It's All In The Hips!!!

Hips… for whatever reason, you just have to love them. Some people have nice hips, others have large hips or big saddle bags. But whatever, hips help you to hold up your pants, work the Hula Hoop, add some nice gyrations to your dance moves, and they do give you a nice shape…or not!

The other day, I was working with the baker, Halie, in the catering kitchen, for the last time. It looks like that I might be making cupcakes for the downtown Deli. So, Halie gave me some cupcake tips. Then I said that I was worried about decorating the cupcakes, using a pastry bag.

In a few minutes, Halie got some frosting and put it into the pastry bag with a star tip. She showed me how to do the swirls on a piece of parchment paper. After watching her, she handed me the bag and let me try my hand at it. At first my swirls looked unprofessional but I kept trying it when Halie said…”Use your hips. Use your right hand to hold the bag tightly. Use your left hand to guide the bag. Use your hips to do the movements”

I looked at Halie and said, “Just like Happy Gilmore?”

“Just like in Happy Gilmore,” said Halie.

I started to laugh when I remembered how the golf instructor, Chubbs, tried to show Happy Gilmore how to swing a golf club. He kept repeating that it was “All in the hips.”

And as soon as I started making my swirls and using my hips…Halie yelled out, “You got it!”

And, I did. Yep, it’s all in the hips!

Thanks, Halie! I will miss working with you, laughing, crying, and helping each other! Good luck!!!!

Smoky Mountains

The scenery along the way from West Virginia to Virginia to Tennessee was nothing but lush trees and rolling green hills. Eventually the Smoky Mountains came into view. The Mountains had a purple hue with smoke rising from the mountains, framed by trees. I took a number of photos of the Smoky Mountains from outside my car window.

Our hotel was located in the Margaritaville Island Resort; a sprawling hotel located in a village filled with eclectic shops, restaurants, a few amusement rides, a tall Ferris Wheel, and an arcade.

Our rooms were located right across from the roof top pool. Now that the rain had stopped, we headed for the pool to cool ourselves off and have some down time and fun. There was also a poolside bar, which we made use of. I found myself ordering a Dolly Mon that was a frozen margarita with silver rum. It was delicious and cooled me down. After the second one…I decided to take a break and just enjoy the pool, my son, his wife, and my three grandchildren. This was our first day and there would be plenty of time and more Dolly Mons to follow!

The Heinz History Center

I was just at The Heinz History Center in The Strip on Monday. There is a really interesting and educational WWII display. It commemorates the 75^th Anniversary of World War II and how Pittsburgh affected WWII and the war’s effect on the region. The display is called “We Can Do It! WWII.”

I have been to the WWII memorial in Washington and I was totally in awe of it. Despite that this exhibit is such a smaller version, I have to say that it really is top notch and totally worth viewing.  I loved the title of the exhibit, We Can Do It, especially the display of Rosie the Riveter.

It wasn’t just the men who did their part in the war, but the women and families and everyone back in the states. I learned a lot from the exhibit, the war and reasons and why it was fought. But it is still sad to think of the war, the rise of Hitler, countries that were invaded and other countries that watched what was happening, the deaths of all those Jewish people and other nationalities, and the sacrifice and deaths of all the American soldiers and the Allied soldiers.

I hope we never see another war like WWII. But I also realize that if we don’t learn from the past, we are bound to make the same horrific mistakes.

Mouth Watering Mini Soufflés

For the past few days, I have found myself working at my daughter’s catering kitchen. My one, consistent job has been to make the soufflés for her downtown Deli. I make anywhere from 19-21 soufflés about every 10 days. They seem to be a big seller at the Deli.

My job entails spraying the inside of the mini soufflé cups, cutting the pastry to fit the bottom and sides of the cups, mixing the egg mixture, placing the cheese on the bottom and pouring ¾ of the egg mixture in each cup. The mini cups are on a large sheet trays, and when they are done cooking, I place them in the Walk-In Refrigerator.

 You can order a soufflé at Erin’s Deli, Monday through Friday. Honestly the soufflés are really delicious; I know because I tasted it and can vouch for it!

Grandchildren Sleepovers

This summer, I have decided to have some of my older grandchildren over for sleepovers. So far, I have had one, but I do have a few more scheduled. Last week, I started with two grandchildren and this week, I had two more over.

Here are how the sleepovers work at my house: I pick up my grandchildren, Then we head to Target, where they are allow to pick at least two toys that they want. They also are allowed to pick out their favorite, candy, snack, or treat.

We end up at my house, and then they open up their toys and play with them for a while. When it is time for dinner, I let them choose where they would like to go. Sometimes, they just want to order pizza and wings and eat them at the house.

