Food and Drink – Page 5 – Karla's Cottage

Gideon’s Bakeshop and a Jam Packed Disney day

By Karla Nathan / March 20, 2022

We had a whirlwind trip through Orlando. No, more than that, it was like a Kansas tornado going through!

There wasn’t a lot of stopping to enjoy the flowers during our one day at the parks, but our evening before and morning after were pretty mellow.

The visit was a later add on to our trip, we had planned on being home about then. But, Sugarwings was starting spring break, and her dad offered to meet us in Florida, so we flew the grand fairy on their very first solo flight and met the brave kid (who did just fine) in Orlando.

And if you know me, you might have noticed there is something about Orlando that I just love. Yep, I indulged myself with a Disney visit. We camped at Ft Wilderness, on an off and on rainy couple of days. The temps were warm, and we had ponchos, plus the rain thins out crowds so we were just fine. The pool was practically empty, and not a single other person was in line at the food truck we went to.

Terry met us at Epcot and the frenzy began the next morning with an early entry for resort guests. And man, did we ever hit the ground running. We “rope dropped” (going to the most popular rides early before lines got to be hours long) then between Terry’s and my booking skills and Disney knowledge, we became power mad. Scheduling and layering ride reservations faster than a bluebird can find a Princess who just broke into song.

Seriously, we over did it. Our prowess in maneuvering ourselves out of standing in lines had us pushing ourselves to the limit to ride every single thing we could at Epcot then buy a park hopper pass over to Magic Kingdom.

Now, I am not saying I didn’t enjoy our adventure, it was amazing! But in retrospect, it might have been slightly crazy to start at 8 am and go to midnight, non stop.

We had a blast.

And we stopped when the kiddo wanted to, Terry and I enjoyed sitting while Sugarwings explored some areas. It wasn’t complete competition to set a record for most rides rode in one day. Terry hung in with us til evening, and I was skeptical about staying ourselves, we had a few moments of exhausted irritation, but we rallied, snacked, and kept rolling. I’m glad we did. Late nights at Magic Kingdom, when the crowds thin after the fireworks are pretty, well, magical.

There was very little shopping til the rides closed at 11pm, and stores stayed open til midnight. But we aren’t there for souvenirs.

(By the way, the two little buildings on each side of the castle, make for ideal photo ops)

Here is our breakdown:

Over 25 rides

Over 33,000 steps

16 hours

2 parks

And yes, I woke up slightly tired the next morning. But we had some time to spend between when we had to leave the campground, drive to St Augustine and check into our rental house.

Disney Springs has RV parking around back, and seemed like a good place to while away an hour or so.

It was still early, and Gideon’s Bakeshop was just opening, already with a 30 minute wait. Later it becomes so long that they take your name and call you back, sometimes hours later. Really? Hours to wait for a cookie?!

Oh, but it is quite wonderful inside.

Quite.

Since we avoided lines all day at the parks, I figured 30 minutes for a cookie wasn’t bad.

I would show you the cookies, but they were so good, they disappeared before I got a photo.

If you get a chance, you should get one. And one to share is probably plenty because they are 1lb each.

Pie Art

Food and Drink

By Karla Nathan / February 8, 2022

Crust has always been my favorite part of a pie. My mom used to take the leftover bits, spread with cinnamon and sugar, roll up, slice and bake them. Growing up, I thought these were what cinnamon rolls actually were, not the big, fluffy pastry goods.

Her version of cinnamon rolls were crispy and delicious, and I loved them even more than the pies she made. And she made good pies. (Especially the lemon meringue that she was famous for) Since she was using the trimmed remnants of the crust, there were usually just two or three bite sized tidbits for us to share.

That made them even more special. They were best warm from the oven!

Her crusts were always home made. If I remember correctly, with lard from my uncle’s farm. My crusts are the premade kind.

I’m big on saving time when I can, and you can buy a delicious ready to go crust. My favorite one is from Sprouts, it has a lot of flavor. I like most things from Aldi’s but I do not care for their crust. It seems dry and too thick. Kroger’s has a great one in their store’s organic brand and after Xmas, they were on clearance for 75 cents each, so I filled a corner of my freezer with a stack of them.

I see a lot of pies in our future!

These two were made with a frozen crust that came in a pan for the bottom, (not the best) and a refrigerated rolled dough in a box for the top. I prefer the box kind for both.

I let the top piece of dough come to room temp, and open it up on a cutting board, then start cutting out shapes with a knife, and placing them onto my filled pie. I discovered that you have to place chunky fruit, like apple slices in a very uniform design so there aren’t sink holes that the shapes fall down into and ruin the design.

