2014.  See you tomorrow!

♥  michelle  ♥

[Flashback] August & September 2013: Cakes and Bakes

We are looking back at August and September 2013.  

Wow... these 2 months were filled with baking and sweets - lots of it!  

I've always wanted to learn new skills and techniques so I joined a Wilton class at my local craft store.  I enjoyed every bit of it and was able to apply what I learned thereafter.

Isn't the hydrangea cake beautiful?  I bought a small round icing tip and tried my hand in making dainty "lace."

The rose cupcakes were for my little friends' tea party.  It's caramel cake with light butter icing.

The green cake on the bottom is Pandan chiffon cake that I made for a sweet 16 birthday celebrant.  The topper is handmade from polymer clay.

These are some of the handmade cards I made: for an infant, a girl, and an adult lady.  I'm running our of ideas, here.  LOL.  The heart pendant is for one of the girls at church whom we find so friendly, kind and sweet.  She always greets and chats with us after the service.  Oh, she won an award this year for having the most "stickers" in class.

It was in September when the Houston polymer clay guild hosted the Lone Star Retreat.  Wow, I had fun meeting and being in one room with creative polymer clay folks.  My beaded polymer clay pendant necklace won 3rd place in the "Friends and Faux challenge."

[Flashback] February 2013: Firsts of Many

February 2013 brought many "Firsts" for us.  

♥  My dear husband was chosen to be one of the godfathers of this cute little baby.  ♥

♥  Tried out Joe's Crab Shack on Valentine's Day.   Yummy to the tummy.  ♥

♥  I won 1st Place in our Department's Chili Cook-off.  Yay!  ♥

♥  Well, I made a several cards for family and friends this month (which is also a first).  ♥

♥  I also tried making an Origami heart card for my husband for Valentine's day.  ♥

♥  My necklace was featured in Art Bead Scene's monthly Challenge tour.  ♥

ArtBeadScene

Hmmmm.... I'd like to join more challenges in 2014.  That would be another "First" for me.  LOL.

[Flashback] January 2013: Celebration and Travel!

Nine days from now, we will be welcoming Year 2014.  Oh boy... where did the time go?  

January is our wedding anniversary month and we celebrated our 4th this year.  Oh, what a joy to be married to my husband.  God has blessed our marriage with His grace and love.  We may not have a lot financially but we never grew hungry and even enjoyed the pleasure of travel and good food.  I totally love the professional stainless steel bowls that he gave me.

We've never been to San Antonio so we decided to visit and check out the featured restaurants for the weekend.  

Carmens de la Calle -  We were able to meet the owner, Carmen and watch Flamenco.  Very nice!  

Their sangria, paella and empanadas were delicious!

Mi Tierra - The place is open 24 hours and is always packed during peak hours.  We were lucky that there was no queue when we arrived.  When you enter the restaurant, be prepared to be transformed to a place filled with Christmas lights, shiny paper and trimmings.  As their website describes:  "MiTierra is a little loco and a lot of fun!"  Wooooo!  Their chicken tortilla soup is delicious and very traditional (not like those in TexMex restos).  Oh, when you do go there and try them out, check out their mural.

Lulu's Bakery and Cafe - Lulu's takes the quote:  "Everything is BIG in Texas" to heart.  Golly!  Their "Texas sized portions of great tasting home cooking at reasonable prices" philosophy is just that.  HUGE!  They were featured by Adam Richman of Man vs. Food for their Country Fried Steak and 3 1/2 lb cinnamon roll.

They speak highly of their country fried steak which my husband really loved - he got the "Deputy Special" which was more than enough for both of us.  Our visit wouldn't be complete without trying the cinnamon roll - it was really huge but surprisingly soft, moist and not too sweet.  We had to take it home where it lasted a couple of days before we could reach the "nugget" or the yummy, center of the roll.     

San Antonio Texas, Carmen's, MiTierra, Lulu's Cafe

 The Riverwalk was beautiful!  The weather was sunny and cool, perfect to take the river cruise!

That Sunday, we went to church at Oak HIlls Church after which we had a hectic social schedule:  we met with my Uncle and his family for dinner at the original location of Rudy's in Leon Springs.  Well, I don't know if our minds were conditioned, but it tasted better than the other branches (my folks said it's this particular locations' roasters makes the difference).  After dinner, we met with my sister-in-laws beautiful niece.  I made her a polymer clay heart monogram and card.

Rudy's, the Alamo

Fun times and wonderful memories!  It was a nice way to start the New Year!

Cheers!

♥  michelle  ♥

MiTierra

Market Square, San Antonio

Lulu's Bakery and Cafe

918 N. Main, San Antonio, Texas

Rudy's BBQ

24152 W. IH 10, San Antonio, TX 78257
Phone: 210-698-2141