Are you ready for Black Friday 2012?  There are a few site that I use to check out all the ads early to find the best places to visit on Black Friday.  I usually make a list of the things that I feel like I will get the best deal on Black Friday as opposed to any other sales closer to the holidays or after the New Year.  I try to only shop for the things on my list, to avoid going crazy.   I will pre-shop…look at the ads ahead of time and then go compare the items at different stores and decide which item I really want and which one has the best price, that way come sale time, I am not running from one store to another and then back again because I like the item at the first store the best.

Some store will put items on hold for you prior to the sale day as well.  Go a day or two ahead and try on all the clothes/shoes you want to get on sale and then ask if they will hold them for you.  Even if they will not hold them, you will know exactly what to go get when you get in the store and will not have to spend as much effort looking and trying things on.

Black Friday Sites, I also follow them on Facebook for even more updates:

http://blackfriday.com

http://blackfriday.bradsdeals.com/ads

These are really the only two that I use, I have found that between the two of them, they have just about every Black Friday ad I could ever want to look at.

One thing to keep in mind, if I don’t really need an item prior to the holidays, then I will wait and look for a better deal after the holidays, early in the year stores will mark items down to make year end inventory easier…lots of good deals can be found then.

Happy Shopping and be safe out there.

Tags: Black Friday 2012, cheap stuff, Deals, sales, shopping
Filed under: Deal Finding

Here is my interpretation of an Indiana Jones Lego birthday cake!  It was fun to make and even more fun to watch it transform itself into something else as the birthday party progressed.  The characters are made from small wooden blocks covered in fondant.  Everything else on the cake is ready to eat.

The cake started out with some coal cars on some tracks stretching through the coal mines.

Indiana Jones cake, to start the party

Close up of details on Indiana Jones Cake

Close Up of Coal Car w/bad guy

Close up of Indiana Jones

Close Up of Bad Guy

Here is how the cake transformed itself as the day went on….it was warmer than normal for late October, and the chocolate I used to make the tracks became to soft to support itself, and the track all collapsed and turned into what could surely be the disaster of Indiana Jones storming through the place while being pursued by some bad guys!  Instead of being a wreck, it actually turned out great!

Indiana Jones Cake, right before cutting

Tags: birthday cake, butter cream icing, buttercream icing, cake, cake decorations, candy ladders, fondant decorations, Indiana Jones, Indiana Jones Lego, kids cake, party cake
Filed under: Cake Decorating, Kids Cakes

I didn’t even know who Diego was before I started this cake, but I learned all about Diego and Baby Jaguar and all their jungle friends when I made this special birthday cake.  The cake was a standard layer cake with butter cream icing.  All the figures were made with fondant.  It is very impressive that the 3 year old was still talking about his birthday cake more than 6 months later….he would tell anyone who would listen “my birthday cake had Diego, it was soooo goood and had my name on it”.   Isn’t that what its all about….leaving a lasting impression that they will treasure for a long time…makes all the work worth it, every time!

Full View of Diego Cake

Close Up of Monkey

Back of Diego Cake

Close up of Diego and Baby Jaguar

Tags: birthday cake, butter cream icing, Diego Cake, fondant decorations, kids cake, party cake, smooth icing
Filed under: Cake Decorating, Kids Cakes

Every year Culinaria SA puts on a week where fine dining establishments agree to offer 3 or 4 course fixed price lunch and dinner menus, this is an amazing way to try new places that I haven’t even thought about trying before. This year I decided I wanted to try several different places during the week. This is a record of my experience with the 4 course option at YardHouse in the LaCantera shopping center…

It was a nice evening for a change, so my husband and I opted to sit on the patio and watch the Ranger’s play some baseball. We started we some refreshing drinks.

We then picked our first course, I choose lettuce wraps and he had calamari….both quite tasty…

Lettuce Wraps

Calamari

Then came the second course, I chose a classic ranch salad that included sweet Kern corn, very nice touch…my husband picked some traditional clam chowder…

Ranch Salad

Clam Chowder

Then we pushed forward to the main course, I picked Mac + Cheese which turned out to be the best way ever dot eat such a dish…the Mac was an original looking spiral pasta covered in creamy cheese and tossed with lots of bacon, chicken breast, and mushrooms…very delish…and had plenty for lunch the next day too.

Mac + Cheese

Spiral Pasta Covered in Cheesy Goodness

My husband pick spicy jambalaya’ which was sausage, chicken and shrimp in spicy sauce with white rice….but he was given several options to substitute for white rice for those who would prefer brown rice or pasta…he was impressed with how spicy the sauce was. We eat spicy food but have often found that restaurant versions of spicy are still pretty mild…that was not the case with this Jambalaya, it had lots of flavor and an impressive amount of spices.

Jambalaya

After a short break, we started our final and my personal favorite course…dessert! I opted to go with the creme brulee while my husband selected the apple peach cobbler.

Now this wasn’t your average creme brulee, no, this was exceptional, with a layer of chocolate in the bottom and thinly sliced bananas on top sandwiching the creamiest layer of Cream Brulee, truly amazing.

Creamed Brulee

I was too blown away by my own dessert to try the cobbler that was topped so quaintly with a scoop of ice cream…but from what I could tell, there was nothing but goodness in that dessert too.

Apple-Peach Cobbler

For our first experience at the YardHouse, we were quite pleased and couldn’t have found a better way to try than through the restaurant week tasting menu!  We should have restaurant week more than once a year.

Tags: Calamari, Creme Brulee, Culinaria SA, Great Food, Jambalaya, Lettuce Wraps, Mac + Cheese, restaurant week, Yardhouse
Filed under: Restraunts in San Antonio

I never knew how hard it could be to transfer my blog to a new hosting company!  What a disaster it has been…hopefully all will be back up and running soon…more than two weeks after I started.  Next time I will find a hosting company that ensures no down time on site transfers.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Ever wonder if there were a cake pop option for your special occasion?  The answer is YES…cake pops can be specialized for any and every occasion!!

Here are examples of Pops for all different holidays and other occasions…

Birthday Cake Pop Arrangement

Halloween Cake Pops

Halloween Cake Pops

Ice Cream Pops

Christmas Tree Pop

Rudolph Pop

Snowflake Pop

Christmas Pop Arrangement

Christmas Pops in Gift Cup

Easter Bunnies

Easter Eggs

Valentine Heart Brownie Pops

Conversation Cake Pops

Swirly Brownie Pop

Sparkling Cake Pops

Brownie Pops

And that is just a sampling of all the wonderful creations that can be made from cake and brownie pops.  The possibilities are endless along with the smiles when a batch of pops arrive at any occasion!

Tags: Alternative to Cake, Art Party Cake Pop, brownie pop, Brownie Pop Arrangements, Bunny Cake Pops, cake pop arrangement, cake pops, candy coating, Christmas Cake Pops, Christmas Pop Arrangement, Christmas Tree Cake Pop, Conversation Hearts Cake Pops, Easter Cake Pops, Egg Cake Pops, Gift Cake Pops, Halloween Cake Pops, Heart Cake Pops, holiday pops, Kid Party Pops, No Mess Party Option, Occasional Cake Pops, Rudolph Cake Pop, Snowflake Cake Pop, Special Occasion Pops, Valentine Cake Pops
Filed under: Cake Decorating, Cake Pops, Kids Cakes, Party/Celebration Cakes