Wild West Taco Fest Dip

This dip is SUPER yummy and it would be great for New Years Eve or even a Super Bowl Party!

Wild West Taco Fest Dip

1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese
1 small can green chilies
1 large tomato, chopped
1 tsp. lemon juice
2 T. onion, chopped
1 T. chives
3 bouillon cubes, smashed
1-2 C. cheddar cheese, shredded

Soften the cream cheese and then mix in all other ingredients. Serve with chips, crackers, or veggies. (I found this to be a little salty so I think it would be best to use 2 bouillon cubes and then add more if needed. I used chicken flavored bouillon but beef would be okay too. I think I will use Sharp cheddar cheese next time for an extra kick).

7 days and counting

That is right my friends..... one week from today.... I will be in COSTA RICA!! I am super excited to go on this trip with one of my brothers and my parents. My Dad has an awesome 2 week trip planned and I am sure that it will be amazing. I'll let you know how it goes!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of my friends and family who are reading this blog. I think that SheRoos is the only one who reads this so.... a big "hello" to SheRoos even though I just talked to you last night. Anyway....Merry Christmas everyone and I hope that you had a great day with your friends and family. I sure had a nice time with my parents and it was also fun to talk to my nieces and nephews and to hear what Santa brought them this year. Now... I better get some sleep so I can hit the stores in the morning for all of the "day after Christmas" sales. Just kidding... I am not crazy enough to hit the stores tomorrow....you all can have fun with out me.

Fun Family Dinner

My parents and I went out to eat with my oldest brother "M"and his family the other night. It was really fun because we ate Vietnamese food and "M" was able to order everything in Vietnamese since he speaks it fluently. He served his mission in Portland, Oregon and then was transferred to San Jose, California half way through because they closed the Vietnamese speaking district in Oregon. He worked with the Vietnamese and Layocean people in both states and learned a lot about their culture as he perfected his skills in not only the language but their cooking styles and recipes. The meal was great the other night and I had fun watching my neice "M" mess around with her noodles...very cute!

Lot's O' Pretzels

I made chocolate covered Rods and Homestyle pretzels in NY before I came to Arizona. I passed them out to my friends and everyone seemed to really enjoy them. Then I got to Arizona and made these pretzels (Rods and Homestyle again) with my sister-in-law so she could pass them out to their friends. I love the picture (below) of my nephew "C" dipping the pretzels and taking an occasional spoonful of chocolate. Then I traveled to my parents house a few days later and ended up making more pretzels with my Mom so we could pass them out to some families in their neighborhood. Needless to say.... I have made my fair share of chocolate covered pretzels this Holiday Season and I loved every minute of it...yum!

Little Nativity Boys

These are one of my brothers sons. I think that these pictures are sooooooo sweet and perfect for this time of year. My little nephew "E" is adorable as the baby Jesus. My sister-in-law was planning on using one of these pictures for their Christmas cards this year and never got around to making them...oh well! It would have been really cute but maybe she can do it again if she has another baby boys....she seems to only have boys....no luck with girls so far. That is okay with me though...these little guys are awesome.

I'm Home for Christmas!

Believe it or not....it DOES snow in Arizona! This is my parents backyard and the snow looks beautiful. I think it looks like a thin layer of powdered sugar was dropped on the desert...pretty!

YUM!

Yummy food at JOYA (a Thai place) in Brooklyn.....absolutely delicious!

Falling tights

Okay...so what do you think? Yesterday, as we were shopping, Jose and I noticed a woman walk by and her tights were showing. What I mean by that is..... the "panty" part that is usually around your tooshy and waist must have worked it's way down as she walked and you could see it around her upper thighs. She was wearing a short skirt and so she must not have noticed that it was falling further and further down with every step she took. I felt bad and SUPER embarrassed for her as she walked down the street like the "sexiest thing on earth" without knowing that everyone was looking. I told Jose that I should have gone and told her and he said that she was doing it on purpose. Kind of like when some girls are showing a bit too much through see through material.....he always says that they are "hoochie and are doing it on purpose." I always want to think that they forgot their slips and would appreciate knowing that they are showing their bottoms or bright red underwear through their thin white skirts....but I guess I am wrong. Anyway....if you see a girl with her tights somewhere between her upper thigh and ankles...tell her she needs to pull them up, please!

