FAVORITE THINGS: COOKING ON THE FRONT BURNER

Hey, everyone! Welcome back to Favorite Things! 

Today's guest blogger is Deb, from Cooking on the Front Burner.

Deb is a top-notch food blogger, 

who I had the good fortune to "meet" 

when I started co-hosting Best of the Weekend.

Although she no longer co-hosts the party, 

we have remained blogger friends.

Deb's posts never fail to make my mouth water.......

from appetizers to cocktails; soups to salad dressings;

entrees to desserts............

her top-notch food photography will have you filling your Pinterest boards 

with dozens of delectable recipes!

 

Let's give Deb a great big welcome!

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woollen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Hmm, sorry but no! Ok, all joking aside, I'm Deb from Cooking on the Front Burner and today I'm sharing some of my favorite things.  I want to thank Amy for inviting me to her fun blog - we first met when we hosted a link party together and have stayed in touch since.  She is also my go-to person when I'm looking for things to do and places to eat when in NYC.  NYC is one of my favorite places.  I currently live in Minnesota but originally from upstate New York.  Back then I really didn't go to the city as much as I wanted but in the last couple of years, I've made a couple trips and even planning a trip this December to see the sites at Christmas.  While in NYC, I love going to plays and especially musicals - I highly recommend Kinky Boots - it was fantastic!  Next up The Lion King and Rockettes!  Here are some of the favorite things I have done in the last 2 trips:

And speaking of travel, my favorite vacations are at the beach.  I just love listening to the sound of the ocean, watching the waves, being on the sand (with a drink!), toes in the sand and relaxing.  We are lucky to have family who live in FL so that is a yearly trip along with occasional trips to Cabo or Puerto Vallarta.

So one of my favorite things to do when I'm at the beach is to read.  I'm just saying if I were you, I would buy some stock at Amazon!  I'm such an avid reader that I'm frequently downloading books.  I like a variety and recently have just finished Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult.  I also loved the Cedar Cove series by Debbie Macomber.  My favorite book club read was The Kitchen Daughter and love this quote:

"I want them to bite into a cookie and think of me and smile.  Food is love.  Food has a power.  I knew it in my mind, but now I know it in my heart."

Let's talk favorite beverages - a must for me in the morning is coffee and this is my favorite coffee cup at home.... everyone here knows it's hands off!

Favorite cocktail- a Cosmopolitan

While I saved this for last, it's number one FAVORITE !  My family.  I'm blessed to have been married 33 years to John (referred to The DIY Guy in my posts), 2 daughters, 1 son-in-law and 2 grandchildren.

Thanks for having me Amy!  I  had fun thinking of my favorite things!

Please stop by to visit Deb at Cooking on the Front Burner. 

I dare you to not pin at least one of her scrumptious recipes!

 

Favorite Things will take a brief hiatus until after the holidays,

since everyone is so busy.

 

FAVORITE THINGS: MUSINGS OF A VINTAGE JUNKIE

Hello, friends! It's time for another installment of Favorite Things!

My guest blogger is AnnMarie, from Musings of a Vintage Junkie.

AnnMarie is from upstate New York, and, as her blog title implies,

she's crazy about all things vintage.

When she isn't out thrifting (which is often!), 

she's writing about her other passions.......

baking, decorating, gardening and family. 

Here's AnnMarie!

 

 

I was so excited when Amy asked me to write a post for her Favorite Things feature on her blog.

I have thought about writing my own favorite things post for a long time and just haven't till now. When I think about what my favorite things are there are too many to list! So, I will focus on the Fall season, which is my favorite, and things in my every day life right now.

These are a few of my favorite things......

The first thing in the morning, I look forward to brewing my favorite Starbucks Blonde in my percolator and fill my favorite orange coffee cup up to the brim! It holds 4 cups, but we know that those are small china coffee cup sizes, right? It is how I start every day.

Not that I indulge in the morning mind you, but right now I am craving these two candies. Halloween mallocremes and spiced dots. We found a vendor at a festival with a huge table with bags and bags of all kinds of old fashioned penny candies so I had to get some. I told my husband that we had to get them because my grandchildren love them :-)

Like everyone else, I just love anything pumpkin right now. Not all the crazy things they are adding pumpkin spice to, just pumpkins....all shapes, all sizes, to eat, or to decorate with. 

Our local grocery store makes the most delicious butter cookies. They are my favorites. Oh look! They are pumpkins!

I am loving my new mercury glass pumpkin all lit up at night. What a treasure I found in this!



I just love to see pumpkins at roadside stands. This is over the top pumpkin picking!

I have a thing for leaves and they are a favorite year round but especially in the Fall. When I see the red leaves in perfect condition on the ground I have to pick them up. I preserve them by putting them between two pieces of wax paper and ironing them. They will stay flat and pretty all season.

I just scatter them around my Fall décor....

My favorite past time is to be home during the day and just take my time and putter around the house. I love being in my kitchen in the morning, baking something delicious for breakfast or dessert. On the counter are Banana Chocolate Chip bread and two Zucchini breads.

