Rest In Peace

I live in NY.

Many things have happened in my lifetime here in NYC and I have some connections to the chaos here and there.

However, last night while reading my Facebook posts a friend mentioned that the guy killed was her first love, her boyfriend from back when.  It struck me for a moment or two.  I emailed her and asked if he was her boyfriend that went to prom with her (and me since we shared a limo back in the day).  She texted me back and said yes it was indeed him.  I can so picture our faces from then, in our limo and what we wore.

I expressed my sympathies and feel terrible.  I mean it is terrible when it happens to someone out there but when you have connections to someone out there it hits home.  It also hits home because I thought of his family, his brother.  I did not know his brother but I lost a brother and now I feel like I have this other connection because we are now both in this club no one wants to be in or ever thinks they would be in while this young.

So I say Rest in Peace Steve.

71 Years

71 years ago today, two young people in love married in upstate New York.  They had a fabulous love and life together.  It started when they were teenagers in Brooklyn, NY.  She a young girl and he a handsome boy, friend to her older brother.  He was always a part of her family and one summer, the summer of 1941 he went to work in one of those hotels in Upstate New York (think Dirty Dancing kind of place- the Bungalows) and she came to visit and they secretly married.  Only her parents knew and when the summer was over he moved in with her and her family.  The reason, they told others was that his mother rented his room while he was away (she did do that I am told).  So no one thought otherwise.  They then had a fall wedding where it became public and official.  They lived a very happy life together; having three children, 7 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren.  They loved each other to the end.  They were married 57 years on this earth together but their love will never die.

 You see, this wonderful couple are my grandparents.  My grandmother told me their story one day, of course with many more details and facts and I truly miss her.  She influenced my love of crafting and we had a wonderful time together doing those things together.  When she passed I was given her two rings from a promise she made to made.  I was married in her gold band and even as I write this I am wearing the gold band.

Their love was like no other.  A once in a lifetime kind of love.

Happy Anniversary Grandma and Grandpa.

Slow Cooker Saturdays

Hey, sorry it's a little late but we had a talent show over here.

In any case I wanted to make my Pasta Fagioli but also wanted to try something in the ole slow cooker so I merged two recipes and a little bit of me an Ta Da, Slow Cooker Pasta Fagioli.

My recipes came from Crockpot 365 and Rachel Ray - I have used the recipe from Rachel Ray a lot and it's a favorite around here but I used Stephanie's method.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons (2 turns around the pan) extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/8 pound (about 3 slices) pancetta, chopped
• 2 (4 to 6-inch) sprigs rosemary, left intact
• 1 (4 to 6-inch) sprig thyme with several sprigs on it, left intact
• 1 large fresh bay leaf or 2 dried bay leaves
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 small carrot, finely chopped
• 1 rib celery, finely chopped
• 4 large cloves garlic, chopped
• Coarse salt and pepper
• 1 (15 ounce) can cannellini beans
• 1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans
• 1 cup canned tomato sauce or canned crushed tomatoes
• 2 cups water
• 1 quart chicken stock
• 1 cup ditalini
• Grated Parmigiano or Romano, for the table (I also throw a 1/2 cup into the soup before serving)
• Crusty bread, for mopping

(Sorry I didn't get a picture)

I first cooked my pancetta.  Next time I may try to do it in the slow cooker so the flavors are always just in the cooker.

While I was cooking pancetta I threw all the ingredients into the slow cooker except for the pasta, then added the cooked pancetta.  I let it cook at low for 8 hours.  At the 6 1/2 hour mark I added the pasta and let it go for about a 1/2 hour more.  I then served it with a nice crusty bread.

Next time I may set it to cook for 10 hours so the heat is lower.  All in all it cooked for 7 hours.

It was very tasty and I will definitely do it again the slow cooker and the added bonus it made the house smell delicious all day.

Enjoy!

slow cooker saturdays

well, I did it.  I made brownies in the slow cooker.  they came out really good.  i wanted to make them and thought, why not?

they were nice and chewy and thick. the kids loved them and they went well with their ice cream.

I looked around to get a good idea/recipe.  I found one from Martha Stewart and figured if Martha says it can be done, then it can be done!  Her recipe is from scratch, of course, but I used a box mix. You can find it here. The kids loved the brownies plain, with ice cream and hot out of the pot!  Will try again after I try some other recipes!

Do you have any good slow cooker dessert recipes?

Have a Great Day!
Zizette

slow cooker saturdays

This was my first Saturday off in a while other than the winter break and I just wanted to stay home and do nothing.

I have been without an oven for some time now and I wanted to make use of my slow cooker.  I have great memories of my bubby just throwing everything she could into the Crock Pot (slow cooker) and it coming out great.  We always used to joke about it, so you know when it came time to register back in the day when we got engaged, the first item on there was a slow cooker.  I make stuff from time to time and lately have seen blogs that feature 365 days of slow cooking, slow cooker recipes and such.  I decided yesterday to try a recipe for Slow Cooker Orange Chicken from Sixsisters .  I had found other recipes and they all resembled each other but I liked their site so I went with it.

Now my kids are super picky, well, my son is and he liked it.  I serve it over white rice and it was a hit with both of them.  I am very happy and look forward to using it more.  I will also visit their site some more as the have a lot of cool stuff over there.

Credit

I have to be honest that my battery was dead on the camera and I didn't take a picture but this picture looks just like my chicken.

In any case, as I decided that since I am not home on Saturdays that would be a perfect day to slow cook because then it will be ready when I get home.  So that's it, Slow Cooker Saturdays it is.

Right now I am cooking Brownies is the slow cooker, let's see how that comes out.

Zizette

where has time gone by?

I have no idea where time has gone.

I feel like the months have just pushed into one big, long day.

This week I will re-group, re-charge and get back on track.  I hope.

Lots has been going on in my neck of the woods.

I went back to school to be a School Building Leader i.e. Principal or Director or Supervisor.  I am doing an excelerated program that started on October and will end in July.  I got to school every Saturday.  Basically it's 30 Saturdays out of my life (this week I have off), last week was the last class of our 3rd course and I have 15 left to go.  We are halfway there.  I do it in a Cohort so I am with the same people for the long haul.  I have made some really good friends that I know I will have with me for a long time and some really good professional relationships as well.  This last class in particular was VERY HARD.  The professor was new to teaching and just killed us.  But it is done and we move forward from here.

One of the friendships I made from my cohort is a wonderful friend.  We actually met during our interview and have been friends ever since.  She has bestowed upon me and my family the greatest gift

Yes, that will be the newest member of our family in  about 5-6 weeks.  His name is Ozzy (my kids named him after Ozzy Osbourne) and he is a Shih Tzu/Lhasa Apso mix.  My friend has both the mom and dad and he is one of their puppies.  We are so excited.  We will be going to see him this week.

We are excited for our new adventure with a dog.  I wonder how Lola is going to adjust, she is our mean cat.  We also got a hamster named Touchdown.  Our house is becoming a regular pet store!

So, all of this has been keeping me busy and I hope to get back on track.  Have a great day.

Zizette

family

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving.

We spent ours at the lake with hubby's family.

I just love the way the colors look in this picture

My new favorite picture of her

Happy

A picture with the grandparents

It was a nice time spent with family.  The kids got to spend time with their cousins and the weather was nice enough to be outside.

We had many things to be thankful for.

Zizette