Favorite part of Saturday

I haven't blogged in a month. To celebrate the the fact that I am blogging again....I will share with you my favorite part of yesterday. Jose and I went shopping in Soho and the West Village all day yesterday. It was crazy but we were able to buy all of the things that we needed at Brooklyn Industries and the Adidas Flagship store in a jiffy. Then we were off to the movies. We watched a good action movie and redeemed some tickets that we had for a large soda and large popcorn. Have you ever attempted to eat a large popcorn and it seems to keep multiplying by every handful you take? That popcorn was huge! Well, we were some of the last people to leave the theater after the movie because I was trying to find my scarf and put the million layers of clothing on that we need out here during the winter. I looked over and saw the popcorn and started to have some tempting thoughts. For some reason I had the biggest urge to do a devilish thing and with one huge "granny basketball toss" upward, I threw the entire back of popcorn up in the air. Jose looked at me with HUGE eyes and a look on his face like "What in the HELL did you just do!" We both started to laugh as popcorn rained down on us and filled our shopping bags, etc. It felt so GOOD...then I remembered the people that were going to have to come clean the theater and I felt bad....but only for a minute. Ha!

Thanksgiving Prep

Well...I am off! I am heading down to one of my brothers houses this afternoon so that I can help with the Thanksgiving decorations and other preparations. I have made an entire paper bag full of fall leaves to hang around and make a Garland of Gratitude out of. I also decided to make a cute poster to hang on the wall where we hang our garland. I am really happy with the way that my Family Tree turned out. It is much cuter than I had expected it to be. I think my Dad got a tear in his eye last night when he saw that I had put a "fallen leaf" for the worlds best dog KIP! Yes, our little buddy died in March and we are all still pretty bummed over it. Anyway.... Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving! I better get going since I have a car full of rolls, pies, pumpkin cake, and pull apart butterscotch rolls waiting for me to drive them down to the valley. Gobble....Gobble

Spruce Mountain

This is a beautiful shot of the Prescott area taken from the Spruce Mountain Fire Lookout. My parents and I decided to go for a picnic and afternoon drive today. We went through Groom Creek and drove up to the top of Spruce Mountain. We ate our awesome lunch at the top and then we hiked up to the Fire Lookout. It was really neat to meet the Park Ranger and to have her explain a little of what she does in the tower. The view was amazing and surreal. I was impressed with the little living quarters that she had and cannot even imagine being able to sleep up there. Her bed was covered with a Smokey The Bear blanket and was right up against the big windows that looked over the valley. Can you imagine watching the sunset at dusk or watching the sunrise in the morning. Wow!I loved the 360 degree view of the mountains and beautiful pines. These pictures really don't do it justice at all. Anyway... it was nice to see the view and learn about what this particular Forest Ranger does to protect nature in this beautiful part of Arizona.

Baby Shower

I went to a baby shower for one of my friends in Chino Valley last night. There was a great spread of yummy treats! Chili, cornbread, fruit salad, green salad, veggies and Ranch dip, mini cheesecakes, brownies, and some ooey gooey cookies. We played a bunch of games and laughed our heads off. There was one game in particular that I found to be very interesting. They passed around 11 diapers and each one of them was numbered. We had to open up each diaper and look at the "poop" that was inside. Each diaper contained some type of chocolate bar that was mashed up and we had to guess the name of the candy bar "poop" and write it down. I was really bad at this game. I was only able to recognize the Reese's Buttercups, Butterfinger, and Tootsie Rolls. Those three candies are my favorites and so I was able to identify them easily. Everyone was a little disgusted and embarrassed when we first started to play but that changed real quick. We were laughing and comparing notes on our diaper case study in no time. ...ha! Regardless of how crazy the game was, it was fun to watch a room full of women sniffing, smelling, and investigating brown chocolate lumps as they passed the diapers.

Cute Little Devil

Pumpkin Recipe

I found this recipe in one of my ward cookbooks recently. It sounds pretty tasty and so I think I am going to make it so I can take it to my brothers house for Thanksgiving dinner this year. The only change that I plan on making to it is that I am going to add some type of nuts, probably pecans, to the topping. I'll let you know how it goes. Happy Thanksgiving!

