Setting a Memorable table...

I thought that since this will be the last Christmas Brandon spends at our table as a Civilian for a while I would update our Christmas dinnerware to set a Memorable and extra Special table. 

After weeks of looking at different Options I kept going back to a place setting I found at Macy*s... Unfortunately, my shopping experience at the Macy*s here was nothing like I'm used to at the Macy*s in Monterey where consultants are plentiful and they actually want to Help you put something Amazing together by offering Design input. But, no, that did Not happen here. When I couldn't find the pieces I required on the sales floor and I couldn't find an associate in the fine china Department to help me, I had to go in Search of someone myself. I finally found a man who promised to get Someone over to help me but the person he sent over (from bedding) was so Intimidated by what I asked her, which was simply, I want this, could you find out if you have eight place settings available, that she actually walked away from me without saying One word, and never came back. 

When I went back to the man who called her over and told him what Happened, he promised to call someone else - well, while that woman offered to help me, she stopped on her way to the Stockroom to help another Customer and let me Wait. Hello!? Finally, after Way-too-many minutes, I gathered up all the Pieces of the place setting I wanted, walked back over to the man Kind enough to call people for me, handed them to him with my business card and told him that when he Found someone willing to Sell me eight of each of those pieces, to have them Call me. I was Steamed! I mean, retailers are Supposed to be hurting in this recession we're Supposedly having and Fighting for every consumer Dollar that walks through their door, Right? Well, you wouldn't know it at this Macy*s!  

So, when I returned to my office I went to Macy*s.com to let them know about my Miserable shopping experience at their store and, much to my Delight, within a half hour of submitting my comments, someone called to say they would have the Store contact me right away. Long story short, the General manager of my Macy*s tracked down the place settings I wanted in Ohio, agreed to Break them up so I wouldn't have to take the coffee cup and saucer Usually part of this place setting, (because we don't care for coffee and don't need them) and she Agreed to honor the sales price and any Coupons valid at the time I originally wanted to purchase the china, Regardless of how long it took for it to arrive. And, she said if the Price went any lower in the meantime, she would ensure the price I paid was the Lowest price. And, in the end, while she was unable to get me a Service for eight, she was able to get me service for Six, which is all I need any way. I'd like to have eight to include any Future daughter-in-laws and my Parents; but, a service for Six will do just fine! And, do let me tell you that when I went into my Macy*s yesterday to pick up my china, I was treated like Royalty! 

The woman I was asked to see when I arrived Refused to speak to anyone else while she Worked with me, even when two other Associates wandered over to interrupt us to ask her questions for their Customers. Oh, no! This woman wasn't Letting it happen! She stopped them Cold, said she could not be Interrupted and told them to hold their Questions until she was finished with me. As she rang up Each of my pieces, she Insisted I inspect them to ensure I was satisfied and then she Ordered another girl over to wrap and even Corrected her when she tried to use Tissue paper and plastic bags... Instructing her instead to use the heavy Bubble wrap and large Gift boxes. After our transaction was complete, this associate Walked the receipt around to my side of the register Counter to go over it with me and to show me that I received a total of 85% off the Original cost of these place settings, and 50% + 20% off the placemats and Chargers I selected. And then... are you ready for this? She invited me to pull around to the Loading dock where she said she would Meet me so I wouldn't have to carry the large boxes through their Store with me. Now that's the Macy*s service I'm used to. Heck! I don't get that kind of Service at Saks or Neiman's! Of course, I wrote a Glowing recommendation of this woman's Service and handling of my Visit with her at Macy*s.com. Bravo her!

I believe these place settings were Worth the effort...   

I especially Like this accent salad plate I chose...

Without it, I can use this service for Occasions other

than Christmas; however, with it - it's all about Christmas!

I think the Silver-tone charger works well against the Platinum band

around the plates. The placemats, also from Macy*s, are by Lenox

I'm off Tomorrow so I'm going to check Pottery Barn for some white Linen

dinner Napkins and see what I can find in the way of a white Table runner

Now, the Macy*s china is for our Christmas Eve dinner, which is always

more Formal. I remember the most Beautiful dinners served by my Oma

in Germany on Christmas Eve... Christmas Eve dinner before Mass is formal,

quiet, Candlelit and all about a Good fish. For many years, before Christmas Eve

dinner, we'd take my Oma to the fish monger so she could pick out her Trout. The

man behind the counter bashed the Trout in the head to kill it and then wrapped it in

paper. This is also Why I never ate the Fish! But the dinner is also about things I love,

like Blaukraut and mashed potatoes with Dill and butter! I will prepare either Sea bass

or Halibut. And, of course, wieners and Weisswurst for the boys who are as fish-adverse

as my Brother, our cousins and I was when we were all Little kids around our Oma's table!

