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Posts Tagged ‘holiday’

Don’t get so busy shopping for food, baking, decorating and gift shopping that you don’t leave time to do something for yourself.  Christmas is RED, no doubt about that – from Santa’s suit to the Cartier red-bow-wrapped store.  Everyone can wear red, it just depends on the shade.  Why people don’t believe that is a mystery to me!  Red lipstick and red nails are HOT!  RED is the color you want to wearing this season on your nails.

Essie makes several shades of red and I’m sure one of them would look great on you.  Take the time to get a mani-pedi before you give over all your time and energy to making Christmas fabulous for others. You deserve it.

Here’s the 9 Days Till Christmas 9 nail colors:

  1. REALLY RED  – An award-winning truly rich red
  2. SNAP HAPPY – A red-orange, a warm red
  3. LAQUERED  UP – Red hot crimson
  4. RED NOUVEAU – The new must-have color is a fiery crimson 
RED NOUVEAU

RED NOUVEAU

5.  DRAMATIC DRACHMA –  An orangey red

6.  BIG BAG THEORY –  Brick red

7. LONG STEM ROSES – The name speaks for itself

8. JAG-U-ARE –  A gorgeous gleaming red

9.  SIZE MATTERS  – A blazing hot ruby red

10. LOLLIPOP –  Candy cane red

As usual as I always say….”Red Is Where You Find It”

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Ho,ho, ho, Christmas is almost here! And what will be under the tree for me? AND what will be in my Christmas stocking?  As a kid growing up in the 50’s my Dad always made sure Santa filled our stockings with goodies.  It was most definitely a simpler time then and what went into the stockings usually wasn’t very pricey but oh it was fun to sit in front of the tree and empty out the contents, wasn’t it?  Only Santa knows what kids today expect in their stockings.  This is the kind of stocking I had growing up and I found two in an antique shop years ago so I still hang a stocking up every year!

"...and their stockings were hung by the fireplace with care..."

“…and their stockings were hung by the fireplace with care…”

There are several legends and versions of the origin of the tradition of hanging stockings the night before Christmas for Santa Claus to fill;  I grew up with the one about the young boys and girls in the Netherlands leaving their wooden clogs filled with straw for the reindeer out on Christmas Eve.  Then Sinterclass would leave treats for the children.  Later the clogs would become stockings and the saint would become known to all as Santa Claus.

Then there’s the legend of the nobleman with three daughters who lost all of his money through bad inventions and was forced to move into a peasant’s cottage.  The girls did all of the washing and cooking and had no chance of marriage because they had no dowries.  The girls washed out their stockings and hung them by the fireplace to dry and that night, knowing of the father’s despair stopped by the house after all had gone to bed.  He saw the stockings and was inspired to toss three pouches of gold coins carefully down the chimney, each one landing in one of the stockings.

Lastly there’s the North American theory dating back to the XIX Century;  Some believe that stockings hung by the fireplace was first mentioned by writer, George Webster in a story about a visit from Santa Claus and in an illustration by Thomas Nast

What did you find in your Christmas stocking?  I found all kinds of goodies like:

  1. A tangerine or orange was always in the toe
  2. Yo-yo
  3. A card game like Old Maid or Go Fish
  4. Jacks and Ball set
  5. Candy canes
  6. Hershey’s chocolate kisses
  7. Crayons or markers
  8. Chocolate coins
  9. Cellophane packet of cat’s eyes marbles
  10. Licorice

I wonder what Finley Ray expects to find in her stocking this year?

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Pressed Glass Bobeche

Pressed Glass Bobeche

So you’re hosting a Holiday Party? How nice! Is it going to be a dinner party with your table set with fine china and white linen?  Or a cocktail party with guests milling around, wine glass in hand?  Either one could spell disaster for the hostess.  Well maybe NOT exactly a disaster but certainly upsetting IF after all the guests have left, you discover that those lovely white tapers dripped beyond the bobeches and deposited globs of wax on your heirloom linen tablecloth.  OR somehow, some way, someone moved some of the lit candles you had around the house AND sure enough, there is solidified wax on your living room carpet.  Could happen…

What to do?  Don’t panic, don’t throw the tablecloth out.  Or you could refer to my previous post Count Down To Christmas-December 7th Let’s Light The Way!