World's Best Pumpkin Cake

Crust:
1 pkg. yellow cake mix (reserve 1 cup)
1 egg beaten
½ c. margarine, melted

Filling:
1 (1 lb.) can pumpkin
1 c. sugar
½ c. milk
2 eggs beaten
2 ½ t. pumpkin pie spice

Topping:
1 c. cake mix (reserved from crust)
½ c. sugar
¼ c. margarine, softened

Mix crust ingredients together and pat dough into a 9x13 cake pan. Mix filling ingredients and pour over dough. Blend topping and sprinkle evenly over filling, Bake at 350 for 50-55 min. Cool, top with whipped cream and serve.

The Salsa King

You might be wondering why I posted this picture.... It is only because this kid is absolutely adorable! My mom and I stayed a couple of days at one of my brothers houses after I flew in to Arizona. One morning my nephew got a hold of my iPod and was addicted. The funny part is that he would only listen to my Spanish music and the scary part was that he would only listen to it if it was on full blast. We tried to turn it down a couple of times but he kept saying that he wanted it "faster" and we were supposed to understand that he meant "louder." I kept hearing my Salsa music blasting in his ears and so I changed it to a Ryan Shupe song thinking that he might like it better. He said, "No Aunt nymanzanita, not this kind!" He was so excited and had an extra bounce in his step as he listened to Carlos Vives and Celia Cruz. I told my mom and his parents that he is either going to serve a Spanish speaking mission or he is going to be a true lover of music because this kid is addicted to my iPod.

I am home!

I got to AZ on Tuesday and I am having a great time! Ahhh... Isn't my state beautiful??

My new love: Puffs Plus

I went to a street fair today on Madison Avenue between 42nd & 57th. It was fun to walk around and see the booths even though I have gone to a fair just like this one almost every weekend for the entire summer. My favorite part of the festival today was a new booth for Vicks. Yes... Vicks...as in Vicks Vapor Rub, etc. They had a HUGE igloo display and people could walk into it to check out their entire line of products. They gave everyone a baggie full of Vicks cold/flu gel caps, Vicks vapor rub, and a couple of other things. The best part for me though was the Puffs Plus tissues with Vicks. It was the coolest thing. They are tissues that have a major menthol smell and they are heavenly. Jose and I stuffed our pockets and ended up walking around the rest of the day sniffing our tissues. It was COLD today and our noses were running but we didn't want to use our tissues because they were like gold to us. I will definitely have to purchase a box of those as soon as I can. Go Vicks!

Presenting...the new peacoat!

My friend Alice and I went shopping yesterday. We walked up and down 34th Street and ended up with millions of bags in our hands at the end of the day. How does that happen? Ha! I got this cute peacoat and it is perfect for the weather that we are currently having. It is cold here but not COLD COLD like it will get. Does that makes sense? Our biggest observation of the day was that the tourists have arrived. The city is always full of tourists but it is especially bad around Thanksgiving and Christmas. I remember showing my friend SheRoos around the city a few years ago when she came to visit me and we could barely move because the streets were soooooo packed. Anyway... here is my coat. I have to pack because I leave for AZ on Tuesday....yippeeeeeee!

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas!

The tree has arrived in Rockefeller Center and it is beautiful! This years tree is extra special because it will be there to celebrate the 75th year of the tree lighting as well as the 75th year of the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular that is held in Radio City Music Hall in Rock Center. The tree is also going to be Eco-friendly... in other words the tree is VERY green this year. It was cut down by hand this year to cut down on energy that is normally used by powered tools. The tree will also be decorated with LED lights this year and it will use 90% less energy than in past years. Sounds like a plan to me! Tune in to NBC to see the tree lit on November 28th.

Zumba on the Today Show

Remember when I went to see Beto Perez, the creator of Zumba, on the Today Show last month? Here is the video clip that was seen on TV from that day. If you listen close you will hear me screaming my head off. Well... actually, I don't think you even to listen closely....I am obnoxiously screaming my head off and any living person or thing could hear me. Beto was amazing and the private class that I had with him and a small group of people after the Today Show was crazy. It was by far the most intense Zumba class I have ever attended. No surprise though since Beto is the KING of Zumba!

