Lunar New Year

Hello Lovely Readers,

It's the year of the Fire Horse!

Every 60 years, or five cycles of the Chinese zodiac, the regular year of the horse becomes a rare, violate, high-energy Fire 

Symbolizing intense passion, rapid change, independent spirit, and potential disruption, favoring bold, action-oriented, and transformative pursuits. Historically, these years are associated with significant societal shifts. 

🔥The Fire element intensifies the Horse’s natural traits, leading to a dynamic, fast-paced, and sometimes chaotic year

🔥It is considered a time to break old patterns, embrace, and take risks. 

🔥 Encouraging confidence and speaking up for one's desires

The Fire 🐎 Woman

 @ China Pavilion, Epcot

A Fire Horse woman (born 1966, 2026) is characterized by a bold, independent, and passionate personality, often described as fiercely self-reliant, intelligent, and rebellious.

Due to the intense combination of the fire element and the horse sign, we are considered natural leaders, highly energetic, and driven, though historically criticized for being "too much" or defying traditional gender roles

Key Personality Traits

🔥 Fiercely independent, seeking freedom and rarely backing down from challenges

🔥 A high-energy, fiery, and sometimes volatile temperament

🔥 Sharp intellect & charisma

🔥 Rebellious & non-conformis, often challenging existing norms and societal expectations

🔥 Stubborn & headstrong

Strengths and Challenges 

🔥  Strengths: Courageous, fast-paced, magnetic, and highly productive in pursuing goals

🔥 Challenges: Potential for impatience, recklessness, and burning out due to excessive, fast-paced action.

Cultural Significance and Misconceptions 

🔥 The "Unlucky" Myth: Traditionally, this sign was considered unfavorable for women, with superstitions claiming they would bring bad luck to husbands or be unsuited for traditional marriage. 

🔥 The Reality: Modern interpretations see this as a symbol of power, independence, and strong leadership rather than bad luck. 

I was born at the tale end of the last 🔥 🐎 year. Which does mean I'll be 60 this year! Since I was a baby last time, I didn't realize any of this beforehand. 

And I will say, quite a bit of the Fire Horse Woman description does apply to me 😉 

Do you know your Chinese Zodiac sign?

Until next time

Stay Sunny 🌞 

Festival of the Holidays

Hello Lovely Readers,

Call me spirited. I love the parks at Christmas! This was my first time going to Walt Disney World during the holidays. First Park I visisited was Epcot.

Epcot's Christmas Tree

Chestnuts & Good Cheer Holiday Kitchen

Fire-roasted Chesnuts

Yukon Holiday Kitchen

Canada

Beer Flight

Maple Cookie Blond Ale, Brown Sugar Coffee Porter, Peanut Butter Banana Porter

Los Posadas Holiday Kitchen

Mexico

Tamal de Pollo con Mole

Shredded Chicken and Mole in Corn Massa topped with Mole Negro, Queso Fresco, 

Creama Mexicana, Slivered Almonds & Sesame Seeds

Bavaria Holiday Kitchen

Germany

Cheese Fondue

in a Bread Bowl with Steamed Baby Vegetables and Marble Potatoes

Tuscany Holiday Kitchen

Italy

Montanara

Fried House-made Pizza Dough with Pomodoro Sauce, Parmesan, and Fresh Basil

& Prosecco

Holiday Hearth Desserts

The Odyssey

 Frozen Caramel Hot Chocolate
with Twix & Whipped Cream

Until next time

Cookie Stroll

I went to the Epcot International Festival of Holidays Cookie Stroll for the first time

I missed going last year...so I went on the first day I was not blacked out 

There are 13 cookies on this years stroll, although you only need to buy five cookies to get the festival treat/prize!

My choices...

