Sandra Lee Apple Sour Cocktail

Sandra Lee’s Apple Sour Cocktail (pg. 142 Sandra Lee semi-homemade Cocktail Time) is a just right mix of sweet and sour flavors.

This is just what I needed after a day of schlepping around, measuring windows, visiting fabric stores, Home Goods store (which I love), and the big box store, Lowe’s.  Lowe’s is where I finally found something perfect for a kitchen window in my camp – nothing fancy, but definitely not kitschy. Ok, before I get too carried away, here is the recipe for the Apple Sour cocktail, courtesy of Sandra Lee.

Sandra Lee Apple Sour

• 1 1/4 oz. green apple flavored vodka
• 1/4 oz sour mix

In a cocktail shaker, combine vodka and sour mix.  Add ice; cover and shake until very cold.  Strain into prepared glass.

OK, back to me. I selected a Levelor cordless cellular shade that the Lowe’s associate trimmed according to the measurement I made- and I might say she insisted that it had to be cut 1/2 inch smaller than my inside window frame measurement. More on that later.

Anyway, the manufacturer claims that this shade can be installed in 15 minutes. Are you kidding? It took me 20 minutes to find the drill (for the pilot holes), and a phone call and add’l 10 minutes to find the proper bits and put them in the drill. So that’s 1/2 hour so far. Then I had to place the 2 thingees on the window to measure where to drill the holes (another 10 minutes as I had to climb on a counter and the light wasn’t that great). But I have to say the actual drilling of the pilots took only 4 minutes. So, now I’m into this for 44 minutes.

Who knew drilling screws in an upward direction was so hard? Is there a trick to not stripping the darn screws? Half way through, I got a regular screwdriver to finish up and that was actually easier than the dang drill. (this step easily took me 20 minutes). So far, 64 minutes.

Then I had to fuss with the endcaps for 5 minutes. BUT THEN, the directions virtually stop, merely saying ‘shade attachment’ with a very vague picture. OK, this took me a full 20 minutes. Now having done this step, I see that it would only take a minute next time. But this first installation took me 89 minutes! An hour and a half!

They look great, but then I stepped back and decided the Lowe’s associate should not have trimmed an extra 1/2″ – I think her machine thingee already compensated for the raising and lowering of the shade, cause it sure would look more finished with the extra 1/4 inch on each side. Hoo Boy! It still looks pretty good.

T-Cee reviews Sandra Lee semi-homemade Cocktail Time

Now, those of you who have been following my blog know that I did manage to squeeze in a trip to the liquor store (it was right next to the fabric store!) for my Sandra Lee semi-homemade cocktail ingredients. The Apple Sour cocktail was a breeze to make and truly took only 5 minutes to make. Perhaps I should stick to what I know best?

OK. Does the Apple Sour get a Semi-HomeTested rating of LUSH IT, LUSH IT A LOT, or LEAVE IT? This delightful easy end to my day definitely rates a Semi-HomeTested rating of LUSH IT A LOT!

Try it yourself while you’re enjoying the new Fall TV shows, and let me know what you think in a comment below.

Salude!

T-Cee

Ground Zero Flag Repair has inspired this week’s Hump Day Kudos.

As reported by NBC news, the largest American flag that was hanging before, during, and after the 9/11 Terror Attacks, was found hanging across the street from the World Trade Center at a construction site.

This flag found at Ground Zero is now called the National 9/11 flag and it is being repaired by 50,000 firefighters, policemen, first responders, and ordinary citizens.  It is being stitched together by hand with pieces of other American flags which have flown in all 50 states.

It will become part of the permanent memorial at Ground Zero.

The flag represents the resilience and the spirit of the American people.

HUMP DAY KUDOS TO YOU

9/11 Ground Zero Flag Repairers

National 9/11 Flag

Sandra Lee Happy Homemaker Cocktail

Here’s a Happy Homemaker Cocktail (pg. 143 Sandra Lee semi-homemade Cocktail Time) for all you stay at home moms.  Don’t get up in tizzy – if you’re not a stay at home mom, you can enjoy this cocktail too.  But today I want to celebrate the stay at home moms who are putting the pride back into the housewife.  And then need a little wind-down! (recipe below)

That’s right.  I said it.  Pride in being a housewife – I’ve had several corporate, well paying jobs, and let me tell you – there is nothing with more staying power than the pride  you get from the full time job of helping your family be a family!  Now that my family is getting older, I am entertaining other opportunities, but I salute all the new mom’s entering the housewife foray.

