Sushi Night...lots and lots of pics!

Saturday night we went to Lisa's house to watch the Klitschko fight and show her and Stas how to make sushi. To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to certain people being there. I sure you can guess who. But anyway, I tried to put her.. I mean... those negative feelings away and focus on a good evening with good friends (minus one) and the evening turned out to be really, really nice!
There are a ton of pics, so be patient!
The pictures loaded from the last to the first so you can scroll to the bottom and work your way up if you like.
Jenny and Lena on the trampoline. This was the last pic of the night.

Me and Emil. In our 14 years together, this is our 3rd picture of us together. Seriously!

Gina (-), Lisa, me and Jenny

The girls Nella, me, Jenny on my lap, Lisa behind me and Gina behind Lisa

The man of the night... Vitaly Klitschko

Lamb and pork shishkabobs and our sushi.

We had every kind of sushi... shrimp, crab, avacado, spicy crab... it was delcious!

Ruben and Emil. Ruben backed into my car with his 18wheeler.. seriously. When he told me I thought he was kidding. Nope!

The boys, Ruben (red shirt), Stas (white shirt blue writing), Nic (red hat) and my papa bear Emil

Lisa, Gina and me...

picture of one plate of sushi

Lisa and me... 10 years of good friendship!

Emil and Lisa's husband Stas preparing the shishkabobs..

Can you smell it? Ummmm!!

Nic... Gina's (-) husband

Lisa and Stas

making the roll!

the sushi roll...one of many

Igor and Emil making sushi

Georgina and Emil

So all in all it was a wonderful evening. Klitschko won and made his opponent, Areola, cry. I love getting together with friends and relaxing and talking and laughing. Sometimes work can make us so crazy and preoccupied with other things we put ourselves on the back burner. Unwinding with good friends is just the prescription I needed!

Now, with that said....what is your favorite sushi?

My Plants

This morning Sierra and up I woke up early and went to Lisa's neighborhood garage sale. I was looking for a sofa table to refurbish but didn't find anything. What I did find was a sweet old lady selling BEAUTIFUL plants!

But first... my hibiscus. I don't know what to do anymore. I think it might have root rot from all the rain we had last week. I am so sad. We had a great relationship all summer... then this! I took out some of the wet soil and added in MiracleGro soil. I hope this helps. If not I am at a loss. I just hope my neighbors didn't pour something in her while I was at work.

hopefully this will save her!

I just wanted to add a picture of the beautiful rose bush from CC. This is still the bloom I was so excited about. There is one more small bloom coming in.

The lily I bought at the yard sale. It's as high as my waist and it only cost $5!!

One of the asparagus ferns I bought. I kept this one and gave the other to my mom. These were only $3 each.

It just so happened that when I came back a second time to buy the ferns a landscaper was there. She told me that these ferns are pretty hard to kill. Nice! My kind of plant. The hibiscus kind of has my faith in gardening shaken. Let's see what will happen.

I love seeing all this greenery around my front door when I come in and out.

So, so far Saturday has been very relaxing for me. I got lots of cleaning done and great deals at the Homestead Handcrafts sidewalk sale. I'll post pics of that in a bit.

How has your Saturday been?

**ing**

Making : the girls listen to 80's music
Cooking : fresh vegetable omelets in the muffin pan
Drinking : coffee with caramel vanilla brownie creamer
Eating: cottage cheese fruit salad
Reading: Laura Bush an Intimate Portrait and An Open Door
Wanting: a family vacation
Looking: at my beautiful girls
Playing: poker with CC and Lena
Wasting: time by getting on facebook
Buying: a sofa table and curio cabnet
Sewing: window treatments
Wishing: I could be a stay at home mom again
Listening: to my kids singing
Waiting: to see if my hibiscus will survive
Liking: the nice cool weather the past few days
Wondering: what to make for dinner tomorrow
Loving: being a wife, mother, daughter and sister
Hoping: that I can start nursing school next year
Marvelling: at how your daughter goes to bed a girl and wakes up a young lady
Needing: time and rest
Smelling: cigars and coffee
Wearing: capris and a comfy shirt
Praying: for the ability to see what God has laid out for me
Noticing: I am starting to care less what people think of me and doing what I want
Knowing: my girls become what I teach and show them
Thinking: I need to clean my bathroom
Opening: my heart to those in need
Giggling: these girls dancing and singing
Feeling: content

**what are you ing's?

Tiramisu Brownies

This week at Kellys Korner she is showcasing desserts. This is by far one of my most favorite recipes... Tiramisu Brownies.


I first made this for a Girls Night In and it was a success. I did make a few minor changes this time and I think it turned out better, but I will be listing just the regular recipe and notate my changes by the pictures. And there are many pics after the recipe...so scroll down!


