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Tag Archives: celebration

Another great birthday celebration

01 Saturday Nov 2014

Posted by laurieanichols in postaday, postaday2014, Uncategorized

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birthdays, celebration, food, postaday2014

Our son had another little birthday celebration, this time at my sister’s house and we had an absolutely delicious salad as a first course; it had enoki mushrooms, toasted macadamia nuts, toasted Chia seeds, mesclun lettuce and an asian dressing made with toasted sesame oil, garlic, ginger and more ingredients. My sister is going to email me the recipe, it was out of this world. The next course was an egg, spinach, cheese and bread strata which was excellent and very satisfying. The dessert was an assortment of small pastries from our favorite French patisserie La Canelle.

We had a great time with our niece, nephew, my mother, sister and brother-in-law and Jack. Jack was providing us with entertainment as he was running back and forth from French door to French door chasing those fat, unafraid squirrels in my sister’s backyard. Jack was dying to get at them, but he remained silent in his determined pacing.

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My sister and my husband, each took a photo of our son and our nephew; I think that they make an adorable pair. My niece was a little busy so we missed getting her in the picture, maybe next time.

23 years ago today

30 Thursday Oct 2014

Posted by laurieanichols in postaday, postaday2014, Uncategorized

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birthday, celebration, postaday2014

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23 years ago at 11:41 a.m our son was born. He had a rocky journey into the world, but we were so overjoyed by his arrival. The poor guy had a black eye and a broken collar bone. We were so in love with him.

Fast forward 23 years and I made him veal scallopini with a lemon butter sauce, sautéed green beans with garlic and we bought him an ice cream cake which he isn’t eating but I am!

My birthday celebration in New York

10 Sunday Aug 2014

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celebration, dinner, food, postaday2014

I had a fantastic weekend celebrating my birthday with my mother, my sister and her family and of course my husband and our children. We went to my sister’s and I just love spending time with my niece and nephew, they are growing so fast. Jack was with us and he is always a hit with them; he loves running and jumping with them and they love hugging him.

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I took just a few pictures because I was busy speaking with my sister about what is going on with her and I was joking and teasing my niece and nephew, but we ate very, very well. My sister made this tremendous gaspacho, a cold soup of tomato richly flavored with garlic, I made a pig of myself because I boldly stated that I would finish the rest of the container and I did. It was absolutely delicious; the tomato wasn’t acidic or bland, it was exactly what a ripe tomato tastes like, only enhanced with liberal use of raw garlic. It was so good that I cleaned my soup bowl with my bread.

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The next item on the menu was a light salad of greens and tomatoes topped with poached lobster and blanched new potatoes, dressed with my mother’s vinaigrette. It was very good, slightly decadent, but offset with the clean flavors of the greens and tomatoes.

What I was really waiting for was dessert; there was a Saint Honore which is the cream puff and pastry cream French idea of confectioner’s heaven, there were chocolate eclairs, my personal favorite and little cheesecakes.
Dessert was delightful and followed by coffee, really hit the spot. It was a wonderful family get together.

Happy Mother’s Day

11 Sunday May 2014

Posted by laurieanichols in postaday, postaday2014, Uncategorized

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celebration, Mother's day, postaday2014

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This is my mother and this picture just happens to be one of my favorite of the both of us together and it dovetails nicely as a follow up to the post that I wrote yesterday. I wrote about how wonderful the day had been and that it reminded me of days past when my mother and I would spend a lot of time together; going to the movies, talking, going food shopping together and other stuff. Yesterday was a nice present for me as well because Mother’s Day isn’t only about celebrating our mother’s but it is about the celebration of the relationship between the child and its mother. I was lucky enough to get my celebration with my mother and some wonderful alone time with her to boot. There definitely isn’t any other bond quite like the bond between mother and child; I am lucky to still have mine.

So Happy Mother’s Day everyone!

