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San Francisco Nutcracker 2013

 

Every girl has a dream and one of my "many" is to spend a magical evening with my daughter at the San Francisco Ballet, specifically The Nutcracker. The plan has been to wait until she reached the age of 9 or 10 - an age she'd realize how special the experience.  This year, she's 9 1/2  and all the stars aligned for us. When I received the brochure by mail in early September I couldn't resist any longer. I figured, if I bought the tickets early enough I could get a good price. (Should have purchased right away) Earlier the better, I realized. I waited until late September- good price but I'm sure we can do better next year if I get right on it.

 

A close friend of mine lives literally one block from the San Francisco War Memorial building. The beautiful Opera House is located at 301 Van Ness Avenue at Grove Street, San Francisco, CA. Close by, Hayes Valley has many trendy restaurants and boutique shopping. This little jewel of a neighborhood used to be an up and coming neighborhood, now its here and it's fabulous. A few of my favorite restaurants include Jardiniere, Absinthe  and Suppenkuche. As luck would have it my friend happened to be traveling back east to visit family and offered his apartment to my daughter and I for the weekend. We both knew this was special and we were so grateful everything worked out the way it did. The weather was fantastic - middle of December early evening was 62 degrees. A magical feeling filled the air. Whimsy whistled in the trees, we giggled with excitement in awe of the grandeur and majesty. A night to remember and the beginning of a new tradition. For information about how to purchase tickets for the San Francisco Ballet click here.

 It was such a gorgeous day we decided to stop off at Baker Beach and take a quick gander.

 

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S.F. Ballet review: A sparkling 'Nutcracker'

Perfect Party Dessert - Cream Cheese Tarts

I love Cream Cheese Tarts! It's the perfect party dessert. No serving ware needed because they're served like a cupcake. Individual sizes make serving and clean up a cinch. This year, for the first time, my daughter was with her father on Christmas Eve. So my dear friend Keri invited me to join her on Christmas Eve for a yummy holiday dinner. The setting was beautiful and she made all my favorite dishes. Every bite was divine. The hit of the party I have to say were the Cream Cheese Tarts. It's a Paula Deen recipe. Click here to get the recipe and enjoy! Thank you Keri! The holidays aren't over y'all - there is still enough time to share these yummy treats with your guests at your New Years Eve party!

Ingredients
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 eggs
12 vanilla wafers
1 (21-ounce) can cherry pie filling or other pie filling ( I think I might use fresh rasberries or fresh blueberries

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place a paper cupcake liner in each cup of muffin pan. Beat cream cheese with a handheld electric mixer until fluffy. Add sugar and vanilla, beating well. Add eggs, 1at a time, beating well after each addition. Lay a vanilla wafer, flat side down, in each muffin cup. Spoon cream cheese mixture over wafers. Bake for 20 minutes. Allow tarts to cool completely. Serve with cherry filling on top, or pie filling of your choice.

 

Please Note **This dessert is not a Gluten Free dessert.

Read more at: here at the Food Network

Last Minute Holiday Cards - Go #Green

Its time to go green!  I haven't sent Christmas cards to my loved ones in the last couple of years - an attempt to lessen my carbon footprint (pun intended). I reduced my self to call and texting holiday cheer. I'm the traditional type so calling and texting just didn't feel like me - my goal was to find something that feels traditional. I found a traditional experience with Paperless Post. My lovely client and friend Pam sent me a greeting recently from this site and I'm hooked. There are so many choices - down to the liner and stamp. If you are ready to go green Paperless Post is fabulous - I love it!

Click here for a preview of the paperless card Brook & I sent this year. I am still collecting emails so feel free to send yours if you didn't receive your paperless holiday card this year. 

http://www.paperlesspost.com/ 

Sending the web's most beautiful invitations and cards is easy and free.

 

Gluten Free Holiday

In the last year I have been, (for the most part) gluten free in my daily diet. I feel better, have more energy and most of all, I am healthier for it. The holidays are a difficult time to stay focused on any type of "healthy" diet. There's just too much temptation. There are ways however to get around the gluten issue. Here is a gluten conversion chart for those recipes that you just can't live without. Or, you have gluten intolerant/allergic   family/guests coming for the holidays. 

Healthy Holiday

For Healths Sake

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Winter Wine Tasting

 Great Gift Ideas - Winter may seem an unlikely time to wine taste, but it's actually a great time to explore new places and check out some of the more popular wineries. During prime season the Wine Country can be crowed and over run with "tourist." Don't get me wrong, I'm a tourist and tourism is welcome and so important to the wine industry. We thrive on it here, but if you have quite a few wineries on your list, Winter is a great time to see more and do more. The biggest bonus of all is having the tasting room all to yourself. The tasting room manager will be so happy to see you! 

 This is also a great time to do some of your Christmas shopping. Wineries have the best gift shops. I recently stopped off at Ferrai Carano and took some pics and grabbed a couple of gifts.

 Other fabulous tasting room gift shops include Chateau St. Jean and Landmark both located on Hwy 12 just outside of Santa Rosa before you reach Kenwood. A beautiful drive lined with 150 year old oak trees.