The recipe:

12 squares (1oz each) semisweet chocolate
1 cup butter softened
*******
1 1/3 cups plus 1/4 cup sugar divided
*******
8 eggs
*******
1 cup cake flour
1/4 cup instant coffee granules or espresso powder
*******
2 cartons Mascarpone cheese
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
*******
1 teaspoon baking cocoa


In a large microwave-safe mixing bowl, melt chocolate. Stir until smooth; cool slightly. Beat in butter. Gradually beat in 1-1/3 cups sugar. Add six eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.Combine the flour and instant coffee granules; add to the chocolate mixture. Beat on low speed just untill combined; set aside.

For filling, in a small bowl, beat the cheese, vanilla, and remaining sugar and eggs until smooth.

Pour 4 cups of chocolate batter into a greased 13-in. X 9-in. X 2-in. baking pan. Spread with the filling. Top with the remaining batter, spreading evenly to completely cover filling.Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until center is almost set and brownies begin to pull away from the sides of pan. Cool on a wire rack. Dust with cocoa. Cut into squares. Store in the refigerator. Makes 3 dozen.


12 1-oz squares of semi-sweet chocolate

into the bowl

and then melted

add the softened butter

6 of the 8 eggs

beat in one at a time

even the girls got in on the fun

they love to cook

this is the rest of the sugar and instant coffee.. (I added 1/2 cup instant coffee instead of 1/4)

pouring the flour mixture into the chocolate batter

we were supposed to me mixing with the mixer but I forgot and they turned out just fine

the mascarpone cheese

the cheese, other 2 eggs, vanilla (here I put 3 tsp and 3/4 cups of sugar)

I remembered my mixer....

spreading the 4 cups of chocolate batter into my pan (see how loved my pan is?)

the cheese mixture going on top

spread evenly over

the remaining chocolate batter over the filling

out of the oven and dusted with cocoa

ready to eat

These are so easy to make and so very delicious. I found this recipe in the Christmas dessert section of one of my cookbooks. I think it fits the holidays just perfectly! You will be sure to get many, many compliments.

I took some to work today and it was a huge hit! Everyone loved them and kept coming up to me to tell me how good they are. When I came home there were only about ten brownies left!

I use a slightly larger pan to bake them in because I like them a little thinner.

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog! I hope you enjoyed it. And I can't wait to read all of your delicious recipes!

What Do You Think???

I told you here that Friday after work I felt really bad. But Emil bought me some Theraflu and I felt much, much better come Saturday! After making breakfast I attended the birthday party for the daughter of my co-worker. They had a face painter.



Lena chose a rose. Which surprised me.

Last time she chose a skull and cross bones!


I guess since she was wearing them on her shirt she didn't want to over do it! Imagine that!

After the party we went to my moms house and then to a nursery. I bought some pretty seeds. I plan on planting them tomorrow.

Yesterday we got a little quick shower. It was nice. But the best part was the beautiful rainbow that appeared after the rain!

Ok... now.... I colored my hair last weekend.... This is my before color...dark brown...

BEFORE

And this is the after... (of course my Charlie is in it).... it's a cinnamon color (to match the season)

AFTER

Now... please I ask you.... follower or not... signed in or not.... please tell me which color you think fits me best. I don't want to look crazy! And I need to decide if I should keep it this color or go back to dark! So.... dark brown or cinnamon... What do you think?

Oh.. be sure to watch the Big Bang Theory tonight. It's the season premier!

Not Feeling Well

Well, last night I was just tired... more tired than usual. I fell asleep sitting up on the couch watching TV. I ended up napping 2 hours! Then this morning it just felt hard to get out of bed... just difficult! I made it work... could hardly keep my eyes open. Everything just hurts. My eyes, my head, my body. I was struggling to make it til 1! I came home and took a nice nap .... but .... woke up with fever! My Papa Bear went to CVS and picked this up for me. It's very good, it doesn't taste medicine-y. It's good. But I like hot tea. Maybe I'm partial.

On the upside, while I am just laying here on the couch I have really enjoyed reading your comments left from my recipe postings at KellysKorner. Thank you so much. I think I'm going to head back over there and see what soup recipes I can find. My crockpot stew is gone. It never lasts long here.

I also plan to watch some of my DVR'd shows. I love, love, love HGTV and have 13 If Walls Could Talk recorded!! Oh yes! If I'm still up I'll watch Marked Woman with Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart. It's from 1937 and she's a "party girl" who testifies against her mob boss in a murder trial. Sounds good!

**UPDATE** I guess I'mnot as stuffy as I thought I was.... Luigi has a MAJOR case of gas and the smell is getting through just fine!!