But! For our casual Christmas Day dinner, I picked out this New dinnerware below. It's actually

a nice Stoneware that I can throw into the Dishwasher, unlike the Macy*s china, which I will

have to Wash by hand. Any way, I like this little Holly berry pattern, which I think works quite

nicely with the placemats and Dinner napkins I already have. I think my Christmas table's all set!  

Now, the Trick will be to clean out and Organize my china cabinet to somehow

make room for All of these new pieces... Because I was out of Space a long time ago!

This is how I Bake from Now on!

I couldn't wait to get Home tonight to bake the Cookie dough I mixed up yesterday. I could hear the sweet, chilling Dough calling my name all day... Come bake me, Janet - So I did!

Now, I don't know whether or not Chilling the dough 24-36 hours before baking made my Cookies taste any better, mainly because this was my first attempt at making Alexis's chocolate chip cookies so I've never tasted them any other way... But I can tell you Two things. First, these cookies are Amazing and second, I enjoyed this baking Experience much more than past Baking exercises because I was fresh and ready to Go this time! Usually, by the time I've finished mixing up my dough I'm over the whole process and would Prefer to move on to something else (like a a nap!) instead of babysitting the oven a Few more hours. However, this Mixing on one day and Baking the cookies on the second day was Much, much more Fun. Truthfully, I'll never make and bake cookies on the Same day again!

Dough and tools ready to bake

Alexis Stewart's brown Sugar chocolate chip cookies must be Scooped

out into 2-3 ounce balls so I wasn't sure which Scoop to use...

Perfect dough, ready to Go

So I measured out 3 ounces of Dough and decided to just Bake

six cookies first to test timing and spread. One thing this recipe

is not Shy about is letting you know these cookies WILL spread!

And, boy-Howdy, did they Ever spread - Wow!

the full Pound of butter in this recipe becomes Evident the moment you slide the cookies

off the end of the Spatula. These cookies are thin, chewy and oh, so very, Very delicious!

If you enjoy a cookie that is Chocolaty-good and sticks to your teeth, this is It!

A fellow Blogger and friend at Work asked me to let her know how these Cookies

turn out so I thought I would do one Better and bring her some. Finally! A use

for those Bright cellophane gift bags I picked up last Summer... I'd prefer a bag more

Holiday-appropriate, but Hey! It's late, and I have a Ton of cookies to bake

I switched to the Small scoop but realized it was Too small

All you need is an Ice-cold glass of milk... The brown Sugar makes this

cookie taste like Carmel candy... And the chocolate, well, it's just Ghirardelli-good!

Waaay too big, much too big, Just right and too

small... It took Me a while, but I figured it out!

The just Right scoop turned out to be the Perfect size for my gift bags!

There were more Cookies on this rack before I took this photo but someone

keeps coming into the Kitchen to liberate them... He says he doesn't

want to me encounter any Storage-issues by having too many cookies to put away.

Boy, I'll tell you, I am married to the Most thoughtful husband, ever!

When you Try this recipe, and you will! Remember that the trick to this

is to allow the cookies to cool a Few minutes on the parchment paper before you

Attempt to move them to your cooling rack. If you try to move them Before

they've Cooled a bit, they will tear. Leaving the cookies to Cool on the hot

Baking sheet will continue to cook them so do Remove them from the sheet

and let your cookies Chill-out on a dish towel on your counter, like this:

Now for the Heath Toffee cookies... Same scoop, same Perfect results

These cookies are SO good! I did add the Walnuts called for in the recipe

but I can imagine adding a little Chocolate instead, or in Addition to!

I didn't care for the Twist-ties that came with these Gift bags so I went in Search of

something better to use... Now, I don"t have a Crafty bone in my body, but I do have

a Fairly nice, albeit Very old collection of rubber stamps, some Equally old stamp pads and

a huge Box of toe-tags... I bought the toe-tags a Few years ago after I paid $4.00 for two

toe-tag gift tags at the Tancredi & Company in Carmel Valley. They had Thank You stamped

on them and I used them to tie around bottles of John Pisto's seafood/meat rub and Pasta

seasoning I brought back to my Bosses to thank them for allowing me to fly out to Monterey

(with not much notice) to be with my Mom while she had shoulder surgery. It was one of those

things you buy, Thinking, I could make those myself... And, tonight, I did! Toe-tag gift tags...

They're a Good Thing, as the Fabulous Martha would say!

Inspired to Bake by a New method!

I love to Bake almost as much as I love to shop so since Martha's been baking Christmas cookies and deserts on her show every day for the last Two weeks, I was inspired to Bake a little this evening.


