Little did I know, the moment I hit publish on my post below, The Standard Hotel sent me an email stating the following:

“Here is a credit of 300.00 dollars that you were charge during your stay. Attached is a copy of the folio that shows the credit has been processed to your account. If you have any questions please feel free to ask. Thank you and have a good day.”

It must have been all that serious talk I shoved down his pie-hole regarding emailing me photos of the damage and sending me the sink since I was technically paying for it.

Or, it was the “come to Jesus” conversation I had with his assistant stating the fact that we, the 4, 30-something ladies staying in his hotel, were probably the LEAST likely to do any damage to his hotel over some of the Pop Tart type folk we saw perusing the lobby.

Please. Hair dye and ink are not two things we need to bring to the party to have a good time. Plus, we wouldn’t even travel with something like that in fear of some spillage on our clothes. Duh!

Anywho, my $300 issue has now been resolved. Case closed. Phew.

e

So, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I spent a lovely weekend last month in Los Angeles. I have to say, there was NOTHING about that weekend that wasn’t fantabulous, including the hotel.

Or, at least I thought.

About a week ago, I was paying the bills for the month of June. I had placed the hotel room charges on my credit card, then had the ladies pay me after the fact. I knew my bill was going to be higher than usual, but I had the funds to pay for it. No biggie. BUT, while looking through my charges, I noticed the Standard Hotel had charged me an extra $300 on top of the two room charges. Um, hello? WTF?

I called the hotel immediately and spoke with the assistant general manager. He mentioned something about damage to a sink in one of the rooms. He told me he would have his GM call me with more details. (He also said he sent an email to me the day of the “incident”, but I have no record, even in my spam folder, of this correspondence.)

DAMAGE?

to a HOTEL ROOM?

US?

please.

So, later that day, I was able to talk to the GM and get more specifics. He said the following,

“We had to replace the sink. It had either hair dye or ink stained into the sink and was unable to be removed. Therefore, while replacing the sink, we could not rent out the room. That is why we charged you $300.”

um, ok. Where do I START here? I call bullshit.

We were such lovely tenants. We placed all of our bottles neatly in the trash can before leaving. The beds were made. No beauty school dropout renditions were performed and no graffitti on linoleum took place. We weren’t even there AWAKE for more than 20 minutes the ENTIRE stay.

********

Currently, I have gone back and forth with the GM and the assistant asking for pictures. I have explained to them that we spent A LOT of money at the hotel with dinner, drinks and breakfast the next morning. The assistant gave me the impression that a refund could happen, but he also told me he would send me the photos, and I haven’t received any in 2 days.

I’m stumped and have little to no time to worry about this. Word to the wise, BE CAREFUL when you leave your hotel room. Take some photos, even. You never know when you might need them as evidence!

e

Yes, I realize it’s Monday, but sometimes desserts like these take time. And, well, I made it yesterday, Sunday, Father’s Day, um…so there? Actually, this is SUCH an easy recipe. Takes little to no time. Great time of year to use those fresh strawberries too!

This puppy has to sit a long time in the refrigerator to set, so you should make this in the morning, before lunchtime, to be served after dinner. The original recipe, calls for individual graham cracker pie shells, but I could never find any at my grocery store, so I have always made this in one big pie. (reason why it takes a long time to set.)

Ingredients:

* 12 strawberries
* 12 ounces softened cream cheese, 1 1/2 (8-ounce) bricks
* 2/3 cup sour cream
* 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 graham cracker pie crust

Directions

Coarsely chop 6 berries and place in food processor. Add cream cheese, sour cream, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract and process until smooth. Using a rubber spatula, fill pie tin. Garnish cheesecake with slices of remaining berries. Replace plastic cover and chill in refrigerator for 7-8 hours (for best “set” results.)

Enjoy!

e

Hola is 14 months old today.

We are celebrating this lovely occasion by ridding him of his bottles!

No, I don’t mean to sound so cruel, but the boy is a wonder with his water sippies and I just can’t continue t0 wash his bottles (BY HAND) with all 743 pieces. I tried the ‘ol switcheroo when he turned 1 yr old. It really wasn’t a horrible day, he just didn’t take to the change easily, so I thought I would put my (desperate) desires away and try again at 14 months.

I went through the same routine with Rt. I tried at 12, 14 and then 16 months before I just gave him sippies and that was all I was going to offer. But Rt wasn’t a whiz at the sippy like Hola is now. He actually didn’t know how to use them for quite sometime. Due to his issues, I started him on the straw kind and he was a super-sipper. (Don’t EVER put milk into a straw sippy. The milk gets trapped in there and there is nothing worse than stale milk. NOTHING.) So, we had to wait till Rt was comfortable enough with the regular sippy before the transfer took. At. sixteen. months.

