Blog Hop Winner and Trip Pix

Not necessarily in that order. LOL Indulge me a bit. Our girly trip was so much fun last week but I'm telling you the drive there was HORENDOUS! Torrential rain which was terrible since the roads are extremely windy (read BARFY, ugh!) for at least 2/3rd of the way up the coast. It took nearly 5 hours instead of 4 and poor Lisa was white knuckled by the time we pulled in but it was nothing a bottle of wine couldn't fix. LOL This was the gorgeous view from the deck the next morning.

It was sunny, but it was COLD! We went to Mendocino for a little shopping and later in the afternoon a huge cloud rolled in and it started to HAIL! This is Lisa, Abbey (Hayley's BFF) and Hayley (Lisa's daughter)

Quite unexpected! Fortunatly the sun reappeared and melted this mess before we had to head back to Irish Beach BUT...

When the sun went down and the girls hit the hot tub it started to snow! Enough that Lisa was able to make a little snowball. No big deal for Lisa since she's originally from Wisconsin, but Hayley (age 14) had never been snowed on before.

And it was STILL THERE the next morning. Okay, nothing major, but this is the Northern CA coast, not Tahoe. I know all you guys back East are ROTFLYAO but it was a BIG DEAL in these parts! Listening to the local radio the night before you'd think they were preparing for the storm of the century!

Well, we didn't get enough shopping so when the sun came out and it all melted away we headed back to Mendocino. So weird that recently I'd been talking about the movie Same Time Next Year and on the way there we past the resort where the film had been made. Unfortunately it has been closed for awhile now and we couldn't get past the gate, but around the bend we pulled off the road and I managed to snap a pic. The large white building is the restaurant and if you look to the left you can just see one of the rooms. They are actually on a bluff but I couldn't get past a fence to get a better view. Bummer!

Sunday was glorious but we sadly had to leave. Even the drive was gorgeous. (and less nauseating) with views like this. We plan on making it an annual event.

So if you've hung in there it's finally time to announce the winner of my BBTB2 Blog Hop Candy (the $30 gift Certificate to Custom Crops) is...

DRUMROLL please...

#40 Audrey Frelx who said...

WooHoo! Congratulations Audrey!

Please email me at dlmundinger (at) yahoo (dot) com to arrange for your prize. Thank you all who participated (and especially those who actually read my little travelogue) and I hope to see you again soon. xxD

BBTB2 Blog Hop Winner and Getaway Pix

Happy Saturday everyone! Thought I'd share a few trip pix from Post Ranch Inn at Big Sur, CA before I reveal what you really came here to see. Although David booked the trip hoping for a storm, I was more than thrilled with the gorgeous weather, especially when we saw the spectacular sunset from the balcony of our room. We stayed in an Upper Coast House with ocean view the entire length of the room (and bathroom). Total privacy so the curtains stayed open.

The property is large and all structures were designed to blend harmoniously with the natural beauty. This is the reception area.

and here is the lower meadow from where I took the pic.

Scattered throughout the property are fabulous sculptures.

Making a wish...a BIG one!

And amazing fountains. This is the entrance to the restaurant.

But here you can see it juts out over the ocean for unobstructed views.

There are hidden places at every turn

I wish I'd thought to bring my suit.

There's an amazing spa and even a yoga yurt. Truly a place to restore both body and soul.

It was hard to say goodbye to such beauty.

and wind our way back along the coast to home. But I appreciate your patience so without further ado, the WINNER of the $30 gift certificate to Custom Crops is...

Number 22 BunnyFreak! who wrote...

WooHoo! Congrats BunnyFreak! Please email me at dlmundinger(at) yahoo(dot) com so I can arrange for your prize. Thanks to everyone who participated in the hop (and put up with my travelogue). Also, it is not lost on me that I have recently reached 1000+ followers. I'm a bit overwhelmed and was afraid to mention it until I was pretty sure the number would stick (LOL) so stay tuned for more blog candy (as soon as I figure out what it will be) xx D

A Little Sneaky Peeky

Sorry, no new project today. I've been a busy gal trying to get all my DT stuff done but I do have a little sneak peek of the inspiration for my BBTB2 card for tomorrow. We're resuming our end of the month Blog Hops so you won't want to miss it. Here are a few pix of the zebra stuff all over our house. Starting with the mosaic zebra in the entryway.

Zebra canape plates

Zebra towels

Zeke, the 6ft tuxedo clad zebra that started it all. (Yes, he dresses up for all major holidays) And BTW, he's on roller skates.

And finally, the zebra rug. Does any of this pique your curiosity?

Happy Thanksgiving and a Recipe

Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate it and a wonderful weekend for the rest of you. I'm doin' the "Happy Dance" because all of my cooking responsibilities are done and it's not even breakfast time! WooHoo!

Thought I'd share the recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna that has become a Thanksgiving tradition for us.

