Neighborhood Halloween Party

We had a Halloween Neighborhood party on Friday night. It was such a fun time with our friends. My neighbor Donna co-hosted with me. She really knows how to throw a spooky party. We had lots of food and a great time visiting with friends. It was also the debut of our almost finished basement. It can't believe how quiet it is when you have a basement for kids to play in. We got so busy during the party that I didn't take nearly the pictures that I wanted too. I didn't even get any of my own kids. Luckily they get to wear there costumes again for a birthday party and then trick or treating tonight.

Barefoot Bloggers Corn Chowder

 Jill from My Next Life chose Ina's Cheddar Corn Chowder for our Barefoot Bloggers group. This was a great week to make this recipe. It has started to turn cold and a hot bowl of thick chowder is perfect for a busy school night. I did end up halving the recipe and still had leftovers to freeze for husbands lunch. My daughter decided that is was delicious and ate all of her helping! I did leave off the bacon and didn't add extra cheese like I normally would. I served this with hot popovers. I can't get enough of popovers and moms apple butter right now! Thanks Jill for the great choice and we will be making this throughout the winter.

New York New York

I have always wanted to visit New York. There is something about being in a big city when it is so very different from normal life in Ohio. We had the opportunity to visit this past weekend. My Mom kept our kids and we had a long weekend in the Big Apple! What an adventure we had.  My favorite part of the trip was getting to see a live taping of Saturday Night Live! We have a friend that works for the show and got us tickets. It was such a fun evening for Mark and I! The best part beside being in a live audience was having Tyler Florence sitting behind me! I didn't get an autograph since he snuck out at the end. We ater at the best restaurants. Mark and I both agreed that Carmines was our favorite. We found the Serendipity Cafe but there was over 50 people waiting to get into the tiny store for frozen hot chocolate. We decided to pass and hop on over to Dylans Candy Bar. This would have been Jonathan and Annas favorite store ever. Mark enjoyed visiting the Financial District and seeing Wall street. I loved walking around Manhatten and all of the different districts. We also got to go running in Central Park!  It was neat getting to see the Statue of Liberty and visiting the Empire State building. Our only regret was we didn't make it to Ground Zero or see a Broadway show. I guess we will just have to go back at some point! This was a great trip with lots of good food and fun sites to see.