Flowers for a Very Special Lady: Part 2

On the day of the party, I woke up extra early to make the rest of the floral arrangements. First things first was the corsage. I was pretty proud of my work but cause I was in such a hurry, I forgot to take a picture of it. I thought I was pretty ingenious on hiding a little bruised spot on one of petal with the little sprigs of pink flowers. But I have no picture to show for it. Oh well, I am sure something will come up later..I hope.

The other surprise that I wanted to do for the party was to wrap a small little flower and place it on each table setting. After an hour of work and only 10 made....I was forced to scrap the idea. The party was expecting 40 table settings so even putting a flower on every other setting was going to create permanent cramping in my fingers. Why did I not take a picture!?!?!?!?

So the only picture that I did take was the left over bouquet I took home. I would have loved to keep it for myself but I thought it be nice to bring it for work. I thought it be a nice surprise for all the people at work that were not able to attend the party.





I added all the left over flowers I had at home and placed it in a glass square vase. I didn't want to show the stems so it used big leaves and covered the side of the vase. It was a hit at work and really appreciate all the compliments. Yahhhh! I can't wait till I get to do another project next week. I will keep you posted and hopefully I will remember to be a shutter bug.

Flowers for a Very Special Lady

It's going to be a very special lunch tomorrow because it's my coworker's retirement party. I am extra excited since I was asked to make the arrangements. I love it when there is no budget limit.
Here are some before and after pics.

Before





After






I hope everyone likes the centrepieces cause I do. Besides the table arrangements, we wanted to give her a really nice bouquet. Unfortunately, the orchids were not the best quality but I think it still looks pretty fancy.







Apologies for the pic quality. After working on flowers for 6 hrs straight, only a camera on a tripod can take away pre-party jitters.

Now you good little children go to sleep cause I have more flower surprises on the next one blog. Until tomorrow morning.

Too Cute for Words

I am going to hit the road this weekend for a girlfriend's baby shower. I am really excited because she has no idea I am coming so it will be a nice surprise as I have not seen her for over 2 years.

So her little addition is the lucky one who will get that quilt I made a few months back. Tell me the gift bag is the cutest you have seen in awhile. I was going to go for a simple color but I was convinced otherwise.




I was trying to warp the blanket with tissue paper like how fancy clothing stores wrap your purchases. I didn't have a cute sticker so I used the gift bag tag. I know, I know, too cute for words. Admit it, I can hear all the aww's. ( Silent or out loud)


There goes the kitty blanket.


Final presentation. I better get going. I have to be there in 2 1/2 hours. Better go pee before I hit the road.

New Quilt, New Obsession

It's been a while I know, I know. But I have something new to show you all. I have started a new quilt which I had hope to have it done by beginning of May. As you can see, I was not exactly very successful with that idea.


I always thought the look of Chinese Lattice was really nice as the different colors almost gives it a stained glass look.

Initially, I did not intend to make another pink quilt but the fabric available at the store did not have anything I liked. There was a lot of humming and hawing as we even drove to Sherwood Park and every Walmart in town. That's right people, fabric at Walmart is not bad. Sometimes I think the fabric is just as good, if not even better then the ones at the fabric store.

There is another color that will be added later to the border but I won't say which. You can let me know later if you like the color scheme. WooHoo, I am really excited about this quilt because this quilt is much harder (many, many pieces). There still are no curved pieces but when each block has more then 20 pieces, I think it's a bit of a stepping stone.

Mom Said Never to Play With Your Food

I have been guilty of playing with my food but who can blame me...rice day in and day out makes meal time boring. I have to admit, I am still guilty of playing with my food but now I have grown-up excuses.

So you want to rid yourself of a whiny and undisciplined child/adult from the dinner table? A Japanese company named Bandai has come up with a way to make meal time amusing. According to Tokyomango, the cooked noodles come out of the house at the top then slides down to a strainer at the bottom. You take your share of noodles and watch for the next batch of noodles come sliding down.


I am not sure if this slide is available in North America yet but Bandai is a huge toy company in Japan that I am sure you can buy online.

Do you think I can get fish to come down the slide and into Agent Chorizo's mouth without hearing some whining?


Mme. Chorizo

Edmonton Library Book Sale

This weekend the Edmonton Public Library is having a book sale. This is my kind of treasure hunt. Hardcover books, dvds, and cds are only $1 while paperbacks are 50 cents. For the steal, bring your own box (or take one at the sale) and all book items in the box is $10. You would think that they try to get rid of everything as soon as possible but they make it so easy for us late risers to still find something useful. Not all the books are layed out at once. So tomorrow they will have another batch of material. Throughout the day, more new material will be layed out so once around the tables may not be enough.

You would think it is only old and tattered books but you be amazed at what is there. I really like the Company's Coming series. There are a lot of baking recipes in there so I can't wait to try them out. I am hoping when I go again tomorrow I will find her slow cooker recipe book.


We have a pretty big aquarium already but we are hoping to plant real plants later on and these should come in handy.


