Happy Valentine's Day!!

I made two cookie bouquets for Valentine's Day. Wow. That really was a blast from my past. I used to make them all the time and stopped when we sold our other house. The townhouse we rented was horrible and the oven did not have regulated heat control so I couldn't make the cookies from there. Once I moved into the house I am in now, I had the best intentions of making more bouquets. I did make a few orders (several large ones) but then realized I wasn't enjoying it like I should and that my kitchen was always a mess - even though the counter space and island space is more than terrific in this kitchen for cookie making. Last week, my ex-niece's husband asked me if I would make her a bouquet for Valentine's Day so I said yes. You would think, it would be just like riding a bike. It wasn't. WOW. I couldn't remember how to make the dough, how long cook them, or how to do the frosting. I ended up going to bed at 2am because of how long it took me to reteach myself. Shortly after I said yes, Bella, the little daughter said she wanted a special valentine from her daddy as well so I made two bouquets instead of one. Bernedette's bouquet is the large one and Bella's is the small one. The best part of the bouquets was how much Mike, Bernedette and Bella loved them.

Yummy dinner for Gwen!

Last Sunday, my cousin Gwen was in from Iowa for work. Instead of going out to eat, I told her I would make dinner for her. She was more than happy to have me cook instead. She loved this meal and I think she liked that I spoiled her a little. I do have to admit...the meal was fantastic. I did have to post to Facebook and tag all my Iowa family because I made noodles as the surprise for Gwen. I made roast beef, mashed potatoes, homemade noodles, creamed peas, and pink fluffy jello salad. The noodles were just like grandma Leona's and the creamed peas were pretty close to my mom's. The butter on the bread, is awesome. I got a tub of the butter at Sam's club. It is garlic, basil, and parmesan cheese flavor. Oh is it delicious. The only problem was that I wanted to keep eating and eating and couldn't.