Alphablog - G

G is for Gertrude's.

Clinton's mom had her birthday last month and we decided to take her to the Desert Botanical Garden for dinner at Gertrude's, and then walk the trails.

We picked Debbie up and headed over to make our 5pm dinner reservation, not taking into account the traffic in that part of town - oops! It was okay though, when we got there it turned out we really didn't even need a reservation as there was only one other table filled. Not that surprising, I guess, considering it was a week night. We ordered drinks and an appetizer (Poblano & Garbanzo Hummus | House Pickle Vegetable + Cotija + Crackers + Olive Oil + Herbs) and while we were waiting for that, I walked over to the main entrance of the Garden to get our tickets for after dinner so we could just go straight into the exhibits.

While heading over there I noticed that the tables all had different little centerpieces of succulents in all kinds of different (and what looked to be hand-spun) pottery - little pots, mugs, shallow bowls, etc. They also had tealight candles in little wooden holders. I wish I had though to take a photo or two but I didn't.

Unfortunately, I was also unable to take any photos of our food because we chose to eat outside and it got dark pretty quickly. There was a candle in the middle of the table, but it only provided a very small bit of light - which actually leads me into a funny thing that happened.

We ordered our food and by the time it came out, it was completely dark outside so while we could see what we were eating, we couldn't really see it in detail.

Debbie ordered:
Beets
Garden Beets + Seasonal Lettuces + Crow’s Dairy Chevre + Maple-Sherry Vinaigrette + Hazelnuts
3 Napkin Smoked Sow
Smoked Pork + Az. Cheese Co. Jack + Cilantro + Pickled Apple + Pickled Onion + Red Chile Jus + Ciabatta

I ordered:
Natural Chicken
Natural Breast + Brussel Sprouts + Potato Puree + Natural Jus

Clinton ordered:
Red Chile Short Rib
Crow’s Dairy Goat Sour Cream + Fingerlings + Mango + Pickled Red Onion

Everything is fresh, organic, and local if possible, and it was all really good. The funny thing that happened was that while we were all asking if the others wanted to taste, Clinton told his mom he was going to give her a bite of potato, and said that it tasted kind of weird. I looked at his plate and realized that the fingerling potatoes were dark, and what he thought was potato was actually slices of mango! HA! We all got a pretty good laugh out of that because, yeah, that would be a pretty weird tasting "potato"!

Debbie loved her beet salad, and I loved everything on my plate - I usually go for something a bit more adventurous, but that plate of comfort food just sounded really good to me, and it did not disappoint. Clinton enjoyed his as well, but was disappointed when he realized that it had goat sour cream - he hadn't noticed that on the menu, and he hates goat's milk. It wasn't too bad, though, he just scraped it off.

We declined dessert since we intended to get gelato later that evening on the way home, and then we headed over to walk the Garden. When we got there, however, we were dismayed to find that there was next to no lighting! We were pretty surprised by this since they are open until 9pm, we just assumed that the trails would be lit. It also seemed strange to me that the girl wouldn't have mentioned that when I bought my tickets at dusk and mentioned we'd be going straight in after dinner. Oh well. We were able to get a refund when we decided it was too dark and dangerous to attempt the trails, so we just looked around the gift shop and then went to get gelato instead.

We will definitely be going back to the DBG this month, though, because there is a new Chihuly exhibit being installed. We all saw it when he was there back in 2009 and are excited to see what new pieces will be shown. I'll be sure to update with pictures after that trip!

Five Things

1) Debbie's Retirement
Last Friday was my mother in law's last day of work EVER. Pretty exciting! Her husband was out of town for work and I didn't want her to have to go home to an empty house on such a momentous occasion, so I had Clinton tell her to meet us at our place for dinner at 6 (but that was a trick!). I had the idea to do a little mini scavenger hunt leading her to meet us at her favorite restaurant. Since it was last-minute and there would only be about an hour from the time that she got home until she was supposed to meet us, I didn't want to make it too complicated, so I just did little poems instead of puzzles for clues.

After work we made a quick stop at Party City and then headed to her house to decorate the driveway/carport and place the clues, and then we headed to the restaurant to snag a seat, place the final poem, and wait for her arrival.

She was so giggly and happy when she arrived, it was so cute! She said that it was a really fun end to her day, so I'm glad we threw together this little last minute celebration.

After dinner we took her out to see a movie of her choice - Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2. It was a fun night for sure.

