This is a Big Week!

The California State Fair started on Friday and Mason is making two dishes for competition (a cookie and a cupcake) and he is doing a cooking demo all in the same day - Tuesday at 11 AM. We have been practicing and preparing the contest entries and are hoping for winning entries. For now, that's all I have as we are up to our eyeballs in state fair activities. I'll have an update on next Monday! Happy Summer!

Welcome Home!

Welcome to a week of summer temps that are not in the triple digits! It's been hot here, but we have been too busy enjoying the 4th of July holiday to be deterred by hot summer days! Mason had a cooking demo on the 4th in Calistoga for the Napa County Fair. Though the fair was not a big one, Mason had a full house for his cooking demo - 50 people watched him do his "Food on a Stick" themed demo. He made chicken skewers seasoned with Spike (with a mandarin mustard dipping sauce), salad on a stick (with a homemade ranch dressing), brownie berry bites (with a marshmallow cream dipping sauce), and his 4th of July Sparkler drink. Whew! It was an ambitious demo with so much to do, but he did it like a pro! The coolest part of this demo? Dave joined us and helped make it all go smoothly. We cook as a family at home and now we got to do it together on stage, too. You can see a highlight reel if you want by clicking here. We had a ton of fun in Napa! We did lots of swimming, watched the July 4th parade, of course we saw fireworks, and we visited Castello di Amarosa, a winery that is an incredible castle! We plan to go back and do the whole tour and more wine tasting. We took a day trip to Healdsburg, Windsor, and Santa Rosa before heading back to the hotel to swim some more. It was a great 3 days. We arrived home on Saturday, got settled in, laundry done, picked up some groceries and then had a whole day at home to relax before having to go back to work and school.

 

Now it's time to gear up for the California State Fair! Mason and I both have entries in the baking contests and as you know, Mason is doing two cooking demos at the fair. He will be cooking both kids days, Tuesday the 16th (11 AM) and 23rd (7 PM). Did you know that California has deemed the artichoke the California State Vegetable? Yes! With that in mind, Mason will be making a delicious artichoke pesto pizza with grilled chicken and bacon. We've worked on this recipe and it's good! I add fresh tomatoes and basil to mine, but either way, it's super yummy. He will also do his brownie berry bites and his July 4th Sparkler. It would be fun to see you if you can come to the fair and see Mason do his thing.

 

Time to hit my list of things to do and prep for our first contest on Saturday. I hope you all had a lovely holiday weekend and are looking at a great week, too!

Happy 4th of July!

July 4th Sparkler - Mason Made!

Happy 4th of July week! This is going to be a busy week so let me make this brief so we can get to celebrating. Mason has an appearance on Good Day Sacramento on Tuesday and a live cooking demo in Napa on July 4th. We are taking a mini trip to Napa to get Mason where he needs to be and enjoy some time as a family. I'm sure we will sip some wonderful wine, swim, and make fantastic memories.

I will post a link to Mason's performances when I get them, but for now, I have a weeks worth of work to do in 2.5 days. I know, it's classic, if we all worked every day like we do the day before we go on vacation, just imagine where we could go! Have a wonderful 4th of July, and remember, the memories we make with our families and friends is the best gift ever!

Happy Birthday Dave!

Happy Monday!

 

Happy Birthday Dave! Guess what you get for your birthday this year? Rain! It's raining. It's June! What the heck? Frankly, it's okay, it's nice to have the smell of rain in the air and things looking less dry and dusty and more fresh and clean. Take it in because we will be back to triple digits sooner than we all think!




 

 

In other news, Mason did his cooking demo in Petaluma and guess what, that same evening we made it back to Sacramento where Dave was standing in line for Mason to meet Guy Fieri! Mason was over the moon, but Dave and I were less than enthused. People have told me that Guy has a big ego and is not always very polite and I chalked it up to the idea that people don't always understand the workings of celebrity events. Nope! They were right, he was less than cordial, didn't converse with Mason even with Mason excitedly sharing that he had just come from doing a live cooking demo in Petaluma. When I say I feel like Guy didn't even see us, I'm certain he didn't see any of us. Though he did sign an apron for Mason, when we asked if we could take a photo with just he and Mason, he all but said, "What the F@#$? I said ONE picture!" Really? And yes, it was the "F" word he was forming with his mouth though he didn't say it out loud. Mason was excited to get the autograph and I was happy Mason was excited. Enough about celebrity egos, let's talk about more cheerful subjects.
 

 

Over the weekend I was honored to be asked to donate a RiverLights Original to a wonderful charity. Through the exchange process and a lovely conversation, I ended up getting a phone call that I had been enrolled in a local painting class I was really wanting to attend. I have always been creative and artistic, but never felt as though I could paint a worthy canvas. Guess what? I did it! I painted "Starry Sky Over Sacramento." I can't wait to paint more, and I want to paint bigger. I want to paint a huge canvas to hang in the living room above the couch. Just wait, I will write all about it when I do.

