St. Valentine's Day...Part Two!

St. Valentine’s Day….February 14…..it holds a special place for people who are in relationships. It is the ultimate holiday for lovers – your devotion and intentions are clearly articulated either through food, gifts or other expressions of raw emotion.

Eddie and I have spent 32 Valentine’s Day together…..last night was no exception. We had celebrated over the weekend with Deb and Don with a lovely trip to Stowe to tour our future home – the HGTV Dream Home! We also had a lovely, romantic dinner at Toscano’s in Richmond. However, I just felt like I needed to create a very special dinner for my husband on this ultimate day of LOVE. The foodie in me, once again, prevails.

When Ed arrived home from work, he was greeted by a lovely candle lit table…all set for the very first course. A lovely green salad filled with mushrooms, and red peppers, and carrots, and the most luscious tomatoes that I could find, given the fact that it is the middle of February and we do live in Vermont! ;-( The maple balsamic vinaigrette was the icing on the salad….so to speak! The wine was a lovely pinot noir for Ed and I enjoyed a crisp pour of pinot grigio.



And then the main course…..Scallops Provencal…..fresh sea scallops seared and sautéed in a sauce of shallots, garlic, butter, parsley, and white wine. Served with herb basmati rice, roasted sweet potatoes, and slices of perfectly grilled NY Strip Steak. A surf and turf kind of Valentine’s meal.



And then the dessert course….. luscious bites of Lake Champlain strawberries coated in decadent chocolate and a lovely BITE of chocolate éclair with a dollop of Ben and Jerry’s chocolate fudge brownie ice cream!




Heaven on earth….pure sugar nirvana. It was clearly worth every hour that all of that chocolate kept me up and about last night! On the upside, I must say that I used the sleepless hours well….I was very productive.

It was a lovely Valentine’s Day with my sweetie……Happy Valentine’s Day Eddie….I look forward to 32 more! 3!!!!!!

The ULTIMATE St. Valentine's Day Surprise!

When I arrived home from work today, after a long day of subbing at my school, a crowded trip to the grocery store, and unloading a ton of fixings for a dinner that I was about to prepare for Ed on St. Valentine’s Day, - I walked into my kitchen to THIS! (Warning....I'm about to happily and so proudly, take a mom's liberty here with this post and completely and utterly brag on my son, my first born, my only....)



My kitchen smelled so heavenly and so welcoming….similar to the wafting and welcoming smells of a florist in the middle of winter! There is just something magical about smelling fresh flowers in the middle of a New England winter. Sitting in a lovely vase were a dozen of the most gorgeous, most fragrant, pink roses, grown on this earth!

And beside the vase, this note……the best note that a mother could ever receive from her son.


AND WAIT....There is more..........

THIS was the reference that Bryan steered me towards when he mentioned to check out what was in the fridge!!!




Wow……WHAT A TREAT!!! Lake Champlain, long stemmed, strawberries, coated in luscious chocolate. OH MY! This, my friends, was the first part of our dessert tonight….. the strawberries were pure heaven on earth.
I am so blessed and so moved, that my son of 22 years, could be so thoughtful, so kind, so creative, so giving, and so thankful for his mommy! It doesn’t get much better than this……thanks Bry P. - you made your mother’s year! I love you! xx oo

Happy Birthday Judy!

On February 14, my oldest cousin Judy will turn 60! I know she will not mind me stating her age in my blog...since she looks like she is 40. xx oo!

A few days ago, I had the pleasure of hosting a dinner in her honor...to celebrate the years gone by and the many, many, more to come.

The menu included Deb's wonderful appetizer of cream cheese with red pepper jelly and a homemade mustard sauce, Chicken Tetrazzini, Sandy's famous Baby Blue Salad with a fabulous Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette, and for dessert Lori brought Aunt Betty's, ( her beloved Mom's), FAMOUS AND SO DELICIOUS white cupcakes with chocolate frosting - a favorite of many, especially Judy.