2) Saturday Night Shenanigans
I had to work Saturday but in the evening we spent some time with three of my thirteen nieces and nephews. Madison had a birthday recently and we got her a gift card to Hobby Lobby because she looooves all things crafty. The deal was that on the next free weekend, we would take her to spend it. Her brother Jaxon was with us too, but she wanted a girls night, so Jaxon and Clinton hung out at our place playing video games while I took Madi and Sydney to Hobby Lobby. She was awesome in there, I loved watching her! She was just blazing through the place throwing things in the cart left and right, ha! She made off with quite the haul. While we were there, the girls helped me pick out the finishing touch for Clinton's anniversary present, and it was so cute how excited they were to be in on the secret.

After HL and before heading home, I took the girls for froyo - they said no boys allowed! Sassy.

On the way home we stopped to pick up some Taco Bell for the boys, and after eating we all headed over to the playground at our apartment. Jaxon ended up hurting his heel playing, so I went back inside with him for more video games while Clinton hung back to play make believe firefighters with Syd and Madi. Later, Clinton told me that after they were done playing they went for a walk around the complex all holding hands, and Madi told him, "You're more than an uncle to me - and trust me, that means a lot! You're more like my best friend," and Sydney chimed in with, "Yeah, you're our best friend!"

Please excuse me while I just melt all over the place. Clean-up in aisle 1, we've got a Reissig puddle here.

Eventually we took them all home where the girls immediately jumped in the pool for some night swimming and Clint and I spent a little bit of time with my sister and her husband. It was a good night!

3) Clevelend Inidans
The Indians are in the playoffs! I became an Indians fan because my grandfather was one. He passed several years ago, but I have his old jacket and even got to bring it with me to a game at Progressive Field in 2011 - it was a surreal experience.

Looks like I'll be rocking my custom jersey and grandad's jacket for a bit! #tribepride

4) Sunday Family dinner
Sunday we planned on having Tom and Debbie over for dinner and to watch football and the Kids Cookoff on Food Network (cutest show ever, by the way). During the day my friend and her family dropped by since they were on our side of town, so that was nice. My husband is a total crazypants and riled her kids up as he always does, and her husband said that he's just waiting until we have kids so he can get them all worked up too. Agh! I'll have to keep an eye on that one... ha!

Dinner was Braised Short Ribs on Parmesan Polenta with Balsamic Glazed Toasted Asparagus, and Toasted Baguette. It was delicious.

5) Harry Potter News
I AM SUPER EXCITED ABOUT SOMETHING.

http://www.mugglenet.com/app/news/show/7209

Enough said.

Grad Party Part 3 - Congratulations, Graduate!

My mama graduated! In order to help her celebrate earning a Master of Science in Mental Health Counseling (with Distinction!!), myself, the husbandly fellow, and the tiny canine pal drove for 12 hours to Nevada with the car packed full of desserts and crafts, and spent about a day and a half staying with my parents for her graduation party on Saturday, July 20th. I've recapped food and decor so far { For Part 1 (decor), SEE HERE. For Part 2 (food), SEE HERE. } and now it's time for the finished product - the party!

After putting together the sandwiches in the morning to chill (and getting thoroughly teased by my family and my husband for my AMAZING fluffy bedhead), we all threw on some easy clothes and headed over to the venue to set up the decor. As per usual, everyone was asking me how they could help and I mostly just needed people to stay out of my way - just like any good control freak. (Yet another trait I inherited from the guest of honor!) I did utilize my Clinton and Marcus (brother) in the hanging of high things because at 5'3" on a tall day, it just wasn't happening for me.

One of the first things I set up was the gifts/cards/guestbook table. [Oh, quick little sidenote! I did not make a cardbox in my crafting adventures from Part 1, but while at my mom's house she asked me if I had made one. I told her I hadn't, but luckily I had brought my crafting materials box along, so I was able to use some pretty paper and little flowers and letters I had to whip something up out of an old shoebox - so if you see it in the photos and wonder where it came from, now you know.] My mom had a really cool idea of using river rocks for her guestbook - she's going into counseling and Lance, my step-dad, bought her a really pretty organic-looking wooden bowl for her office. Her idea was instead of a guestbook, to have these river rocks out and have people write little inspirational messages or drawings and she will place the bowl of rocks in her office. Her patients will be able to look at them and pick them up, and if they see one that they feel like maybe they need, they are welcome to have it - but they must replace it with a new one. How cool is that! So I threw down a little pink table runner, some gifts, the card box, a bouquet of paper flowers, a little framed silliness, the rocks with a sign explaining what to do, and the Anne of Green Gables series on the table and poof! - the first bit of decorating was done.

