Tag Archives: Pictures

Festive Holiday Inspiration

You can’t really miss holiday inspiration “this time of year” — it’s every where! And I love it, it’s exactly what we need. And, when I say “we” I mean — “we, people, that live in cold locations”. Holiday cheer excites almost everyone and it’s that perfect joy I need — it lifts my spirits in the dead of winter.

So, I thought I’d share with you some of my holiday inspiration that has kept me excited for Christmas and Hanukkah this year — remember, folks, Hanukkah starts this Saturday!

home alone soundtrack

I heavily rely on my Pandora radio, it’s free and it seems to play the music I like (most of the time). But it’s always right on the money with my favorite holiday songs. This past weekend some Home Alone music popped up on my Pandora Christmas station and it inspired me to watch the movie. I was flooded with nostalgia as I watched Kevin set up the house to scare off “the bad guys” — I watched this movie ever year growing up, it’s such a classic!

holiday glitter tree

Check out this adorable mini Holiday Glitter Trees I came across at Trader Joes! How darling and festive! They are real trees and need to be watered, hopefully mine won’t fall over from thirst! A bigger hope I have is that I won’t continue to find the glitter around the house far after the holidays are over.

holiday food network magazine

The one thing I rely on every year is my Food Network Magazine — this never lets me down on great inspirational recipes to make for the holidays. One recipe I am obsessed over this winter season is the Oatmeal Lace Cookie recipe I can’t seem to stop making. Seriously, I can’t stop making it; I have made this recipe 4 times since my December issue arrived in the mail and I think I may have gained a couple cookie pounds.

Something cute I thought I’d share is this really fun pin I came across on Pinterest. Last year I had a very New York City festive seasonal/holiday card and when I saw this pin I thought how perfect it would be to turn into greeting cards.

christmas color palette

Be sure to follow me on Instagram for some of my personal Holiday photos! And of course, be sure to follow on Pinterest too, I can’t help go a little crazy over all of the seasonal ideas — from baking to decor, I love (and pin) it all! Above is a color palette I adore, Design Seeds has some fantastic ideas for color palettes — I promise, you’ll be inspired!

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A Classic Country-Style Dinner

There’s something about the foods that I get to eat when I go home. Leaving a city and going to the country-side, it doesn’t just mean you can go pick corn yourself from the farm down the road, but it also means… MORE COUNTER SPACE! After living in a city with practically no apartment/living space and then returning home to a house with a kitchen practically the size of your first apartment — you know you’re going to have a field day cooking! I sure have.

Within the past few days, I have made multiple batches of cookies, specifically homemade oatmeal raisin cookies, loads of homemade popcorn spiced up with either truffle salt or dry ranch dip (try it, it’s fabulous!), homemade pizza (a Rasi family specialty), and tonight was one of my favorites… I made an outstanding lemon, garlic chicken with creamed corn. Not only was this recipe a cinch, it also involved very few ingredients that are also basic and easy to find in any grocery store!

Pulled directly from the one, the only, Food Network Magazine, the directions are made by professionals and need no alterations, I promise you! The simplicity of the creamed corn recipe will have me making it many more times even when I am cooking other dishes that may not be chicken. Take a look at the recipe for the chicken and the corn. The only addition I would make is to add more salt and pepper at the end once the corn has been cooked. It will add the perfect seasoning to the plate. Also, I paired this dish with a full-bodied red wine. Try it, you’ll be happy!

I laughed while making this because my mother was with me and said, “how long do you think this will take to cook?” I told her the directions said about 40 minutes total. She laughed and said that that is never the case and it always ends up taking longer. Everyone knows that I am a true believer and supporter in the entire Food Network brand, yes it’s because I am a fan… But it’s also because I actually have experience working in the FNM offices and I know that everyone there does everything to make the recipe the best it can ever be! So, follow directions to the T. And if you find something you’d prefer to change, do it the second time you make the dish! The chefs writing these recipes have experience — they are not college graduates that cooked up Ramen noodles one too many times… They are trained culinary experts that want everyone to say “YUM” when they take a bite out of their own personal culinary creation.

A 90th Birthday Bash!

Can you imagine being on this earth for 90 years!? Not only for 90 years but for 90 healthy years!? My grandmother just turned 90 this past weekend and of course the family had to all get together to throw her one big birthday bash! It was a weekend of family, food, dancing, laughs, stories, and family history lessons. It can’t get much better than that!

I have loads of photos for you on today’s post — so hang in there as I post up pictures and tell you a little bit about the weekend at the same time.

My aunt took old photos and blew them up to an outrageously big size — we scattered a ton of photos like this around the banquet where we hosted the birthday party. This is one of my favorites. It’s a picture of my grandmother before she entered her teenage years. My great-aunt (my Nannie’s sister) told me that their mother (my great grandmother) used to take my Nannie’s hair and wrap it around her finger to make the bigger ringlets. But this photo, I could have looked at it all night. It’s one of those photos that you look at and think to yourself “what’s her story?” “what was life like for her?” etc etc.