Happy Birthday

07 Wednesday Aug 2013

Posted by laurieanichols in postaday, postaday2013, Uncategorized

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birthday, celebration, postaday2013

Happy Birthday to me, I am now technically 46 years old. I have been telling everyone that I was 46 since the start of the year, so I have been 46 for a long time. But today it is official. Am I happy about it? Well it is better than the alternative but I wouldn’t mind staying in this year for a good solid stretch of time. The clock has sped up so quickly that it has my head spinning. My innards aren’t matching my outwards. It isn’t so bad now, but I know that the outside will continue to droop, sag and wrinkle. The inside is still all sparkly, I am going to have to figure out how to get my inner sparkle to blind everyone to what the outside is starting to look like.

Happy birthday to me.:)

Blowing out candles

04 Sunday Aug 2013

Posted by laurieanichols in postaday, postaday2013, Uncategorized

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birthdays, candles, celebration, family, postaday2013

I am way too tired these days, first I forgot to take my own pictures at my best friend’s wedding vow renewal and now I forgot to take pictures of blowing out candles and the birthday ice cream cake. My sister and my niece and nephew came up this evening to both celebrate my hubby’s birthday, it was yesterday, and my birthday, which is on Wednesday the 7th, and to take my baby girl along to the nearby 6 Flags Amusement Park so that my niece and nephew have a more contemporary roller coaster partner to accompany them on the rides.

I made a soupe aux poissons (fish soup) with croutons, a garlic mayonnaise and grated Swiss cheese on top, which everyone had and then we attacked the ice cream cake. I really enjoyed the interaction between my two old children and my niece and nephew because they are at the really fun ages of 10 and 6 where the imagination runs wild and every joke is a surprise. My two got a kick at trying to apply logic to what the younger ones were saying and I just sat back and laughed and laughed.

We were also getting to listen to my niece trying to convince my sister as to why they needed a dog. I have to say that Jack wasn’t on his best behavior. All these young people riled him up into a much more energetic dog than usual. He was jumping a bit on my nephew who doesn’t like it one bit so I kept having to remind Jack of his manners. My niece took Jack for a walk with my sister and I and she was pointing out at she would do this everyday if she had a dog. My poor sister, I remember not quite being on board for a dog, but that was a long, long time ago and a few dogs before Jack, so I can empathize with her hesitancy. It will all work out for the best for them and the potential dog in the near or far future.

I’m so happy that they are here.

Happy Father’s Day to all

16 Sunday Jun 2013

Posted by laurieanichols in postaday, postaday2013, Uncategorized

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celebration, Father's day, missing a parent, postaday2013

Happy Father’s Day to everyone. We are celebrating Father’s Day with a Korean barbecue at home. We are very lucky to have a few Asian markets that carry Korean products and their cuts of meat so that we can have what is called Bulgogi, thinly sliced cuts of beef marinated and grilled on the barbecue. My hubby loves it and so do we, it’s also especially fun to eat, you wrap the beef in lettuce and dip it into an Asian dipping sauce. It is yummy. My hubby loves opening presents so that is going to be fun and we didn’t forget his cards and cards are just as important as presents. I hope that he really enjoys his Father’s Day, he deserves a wonderful day.

I miss my own father, it has been ten years since he passed and it gets easier but I always miss him and he is never gone from my heart or my mind. Thank goodness for memories and pictures, I keep him alive with those. It still hits me every now and then, the pain but it isn’t as acute, more dull and achy and deep.

I still love celebrating with and for my hubby, I send all the celebratory feelings up into the cosmos where my father’s essence is swirling around, he is part of the energy that surrounds us all and that makes me feel better.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

14 Thursday Feb 2013

Posted by laurieanichols in postaday, postaday2013, Uncategorized

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cards, celebration, desserts, Love, postaday2013, presents, Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! My hubby spoiled me this Valentine’s Day with not one, but three cards, a bounty of ice cream and a truly beautiful orchid. What amazed me was just how strong my hubby’s ESP actually is; I never think, when I am out and about running errands, that I would like an indoor plant or flowers, yet yesterday, I was in a store and I saw a display of orchids and I thought to myself “I would really like one” and I kept that to myself and went about my day. My hubby comes home not only with ice cream and cards but with an orchid.

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I hope that I do better with this one than the other one that I had several years ago; I couldn’t get it to ever bloom again. My cousin Francoise is a gifted orchid care giver and this past summer, she gave me some tips; leave the orchid alone and DO NOT OVERWATER, otherwise enjoy its beauty.

