Football & Strawberries!

How'd you like to serve these fun and delicious strawberries at your Super Bowl Party?  Watch this video to see how!

Weird Food Combinations!

Ketchup sandwiches. Peanut butter and Bologna. Scrambled eggs and grape jelly...We all have weird cravings and our favorite odd food combinations that we think are absolutely delicious but sound gross to other people.
For me it's toast with peanut butter and pickles (or bacon).  I can picture my husband gagging right now...but trust me, it's delicious!

Which weird foods do you eat that other people find utterly revolting?
 
Embarrassed to admit your favorite odd food combination? C'mon, it's cathartic!
Check out these strange food combos I gathered from friends as inspiration:

1. Mashed potatoes and noodles with gravy.
2. Gravy and biscuits with grape jelly.
3. Peanut butter and mayo sandwiches.
4. Chocolate cake with pinto beans.
5. Hollowed-out pickles filled with ranch dressing and cheese.
6. Garlic bread topped with peanut butter and spaghetti.
7. Peanut butter and cucumber sandwiches.
8. Eggs with Spam and white rice.
9. Doritos dipped in cream cheese.
10. Sugar and grits.
11. Popcorn and mustard.
12. Pancakes and ketchup.
13. Frito's and caramel sauce.
14. Peanut butter and Cool Ranch Doritos sandwiches.
15. Peanut butter and ham sandwiches.
16. Uncooked pasta dipped in peanut butter.
17. Cream cheese with jam on toast.
18. Chocolate chip cookies with cottage cheese.
19. Potato chips dipped in mustard.
20. Pizza dipped in ranch dressing.

Is it wrong that most of these sound delicious to me?
What is the weirdest thing that you eat?

Last Minute Wedding? No Problem!

8 Tips for Planning a Last-Minute Wedding

For a host of reasons, some consumers, especially younger military members, may find themselves with a narrow window to plan and execute their nuptials. If the unexpected or simple circumstance creates the need for an accelerated wedding day, you don’t have to choose between elopement or the local courthouse. Here are a few ways to craft a great wedding on the fly.

1. Create a Checklist

There are a lot of sites like My Wedding Reception Planning that offer checklists for wedding planning. Many have timelines based on how far out the wedding date is. You can follow one completely or look through and narrow it down to fit your needs. Either way, a checklist will help keep you organized to get the required and desired done.

2. Location, Location Location

If you have the means to hire a wedding planner, it may be beneficial to let them focus on booking a location. Planner or not, consider booking a place that can host both the ceremony and reception. On short notice, your best options may be restaurants or unconventional spaces like a photography studio.
You’ll need an on-site minister to officiate, but the double-purpose location will serve your stress levels well. In a military chapel, you can save yourself time on finding a minister and use the chaplain without a fee. Unfortunately, the chapel typically books a year in advance, so be prepared with a Plan B.

3. Invitation Creation

Before you invite your guests, prepare to be turned down on such short notice. That being said, if there isn’t enough time to order invitations, you can consider printing or handwriting your own. You can even launch your own wedding site on eWedding to ease communication.

4. Go With a Small Cake or Bake

Talk to your local catering company and/or bakery.  If there is not a fast enough option for you there, involve a family member by asking them to bake and decorate a cake or cupcakes.

5. Provide for the Bride

Wedding dresses can require three weeks for alterations alone, so attempting to shop for dresses not guaranteed in stock is plain dangerous with a limited time frame. Consider heading to retail outlets like David's Bridal, where the dresses are in stock (and often kind to your budget). Ensure your hair and makeup look great by booking appointments as soon as possible and doing trial runs. Military consumers should always inquire about discounts.

6. The Groom Costume

If your groom is in the military, he’s got his service dress, which would suit the occasion well. If you prefer to have the traditional tuxedo, be sure to rent a tux as soon as possible. That way sizes can be taken with enough time to prevent any mishaps in measurements.

7. Those Beside the Bride

Just like the bride’s dress, ordering bridesmaids dresses can take too long for a quick wedding. An alternative can be buying formal-looking dresses from a department store or asking your bridesmaids to buy a dress of a certain color on their own.

8. Food, Flowers, and Photos

Catering companies require booking in advance, but give them a call (or us if you're in our service area) and ask. Also, many restaurants offer platters that you can order a day or two beforehand. And if your reception is in a restaurant, you’re set with deciding food.
For flower bouquets and decorations, check your local supercenters or farmers markets. Typically flowers in season are cheapest, so if you’re flexible with the look you can go seasonal and save some money for the honeymoon.
Save yourself some time and stress, and scratch the professional photography by asking a family member or friend to be the designated photographer. Also, you can get random, candid photos by leaving disposable cameras around the guest tables.

