A Staycation

In February we had a Staycation here at Korthuis Manor.

We had done this once before -but it had been too long.  Our bedrooms upstairs have their own bathrooms in them, so it's kind of like a hotel room.  So our Dinner Group friends came for the weekend.

It started Friday evening with a Barbeque Rib dinner that Randy and I prepared.  Then after dinner we watched a movie, and then, before going to bed we begin preparation for the next day's event.  We came up with 3 meats, 3 vegetables and 3 starches and put them in a bowl to do a drawing the next day.  Saturday, after a leisurely breakfast (a recipe from Pintrest - Creme Brulee French Toast) and LOTS of coffee we sat down to draw our ingredients for our first ever "DINNER GROUP COOKOFF".

Here's the ingredients that we pulled......................(can't get the pic to turn)

 Then, we all went into a planning session......................................it was boys

 .............against girls!

After planning we all headed to the grocery store and got our ingredients and the cooking began!!  We had 3 couples coming as judges at 6pm.  Stacy came over and set a BEAUTIFUL table (as usual), that girl has a gift!!

There were 2 lead chefs..................................

............and a whole LOT of prepping and tasting going on!

The judges arrived and they were whisked upstairs to enjoy appetizers.........

  while the food was plated........................................

PLATE "A"

PLATE "B"

Dinner was fabulous ........................and the Boys team won :(  The meals were judged by each dish: meat, vegetable and starch, and also by plating.

The evening was finished off with Marla's AMAZING Lemon Meringue cupcakes, (filled with fresh homemade lemon curd) - the BESTEST cupcake I've EVER had, with a small scoop of Raspberry Sorbet.

Fun was had by all and NO ONE went home hungry!! :)

P.S. Parsnips are good!!

Our Family's Favorite Dessert!

It came to me the other day - in my lack of blogging moments - that I have never shared with you the favorite dessert here at Korthuis Manor.

My dear friend Audrey made this for us over 20 years ago and I HAD to have the recipe.  It's your basic "go to" dessert.  It has ingredients that one usually always has on hand..............and the best part is (besides it's FABULOUS) is that you don't have to have eggs to make it. 

BAKED CHOCOLATE PUDDING

1 c. flour

1/4 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp butter, melted

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 c. milk

3/4 c. sugar

1 1/2 Tbsp baking cocoa

1 tsp. vanilla

In 2 quart casserole dish melt butter, then add remaining ingredients and stir until well mixed.

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

5 Tbsp. baking cocoa

Mix above ingredients and pour over cake mix in pan.

 Pour 1 1/2 c. boiling water on top - DO NOT STIR!

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Sorry I didn't get a picture before we dove in - I made it for company and simply forgot.  What you end up with is a cake on top with hot fudge on the bottom.  Serve with vanilla ice cream and ENJOY!!

My newest craftiness.....................

So as I've gotten more and more addicted to Pinterest I've added MANY pins to my "crafts to do" board. 

During the snowstorm we had in January I spent WAY to much time on Pinterest, but one good thing did come out of all the time wasted invested.  I started making these......................................

I do love to crochet, and since I'm not very good at just sitting, it's a great thing to work on visiting with friends, watching tv, or just enjoying the fire.  I've been selling them at Grandiflora. I've made them in lots of different colors.  Some have crocheted flowers like the one above, and some I put felt flowers on.  I always put a button in the middle of the flower, which I realize I took the above pics before I put the cute red button in the middle.

Today Susan and I ran to Joann's for some fabric and the yarn was on sale so I picked up these colors for some new bright colors for spring....................

Can't wait to pick up crochet hook and get started.