How to Remove Candle Wax
On table linens: Scrape off what you can with a spoon. Using an ironing board, place several paper towels under the stain and a few on top and press with a warm iron. The paper towels will absorb the wax. Replace the paper towels a few times to avoid transferring stains back to the table linens. Sponge any remaining stain with Tide Boost Pre-Treat spray; blot, allow to air-dry, then wash, using bleach if the fabric allows.

On the rug: For wool, cover the wax with a brown grocery bag (one layer) and press with a warm iron. To remove any wax that remains, use WoolClean Dry Spot Remover No. 2. For a synthetic rug, follow the ironing advice for a wool rug, then apply Goof Off with a dry cloth; rinse with a damp cloth. Dry with paper towels.

These stain removal tips are sourced from Real Simple.

 

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I know I should have started this a few days  ago….really!  It was a pretty harrowing week here, with the conjunction of a million spheres all causing chaos.  Mechanical and electrical breakdowns, I must ask my sister-in-law Juanita, if Mercury is in retrograde.    It’s not quite midnight so let’s count this post as December 4th and counting.  For the next 3 weeks I’ll post an inventive, creative holiday idea.  It could be a recipe, a hostess gift, a kid’s gift, a decoration, just about anything that I think might enhance your holiday season.  Today’s idea comes from REAL SIMPLE and is a Mantle Makeover.  We’re all familiar with the usual fireplace mantle decorations.  This is NOT standing rows of Christmas cards, draping a greenery garland, hanging stockings, pine cones and ornaments or Nutcrackers.  Clear away the clutter atop your mantle and give it this very simple makeover.

DECEMBER 4th

A Very Berry Christmas Wreath and Votives

A Very Berry Christmas Wreath and Votives

HOLIDAY MANTLE

Elegant, sophisticated, simple and beautiful.  Berry wreaths are readily available in stores like Michael’s and flower shops that carry artificial or silk flowers.  Scatter a few berries around and line up some votive candles flanked by pillar candles.  The two-color theme is very powerful and the choice of the raspberry-mauve berry color adds not only a holiday flair but also a winter seasonal flavor

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Friday after Thanksgiving, green day, Christmas shopping

Shopper Mania

Personally I’m not a mall shopper, never have been and certainly never for Christmas!  I like unique, personalized, customized presents or in my case PRESSents which is my own custom-created gift business.  More about that soon.  So when my friend  Gail sent me this video, I thought it would be great to share with my readers in case they had not seen it.

I love IMPROV EVERYWHERE and have a secret (well not so secret) desire to perform in one of their events.  Come to think of it I could have been in this one!  Check it out, you’ll be smiling in no time.

Black Friday Prank at a Dollar Store

 

 

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Peter Coddles, wooden frog

Doesn’t everyone have a wooden frog sitting on a vintage Peter Coddles game in their dining room?

Last week, it was recipes for Thanksgiving dinner dishes, this week it’s photos.

My last post was about Peter’s collection of vintage Peter Coddles games. Those 7 are just the tip of the iceberg!  Murray took those photos and while he and Peter were setting up the shots, Murray wandered around and snapped a few random pictures here and there as something caught his eye.  We have stuff, no doubt about it.  Only one photo is of a collection and I’m sure you’ll be able to pick it out (and I’ll give you a hint anyway).

living room

A window sill in my living room. Plants, African art, carved figures, vintage lamps, sand dollars, stained glass, an antique kaleidoscope, vintage bottles and paperweights, and….

Chair monkeys-IF they had hats they could live on the bed

dopey, the seven dwarfs

My own personal Dopey collection. Aren’t they cute? Peter stuck Bashful or Happy in there to keep Dopey company.

