Steeplechase Ensemble...Again

I have rethought my Steeplechase ensemble a third time. This weekend, I found a cotton sundress that I bought for a song at Janice Ann's last year in my guestroom closet. I had completely forgotten about it. I've only worn it once, because it is so extravagantly decollete` that it isn't really appropriate for either work or church. However, it will be perfect for sitting out in the sun at the race track.

The dress is a dark red/dark pink/black/tan batik-like print, and I have a huge black sinamay sunhat that I can wear with it. My new dark red sandals ought to work, as well.

I'm experimenting.

What do you think of my new spring color scheme?

I tidied up my point of view...

I got a new pairs of shoes! (With apologies to Patti Labelle.)



You can never go wrong with navy.

With this pair and the red pair I bought, I have completed all the shoe shopping that I will need for this season. I already have half a dozen pairs of black sandals, as well as another pair of navy sandals, two pairs of white sandals, and pink, gold, cream, orange, pale blue, and brown sandals.

I am sandal rich.

Just to clarify, for everyone who misunderstood...

Gaston Hall at Georgetown is not a church. It is an auditorium, in which there are several religious symbols incorporated into the architecture, because Georgetown is, after all, a Catholic university. Granted, there are several chapels at Georgetown--the Dahlgren Chapel of the Sacred Heart, Copley Crypt Chapel of the North American Martyrs, St. William Chapel, St. Thomas More Law Center Chapel, the Medical Center Chapel, St. Ignatius Medical School Chapel, and the Dahlgren Crypt Chapel--but the President didn't give a speech in any of them.

Administrative Assistants Day

In my workplace, the professional staff waits tables and serves the associate staff lunch for Administrative Assistants Day. I was responsible for decorations, and I also acted as hostess.

Here are my tables:




Here I am, in all my hostess glory:


Each of the attendees took home one of the Gerber daisies that I used for centerpieces.

Peanut Butter Cookies

I am always amazed at how much people love peanut butter cookies. They seem to me to be the most plebeian of cookies and somewhat overshadowed by all of the exotic chocolate variations, which include chips, chunks, nuts, dried fruits, etc. But the peanut butter cookie still holds its own.

I made a double batch of peanut butter cookies for a church event last night. It's the classic recipe from the red and white Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, which, along with the Mary Starr cookbook, are the two cookbooks that my mother bought for me when I set up housekeeping. And it's a pretty damn good cookie, if I do say so myself. I was so pleased with how the batch for church turned out that I made a third batch to bring to work this morning.

I love new shoes.

New shoes make me happy.



I bought these Donald Pliners on Ebay yesterday, because I need a pair of low-heeled red shoes to wear to Steeplechase. I've decided to go with red as my Steeplechase ensemble color, and the only other red shoes I own are 4-inch ankle-straps. Trust me when I say those simply won't work on the hillside next the track where we set up.

Lent is over...

...so, naturally, I went over to Ebay to look around. Bad move. Very bad move. I ended up buying this:



And bidding on this:



Fortunately, vintage thermoset doesn't usually cost very much.

Easter Monday

This was my color for Easter this year:



My eyes look like that, because it's spring. :-\

And here are pics of the flowers at church, which I thought were particularly lovely this year:

In the entryway:


On the columbarium:


Behind the chancel rail and with the Pascal Candle:


On the reredos:

He is not here!
He is risen!

Happy Easter, Everyone!

Free Books!

A Circle of Books is having a contest to give away some of Carrie Vaughn's Kitty books.

Check it out.

Bachanalia Report

I am grateful that my first hitch as Chief Cook and Bottlewasher (aka food coordinator) for the event went off without any major hitches. About 850 people attended the concert (which ran from 5-11 p.m.), we fed about 150-200 of them over a 6-hour period, and we didn't run out of anything, except corn muffins--we are in the south, you know--and wine. I bought 11 bottles, which we poured in 4 oz. servings for a donation (because the church has no liquor license), and it was gone by 8:45 p.m. Yikes! But it turned out not to be a problem. We are Episcopalian, after all. There was a cache of chardonnay chilling in the church kitchen fridge and a whole cabinet full of merlot in the basement. So I conducted a little wine raid, and the volunteer coordinator's husband did a wine run for me. All in all, we sold 15 regular bottles of wine, and 1 1/2 large bottles of wine. So next year, if I'm asked to do this again (and I think that's highly likely), I will buy more wine to start with.

I bought 8 bottles of the Red Diamond merlot, because it's so good and so inexpensive, and 3 bottles of Tin Roof sauvignon blanc, because I don't like chardonnay, dammit. The Red Diamond was a huge success. We actually had folks asking us where we got it.

We served red chili, white chili (my recipe), and minestrone (vegetarian selection), with a selection of bread, all of which was donated by Publix and Provence, except for the corn muffins, which were baked by parish members. I baked 3 dozen, myself. We also had a selection of desserts, some of which were donated by Publix and Provence, and some of which were baked by parishioners. I made a four nut cake (recipe below), which was very popular. I really thought the red chili would go like hot cakes, but the white chili was clearly the favorite. I've had several requests from parish members for the recipe. I have to admit that it is a very good recipe and fairly simple to assemble.

The minestrone was also a hit, and a lot of folks were pleased we had a vegetarian option. I'm trying to get the recipe for it from Robert, whose recipes we used for both the minestrone and the red chili (also an excellent recipe). For Movie Night on Saturday, I made a recipe of the red chili to spoon over baked potatoes, and my fellow movie watchers seemed to like it.

Anyway, here's the cake recipe. It's verra easy.

Four Nut Cake
One box yellow cake mix
One small package instant vanilla pudding
1/4 cup oil
4 eggs
1 cup pecans
1 cup walnuts
1 cup almonds
1 cup coconut

Mix together by hand and spoon into a greased and floured bundt pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 10-15 minutes. If you have a dark pan (like I do), decrease the temperature to 300 degrees. Let sit in pan for 2 or 3 minutes and turn out onto a cookie rack to cool.

You can use any combination of nuts that you like. I used pistachios, instead of almonds, for the cake I made for Movie Night, and that worked, as well.

Yay, me!

I won more books!

I just won "Drood", by Dan Simmons (book on CD) over at Book Love Affair. Hurrah!

I'm getting another free book from Simon and Schuster UK, too--"The Poison Garden", by Sarah Singleton. This is the 5th or 6th free book that I've received from Simon Says, and I really need to get them all read, so that I can finally post reviews.