sunset magazine give-away winner

and the winner of the 1 year subscription to Sunset magazine is Amie from Abbey Cat Chat! what with all that stiff competition Amie, I'm sure you're thoroughly surprised at this point :P

send me your address and I'll hook you up :)

sunset celebration weekend and a give-away

I know it was a month ago, but here are my pictures from the sunset celebration weekend held at the sunset magazine headquarters in menlo park. much the same format as last year but still so many cool things to see, great foods to taste, wines to sip and gardens to see :)

first stop for us was some food and wine and then we found these tillamook love loaf buses which bryce instantly bonded with

they were pretty cool - and so nicely fitted out

then it was on to the glam camping area

this was the Paws Up tent, a place where you can camp without roughing it, a place where you can have your own camping butler... I kid you not!

the airstream was more my idea of glam camping

and if I wasn't so claustrophobic this little guy might work

they even rigged up an outdoor shower

Hawaiian airlines had a station to make lei's, which I planned on going back to but ran out of time

Richard Branson had a stall advertising tickets for flights into space
on this plane here - for about $US120K (bargain!)
then it was on to the test garden. I thought this idea for garden beds was genius and so simple.
love their little glasshouse
we met the sunset chickens

the grounds are really gorgeous - be a great place to work

in the test kitchen we learned that the people who work there aren't chefs but real people who cook the family meal. once the recipes have been created they all have to try them out and give feedback before they are published. doesn't that sound like a cool job?this little guy was the messenger on how the recipe went - if the flag is green you can help yourself to the food
if this flag is flying... well I think you can probably figure that one out for yourselves :)I guess this is how they decide what travel articles they'll write for the year - people just stuck pins on this map
then we were off to the courtyard for some wine tasting

this was our favourite wine we tastedwe really didn't get enough time to see everything and they started packing up before we could see it all
so we snapped some pics

and called it a day - next year we'll go earlier!

and now about that give-away... I have a 1 year subscription to Sunset magazine to give away to a lucky reader in the USA (sorry rest of the world, doesn't seem like they ship to you). All you have to do is leave me a comment below to say hi and tell me what city you're in (just for fun) and I will pick a random winner on Sunday 18 July, 2010.

:)

Kate

List of things my house needs

So I just signed paperwork yesterday for my home purchase and if all goes well (fingers crossed) I'll be all set in a few weeks to start some of the major and not so major projects I have wanted to do for the last 7 years. I thought I should get organized so I can tackle budgeting and planning and am shocked at how much stuff there is to do. This is not including any repairs that could spring up along the way either. I made some notes about things I need to look into further. For instance, I wanted to go w/pergo floors, but everyone I have talked to tells me hardwood is the way to go. I'll definitely need to shop around. Looking at this beast of a list is overwhelming - I don't even know where to begin!

Before picture from Sunset Magazine

Home Renovations
New floors
· Hard wood vs. Pergo for living room, kitchen and hallway
· Everyone says to go lighter
· New baseboards – 4” white

New windows
· Get quotes – should be around $10k
· New sliding glass door w/built-in dog door
· New blinds for kitchen x2, backdoor, and living room
· New curtains
Paint interior
· Dove grey or Brittney Beige for living room and kitchen
· Possibly do accent wall w/wallpaper in kitchen
Paint exterior
· Charcoal grey/white trim
· Need to re-stucco
New front door
· Red door – order pre-painted and order hardware
New interior doors
· Master bedroom doors
· Closet doors
· Bathroom doors x2
· Bedroom doors x3
Upgrade master bath
· Remodel hall closet to use extra space
· Put in tub
· New Sink
· New toilet
· Paint
· Floor
· Lights
Hall bathroom
· Need new floor
· New sink
· New tub w/built in shower curtain
New couch
· Dark leather sectional w/loveseat
· Need new throw pillows
Living room furniture
· Lamps
· Plants
Office furniture
· Order craft table w/stool
· Book shelves
· Desk
· Lamps
Bedroom furniture
· New bedroom set
· Refinish dining set / new chairs
· Lamps
· New linens, pillows, and comforter
New stove
New fridge
New cabinets/kitchen counter
· Black granite counters
· White cabinets
New sink
· Faucet
· Disposal
Area rugs

Fireplace
· Do custom glass mosaic on the tile
· New mantle
Outside
· New driveway – pavers
· Hot tub :)
· All new landscaping

. Built in grill island

There's lots more I need to do, but these are the things that are top of mind for now. My boss is referring me to her contractor and hopefully he'll be able to help me figure this stuff out. I wonder if it can all get done for under $50k? sigh

After picture from Sunset Magazine

Macaroni recipe from Sunset Celebration Weekend

We tried this recipe in the test kitchen at the Sunset party last weekend. I noticed Cody slipping back into the kitchen to grab a sample, but when I saw he only had one little cup instead of two - meaning he grabbed one just for himself and not for anyone else - I naturally started banging on the window, shouting "don't be a jerk!" until he went back and got a second sample (which was quite tasty).

Here's the recipe from Priscilla Yee, San Jose Regional Winner in 2005 Tillamook Macaroni and Cheese Recipe Contest:

Kicked-Up Monterey Macaroni and Cheese
Serves 4
8 oz uncooked dry radiatore or rotini pasta
5 Tbs butter, divided
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 Tsp salt
2 cups milk (whole preferred)
1 1/4 cups Tillamook Extra Sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
1 1/4 cups Tillamook Pepper Jack cheese, shredded
1 cup cooked small shrimp, peeled
1 cup quarted artichoke hearts, diced
1/3 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained
1 Tsp lemon zest
1/2 cup plain panko bread crumbs
1/3 cup coarsley chopped toasted hazelnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350. In a large saucepan, cook pasta according to directions. Drain.
2. Spray 2-quart casserole w/nonstick cooking spray. In medium saucepan melt 3 Tbs butter over medium heat; add garlic and cook 30 seconds. Remove from heat. Stir in the flour and salt. Gradually stir in milk and bring to boil, stirring constantly. Cook 1 minute more. Remove from heat.
3. Stir in 1 cup of cheddar cheese, 1 cup pepper jack cheese, shrimp, artichoke hearts, tomatoes, lemon zest, and the cooked pasta. Pour into casserole dish. Sprinkle top w/remaining 1/4 cup of each cheese. Melt remaining butter. Add breadcrumbs and toss to coat. Sprinkle bread crumbs and hazelnuts over casserole.
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until bubbly and crumbs are golden brown.

sunset on a sunday...

yesterday we ventured out in the gorgeous Californian sunshine for the

Sunset Magazine celebration day, which is basically an open house at the

Sunset headquarters in Menlo Park.

Sunset Magazine was first published as a promotional magazine for the

Southern Pacific Railroad in 1898

Here is the first cover which I thought was very cool.

We tasted all sorts of food and wine, got some great home and

garden ideas and even made our own rub.

we got these cool glasses

which we quickly filled with some delicious wines

and had some chocolate to pair with the wine

and yummy food too

we all thought it would be a fab place to work

the boys got their car fix

and I got my photo taken with a funky old police car!

it was a fun afternoon distraction from packing boxes...

I wanna go here

I went to Christina's Blog today and found this in one of the ads on her site. I wanna go