Great Baked Green Beans!

We had the best green beans tonight for supper. My mom has mentioned many times how simple and delicious baking beans can be. Tonight I'd thought I'd give them a try.

First I washed and patted dry my beans.

Then I drizzled them with olive oil.

Next, I spread them out on a parchment lined baking sheet.

I sliced a red pepper and part of an onion and sprinkled them over the beans.

I also had some delicious bacon from the Farmer's Market that I sliced and put on top.

I placed the baking sheet in a 425 degree oven for about 15 minutes - until the bacon became crisp and the vegetables started to get soft.

They were the best green beans we have ever eaten!! Everyone loved them!! This will be the way I make them every time!!

"Go vegetable heavy. Reverse the psychology of your plate by making meat the side dish and vegetables the main course."  -Bobby Flay

Needlework Resource

While at work today, I was listening to the radio and the hosts were answering questions from the listeners about where to shop for certain items. Usually I have my headphones on just for white noise and so I'm only half listening. Today, however, my ears perked up when someone called in and asked about a fiber art store - specifically a place for cross-stitch, embroidery and specialty fabrics. The hosts were perplexed. They could only come up with a couple of knitting stores. Leave it to the other listeners though to come up with an answer.

Quite a number of people called in and suggested Stitchville, USA located in Minnetonka, MN, close to Ridgedale. After looking at their website, it's a place I can't wait to visit! Here's a link so you can check it out for yourself:  www.stitchville.com I think it will be a fun place to take my daughter to - to introduce her to another handicraft. It's so fun to share needle art with her!

"The only place where needlework comes before housework is the dictionary."  -Mary Kurtz

Cute Bird Feeder

My daughter and I went to a little art fair at our neighborhood art center - Banfill-Locke Center for the Arts. There were many booths of all different kinds of art - jewelry, paintings, photographer, clothing, and pottery. They also had entertainment - singers, jugglers, poetry readings and all sorts of other multi-cultural performers. The Art Center is in a park with a rushing stream and the sun was shining....it was a beautiful day to be outside.

We did end up purchasing a little gift for ourselves, or really for the birds in our neighborhood.

It's called EggNormous and it is a cute way to feed the birds.

It was made by Jule Rentz and this is just one of many shapes she sells. She had a heart, a star, and apple, a small egg within a grapevine wreath and then this large egg. I would love to have a tree full of them. They aren't that expensive - around $20 - so at least I may get a couple more! (They are made from solid seed and are squirrel resistant.)

My daughter helped me hang it in a tree in our front yard as soon as we got home.

We've been enjoying watching the birds enjoying themselves all afternoon!

"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song."  -Maya Angelou

Great Bundt Cake Bakery

My daughter has been begging me to try some cute little bundt cakes from a new bakery called Nothing Bundt Cakes. One of her friend's mothers introduced her to this bakery by giving her one of their special bundt cakes for her 12th birthday. Every Saturday she asks if today is the day we visit this bakery. Usually we're rushing off to some activity or another but this Saturday, we had no plans so off to Nothing Bundt Cakes we went.

It is a cute little place in Blaine, MN.

They have different sizes of cakes:

• Bundtini - bite sized
• Bundtlet - single serving (a little bigger than a cupcake)
• 8" cake
• 10" cake
• Tiered cakes
• Bundtlet Tower

They have lots of different flavors:

• Chocolate Chocolate Chip
• Pecan Praline
• Lemon
• White White Chocolate
• White Chocolate Raspberry
• Marble
• Red Velvet
• Carrot
• Cinnamon Swirl

I was having a hard time choosing so I let my daughter pick her favorites. We got two bundtlets packaged in a cute brown bag.

The flavors my daughter chose were White Chocolate Raspberry and Cinnamon Swirl.

The bakery's trademark is the daisy design in frosting on top. Doesn't it look yummy?!

I also decided to get a two boxes of bundtinis. Enough to share with my co-workers and my family. I could have picked my own flavors but I got the standard box of flavors.

These bite size treats will be just the pick-me-up my co-workers will enjoy on Monday morning. I even packaged them each up with a little note.

I can't wait to share them!

Here is a link to the Nothing Bundt Cake website.  www.nothingbundtcakes.com  I know we'll be visiting again!

"I eat cake because it's somebody's birthday somewhere."  -Unknown

Good Day Quote to Live By!

North Loop Shopping

Tonight, my husband asked me what our plans were for the weekend. I knew he hoped to go to our property up north. I just didn't know that he had plans to make it a strenuous working weekend without me. I assured him that I really don't mind being left at home with our 12 year old daughter. There is an event in the North Loop of Minneapolis that I now can enjoy. It is called the North Loop Fall Crawl.

This event starts on Friday, September 12th at 10am and ends on Saturday, September 13th at 9pm. There are 11 stores participating:  Roe Wolfe, C'est Chic Boutique, Statement Minneapolis, Martinpatrick3, D. NOLO, Steven Vincent Design, Local D'Lish, Ribnick Fur & Leather, Jeromeo, Lole Twin Cities, and Shoesters. These are all local stores with fun and unique items. Each establishment will have different specials and maps to all other participating places. I plan on starting my Christmas shopping a little early!

Here are links to most of the participating stores' websites:

www.roewolfe.com

www.cestchicboutique.com

www.statementboutique.wix.com/statement

http://martinpatrick3.com/

www.dnolo.com

http://www.svstudio.com/

http://www.localdlish.com/

http://www.ribnickfurs.com/

http://jeromeo.com/

Even if I don't buy  a thing, it will be fun to spend the day with my daughter in the very up and coming North Loop.

"The quickest way to know a woman is to go shopping with her."  -Marcelene Cox

A Laugh at the End of the Day

Well……so much for that!  I woke up this morning looking forward to meeting Minnesota author, Lorna Landvik at the Hennepin County Central Library. She is one of my most favorite authors. Her books and stories make me laugh and she is even funnier in person.

I had arranged everyone's schedules and dinner so that I could get to the library and get a good seat. I have lived in the Minneapolis area for about 25 years.  I worked in the heart of downtown Minneapolis for many years. I visit the Minneapolis Farmer's Market almost every weekend. I drive my dad and I to the Target Center every Thanksgiving Day for a 5K. I have been to the University of Minnesota campus multiple times. Part of my commute home every day takes me through a corner of downtown Minneapolis. I thought I would have no issues finding the library and a place to park.  Never mind that it was rush hour and certain roads were only accessible to buses and people were everywhere, crossing against the traffic signals and the light rail train was now where I used to be able to drive……. Oh, my goodness!  I was frazzled!

It was almost time for the event to start and I finally saw a traffic sign I recognized - for the highway home.  Sorry to say, I took that exit and drove home. I felt doubly disappointed because I had books from my friend Wendy that I was going to have signed.

This blog is about things that go well in my day and even though I didn't make it to see Lorna Landvik, my friend Wendy made me laugh at loud when I explained what happened. It also made me think that this whole fiasco would have been something that Lorna must have written about in one of her books - and that made me smile.

"Next time I will be there to help. And if we still can't find the destination - we'll get a glass of wine and lie about it!!"  -Wendy