Alessi, toothpick holder,

I love Alessi! This cute rabbit is a toothpick holder.

building blocks, nostalgia, Bill Ding clowns

Mini Bill Ding and his clowns stand guard on a dining room window sill. Along with a several other things!

Well that was just a peek into the collective madness of the collections that reside in our New York apartment.  Here are few random photos taken by Murray as he was wandering around Bryant Park, Grand Central Terminal and vicinity.

Bryant Park, Christmas booths, Christmas fair

It’s easy to shop for your pets in one of the City’s Christmas Fairs.

Grand Central Terminal Food Market-Murray’s Cheese Shop

Sephora cosmetics, midtown

Sephora Cosmetic Store

animal hats, Bryant Park Christmas fairs, childrens hats

Grgghhhh – Animal hats for sale in Bryant Park

Christmas ornaments, Christmas fair, Bryant Park

Christmas ornaments for sale in Bryant Park

 

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The softer, orange-fleshed variety of sweet po...

This is actually a YAM and not a Sweet Potato

I said I wasn’t going to post another recipe today because I am supposed to be preparing my own culinary contributions to the Thanksgiving Day dinner and so I’m not.  However, I just noticed in the New York Times that Mark Bittman wrote an article extolling the virtues of sweet potatoes.  In my 9 days till Thanksgiving recipe posting, I included two recipes for sweet potatoes.  His article is listed below.  Sweet potatoes-Thanksgiving and beyond!

 

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Thanksgiving Turkey

Thanksgiving Turkey (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Most people think of Thanksgiving dinner as the ultimate American meal.  After all, wasn’t it first celebrated with Native Americans and the Pilgrims?  Well that’s what I was told in grammar (age-related term) school.

However, this country is a melting pot, a diverse population made up of so many different ethnicities, I wouldn’t begin to try to number them.  I grew up in an Italian family (more about the German side later).  My first husband was also from an Italian family so for the first half of my life, Thanksgiving was tweaked to keep all the paisans happy.  When we celebrated Thanksgiving with my grandparents, the cry at the table was, “When do we eat the turkey”?   I wonder how many of you had to eat your way through several courses BEFORE the turkey made it to the table?  When you walk into most homes on Thanksgiving Day, the savory odor of roasting turkey greets you, or the sweet aroma of an apple pie baking in the oven.  When you entered my grandmother’s apartment, it was the rich simmering smell of tomato sauce that assaulted your nose.  The meal started with Baccala, a dried codfish served with greens.  I think it was served like a salad.  Then we had ravioli; big fat pasta puffs filled with cheese and a bowl of meatballs and sausages on the side.  I guess at some point the turkey came out but I really don’t remember it much.  

Once I was married, the Italian Thanksgiving took on another level of ethnicity.  Now there were side dishes that only would appear on an Italian table.  The stuffing was heavily flavored with grated Parmesan cheese, parsley and garlic.  We had stuffed mushrooms and stuffed artichokes right along with candied sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and salad with Italian dressing!  

Then came the period in my life where I spent Thanksgiving with my Aunt Marian and my cousins in New Jersey.  Aunt Marian was married to Uncle Henny who was German and so Red Cabbage was always a side dish on Thanksgiving.  The creamed onions, turnips and candied sweets were there and because my cousins and myself were all adults, we made culinary contributions.  Peter insisted on a green vegetable and in those days, the only green vegetable he acknowledged was broccoli so I always steamed or sautéed some.  My cousin Marian liked to bring a lentil salad, cousin Janet baked pies.  I have five girl cousins, all with spouses and some with children.  Thanksgiving dinner was a BIG deal at Aunt Marian’s with about 20 people!

I’m actually half Italian and half German so I fit in wherever we went!  As for my own Thanksgiving meals, I often went for something different, whether it be various stuffings or the  year I tried brining the bird.  I’ve made seasonal soups and  lots of sides.  Earlier today I posted one of my favorite Thanksgiving side dishes and decided that for the count down to turkey day, I’d post a recipe a day.  I hope you enjoy them and would love it if my readers would send in comments about their favorite Thanksgiving side dish or dessert or ethnic accompaniment.  