I got that pink table runner for a buck at the dollar store. Can't beat that!

The last-minute cardbox.

Pastels for everyone!

Next up, I placed a cute little sign at the entryway, along with more books. [By the way, about the books - they are all books from my mom's book case that I chose based almost purely on color. I just wanted them to fit in and not grab anything too dark, but I also wanted some of them to mean something, so I did choose some of her favorites (Shakespeare, Harry Potter), alone with a few books that she had actually used in her courses toward her degree.] After placing the sign, I got to setting up some small centerpieces on a few tables scattered about the room - they included a stack of books, a mason jar bouquet of paper flowers, and a small frame with either an inspirational quote or a quote about books.

I'm totally taking the path for Diagon Alley - which would you take?

A close-up so you can read it!

This one was on the dessert table next to the Butterbeer Brownie Bites.

Next up, it was time to hang the tall things, including the little decorative curtain I made, as well as the pennant banner. There was a beam that divided the room between the food area and the sitting area that was perfect for the banner, so that's where we hung it. The little paper curtain got hung up behind the food and drink tables just to add a little visual interest and make the literature theme obvious upon entry.

All different floral print cardstock for the letters.

The full banner - you can also see into the other side of the room where the tables w/ the little centerpieces were.

I loved this thing!

Detail shot.

My mom had borrowed some beautiful antique tea sets from some friends for us to use in the decor. I was originally planning to place them on the tables behind the food, but when we arrived in the room and saw this cool little A-frame shelf, we knew it was the perfect place to put them. Mom placed the tea sets out (isn't the arrangement so cute??) and added the mason jar candles, and I put some of the loose tissue paper flowers on the shelves as well as around the food and drink tables.

Okay, NOW it's a high tea!

Setup of the room only took about an hour or so, after which we went back to my family's place to get party-ready. I curled my mama's hair while the boys sat around looking at my brother's new gun, and then we all got dressed for the party and headed out to enjoy Kimberly's High Tea Graduation Party.

Clinton and I, ready to go!

Once there, I set out/arranged all of the food on trays. We had a slight snafu - we had made some stacked trays but for some reason (possibly heat?) the glue didn't stay and so I ended up just taking them apart, but it worked out anyway - I just had to rearrange the tables a little bit.

Food and drink tables. You can see the pennant banner in the top of the photo.

Dessert table and tea sets.

Not pictured - I totally forgot to take photos from outside. There were 3 or 4 wrought iron table/chair sets out in front of the room. The guys ran out to get some pink, yellow, and white balloons and I put a mason jar vase with paper flowers and a plain mason jar with a tealight in it on each table.

Pretty quickly after that, people started trickling in and the party was started. The first hour or so was just mingling and people noshing on the food, and me replenishing the food and drink as it went. I don't know why, but the Grape Gatsby drink was a total killer and gone within the first hour. I wish I had known so I would have had more on hand, but even after making 3 batches through the night, it was gone! Oh well, I'll know for next time. Mom introduced Clinton and I to all of her friends as they arrived and I tried to balance being caterer/host/daughter of the guest of honor all at once - I think I was successful!

About halfway through the party, we did a little activity where everyone sat inside and I stood up and asked a few questions to get people involved. There was no prize or anything, it was just a quick little thing to have fun and get everyone laughing and talking.

1) What is Kimberly's favorite book series? Several people got the series right (Harry Potter).
2) What book influenced Kimberly the most growing up? I didn't expect anyone to know this one, but a couple of people did! It was To Kill A Mockingbird, and my mom talked some about Atticus.
3) What is Kimberly's favorite Poem? One person got this right after a couple minutes of hemming and hawing from everyone else. (Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken) - actually, I think they got it half right. I think they said The Road Less Traveled, or maybe just the name of the poet or something. But it was close enough!
4) If she could choose any fictional character from any book, who would Kimberly want to have dinner with, and why? There were several answers to this one - one of which got a big laugh. Someone shouted out, "Jesus!" and I gave them a hard time because most of the people there were friends from church and I had specified fictional character - it was pretty funny. Someone else mentioned a Harry Potter character - either Dobby or Dumbledore, I can't remember. After people were done making suggestions, I asked mom to give us her answer, and ended up getting another laugh from the guests. She said Atticus and I said, "No, too much Atticus! Enough Atticus woman, we need some variation here! Pick someone else!" I was obviously just teasing her and everyone knew that, but she did end up saying she would like to have supper with Bilbo Baggins, because he seems very interesting with his risks and adventures and the payoffs they came with.