Maple Leaf Shortbread {my fav}

Yukon Holiday Kitchen

Chocolate Snicker Bar

American Holiday Table

Salted Caramel Spaceship Earth

Experimental Prototype

 Cookies of Tomorrow 

Coffee Mocha

Mele Kalikimaka Holiday Kitchen

Cranberry-Oatmeal

Holiday Hearth Desserts

The prize was a spatula, mini M & M's, and a peanut butter cookie recipie 

I wasn't quite a glutton, I brought baggies so I could savor them later

I hope to go back, there's a couple I still have my eye on, plus Ill probably get another Maple 🍁 Shortbread

Beverage Monday/Thanksgiving

Hello Lovely Readers,

The last time I did a Thanksgiving Beverage Monday was way back in 2009~ Link

Here are some newer Thanksgiving dinner-inspired cocktails 

PHOTO: JULIA GARTLAND; 

FOOD STYLING: ADRIENNE ANDERSON

Turkini

• 1 1/2 oz. bourbon ~ make it Wild Turkey
• 1 oz. cream de cacoa, light
• 1/2 oz. Kahlua
• 1/2 oz. milk 
• chocolate syrup
• 1 1 1/2 oz. Bailey's

Put ice in a shaker and then measure the first five ingredients into the shaker.  Shake and strain into a martini glass drizzled with the chocolate sauce. Garnish with a turkey cookie or candy.

Recipe from Delish, with a little bit of modification from me

Sweet Potato Casserole Old-Fashioned

• 1/2 oz. El Gupao sweet potato syrup
• 3 dashes El Guapo chicory pecan bitters
• orange wheel
• 3 oz. bourbon ~ again why not Wild Turkey or go with Maker's Mark
• roasted mini marshmallows
• Orange twist

Muddle the orange wheel, chickory pecan bitters, and sweet potato syrup at the bottom of a rocks glass, add a large ice cube, and the bourbon. Twist the orange peel over the drink, and garnish with roasted mini marshmallows

Recipe inspiration & photo from Comfort du Jour

Cranberry Mojito 

• 8- 10 fresh cranberries
• 6-7 mint leaves
• 1 oz. simple syrup
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 2 oz. white rum
• cranberry juice
• club soda
• lime, sugared cranberries, and mint to garnish

In a highball glass add the cranberries, mint simple syrup and lime juice; muddle them together gently. Add ice, the rum and cranberry juice lmost to the top of the glass, add a splash of club soda. Garnish with a lime wedge, sugared cranberries and mint. 

My recipe. Image from Canva.

Bonus, I have really been enjoying flavored whiskey/bourbon on the rocks. Try these pecan flavors~

Ole Smoky Pecan Whiskey

Select Club Pecan Praline

Blackland Prarie Texas Pecan Brown Sugar Bourbon

Cheers,

Happy New Year 2024

Happy New Year 🍾🎉

Glad to finish this year up!!

Highlights

✨️ new car

✨️ trip to WA state

✨️ working with my son at his 1st job

Low points

⛔️ breaking my face

⛔️ not having a place to live

For 2024 I'm staring a new adventure and doing a bit of a life reset.

So...this California girl is moving to Southwest Florida this week! 

It will be hard, since my one and only will be over 2800 miles away living in a dorm. I've gotten somewhat used to him being away at school, but now we'll be in differnt states & time zones!!

I have only lived in Southern California and have never driven across the United States, so we'll see how that goes. Thankfully my lil dude 🐶 likes riding in a car.

I'll miss my family, friends and work buddies. I usually keep up to date through texting or social media so it won't be much of a change there, except for the people I see several times a week at work. I'll miss the camaraderie, but I'm glad to be almost done with the shit show!

So here's to a new year & new adventures🍻

Halloween 2002

Hello lovely readers,

A cowgirl & her shadow...

Our story started 21 years ago tonight. Until that night, I hadn't really noticed Javier, nor talked to him. I just knew he was loud, arrogant and kinda scary. I really did not want to linger in the kitchen when he was there.

On Halloween 2002, I was supposed to work on a public dinner cruise, but was cut early. I had thrown together a costume from things I had, hoping that I could leave and join a "singles" cruise on another boat. 

Since I did get off early, I went on the cruise with a bunch of friends/co-workers where I was happily getting drunk, and dancing. Javier was dressed all in black, and was lurking and being kinda creepy, so I teased him and called him my shadow. 

After the cruise was over, we ventured to another party, in the building our main prep kitchen was in, and a huge event venue. Yes, both in places that we worked and yes, the drinks were flowing! One thing led to another, and you know... 

It took us until New Year's Day to figure out that we had an attraction worth exploring further, and another month for me to tie-up some loose ends. Neither of us wanted anything serious at first, we just wanted to have fun, but that went out the window when we fell madly in love and found our forever person. It really sucks that a pandemic ended our story! 

Anyways, I didn't know about this picture and that he was grabbing a handful of my ass until we were married parents. But, that was so him. In a lot of the posed photos of us, I'm usually laughing because one of his hands was not behaving. 