I also found that roses made out of dough get pretty heavy. You’re better off with thin layers of petals, like daisies or sunflowers.

And that you should save a few little remnants to create some of Mom’s tasty cinnamon rolls. That’s the best part!

Stretching out the cheeriness and overcoming teen apathy, ending our Christmas on a sweet note

celebrations, dogs, family, Food and Drink, holiday decor, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / January 5, 2022

About halfway between Christmas and New Years I am itching to take down the holiday decorations. The gifts are unwrapped, chaos has occurred with all of the celebrating, cooking, sleepovers, and piles of stuff here and there. I am ready for clean lines and tidiness.

Instead of flipping the switch from over the top, non stop Christmas that started in November to the simpleness of January right away like I want to, I make myself wait until the grand fairies either go back to Mom’s house or to school, because I want them to enjoy their winter break to the max, and atmosphere matters.

But just a couple days after our big celebration, I saw that Sugarwings was curled up in the couch nest (that was claimed as their permanent spot when Covid hit and school was online) being a non involved teen just looking at tic toks, and I saw no reason to keep it festive around here.

So I started hauling out boxes and setting up a ladder, preparing for the big, annual packing up.

Then it occurred to me that the fun didn’t have to end if I didn’t want it to.

So, in the messy midst of all of the boxes and bins, with some things half pulled down, I declared it was time for a cocoa party by the last lingering lights of the trees.

We turned on a Christmas movie marathon, plopped ourselves down to a tray full of our favorite cocoa party goodies and the two of us had one of my favorite days of the holiday break.

Funny thing, I barely like hot chocolate. I just looooove the festive-ness, tradition, and ceremony of serving it. And I love Sugarwings.

We missed our little Dewdrop, and it was a different sort of holiday with no little kids around. But I know that a celebration is what you make it, it can be special and exciting if you make the effort. And even teenagers can be invested and joyous when that effort is put out there.

The cocoa station

Food and Drink, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 12, 2021

Around here, the holidays mean lots of hot cocoa by the lights of the trees, watching Christmas movies.

Since it’s a regular thing, I want it to be convenient. And festive!

We keep all of our supplies together, with trays leaned up behind them. So we pick up a tray, and load it with what we need for our party, then carry it to the tree to enjoy.

I keep a supply of candy canes for stirring, vegan and regular marshmallows, cocoa powder that we can use the hot water dispenser with, as well as cocoa that needs a teapot of hot milk to make, along with teabags, (because I can’t always handle as much hot chocolate as the grandfairies can) and treats.

Some of it is tucked away inside this chipboard box that I turned into a gingerbread house.

This one holds a baggie of cookies.

And there is always whipped cream in the fridge ready for the festivities.

Happy Thanksgiving

flowers, Food and Drink

By Karla Nathan / November 25, 2021

I hope you are having a day full of gratitude and blessings.

And a tummy full of pie!

More Magic

Food and Drink, Travel

By Karla Nathan / October 28, 2021

Well, that was quite a trip, a many legged journey with lots of stops along the way.

I mentioned our Disney adventure previously, but came across a few more Hidden Mickies after writing that.

My all time fave is Flamingo Island in Animal Kingdom, the entire thing is shaped like a Mickey head.

Over the years, you probably think I spend an inordinate time visiting my pal, Mickey, because I yammer on about it so much every time I go.

(This is a store window at Epcot in France. Macarons and chocolates! Pink yummyness!)

And I have been lucky enough to take multiple trips there in the past.

But this one?

Wowzers!

Terry and I really did it up right. It was the longest visit I have ever had there. We arrived on a Friday for the Halloween party, then spent time at all four parks before she drove me to the beach Tuesday evening and dropped me off to be with my sisters for a few days.

We ate at the Food and Wine festival where I had fillet for breakfast one morning and Mickey shaped ice cream for dinner.

We indulged in all the photo pass magic shots we could, wondered around at our own pace, hopped on rides when the lines were short, took scenic detours when we felt like it, and racked about around 20,000 steps a day on our Apple watches.

Instead of taking the boat from Epcot to the Swan hotel, we walked through the Boardwalk and even toured an open house of the vacation club (but without the sales pitch, I just asked if I could peek inside and they said sure) After, we stopped at the disco lounge with the big, flashing, neon sign saying DANCE HALL, and I took a turn around the dance floor to the tune of Donna Summer. We were the only people inside, so I felt like I could show off some of my non-existing moves.