After that, one of my mom's friends/pastor got up and did some stand-up comedy - it was super cute! It ended with a Top 10 list of things you never want to hear your therapist say, and the number 1 was, "I just graduated!" That cracked me up - so clever, working in the fact that it was her grad party!

When he was done, mom got up and made a little thank-you speech not only for coming to the party, but to everyone there who had helped her along on her journey. She may have shed a tear or two... I'll never tell.

People ate some more, mingled, and slowly drifted out until finally, the last guest had gone and Marcus, Clinton and I were left sitting at a table talking about The Clown Motel - but that'll be a story for another day. For now, I'll just leave you with some Instagram pictures I took that night.

I hope that this little 3 part series has been helpful to anyone planning a party - thanks for reading!

Grad Party Part 2 - Food

For decor, see Part 1 HERE.
For the complete party recap, see Part 3 HERE.

The decor for my mom's grad party took about a week's worth of evenings after work to make. The food was a lot easier. Since we were going for a high tea style party, I decided that tea sandwiches were the best bet. I just looked at photos online and then went with whatever I thought could be made easily in large amounts.

Aren't they pretty?

So here's what I came up with for sandwiches:

- Asparagus with lemon cream cheese on white bread
- Cucumber and chive butter on both pumpernickel AND rye
- And, for the less adventurous of the crowd - Ham and swiss on wheat bread (also made some on white for extra picky eaters)

For the asparagus sandwiches, I used that photo on the left as inspiration. I rolled them up w/ white bread, but I did it w/ 2 pieces of asparagus facing different ways, and then just cut it in half once rolled so it would make 2 sandwiches and every piece would have the stalks sticking up.My step-dad went crazy for these sandwiches!

My favorite sandwich was the cucumber on pumpernickel, but my husband preferred it on the rye, so it's all a matter of taste! Also, I actually ended up using green onions instead of chives - I just cut them really thinly. I mixed room temp butter with the onions, some garlic powder, salt and pepper, and a tiny bit of lemon juice, then spread it on both slices of bread, and cut into triangles.

The ham and swiss sandwiches were spread with a honey mustard - literally just 1/2 dijon mustard and 1/2 honey, and then 2 slices of black forest ham and one slice of swiss cheese. I made more of these than the others because I honestly thought people would be picky, but I was surprised to find that most people went for the veggie sandwiches!

We made all of the sandwiches the morning of the party at my mom's house - my poor parents - I go to visit them and turn their kitchen into a total disaster area - oops!

Desserts I made in advance, and I was slightly more creative with them. I wanted to make desserts that had some connection to literature. I thought about making Turkish Delight (from the Narnia series), but I'm kinda iffy on candy-making - seems too dangerous to me. I tried a couple of Google searches for foods from literature and was able to come up with several, but not many desserts. I did keep seeing things for butterbeer (Harry Potter) and knew I wanted to do something with that, but wasn't entirely sure what.

Since I was making a 12 hour drive with whatever I made, I wanted it to be small and portable, and not have to do too much to it once I got there, so cupcakes were out - I had no desire to frost 60 cupcakes while trying to rush doing everything else for the party. Instead, I decided to make "Butterbeer Brownie Bites". If you want to make these, here's what I did.

-Make a triple batch of your favorite brownie batter recipe (I made a double batch of dark chocolate and a single batch of milk chocolate)

-Mix in butterscotch chips

-Pour into greased pan, drizzle butterscotch over the top, and bake according to directions

-Cool and chill (chilling is important)

-Once chilled, the brownies will have firmed up some, making them easier to cut into 1"x1" pieces

-Place in a freezer bag if you are transporting them.

-Once you have these on the serving tray, you can add a tiny bit of whipped cream to each one (I usually prefer to make my own, or use cool whip, but it might be easier to use the canned kind for this since the pieces are so small), and then drizzle butterscotch sauce over the top. (We realized once we got to the venue that we had forgotten the whipped cream at home and didn't want to worry about it, so I just used the butterscotch drizzle and it was perfectly fine.)

While I was looking for literary treats, I found a blog where there girl makes food from all kinds of books - so cool! I decided to make her recipe for Earl Grey and Lemon scones as a tribute to The Da Vinci Code. My love of Earl Grey is inherited from my mother, so I knew these were a must. I cut circles and then cut those into quarters since the whole party was finger-food.

Top left is the photo from the website, then my little scone pieces, and the ingredients.

We also had fruit to complement the pastries - strawberries and pineapple, and my mom had some caramel chocolates on hand that she put out as well.