On my end, I prepared a few of my hubby’s favorites; a tomato, roasted red pepper, fresh mozzarella and basil salad, cream puffs filled with vanilla pastry cream and a big bowl of creme Chantilly. I also found a card that expressed exactly what I wanted to say which is fairly rare; I usually go for the humorous card because the other ones are too sweet, this year I found the perfect card.

I was thinking of writing a love letter so I googled the origins of Saint Valentine and what I found took the wind out of my inspiration. The origins are murky but all in all there is the martyrdom of Saint Valentine, killed by the Romans for defying their edicts and the timing of mid February revolves around the Pagan festival of fertility where a goat was sacrificed and its hide was cut up into strips, dipped in its blood and the women of the village were hit with the bloody strips thereby helping their fertility. I prefer the commercialization of today focused on card exchanging, candy and flowers; less blood and guts.

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A brand new holiday

30 Tuesday Oct 2012

Posted by laurieanichols in postaday, postaday2012

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Tags

celebration, holiday, postaday2012, retirement

  • New Holiday
  • Retirement

    Retirement day. I think that we should, as a reward for a lifetime of hard work, establish a personal day in the year of your retirement and make it a holiday for those who are near and dear to you, to celebrate your life’s achievements and christen your first official day of retirement.

The family celebration at Bordeaux

28 Saturday Jul 2012

Posted by laurieanichols in postaday, postaday2012

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celebration, family get together, postaday2012, reunion

The long a waited day had finally arrived, Saturday July 27th, the day that my Tonton and Tantine celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary. When we arrived with Michelle and Frank, who are wonderful hosts, they immediately offered to put us up for Friday night and Saturday night, we, meaning the baby girl and I were given such a warm welcome back to France. All my aunts and uncles, cousins and second cousins came up to the baby girl, so happy to see her and exclaiming wondrously over how much she had changed and grown and how lovely she is. I know that it was a little overwhelming for her, we are talking about 50 people, all family, coming at you with kisses and questions in French which are to be answered in French. At first the baby girl was timid but by the end of the night she was speaking to several of her cousins in French and doing a wonderful job with having herself understood. I was just plain old happy and I felt as if I had come back home after a long voyage. I know that my home is in Blandford but Bordeaux is my other home, a place where I learned how to hunt lizards with sling shots and bow and arrows with my favorite cousin Leon, who also taught me how to find the best places to hide and other trouble making things to do. Leon was actually put out that I hadn’t written about him earlier, he was miffed that I hadn’t told  my audience how much he had influenced me and taught me. I had a great laugh at that one, if there was only way to describe Leon, it would be that he is extremely witty.  I laughed and laughed all day and evening with my cousins as we reminded each other of all the crazy stunts and capers that we pulled on each other and even together. One who I spent a long time reminiscing and laughing with is Didier, he is the one that you always want to be seated next to, guaranteed laughter near his seat, which is why you had better call it quickly. We also spent a lot of time missing all the wonderful times we had at my other cousin’s house, Martine, and how she took care of us, cooked for us and she was a wonderful cook, and took care of us. Francoise and Nicolas along with the two girls and their newly created families were not far, so I took as many opportunities to sit next to Francoise and the babies, I love babies you know. It was so great to just look around and see my family who I have missed for so long.

The food was excellent, the celebration was catered and the meal tasted as if it had come from a three star restaurant. While we were milling around having drinks, the wait staff walked around offering hors d’ouevres such as smoked salmon canapés, lamb, goat cheese and red pepper canapés and coppa on a olive sable canapés. When they were finally able to herd us to the table, the first course was a terrine of salmon mousses with scallops and topped with lobster and caviar. It was the right amount, very refined and delicious. The second course was my favorite, a breast of duck topped with hot foie gras and drizzled with a rich reduction, perfection in my book. There was the cheese course and then dessert. That is always the fun part, we had a chocolate mousse cake filled intermittently with fresh raspberries. It was so good.

I am exhausted now and once again, this day was a phenomenal day. I am so happy to be with family.

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