Tweet Little Baby.....

Last weekend we threw a baby shower for my sister in law Lori. Its her second, but her first "baby" is turning 8 this year, so we figured she could use some new goods! Here are just a few details....

sign made from Etsy seller Devany

favor stickers made by Etsy seller AutumnLeah

My birdcage from my wedding, I knew that it would come in handy again one day!

Beautiful cake made by our dear friend Karen.

Happy 3rd Birthday Divi !

Even though I am a few days late, I couldn't let this week slip by without acknowledging my niece Divi's 3rd Birthday. I wanted to share a few of my favorite pictures of her over the last few years, starting with the most recent....

Happy Birthday Divinity Grace!!!!!

Love, Aunt Jen & Uncle Joey xoxo

Linguine & Clams

I first had this recipe this summer up on the Cape where our friends made it for us for dinner. I have tried to recreate it a few times but according to the Hubs, it still does not compare to when our friend Jen made it. I am trying to convince him it was the freshness of the clams brought straight in on the wharf that day, but secretly, I do know Jen's is better! I am going to share it with you, because if you haven't had Jen's on Cape Cod, than you won't know the difference, and the recipe comes out restaurant quality good!

Ingredients:
1 lb dried linguine
3/4 C olive oil
5 cloves of chopped garlic
3 shallots or diced thin
2 lbs littleneck clams, rinsed to remove excess sand
1/2 C. white wine
2 T. butter
1 lemon, zested
1 shake of red pepper flakes
S & P to taste

Start by scrubbing, or at the very least rinsing, the clams to make sure you have gotten rid of any excess sand.

In a large pot, heat up olive oil and begin to sautee the shallots until they are almost soft, than add the garlic and saute on low temperature to make sure the garlic does not burn.

Meanwhile, in another pot, bring water to boil for you to cook the linguine in, you may want to start boiling the water as soon as you start all your sauteeing.

When the garlic & shallots are done, pour in the wine and let simmer on medium temperature.

When the wine and olive oil is hot, drop clams in and cover with a lid to steam them open. Simmer & steam for approximately 7-8 minutes. If for some reason any of the clams don't open, pick them out and throw them away, nobody wants to eat a bad clam! When everything has opened, stir in the butter to give the sauce a little bit of sweetness.

(this is what it will look like once they have all opened).

Zest up the lemon and set aside

When linguine is done cooking, drain and toss everything together in a big bowl. Season with salt and pepper, be generous, the pasta really soaks it up. Shake on a little bit of crushed red pepper flakes and top each bowl with a sprinkle of the lemon zest.

Happy Hearts Day!

Hope everyone had a fun Valentine's Day! ♥
Mine was spent exactly doing exactly what I wanted to do!
A little bit of this:

and then a lot of that:

On another note, my sister forwarded me some pictures of my nephew's photo shoot from last weekend, and I wanted to share them because I thought they came out so cute!! This photographer was amazing, she was very reasonably priced and they were given the rights to all photos to do what they please. Here are a few of the little ham:

 

and one with me, the proud Auntie, even though the little guy was NOT happy at this point:

* photo credit, Photography by Asiya

Super Easy Dinner

This dinner is so easy to make in a pinch.

I like to keep the ingredients on hand when I dont

have anything else to throw together.

Start with a package of chicken breasts, cut them up into cubes. Throw a swirl of olive oil in a big pan

and cook the chicken until its cooked through.

Next, throw in a bag of the birds eye green bean stir fry. It is full of beans, water chestnuts, carrots, broccoli and little pieces of spaghetti.

Once that gets cooking, use about a 1/3 to a 1/2 of a jar of the "secret" ingredient - Heinz 57 sauce.

At this point, it will look like this. I like to throw in a small handful of sesame seeds as well.

Finally, you can add either extra spaghetti noodles, or for a REALLY quick meal, I throw in a bunch of boiled Ramen noodles. Did you know you can buy them separately without the little powder packages that usually come with them? You will find them in the asian section.

VOILA! The finished product.

Does Christmas come any cuter than this????

Frosty the Snowman......was a jolly happy soul.

or do you think Cooper is wishing he could just melt away?

HAHAHA - have you ever seen a 5 month old give you the 'Stink-Eye'? I have now.

Ohhhhh Fudge....

Last November (2008) I dragged my husband from New Jersey all the way to Cleveland, OH (8 hours of driving each way) for a convention celebrating the 25th Anniversary of "A Christmas Story". It was one of the most fun trips I have taken in a long time. We stayed for three nights at the Cleveland Renaissance where the convention was being held. We got to meet some of the actors and listen to their stories. Then on Saturday we got to go the "real" house that the Parkers lived in. The house was mostly used for exterior shots with a few interior shots of the living room being used. The backyard was also used for filming the famous "Oh My God, I Shot my eye out" scene as well as the Black Bart scenes. Here is a photo of us outside of Ralphie's house.......

The actual shed still stands in the backyard.

The famous leg lamp...."the glow of electric sex gleaming in the window". HA!

The living room

These were the two evil elves from Higbee's......

On the left is the delivery man that brought the FRAGILE box to the front door. On the right is Black Bart.

My favorite photo - us with Grover Dill (on left) and Scut Farkus

Joey with the"Toadie" Grover Dill

Me with Scott Schwartz who played Flick.

Me with "Randy Parker"

Higbee's Department Store went out of business many years ago, but the occupants of the building still have the sign up and every Christmas they decorate the front windows to commemorate the movie. They do a fabulous job!

Only 3 more days until the 24 hour Marathon on Christmas Eve & Christmas Day.

I swear I don't miss a second of it!