Sylvia's Scenario

We went to our first Christmas party of the season last night and I just had to post all the festive food ideas.  It was an appetizer, drinks and dessert Christmas party for about eight of us neighbors. It's nice to just walk down the street past three houses and we're there.                          My neighbor, Karen, loves to host parties and I've written about her parties  here  and   here  and other various places.  We've lived on this street going on ten years now and I can't even remember how many of her parties we've been to.  One of her best parties was when she turned 80 a couple of years ago and she had an 80's themed party.  (I went with the Madonna-look). Her food spread is always impressive. That party was in the summer so we could go outside and use her deck which is nice because we all have great views on our street.  Karen is a lot like me in that she loves to ...

Yes, they take selfies in Spain, too.  These are Nick's next door neighbors in El Puerto de Santa Maria, Spain.  We met them while we were visiting last month when Imma and Luis invited us over for coffee. Our little coffee hour turned into about a three hour BFF event.  And we don't speak Spanish and they don't speak English so go figure that one out...Nick was the middle man.   Nick had been practicing his Spanish for about three months and visits a tutor twice a week since he moved to Spain so he is getting pretty good.  "What did he say, Nick?"  "What did she say, Nick?"  Nick, tell her that.....".  Nick, Nick, Nick....Poor Nick but it was really good practice for him and we all actually seemed to understand each other.  We all had translators on our smart phones so we would try that but honestly, it was just easier to communicate via Nick and that's what we mainly did.   Imma served us some pudding cake that was quite yummy with our...

I finally have a new recipe that isn't a salad.  Imagine that.  We've had this recipe twice in one week because it's so good (from Hannah Freese, RD ).   Last night, we barbecued the chicken and earlier in the week, we baked it.  Both were superb.  Here's what the baked version looks like: You get lots of juice with the baked version so if you have rice, mashed potatoes or some other side dish that you want to drizzle the juice on, then this version is perfect.  The marinade has lots of citrus in it so this makes for a very addictive sauce and the want for more, more, more...thus I made it twice this week. As it was marinating yesterday, my neighbor, Ginny, texted me to see if I wanted to go walking later on so I texted back and said yes but asked if she wanted to come over and try my new recipe for dinner.  So, she came over and the three of us had a really nice dinner of Cuban Mojo Chicken Thighs out on the deck on a beautiful summer evening and...

I've already decided what I'm making for Valentine's Day and this is it.  It is as good as any fine dining restaurant so I would suggest that you go for it, too.  I got this recipe from our local grocery store,  Metropolitan Market .  It's an upscale grocery store that prides itself on respect for quality ; pretty much the same philosophy for food as me and everyday is a cause for celebration; also the same as me when it comes to food.   We were a match made in heaven.  Most their stuff is local and the freshest of any store around here and you can taste the difference.   I hardly go anywhere else, to be honest.  I made this recipe for dinner recently and right then and there decided that this was a "special occasion recipe".  However, the only special occasion we are having these days are seeing our grandkids.  They come over for dinner occasionally and Nick has already started talking about Valentine's Day and has asked me if I  ...