Beautiful Memories

Wedding Photography

I clearly remember saying that I was going to post wedding photos of my darling daughter, Niki and my much loved son-in-law, Tim.  I’m not sure why that was such a hard post to write because I had so many hundreds of beautiful photographs of that wonderful day.

Maybe it’s because I had so many images from the day to look at and sort through… so many that I could not stop staring at, remembering the precise moment and what was said at that time, and the emotions just would well up and start leaking from my eyes.

I can’t say enough about the fabulous wedding photographer who captured the beauty and emotions in that day.  And, I can’t chose which are my favorites because they all are unique moments in a day so filling with love and happiness.  Carly has such an eye and talent for using lighting and angles to compose the most beautiful photographic album that I’ll link to her blog so that you can share some of those moments with us:  http://www.carlymichelleblog.com/home/2015/8/31/the-crane-estate-ipswich-wedding-boston-wedding-photographer

I love digital photography.  You can snap away taking any number of photos not worrying about wasting film or the cost of developing.  You can crop and enhance making a photograph into a perfect portrait.  But I still spent a lot of time printing out so many of these photographs because for me, some things need to be held in my hands.  Those of my generation have great albums of special times in our lives but we also have shoe boxes full of loving memories, people who were part of our lives.  On rainy or snowy days I love opening those old shoe boxes and holding the images in my hands.  I feel as if I’m holding a loved one once again and the fading and wrinkles add a patina that grows more beautiful with age.  So, definitely embrace digital photography and be sure to have as many special photographs of important moments in your life – but print out special people and moments that you can hold in your hands and remember holding that person once again.

Wedding Photography

Wedding Photography

Wedding Photography

And, just as I was finally able to put words to (digital) paper, the videographer finalized the highlight film clip … and the minute I heard the music, the waterworks started all over again:
http://www.iwed-films.com/2015-08-14/
As you watch the video clip, you may not know the people but I hope that it might remind you of memories of your own and prompt you to find the shoebox of old photos or home movies that you haven’t thought about in ages.  Thanks for sharing our amazing day.

Winter Blues and The Blue Apron

My last post may have mentioned that we’ve been getting hammered this winter with blizzard after blizzard after blizzard – each dropping at least a foot of snow on us, followed by freeze your eyeballs solid cold.  Although I was born and raised in New England and I don’t think that I could ever live where there aren’t 4 seasons, I think we’ve had enough of the particular ‘season’.  With storms hitting us every other day it’s been hard to get out because the back roads are narrowed down to one lane.  I guess the best way to tell you about our winter is with pictures:

The day before this stop sign was completely buried – apparently the town went around clearing stop signs.

Who needs curtains?

You should have heard the noise when my husband got up on the ladder to knock these icicles down!

At least the front of the house gets sun & a little bit of melt


My husband’s daily exercise…

I’m guessing when this bird gets back from Florida, she’ll be putting in an insurance claim for damages for her roof leaking…

There is one who loves the snow – the Bernese Mountain Dog bobsled …

You would think that being housebound, my house would be sparkling clean – but frankly all I have is cabin fever and brain freeze.  I’ve taken advantage of an awesome Christmas gift from my daughter for a delivery from The Blue Apron.  The Blue Apron is a great service that delivers all of the ingredients – everything that you need to make a great meal.  They plan the meal, package all of the ingredients which are pre-measured, and deliver to your front door.  When I say they include all of the ingredients, it includes everything except the pans and a little olive oil or butter for cooking.

My three meal choices for this delivery were Orange Beef Lo Mein, Shrimp Po’ Boys, and Chicken & Sage Biscuit Pot Pie.  I started with the Lo Mein which is something that I never would have tried on my own since I would have no idea what half the ingredients were.  However, they include very detailed instructions – some would say foolproof but I proved them wrong. 

The result was really good although I made the mistake of forgetting to add the spice blend while cooking the meat so it didn’t really absorb and made for a very strong flavor.  I think I did a pretty good job of recreating this dish to look like their example.

Now, for the next meal we decided to try the Shrimp Po’ Boys which is where I really blew the instructions.  They gave us butter lettuce – some to put in the sandwich rolls and the rest for a salad with vinaigrette dressing.  There was a package for the remoulade sauce to top the shrimp in the Po’ Boys and a package for the vinaigrette dressing for the salad.  The instructions CLEARLY showed two bowls – one for the remoulade and another for the vinaigrette.  Back to that brain freeze I’ve had this winter…I dumped all of the ingredients together so we had a very um, tangy remoulade sauce.  Surprisingly it was still very good but I may have growled at my husband when he started laughing and said “huh, wonder what this was supposed to taste like”.

So tonight I’ll be making the Chicken and Sage Biscuit Pot Pie and I’m going to concentrate and really pay attention to the instructions – this one I’m going to get right.  But, if The Blue Apron is looking for anyone to test out their instructions they can give me a call to check for fool-proof-ness.

Chocolate Chip Memories

Niki came back from a business trip to San Francisco and stopped by the house to pick up her car.  Wanting to hear all about her trip, I whipped up a double batch of the most melt in your mouth chocolate chip cookies from a recipe I’ve been using for at least 40 years. Our chocolate chip cookie tradition started years ago with Niki’s first day of school.  I’ve never had a problem getting Niki to talk, but believe me, putting a pile of these warm cookies with a glass of milk in front of a kid is a great way to have a conversation.  Not that I don’t make these often, but I always had a plate ready for her at the end of each first day of school.  She’s long finished with school but I still love to have them ready for her when we have time to sit down and chat. And how cute is the wall art in front of the cookies!  These are individual photos representing letters, created by ABCsisters.  They have some really creative ideas for birthday, housewarming, or wedding gifts and will also do custom designs for you.  You should definitely check out their website at  www.abcsisters.com where you can see some of their ideas.  Of course, my favorite is the one that Niki bought for me: If you’d like to start your own chocolate chip tradition, this is my favorite recipe:

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

• Preheat oven to 375F
• 1 Cup plus 2 TBL sifted all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 Cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 Cup light-brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 Egg
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 Cup butter
• 1 (6 oz.) package semisweet chocolate chips
• – Sift flour, baking soda and salt into large mixing bowl

– Sift flour, baking soda and salt into large bowl
–  Add sugars, egg, vanilla, and butter.
– With electric mixer on low beat until just smooth & well combined
–  Stir in chocolate chips
–  Drop by teaspoonfuls on ungreased cookie sheet.
–  Bake about 10 minutes (will look not quite done, don’t let them brown in the oven)
–  Let sit on cookie sheets for 1 minute, remove to rack or parchment paper

Depending on size, makes about 2 dozen small to medium cookies.