June 22, 2009

BigSis has talked about how much she loves the Urban Decay Primer Potion. Okay, she actually raves about how well this product helps her eyeshadow stay on all day. I’ve been pretty happy with my MAC Prep + Prime and have just never gotten around to buying the Primer Potion.

I LOVE shimmery, frosty shadows on my lids, so when I read these great reviews on Sephora about the new Urban Decay Primer Potion-Sin, I knew that I had to try it.

The shimmering champagne hue in this product really compliments the frosty MAC shadows that I love to wear on my lids. I love it under Grand Entrance, Wintersky, and French Cuff, but don’t rush out to buy any of those colors because they’re all discontinued. Dang it! I don’t know what I’m going to do when I run out of those colors. I guess I’ll have to visit the MAC counter and find some new favorites.

Back to the Primer Potion. Not only does it make the shadows stay on the entire day, but it adds just a little extra shimmer. This is even pretty worn alone for just a little tint or under your brow for a little highlighter.

You know we both LOVE our MAC shadows and they are definitely great on their own and do stay on for most of the day. But, if you need just a little extra assurance that your shadow will last from morning to night, give this Urban Decay Primer Potion a try, either the original if you want a clear primer, or in Sin for some shimmer.

I think you’ll agree that this product really does make a difference.

~LilSis

June 21, 2009

Happy Father’s Day, everyone.  As we’ve mentioned before, we lost our dad on January 21, 2007, so this is our third Father’s Day without him here.  The other day, I was thinking about another approaching Father’s Day, and started remembering some of D’s favorite foods and what we would have if he was with us now.  I made a list of some of his favorites that came to my mind, and wanted to share some really good recipes for them.

• Lemon Meringue Pie – Grandma’s Lemon Meringue Pie from AllRecipes sounds great, and got excellent reviews.  D liked his lemon pie very “puckery” and so do we all!

• Banana Pudding – this recipe for Old Fashioned Banana Pudding from RecipeZaar sounds very similar to the way we’ve always made it since we were kids.  Homemade vanilla pudding, vanilla wafers, sliced bananas, and NO meringue, no cream cheese, no Eagle Brand!  Not that there is anything wrong with any of those ingredients; we just choose not to include them in our nana puddin.

• Chicken Fried Steak from Toby Keith’s “I Love This Bar” in Las Vegas – we found this recipe a while back, and now we can’t put our hands on it.  Cook’s Illustrated has a recipe that sounds really yummy, but you can only see it if you have a membership as I do.  BTW, I love their site, and this is the only web site I pay for access to, except for Consumer Reports.  But if you don’t want to pay for recipes, you could check out Alton Brown’s Chicken Fried Steak.  Alton seems to know what he’s doing, so I imagine his version is good even if he’s not Texan.  😀

• Sardine-Mustard-Onion Sandwich – no recipe needed!  We all have our unusual favorite combinations, right?  This was one of D’s.

• Schlotzsky’s Pastrami Sandwich on Dark Pumpernickel – we love this sandwich place, and I’m really sorry that you can’t find them all over the country.  One of the special things about them is their bread.  Here’s a copycat recipe for Schlotzsky’s bread, although I haven’t tried it yet.

• Keurig Coffee – the best coffeemaker, hands down!  Get yourself some Green Mountain K-Cups, and prepare to enjoy a wonderful coffee experience.

• Red Beans with Ham and Cornbread – Paula Deen should know how to make pinto beans, right?  She has a Slow Cooker Pinto Bean recipe that sounds pretty simple.  Lots of recipes use tomatoes, kidney beans, bay leaf, roasted garlic, etc. but we were never that fancy!  We also didn’t pre-soak our beans. All of the ingredients went into the pot, and they simmered for hours til tender.   I think this recipe for cornbread from Hillbilly Housewife sounds great!  It uses buttermilk and a cast iron skillet, so it’s off to a promising start.

• Sunday morning breakfast with eggs, biscuits and bacon – who doesn’t love the smell of this meal cooking, not to mention getting to eat it?  It maybe one of my favorite smells ever.

• Potato Salad – we’ll give you our family recipe in another post. It’s a good one!  It originally came from SisMama’s dad, who was a magnificent cook with a fiery German personality!

• LilSis’ Brisket – LilSis will share her recipe in a separate post too.

Most of all, D loved to eat anything that SisMama made.  If you are fortunate enough to still have your dad, make one of his favorite foods for Father’s Day!

~BigSis

June 20, 2009

Be there or be square!

Hey, all you cyber-sisters and brothers!  Are you going to the BlogWorld Expo in Las Vegas in October?  BigSis and LilSis will be there with bells on, and we would LOVE to meet you there!

Here’s the scoopage that you need to know right now:

• The Blogging Conference is October 16-17.  The New Media Pre-Conference is the 15th, if that’s your thing.