Cast members were kind to us and gave us mini tours a couple of times when we asked for directions. We didn’t have reservations for Oga’s Cantina in Star Wars Land, but a nice guy accompanied us inside to get a look at it, and we felt as if we’d been given a free, private tour.

Another cast member stayed in Star Wars character as he walked us through the park and told us about the Federation and their attacks.

Without kids, a visit to Orlando is a whole different thing. We made use of Terry’s season pass to use the private lounge and put our feet up a bit.

I’d also found a pass online to a free lounge by Blue Cross of Florida, it was set up in a restaurant in the Norway pavilion. We thought it would be ice water only, but there was a picnic cart that came around with goodies. We hit up that area a few times to get a cold can of soda and snacks, as a nice break from crowds. One time, we were the only ones in there, the other, there were only a couple of tables in use.

The whole trip was not only filled with fun, and we got to do everything we wanted, it was restful and relaxing too. Crowds were low most of the time, and when they weren’t, we found something less busy to do.
Thanks, Terry, for the magical time!

At Disney

Food and Drink, Travel

By Karla Nathan / October 18, 2021

I can’t even remember which leg of our multi faceted journey I am on right now. Whatever number it is, it’s Disney World! I’m tired, but having a blast.

Terry and I are here together, she made these Minnie costumes for us to wear to the Boo Bash.

We have also attended the fireworks dessert party, looked for hidden Mickies, and tracked down the 50 golden 50th anniversary statues.

And I still have two more days to go.

So for now, it’s time for a handful of my Boo Bash trick or treat candy and an early bedtime.

Hooked on gingerbread houses

celebrations, cottage, family, Food and Drink, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 20, 2020

After having so much fun making wooden birdhouses into gingerbread, I just had to make more.

Of course, I tend to go all in with a new craft and flood the market with my creations. But this year, I was making them just for us, so reigned myself back just a little.

And after a decade of making real gingerbread houses that looked like a toddler had done the work, I was excited to be working on one with paint instead of icing. Puffy paint, meant for tee shirts is so much easier to use than those plastic bags of icing that come with the house kits.

Since I was using wood and chipboard, I thought it was important to use cookie colored paint, as much as I like pastels, I wanted it to look as realistic as it could. Plus the village was going into our Cocoa Corner, where our colors were more traditional than my other holiday decor.

Sugarwings has a couple to finish too, and they will be squeezed in when done. There is always room for more!

We have already had to shuffle the area around a little. At first, we were using our tea party cups from Sugarwings’ other grandma who passed away. But with the giant, cocoa bombs we made, we figured we had to get some bigger mugs, so switched the dainty cups for hefty, Santa mugs.

The largest, chipboard house is ideal storage for a ziplock baggie of cocoa bombs. The roof comes off, like a lid and there is plenty of space inside.

When we are ready for our cocoa parties, my grand fairy comes to this buffet to gather up all the supplies and set the table. We have some very strict guidelines for drinking hot chocolate, first and foremost-

Cocoa parties can only occur in front of a lit Christmas tree!

A few more rules-

Tea party rules apply: polite chitchat, best manners, etc.

Watching Christmas shows on the TV while drinking cocoa is encouraged.

The table must have a cloth on it and napkins can be paper, but must be pretty.

Santa hats or antlers need to be on your head.

Tails from the Road Part Two

Corona virus, dogs, family, Food and Drink, Goldendoodle Puppies, puppies!, Ryan, Travel

By Karla Nathan / November 24, 2020

Was our cross country trip to pass out puppies only four nights? So many miles, so many places, so many happenings, all in just a few days?

Days were long in the car, but between audio books, This American Life podcasts, and naps, it wasn’t bad. We stopped every couple of hours for the pups to stretch their legs, and they all travelled well. They peed on command and mostly slept while driving.

Each day we tried to get as far as we could towards our next meet up location and the puppy owners were kind enough to be flexible along with us.

Our hotel stops weren’t planned very far in advance, but we got lucky in finding ideal places with ground floor rooms. Although, I am afraid that I didn’t take advantage of that in the middle of the night. Instead, I was so tired that I lazily sat pups on their peepads instead of leashing them for a walk at 3am.

This resort in Tarrytown, NY was our favorite stop. Ruby’s family lived in Manhattan, and obliged us by driving a half hour to meet outside of the city to get her.

She is a lucky pup who will live on Central Park.

The hotel was an old estate on a hill overlooking the Hudson transformed into a resort. I would’ve loved to stay longer and explore, but we had a mission. I felt a little like Santa, flying across country to bring joy.

