I love souvenirs

We like to pick up a thing or two when we're traveling to remind us of our wonderful adventure.

This time it wasn't my trip, but I still requested a souvenir.

My brother-in-law travelled to Russia recently and I asked him to bring me back something authentic from that region.

Here's what he brought me:

A teapot from Russia!

 

It separates into 3 parts:  the cup, the steeper, and a lid to keep your tea warm in the pot while you drink it.  Although I'm not a tea drinker, my husband is.  Last night he used it and it worked wonderfully.  I'm more into the cuteness of the whole thing.

Not only is it a wonderful souvenir from Russia, he just happened to be visiting Sochi, Russia and the teapot says Sochi on it along with Olympic rings.  I guess I got a souvenir teapot from the Olympics now.

Love the teapot........thank you Larry!

And the city we are going to is...........

I guess I'm ready to do the final reveal.  It's too hard to find exciting hints of this fabulous city.

Did you guess it?  Yes.....we are going to Columbus, Ohio.

We actually made plans 3 years ago to go to the National Pizza and Ice Cream Show, but at the last minute decided to go to New Orleans instead.....that was a good decision.

One of our reasons for not attending this one was because it's Ohio and it's in the middle of winter.  We really aren't cold weather people.  But after braving New York City and Washington, DC -- we've found that the weather kind of adds a little fun element to the trip.

But I think Columbus is going to be different.  We've decided not to rent a car because we don't want to have to drive in nasty snowy weather.  We found a hotel downtown right across the street from the convention center.  Even better, the hotel has free airport shuttle -- so they can come pick us up and drop us off at the airport.

There are plenty of bars and restaurants near the hotel -- so walking around a little will do us good.

We'll have two days of pizza, pizza, pizza, and ice cream!  Actually, with the "proposed" expansion of our first location, Paul had been thinking of adding an ice cream shop......so we can investigate the opportunities at the show.

One thing we are NOT messing with this pizza show is competing in the best pizza making.  That burden adds just a HUGE pain in the butt trying to package and transport your food.  This time....none of that.  Just planning on attending seminars and putting a little spark back into us about running our business and walking the show floors looking at all the new pizza products there are.

Plus getting to spend 4 days alone with no one but me and the husband.  Ahhhhh.......maybe this will turn out to be a really great trip after all.

Welcome......I'm glad you're here!

Not really much to report today.

It's payroll week AND first of the month is near......so you can only imagine what I'm up to.

We probably will have to meet with the landlord and the architect sometime this week to review his plans and make arrangements to get contractors out to give us a bid on what the expansion will cost.  That's always a fun thing to do.

It's insurance renewal time for PZ again......that means getting quotes, filling out tons of paperwork, and getting all the information to have 3 agents get us quote on all our insurance.  That's always fun to do.....NOT.

We were supposed to have someone come out last week and install a new hot water heater for our house.  He also needs to replace all the sheetrock in the little closet where it's located because we had a leak and now there's old mold on the walls.  We had to postpone it last week because of PZ stuff.....and it looks like there's no time again this week.  Maybe next week???

Been trying to get Aaron realtor information so he can try and find a place to live in Santa Fe.  That hasn't been really easy either.  Harder for him to do since he doesn't have a computer.

Cris finally got a new car last week and was able to return our extra vehicle to us.  So now we have 3 cars in the driveway again.  That's always fun because it always seems like the vehicle you want to drive is the one that is blocked in.

Just another fun day in the Gainor house!

The weather apocalypse that shut down the whole city and didn't happen!

I am sitting here highly amused this morning watching all the news stations trying to make news out of nothing.

For the last few days they have been hyping this awful icy winter storm we were going to have.  Schools closed, city offices closed, county offices closed, we were told to stay home and don't go out unless you absolutely had to.

Now they are forced to take pictures of cars with a little frozen ice on them.......because the big weather storm that shut down the WHOLE city didn't happen.  It's not the first time they've done this.  But they should just give up, say it didn't turn out as planned, and quit polluting the TV waves with all their minor dribble about nothing.

The people in Minnesota must be laughing at us.