Spice up your workout with Zumba!

Cutest little guys ever....

I just got these pictures from one of my sister-in-laws. Can you see why I am crazy about my nephews? It's only because they are ADORABLE! Hopefully I will get pictures of the rest of my nephews and nieces when I am home for Thanksgiving. I can't wait to see them all!

Next purchase: A new purse!

I was busy do some things this morning and overheard a segment on the Rachael Ray Show that caught my attention. There was a woman on the show who was SUPER crazy about germs. She is constantly putting antibacterial hand sanitizer gels on her kids hands and the kids are only allowed to open doors with their elbows or shoulders, etc. After hearing a zillion other outrageous things that she has them do to avoid germs I was really interested. I understand that it is good to make sure that your kids are clean and don't spread germs but this lady seemed like she was turning her kids into germ-a-phobic freaks. Just my opinion! Well... Rachael told her that her "germ-free" report card was not good and that she was still failing in a major way. The lady was shocked to find out that she was carrying around a BUNCH of nasty germs and strains of diseases on her purse. Yup... her purse! They sent it off to a lab to be tested and they found traces of Pantoea, E. Coli, Yeast, and Staphylococus. I guess that she had picked up all of this stuff from setting her purse on the floor (dirt and grime), grass (dog poop), bathroom floor (don't even want to think of it...barf!), milk spills from baby bottles, shopping cart (juice from meat and whatever else people put in shopping carts), and much more. Check out Rachael's website if you want some tips to clean your purse and/or avoid getting it as dirty in the future. Otherwise....now you have an excuse to buy a new purse!

5 Stars for Kyedong!

The new thing in Korean cuisine is Chicken Wings! There are 5-6 Korean Chicken Wing places located all on the same street and only span 3 blocks. Meaning... there is a serious competition in a close proximity. Each one of these places tries to come out with a new slogan or sign every week to try to persuade customers to go to their restaurant. A place called Kyedong caught my eye and had persuasive of enough marketing to make me want to try it. They provide delivery service and have a bunch of drivers in little chicken cars that drive all around Flushing and they seem to never stop. Some friends and I called and got chicken the other night and this is how it came. It was in this cute little box that is supposed to look like a house and it had a can of soda sticking out of it that is supposed to look like the chimney. It was SUPER yummy and spicy. I love wings and have had all kinds. These definitely take the prize for being the crispiest wings that I have ever eaten. They were superb! 5 Stars for Kyedong!

The Hamptons & Montauk Point

Long Island is a beautiful place! It is full of the neatest towns and villages and I absolutely love to explore them during this time of the year. Jose had never been to the most eastern tip of NY State and so I wanted to show him. We drove through the beautiful Hampton's and stopped at a few of the roadside Farmers Markets to look at all of the pumpkins and gourds. We bought some apple cider, string beans, cucumbers, and beets to try some locally grown fresh produce. We continued on through all of the hamlets and finally reached Montauk. It was fun to see this beautiful place after so many years. The last time I saw it was during the second month of my mission when I was serving in Long Island....almost 7 years ago. It hadn't changed a bit. The beautiful lighthouse stood just as tall and strong as I had seen it before. Jose and I walked along the boulders on the shore and talked with some of the fisherman. The wind was cold and pushed against us as we walked. Jose really liked it and was glad that we had taken the day trip out to see the end of Long Island...the very tip.

Saturday Morning Stroll

I decided to get up early today and do some shopping. Instead of going into the city like I usually do, I decided to head into Manhasset and Great Neck to look at the boutiques and walk around. I stopped by a really pretty park in Manhasset (on Northern Blvd) and took a picture of the bridge and stream. I saw this great tree with pretty Fall colors in Great Neck where I was window shopping and so I decided to snap a picture too. We haven't had great colors in the trees for the last few years due to a lot of rain in the month of October. It is always exciting for me to see the colors since I am an Arizona girl and usually only saw green and brown leaves where I was raised.

Halloween!