Have a Happy Halloween 🎃 

Originally posted on @stephanieleonacross in 2022

International Chef's Day

Hello Lovely Readers,

October 20th is International Chef's Day! So gotta celebrate the one and only, the man, the myth, the legend my husband @chefesquivel!

Javier wasn't plannning on a career as a chef. He sold shoes and sports clothes in differnt swap meets around Mexico City. When he came to the United States he tried landscaping for a very short time before getting a job as a dishwasher at Hornblower Cruises & Events in San Diego.

When he started there, he had never had a job in a kitchen. I found out many years later, he didn't even cook for himself when he lived at home, nor attempted to. However, he was a very quick study, plus he called his mom and asked her how to handle a knife, and basic kitchen tasks so he could move up to prep chef, and then eventually move to events and make tips. 

By the time I met him almost two years later, he had advanced to lead chef responsible for getting 300+ meals out on a public boat cruise with the least talented of the kitchen staff! Plus, he was working on private events where the menus were a little more varied.

He was a sponge and absorbed techniques from many different people. He had an almost photographic memory, and was quick on his feet, all which helped him as he increased his knowledge of different cuisines, and cooking techniques. Funnily, Mexican food wasn't a strong point.

As a Chef's wife, do you know the number one question everyone asks me? You know you just wondered! But no, he did not make me food at home. Yes, he would bring stuff home from work, but as he climbed the ladder, he wasn't the one preparing or cooking the food he brought home for us. What he really wanted to eat when he came home from work was a sandwich or two, and he usually had a sandwich or breakfast before he went to work, all made by me.

He did prepare all the food for our wedding, he wanted to make sure it was perfect. Plus, he always made dinner for the holidays, and special occasions, but he couldn't sit down and really enjoy his own cooking, and for those of you that had the pleasure, you know he was f*cking awesome at it!!!

Here are the places he honed his skills~

🔪Hornblower Cruises & Events: San Diego, Newport Beach & Marina Del Rey

🔪C & E Catering (our company)

🔪Sorority Gourmet & Frat Food @ UCLA, USC & CSULB

🔪The Studios: Walt Disney, Prospect, DreamWorks & Universal in their Catering/Food Service Departments

🔪Sofitel Los Angeles & the Bel-Air Country Club

🔪24 Carrots Catering & Events

🔪Paleo Zone

🔪Love Catering

🔪& lastly Keno's Restaurant/Canyon Catering & Events

1st 📷: Making eggs at a Pancake Breakfast

2nd 📷: Birthday celebration for our Sister-in-law 

3rd 📷: In the commissary in the Abbey in San Diego

Miss you Babe❤❤❤

Lunar New Year

It’s the Year of the Tiger! 

But why am I posting today instead of February 1st? Well, the celebration is for 15 days, and when I was a Cub Scout Leader, I would celebrate with my boys on the first Monday after the Lunar New Year started.

I started doing a Chinese New Year Celebration 10 years ago. At the time there was a Language and Culture Belt Loop and Pin that they could earn. We lived in a predominantly Spanish-speaking area, so most of the boys either knew Spanish or Latin American cultures and I thought it would be interesting for them to learn some things about a completely different culture. 

 The first year, 2012 was the Year of the Dragon, and that first year I only had a den of six boys. They colored dragon masks and we put streamers on them plus, I read the Story of the Zodiac and worked through the requirements which included teaching them some words.

Through the years, it evolved. The belt loop and pin were discontinued however, I always read the Zodiac Story, and they always made a dragon mask. I also included coloring pages with that year’s Zodiac animal, and the last few years my husband either made plain chow mein noodles, potstickers, or we brought some in. Of course, the boys had fortune cookies, too.

I updated the “calendar” so the boys knew what animal they were (caution for late January and early February birthdays, the New Year is based on the Lunar year, so it rotates around, just like Easter, so you need to actually look it up, to see what year/animal you fall under). 

The boys always looked forward to the night and enjoyed making the masks since it was one of our “fun” nights where we all hung out together. Of course, all the siblings could participate, too. 

Since I started in 2012, and there are twelve animals in the Zodiac, and I am no longer a Cub Scout Leader, we didn’t get through all twelve~ 🐭 🐮 🐯 🐰🐲🐍🐎🐑🐒🐔 🐶 & 🐷. 