I think Sandra Lee has the right attitude (though she certainly is NOT a stay at home mom).  Her attitude is make it look great, taste great, and don’t knock yourself out doing so.  While I do enjoy cooking healthy foods from scratch (as opposed to Sandra Lee’s semi-homemade meals), I definitely partake in the ‘make it great, treat yourself right’ attitude.

Maybe that’s why I’m enjoying reviewing the Sandra Lee semi-homemade Cocktail Time book so much.   So after a busy day of appointments, chauffeuring, cleaning, and shopping, I made and enjoyed this delightful Happy Homemaker cocktail.  And thank goodness I brought it to tennis last night, cause I lost, lost, lost, and I hate, hate, hate that.  OK, here’s the recipe, courtesy of  Ms. Sandra Lee.

Happy Homemaker cocktail

• 2 1/2 oz. pineapple juice
• 1 1/2 oz. white rum (I used Bacardi)
• 1/4 oz lime juice
• fresh mint (optional)

In a cocktail shaker, combine pineapple juice, rum, and lime juice.  Add ice; cover and shake until very cold.  Strain into a chilled martini glass.  Garnish with mint (opt’l).

T-Cee cocktail reviews

Does the Sandra Lee semi-homemade HAPPY HOMEMAKER cocktail get a T-Cee Semi-HomeTested rating of LUSH IT, LUSH IT A LOT, or LEAVE IT?  This delightful cocktail is a sweet little shot at the end of a hard, or hot, or exhausting, or frustrating, or happy, or whatever day, and I give it a Semi-HomeTested rating of LUSH IT!

OK, all you wonderful housewives, try making this cocktail for yourself and your pals (or hubby) and let me know what you think!  Oh, and my tennis buddies too – leave a comment below.

Salude!

T-Cee

PS – for those of you following the Real Housewives of New Jersey, Caroline, one of our favorite housewives, was just deposed in the Danielle Staub debacle.

USEFUL INVENTION-how to clean a straw

OK, it’s not rocket science.  But this straw cleaner sure sounds like a useful invention.  I haven’t purchased this straw cleaner yet, but how many times have you tossed away those expensive ‘free’ drink cups that you buy your kids at sporting events, amusement parks, etc.?  And why do we throw away those expensive  ‘freebies’?  Because we can’t bear the thought of all those germs tucked away inside the plastic straws they come with.

So, not only do we waste our money on these cups with plastic straws, we have to endure the cries of our kids when they realize their favorite cup de jour is gone. Yes,  gone, just like those raggedy t-shirts that we moms cause to ‘disappear’ from the laundry.

So, here’s a solution announced by Mom Invented whose article lists the straw cleaner inventor as Jennifer from Austin, TX.  I’m not sure it qualifies as a “Big Announcement”, but is sure sounds like a useful invention if you need to clean a straw. So,

HUMP DAY KUDOS TO YOU JENNIFER FROM AUSTIN, TX

Straw cleaner - Useful Invention

Try it and leave a comment to let me know what you think – or if you have a better solution.  Oh, if you want to get a look at the type of germs residing in those straws, take a look at Germs 101, from Real Simple Magazine.

T-Cee

9/15/10 – Today  I Semi-HomeTested the Sippy Straw Cleaner with the following results:

Sippy Straw Cleaner - Semi-HomeTested

The Sippy Straw Cleaner package included two cleaner brushes, one with an easy to hold handle, and the other with just a wire tip.  Both worked well on sippy cup tops such as those sold by Tupperware.  I was happy to see that The Sippy Staw Cleaner also worked well on sports bottle tops, especially the very hard to clean ones with just a silicone cover that opens when you squeeze the sports bottle.

The only disappointment was trying to clean the straws that come with sports bottles and novelty cups sold by sports arenas, etc.  Neither included straw cleaner (not even the one with just the wire tip) could reach even 1/2 way through the straw, so it was not possible to clean the entire straw .

So, out of LUSH IT, LUSH IT A LOT, or LEAVE IT, I have to give the Sippy Straw Cleaner a Semi-HomeTested rating of LUSH IT. If the product ever makes the brush with a longer handle/brush head, I’m sure it would then clean the sports straw effectively.