Lori...our Martha Stewart party planner....provided Judith with her lovely crown (!!), that will be passed down as we all hit the magic number of 60, and a very fun and engaging game entitled "How well do you know Judy"? Leave it to Lori, the queen of games, to come up with a very fun way to celebrate our dear cousin. And we all knew that either Kerry or Sandy would win....and Kerry did! :-) She clearly knows her Mother well.

It was a lovely evening filled with a couple batches of fabulous frozen margaritas, lovely wine, (thank you Kerry!), scrumptious food, and amazing gifts!

I love getting together with my cousins.....

Happy Birthday Judy....Happy Birthday to you!

The Rev!

One week ago, today, our dear friend of eighteen years, Paula B. Gile, became our dear friend Reverend Paula B. Gile.

We were both privileged and honored to attend her ordination at the Malletts Bay Congregational Church - United Church of Christ. It was a beautiful service, creatively and spiritually crafted by the Reverend, filled with love, friendship, joyful music and spiritual reverence. It was a divine culmination of a destiny that we wholeheartedly believe was pre-written for Paula. A destiny that has beckoned her for years. She is, and will always be, a constant source of inspiration to all who know her. We are so proud of her and love her dearly.

As stated in the Ordination Service Acclamation:

"We will, the family and friends of Paula B. Gile, support her in the ministry of Christ"

After the service was completed we enjoyed celebrating with her at a Church sponsored reception and when the formalities concluded, we continued the celebration at Paula and Bill's - where the Asti Spumante was flowing! ;-)



Nothing like great friends to share the most wonderful moments in life...




Jane and me..... loving on the REV!! :-)


Paula....love filled wishes to you as you begin a new chapter in your life....Associate Pastor at the Lanconia Congregational Church.

Congratulations Paula....Godspeed!

Superbowl Party for Bry......

(photo courtesy of the Bry Guy!) The foodie mom forgot to take a photo! ;-(

2 Batches of Chili, Check!
2 Batches of Pulled Pork, Check!
1 Batch of Coleslaw, Check!
2 dozen Kaiser Rolls, Check!
A pan of brownies, Check!

Just part of the "fixings" for a super "Superbowl Party" for Bryan and his friends. Check, Check!

....With loads of love included - CHECK, CHECK, CHECK, CHECK!!!!

I love playing "caterer" and providing the guys with a bit of football food on game days. It's just one of those things you do when you're a foodie mom and you love to cook and you have a very willing audience!!

I have a year to figure out how to send massive amounts of pulled pork to Virginia for Superbowl 2012!

HGTV Dream Home Visited!

It is a definite - Ed, Don, Deb and I could live in Stowe....at this HGTV Dream Home....and we would share it with all of our relatives and friends. That is why we SHOULD win this home....and in five days it could be all ours!!! :-) ;-) I'm sure 100 million others are thinking this very same way.....however, how many of them have actually toured this magnificent home. That should count for something - we have BEEN THERE! :-)

It's Vermont rustic elegant (a new design term!) filled with all of my favorite things: Sub-Zero refrigerators, Wolf professional ovens, Ethan Allen furniture! The rule once you enter the home is: Do Not Touch a Thing and Do Not Sit on the furniture....it was all I could do to keep my hands off everything in the kitchen!! I did very gently touch the lovely silestone countertops in the kitchen and every so slightly ran my hands over the Wolf cook top! I was dying to open the door to that Sub Zero fridge, however, I played by the rules and refrained....barely! :-( Pure heaven for a foodie...and pure torture.



The four of us have a plan to own this home.....We are organized and calculated as to how it will operate...we schemed over drinks in the ski lodge after the tour and again later while having dinner at Toscano's in Richmond. We have it all figured out....we have a plan.....hmmmm......could it be a premonition? Could it be that we are meant to own this home? ;-) The drawing is in five days.....move over America....we have toured this home.......we're as good as there!!! It's ours! :-)


"Okay....we can do this....we could LIVE here!"


In the living room, in front of that fabulous window! Note the ski trails right behind us.....what a view - location, location!


Cheers to home ownership....1.5 million dollars worth! Wooo hooo - bring it on!


