Table for Eight

Our kids with Heather at her wedding on Saturday night. (We were neighbors for 6+ years and we love her guts.) I look at this p icture and think, " Wow, life really is amazing and beaut iful." But to be honest, there's a reason I haven't been blogging lately : L i fe has been hard -- super hard . And that's made it hard for me to journal/blog. You see, I'm usually a really po sitiv e person , b ut lately I've had a hard time SEEING and genuinely feeling positive.  I know it's just the roller coaster of life : --You win so me; you lose some.  --You've got the world on a string; the world has YO U on a string. -- One day you have immunity; the next day you're on the chopping bl ock.      --Etc., etc., etc.) . . . B ut it's sti ll hard and that's a bu mmer. (Ca n I get an Amen? Amen ! ) So there. That's the vague, yet genuine truth : w hen life is super hard, I don't have a ton of motivation to

(c) Sassafras Cafe, 2012. It's taken me a year to get the recipe (literally).  But here it is:  Chef Simon's  Survivor South Pacific  Ponderosa Caramel Banana Pancakes Ingredients Equal quantities of:  Soft fine dark brown sugar Unsalted Butter Full cream Sliced bananas (say bah-nah-na w/ an Australian accent please) Hot pancakes  Directions 1. Combine butter and sugar together over low heat,  2. Add cream stir with wooden spoon till combined  3. Add sliced bananas. 4. Slowly heat; don't boil. 5. Add to hot pancakes and e njoy ! Me, at Survivor South Pacific's Ponderosa, 2011. (Ponderosa is the location where players stay once they leave the game.)

Me, in July of 2011 at Ponderosa. This was such an exciting week: Jay (our son) was able to find a place that would develop my Ponderosa disposable camera. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee. I've waited 5+ months to see these pictures. You see, even though players are technically "out of the game" once we get to Ponde rosa, we still don't have any contact with the outside world . No phones, no cellphones, no computers, no newspapers, no letters to home, no cameras, etc. But fortunately, the crew gave us each a disposable camera--so we could record some of our memories.  And then ... they collected those cameras until the finale in December--so we wouldn't be leaking photos of the cast, etc. during the season. 8( So, as you can probably imagine, getting these photos was SO EXCITING. BTW: When was the last time you waited 5+ months to see a picture you took?  Uh, 1986? Seriously, right?  Digital cameras and smart phones have SO changed the way we record an

Savaii jury members at Ponderosa with Jeff Probst and David Burris (executive producers). First of all, thank you to everyone who sent suggestions for New Year's Eve celebrations. (What did we do before the internet? Seriously, I think I received about 50 really fun ideas by the end of the day. Thank you, thank you, thank you!) So, have you decided how you'll spend New Year's? After reading all of the suggestions, here's what we decided: 1. We're going to spend the first half of the evening with our whole family, doing chocolate and cheese fondue. We're going to listen to loud music and do "noisemakers" vs. illegal fireworks. (Sorry, Lu and Zu.) 2. The teenagers are going to go to a regional church NYE dance from about 10-12:30pm. (It sounds really fun, there will be a DJ, food, a balloon drop, ping-pong, and a game/video room ... and chaperones. Woo hoo.) 3. The rest of us are going to see a movie (Sherlock Holmes) from 10-11:30pm