3 lbs. butternut squash, quartered, seeded, peeled and cut into 1/2" cubes (about 9 1/2 cups)
Trust me, if you can find it already cut up at Costco like I do, this goes a whole lot quicker!

3 T vegetable oil

4 cups whole milk

2 T dried rosemary, crumbled

1 T minced garlic

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter

1/4 C all-purpose flour

Nine 7 x 3 1/2" sheets of no boil lasagna noodles (I use Barilla because they're nice and flat)

1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan (about 5 oz)

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 450 and oil 2 large shallow baking pans.

In a large bowl toss squash with oil until well coated and spread in one layer among the pans. Roast squash 10 minutes, then season with salt. Stir squash and roast 10 minutes more, or until tender and beginning to turn golden.

While squash is roasting, in a saucepan bring milk with rosemary to a simmer. Cook milk mixture over low heat 10 minutes and pour through a sieve into a large heatproof 1-qt. pitcher or measuring cup.

In a large heavy saucepan cook garlic in butter over moderately low heat, stirring until softened. Stir in flour and cook the roux, stirring, 3 minutes. Remove pan from heat and add milk in a stream, whisking until smooth. Simmer sauce, whisking occasionally, 10 minutes, or until thickened. Stir in squash and salt and pepper (white if you have it to avoid the black specks if that bothers you) to taste. (I smoosh a bit of the squash into the sauce but leave plenty of chunkiness too.) Sauce may be made 3 days ahead and chilled, it's surface covered with plastic wrap.

Reduce heat to 375 (or preheat if you've made sauce ahead) and butter a 13x9x2 " baking dish.

Pour 1 cup of sauce (it will not cover the bottom completely) and cover with 3 lasagna sheets, making sure they don't touch. Spread half the remaining sauce over the pasta and sprinkle with 1/2 cup Parmesan. Make one more layer in same manner with 3 sheets, remaining sauce and 1/2 cup Parmesan and top with remaining 3 lasagna sheets.

In a bowl with an electric mixer beat cream with salt until it holds soft peaks and spread evenly over lasagna, making sure pasta is completely covered. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup (or more like I do) over cream. Cover dish tightly with foil, tenting slightly to prevent foil from touching cream and bake in middle of oven 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake lasagna 10 minutes more, or until bubbling and golden. Let stand at least 5 minutes before cutting.

Since I've been doing this for awhile, I thought I'd give you my observations and tricks. First of all, no matter how you do it, it takes longer than it says to bake. I've always found that the top layer of lasagna sheets tend to curl up and you get some hard ends sticking up. To avoid this, you can either snap off the corners of the outer noodles before smoothing on the whipped cream, or do like I do and assemble it in advance (minus the whipped cream layer) and cover and refrigerate it overnight. Remove it from the fridge well in advance of baking (or again it will add that much more to the baking time), and let it come to room temperature, then apply the whipped cream layer and bake as directed. I've found the over night thing helps the noodles soften a little before baking and anything I can do in advance, I'm all over it! If the top layer curls, you can either turn them over, or push them down a bit before adding the top layer of cream. (I still bake it longer to get a nice brown crust on top. YUM!)

This is great for a dinner party because of the whole make ahead thing. The recipe says it serves 6 as a main course but it's pretty darn rich. I usually serve it as a side dish. Particularly yumbo with pork, or in the case of Thanksgiving, roast turkey.

Again I have to say thank you to all of my cyber friends for the love and support you give me on a daily basis. I am truly thankful to share this day with you and wish you a wonderful holiday.

Now what do I do? Craft maybe? Who knows, I may just be back with a project. We'll see. xxD

Bah! Humbug! Christmas Carol Challenge and some pix

This week's challenge at Bah!Humbug! is Christmas Carols and I fully intended to do a true Carol theme but when we got home from our anniversary trip my (HUGE) Stampotique order was waiting for me and boy was I excited. I really got a kick out of Oh My Dear by Daniel Torrente so I decided to make him Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Simple card colored with Copics, inked with Distress and cut with Nesties Large Deckle Mega Rectangles. DP is Making Memories.

His shiny red nose is an adhesive bead. His shirt and antler warmers crack me up. (Not to mentiion the checked pants!)

Now you know I love Christmas, but in true Bah! Humbug! fashion (from Ebenezer, not Ann, Max and Irene, LOL), I added a computer generated sentiment inside that I hope doesn't offend. I can think of several people who would find this highly amusing.

And speaking of deer, these guys hung out with us Monday at Cavallo Point.

And as promised, the view of the Golden Gate from our balcony Monday afternoon. It was gorgeous and in the 80's (fairly unusual for Sausalito) and the 1996 Caymus Cabernet was divine!

But it went from that...to THIS the next morning. It had dropped 30 degrees and with the fog and mist, Brrr... No coffee on the balcony, but instead in the window seat by the fireplace. No matter, a good time was had by all! :D