Lois Hole and her books makes any enthusiastic novice gardener believe he/she can grow the next Canadian Tulip Festival in the backyard. I have to admit I was one 2 years ago. I have nothing to show for it but I still get a gold star for my effort...no?


I do have to warn possible treasure hunters that the sale in on the 3rd level of the underground parkade. It is dark and dingy and frankly I find it really strange to have a book sale in a parkade.

For you that are really good at treasure hunting, bring a cart or something to pull your finds. When we were crossing the street, there was this lady hauling this box of books. It was kind of funny to watch her race across the street then resting the box on the bike stand and hopefully make it back to her car. She was so cute with her "I got a great deal" smile on her face.

Mme. Chorizo

Time For More Funnies

This week's funny flavor of the week is...RICK MERCER. Either watch him on CBC on Tuesdays or go to his site RickMercer.com. My favorite is to look through the photo challange that he has set up for all you fellow Canadians. You have to be a litte bit computer savy as you would have to cut and paste parts of photos to make one hilarious picture. The whole idea is to take any picture of your choice and attach the faces of your favorite politician(s) to it. Unfortunately I can not show you any of the pictures from his site. Be amazed of what talent lies in your local community.


Mme. Chorizo

It's Like Riding a Bike, You Never Really Forget..Or Do you?

We got out to a near by ski hill tonight as part of a fundraiser for breast cancer. It was the perfect night as it was light out till about 8:00 pm and only a light breeze to cool ourselves. Of course, being the end of ski season, the snow was more like ice in certain parts. Nonetheless, it was fun, fun, fun.

As you can see, I was too good for my ski poles, which didn't matter much cause someone stole them. We had a really nice and patient ski instructor. She really got a good work out since she would ski up the hill to help the next contestant down the bunny hill. Then again, she is a ski instructor.

Right before we all lined up like good little children before the tow rope, some skier came crashing into me. Thankfully he stopped just in time. He was alright, everyone was alright. I kind of avoided him like the plague when I saw him in line for food.

There was a BBQ going on but unfortunately there were only hamburgers. As much as a nice juicy burger fills a hungry stomach, nothing (in my opinion) beats processed meat shaped like a log. Something about how ketchup and mustard (2:1 ratio) complements the mystery meat with a stale bun. I could go on about hot dogs all night long.

Agent Chorizo and I are wanting to get more into skiing next season. As we were roughly adding up how much it would cost for ski equipment, snowboarding was looking more reasonable. I think I will aim to be crowned bunny hill queen next season. All my subjects will be able to feast on delicious hot dogs after my coronation. Wait for your coronation invitation in the mail next year.

Mme. Chorizo

From Dancing Queen to Missing Your Boss at Work to the Future Sophia Coppola

Couldn't sleep the other night so YouTube was keeping me company.

Found this video of a guy marshaling fighter jets on the tarmac who was also practicing for his dance recital.

Obviously it was a slow day at work.

Learn what happens when the boss is away

When the government puts athlete funding support last on the list, you still have find a way to practice

Future Oscar winning director

Love how she directed the cameraman to pan down on the feet so she can emphasize the kittens relieving. And if you find a related video from the same girl, she will summarize for you what WW2 was about.

Mme. Chorizo

The Magic of Saccharomyces Cerevisiae

I challenge you to say the scientific name of baking yeast 3 times really fast. As you can guess, I was in the kitchen making a mess and racket trying to perfect my skills as a novice baker. I prefer baking breads and buns but not pies or tarts cause frankly, no one in my family would eat it. Love the smell of fresh baked bread and how nice and warm the kitchen gets when the oven is on.

So tonight, I tried my hand at 2 different types of bread. Cinnamon raisin and feta cheese. I didn't want to make them into loaves cause I wanted the convenience of grab 'n' go on my way to work. So buns it was. I have to admit that I get lazy and don't necessarily measure ingredients to the "T". I'm not too worried since Agent Chorizo seems to like it. The last few times when I baked, the bread would dry up within a day or so. So this time I tried not to add as much flour. I will let you know in a couple of days how this plan worked.

Cinnamon Raisin Buns



Agent Chorizo liked the cinnamon buns better then the feta buns cause they has just enough sweetness to them that they could be eaten without covering it up with some overly sweet jam. He also liked that the cinnamon did not overpower the whole thing.

Feta Cheese Buns



The recipe called for olives and rosemary but I did not have either items. So I scrapped the olives all together and guess what the only spice I found in the pantry, "Mrs. Dash". That's right, the little bottle of spices used as a flavor enhancer for those trying to cut back on their salt intake was my secret ingredient. I figure this was going to a savory bun with the feta cheese so why won't Mrs. Dash work on this bun recipe. I checked the ingredients of Mrs. Dash and it does has some rosemary in it. I liked this bun better then the cinnamon bun cause I thought this would be a perfect pair to a creamy pasta dish. I will have to convince Agent Chorizo that it's his turn to cook tomorrow.


Mme. Chorizo