The Coffee Post

In honor of my fab new coffee pot:

 Which I purchased from Bed, Bath & Beyond yesterday (thank you wedding guests!)  Here's the link to BB&B

My old pot was from Walmart and was a Black & Decker and cost around $20-only lasted us a year!  So this time around, since we had some gift cards, we wanted to get something a little more expensive to see if cost related to quality.  I know I've only used it once, but it brewed so fast!  Faster than any coffee pot I've ever owned!  A+ for that alone.  I'm curious to see how the self clean feature works...a little lights comes on when it needs to be cleaned.  I don't really think it should be called "self clean" just because you still have to pout the water/vinegar solution in yourself and flick the switch to ON.  Anyway, I'm being nit-picky. 

My second part of my coffee post is my FAVORITE brand of coffee...ever.  I don't know if it's much of a secret, but here ya go:

www.berresbrothers.com

And I'm proud to say that I was a fan BEFORE their Food Network appearance.  I found some of their single pot flavors in a little gift shop while in Michigan visiting family.  WOW!  Talk about the best flavored coffee I've ever had!  I tend to buy the single pot servings a lot because Matt isn't in to flavors.  If I do buy a 1 pound bag it's usually their Highlander Grogg which is their top seller.  And I buy the whole bean and grind it as I need it.  Some of my other favorites are French Caramel Cream, Southern Pecan Cream, and Streusel Cake.  I'm having a hard time deciding on what my next 1 pound bag will be..it's between Windmill Cookie or Blueberry Muffin...I can't choose!!!  I really think the prices are pretty reasonable too...try them you will not be disappointed!  

Some other tidbits...I prefer Dunkin Donuts to StarSchmucks, I order a Medium French Vanilla Light and Sweet, in the Summer I will get a Medium Blueberry Iced Coffee, when I am at home I use Splenda and Sugar free French Vanilla creamer (D&D is a treat, so I go full out with the sugar), and my favorite dessert is Tiramisu which is kind of funny because mushy foods make me gag...except for this!

Tell me your Coffee Favorites!!!!

The Baby Talk

*Disclaimer:  This post is not meant to offend anyone or their beliefs or opinions.  Just giving you my point of view on a sensitive subject...here's the short of the long:

Most of our family knows by now that my husband and I have chosen NOT to have children.  GASP!  That's right.  In most people's minds, couples get married and then have kids.  But in our case, we have both always known that this is not the direction we wanted to go.

Matt and I had the "baby talk" early on in our relationship.  And we found that neither of us had a deep longing to be a parent.  I don't think I have an ounce of motherly instinct in my body.  I have felt this way since I was a preteen.  My sister and I played with dolls and we pretended to be moms, but once I understood what was REALLY involved, I said, "No, thank you."  People would tell me that I was "young" and I would change my mind, but I never did.

I don't think choosing to be childless is a selfish decision, I just think it's the right decision for Matt and I.  The beauty of life, ups and downs, twists and turns, is that it's full of choices.  And this just happened to be an easy one for us.

Recipe of the Week!

Join in the fun and link up over at Thirty Something?

I was going to post my disaster recipe last week, but I never got around to it.  Sorry!  So here it is for this week:

Roasted Potato Salad

5 lb bag of red potatoes, cubed into pieces that are roughly the same size, I also leave skins on, but it's up to you

5 strips of bacon, cooked until crispy, then crumbled

3 hard boiled eggs, chopped into what ever size you like

1-2 stalks of celery diced

1 cup mayo

1-2 tablespoons mustard, I've used spicy brown and Dijon and they are both excellent, I like mustard, so I add the 2 tablespoons

1 teaspoon cider vinegar

2 teaspoons white sugar

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven @ 450, spray cookie sheet with PAM, spread potatoes evenly on pan (you might need 2 pans), spray tops of taters with PAM and sprinkle with salt and pepper

Bake for about 30 minutes or until they are as brown as you like them, turning occasionally.

Mix together mayo, mustard, vinegar, and sugar until sugar is dissolved.

When potatoes are done, let them come to room temp before you add to the dressing. 

Toss in bacon, celery and eggs.  Make sure everything is coated, then I sprinkle the top with a bit of Paprika for some color.  Chill until serving time!

This is my new favorite potato salad recipe, the roasted flavor of the potato is awesome!  It's really forgiving and can be tweaked to the way you like it.  I would add chopped onion too, but Hubby doesn't like raw onion flavors in anything, so I skip it. 

Happy Eating!!!

Summer Favorites

So, since I have had a bit of Blogger Block and can't come up with anything to share with you lovely folks...I am going to copy my sister (hehe) and tell you what I'm loving this summer!

Sweet Iced Tea...So fudging good and only takes a few minutes to make yourself!

2 c Boiling water

1 pinch Baking Soda

6 Tea Bags ( I used Lipton)

3/4 c White Sugar

6 c cool water

Bring water to a boil, remove from heat, add tea bags, pinch of baking soda, cover and let steep for 15 minutes.  Stir in sugar until dissolved, pour into pitcher and add cool water.  Refrigerate until cold and enjoy!