Paul & Debbie's secret trip Hint #6:
Here's a picture of our secret city

How we wish the weather will be

How the weather most likely will be

Viva Las Vegas!

Well I figured I better sit down and relive the Vegas trip in my mind before I forget it all.

Early morning flight.  It's funny how you can get up early to take a flight, but any other day your lazy butt is in bed until 9am.  On this particular morning we had to get up at 5am.

After a short layover in Phoenix and a quick snack of French fries, we arrived in Vegas at around 11:30am.  Yay.......lots of day left to have fun.

First stop was our hotel.  This trip we stayed at the MGM and what a great decision that was.  Love, love, love that hotel.  I apologize in advance that all of the pictures except for 2 of them will be borrowed from other people on the internet.  We didn't take any pictures.  Next trip we'll take an official photographer to document the event for us.

 

 

 We had the best room ever.  It was on the west side of the building and instead of having to walk down 3 miles of hallway we had a back elevator right across the hallway.  We also didn't have to walk all through the casino, we had a little back door that opened onto a side street and put us right on the strip in 2 minutes.  This dark picture was taken from our window at night.  We were on the 9th floor and could see all the gigantic signs down the strip from our room.

The first day consisted of gambling a little in New York, New York; eating; and getting a nap in since we had such a long day.  The show for the night was going to be Blue Man Group at the Monte Carlo, which lucky for us was right across the street.  We got dressed up all fancy and walked down the strip a little and ended up in the Aria casino.  Played a little and then headed for the Monte Carlo.  We ate dinner at a Chinese Restaurant in the Monte Carlo and since we had a 9:30 show......we took the time to leave a little money in their casino.

Blue Man Group was amazing and we were lucky enough to get 4th row seats.  Here's a valuable tip.....when you go to Vegas always go to the 1/2 price ticket place to get your show tickets.  You get good seats.....you get great prices!

 

The show ended bout 11:30 so after our short walk to the hotel.......it was bed time.  I know.....we're getting to be old farts.  We wanted to have lots of energy for the next day.

 

Our first full day in Vegas!  Time to walk the strip and go in every single casino on the way and leave a little money.  We hit: Planet Hollywood, Bally's, Cesar's Palace, Flamingo (stayed and played there for a couple of hours), Mirage (ended up playing Pai Gao Poker in there for about 4 hours), Paris Hotel, Venetian, Treasure Island......there might have been a couple of others that I missed.

 

We decided to take a cab back to the hotel (our feet were dead dog tired).  Had to make the plans for that evening.  Went to our favorite 1/2 price show ticket place and bought discounted buffet tickets for the buffet at Planet Hollywood and made the decision to see Zumanity by Cirque de Soleil that evening for the 9:30 show.  We got lucky again......it was at New York, New York.....right across the street again.

This show was a little racy and sensual with some topless girls.  Humorous and fun.  Had great seats......and enjoyed the performance.

I think Paul enjoyed these topless girls swimming in a giant champagne glass the best!

After the show we headed across the street to the Excalibur to see if we would win our riches there......we didn't.  Went to bed around 2am.

Day 3 of our Las Vegas adventure we decided we wanted to still see the rest of the casinos at the end of the strip and wanted to hit the downtown area.  We decided on taking the bus this time.  We bought an all day bus pass which allowed us to get off and on as much as we wanted.  First stop was the Riveria Hotel. 

We loved this place.  We stayed and played for a couple of hours and decided that this is where we want to stay the next time we come to town.  The smaller older casinos are so much better than those big fancy schmancy ones.

After playing there for awhile, we walked across the street to Circus Circus and Slots of Fun.  Both dives......but who cares.....we were having fun.

Hopped back on the bus and hit downtown.  First job was to find something to eat.  Ended up at the Plaza Hotel downtown at the Hash House A-Go-Go.  Luckily we decided to share this chicken and waffles......the both of us couldn't even eat it all.  Notice how the bacon is cooked inside the waffles.  It was fun to try something new and different.......but we decided that the chicken by itself and the waffles by themselves are way better!

Gambled in the downtown casinos for 3-4 hours and then it was time to decide what we were going to do for the night.  They had a 1/2 price show ticket booth down there so we decided we wanted to try and fit 2 shows in for that last night.  However, in order to get to the first one in time, we were not going to be able to take the bus back to the MGM.

