A Weekend in Las Vegas Part I

Last week ma chere sister Alyson came for a visit on her way back home from another semester at college...needless to say, we hit the town!





The fountain at Bellagio is always my number one spot when people come into town to visit. They are amazing! The rush-swoosh sound of the water shooting out of the ducts is like small rockets launching into the air.


They play music with it, choreographing the water to the sounds. If you've seen Ocean's Eleven you probably have a good idea of this.

The many faces of the wee babe. Not so wee anymore!

The Paris casino

Ah, reminds me of the good ole days in La Paris!

Inside the casino/hotel it looks like you're walking down the streets with cloudy blue skies overhead and street signs and cobblestones..

You'll notice there are no clocks or windows ANYWHERE. Nothing to give you any sense of how much time has passed since you came in. Smart one.

Believe it or not, this is the check in desk/foyer!

I want this to be the first floor of my house! This is also where Aaron and I went to see the Nutcracker performed a few Christmases ago.

It wouldn't be Paris without the Arc de Triomph and some shopping!

How 'bout a famous ex-pat? I always considered Hemingway so old and boring to read..The Old Man and the Sea? Hit me over the head! But I've devoured two of his books over the weekend so I don't know what else to say...he's now on my high list for books worth reading!

Shall We Bake Today?

My April calendar pic!

Just had a very loud thunder and lightening storm pass over us this dark and early a.m. You would have thought it was the 4th of July! Whew. Our spring showers have been massive this year, as it has been for a lot of our country. I am beginning to think this spring calendar picture does not say "hope", but, sort of looks like it says "nope"--not quite spring...ha! Maybe so.

This is one of my very most favorite reading, photography, and recipe books, all wrapped into one. I use it a lot and not just for cooking and baking. Sure I have made the refrigerator pickles, and covered supper beans and rice. And, can't forget the peach buckle and lemon sour cream pound cake. All delicious. But, what I really love about this book are the stories that accompany each and every recipe section.....and every recipe has a little background of it's own. The photography is magnificent. Don't you just love a good read that includes recipes and beautiful pictures?

Ohh...sorry! You can't click to look inside. That would have been nice.

So, this book is where I got the recipe for Jenna's birthday pound cake. It is so good and mails rather easily. The first few times I sent this to Jenna, I baked it in a bread pan. Worked out well. Then, I dabbled in making it into cupcakes and then this last time, a little pan cake for mailing.
Do give this a try. It is really a spring delight...the lemon and the butter makes this oh so good. The smell of it baking, is divine.
3 cups all -purpose flour
1/2 t baking powder

1/4 t baking soda

1/2t salt

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

3 cups sugar

6 large eggs

1 t vanilla extract

Grated zest of 2 lemons

1 cup sour cream, at room temperature



Ok...let's get started. Ready, set and GO!

Oven, 325. Butter and flour a bundt pan.



Let's get right to it and sift the flour and all dry ingredients. Set this aside.



Now, beat the butter and sugar with an electric hand mixer until light and fluffy.



Add eggs in one at a time, then, the vanilla and zest.



Flour mixture time. With mixer at lowest speed, slowly, slowly and slowly add in flour mixture, alternating with adding in portions of the sour cream. Beat until smooth. Getting so yummy!



Spread evenly into pan. Bake for approximately 1 and 1/4 hour.



This cake nearly melts in your mouth, on it's own, but, you have just got to make the Lemon Syrup.

Take 1 cup of fresh lemon juice, 1/4 cup water and 2/3 cup sugar. Bring to a boil and cook until the syrup is reduced to about 1/2 cup. Cool.



Now here is a hint....if you adore very thick and tart lemon syrup, you are good to go. If you want it to be a little more sweet, up your sugar and a little more water and adjust to your liking.



Ok...almost done. The kitchen will be smelling more than wonderful at this point. So, when your cake is done, let it cool for 10 minutes. Pour 1/2 of the syrup over your cake. Then, invert onto a wire rack and brush with the remaining syrup.



Now, this recipe ends with ..."let cake cool completely". I dare you to let it cool completely..ha! It is so good hot and cold.

This cake is so fun. I have cut this recipe in half for a bread loaf size pan cake, and cupcake size pound cake. Very fun.



QUESTION... what is your favorite recipe book and why...would love to know and take a peek!

Happy baking to you all! xo



p.s. Now that the baking is done, sewing is next for me. Making a tie, and vest for my son to wear to Prom. Kids at our school are wearing more suits to Prom than tuxedo's these days...hmmm. Ok, we can do that! Show and tell, later gator.

Girls Who Read

"Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag.She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads."

— Rosemary Urquico

Source: Una Bella Vita

Day 2: Explore a new place

*As I was about to post this, I realized that the adventure is not so...adventurous per se. Give me time, we're just starting to work up some steam!*

Day 2

Contenders:




















"Pink Baby"
"Green Mama"

Here in Vegas there are always some "characters" that hang out and around the library. As I write that, I realize that the lib is one of me and Madelyn's favorite haunts...Hmmm. Well, let's just say, the library attracts all kinds of people.

In fact, we have security guards that patrol the area, waking up and kicking out homeless people and making sure no one steals important things. Like books. Or movies. Why they have the need to have sensors and guards paroling the movie room (yes, it's a separate glass cubicle) I have no idea. The black market value for those old dvds can't be much more than a few cents. The only movies in there are ones that we've all seen like a season of Friends or those that look like the old classics but with people you've never heard of before. Then there are the random movies maybe 200 people have seen worldwide with titles like "My Summer Love" or "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir

That said, the last one actually is a real movie and only reason I know that is because I rented it. Actually I stole it. No, just joking, I rented it.

So our library isn't the run of the mill, grandma behind the desk deal. We knew we'd find something fishy going on...

...here's Pink Baby scoping out the shelves...

I set up a booby trap for would-be thieves..

What is it, Pink Baby?

A suspicious man hanging around the reading zone, eh...?

What about--!? No. Just an old man reading a newspaper.

Unfortunately we were the only characters in the building on this night BUT we did leave with a few books worth our while..

You can always tell what interests I have going on each week by what books I've rented. (Speaking of books, we'll have a post up soon about the books you're reading, ones you recommend etc..)

Day 2. Success. Green Mama over and out.