A favorite way to spend a day out is with my Mom Jane. She is a dear friend that I met at work, when we both worked! Over the years she became like a mom to me and because there is so much evidence that God brought us together, she is my spiritual Mom. When we are out people think we are really mother and daughter. Here we are celebrating her 78th birthday.

One of the comforts in my life, and so a favorite thing, is to sit in the living room with my husband and son after dinner, the kitties nearby, all of us on our own laptop or Ipod watching David Muir on ABC Nightly News. No, the kitties don't have their own laptops!

It would be awful to have a favorite things post without mentioning THRIFTING. Yes, I do it constantly. Every day I am on the lookout for something to pick and fix, or paint and resell. I love the hunt and I love when something sells, meaning someone else loved it too, which makes it all worth it.

Here is my back room filled with stuff waiting for me to list, or repaint, or fix up to sell. I had to stand in the doorway to take the picture because I can barely get in the room. Yeah, I really need to organize it all, NOT one of my favorite things!

One last favorite thing! When my daughters, grandkids, and sisters get together for a great selfie!

Thanks Amy! It was fun thinking about and writing about a few of my favorite things.



Thank you, AnnMarie! 

I love the tip about preserving fall leaves......

I'm going to give that a try!

Please stop over at Ann Marie's blog to say hello,

and also, check out her Etsy shop, which is filled with vintage collectibles! 

Favorite Things will return on November 13th!





Favorite Things: Hello Little Home

  Hello, everyone! Welcome to Favorite Things!

My guest blogger today is Ginnie, from Hello Little Home. 

I actually had the good fortune of meeting Ginnie back when she lived in New York City.

If she looks familiar to you, that's because she is one of the co-hosts 

every Friday at our Best of the Weekend link party.

Or, perhaps you've seen her talking about home remedies on the Meredith Vieira Show!

Ginnie's blog is chock-full of DIY projects, recipes, home decor, beauty...and more!

Take it away, Ginnie!

 

Hi, everyone! I'm Ginnie from Hello Little Home, and I'm so excited to be here for this fun series. Thanks for the invitation, Amy! Ever since I got Amy's invite, the song "My Favorite Things" has been running through my head nonstop. With the Sound of Music as my backdrop, I had fun coming up with a list of my favorite things. It was harder than I thought it would be (I have too many), and I'm worried that I missed something ... ha! Here are a few of my favorites in no particular order.

California My husband and I have moved around a lot for his job. We're both from the Midwest originally, although he grew up in Florida. We lived in Chicago when we first got married, but when we had the opportunity, we moved to San Francisco. It took me a while to adjust, but I fell in love with San Francisco and California. From the laid back atmosphere to the amazing food and the endless travel opportunities (Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, wine country, Big Sur, San Diego, and so much more), there's just so much to love! After living in San Francisco for about six years, we moved to NYC for three years, and now we are in Dallas. Although I loved living in New York and miss it daily, California has my heart, and I can't wait to move back someday!

 

A beautiful view of San Francisco's Sunset neighborhood with the Marin Headlands in the distance.

Ice Coffee I've never been a big coffee drinker (I'm all about tea), but somehow while living in NYC, I got hooked on iced coffee. I like to blame it on an awful job combined with a horribly hot and humid summer. That daily iced coffee was what got me through most mornings. Thankfully, that job is simply a bad memory now, but I still love my morning iced coffee come rain, shine, or snowstorm!

Fall The minute the weather cools off, you can find me in a cozy sweater and boots running through the leaves. It's finally starting to cool off here in Dallas (a little), and I couldn't be more excited. I predict lots of hot cocoa in my near future. One of my favorite things about living in New York was spending crisp fall days exploring Central Park. We lived a couple blocks away and whenever I needed a pick me up, I'd go for a walk through the park.

 

Decorating There are few things I enjoy more than moving around furniture, perusing my favorite home decor stores, websites, and magazines, or simply making a few small changes here and there. My love of decorating was actually one of the reasons I started my blog. I had just moved into a tiny NYC apartment and wanted a place share some of tips for living in a small space (along with recipes, crafts, and more). Now that I'm living in Dallas, I have a whole other set of challenges. My apartment is much larger, but I still have all my NYC furniture! It's coming along very slowly, but surely, and I'm enjoying every step of the process. 

 
My tiny NYC living room.

Cooking and Trying New Foods Ever since I was a kid, I've loved cooking and experimenting with recipes. My mom was a wonderful cook, and thankfully, she taught me all the basics. Now that I have a blog, I love sharing my family favorites, as well as new recipes that I create. I also enjoy going out to eat and trying different foods. It's one of my greatest pleasures, and I love returning home to recreate those memorable meals. 

Celebrating my birthday at one of my fave restaurants, Enoteca Maria on Staten Island in NYC. They give you a bottle of Sambuca to enjoy with your espresso!

Wine Give me a glass of wine, and you'll have a very happy lady on your hands! I like everything from crisp whites to powerful reds, although my favorite is probably Sauvignon Blanc. I've always enjoyed wine, but my love for it really started when my husband and I lived in San Francisco. We drove up to Sonoma frequently to visit our favorite wineries and to try new ones, too. I can't think of anything more relaxing than a day spent sampling wines while taking in the beautiful scenery. 

