Happy 31st Birthday to Val

Happy Birthday to Valerie!  This is a late post but her birthday was on 12/22.  She's 31 now and it's fun having her live so much closer to us now.  We still need to get together for lunch or dinner but we celebrated on Christmas eve.  Arn and I made cake pops and they turned out great. 

Catherine with a 'C'

 

We lost a gem this month - 12/18/2014.  Catherine with a C, Mom, Gram, passed away peacefully at 96 years old.  We will always love her, miss her and remember all of the fun times we had with her. 
We will think of her daily when Arn says.........'In my humble opinion' which he says frequently. Also when I ask Arn not to do a Shulta Bulta job of something.  Also when I go barefoot in the house I will always remember her warning about getting a cold.  I will always think of her when I see a 'stone front house'.  I'll always see her when I am taking a picture of Arn and watch him look away from the camera and lift his head a little to the sky.  Every time I make her cheesecake we know that it is the best one we've ever tasted. I'll always remember the fun trip I took with her when I was pregnant with Val and we came out to Colorado Springs.  We went to the Garden of the Gods, to the top of Pikes Peak, the Will Rogers Shrine, and even went to the top of the Mother Cabrini Shrine (373 steps).  She even hiked in the Narrows in Zion in her orthopedic looking shoes. We will even think of her when we have a glass of wine, take one sip, and hear her say she was tipsy after one sip.  Rest in Peace, we love you!

The Tree Dec. 2014

This was one of the easiest years to get our Christmas tree.  We left home around noon, went to our secret tree spot, chose the tree, and was on our way home within an hour.  After getting home we had it up and in the stand within 20 min.  It's the best one ever (we say that every year).

Arn's Turkey Pot Pie

He's done it again......Arn made a beautiful turkey pot pie with homemade crust from Thanksgiving leftovers.....It was absolutely delicious!

Thanksgiving 2014

We had a great Thanksgiving this year.  Arn had everything organized when I returned from the cruise.  All of the kids brought food so we only had to make a couple of things.  Catch Phrase was the game of choice.....all in all a nice time.  We checked out Garden of the Gods the next day with Chris and Maren.  We really do need to spend more time there.

Cruisin with Gma (and the Zohourys)

Roatan, Hondouras

The view from my sis's back yard.

Our little vacation spot after we got home from the cruise.

I was able to go on a cruise last week with my mom, my sister, and her family.  We had a good time and it was so nice to be able to spend so much time with them.  We did a lot of relaxing, eating, reading, sleeping, card playing, and people watching.  We cruised out of Tampa and went to Roatan, Hondouras, Costa Maya, Cozumel (didn't stop due to high winds), and Grand Cayman.  Andy was able to do a lot of scuba diving.  The shows at night were fun and entertaining. Gma enjoyed the quality time, eating with the family and the shows each night.  Thank you to Lisa and Nasser.  Needless to say, memories were made....................After we got home we discovered a great beach bar on Clearwater Beach, Frenchies Beach Bar for a great grouper sandwich, and a super deli named The Lucky Dill for a good rueben.  We took a big walk on the Pinellas Trail (rails to trails) and I was able to have lunch with a good friend from nursing school who I hadn't seen for years.  I even was able to swing by Winterhaven and see Jack and Greg.  Jack is 90 now and I'm not sure he'll remember that I was there but it was good to see them.

Jack - Age 90, enjoying his milk and cookies.

Enchiladas!

Pioneer Woman's Enchiladas made with Elk



Meredith and Tim have been making this recipe for a while and I finally made it.  Elk is lower in cholesterol and higher in protein than buffalo and ...............Gma can eat it (Uncle Rock too).  It makes two pans of enchiladas and Arn loves them.  Once you get the prep work done and set up the assembly area it goes quite smoothly.  If you don't have access to wild elk you can buy it by the pound at Sprouts (less expensive than buffalo too). 

 Pioneer Woman's Enchiladas

• FOR THE SAUCE:
• 1 Tablespoon Canola Oil
• 1 Tablespoon All-purpose Flour
• 1 can (28 Ounce) Enchilada Or Red Sauce
• 2 cups Chicken Broth
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
• 2 Tablespoons Chopped Cilantro
• FOR THE MEAT:
• 1-1/2 pound Ground Beef
• 1 whole Medium Onion, Finely Diced
• 2 cans (4 Ounce) Diced Green Chilies
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• FOR THE TORTILLAS:
• 10 whole (to 14) Corn Tortillas
• 1/2 cup Canola Oil
• TO ASSEMBLE:
• 3 cups Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese
• 1/2 cup Chopped Black Olives
• 1 cup Chopped Green Onions
• 1/2 cup Chopped Cilantro

Preparation Instructions

Step #1 – The Sauce
In a large saucepan over medium heat, add oil and flour and whisk together to make a paste, cooking for one minute. Pour in the red sauce, chicken broth, cilantro, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 30-45 minutes.

Step #2 – The Meat
Brown the meat with onions in a skillet. Drain off fat. Stir in 2 cans diced green chilies and seasoned salt. Set aside.

Step #3 – Tortillas
Heat canola oil in a small skillet over medium heat. One by one, using tongs, fry tortillas in oil until soft, not crisp – about 30 seconds per side. Remove to a paper—towel lined plate. Repeat until all tortillas have been fried.