While cooking isn't an exact Science, baking most definitely is... Add a little more or less Garlic to your dish, or more or less Pepper to taste... No problem! However, forget the baking Powder or confuse it for baking soda or add a little too much Flour to a batter and you have a formula for Disaster on your hands. Which, is Exactly why baking is Perfect for a control-freak like me! I enjoy the Science and exactness Baking demands, and I especially love it when a recipe comes together the way it is meant to!


A few days ago on her show, Martha mentioned that cookies are best (especially Chocolate chip) if you can prepare the Dough in advance and refrigerate it for 24-36 hours before baking. Now understand, the only Chilled/pre-mixed cookie dough I've ever tried (aside from Pillsbury's cheater-cookies) is that tub-Stuff you get talked into by Parents pimping cookie dough to support their kids' school music program or soccer team, which by the way, tastes like you threw the Plastic tub into the oven and called it cookies... So I decided to put Martha's suggestion to the test and give her Method a try.


But which recipe to test Martha with? Well, I follow Martha's daughter, Alexis Stewart's blog (here), and once again, her Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe was mentioned by her co-host, Jennifer Hutt on her side of their shared Blog - so that was it! It was high time for me to make those Cookies... And, I decided to make another Batch of Heath Toffee cookies I always get rave reviews on too... Depending on how these Cookies turn out tomorrow after I bake them, I might just include a Few of each in the Christmas packages I'm putting together for friends. Here's hoping!

Oh, what a Wonderful sight in my kitchen... Let's mix it Up!

I bought 7-pounds of Nestle chocolate chips a few weeks ago at

Costco... but tell me, who can stroll through the Baking isle and

NOT pick up the Ghirardelli? Not this California transplant!

Mmmmmm... Butter. Lots of smooth, rich, room temp, Unsalted butter!

Whipped for 2-minutes on medium speed until Fluffy

There it is! 1.5 cups of Ghirardelli folded in, and ready to Chill

Is it time to Bake cookies yet?

Butter, sugar, Pure vanilla and Heath toffee

This is a Dough I could eat straight from the Bowl - Yummy!

Heath Toffee Cookie dough ready to Chill

Bake-fest resumes right Here tomorrow!

One last Stop on the way home...

We're home now and what a Nice weekend get-away this Turned out to be! The weather was amazing, although not technically Beach weather... The drive both ways was Easy and we enjoyed everything we saw and did. No disappointments, no complaints. The Sheraton Atlantic Beach exceeded all our expectations and I know we'll be back to stay there again. We stopped in Raleigh for dinner at PF Chang's for our anniversary and found the Lush store too. I'm one of those Strange people that cannot leave for a Trip without cleaning the house Top to bottom, doing all the laundry and making sure my bed has a Clean duvet and sheets on it so coming home is always the Best treat of all... And, on top of that, Dallas is playing in a few minutes so I'll get to watch the game while I read all my mail and relax into my evening! As nice as it always is to get away, it's Better to come home!   

So, after Keli's rave reviews of Lush's bath products and having just Spent the entire weekend

indulging in all the Wonderful Lush products she picked out and sent to Me, I had to go See

for myself. Fortunately, there is a Lush store in Raleigh now, which is on the way home from

the Coast... And, as with all things Keli recommends, Lush is all that! Here is a photo of some of 

their Bath bombs. Keli highly recommended the Humango, but said the size and weight

made sending it to me shipping-Prohibitive. And, now I know what she was talking

about... It's HUGE! But Keli's right, it's worth having. It smells Ah-mazing!

lots to Love here... Including a Free bath Bomb with every $20 spent

today... My favorite Bomb so far is Christmas Party. It's the bomb that

left all those Stars in the bottom of the tub at the hotel. So all ten of

my Freebies I got, I asked for those! Unfortunately, gift cards don't

count toward Freebie total, but that's okay. Oh, and please don't tell Keli

she's getting a Lush gift card for Christmas... I want her to be surprised! 

The only Complaint I have about the Lush store in Raleigh is that

they are in Desperate need of more floor space! It was shoulder to

shoulder in there; plus, since they have only two Registers, check-out was a

Crushing experience. Add all their customers in there to WAY too many sales

 people Buzzing about and a Girl can barely stop to Sniff! I spent a good bit of

money, but given more space and Air, I could have done SO much better! See

below what I mean. You see product Galore, but just Three (less, ?) feet on either

side of the store and a Foot and a half at register. Makes shopping there not much

fun. Looks like I'll just have to Arrange for a trip when it might just be me and Me!

Humango versus Christmas Party... there's bomb and then there's BOMB!