*****

Hola decided his day would begin at 5:30am this morning. I find it truly difficult to complain when the kid sleeps all night, every night, but the day starting that early did through off my original plan of NO BOTTLES FOR YOU BABY. I decided since it was the crack-ass of dawn, I would go ahead with one bottle. (It was hubs morning to sleep in and I needed a happy, QUIET baby and you don’t get a happy, QUIET baby when they are cranky and Hungry and stubborn.)

Hola still takes one of his servings of milk right after his morning nap. He can’t quite make it till lunch and I don’t have enough food to suffice his appetite with a snack, so he still gets milk here. Today, I put it in a Nuby sippy (good flow, TOO messy) and away we went. He drank most of it before we left for the gym and finished the rest once we got back in the car.

I would say that, so far, this is a great success (even though both of us were covered from head to toe with milk) BUT, I am wondering how the rest of the day will go. I can imagine the next “feed” will go over better than the sippy right before bed. He takes 7 oz. at that time and loves to chug-a-lug.

Time will tell.

Hopefully, I can sterilize those damn (fabulous) Dr. Brown bottles in the next few days and drop them off at the local Goodwill. I am SO ready to have my counter-tops BACK.

Wish us luck!

e

p.s. I am not partial to any particular brands of sippies. Anyone have any suggestions on brands they love? Transitioned easily with?

Ok, yes. This IS a recipe for Rice Krispie Treats.

There is nothing fru fru in this recipe besides the delectable goodness of the basic treat.

HOWEVER, SO many people get this wrong. They come out too dry, too few marshmallows, tasting like burnt butter, or are so over-marshmallowed, you need an entire glass of milk just to get through the darn square.

So, on that note, I will provide you the one and only way to make these puppies: the fool-proof way.

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 package (10 oz., about 40) regular marshmallows (I use 43, that’s FOURTY-THREE.)
• 6 cups Rice Krispies

1. In large saucepan melt butter over LOW heat. (Do NOT move this process along faster by higher heat. Your butter will burn and your treats will have a funky after-taste. BLAH!) Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.

2. Add the 6 cups of Rice Krispies. Stir until well coated.

3. Using buttered spatula (I spray mine) or wax paper evenly press mixture into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Cool before cutting. (OR you can just plop the mound of goodness on a plate and just start pulling apart and eating. It works just as well.)

Enjoy!

* I did add cake sprinkles to mine, but I was decorating for company.

** Just heard a variation to this recipe and thought I would share.

add half the butter and add 1 teaspoon of vanilla to the melted marshmallows.

Will have to try that next time! Any other variations you’d like to share?

see this?

and this?

yep, it’s coming.

and now we’re here.

And then we have this as a result.

peachy.

While on a recent business trip, hubs and his dad ate at an Italian restaurant that he describes as the best Italian food he has had since he lived in Italy. The owner of the restaurant signed a cookbook for me and this is her recipe. I LOVED the prosciutto flavor in this pasta. It gives it that salty bacon flavor that goes so well with the creamy tomato sauce. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

4 tbs (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

5 oz. thickly sliced prosciutto, diced

1 (28-oz) can Italian plum tomatoes (preferably San Marzano) with juices

salt to taste

2 to 3 Tbs heavy cream

1 tb coarse salt (I used kosher)

1 lb tagliatelle pasta (I used fettuccine)

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Heat 3 tbs of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add prosciutto once butter begins to foam. Cook, stirring, until turns lightly golden. (2 to 3 minutes)

Add tomatoes and season with salt. As soon as the tomatoes come to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 8-10 minutes. (Looking for a medium-thick consistency here)

Add the cream and the remaining butter, stir for 1-2 minutes, then turn off heat.

Meanwhile, boil water in large pot. Add salt and pasta and cook until pasta is tender, but still firm to the bite. Drain pasta and add to skillet.

Add half of parm-reg cheese and stir quickly over medium heat until pasta and sauce are well combined. Taste, adjust seasoning, if needed, and serve with remaining cheese on top. (I added crushed red pepper on top of mine.)

Serve with a side of broccoli (like me) or a salad.

e

Today is hubs and my SEVEN year anniversary.

 It seems like it’s gone by so quickly, but after looking through years of photos to share, we have lived a lifetime together.

 I am so grateful.

Here’s to many more lifetimes together, hubs.