So......we hailed a cab and got to the MGM.  Another lucky coincidence.  The first show we would be seeing that evening was at the MGM.......David Copperfield!

This was the BEST show we saw in Vegas.  This guy is amazing and you seriously cannot figure out how the heck he does it.  He is still as good looking as he was the last time I saw him perform over 20 years ago!

Our next show was going to be at 10pm.....so we headed over to New York, New York to find something good to eat for dinner.  Paul opted for a fish place and I opted for a meatball sub.  That hotel has the most awesome good court.  You feel like you are sitting outside in the streets of New York.  Love it!

 

Last show on this Vegas trip was going to be at the Luxor.  We really hit the jackpot on seeing 4 shows all within walking distance from our hotel.  We had some time to kill so we left a little bit of money over in the Luxor before we saw this:

More topless girls!  Hey if you go to Vegas......you need to do the showgirl thing :-)

After all that stimulating showmanship.....we headed back to the Excalibur to finish out our night of leaving money in the casinos.  I think we made it back to the MGM around 3am.

 

Last Day......last day!  Checked out of the hotel and didn't have to leave for the airport until 3pm.  We decided to check out the other casinos on our fabulous corner before heading out.  Not much impressed with the Tropicana or the Hooters Casino.....so we ended up at the MGM and gave them some more of our money.

 

Had a great flight home with a short layover in Phoenix again.  Arrived safe and sound in Houston around 11:30pm........another wonderful trip to remember with my honey!

Just wish we could have made it more profitable!

 

 

Paul & Debbie's secret trip Hint #5:
Our destination this time is for business reasons and NOT a personal vacation!

 

 

No autographs please!

It might not be much to you, but it's always a big deal for me when we get asked to be a part of an article in the pizza trade magazines.

This month, I have a small piece in an article about delivery bags.

If you are so inclined, check it out here on page 48.  Clicking the link should take you right to the page where the story is.  By doing so, you will feed into my over self-inflated ego and have made a contribution for me to enjoy my 15 minutes of fame.

http://www.pmqmag-digital.com/pmqmag/january_february_2014#pg48

Paul & Debbie's secret trip Hint #4:

Our destination city is the 3rd largest city in the state where it is located.

Product endorsement

Well in the blurry month I was sick, my birthday, Christmas, and Paul's birthday came and went.

I spent most of the time in bed and watching my house get further and further into clutterdom.

Even though I told Paul not to get me anything for Christmas, he did anyways.  But it really is a couple's gift so I guess it doesn't count.

He got us one of these:

A Soda Stream!  We had looked at them before Christmas trying to decide if it was something we would like and use.  We LOVE it!  The flavors we've tried have been delicious:  Root Beer, Orange soda, Pink Grapefruit.

Right now we an assortment of fruit flavorings to make just flavored Sparkling Water.  This week we bought Ocean Spray Cranberry-Raspberry and Tonic Water.  Both delicious and so easy to make.  We're looking for Ginger Ale now and haven't been brave enough yet to try Cola.  Less sugar in the Soda Spray drink.  But I've been replacing some of the Coke with the sparkling waters.

 Be warned:  when sampling new Cranberry beverage, don't spill it all over yourself.

 Seriously, if you have stains in clothing you have to get this stuff.  I haven't seen a stain it couldn't remove yet.  Even old greasy stains in Pizza Zone t-shirts.  It's the best.  ***you can go back and repeat this whole paragraph in a women from a TV commercial voice.....(it will make it more interesting)

 I thought I would just share a couple of pics from my first Thai Cooking experience was happening.  We went to the Chinese Market and bought the necessary ingredients. 

Since I'm sure most people have no idea what Lemongrass is (or have ever even heard of it), this is Lemongrass.  Not what I had pictured in my mind.  It's almost like little stick stalks (say that fast 3 times).  When you cut into it, it had a very aromatic smell of lemons.

Here's the star ingredient........Fish Sauce.  I actually cut back a little on the portion of that in the recipe.  But in the whole grand scheme of things you never really taste it in the soup.

