Last weekend my parents had us all up for dinner to celebrate my birthday. ( They have since then gone to Florida where they will be for the next several weeks like they do every winter) .   My mom made Chicken Marsala and we also had some cake.

A few photos…..

Me and Michelle.  No, we did not coordinate our neon outfits for this photo! LOL

Blowing out candles……. Not sure how Jeff did it when he took this picture, but you can see the reflection of the candles on my head!! Certainly it isn’t a halo……..!

Thanks to my fam for celebrating with me ;)

Here is my mom’s recipe for Chicken Marsala.  She prepared all of food in the photos I took below.

Chicken Marsala

2 large skinned, boneless chicken breasts, pounded flat with mallet

Flour to dredge

1Tbls. Each Olive oil, butter

1 tsp. chopped garlic (optional)

Chefs Secret Seasoning, to taste

1 bottle Marsala Wine (cooking wine works well and is much cheaper)

½ cup heavy cream (optional instead of flour to thicken.  Can also use Greek yogurt to reduce fat)

1 8 oz. package fresh mushrooms, sliced

1 box penne pasta

To make ahead, reduce wine by half by simmering on low for about 45 to 60 minutes.

Cook the pasta to al dente stage (slightly undercooked) drain and set aside.

Just before cooking the mushrooms and chicken, add cream and pasta to the reduced Marsala wine and simmer while finishing the mushrooms and chicken. Simmer until sauce reduces by half and thickens-@ 10 to 15 minutes.

Before cooking the chicken, sauté mushrooms lightly and set aside- they’ll need to be drained before adding to the sauce.

Last, dredge chicken in flour and sauté in olive oil/ butter and garlic until browned lightly on both sides @ 5 minutes total. Season.

Don’t cook too long or chicken will get stringy and tough.

Finally, add mushrooms to chicken and pour sauce over all and serve immediately.

Bon Appetite!

This is Isis, our female Manx.  Her icy-personality has earned her the name “Ice Princess”.  It isn’t often that she’ll pose for me like this, but I’ll take it!

F5.6   1/50  ISO400

F5.6 1/50  ISO 800

Last week was my Bff Mary’s bday and so our little group of girls (minus LVJN – we missed you!) plus a few of Mary’s friends from work went and had a nice dinner on Saturday night at Loring Pasta Bar (new review to come soon).  You know we always take 79845245985754 photos when together, so here are a few to share!

Hope you had a great Birthday, Maria Elena!

A New Challenge (PH#6) has been posted over at Photo Hunt Challenges for the month of February!  Go sign-up if this looks like something you would like to tackle ;)

Here is the list, all items are open to interpretation!

1. A tower

2. “Main Street”

3. Five

4. A dog or cat

5. Two of a kind

6. A clock

7. A game

8. Something sweet

9. B&W w/selective coloring

10. Your own reflection

11. A mirror image

12. Night image

13. Something homemade

14. Something pink

15. Something romantic

16. A candid shot

17. A portrait

18. A symbol of love

19. A landscape

20. Chocolate

The day I have been waiting for is now here…….. the new blog is now live!

I know it hasn’t happened YET but I think we may even have worked it out so that you can still receive this feed in your feedreader without having changed the feed from what it was before (fingers crossed!).

New features include a Top Commenter ranking in the sidebar…… a little incentive to leave more comments!

PS I am aware that all the images I imported from my old blog at Typepad are currently not displaying. They should be back up within the next day or two ;)

I had an interesting conversation last night with some of the neighbor-girls about what we dream about.  Dreams are so fleeting….. they are to me anyway, with bits and pieces that sometimes flashback at random times.  Most of the time I do not remember my dreams at all, other times I can recall them vividly.  I have had some recurring dreams, even some that go all the way back to my childhood that I still remember.  For the past few years I have dreamt of a unknown city.  In this dream I drive all over the city, taking different routes.  I have had it so many times that I swear I could navigate through that city if I ever happened to be there in real life.  What do you think that is supposed to mean?  I think I am a suggestive dreamer in the regard that I often dream about things that are on my mind before going to bed.  Other times I have dreams that are so bizarre, I wonder where they came from?! I am not the type to analyze my dreams normally, but I sure have had some C.R.A.Z.Y. dreams! (I will have to write a post just about some of them just for the record!)

Just curious if you remember your dreams or not? Which dreams do you tend to remember the most? Scary? Happy? Bizarre? Do your dreams center around things in your real life or that you were thinking about before bed or are they totally random?? Do you ever dream about strangers that you don't recall ever meeting in real life?? 

Go ahead and share your thoughts of dreams with me! Or even share a dream you've had if you'd like ;)

PS On an unrelated note….. sweetsauer.com will be moving to a new server and platform this weekend so make sure you subscribe using this feed otherwise you will not continue to receive my blog updates!

Some mornings I leave for work long before the sun makes his appearance, other days I can catch a spectacular sunrise over White Bear Lake while enroute.  Today was one of those days! (Thanks to a super-sweet loaner bag (Coach!) from a friend, I am able to conveniently carry my camera around in style- camera bag problem temporarily solved)

PS On an unrelated note….. www.sweetsauer.com will be moving to a new server and platform this weekend so make sure you subscribe using this feed otherwise you will not continue to receive my blog updates!