If we go out to eat, afterwards, we come back to the house. My grandchildren and I play a few games of Headbanz or Who Am I. When they get tired of that, we watch a kid’s movie. Usually, I make pop popcorn, and we sit and watch the movie, until its lights out, and time for bed.

The next morning, I get up and grab a much needed cup of coffee to wake myself up. While the kids lie on my couches watching cartoons, I make pancakes. I add sprinkles to the pancakes like red, green or blue, and sometimes I add blueberries.

After breakfast we play a few more board games, or card games. Sometimes I pull out some crafts for them to make and to take home. On the way home, we stop for ice cream cones. This is my way of getting them all sugared up for their parents! This is definitely a grandma perk!

Having my grandchildren come over in two’s is fun and it allows me to interact on a one to one basis. In my case…it is a one on two basis. For a night and day, my house is filled with cartoons, fun foods, loud grandchildren, games, crafts, and life. And the bottom line is that I enjoy it and so do my grandkids.

Tyler and the Electric Pencil Sharpener

While I was in my computer room working on a story, I finished it and started to walk out of the room when I spotted my electric pencil sharpener. I stopped, picked it up and emptied the pencil shavings into the trash can. While holding the sharpener…it all came back to me…

When my grandson, Tyler, lived here for a while with his father and sister, it was like starting all over for me with little kids. My kids were grown; some were married with kids of their own. For a while my house was quiet with only me living in it. Now I had two little grandkids and their father living with me.

Tyler would wake up around 6:30 in the morning, and I would find him in my room, on my bed, waiting for me to wake up and play with him. I didn’t need to set an alarm because Tyler was my alarm clock, signaling morning.

We would start the morning off playing cards or any type of game, until I could drag myself downstairs for a much needed cup of coffee and feed Tyler breakfast. Our days were spent playing games, going outside, running errands, watching SpongeBob Square Pants, or me watching Tyler play television video games.

Tyler and I seemed to be joined at the hip. He never wanted to be left alone or play by himself. When I would want to work on some of my stories on the computer, I would bring in paper, coloring books, and crayons, and Tyler would sit down on the floor and work on his coloring or drawings. One day I saw my pencils and asked him if he would like to sharpen them. He did and I pulled out a huge plastic container and an old cigar box filled with pencils. Tyler went to town and loved sharpening those pencils.

The electric sharpener and those pencils filled up a lot of Tyler’s time. As he sharpened them, I wrote. We spent a lot of time together in that computer room. While Tyler lived with me, I never had to worry about sharpening any of my pencils, and I always had one to use when the other points wore down.

It is amazing what kids find fascinating and fun. Thanks to Tyler and my electric sharpener, they both kept me writing.

Perfect Day amongst Flowers

We left our hotel around 9:45 to drive to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA). But first I need to say that it was Suni’s Birthday…Happy Birthday, Suni! This was a perfect day for her birthday. No one could have planned such a perfect day. The weather was sunny, warm, and not a cloud in the sky.

The VMFA is one of those sparkling gems. The museum is absolutely beautiful: modern, sleek, and well designed. It was also bright and airy, which is the way a museum should look and feel.

This was why we had made this trip to Virginia…to see the special exhibit: “Van Gogh, Monet, and Matisse: The Art of the Flower.” The special exhibit only added to our already perfect day. There were 70 flower paintings by more than 30 artists such as Eugene Delacroix, Vincent van Gogh, Gustave Courbet, Henri Fantin Latour, Eduard Monet, Henri Matisse and others.

The exhibit was crowded; the paintings were exquisite and lush. There were times the paintings looked so real, that I wanted to pick one of the flowers. There were times that I actually thought that I could smell the different scent of the different flowers.

After viewing the exhibit, I bought a coffee and sat in the small café. Alongside the café is a pond filled with water lilies. I felt like Monet had painted this scene that I was in, filled with water lilies and artist Dale Chihuly’s red glass shooting out of the pond to look like cattails. Along the other side of the pond there were 8 interesting sculptured pieces along with chairs, tables and benches. I looked longingly at a bench under a large shaded tree and wished that I was sitting there writing about how overwhelmed I was by the days beauty.

My friend and I met up and went to the Museum’s Restaurant called Amuse. It was time for Suni’s birthday lunch. The brunch that was served was delicious and filling, thanks to the Chef! And while we ate we once again drank in the beauty of the outdoors and the perfect day as well!

If anyone is planning a trip to Richmond, Virginia…put the VMFA on your list of things to see and do. I think you will definitely want to see the museum and their wonderful art collection; both inside and outdoors.