• The early bird discount for registration expires on July 1st so you have just a few days to get your act together.  The early bird rate for the 2 days is $300.  It will go up to $395 on July 1st, and then $495 on September 14th, so it’s definitely worth it to get your plans made now.

• Hotel information is out too, so check out the 3 hotels with special rates.

• The 2009 schedule is still being finalized, but peruse the 2008 Conference Schedule if you’d like to get an inkling of what could be in store for us this year.

We’ll talk more about this as the weeks go on, but we are really really excited about this!  If you’re planning to be there, please let us know!  How fun would it be to get to meet up with folks we’ve only talked to through our blogs?!

~BigSis

June 19, 2009

What the “L” is LilSis up to?

• Longingly thinking of D and wishing he was here with us for Father’s Day.

• Leaving for Chicago tomorrow.

• Looking forward to seeing the kids and grandkids.

• Laboring over month-end accounting so I’m not too behind when we return.

• Laundering all the guys’ clothes for the trip.

• Lunching with my friend, V.

• Loving that I just got the okay from the Dr. to take the boot off my foot!

~LilSis

June 18, 2009

Hey LilSis, great job on the breakfast potato cake.  Way to represent BigSisLilSis on the Potato Ho Down!  I’d take off the bacon, but there’s just one thing I would add to it, and that’s a big splash of Frank’s Red Hot Sauce!  I am the Spicy Condiment Queen, so you had to know I’d like some spice-o-rama on my taters.

I’m still obsessing over Vivi’s Carnival Mustard – in fact I just bought my second jar since I first wrote about it – and I gobbled up that jar of Joe T Garcia’s Salsa Picante in record time, so I might as well disclose my obsessive love for Frank’s Red Hot Sauce.  Daddy loved it, I love it, and now we have Big T into it.  I put this stuff on and in everything…hummus, deviled eggs, soup, broccoli, green beans, asparagus, blackeyed peas, sandwiches, tofu, edamame, guacamole, anything except eggs. I’m weird like that.  I don’t like ketchup or salsa or anything spicy on my scrambled eggs.  It’s just wrong.  Scrambled eggs are supposed to be creamy and buttery, not fiery.

So do I, Grandma! So do I!

Anyway!  I used to buy Tabasco sauce, but now it just seems hot with no depth of flavor.  Frank’s is a little hot, but not nearly as lethal as Tabasco, and it has tons and tons of amazing flavor.  Frank’s web site has some great spicy recipes that use it, so check them out for some inspiration, but all you really need to know is put it on everything!  Including LilSis’ potato cake!

~BigSis

June 17, 2009

This is one combination of ingredients that I can’t seem to get enough of:  tomatoes, basil, mozzarella, and garlic!  We’re lucky here in Southern California to have great produce practically year round, but if you happen to live somewhere else, hopefully you’re able to get them now that Summer is right around the corner. I found this great medley of small heirloom tomatoes at Trader Joe’s.

Recently, I talked about my love for Insalata alla Caprese. The ingredients in this salad are very similar, but just served differently. So, if you love Caprese, I guarantee that you’ll love this salad!

It’s quick and easy, so it’s perfect to take to a neighborhood cookout or to a friend’s house for a cocktail party.

I found the original recipe for this dressing in the June 2009 issue of Food & Wine. It was featured in an article called “best 5-minute dressings”. The original recipe didn’t include the mozzarella cheese, but I couldn’t imagine this salad without it. I think I also doubled the garlic and the olive oil. This is my version.

Heirloom Tomato Salad with Basil Vinaigrette
(adapted from June 2009 issue Food & Wine)

1 lb. small heirloom tomatoes, sliced in half
2 garlic cloves
pinch of crushed red pepper
1 cup packed basil leaves, coarsely chopped
1/2 c. extra-virgin olive oil
2 T. Champagne vinegar
1/4 lb mozzarella, diced into cubes
Fresh ground pepper, to taste
Coarse salt, to taste

Season the tomatoes with salt and pepper, arrange on serving platter and sit aside.

I don’t like the bite of raw garlic in a dressing, so I pressed the garlic cloves into a small pan and sauteed them in a tablespoon or so of the olive oil just until a little soft. I then added the crushed red pepper flakes to the oil and garlic and sauteed for just another minute or so.

Put the basil in the food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add the oil, vinegar, the garlic and the crushed red pepper and process until smooth. Toss in a bowl and add cubed mozzarella. Season with salt and pepper. Pour on top of the tomatoes and serve!

I think this tomato salad would also be great served on top of a plate of baby lettuce.

I have to use this beautiful bunch of basil soon, so…

some time in the next few days, I’ll be sharing with you yet another great recipe that includes these fantastic ingredients!

I hope you love them as much as I do!