We did get in to Tarrytown early enough for a delicious room service, Asian meal. Restaurants were out due to not only Covid, but to having a passel of pups with us.

Ruby’s family brought us fresh, NY bagels! We got up early to let the babies frolic on the expansive lawns and figured we’d eat a granola bar in the car after Ruby left. These were a magnificent surprise!

And the world’s most delicious bagel. So was the cream cheese. It was so Rich, that it was almost an ivory tone. Do they mix it with butter there?

Delicious!

Driving across country during a pandemic can be eerie. We were extra careful, but it was disconcerting to see so many people with no masks (mostly in Missouri and Indiana) unlike the area we live in. I doubled up and wore a face shield too.

We listened to the news reports of the cases soaring, and swore to be even more careful than planned. We couldn’t do typical tourist stuff, or explore much. We wanted to get back home safely and quickly.

Our first stop in Indiana at my sister’s was much too fleeting, and our first night with the pups was stressful at the hotel.

But finding this mansion estate (under $200, including pet fees) turned our trip around.

We decided then, that we were going to try local foods as we drove cross country and upgrade our hotels along the way. We spent more, but it made the trip feel like a get away, not a chore.

We had a car picnic at a really nice seafood restaurant in Mendon, MA after dropping off a Teddy.
(In the two litters, we had three Teddies and one Freddy)

That lucky boy lives in a wonderful home by a lake now.

That night, we stayed in Buffalo at a Hyatt Place. Not a mansion, but a perfect hotel for puppies. There wasn’t as much for them to get into there, those rooms are streamlined. Other places had dangling cords or other temptations. I think Hyatt Place is ready for pets nationwide and most other chains just accommodate animals on an individual basis.

We’ve always been fans of this brand anyway, it’s a well run, comfortable place to stay. I wish we had chosen one on our first night on the road, but that was before we decided to not be on a tight budget and to enjoy the trip.

The puppies are supposed to be a business for me, but they are so much more than that. So, why should I try to be frugal and make a profit on the drive to get them to their homes? We figured it was much more pleasant to treat this adventure as a getaway, because there aren’t very many of those in this day and age.

After getting another Teddy (the poor boy whose previous family didn’t want him) to his Wisconsin family who met us in Chicago, we drove around to sight see and stopped at Portillo's, to get a Chicago style dinner to go.

Local foods made our trip so much more interesting than typical drive thrus would have. And the change of attitude did too.

But the best part of the trip? We came home with Molasses, “Molly”. I kept thinking we should try to sell her too, and had many offers. She came with us on the drive as kind of an interview process to see if we were keeping her.

While she was a perfect pup, and quite mellow, I was still iffy.

People asked us if we were keeping her, I answered maybe, Rich always answered yes. I was still getting emails from interested buyers and just couldn’t commit.

Finally, he made me see that she was already family. And now that we are home, tearing down the puppy corrals, packing up supplies, I am so glad that she is here. It is the six month anniversary of Ryan’s death, and I don’t think I could handle losing all sixteen puppies on top of that.

This girl has sweet Angel wings on her chest, that make me think she was sent to me from Ryan to give me someone who loves hugs as much as he always did.

You know who else was glad we kept her? These two mamas were overwhelmed with joy when we got back!

Cocoa Bombs

Corona virus, Food and Drink

By Karla Nathan / November 18, 2020

These might not be picture perfect, but they were tasty, and fun to make.

Well, not as much fun as they could have been. With Stupid Covid around, we couldn’t do group treat making.

Originally, I’d planned on making the shells and having trays of goodies for the grand fairies to fill them with. Instead, I made them myself, kept it simple and just filled them with marshmallows.

The first step is melting the chocolate and lining silicone molds with it.

Since the shell is what stirs into the hot milk to make it chocolate, don’t use those paraffin tasting fake chocolate melts. Use something delicious like Ghiradelli chips.

After the chocolate sets up, carefully pop it out of the mold and fill it with whatever you like in your cocoa. I’d like to make them again and add some peppermints or a little instant coffee for a mocha.

Once filled, smear a bit of melted chocolate on the rim of one piece to use as glue, and firmly but gently, push two pieces together.

Then, warm your milk, place a bomb in a mug, and pour the milk over it.

I realized it was called a bomb because the shell melts quickly and the marshmallows pop suddenly to the top. Sorry, no photos of the end product or popping marshmallows. Due to Stupid Covid, we sipped our mugs of deliciousness outside by the fire in the dark.

Which I will not complain about, because we are dang lucky to be able to get together with family and enjoy treats together. And we were blessed with lovely weather to be outside in.