 
 A beautiful winery in Southern California.

Photography I was an art major in college and photography was my favorite subject. This was before digital cameras were so ubiquitous (just writing that makes me feel old!), so I learned using an old-fashioned film camera ... remember those? My dad even built me a darkroom in our basement. These days, you can find me snapping pics wherever I go with my camera phone, and of course, taking photos for my blog (I use my trusy DSLR for that). I feel like I'm still learning, because the still photos I take for my blog (interiors, food, DIY projects, etc.) are so different from photographing people and landscapes. It's a fun challenge trying to improve my skills. 

 
My husband caught me taking photos at Versailles.

Traveling If I could travel full-time, I would. I'm not particular either. I love everything from short afternoon drives through sleepy towns to big trips to more exciting locales. Although I have a soft spot for Mexico, my all-time favorite trip was to Paris. My husband and I rented an apartment in Montmartre and had a wonderful time exploring the city. I loved returning home to "our neighborhood" every night and visting our favorite local places to shop for pastries, cheese, wine, and more. When can I go back? 

 
Walking up a hill in Montmartre toward Sacré-Coeur Basilica.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my favorite things! Thanks again, Amy, for having me! 

Please stop over at Hello Little Home and say hi to Ginnie!

 Favorite Things will be back on Sunday, October 30,

with another guest blogger!

  

FAVORITE THINGS: JULIE'S CREATIVE LIFESTYLE

 Hello, friends! It's time for another installment of Favorite Things! 

This week, I am excited to welcome Julie from Julie's Creative Lifestyle.   

I've actually had the pleasure of meeting Julie in person a couple of times,

as we both live in the New York City area.

A sweeter blogger there isn't! 

You'll find a little bit of everything on Julie's blog,

but mostly, she writes about her passions..... 

crocheting and knitting, healthy cooking, crafts, makeup, books and travel. 

 No doubt that some of these will show up in Julie's list of Favorite Things!

Without further ado, here's Julie!

Hello everyone, I'm Julie from Julie's Creative Lifestyle.  I'm so happy to be here as a guest blogger for Amy's new blog series Favorite Things.

I have a list of 15 of my Favorite Things and here they are:



1)  My number one favorite is my rescue dog named Bosco.  He will turn 9 years old on October 15th, and he is part corgi and dachshund.  He is the sweetest, friendliest, and most loving dog.  We rescued him when he was only 7 months old from a foster home in New Jersey, and we have loved him everyday since then.

2)  One of my favorite drinks is coffee, especially cappuccino's, latte's, Dunkin' Donuts, and Starbucks.  We buy our Starbucks coffee beans from Costco, so that I can enjoy a cup of it everyday.

3)  BOOKS - I recently read the book The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins.  I loved reading this thriller and I enjoyed picking it out from our local library.

4)  I enjoy reading magazines when I have time, and my favorite right now is Southern Living Magazine.

5)  Going to the beach is one of my favorite things to do during the summer.  This beach is in Malibu, California and I photographed it last year, while we were dining at Nobu restaurant.

6)  Summer is my favorite season, and I love visiting my Mom and swimming in her beautiful pool.

7)  Fall is another favorite season of mine, and I like visiting the farms to gather pumpkins, mums, fresh fruit pies, and apples.

8) I love any and all kinds of makeup, and my favorite store to buy it in is Sephora.  My favorite lipstick and lipliner is from m.a.c. cosmetics.

9)  One of my favorite things to do in the summer is visit the The Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Last year I visited the China Through the Looking Glass Exhibit, and this year I saw the Manus X Machina - Fashion in an Age of Technology Exhibit.  I had a great time visiting both, and I liked looking at the fashion.  I look forward to visiting the museum again next year.

10)  I enjoy eating out at different restaurants in our neighborhood and in the city.  We recently had lunch out with friends at a local restaurant and I ordered the seafood risotto.  The dish was filled with a variety of seafood, shrimp, mussels, and scallops with risotto that was so delicious.

11)  Yarn is another favorite and I like using it to knit and crochet different projects, such as scarves, potholders, and blankets.  I usually make everything to donate to our church holiday fair or for gifts for family members.

12)  I occasionally enjoy eating different sweets such as donuts, pie, and my favorite is brownies.

13)  Avocado toast has got to be my favorite go to for lunch.  You take bread and toast it, then add mashed avocado to the toast and add sliced tomatoes on top, add olive oil with some salt and pepper.  That's how easy it is to make and it's healthy and tastes so good.

14)  I love all sorts of flowers, such as succulents, geraniums, roses, sunflowers, and mums to name a few.

15)  Traveling is one of my all time favorite things to do.  This summer we took a family vacation to Hawaii.  We visited Honolulu and Maui, and I loved sightseeing, and the pretty palm trees, beaches, and food.

I hope you all enjoyed reading some of my favorite things and maybe some of these are your favorites too.    

Thanks again Amy for inviting me to be a guest blogger for your readers.

Julie

 Please pop on over to Julie's blog to say hello!

Favorite Things will be back again on October 16!