Snow in Auburn!

Happy "Brrrr" Monday!

Yes, it's been cold, damn cold! We got 4-5 inches of snow here in Auburn on Friday night and Saturday and it's been so cold, we still have it. Last night when I went to bed, it was 30 degrees, so it's safe to say, Mason will be over the moon to go to school this morning and still have snow on the soccer field. For those of you who live with snow, I know, it's novel for us and that it came before Christmas makes it even more magical.

Mason getting the great news!

There has been plenty going on at Casa de Partak. The cookie factory is open and I have already had over 100 cookies go out to wonderful causes. I'm now in the process of wrapping up my last request for 30 gingerbread boys and just focusing on decorating the cookies I give as holiday gifts. Of course, Mason loves decorating with me and he's getting really good. You can still quickly tell which cookies I did and which he did, but I remind him all the time, I've been icing cakes and cookies since I was just 23 years old, that's 24 years of practice! I expect he will soon be outdoing me and I can't wait for that day! Speaking of Mason, I think I shared with all of you that Mason made a presentation of an application for his school kitchen project to be considered for the Auburn 49er Lions "Celebrity Chef Challenge" grant that they do every year in March. Well, out of 8 applications, they chose Masons! They said not only were the letters from his fellow students compelling, but the personal presentation Mason made when he dropped off the application really impressed the board. For this grant, Mason and his school will have to sell tickets to the event and we have to decorate the hall. The 49er Lions will arrange for all the Celebrity Chefs and auction items in addition to all the other arrangements. The grant is a minimum of $5000 but can be more if we all pitch in and sell more tickets. If you want to come, it's March 6, 2014 and tickets are $17 per person - so save the date! On a personal note, I wasn't notified about the announcement so I wasn't there when they came to Mason's school to share the good news. The representative from the Lions club asked Mason to come up on stage as he acknowledged and congratulated him. I was so proud to learn that without any coaching, Mason had the good sense to thank his fellow students for writing letters and noting that this is a team effort, it's not just him. Good job son, it validates all the talking about lifting others up that I do that I think you are not hearing!  

Dave is at his annual training for the Guard and we were all sad he missed the snow and the local Christmas festivities. It is what it is and the way I see it, we'll just have to make up for lost time when he gets home next weekend. Auburn's Old Town Country Christmas is Saturday and we are hoping he will be home in time for us to all go.

Finally, if you know anyone who is thinking of buying a house and has a union connection, put them in touch with me. There is a program for union members, former union members, and family members of (current/previous/retired) union members that could be really helpful to help them buy. It's also got benefits for refinance. I am making my living working in real estate so if I have ever helped you with loans, loan mods, or just free consulting, please think of me for yourself and referrals of family and friends who may be selling and buying!

Merry Christmas,

Kathy

It's Official, "Merry Christmas!"

Salvation Army Community Dinner

Yes, the holiday season is upon us and all the usual suspects are out in full force. The radio is playing Christmas songs, the DIYers have started posting pictures of their clever handmade gifts, and Dave has decorated the outside of our house while I spent the weekend baking cookies.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving at home, just the 3 of us. Mason and I went and worked at the Salvation Army Community Thanksgiving dinner and that was something else! There is nothing like the feelings you feel when you volunteer, seriously, the best feeling ever. Mason made the green bean casserole and did all the slicing and dicing for stuffing on Wednesday including making his own seasoned bread crumbs! Dave made a turkey, put all the stuffing together, made his 24 hour fruit salad, and cranberry relish, while I made the mashed potatoes and gravy. It was the most low key Thanksgiving holiday we've ever had, in large part because we all chipped it. I think it might have even tasted better knowing we all worked together to make it such a lovely day. After dinner and cleaning up, again, a group effort, Mason and Dave headed outside to start decorating while I took all my Thanksgiving décor down and put up the Christmas goodies.

Dave did some black Friday shopping as we always count on the Home Depot deal for live cedar garlands, 15 ft for $5, and .99 poinsettias. I also like Walgreens for laundry soap, buy 1 get 2 free. I typically only buy laundry soap once a year! Other than just a few more things, I think we are done shopping. Now it's time to decorate cookies, wrap presents, address Christmas cards and enjoy the holiday season.

