CLEANING HOUSE

Guess who is helping me make my son's bed this morning?

You guessed it!

Happy Monday to you!

Yummy!! Caramel and Apples!!

Happy Monday!! Right now it's pouring rain in my neck of the woods! Such strange weather ... all last week it was in the high 70s. Today it's raining; however, not really cold out though. We do need the rain in California! It just makes for a VERY LONG commute for hubby. He is working on a job about 1 1/2 from here ... in the rain, it will take him probably about 2 1/2 hours to get home this evening. Bay Area traffic is horrendous!!!! Bet you can't guess what I'm making with these ingredients:

Bet you thought it would be Caramel Apples, right? Nope ... Caramel Apple Crisp!! You should smell this cooking ... yum!!!

And for dinner tonight ... Barefoot Contessa's Chicken Stew with Biscuits ... perfect for rainy weather!

I just got done listing what seems like a hundred items on eBay ... actually it was about 16 items or so. Please take a look when you get a chance. My ebay name is YellowBeachDog7. Here is a link ... hope it will work!!

http://myworld.ebay.com/yellowbeachdog7/

I think you will have to copy and paste the above link. Once you get to that page, go to the left hand side and click on Items For Sale.

Here are a few pics of what I listed:

A cool old green recipe box

A pretty crystal relish dish/tray

Some fun old saucers

Have a great week everyone!!! Thank you to those of you that follow my Blog.

I really appreciate you all so much. And love to have you leave me a comment.

TIME FOR CROCK POT CHILI

Well, it is finally a bit cooler here in the mornings and evenings ... but during the day still warm. At any rate, I made Chili today and served it up in my new Longaberger chili bowls and my Pumpkin Tureen. YUM!!! Just add a little cornbread and cheese & onions for toppings and you are good to go!

Brown the meat with the onions and garlic ...

Dump everything in the crockpot ...

It looks like this while it's cooking ...

Here are my Longaberger chili bowls (by the way, these things are wonderful!) ...

And my Pumpkin Soup Tureen filled with yummy chili ....

Dig in ...

Yellow Beach Dog's Chili

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef

1 clove garlic or Garlic Powder

1 large onion, chopped

1 1/2 tsp. salt

3 Tbsp. chili powder

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. paprika

1 tsp. dried basil

Dash of cloves

2 cans kidney beans, undrained

1 large can diced/crushed tomatoes

4 cups tomato juice (or less ... I find that it is just a little too runny with 4 cups - I think I would cut it down to 2 cups)

Brown ground beef with garlic and onions. Add remaining ingredients and put in crockpot on low for 6-8+ hours. Serve with cornbread and toppings of cheese & onions.

SHOW AND TELL FRIDAY

It's Show & Tell Friday - compliments of Cindy over at My Romantic Home. And I thought I would join in!

Here is a picture of my very cool green cabinet!! Here is how I acquired this darling piece! There was a little store just a couple miles from my house called The Cottage. I had been going to this little store for over 15 years. I would get all my co-worker's gifts in this little store and stuff for my own house. I got to know the two owners pretty well. Then the one owner bought out the other owner and I got to know her even better. She would always talk to my son and ask him questions about his school, etc. It was such a pleasant experience to go to The Cottage. I just loved it!! And even my son would love to go see Sue at The Cottage. About three years ago, the shopping center where The Cottage was located did a major renovation and tripled everyone's rent so The Cottage had to close up. This cabinet had been part of their displays for as long as I could remember and when they were closing up, I asked about purchasing it. It wasn't cheap but I am SO glad I bought it! I would love to someday have a kitchen big enough to use it there but for now, it is in the living room, just inside the entryway. I have it filled with dishes and whatnot ... including my grandmother's red scalloped bowls, my other grandmother's jadeite kitchen range set and an old piano jewelry box that I got from my three brothers on my 8th birthday. The top has a couple of metal picnic baskets and some old quilts (and a new one that I just finished), and the bottom has dog toys in one cubby and cat toys in the other cubby. The middle cubby is empty. There is chicken wire in the doors. The right side holds all my sewing and craft books. Don't forget to click on my pictures for a full view. Thank you for visiting Yellow Beach Dog!

IT'S FALL & TIME FOR POPPY SEED CAKE!

Happy Fall! It's been a little hard getting into Fall since it has been in the 100s here in Northern California. Since today is a bit cooler, I have started my decorating. But before we take a peek at those pictures, I have sliced a piece of Poppy Seed Cake just for you (recipe at end of post)! We typically eat this cake for breakfast but of course, you can have it anytime. It is very good! (click on pictures for full view)

Hubby and I drove over to Point Richmond, a quaint little area right on the SF Bay. Here are some pics from the day:

Houses right on the water!

The marina surrounded by pretty condos.

A sailboat leaving the Harbor (SF is in the background).

A really cool area where you can take sailing lessons and then take a sailboat out on your own. Fun!!

We noticed this building while walking along the shoreline. These are old buildings from when they would use the pier for loading and unloading container ships. Now they are being renovated into restaurants and such. This building has not been renovated yet. Don't you just LOVE the old green rolling door? And check out those green lights? I would love to have a few of those old lights!

Wait until you see these next pictures! We stumbled upon this very interesting playground in Berkeley. It's called Adventure Playground and is consists of all donated wood, old boats, and stuff like that. The kids play on all this stuff and build things out of the wood, etc. As you can see, you have to pretty much sign your life away due to the liability. However, even with parents signing waivers, I'm still pretty surprised they have this type of thing. The kids all looked like they were having a blast! And the kicker?? It's been there for over 30 years!

Poppy Seed Cake

1 box yellow cake mix

4 eggs

1 small package instant vanilla pudding

3/4 C. oil

1 C. cream sherry

2 Tbsp. poppy seeds

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Mix all the above together with electric mixer on medium speed for 5 minutes. Grease a bundt pan and mix 1 Cup sugar with 1 Tbsp. cinnamon and use like flour on inside of greased bundt pan - pour excess out. Pour cake batter into pan and bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes. I have also made this without the poppy seeds. Once it cools in the pan for a few minutes, I invert it onto a cake plate. Very moist and yummy!

THE WINNER AND A LOT OF SHOPPING!

What a fun weekend I have had! On Friday, a friend from work and I went over the bridge to a little town close by and had tea in a tea room. This tea room is in an old, old building. Here are a few pics (I have to tell you ... the first picture was from someone else's table. I forgot to take a picture of our food before we had eaten it all so I asked some ladies at the next table that got the same thing as us if I could take a picture! :-) click on picture for full view):

It was yummylicious! You should see this place at Christmastime! It is so pretty - they have a huge tree with decorations that you can purchase. While I was there, I bought this:

I just couldn't pass it up!! I love, love polka dots!

After tea, we roamed the streets looking for more stuff to buy! HA!! And look what I found to go with my new teapot! And they were 50% off!!!!!

Here are some more pictures from the stores:

Note the next picture that there is a water bowl? California is VERY dog friendly ... almost everywhere you go, store owners put out water bowls for the dogs.

On Saturday, another friend and I went to brunch for her birthday. But before we ate, we just had to stop at a local parking lot sale that a neat little store by us was having! Isn't this fun??

And look at what I bought (a little yellow child's chair, a yellow American Family kitchen scale, an plant urn and a cool old metal thermos)! I stuffed everything into the trunk of my little Mini Cooper ... the open space was for my friend's box of goodies that she bought.

And now ... the winner of the cute yellow purse is .... Anna from Thimbleanna!!! Boy ... Anna has been lucky this month ... she has won so many giveaways!! She better go buy a lottery ticket!!

Have a great week everyone!! I'll see you back here next week!