I saw this adorable photo online of individual crudite cups and thought it was such a great idea! Not only does it add color to the table, but it's perfect for a party because people can just take it and go without having to worry about a messy bowl and spoon for dips or anything like that. I found little clear plastic shotglasses at Party City that worked out perfectly. My 15 year old brother ate approximately 3395382749 of these babies.

This photo has peppers and cucumbers - we just used tri-color peppers. You could put in other veggies though, like strips of portabello mushrooms, carrots, snow peas, etc! Anything long enough to stick out of a shotglass.

I only had one drink in mind and then my mom handled the rest - she did plain iced tea, a pineapple iced tea, and a citrus-cucumber-mint water. I did something that I called "The Grape Gatsby" which is not at all from the book - I just wanted to use the play on words haha! It was half white grape juice, half Sprite (or whatever lemon-lime pop you prefer), and then a bunch of frozen green grapes. The Sprite makes it bubbly so it looked like champagne which kinda works for Gatsby since the drinks were always flowing! Drink photos to come in Part 3!

I also made all these little labels so I wouldn't spend all night answering, "What is this?" The backing is just a sparkly white cardstock, and then I used more pretty floral cardstock cut into different shapes with scalloped scissors.

So that's it for food! Here's a tiny little sneak peek of some of the food in action at the party.

Asparagus and paper flowers, oh my!

Husband Cooks.

So last weekend while I was working, Clinton decided to go through my newest Food Network magazine and pick out some recipes. He drafted a meal plan and went shopping for everything before picking me up at work later in the day. Since then, he has been cooking every night while I have been working on some crafty things (that will have their time on the blog at a later date!). I just wanted to brag a little bit and show y'all how lucky I am to have a husband that cooks just as much as I do - and he's pretty good at it!

IG photo of the white board in our dining room.

Sunday - Spicy Pasta with Tilapia

Review: We didn't dislike this dish, but we didn't love it either. Despite our best efforts, neither of us is a huge fan of tilapia, and we agreed that he should probably have only used 1/2 the box of pasta, since using the whole box absorbed a lot of the sauce. It was a perfectly acceptable Monday night meal though - and when I went to clean the dishes after my shower, I saw that he had already done that too. SCORE!

Monday - Salmon and Curried Lentils

Review: I loved this! Honestly though, I love salmon (it's probably my number one favorite food) so much that I will love any dish that has it! According to Clinton, this was his first time eating lentils (hint: it's not. I use them sometimes in soups, and to bulk up other dishes like tacos or certain crock pot meals), and he liked them. He said they tasted like "earthy oatmeal" - I personally thought they tasted more like beans, but either way, it was very tasty. The salmon was perfectly cooked and flaked effortlessly. Despite eating a snack after work, I still managed to clear my plate on this meal which NEVER happens. I was very full, but it was worth it!

Tuesday - Pork Chops and Pineapple Salsa with Jasmine Rice

Review: Very tasty! I'm not the world's biggest fan of pork so we rarely have it, but this was quite good. The pork chops and pineapple were grilled, and the pineapple salsa was made with some Chinese five spice which gave it a really nice, subtle heat, which was perfectly balanced by the slight sweetness of the jasmine rice. The pork was cooked to perfection and did not dry out at all. The pork chops were HUGE though, so I only ate 1/2 of mine. This is the only meal that I "helped" on at all, and really it was only because it was convenient - while Clinton was outside grilling, I was inside baking, so I cooked the rice on the stove top.

Wednesday - Turkey and Quinoa Salad

This. Was. AWESOME! I really love love love Mediterranean style food - I love eating meals that are lighter and with lots of vegetables - it feels nourishing, but then doesn't feel like it's just sitting in your belly, and this was the perfect meal for that! For plating he layered all the components, and then when I was eating it I just made sure to get a little bit of everything in each bite. It was filling and so so so good. Oh! And I forgot to take a second picture, but after I started eating it I remembered that we had some feta cheese in the fridge and thought it would enhance the dish, so we both added some of that to our bowls. DELICIOUS.

Thursday - BLTs and Grilled Sweet Potato Salad

Review: The BLT wasn't from a recipe or anything, it was just a BLT - But he toasted the bread, so major bonus points for that. I love toasted bread for sandwiches! The main part of this dish was the Sweet Potato Salad, and it was good! It tasted pretty vinegar-y so I wouldn't recommend it if you don't like that, but I do so it worked! I didn't eat it all just because I wasn't very hungry.

- - - - -

And thus ends this week's adventures in Husband Cooking! Hope you enjoyed reading about it as much as I enjoyed being a little spoiled this week!