"Ahhhhh....we could live in Stowe forever"....who cares about the snow and the cold??



Continuing the scheme over dinner at Toscano's....


Some mighty high finances being discussed over all of that scrumptious food and wine!





Oh and remember....we will share! So keep your bags handy everyone....your invite could very well be in the mail shortly. Party in Stowe! Skis optional. Donations accepted....I didn't say our scheme was totally foolproof. :-) We thought our tax bills in Colchester were hefty....this one has a $30,000.00 annual fee attached to it.



Lest we forget....this would be your backyard.

Lazy, Hazy, Spa Days...aka Happy Birthday to Me....

Just when you think you couldn't possibly endure another snowy, cold, grey Vermont winter day, your girlfriends whisk you away for a SPA DAY!!






In celebration of my 53rd birthday, Julie proposed a spa event....and I most happily obliged! What a fun day - FILLED with the dear friends, relaxation rooms, scrumptious spa food, massages, manicures, facials, hot tubs, steam rooms, saunas, ..... oh my!!!



Helen, Julie and I are enjoying that hot tub! The air temperature was a chilly 18 degrees, however, it was soooo warm in that water!



The "birthday girl" enjoying the hot tub. Note the snow all around me.....it was heaven once I stepped into the water.



Jules and Helen enjoying the relaxation room prior to dinner.


Dinner has arrived and we enjoyed it by a lovely and very cozy fire.





My one prevailing thought, given the long winter season, - Why, on earth, is this not a weekly event?!!


Thank you ladies - What an amazing day! Love you all! xxx ooo And a very special thanks to all three of you for putting up with my camera throughout our SPA event. The robes clearly were not the most flattering outfits that we had on that day, and the steam room and hot tubs and massages did not allow us to have the best hair day ever!! However, the pictures are fabulous and you are all great sports! :-)

Yes, Julie....enough with the photos!! Done! Love ya! xx oo

It keeps snowing and snowing and snowing.......

The winter of 2010/2011 will go down in history as the season that kept snowing. According to the Burlington meteorological historians, it has snowed almost every day in December and January....give or take 6 days or so. ;-( That is a lot of snow!! That is just way too much snow!!



Needless to say, I am tired of winter. I have never minded winter as much as this particular one and I'm finding that the older I get, the more I hate the cold! I am longing for the ease of walking out of my door without having to bulk up with two, maybe three layers of clothing. The ease of just slipping into my sandals instead of winter boots! The ease of just jumping into the car without having to warm it up or dust off the accumulated snow. Being on a first name basis with the local snowplow person is just wrong! ;-)



As an added note of interest....all of the above winter photos are taken right outside of my back and front doors! And as I post and type this blog entry....it's still snowing. We're expecting about six additional inches on top of what you are seeing right now. UGH!


I long for the days that we spent in the Bahamas and St. Thomas/St. Maartan last summer! The beauty of the turquoise blue water and the amazing feel of that white, soft, velvety sand. The comforting warmth of the Caribbean sun....

Is it June yet????

University of Vermont /Winter Ball - 2011

It's Bryan's senior year at the University of Vermont....it's hardly possible that nearly four years have flown by since he began his studies in August of 2007. Time is whizzing by - not only for me - Bryan is feeling it as well. Endings are sad, however, new beginnings will be exciting and full of adventure!

UVM coordinates and hosts a number of "Senior Events" throughout the year. It's as though they are slowly preparing them (emotionally and physically) for their inevitable transition from the Ivory Tower to the world of life - One of the more traditional senior events involves the Winter Ball and it was held this past weekend at the Hilton Hotel in Burlington. The theme was black and silver and Bryan and his girlfriend Cat attended with many of their friends. They looked wonderful and we loved seeing all of their photos and hearing about all of their stories from the evening.

Senior year is bittersweet....I know that Bryan is hoping that the next three months will somehow slow down so that he will be able to savor every moment of his undergraduate college life.

On Sunday, Bryan and Cat stopped in for dinner to show us their photos! They had a very fun time with plenty of very funny stories! :-)