Halloween was fun this year. Jose and I got together and passed out candy to the neighbor kids. They start walking around the neighborhood REALLY early out here. There were some little families going around at like 3:30 in the afternoon. The majority walk around between 4:30 and dinner time though. We went to a local deli for sandwiches that night and saw kids stocking up on cartons of eggs despite the signs in the windows that said, "Eggs and Shaving Cream WILL NOT be sold to minors during the week of Halloween." There were eggs splattered all over cars, the sidewalks, and the sides of buildings the next morning as I have seen in years past.

Good things come to those who wait....

I saw this necklace at American Eagle a few months ago. I loved it from the first time I saw the acorn charms but I wanted to wait until it went on sale. I know that $12.50 isn't a ton of money but I don't like to spend it on fashion jewelry that I know will be on sale in a few weeks for $6.95. I checked almost every week to see if the necklace had gone down in price and it never did. The other problem is that everyone was buying it up and I couldn't hardly find it at any of the locations by me. I finally saw one on Tuesday night. It was alone and still marked full price. I asked if it was supposed to be on sale and the sales guy scanned it and said, "Oops, I guess we forgot to put a sale tag on it." I bought it for $3.95. Yeah!!!

Off to Brooklyn I go...

I went to Brooklyn yesterday to hang out with Sarah and have a "girls" night. We had fun chatting, making ice cream out of their Ben and Jerry's recipe book, and watching Blades of Glory. We also got invited to a birthday party that one of their neighbors was holding for their granddaughter. This party was done up right! They had paid a clown to come do a little show and tie balloons for the kids. A local grocery store catered the food and the kids and parents were dressed for the big occasion. It was cute! Anyway... I ended up staying the night since it was pretty late and I didn't want to travel back to Queens when I could stay and enjoy Sarah & Nate's beautiful apartment a while longer. I got up early the next morning and went to the local Farmers Market and got these great veggies.
Then I got onto the train and sat across from this lady. It must have been a long night because she was OUT! Many of the "street people" as I call them, ride the trains when they sleep. They get tired of being kicked off the sidewalks by the police or being teased or bothered by pedestrians so they get on the trains. The train gives them a couple of hours to sleep where no one usually will bug them. The police usually don't bug them because they cant really prove that they aren't using the train to get somewhere and the riders usually don't bug them because they know that other people are all around as witnesses. Anyway... this lady was riding the city all around town and the loud people and announcements over the intercom didn't even phase her...she was snoozing away

Cupcakes and Birthday Fun

I made these cupcakes for a friends birthday yesterday. She actually turned 30 a couple of weeks ago and I didn't know. I thought her birthday was in November and I had the dates all wrong...ooops! Anyway... we went out for Malaysian food last night and it was great. We had roti, pearl noodles, tofu and some other interesting things. My favorite was pineapple rice that was served in a half of a pineapple with Hawaiian umbrellas. Very cute presentation! I made these cupcakes for dessert but somehow we forgot about them and ended up at Maggie Moos. We were stuffed with food and so we hardly even touched our ice cream. She took the cupcakes home and planned to eat them today. They turned out really cute though. They are called Dalmatian cupcakes and they have cheesecake in the center. Yummy!

"J" is for Jose

I laughed so hard tonight that I almost fell over. Imagine that! I was sitting at my computer trying to figure out my flight plans for Thanksgiving and I kept hearing Jose shouting, "Jose, Jose, Jose, Jose!" I was really confused but I decided to ignore it until it became unbearable. I stopped what I was doing and went to investigate. Jose was watching this program in Spanish called ¿Que Dice la Gente? It is the same thing as Family Feud but filmed in Miami and all in Spanish. Anyway....they were in the "Fast Money" round and the host was firing off questions. He said, "State a male name starting with the letter J." The guy said, "pass" and continued answering the other questions. That question rolled around again and the guy couldn't think of a name starting with the letter "J" and so it beeped on him and he ran out of time. Want to know why Jose was yelling "Jose, Jose" at the tv screen? Well for two reasons....1) obviously the name Jose starts with a J and it would have been a good answer ....but 2) the guy was so dumb because he himself had a big name tag on that said "Jose." He could'nt think of a name that started with a "J" and his own name was Jose. I laughed so hard that I almost had to get a change of clothes. Jose was furious with the goofball ont he tv! Ha!