 Here's the final product.  We added shredded chicken to it as well.  This recipe is a keeper!

And Paul whipped up a batch of home veggie fried rice to make the meal complete.

 

 

Paul & Debbie's secret trip Hint #3: 

Our destination city had a high temperature of 16 yesterday and will probably be just as cold when we visit.

 

Yes. We are taking another trip.

I can imagine what everyone is thinking now.  "They just got back".

Well this one was planned spur of the moment this past Monday.  Of course, all our trips are always planned spur of the moment.

Not going to reveal our destination yet.......but will drop a hint or two off each day and see if you can figure it out. 

Hint 1:  Travel dates are February 8-February 11.

Hint 2:  We're going somewhere where no one will probably be able to guess where it is.

Onto other news:

Cooking!

I've been cooking again lately.  Yay!

Here's a couple of pictures to imprint the occasion in our memories.

The best and easiest chicken in the world.  Chicken breasts sprinkled with Salt, Pepper, Lawry's Seasoned Salt, Garlic Powder, and Onion Powder.

Fry them up in butter until they are done.  Your chicken will turn out nice and juicy!

Serve them with a side of "special" rice.  Boil regular rice in Chicken or Beef Broth as the liquid.  At the end mix in sliced green onions.  It's good just like that, but this last time I also threw in some chopped Cilantro.  This was the easiest darn dinner and tastes so so good.

The other night I made the Green Chile Chicken Salad and wrapped it in Spinach Tortilla Wraps with lettuce and avocado.  Served with a side of chips and a dill pickle.  Oh my......it was delicious.

The next evening, we didn't have dinner plans.  As we were talking we both came up with the weirdest thing we wanted.  What's even funnier is why we would even choose this?!?!?!?!?!

Yes.  We actually had Manwich for dinner.  And it was very very delicious.

 

Tonight's challenge will be new recipe.  We've recently discovered Lemongrass Soup and it's so yummy (we are talking really really yummy).  So I'm making a trip to the Chinese market today to get my ingredients:  Lemongrass, Ginger root, Red Chiles, Fish Sauce, Chili Paste, Tomatoes, Mushrooms, and Cilantro.

I can honestly say that I could never imagine myself saying I need to get Lemongrass and Fish Sauce for dinner tonight.  Crazy stuff starts happening to you after you turn 50!

Okay, time to get the day started.  And just for the memories.....it's a crazy iced over city kind of day and the news is filled with all the accidents and people stuck on icy bridge stories.  Glad I get to work from the comfort of my own toasty home wearing comfy clothes.  Ahhhhhh.......what a life!

P.S.  Did you figure out where we're going yet?

Itty bitty updates

Well now that I'm back I'm filled with so much news.  Can't wait to get it all out.

Today's post will be brief since I've got a busy day planned. 

1.  Having lunch with "adopted" son
2.  Working on getting quotes for driver, worker comp, and business insurance.  Renewal time.
3.  Getting last week's paperwork done.
4.  Cleaning off all the miscellaneous"ish" mess on my desk.

Pizza Zone news:  not moving our location.  Working with current landlord and architect right now to draw up plans based on expansion at our current location.  We are going to get estimates of what the work will cost and go from there.  We might only be signing a 1 year lease there with the hopes of trying to move out again next year.  We'll see.

Well I was going to post some pictures, but I really need to get cracking.  Maybe later today during end of day stuff, I'll get you some pics.......so you can really see what we've been up to.

Anyone still checking in here?

Actually, I'm feeling my blog mojo coming back.

I want to post pics of some yummy things I've been cooking. 

I want to post our fabulous (but BIG losing) trip to Las Vegas.

I want to tell you all about what we've been doing and how my husband has been sick the last few days.

I also want to tell you about our latest trip that I just booked.

Do I have your interest yet?  Send me an e-mail or post on Facebook that you've been here and I'll try and get things posted starting tomorrow.

Just checking to see if my audience is still around!

The flu ate my creativity

2 weeks ago today, I caught the dreaded flu.

And now it has eaten my desire to write, doing anything crafty, or do anything period.

You won't be seeing he here for awhile.  I have nothing in me to write.

Maybe I'll find it all again someday and come back and share it with you.