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Burning Chametz in Ofra, Passover eve

Burning Chametz in Ofra, Passover eve (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Do you know what chametz is?  I’m not even sure myself – my sister-in-law, Stacey told me it is the stuff you rid your house of before Passover.  She mentioned something about food stuffs that are not part of the Passover meal or week-long celebration, are thrown out.

Well today was ONE of those days! It’s the day when you open the refrigerator and with newly-opened eyes (in my case I had on glasses) and you SEE!  I mean you really see-the crud in the grooves of the bottom shelf, the jar of mustard that is for all intents and purposes empty and you discover not one, not two but at least 3 jars of capers.  Capers, for God’s sake!!!  Delving deeper into the recesses of the Frigidaire, I found a small container of dried-up cream cheese, a jar of jam that had grown a furry winter coat (it must be really cold in there).  Out with it all!  I threw out a jar of some mysterious brown sauce, I threw out salsa before it had a birthday on Cinco de Mayo and some expired bottles of indeterminate substance!  Out with it all!!

When I had filled up my recycle bin and my trash can, I sprayed the shelves with Simple Green.  I LOVE Simple Green, it cleans everything which means it probably shouldn’t be used in a refrigerator.  Now onto the next project.  Hey this is beginning to sound like Spring Cleaning,

I put the summer slipcover on the antique stuffed chair, changed the pillow covers to colorful awning-stripes and had Peter switch the foyer rug from the dark wine-red Oriental to our seasonal beige patterned rug.  He even took down the winter drapes in our bedroom and put up very light-weight airy beige curtains.  Out with the winter dark colors and in with the spring pastels.

I think what really got me going this morning was the fact that by some inner-maniacal drive force, I completed my income taxes early today.  I was up till 2AM working on the world’s most heinous task – assembling a year’s worth of information, collating it, copying it and preparing a statement for the accountant.  I had almost finished last night, uh, rather early this morning and then got up and finished it up.  I HATE doing the taxes!  BUT, when it’s done, I feel so good!

Spring is the time of renewal and rebirth; what was gray, brown and barren bursts forth into bright green life.  Flowers re-appear out of virtually nowhere since the ground looked like just ground to me and along with new tufts of grass, I noticed the lawn was also sprouting bunches of wild onions and even a few dandelions.  AND I get the urge to clean.  My mother always did spring cleaning and so do I.  My mother changed the carpets, drapes and slipcovers to reflect the new season and so do I.  Old habits or genetic programming?  The windows will be washed inside and out-here in NYC, we hire a man to do them but at the cottage, we’ll do them.  This year the carpeting and the couches in the apartment need steam-cleaning.  OUT with it ALL; dirt, dust, grime and most of all, the Chametz!

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I’ve been Missing In Action for more days than I realized-I was shocked to see the date of my last post.  So what has been going on? I can’t say it’s any one thing that has kept me away from the keyboard, just sometimes life takes over.

There’s been much turmoil in my house lately.  Health issues (not mine) played a major role in keeping me otherwise occupied.   I’ve had some work commitments out-of-state, there was a death in the family, and it seems when the season changes, there’s never enough time to do what needs to be done.  Just life taking over as I said.

I had a couple of ideas about writing a blog and somehow could not sit down and write them.  One was about being superstitious and that idea is still floating around in my head.  Oh and the political circus of Republican primaries certainly is bloggy fodder.  I’m going to attempt to create my an Easter bonnet for the Easter Parade on Sunday – maybe I’ll get some photos.

There’s more of course,  but a promise made to my husband not to  write a lot about our private lives or more specifically his, is the reason this blog is so weird tonight!  I’m not trying to tease you dear readers, I just can’t go into “the gory details”.  I hope this period of emotional stressis over because as is my most neurotic habit, I have been eating and eating and eating and eating again.  So now, I have to get my head on straight about seriously dieting – oh yuck!

easter bonnet

Easter Bonnet (Photo credit: starsantiques)

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