Cascarones

Cascarones. Wait what are cascarones, you ask?

Cascarones (ka-ska-ron-es) are colorful confetti-filled eggshells that are cracked over the heads of friends and family at celebrations. Cascarones are very popular in the southwest, especially in South Texas. The word is derived from the Spanish word "cascara" which means shell.  Gracieseggies shop announcement.


I discovered Gracieseggies on Etsy. I hearted her shop & guess what? I was her 600th heart. She offered to send me 2 dozen eggs of my choice! Free! WOW! I was so excited to get them. This is how they arrived. Boo.

I was really nervous to open the box. I thought everything would be destroyed. I held my breath . . .

. . . grass? Maybe everything will be okay.

The bonus eggs and a few of the ones I requested were broken. But I still had almost 2 dozen eggs. Yay! 

These eggs really seem too cute to break, so I got to have a little party in my box, see what they were filled with, and now I can keep the unbroken ones to celebrate a special occasion.


I couldn't resist giving the unbroken eggs their own photo shoot. After all, these are two of my favorite colors.

Nothing says FALL like FOOTBALL

Our brother coaches high school football, so while we were in San Diego for a wedding we took advantage of the opportunity to watch his team. Check out that gorgeous field!

I attended Monte Vista High School, and sitting in those bleachers brought back lots of memories. Times when I used to watch my friends and classmates playing on the field, then my brother playing and now as the defensive coordinator for the team. I saw a couple of guys I went to high school with at the game and instantly felt like the shy, insignificant person I was in high school. Our band and cheerleaders were MUCH better back in the day, but the players played hard and won! It was fun and now I'm ready for crisp weather and everything autumn.

Halloween has found its way to FlyAKite!

Our SPOOKY new designs just arrived in time for Halloween!

Check them out at FlyAKite!

Desperation Treats

These are soooooo yummy! They're really not called "Desperation Treats." But its Sunday night, and I'm missing ingredients to make anything I normally would. I typed the ingredients I did have into google and picked the recipe that had the most of them. Its a fun game. You should try it! And then I improvised the rest. First I'll give you the real recipe, and then I'll give you my adjustments. For the record, I think I'll always make it the wrong way.

CHOCOLATE CHUNK GRAHAM BLONDIES

4 oz. unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 large egg

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup fine graham cracker crumbs

1 cup semisweet chocolate chunks or morsels

1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, optional

Grease and flour 8-inch or 9-inch square baking pan. Heat oven to 350.

Beat melted butter and brown sugar together until smooth; beat in egg and vanilla extract until well blended.

Slowly beat in the flour and salt until blended, then stir in graham cracker crumbs, chocolate chunks, and nuts if using.

Press into pan. Bake 20-25 minutes, or until set in the center but still soft. Do not overbake.

Things I did to make them better:

I didn't have enough brown sugar, and it was dry. After I picked out the hardened chunks I added enough granulated sugar to make 1 cup.

I only had not quite 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs. That's it. That's all I used. But the correct amount would probably taste even better.

The only chocolate I had was one of those giant bigger than a king size Special Dark Hershey's chocolate bars that had started to turn at one end. I chopped the usable chocolate into chunks.

I didn't have any nuts, I added 1/2 cup shredded coconut.

And I also added 1/2 cup miniature marshmallows.

You can see where the marshmallows bubbled up through. I guess the moral of the story is you really can't ruin these cookie bar treats. I was a little worried about all the flavors, but they make it delicious. These bars are especially scrumptious warm. They would be fantastic a la mode. I have no ice cream either.

Don't be surprised if after you make these they completely disappear!

Its Our Etsy-versary!!!

Its our 3 year etsy-versary! We're very excited! Come on over and help us celebrate. www.sylvialouise.etsy.com We're liquidating all handbags and messengers to make way for new stuff! Every bag is $100 or less!!! Most in the $50-$75 range! WOW! Can you believe it? Sale runs August 27-31. HURRY!

Come and visit. Get something for yourself. Start your Christmas shopping early. Don't miss out on this amazing opportunity to own your very own one-of-a-kind Sylvia-Louise Handbag!

www.sylvialouise.etsy.com

Graveyard Stalking

Graveyard stalking is our new favorite thing to do. This time D.D. & I visited Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills Cemetery. We went prepared with water, but it was still HOT! And there was quite a bit of incense burning going on. It smelled like moxa (YUCK!) and reminded me of my days of going to the accupuncturist. We were more successful at finding famous people than our first attempt. see earlier post here.

The first person we found: David Carradine

martial arts actor.

Stan Laurel: half of Laurel & Hardy comedy duo.

Borden Chase: Hollywood screenwriter.

Parley Edward Baer: film, tv & radio actor.

Mary Ayers: the first female undercover detective in NYC.

Very cool!

Telly Savalas: film & tv actor.

(Saved the best for last!)

We missed Bette Davis, one of my all time favorite actresses, somewhere. She should have been relatively easy to find. Maybe it was the heat stroke. There was a gorgeous little brick chapel on the grounds I couldn't stop taking pictures of.

We also visited Meso-America. There was an exhibit of replica relics. It made for some great photos.

And we made a lizard friend!

Lobster Feast

Last week we were invited to an exclusive lobster dinner. It's an annual event. Invitations are coveted. Not everyone gets invited back. It was our first time. I don't like seafood of any kind, but the dinner was super fun! The servers (the host's children) were amazing---probably the best I've ever had! And gourmet hor d'oeuvres before we even sat down.

The back yard was decorated to the hilt.

All the lobster de-shelling equipment.

Message in a bottle place cards. 

Lobsters flown in from New England.

Charlie giving his dinner a kiss!

My lobster before I donated it to my table neighbor, Lee. He ate two & part of another.

D.D. & college basketball coaching great Jim Harrick.

By the time we ate, it was dark outside, which was a blessing because then we couldn't see all the lobster being flung around by everyone trying to get them out of their shells. 

Thank you Boyacks! Hopefully we'll garner an invitation next year!