Our Thanksgiving Table

On another note, Mason and his classmates (parents included!) have raised nearly $2,500 for the school kitchen project with Mason's efforts combined with marmalade sales and the numbers are not in for the money we earned working the gates at the Mandarin Festival - I have high hopes it will take us near or over $10,000! Mason has begun Phase II of the project and is writing to manufacturers of commercial kitchen equipment. We are struggling a little because he doesn't like that I am insisting he hand write the letters, he wants to type them. I know at only 10 years old, he doesn't understand the reaction the person opening the letter is likely to have when they see an original, hand written letter from him versus just another type written letter. I also want him to understand how his energy and enthusiasm for the project passes through from him, to the pen, to the paper, and even if just in a little way, the person who reads his communication. I'll keep you posted, I'm feeling very confident we are going to have a new kitchen at Alta Vista Community Charter School next year!

With that, have a lovely week and instead of thinking about what you want for Christmas, think about what you can give - it feels better and in the end, it is really the best gift to you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Grand Prize Winning Recipe!

Happy Thanksgiving! What a crazy, wild weekend it's been. The 20th annual Mountain Mandarin Festival happened this weekend and mother nature showed up for the party and brought the crowds with her. Mason cooked on television twice promoting the festival and his demo and at the last minute, channel 3 called and wanted to cover his story, too! Not only did they do two live spots on Sunday morning, they also did a full segment on his school kitchen project that ran at 5 PM yesterday! It was really well done and you can see it here.

The lovely fall weather brought record breaking crowds to the festival and our school had the opportunity to raise money for the new kitchen in two ways, we got to work the entrance gates for a percentage of the ticket sales, and we sold mandarin marmalades. We darn near sold out of all of the preserves before the end of the first day! That is good news, but even better is that rumor has it that Saturday attendance alone broke festival records for any previous years all three days! We worked our tails off but I think we made some good money!

November 23, 2013

Add to all that busy-ness, my dear friend Rod got married on Saturday. We traveled to San Francisco Friday night and had a lovely night out on the town with David and Lisa Anderson and were honored to be at Rod and Cathleens wedding. We were on the 32nd floor of the St. Francis in Union Square taking in awe inspiring views of the bay, the Golden Gate bridge, Union Square and more! Simply spectacular to be there for such a special day. Congratulations Rod and Cathleen and thank you for sharing your day with us!

2np Place - $50

As we always do, all us Partaks entered the recipe contest at the festival and I won 2nd place for my explosive mandarin pound cake but the big winner in the family this year was Dave. Dave won the grand prize of a set of Kitchencraft waterless cookware - a nearly $2000 value! How cool is that?

While we were in the bay area, we picked up Dave's mom and she came to see Mason cook on Sunday. What a treat for all of us! Now it's time to get her home and start preparing for Thanksgiving. I hope you have a lovely holiday as I know we will, we all have so much to be thankful for!

The Calm Before the Storm!

Have you ever had one of those weeks that you know you will have way more to do than days in a week to do it all? Yep, that's where I am today! Next weekend in the 20th Annual Mandarin Festival and just a week ago, I was offered the opportunity to bring in volunteers from our little school to man the ticket booths for a portion of the ticket sales - proceeds to go to our school kitchen project. How could I say no? I couldn't and I didn't, but there are some obstacles for sure. The biggest one being that I have to leave town on Friday afternoon and won't be back until after the festival closes on Saturday night!

I am sure I will pull it all together, but it is stressful in the meantime. I'll let you all know next week if I survived!

Happy Veteran's Day!

Happy Veteran's Day! It's a holiday for most "jobs" but in fact, there are many of us who work no matter what day it is. Moms and dads, emergency medical responders, police, fire fighters, and more all work on holidays. For those of us who have the day off, what's on tap? I'm actually really getting in the holiday spirit, it's earlier than usual, but fall came early this year so I decided to just go with it.

 

Mason has been working on recipes for two upcoming television appearances and his cooking demo at the 20th Anniversary of the Mandarin Festival in two weeks. He is cooking on Sunday and also planning to defend his Snow's Citrus Court award in the recipe contest that same day. It's a busy time of year to be sure and it's really lots of fun that our whole family is feeling the excitement of the holiday season.