~LilSis

June 16, 2009

Have you heard about these new mixes for fat-free brownies called No Pudge?  All you add is non-fat vanilla yogurt. Since I fessed up to being a bake-from-scratch snob, but then had a raving disaster with my homemade cherry pie, I figure I’m obligated to humble myself and try some mixes.  I’ve heard that these brownies are good, but I’m so skeptical!  A brownie with no butter?  And it’s supposed to be worth eating?  I say prove it!

I bought a box of the original flavor of No Pudge at Central Market for $4.59.  They also have mint, raspberry and cappuccino varieties but I wanted to start off with the basic chocolate.  The nutritional label says each brownie has 110 calories, 0 grams of fat, and 22 grams of sugar (!).

The No Pudge brownies couldn’t be easier to make.  You add 2/3 cup of non-fat vanilla yogurt to the mix, which includes sugar, flour, cocoa, egg whites, cornstarch, wheat gluten, salt and baking soda.  You mix the yogurt in thoroughly and smooth it into an 8″ square pan.  The instructions say to bake for 30 to 35 minutes, but I only had a 9″ pan, so I baked for closer to 25 minutes.

After chilling overnight, I took these to work for an informal taste test and these are the results:

• Everyone agreed that the flavor was very chocolaty, and two people thought you couldn’t tell the difference between these and a full-fat brownie. I could tell!

• The consistency was very fudgy and pretty gooey.  I wonder if I underbaked these, and if they would be less gooey with more baking time, although they tested done and I hate to overbake brownies.  I’d rather slightly underbake than overbake.

• My opinion was that the texture was a tad spongy and gooey at the same time.  I also thought the first note on my tongue was sugar, which makes sense since non-fat baked goods usually compensate with extra sugar.  I could totally tell that something was amiss with these little guys, although the chocolate fix was there.

Would I bake these again?  Nah.  I’d rather have half of a Barefoot Contessa Outrageous Brownie than several of these.  It was a fun experiment, but that’s just how I roll.  I have to say that I like that there aren’t a bunch of artificial ingredients and sweeteners in these brownies, but I’m not really into non-fat versions of real food.  Perfect examples are the grossness of non-fat mayo and non-fat cheese.  Blecch.

I can see these “brownies” being served at a baby shower or spa party hosted by one of the “ladies who lunch” in Dallas.  I imagine they’d be cut into 1/2″ squares.  Give me a regular brownie, even if it means more time on the treadmill!

Oh, and P.S.  My camera is on the critical list, so these craptastic photos may be the last you see from it!  I took well over 100 photos to even get a couple that were usable.  If you love your camera, please send me your recommendation of any models I should look at!

~BigSis

June 15, 2009

This past week, we had a big fresh fruit salad every morning. If you’ve been reading, you’ll remember that I talked about SirHoney’s doctor wanting him to go on the Dash Diet Eating Plan to try to lower his blood pressure. So, I’ve been buying a ton more fruit and making a variety of fruit salads every day.

I decided since we’ve been good all week, it wouldn’t hurt to have a little treat for Sunday morning breakfast. So, I started with a traditional Potato Pancake recipe and tweaked it a little. This is what I came up with.

Potato Ho Frosty Gay’s Breakfast Potato Pancake
(adapted from Williams Sonoma Everyday Roasting)

3-4 tablespoons olive oil
5 large russet potatoes
12 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 c. grated cheese (I used a light 3 cheese blend from Trader Joe’s)
coarse salt to taste
ground pepper to taste
small bunch chives, cleaned and snipped
sour cream, optional

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Oil a ceramic quiche dish with a teaspoon of the olive oil. Grate potatoes into a bowl, working as quickly as possible to prevent them from turning brown. (You can put the grated potatoes in a bowl of cold water while grating the rest, but be sure to dry really well.) Transfer half of the shredded potatoes to the prepared dish. Sprinkle with some of the coarse salt, a few grindings of pepper, a few drizzles of olive oil, half the bacon and half of the cheese. Put the remaining potatoes in dish and repeat the salt, pepper, olive oil, bacon and cheese.

Roast until potatoes are dark brown and crisp on top yet soft inside, 50-55 minutes. If the potatoes begin to brown too quickly, as mine did, reduce oven to 350 degrees.

Remove from oven and let rest for 5-10 minutes, sprinkle with chives, then cut into wedges. Serve immediately. I couldn’t resist adding a big dollop of sour cream to the top!

I’m submitting this recipe to this month’s Potato Ho Down.

You can check out the full roundup of this month’s Potato Ho Down hosted by Krysta at Evil Chef Mom on Wednesday, June 17th.

