Hi guys, unfortunately I am calling this Chocolate Lovers giveaway early on account of snow/ice! Sookie and I are packing up to wait out the storm at my parents house. At least they have a gas fireplace if the power/heat goes out. Oh boy, lots of fun!
Monday, January 31, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
Friendly Fridays: week January 21st to January 28th
I love to meet new people! I have been thrilled with the new friends, followers and comments I have been getting every day. So every Friday I will showcase my new friends, followers and commenters.
This is a celebration of how awesome you guys really are!
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| Waving Hello! |
Unfortunately, I had no new friendly followers to comment on this week.
This week's new awesome friendly comments come from...
Delishhh -Check out the new recipe for No Bake Chocolate, Peanut Butter & Oatmeal cookies (Cow Patties) yummy
More Thyme than Dough- Check out Roberta's awesome Inexpensive Household tips, I love using baking soda, vinegar and lemon to clean!
Gourmande in the Kitchen- Sylvie is awesome and her French Vegetable Soup is calling my name and her post about kitchen inspiration is truly amazing!
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Sweetest things...World Nutella Day
Some of the best things in life... the most fun, the craziest thing, the most beautiful, the sweetest things in life are so special.
Like a...
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| a beautiful walk |
Monday, January 24, 2011
Weight Watchers... Week #2
Gosh you guys, I am sorry to admit this, but...
I almost cried at weigh in today.
After a week of stuffing my face and still not feeling satisfied or happy, I was not excited to get on the scale today. But I took of my coat, scarf, and shoes and stepped onto the scale.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Blogger Love and a Big Thank You
"Good luck with the weight loss - I am working on it as well! I just awarded you with the stylish blogger award - go check it out on my blog!! http://chrissyinamerica.blogspot.com"
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Banana Brunch
and Sunday mornings. But I love brunch, and where else can you have toasted bagels, smoked salmon (lox) and cake in the same meal. As my dad says "If that ain't yum, I don't know what is."
Monday, January 17, 2011
Weight Watchers... Week #1
Well, I am back at Weight Watchers. And surprisingly I only gained 2 pounds since mid-May. I don't know how that happened, I bake and cook all the time as you know. I was weighed in last week at199.6 pounds and this week I actually gained .2 for a total of 199.8 pounds. Oy Vey! Well this week I haven't really figured out what to eat and how to get my favorite carbs without using up all of my daily points.
photo © 2010 Mark Holloway | more info (via: Wylio)
photo © 2010 Mark Holloway | more info (via: Wylio)Sunday, January 16, 2011
Tomato Heaven: The Perfect Food
This is just a tomato sitting on top of a piece of crostini with goat cheese. Nothing special, nothing to get excited about... it is just a tomato. It is only food.
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| The Perfect Bite |
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Keri's Chocolate Coma x 3
I had a blast baking with my cousin Keri. Normally my dad and I are the ones making all of the latkes (potato pancakes) but this year I also got to help Keri with making a salted carmel. Although we had a problem with the candy thermometer, the carmel came out delicious. The cupcakes were divine, chocolate cake filled with salted carmel and topped with dark chocolate butter cream. I could have devoured more than a few cupcakes, but I was good only ate 1 cupcake along with 1 piece of candy and 2 of Keri's chocolate covered coconut macaroons (recipe to follow).
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| Keri |
We all agreed that the cupcakes were delicious the first day, but they were even more rich and gooey on the second day. I really can believe Keri pulled these awesome cupcakes off with a broken candy thermometer and no piping bags. Enjoy these sinfully delicious cupcakes and macaroons!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Awesome Award and a Cozy Drink
Lisa at The Nourishing Homemaker awarded me this totally cool Stylish Blogger Award.
Stylish Bloggers Award Winners:
1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers.
4. Contact these blogger and tell them about the award!
Friday, January 7, 2011
Saying Goodbye
I had to say good bye to my best friend on Tuesday. Even after nearly 7 years, I was not prepared to let him go. As I have been told by friends, family and the vet, I did this to put him out of his pain. Unfortunately, it doesn't take away the fact that he is gone.
I am really surprised that I am having such a problem writing this post. Yes I am very emotional and yes, it is still very fresh. However, I share my stories, my life and my recipes with you weekly. I never thought sharing my loss would be so hard to write or to explain. I am not married and I don't have kids, so Raider and Sookie are my "furry" kids. I guess I wasn't prepared for all of this. I don't know how to explain how awesome Raider was.