 

So now we are back to work and school. Mason is loving culinary school and we are gearing up for his cooking demo at the Napa County Fair on July 4th. We have reservations to spend a few nights in the Napa Valley as a family while Mason has this gig scheduled. Oh, and did I tell you he is getting paid? Yes, an all day ride wristband! Don't laugh, that could be the equivalent of $30-40 dollars. Mason's demo is not until 7 PM so we will spend the day at the fair letting Mason ride and we will take in all that Napa has to offer. If you are interested, you can see Mason in action in Petaluma last Wednesday on his channel on You Tube. 

 

I'm selling real estate having taken a listing for a lot and yesterday I was out showing properties to buyers. I think I will be writing an offer in the next day or so, I'm pretty excited about that! Okay, enough, it's time to get to whatever it is we need to be getting to. Have a great week and think about this, "Continue to perpetuate the truth you want to realize." This has been at the forefront of my thoughts this week as I make a more concentrated effort to focus on that which I would like to see growing in my life. Have a great week and focus on the good!

 

Manic Monday!

Happy Monday!

It's been a bit manic and I've had some technology challenges. Nothing I can't handle, it just means I am behind my timelines - yeah, and? And nothing. It just means some things happen a little later.

Dave finally made it home (he was away on orders for 2+ weeks), but not without a big, final hurrah! The Durango blew up on his way home from the office. We had to leave it on the road until Saturday when we could have it towed to a salvage yard. It's not such a big loss, it just made for "one more thing to do" on our already long list. We had a lovely weekend, Dave enjoyed his Father's Day, sleeping in, watching the race, and savoring the flavors of several amazing meals. Mason and I took in a few hours at the river and its safe to say, a good time was had by all.

This is another busy week with culinary school on Monday and Tuesday and then Mason has a cooking demo at the Sonoma-Marin County Fair in Petaluma. He is demonstrating all natural dog cookies, a July 4th beverage using Pop Rocks, and he is throwing pizza dough and making homemade pizza. This is going to be a good one! Add real estate work in the mix and you can see we are moving at top speed, though we are not necessarily arriving on time! Laughing!

 

Here is a picture of Mason in his school uniform, I think it is so funny that everything is too big. The school has ordered him clothes that fit, but in the meantime, here he is, looking good!

 

Have a great week and remember, it's better to show up even if a bit late than to not show up at all.

One of Those Days!

Today has been one of "those" days! I didn't sleep much last night as through a strange turn of events, I dislocated something in my foot and I suffered in horrible pain all night long. After calling my MD and making an appointment, I put my weight on my foot and whatever was out of place, went back in. That moment hurt like the devil and then all seemed to be well.

 

With my day starting off like this, everything else was out of sync. I'm not going to let this color my week, as Mason starts culinary school tomorrow and I have a few leads of my own from the real estate office. I'm excited about what I'm doing and hopeful this is going to be a prosperous summer. Another fun thing that happened today is that Mason has been invited to do a cooking demo on July 4th at the Napa County Fair in Calistoga. I see lots of recipe testing in my future! Just last night, Mason made pizza on the grill and boy, was it good! If you want to see how to do it, you can watch here, it's only 5 minutes and when you're done watching, you'll know exactly how to do it, too! I don't think we will ever make pizza in the oven again, it was that good!

 

So now I am off to bed early to make up for lost time last night. I hope you are well and looking forward to plenty of fun this summer, I know we have lots on tap including cooking demos, movies under the stars, river trips, and more! Happy Summer!

Kathy

Holy Pizzeria Batman!

Happy Monday and welcome to summer 2013! We are looking at all kinds of triple digits this week topping out at an estimated 106 on Saturday! Yowza! I like it hot, it somehow makes me feel a bit like I am on vacation even when I am doing my normal work and family life activities. I may need to reach out to my landlord and see when the last time the AC was serviced though because yesterday the house didn't seem to cool down in a very timely fashion at all.








My first official week of no school and working at the real estate office was great. Even though I don't like being the novice in the office, the knowledge is coming quickly and I'm sure in no time I will be up to speed. Over the weekend, Mason and I took a pizza making class at the school where Mason will be spending plenty of time this summer. What fun we had! We learned so many little tips and tricks to making Pizzeria style pizza at home, and yes, we both learned to throw dough! Mason had so much fun, he is planning to make Dave a pizza dinner for Father's Day and he will be making pizza at his demo coming up in Petaluma on June 19. Hey, when you are a 9 year old boy who can throw pizza dough, you want to show that off every chance you get! Speaking of Father's Day, Mason made a few videos this weekend with some easy and tasty ideas kids can make for dad in the kitchen, check them out here, but don't tell Dave, he can't see them until after Father's Day.

 

Mason has just four more days of School and summer will officially begin, although the sleeping outside started this weekend. Sleeping under the stars at home is bliss! All the comforts of running water, flush toilets, and the cool night air all in one happy place. Mason's summer plans include raising money for his school kitchen, a handful of cooking demos, and yes, he will be attending culinary school! It is blowing my mind that he is so enthused about this program, I shake my head at the idea of having a full formal education that can take you into the working world before the age of 13, and even more so at a 9 year old boy who wants to take this on! This is going to be a very interesting summer indeed!

 

I hope you are well and doing something you love, if not, find something that makes you smile and get it on your calendar this week - you'll be glad you did!