Here’s another favorite of mine that was set up at the appetizer table. I love this picture! Wasn’t my Nannie an adorable baby! This photograph must have been taken in 1923.

The night before the party was when the majority of the out of towners arrived for the birthday weekend (at least all of the family did). We all gathered at my aunt’s house since it was my Nannie’s actual day of birth. There were some of my favorites on the dinner table — including grape leaves (Syrian-style).

This photo is of the grape leaves still cooking in the pot. My Nannie knows how much I love them so she let me be the first to taste test!

Once the plate of grape leaves got to the dining room table, they weren’t there for too much longer! They were so moist and flavorful and every bite brings back so many childhood memories.

Another favorite is Kibbe! They are so tasty and buttery and I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t love eating the Kibbe balls.

Right before the sun went down the afternoon rain cleared and we couldn’t believe our eyes when we saw a full rainbow in the backyard. When I say a full rainbow, I mean we saw the rainbow go from one side of the sky to the other — I swear there should have been a pot of gold at both ends. And then slowly out of no-where comes a second rainbow… a double rainbow! Sadly I couldn’t get the entire rainbow in a full picture. I took a video of it but have yet to upload (I’ll be sure to share when the video makes it’s way to the computer). But take a look at these pictures:

And the night couldn’t be complete without putting my Nannie in an obnoxiously big birthday hat while we sang happy birthday…

Here’s one more photo from my Nannie’s birthday evening, a photo of me and her!

On Saturday night was when the big birthday shindig went down. You wouldn’t have even known it was a party for someone that turned 90-years-old because everyone was up dancing and having a great time. Even my Nannie still has some moves on the dance floor!

There’s a photo of my dad and Nannie dancing together!

Here are a few family pictures I snapped with my iPhone:

From left to right: my sister, my dad, me, my mom!

A photo of my dad and me… looks like I have some wild and crazy hair going on! haha

A photo of my mom and I. My poor mom just had major shoulder surgery only a few days before the party. But she did great! She even got up to dance!


Me and my cousin Zach. I remember the day when he was shorter than me!

The food at the party was also fantastic! A simple appetizer was put out and let me tell you — it was unbelievably delicious! Two different types of pizza, red and white, were demolished so fast! I loved the white the most! Nice and garlicy and perfectly seasoned with parmigiano reggiano cheese.

There were so many food options, too many to post on today’s post. But here was another favorite of mine:

Turkey and roast beef carving station — the turkey was fantastic! Perfectly moist and full of flavor! If only the turkey could be like that every Thanksgiving!

And before I forget I have to tell you about the signature drink that was made with my Nannie in mind… My aunt and cousin had a signature cocktail made for everyone to enjoy! The drink had both vodka and rum along with other fruit juices. I couldn’t even taste the alcohol! I know a few people had possibly one too many of these…

And then came the dessert…

My cousin, Aneesa, baked a ton of cookies — one of my favorite is the almond cookies and I’ll have to cook them at home and share the recipe with you all soon!

And then there was the birthday cake. Even though this is the one with the big 9-0 on it, there were other cake options, several in fact, for the guests at the party!

My aunt put up a cork board for people to post up old photographs they wanted to share with my grandmother and messages for her. I forgot to take a picture of the board, but there was one photo that really stood out to me…

My Nannie is on the left (pregnant with her first baby, also my dad’s older brother and my godfather), the baby is her niece, and the woman on the right is my great grandmother.

There’s one last photo I had to share with you all. Several friends from out of town brought photos to share with everyone. There was a picture in the pile of my mom holding me as a baby. I was such a fat baby with the biggest head! Looks like my mom’s arms are getting tired of holding me in this photo!

All in all the weekend was fantastic! So much fun! and I hope I make it to 90 years of age surrounded by the people I love, and in the best health possible.

Happy 90th Birthday to my Nannie!

What’s With All The Macaroons?

Macaroons are managing to pop-up every where these days… Seriously! It’s the easiest way to add color to a photo shoot and magazines (whether they are food focused or fashion related) are taking advantage of this!

You may remember my recent reconsideration of the dessert — my experience at New York City’s new Parisian establishment, Laduree, won me over on the macaroon fad. These chic, bite-size desserts are truly the perfect sweets to put out for friends and to add color to your table. I love that you can also find a wide variety of colors — from the hot-pinks and other bright colors, to the subtle pinks, greens and yellows you typically find on Easter Sunday.

Take a look at a few of my favorite macaroon photographs I recently browsed through on other Tumblr accounts…

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My 100th Post Is Here!

I can’t believe that my blog has 100 posts! Instead of writing about food, I figured I would share a few of my favorite photos from my recent trip to Italy. So far I have shown you loads of pictures of the food I had eaten while touring the country, and every once in a while I slipped in some scenic photos… But today I have picked a few of my favorites that I want to share! I hope you enjoy them!

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