The Hottest Wedding Reception Decor Trends 2013!

1. Mix-Matched Centerpieces: "One of the biggest trends we've seen is, as opposed to having one flower arrangement on a table, people are doing a variety of smaller bud vases featuring different, single-stemmed flowers," says O'Grady. She suggests using a variety of mismatched vases from thrift stores or "Grandma's basement" to create the eclectic look.

2. Unique Place Settings: Gone are the days of tables set with perfectly matching dinnerware and glassware. "I really love that eclectic look where you have a variety of drinking glasses that are different textures and color," says O'Grady. And the same things goes for place settings. But can this mismatched look work for a high-end wedding? "Absolutely!" she says. The result is an elegant wedding with an "eclectic, refined" feel to it.

3. Small, Elegant Weddings: "There was such a theme of opulence and over-the-top decor and indulgence and it's now shifted to the other side," says O'Grady. The current trend is "not minimalist, but it's very elegant and done in a tasteful way." So, rather than having 400 people at their wedding, couples are inviting 150 guests and they're serving "excellent food and spending a little bit more on the wine." 

4. Vintage Themes: According to O'Grady, the vintage look is still going strong. It's "really hot" right now, she says of the theme, so we can expect to see many more mason jars filled with signature cocktails or simple wildflower arrangements incorporated in reception decor.

5. Alternative Head Tables: O'Grady says that most of her clients are still doing head tables, but they're not opting for the traditional one-sided table on a riser. Instead, couples are inviting the members of their wedding party and their dates to sit at a large, double-sided head table in the center of the room. "People are sort of getting over the fact that some people might have to see their backs," says O'Grady of the arrangement. "It's an evening to be sociable, so it's not like you're staring at someone's back all night. It's just during dinner, so that's acceptable."

6. Ditch The Crystal: If you've been to a wedding within the past couple of years, you've no doubt spotted your share of crystals. "They were dripping all over every centerpiece for years and that look is gone," says O'Grady. Reception decor these days is "a little bit more reasonable and comfortable for everyone." 

Building a Home Bar

 Ever wanted to emulate the characters on Mad Men and mix yourself up a martini after a long day at the office?  This activity is making a comeback and how much more relaxing is an amazing cocktail in the comfort of your own home, as opposed to a noisy happy hour somewhere?!

You can really get creative with this, but no reason to go broke...just start with the basics.

Emily Schuman, author of "Cupcakes & Cashmere: A Guide for Defining Your Style, Reinventing Your Space, and Entertaining with Ease" has some great advice on building your home bar:

"Alcohol – Four main spirits to stock: whiskey, gin, tequila, and vodka. They provide the foundation for many drinks, but are also perfect on their own. Vermouth (both sweet and dry) is also used quite often. While I typically prefer rye whiskey, bourbon is also an excellent choice for your entry point into “brown” liquors. As for gin, there are quite a few new options on the market, but it’s hard to go wrong with a classic English dry variety, like Plymouth. For most tequila, I go with a “blanco” version since they aren’t aged as long as other tequilas and are more neutral flavored. Simply be sure you always buy 100% agave and not a “mixto” version. I’m not a big fan of vodka (I find it completely tasteless), but it’s one of the most popular spirits and good to have on hand.

Additions – Club soda, tonic water, and ginger beer/ale are common mixers, whether it’s to add some effervescence or round out the flavor of the drink. Many cocktails also call for a sweetener (i.e. simple syrup, honey, agave, etc.) and while you can easily make your own simple syrup (it’s equal parts sugar/water boiled down), I always have a bottle in the fridge. Bitters are the final key component when stocking your new bar. They come in a wide variety of flavors and provide a wonderful complexity and body to many cocktails, but when starting out, all you need is a bottle of Angostura bitters. They are probably the most famous variety and are an essential ingredient in classic drinks like a Manhattan and an Old Fashioned.

Tools – A cocktail shaker, strainer, and bar spoon are three items you need to mix drinks. For measuring, I prefer a clear small measuring cup that offers multiple volumes and conversions (i.e. teaspoons, ounces, etc.), rather than jiggers. As for glasses, my go-to are: cocktail/champagne coupes (if you’re only going to get one type of glass, this is the one to own), a lowball tumbler, and a collins glass. I also make sure to keep straws on hand and cocktail picks for skewering garnishes.

Extras – Many cocktail recipes have some kind of garnish, so I like to keep a variety of citrus, olives, and cherries on hand. While Luxardo maraschino cherries are an investment, they’re vastly superior to the neon-red version at the local market."