The T-shirt I won from www.SnorgTees.com via Krystal's Kitsch.  Check out her awesome blog that includes fun reviews and give-a-ways! 

My sewing machine!  Soon, I will be posting all about my Adventures in Sewing Land :o)  I'm currently stocking up on fabrics!

 

Maxi Dresses.  SOOO comfortable.  And great for day or night time!

And MOST importantly, Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Sun Screen in SPF 85.  This is the best sun screen I have ever used.  Being fair skinned really sucks, no tan lines, just crispy burned flesh that starts to peel after a couple of days.  I have never gotten a burn using this.  Well, only in the places I always forget to apply to...like the part of my hair, ouch.  I also use the Ultra Sheer Mist.  Both are great and they don't make my skin break out.

What are your summer favorites?!!

ReThinking Our Weekend

But this could be a good thing.  For the last couple of weeks we had been planning on taking a rafting trip down the Delaware River with two of Matt's friends and a few of their family members.  We have done the same trip for the last few years (with different groups of people) and we always have a great time.  Matt books the trip ahead of time to save a little bit of money, plus there is a non-refundable $10 deposit per rafter which goes towards the cost when everyone checks in.

Long story short, people backed out, there have been miss-communications (not on our part) the weather isn't going to be great so Matt is going to cancel.  He had a feeling from the beginning that there were going to be problems. We have a great time with his friends, but I think he's is getting a little tired of being the organizer of these events. 

I'm hoping they do the right thing and send Matt their portions of the money he put out for the deposit, but I don't see that happening. Which is a little frustrating.  Do any of you have people like this in your lives? 

Anyway, I'm not sure what we are going to do now, but either way, it's Matt's weekend off and that's always nice!

My Eyelids are Sweating.

Is that possible?  Yes.

Holy heatwave, NJ!  I can't remember it being this hot in such a long time.  My car thermometer read 100 degrees yesterday and today.  I haven't felt like doing a darn thing.  It's been luke warm showers, easy dinners and no blankets on the bed at the Duke house.  I'm not going to lie, we have AC, but the attic is right over our bedroom and it's hot as a mother up there.  We are trying to keep the temp around 75-78...as to not contribute to any brown out situations that might occur, but as soon as I got home this afternoon I dropped that sucker to 72.  Sue me.  Let's face it, if the power is gonna go out, it's gonna go out...but it will stay cool in here for at least a few hours.

I'm complaining about the heat and what did we do on Monday?  Went for a hike.  But I got some great shots.  Please enjoy the summer beauty...I'm gonna go have ice cream for dinner.

Cue the Music!

I just wanted to share with everyone our music selections for the wedding.  I can not tell you how long we searched for a 1st dance song, mother/groom song and a few others.  We couldn't sleep the night before we met with the DJ because we hadn't finished our worksheet.  Most of the "Top 10 Songs for your Wedding" lists were over done (for our taste anyway...no disrespect, but we wanted to try to be as original as possible).  Nice songs, but just not us.  So here's the list, including some of our requests for the night.  Feel free to steal them :o)


Processional (Parents & Bridal party making their way down the isle):
Feels Like Today - Rascal Flatts


Brides Entrance:  
Makin' Plans - Miranda Lambert


Recessional (We're married!):
What a Wonderful World - Joey Ramone


Parents/Bridal Party Enter Reception:
Theme from The Benny Hill Show (hehehe)


Mr. & Mrs. Duciewicz Grand Entrance:
The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows (Intro) - Brand New (Not a typical wedding song, but we share it as one of our favorites so we had to get it in there somewhere!)


First Dance:
Keep a Friend - Dr. Dog (When the DJ announced, "This will be their very 1st dance as husband and wife"...we turned to each other and said, "EVER!"  We had never danced together!)


Marie & Hew Dad:
My Wish - Rascal Flatts


Matt & His Mom:
Forever Young - Remake by the Pretenders (We cut this song short around the 3:30 mark because the last 2 minutes keeps repeating.  We also LOVED Simple Man by Lynyrd Skynyrd, but WOAH!  7 minutes long!)


Cake Cutting:
Sugar, Sugar - The Archies


Requests:
End of the Line and Handle Me With Care - The Traveling Wilburys
Fearless - Pink Floyd
These Eyes - The Guess Who (Matt dedicated this to his work buddies...it's an inside joke, lol)
Twistin' the Night Away - Sam Cooke
Rockin' Robin - Bobby Day
A few Breaking Benjamin Songs (Not exactly Wedding appropriate either, but they are one of my favorite bands)
Can't leave Elvis out of the party!


Of course a few days AFTER the wedding we started remembering songs we should have also requested.  Oh well.  We still had a great time and the DJ played a great mix of classic rock, oldies, pop and country all night.  I feel like dancing now :o)