Step #4 – Assembly
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour ½ cup red sauce in bottom of baking pan. Spread to even out. Dip each tortilla into red sauce, then remove to work surface. Spoon meat, a little grated cheese, a little black olives, and green onions in the center of tortilla. Roll up and place, seam down, in baking pan. Repeat until pan is filled. Pour extra red sauce over enchiladas. Top with remaining cheddar cheese.

Bake for 20 minutes or until bubbly. Sprinkle cilantro over enchiladas before serving.

Best Cheesecake Ever!

Grandma Casciato's Cheesecake

I don't have a picture but will add one the next time I make a cheesecake.
We absolutely love this recipe. On our recent trip to Brooklyn, NY we stopped into Juniors and had a piece of cheesecake with our breakfast - We both thought Gram's is better.  No topping needed!
Crust
1 1/2 pkg. Graham Crackers (or 1 3/4 cup crumbs)
3-4 Tbsp. sugar
1 stick Butter
Blend well and press into springform pan.  Get up onto the sides as high as possible.
I usually put foil under the springform pan and put it on a cookie sheet.

Filling
3 - 8 oz. Cream Cheese - softened.
1 3/4 cup sugar
4 Eggs - Add one at a time.
2 Tbsp Lemon juice
1 Tsp. Vaillla
1 Tsp. coconut extract

Beat for 15 min. (total) with mixer

Pour into crust.  Bake at 375 degrees for 35 min. Turn off heat and leave door open (with cheesecake in oven for 1 hr. Test with a knife to see if it comes out clean.


Topping -
8 oz. sour cream
3-4 Tbsp. sugar
Beat until fluffy and spread on top of cheesecake. Bake another 10-15 min. at 400 degrees.

Remove from oven and sprinkle with nutmeg.

2 Days on Long Island

Montauk Lighthouse

A rocky hike up the beach behind the lighthouse.

Our view at lunch - Inlet Seafood (fisherman owned)

Checking out the beach in the Hamptons

View from the Lighthouse

Kristen's recommendation in Greenport

Orient Pt. Lighthouse

Sunset and Drinks at the Montauket

Rocky Pt.

We took a break from NYC and headed out to Long Island for a couple of nights.  We sure were glad it was the off season.  We checked out the lighthouse, walked deserted beaches (17 pieces of beach glass and lots of nice rocks), ate lots of seafood (lobster rolls were 20 bucks!), checked out both forks of Long Island, went to a couple of wineries, and decided it's a great place but we really don't need to go there again (unless somebody has a wedding there).  We spent the last night of our trip with Elizabeth, Mike and the kids.  It was great getting to know the kids and seeing there home in Hoboken.  It's a fun lifestyle and would be great to be able to walk everywhere but rural CO suits me just fine.

NYC

Our visit to NYC was more fun than we thought it would be.  We immediately jumped right in and started rushing about the city.  Our hotel was right by the PATH train so the first night we went over to the city and had dinner at Monte's Trattoria.  It was very good.  The next day we walked over the Brooklyn Bridge and walked to Juniors Restaurant.  We enjoyed a very good breakfast and even had cheesecake for dessert.  Thank goodness for our smart phone which helped us navigate around the city.  Another extremely helpful thing was Uber.  It was amazing and so easy.  After breakfast we figured out how to ride the subway and made our way to the High Line and walked all along it.  Another day we went to Jersey Boys on Broadway, walked through Central Park, walked past MOMA and the Guggenheim and went to Little Italy for dinner.  We also visited the 9/11 Memorial.  We hope to visit again someday since we feel we have a little experience now and could spend some time in some places we didn't get a chance to visit.

View from the bridge

Junior's

Empire State Bldg in background

View from our hotel

Brooklyn Bridge

Central Park

Christine and Joe's Wedding

Christine and Joe's wedding took place on Friday, Oct. 3rd in Hoboken, NJ.  It was absolutely beautiful.  The ceremony was beautiful as was the church and bride and groom.  NJ pizza was served out in front of the church after the service.  The reception was held at the Hyatt on the Hudson.  The view of Manhattan at night was spectacular.  Of course there was lots of drinking and dancing and great food.  It was great seeing all of the family but the time seemed to go too fast. I'll post more pics as I find them.

Arn is the Martha!

My husband made me a delicious pie for my birthday a few weeks ago.  We had fresh organic Palisade peaches on hand and while I was at work he made the the pie.  The crust was great and he even made a lattice top crust.  Wow...........who knew.

Crested Butte Fall Weekend....................Whatever !

Whatever!

Mirror Lake (near TinCup,Co)

Spring Creek Reservoir

Clyde likes to play with rocks!

Twin Lakes

Favorite Hiking Food - Goldfish

Tin Cup, Colorado

Spring Creek Reservoir

A couple of weekends ago we went to CB to see Mere and Tim.  It was the weekend that Budweiser created the fake town of Whatever.  Everything was blue and Tim was involved in the creation.  Mere and Tim had wrist bands for the event.  We borrowed them and checked it out. It was pretty cool and we're looking forward to the commercials.  We also went a few places we've never been to before.
We drove out Brushcreek and went up a 4 wheel drive road for about and hr. and hiked about 2.5 mil. to Twin Lakes.  It was amazing and we only saw one other hiking group all day.  We also checked out Tincup, Co. and went to Mirror Lake. Tincup was a grouping of small cabins and we were hoping the only place to eat in town would be open but it was past the season.  The drive up to Spring Creek Res. was very pretty and so was the lake.   We will definitely return to these spots.  We had a few drinks at the Ginger Cafe and a great dinner at Garlic Mikes.  Meredith also made Elk Enchiladas which were delicious.