Building your home bar doesn’t have to happen instantly – and remember that most alcohols last almost indefinitely, so take your time and enjoy the process!

New Years Resolutions? Maybe not...

Christmas and New Year’s Eve largely comprise the holiday season around the world.  Well, Christmas has come and gone, and hopefully you had a wonderful time with family and friends, as well as getting a few gifts that you’d been wanting.  Next up, however, is New Year’s, and one of the major traditions there aside from celebrating is making New Years resolutions.

New Year’s resolutions are essentially promises you make to yourself about something that you really want to accomplish.  The most common resolution is “I want to lose weight!” or “I want to make a million dollars!” or something equally cliche.  Interestingly, very few people keep their resolutions, which can lead to unnecessarily beating up on oneself. 

New Year’s resolutions are a bad way to try to accomplish something, and in this post, we’ll look at why New Years resolutions don’t work, and how you can make quality goals and resolutions and give yourself a much better chance of succeeding.


1.  New Year’s is only once per year.

Okay, so, let’s say you want to learn how to cook all the French classics...but the problem with making it a New Year’s resolution is that New Year’s only occurs once per year.  If you want to do something or learn something, just do it, because your motivation will be highest at that point.  If you put it off until New Year’s to make it a resolution, odds are that your enthusiasm will have died down, making it harder for you to achieve your goal.

Additionally, you’ll often forget to set certain goals on New Year’s, so why wait another year before making your resolutions?

2.  People set easily achievable or unachievable goals.

Even for people who use goal setting techniques throughout their daily lives, setting a realistic goal that is both achievable yet challenging can be a tough accomplishment all by itself.  Many people tend to overestimate themselves (human arrogance undoubtedly), and thus they set goals that no one could possibly achieve.  On the flip side of that coin, in the effort to set achievable goals, many people set easy goals that do not challenge them and force them to grow.  This applies to New Year’s resolutions especially, where people set goals for the next year that are usually wildly out of proportion to their capabilities.

3.  People set inappropriate goals.

There are several key components of a good goal or resolution.  The first, is that it must be specific, secondly, it must be measurable, and third, it must be time targeted.  Basically, just saying “I want to lose weight!” is a bad goal.  It’s not very specific, a better goal would be to say “I want to lose fat!”.  Therefore, you’re now being specific about what kind of weight you want to lose.  Next, it must be measurable, which is accomplished by throwing in an amount, such as “I want to lose 10lbs of fat!”.   Third, there needs to be a time table for accomplishing this, otherwise, what, do you want to lose 10lbs over the course of your lifetime?  In one day?  Understanding time as one of the most important factors in whether or not a goal is achieved is one of the key parts to making appropriate goals that challenge you and yet are achievable and give you a feeling of satisfaction.

This particular set of components is often referred to as SMART, which is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound.  If you set SMART goals, you will not only find that your goals are more refined, they are also more likely to be achieved regardless of the difficulty of the goal.

4.  New Year’s resolutions are trendy.

In the popular culture phenomenon of New Year’s resolutions, people inevitably choose goals that are trendy for that past year.  Most of us, coming off the holidays, have eaten far too much unhealthy food, which is why weight loss tends to be one of the most common resolutions made by people.  Depending on the financial climate, other people make saving or investing as their primary goal, and if a new technology has come out, many of us will say that we need to learn how to use it.

5.  New Year’s resolutions don’t last.

Going along with point #3, goals need to be measurable and time-bound, which means that in order to know if you’ve achieved a goal, you need to regularly measure and assess your progress. 

The problem with New Year’s resolutions (or with most resolutions in general) is that people tend to work hard on them for a short time, sticking to their regimen, before losing interest and letting it get away from them.  To avoid this, it’s rather simple, just follow the advice from points #1-3, by setting SMART goals and working on them from the time that you want to achieve your goal, instead of waiting till a given trendy day like New Year’s to set your goals.

Hopefully, with the advice from this article, you’ll find yourself setting quality goals for yourself, challenging yourself and pushing yourself to new heights.  Goal setting is one of the most powerful achievement techniques, but it’s most effective when governed by your own interests and desires, as opposed to the holiday season or other factors.

Do you have any great goal setting techniques or stories you’d like to share?  Or do you think that I’m missing something in my points here?  Let me know in the comments!  Have a great New Year!

FAMILY DINNERS - They're Still Important

10 reasons why, and 10 shortcuts to help get the family to the table.


After-school activities, late workdays, long commutes -- it's no wonder few families eat dinner together. Yet studies show that the family dinner hour is an important part of healthy living.