This year we would have celebrated my husband since those born in 1974 are Tigers! Which has always been one of my favorite animals😁

According to Chinese lore, Tigers are, “Brave, competitive, unpredictable, and confident. They are very charming and well-liked by others. But sometimes they are likely to be impetuous, irritable, and overindulgent. They have stubborn personalities and tough judgment, Tigers work actively and express themselves boldly, doing things in a high-handed manner. They are authoritative and never go back on what they have said.” 

My husband in a nutshell! Do you know what Year you were born under?

 FYI, I'm a 🐴

Beverage Wednesday

Wait a minute, is that right? I completely forgot to post this week on Monday, so this week it is Beverage Wednesday,

Halloween Cocktails, Spiders!
{& this is me as a Spider Queen}

White Spider

1 oz vodka
1 oz white creme de menthe

Pour over lots of ice, in a Rocks Glass.

Spider Bite Martini

1.5 oz vodka
1 oz Malibu® coconut rum
1 oz triple sec
2 splashes bitters

Put all ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake to mix. Strain and pour into a Martini Glass. Adjust the amount of Bitters to taste. A little goes a long way

Spider's Web

4 oz Goldschlager® cinnamon schnapps
1 drop strawberry juice
1 1/2 oz whipped cream

Put alcohol in shot glass, drop strawberry into glass, then try and make cream float on top.

Black Widow{I did another version of this earlier this month}

1 oz Absolut® Citron vodka
1 oz Opal Nera® black sambuca

Pour both ingredients over ice in a cocktail shaker, shake. Strain into a Martini Glass and serve with a lemon twist.

Tarantula Bite

2 oz Tarantula Azul white tequila
6 oz Grape energy soda

Fill a High Ball Glass with ice cubes. Pour the ingredients in order into it. Garnish with a slice of lemon.

Cheers,

btw I do have arachnophobia!
recipes courtesy of drinksmixer.com

Happy Easter

~Have a fun~filled day everybody~

My Little Knight

Ok so here is the cutest knight ever!

I hope everybody had a fun Halloween.

Happy Halloween!

In honor of Halloween here's a black and orange board. A touch of Halloween and a little glamorous. Don't you just love the black velvet gown? Next year Halloween is a Saturday so if you decide to get married on October 31st you don't need to go goth or scary.

• Table Scape~Hostess With The Mostess
• Will you marry me? Pumpkins~Martha Stewart
• Black Velvet Gown~Victoria Brookes
• Boutonniere~The Knot
• Bridesmaid Dresses~David's Bridal
• Black Martini~About.com
• Black Chandelier Shoes~Christian La Croix
• Black Feather Wreath~Pottery Barn
• Orange Calla Lily Bouquet~The Knot
• Orange and Black Cake~Pink Cake Box
• Black & White Candy display~Pottery Barn
• Pumpkin Place Card Holder~The Knot
• Black Diamond Ring~My Solitaire
• Pumpkin Seed Candy Favors~Martha Stewart
• Black, White & Orange Invitation~Fine Stationary
• Black Bouquet~Flowerella

Enjoy,

~Happy 75th Birthday Mom, wherever you may be~

Beverage Monday.

Adult Trick or Treating

Today I am featuring candy inspired cocktails. Indulge your sweet tooth with these adult only treats.

photo courtesy of Fine Living

Almond Joy Martini
1 oz. chocolate vodka

1 oz. Frangelica

1 oz. coconut rum
Pour all ingredients into a shaker filled with ice. Strain into a chilled martini glass.

Milky Way Martini
1 1/2 oz. Starbucks Cream Liqueur

1 oz. chocolate vodka

1/2 oz. cream
Put all ingredients into a shot glass filled with ice. Strain into a chilled martini glass.

Green Jolly Rancher

1/2 oz Midori

1/2 oz Southern Comfort

1 splash sweet and sour mix
Pour ingredients into a shaker filled with ice and strain into a shot glass.

Tootsie Roll

1/2 oz Kahlua

1/2 oz vodka

1/2 oz orange juice

Pour all ingredients into a shaker filled with ice. Strain into a shot glass.

SweeTart
1/4 oz. lime juice
1/4 oz. pineapple juice
1/4 oz. raspberry liqueur

1 oz vodka

Pour all ingredients into a shaker filled with ice. Strain into a shot glass.

Cheers,

Candy photos courtesy of Candy Warehouse.