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| Raider and SookieRaider had a very bad case of FORL. And although he had already gone through 2 different surgeries, where the vet had removed 5 teeth and then 6 teeth, the disease had taken its toll. I had looked into a third surgery, where all of his teeth would have been taken out. However, this surgery would have been to expensive and very painful. Also, Raider would have had to have a special diet, wet food and softened food. |
Monday, January 3, 2011
Just a Reminder...
Box #2 Chocolate Lovers:
Two types of the highest quality cocoa that are almost twice as rich as the grocery store varieties: Natural cocoa is strong, dark and bittersweet-perfect for all baking; Dutch cocoa is processed to temper the natural acidity of the cocoa bean, yielding a smooth, rich and slightly less strong cocoa that mixes more freely with liquid. Dutch cocoa has long been the cocoa of choice for hot chocolate and flavored coffee. Cocoa can easily replace unsweetened baking chocolate. The standard conversion is to use 3 TB. cocoa + 1 TB. vegetable oil to equal one square of baking chocolate, but this cocoa is so rich it can be used without the extra oil.
Natural High Fat Cocoa:
A strong dark chocolate flavor The best cocoa for bringing life to your brownies, cakes and cookies. High Fat Cocoa is the richest grade of cocoa available in the world today 2.1 ounces
Dutch Process High Fat Cocoa:
"Dutched" cocoa is processed for a milder, smoother flavor. High fat cocoa is the richest grade of cocoa available in the world today 2.1 ounces
How to Enter:
You must leave a separate comment for EACH entry for it to count in each giveaway. Also you must enter into each the giveaways with your email address on EACH comment, otherwise the entry will be withdrawn! Any comment on any post from December 31 to January 31st will be counted as one entry.
Giveaway #2 Chocolate Lovers winners will be drawn using Random.org, and the contest begins December 31st, 2010 and ends on January 31st 2011 at 10 pm Eastern Indiana time.
I will contact the winner by email, and he/she will have 48 Hours to respond. If there is no response, another winner will be drawn using Random.org and notified.
If you are already a follower of Calamity Kate's Kitchen, Twitter, or Facebook, please leave comments so you can still be counted for the giveaways! Good Luck!
Mandatory Entry:
you must be a follower of Calamity Kate = 1 entry
Extra Entries:
1. Follow Calamity Kate on Twitter = 1 entry
2. Follow and like Calamity Kate on Facebook = 1entry
3. Add Calamity Kate to your favorites page on facebook= 1 entry
4. Write a post about this giveaway on your blog, then leave a comment with the URL where the post is located = 2 entry
5. Link your blog or website to Calamity Kate
6. Grab Calamity Kate's Button and leave 1 comment to let me know= 2 entrys
Saturday, January 1, 2011
The Traditonal New Years Sugar High
OK guys! I love a new year full of possibilities and although I am not a big fan of the whole one year older thing or new year resolutions. I love the memories and the food! When I was younger, my brother J and I would be left at our grandparents condo with cousins while my parents, aunts and grandparents went out to celebrate at a special new years party or comedy club.
We "kids" would all spend the day preparing for New Years eve by renting movies, (the breakfast club) and getting pizza or fried chicken from, Arni's/Rosie's, the general store down the street. We would always stop at our favorite store, Chocolate Expressions and have the best most amazing chocolate covered huge strawberries and fudge. And of course we would stop at Pinocchio's Italian Ice Cream, everyone loved their awesome homemade ice cream and there was always a surprise M & M in the bottom of every cone. My flavor was Sanibel Crunch, vanilla ice cream with toasted coconut drizzled in chocolate and full of nuts.
We "kids" would all spend the day preparing for New Years eve by renting movies, (the breakfast club) and getting pizza or fried chicken from, Arni's/Rosie's, the general store down the street. We would always stop at our favorite store, Chocolate Expressions and have the best most amazing chocolate covered huge strawberries and fudge. And of course we would stop at Pinocchio's Italian Ice Cream, everyone loved their awesome homemade ice cream and there was always a surprise M & M in the bottom of every cone. My flavor was Sanibel Crunch, vanilla ice cream with toasted coconut drizzled in chocolate and full of nuts.