~LilSis

June 14, 2009

Humpback whale and baby (photo credit: Animal Planet)

I don’t usually sit around on my fan-fan-fanny watching TV.  But this week started crazy and ended that way, and by the time Friday rolled around, I was brain-fried.  Don’t ask!  The details are gory.  But the most strenuous thing I could manage by Friday night was to catch up on my Google Reader a little, and to press the TV remote control channel button until I landed on Animal Planet.

I happened upon the premier episode of season two of a show called “Whale Wars”.  Have you heard of this show?  I hadn’t, but 5 minutes into one episode and I’m hooked.  I found myself watching with my breath held, and my hand covering my mouth.  It’s emotional, dramatic, suspenseful, action-packed, and real.  There is wicked weather, life-threatening storms, treacherous icebergs and ice fields, in addition to the threat against the whales.  And since I’ve been a vegetarian for 15 years solely because of my love for animals, the fact that the show’s focus is on saving whales makes it mesmerizing to me.  After seeing humpback whales in Hawaii, I can’t imagine that anyone could harpoon them for their “meat”.  They seem to be the most joyous, innocent, peaceful animals that you could imagine.

I didn’t know it, but in 1986, commercial whaling was outlawed internationally.  The co-founder of Greenpeace, Paul Watson, knew it.  In 1977 he founded a group called the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.  In “Whale Wars”, he is the captain of an aging ship called the Steve Irwin, and Paul’s passion is enforcing the whaling ban, regardless of the cost.  In “Whale Wars”, he hits the international seas with 36 volunteers and a mission.

I saw 2 episodes, both featuring the Sea Shepherds’ hunt in Antarctica for Japanese fishermen who were illegally killing whales.  The Japanese claimed to be killing the whales legally for research.  You know where I stand in that debate; on the side of the whales.  Watch this show.  Make up your own mind.

~BigSis

June 13, 2009

Hey BigSis, there has never been a case of “noassatall” in our family, so we definitely have more of a challenge when buying jeans (plus, as you so nicely reminded me, we’re not 20-something any more).

Before I start rambling, one really good thing to keep in mind, unless you have a teeny tiny hiney, don’t buy a pair with pockets and all the crazy stitching and bling, bling on the back.  I don’t even know what brand most of them are, but they are all the rage out here these days. I see some of the cutest, young girls at my hair salon wearing jeans with cute pockets and stitching and buttons, but, seriously, don’t do it unless you’re trying to make your rear end look twice it’s actual size.

Okay, now that I got that off my chest, my absolute favorites are still the Citizens of Humanity Ingrid #2 Low Rise Flare Style. I discovered them about seven years ago when we first moved to CA. I have three pairs of the exact same size and style, yet in different washes.

I had no idea that they sold Citizens of Humanity jeans on Amazon! Here’s another view of the Ingrid #2 Low Rise Flares.

Citizens of Humanity Ingrid #2 Low Rise Flare

My first pair was a really light blue, and overly stone washed pair. I loved those jeans! But, I discovered that it’s not the best idea to get the stone washed ones because they do wear out quicker. The fabric is definitely thinner and mine got some natural holes, (not the kind people actually pay extra for) in the back under the bum. They were since ruined at the cleaners when I asked them to repair the holes, (long story and I’m still pissed about it so no sense rehashing it now).

So, technically I only have two pair that I can wear, but I still can’t throw away the ruined pair. I keep dreaming that one day I’ll wake up and my butt will have reverted back to what it looked like in my twenties and I’ll cut the jeans off into a cute, little pair of Daisy Dukes! (I should pull my head out of my arse out of the clouds).

The other two are darker blues; one more casual and a little faded and the other has a much wider flare and longer length to wear with heels.

BigSis, when we met in Vegas for your birthday, I was so glad to see that you had finally bitten the bullet and bought yourself a couple of pair of awesome jeans!  It’s funny that our body shapes are so different, yet you ended up buying the exact same style and same size as my Citizens.

What’s not so funny is that us ‘forty-somethings’ can work out for months or even years to finally to get to where we feel okay about our bodies. But, heaven forbid, if for some reason, we have to stop our normal routine for a few weeks, it doesn’t take long for the buttocks to head south and the thighs to head east and west!  I bet if I put on my jeans today, I’d have a nice little muffin top! 🙁

I have one pair of 7 for all mankind that I also love. They fit great and are really comfortable. Again, I keep the stitching on the back simple. The style I have is this Bootcut in New York Dark.

7 for all mankind Boot Cut in New York Dark

I haven’t ever tried on a pair of Joe’s Jeans but I’ve heard that they are also fabulous jeans. I love that Rocker style. I just might have to try on a pair of these next time I’m at Macy’s or Nordstrom’s.

Anybody got a favorite brand of jean that you’d care to share with us? How about any great tips on making our forty-something butts look like they’re in their twenty-somethings? Okay, I’d be happy with a thirty-something looking fanny! 🙂

~LilSis