Bravo Real Housewives of New Jersey Reunion

Was this the Real Housewives of New Jersey Reunion or a rerun of the old ‘Bobby woke up in the shower’ scene from the Dallas night time soap of the 80′s?  Let me explain.

Things started as usual on last night’s Real Housewives of New Jersey Reunion, part 2.  Danielle was snarling innuendos, Teresa was hurling curse words, Caroline was incredulous, and Jacqueline was being snarky under her breath.

Once again, Danielle denied, denied, denied any and everything that was brought up.  Even when clips were rolled that showed her saying and doing things, Danielle would blame it on editing.  Jacqueline even got interesting, producing proof with her I Phone tweets that Danielle had wished that her daughter Ashley would die .  That Danielle, is beyond creepy and is way more menacing that Ashley’s innocuous comment of  ‘bye’, which Danielle thought had evil intents.

As usual, Andy Cohen could not get a straight (no pun intended) answer from Danielle. But Andy did apparently know that Danielle had a  fake head with a wig on it that she brought to demonstrate how the hair extension that Ashley yanked out, also pulled Danielle’s real hair out with it.  Super creepy!  And boring.

Everything was rolling along as usual until Jacqueline, almost as if on cue I must say, decided to forgive Danielle and apologized for her part in any upset during the last season.  Which prompted Danielle to practically scoop Jacqueline in her lap and hug Jacqueline for an uncomfortable 45 seconds, while Danielle whispered how she loves Jacqueline and all of the pain would now stop.  WHAT THE??

Teresa simply rolled her eyes, said something non-committal to Danielle.  Thank you Caroline for maintaining sanity and declaring ‘”This is bullsh*t”.

Andy Cohen, this was clearly staged and just plain schmaltzy!!!

So, that’s why I must ask – Did this remind anyone of the disappointing conclusion to the night time soap “Dallas” back in the 80′s when Bobby ‘woke up’ in the shower and the whole ridiculous season was deemed to be a dream?

Bravo – this was a huge let down. And totally not believable.

There is one bright spot in all of this and that is that Danielle will definitely NOT be back next season.

Oh, and rumor has it that Teresa’s sister-in-law (her brother’s wife) Melissa Gorga, will be one of the Real Housewives of New Jersey next season.

Leave a comment below and let me know what you think.

T-Cee

P.S.  I agree with Teresa – we don’t need Kim G.’s “old lady butt cracks”.

Enjoy the U.S. Doubles Matches with a double shot

I love the U.S. Open Doubles.

In fact, I love everything about Doubles.  I love watching the U.S. Open Doubles, playing doubles, and drinking doubles shots.

And what better way to enjoy watching the U.S. Open Doubles, then getting together with your doubles partner and enjoying this special U.S. Open Doubles Cocktail that I created just for this event.

U.S. Open Doubles Cocktail

• 1 shot Limoncello
• 1 shot Blue Curacao

Pour Limoncello and Blue Curacao into ice filled cocktail shaker.  Shake, pour into two shot glasses and drink with your favorite doubles partner.

How great are the U.S. Open Doubles matches this season?

Too bad the always entertaining Nestor and Zimonjic are out already, and of course Serena and Venus are missing from the doubles lineup this year due to Serena’s injury (kind of good for Venus since her knee is bothering her and she gets to focus her energies on her singles).  And I cannot believe that  the doubles team Bhupathi/Mirnyi have lost already too.
But there are still plenty of good reasons to watch the doubles matches.

Mardy Fish and Mark Knowles are still in the mix (not to mention Fish is going super strong in the singles) yeah!  Too bad his good buddy Andy Roddick lost his singles match – where was Andy’s fire power?  The only bad thing is Fish/Knowles are next playing against my favs, the Bryan brothers.  I do predict that the Bryan brothers will win, and it should be a great match.

Oh, and we’ve got Pennetta/Dulco vs. Peer/Niculescu on the women’s side to look forward to.  Oooh – it’s on as I speak.

So, grab your U.S. Open Doubles Shots cocktails and get ready for a great night of tennis. So, did I LUSH IT, LUSH IT A LOT, or LEAVE IT?  Oh, yes, the U.S.Open Doubles Shots gets a Semi-HomeTested rating of LUSH IT A LOT.

Salude!

T-Cee