 

Kathy's Cookie Factory will be opening soon and I can't wait. I have several new cookie designs in addition to my annual favorites. I'll post pictures as they come off the line. What are your plans for the holidays? Will you be staying home or traveling to see family? We will be staying close to home. Have a wonderful short work week and I'll see you next week!

Time is Speeding By!

Welcome to a new week, is it just me or are the weeks coming and going faster than normal? It seems like I just brought the garbage can up and it's time to take it to the curb again...I've been told that the apparent speeding up of time is a sure sign of old age - yes, the older we get the faster time seems to go by! This week, Mason was featured in our local paper regarding the work he is doing to raise money for his school kitchen project. It was a big story and well written and much to out delight, several offers of help have come from the exposure. One person suggested we apply for an annual grant from our local Lions club, another offered up cash, and several others asked how they could help. There are two opportunities that have the potential to yield more than half of what Mason is trying to raise. All in all, I would say it looks like we could have a new kitchen for the next school year!

 

Other than my life with Mason I am learning tons in the world of real estate. it never seems like I am learning fast enough or remembering the thing I learned in the last transaction, but I have been assured and encouraged by the people I work with to not be so hard on myself, I just really hate the proverbial learning curve - I like to be the person who knows what is going on and typically has the answers, not all the questions. Someday!

 

It's November and that means if you haven't been able to make it to one of Mason's live cooking demos, your last chance is fast approaching. Mason will be cooking at the 20th Annual Mandarin Festival on Sunday, November 24th. If the weather keeps up like it's been, it will be a lovely fall day in the foothills. Mandarins are already being picked and they are sweet as can be! Mason's school is making mandarin marmalade, mandarin cranberry preserves, and mandarin pepper jelly to sell as a fundraiser. It will be $6 a 1/2 pint and I can tell you already, it is delicious! All three, although the mandarin pepper jelly seems to be the favorite. If my Alameda friends want to preorder some, let me know as I will be in San Francisco on the 22nd and 23rd, I would be happy to deliver it to you - it will make a great Christmas gift! If any of my Vacaville friends want some, I can certainly stop and drop off at Julie's on our way down.

 

I hope you are all enjoying this awesome time of year, it's my favorite! Have a productive week and I would love to hear what is new in your neck of the woods!

Just Let it be Over Already!

I'm not welcoming you to Monday because it's not getting off to a very good start...why would you want to be here? I don't!

 

In any case, Mason was suppose to appear on Fox 40 News with his culinary school and of course, everything went wrong. We were running late getting out the door, I couldn't find my car keys, when I finally did, the car was on empty so I had to stop. We've all had them, "one of those days." I try not to let this kind of stuff set the tone for my whole day, but I didn't succeed this time. We got to the culinary school to learn that Fox 40 cancelled due to breaking news. Really?! And nobody could call me? I ended up bringing Mason back to school in Auburn as it would have just been too long a day to leave him until Dave could pick him up at 5 PM. This is nothing but a rant about nonsense, but it is the nonsense that will get our goat if we don't take a deep breath and recognize that it really is nothing, nothing at all. Because I didn't just shake it off, my whole day was off-color and I was ready to just hit the reset button. I was glad that the rest of my family was ready to bid Monday farewell and we all went to bed early.

 

So a Manic Monday on the heels of a really fun weekend make the way this Monday went all the more disappointing. We had Mason's last football game on Saturday and then it was time for Halloween parties. Mason was invited to a sleepover and that worked out really well for Dave and I, as we were able to go out with our friends and not have to worry about someone to stay with Mr. Mason. I went with one of my classics, Ms. Cruella DeVille while Dave dressed as a Roman Gladiator. This was the first year in a long time that we didn't dress as a couple as I made the point, we have 4 large tubs of costumes, let's recycle some of them - so we did. Now we are getting ready to carve pumpkins and trick-or-treat. What about you, do you have plans for Halloween?

 

My week didn't get off to a very good start, but I am not going to let it color my whole week. Let's make something great happen, if not for ourselves, for someone we love! Happy Halloween!