When families dine together, they tend to eat more vegetables and fruits -- and fewer fried foods, soda, and foods with trans fats, research shows. When younger kids frequently eat dinner with their families, they are less likely to be overweight than other children. That tends to change in the teenage years, when they're less likely to eat at home.

It only takes a few minutes a day to dramatically improve your health. And with our list of fun and easy good-for-you habits, you'll want to get started right away. Yeah, yeah — you know that exercising and eating right should be at the top of your daily to-do list. But let's face it: Some days there's barely enough time to sprint from the car to the pizza parlor to grab a pie to go. We're in no way suggesting you abandon those bigger long-term health goals, but...

It's a serious concern, since statistics show that nearly one in five children aged 6-19 in the U.S. are overweight. That puts them at higher risk for many health problems later in life, including heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes -- as well as emotional problems.

"One of the simplest and most effective ways for parents to be engaged in their teens' lives is by having frequent family dinners," says Joseph Califano Jr., chairman and president of The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA).

CASA recently reported on a national phone survey of 1,000 teens and 829 parents of teens. Eating dinner as a family helped kids in many ways. It helped them get better grades, and kept them away from cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana, and more.

10 Benefits of Family Dinners

Toting up all the benefits of frequent family dinners:

    Everyone eats healthier meals.
    Kids are less likely to become overweight or obese.
    Kids more likely to stay away from cigarettes.
    They're less likely to drink alcohol.
    They won't likely try marijuana.
    They're less likely to use illicit drugs.
    Friends won't likely abuse prescription drugs.
    School grades will be better.
    You and your kids will talk more.
    You'll be more likely to hear about a serious problem.
    Kids will feel like you're proud of them.
    There will be less stress and tension at home.

10 Tips for Organizing Family Dinners

Don't let this mission feel daunting! Even the simplest meals -- like order-in pizza -- qualify as family dinners. The goal is to get everyone to the dinner table and to spend quality time together - not to force Mom into June Cleaver or Carol Brady mode. Here are tips on pulling it off:

    Set a goal. Twice a week, perhaps? Build from there.

    Keep it simple. Family meals don't have to be elaborate. Work salads and vegetables into meals. Focus on familiar favorites, like chili or frittatas.

    Be prepared. Keep ingredients for healthful meals on hand, including plenty of fruits and vegetables.

    Keep healthy 'appetizers' on hand. Stock the kitchen with fresh fruits, nuts, and low-fat cheese -- stuff the kids can snack on after school, instead of chips.

    Get the family involved. Let kids help prepare meals and set the table.

    Use the crock pot. Put everything together before leaving for work in the morning. You'll come home to the delicious smell of a cooked meal.

    Pick up take-out, order pizza, or eat out. It still counts as quality time spent together.

    Avoid portion distortion. Keep serving sizes under control, whether you're at home or eating out.

    Make it enjoyable. Leave the serious discussions for another time. Family meals are for nourishment, comfort, and support.

    Set the mood. Play soothing music. Put flowers on the table. Light a candle. Create a relaxing environment.

Here's another hint -- no TV allowed, no phones answered! This is time for listening to each other, sharing the day's stories, and nurturing the family connection.

The History of Valentine's Day!

Valentine's day isn't all about roses, candy, and expensive dinners.

It has a historical background too.

Contrary to what some may believe, Valentine's Day wasn't created by greetings card companies just to sell cards and candies. It's actually a church sanctioned holiday, as Pope Gelasius deemed February 14 St. Valentine's Day near 498 A.D.

Shrouded in mystery, the exact origins of the celebration of St. Valentine are somewhat unclear, according to History.com. While the holiday's history is well documented through the years, the saint (or saints) it's named after is up in the air.

It's still unclear exactly who the celebrated saint of love really was, as the Catholic Church acknowledges 3 separate saints named Valentine or Valentinus. All of them were martyrs.

From History.com:

    According to one legend, Valentine actually sent the first "valentine" greeting himself. While in prison, it is believed that Valentine fell in love with a young girl -- who may have been his jailor's daughter -- who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter, which he signed "From your Valentine," an expression that is still in use today.

The oldest know Valentine's poem in existence today was written by Charles, Duke of Orleans during his imprisonment in the Tower of London, following the Battle of Agincourt, according to History.com. The poem was written to his wife.

The holiday continued to gain tremendous popularity through the 17th and 18th centuries, but saw tremendous popularity in more recent times, with faster communication. It wasn't until the 1840s that Valentine's day cards began to be produced.

This Valentine's Day, consider calling us to discuss an impressive and intimate, romantic dinner menu for you and that special someone in your life!

Go HERE to browse our menu...we think you'll find something perfect!