I find myself planning our Next trip to another hotel with a Great bathtub!

In our Travels this weekend we managed to find a few Antique stores...

In the one I showed you that Amazing doll house I found this German

Weisswurst Topf. It was marked Soup Tureen, but upon closer inspection

(and after reading my German) it is clearly a Weisswurst pot... Love it! 

King Ludwig and his dates of Reign are featured on both sides of the Lid

At a shop in Beaufort I found this vintage Glass block bank - I see them

every now and again but never in Perfect condition like this one. And,

I've never seen one with a Sunburst design on it like this one has either!

Sunburst!

If you Enlarge this photo you can see the Sunburst better... I found

this Pyrex butter dish at a shop in Morehead City. It's perfect too!

I will Pine for you...

I decided to Ignore that on-line review I read on the Sheraton Atlantic Beach

regarding their room service... The reviewer whined about the Cost and skimpy

portions... Well, since our entire stay was Complimentary and the Director of

Marketing WAAAAAY upgraded our room from the basic accommodation outlined

in the Prize letter, I thought the Very least we could do, besides tip everyone huge

and rack up the daily Internet fee, was order room service too. So, I threw Caution

to the wind before bed last night over Portion size and filled out the little Room service

request form and hung it on the door Knob so that our Anniversary breakfast would

be brought to us... between eight and eight-fifteen, please. And, not only was the

Breakfast delivered promptly at 8:08AM, it was SO not skimpy at all... All this for only

$11.00, per Person. There was so much Left over that I threw it all into a plastic bag and

brought it home for the Raccoon to eat tonight. Oh, and those pesky daily Wireless

internet fees some of the other On-line reviewers complained about?

WAIVED upon check-out, thank you Very much!

After breakfast, a last long look Off the bedroom balcony...

If you click on this Photo to enlarge it you'll see a piece of bread in

the middle of my shot, about Center. Last night after dinner we

stopped at a Grocery store for a loaf of bread to feed the Sea gulls...

We better go before I get too Used to this view!

Even in winter, the Best place to be is at the Coast!

Good-bye old friend... I will Pine for you each day we are apart!

I used the empty bread bag to Collect clam shells...

this beach was Littered with them!

Ahhh...

I could stand in this Spot all day - but if I did,

who would Go to work for me tomorrow?

Yes, I'm still standing here...

just Look at that Sky!

A quick Look at the Indoor pool and spa on my way Out...

one last look at the Lobby. I'm a little closer to the Door now than I was before

Know what those red and Yellow things are? They're called Crab pots!

And those... down there, those are Crab Pot Christmas Trees!

We First saw them last night during our Tour of the decorated Historic homes

of Beaufort. Almost every Garden we toured had one; and all Lit up, they look like the most

beautiful Outdoor trees, ever! So after our tour we decided to hunt them down; however, not

knowing exactly what they were, we struck out at all the usual places you would expect to find

outdoor Christmas decorations. But... this Morning, as we were leaving Morehead City, we

passed a Seafood vendor along the side of the road that had one so we Stopped to ask about it

and he said they're called Crab Pot Trees... And, he was selling them! But, he only had the 6'

size left. Of course, we bought his 6' and then drove over to Panera Bread so I could log on to

Google, Crab Pot Trees, hoping to find out where we might find more on a Sunday morning...

But, not only did I find them and a place nearby that Sold them, (that was open on Sunday)

they were right there at the Ace Hardware store in Atlantic Beach, just 2 miles from our Sheraton!

Yup, we ended up driving all the way back to the Hotel to get them - ACE was out of the 4' size

but we were able to get that size from another place we found selling Crab Pot trees in Kinston,

NC. That one was WAY more expensive than the ones we found in Atlantic Beach and Morehead City,

but we were also getting further away from the Coast, so it made sense. So if you're in the Neighborhood

between now and New Year's you'll get to see four Crab Pot Christmas trees added to our decorations!

Crab Pot Trees... Who knew?

Something Good!

Prayers for my Dad were answered today! The problem has Not spread, and his number was below the mark of big Trouble. Whew! Of course, I would prefer he NOT have this problem at all; but with News like Dr. Goldman delivered this morning, we know he's going to be a-Okay. Of course, there's a hill to climb, but No one is Better at climbing hills than my dad! And, with me, my Mom, James and everyone else that loves him Cheering my dad on, I know every thing's going to be fine. Onward together now...

The Enlistment Oath

The first Oath you see being Administered was taken by new National Guard recruits. At 57 seconds in this Video you will see our Brandon raise his Right hand and take the Enlistment oath to join the United States Army. 

Pretty incredible...