Free Museum Day

This Saturday, September 24th, you can have the opportunity to get into a museum for free. This is all over the U.S. and is being sponsored by the Smithsonian Magazine.

Click on the title, then "find a museum", type in you state and see all the participating museums. Then fill out the short application and they will email you a free ticket for two.

Super easy and free, that's my kind of deal!


Although not participating in the Smithsonian's Museum Day, Tampa's Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) is offering $5 admission on Saturday, September 24. The event runs from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Availability is limited and tickets will be issued on a first-come-first-served basis.



I think I will go to Bok Towers. What museum are you going to?

Makin' Woopie...

Whoopie Pies that is.
Actually I am not making them, My brothers fiance has started her own business called "Small Sweet Things" selling whoopie pies at the Ybor City Farmers Market. I am sure she is in her kitchen right now baking away.
Anyway, I wanted to show her my love and support by mentioning her on my blog, because she is a fantastic cook AND she has great taste in guys too!
If any of you can please stop by her booth, show her some love and buy a few Whoopie Pies that would be fantastic!!! She has lots of yummy flavors to try.
Maybe I will see you there!

Canned, Fresh or Frozen

BPA, the synthetic estrogen linked to cancer and abnormal brain development, is in the lining of most food and beverage cans, and it can leach out. Whether the food is organic doesn't matter, USDA tests show. When possible, buy fresh or frozen items; there's no BPA in plastic freezer bags, says Sarah Janssen, M.D., senior scientist at the NRDC. (From Yahoo News)

Never Forget

Sorry this is late.

Most of us will never forget what we were doing that awful morning of September 11, 2001, myself included. I have a husband who works in law enforcement, he had only been in bed a few hours from working the night shift when I woke him up to tell him what was happening. He thought I was crazy but I insisted he get out of bed and see for himself. It was a very sad day.

I am truely blessed to live in this wonderful Country and all the MANY freedoms we have that many of us take for granted.

I've been a bad girl!

Last week a friend dropped off some cupcakes from Sweetie's Delights located in Valrico, Florida. Wow were they fabulous! I didn't eat them all by myself but, don't think the thought hadn't crossed my mind. I was a good girl and cut each cupcake into 4 pieces to share with my kids, that way we all got to try each flavor and I didn't feel as bad indulging myself with all that yummy goodness!
I believe the flavors I got were Red Velvet, Reese's, Smore, Chocolate Moo moo?, Carrot Cake, and Oreo. We all had a different favorite, mine was the chocolate of course.

Now here is the bad girl part. I was out running errands when I saw the unmistakable pink sign urging me to come inside...yes, it was Sweetie's Delight! I should have kept on driving but I could not resist the temptation of seeing what other sugary delights await me. They had more of those yummy cupcakes but they also had some Truffle cookies. So I asked for 1 of each of the truffle cookies. Don't gasp, there were only 4 different kinds. As I was checking out they had a basket of something called a Smoodgie. It's pretty much a whoopie pie. They had a couple of flavors and I choose strawberry. I think it might be my favorite.
Despite having brought all that yummy goodness I restrained my self again and cut them up into 4 pieces to share.

At the top is the Strawberry Smoodgie. The middle row-chocolate cookie on the left is filled with a coconut filling, the chocolate chip is filled with chocolate, the white cookie is filled with a raspberry filling. Bottom row is a chocolate chip cookie sandwich aka a smidgie and the last cookie is a chocolate cookie with nut and a peanut butter filling.

Look at those yummy fillings!

So now you see all this yummy stuff I keep torturing myself with, did I tell you I am supposed to be training for a 5k!!!! Maybe I could get someone to dangle a cupcake in front of me to get me off my booty and run!

Mango Madness!

I was recently given some mangos and couldn't decide what to do with them all, so after googling a few recipes I decided to make Mango Freezer Jam (per my son's request), Mango Smoothies, and Mango Popsicles.
I must say everything was delish and now I need to get some more mangos because the kids are begging for more mango Popsicles.
For the my smoothie and for the Popsicles I used a recipe for Mango Lassi that I found on Allrecipes.com

Mango Lassi
2 mangos - peeled, seeded and diced
2 cups plain yogurt
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup ice
Directions
1.In a blender, combine mangos, yogurt, sugar and ice. Blend until smooth. Pour into glasses and serve.

If you have any great Mnago recipes, please share them with me. I am always looking for new things to try.

Ybor Farmers Market

Saturday I had the opportunity to go to the Ybor Farmers Market. My oldest son came with me, no one else wanted to go. That was probably for the best because I am sure I would have spent alot more money if the whole family was with me.


Robbie and I had a great time. We sampled tons off different foods; breads, cookies, cakes, jams, cupcakes and more. We ended up buying a DELICIOUS vanilla cupcake with a cookie dough filling, topped with a hazelnut frosting...YUM! I can't wait to try more of her cupcakes. forheavenscakedesign.com


We also purchased a couple of mini loaves of bread from "The happy baker'. Her specialty is banana bread, but I promise you can't go wrong with any of her bread! We brought her classic coconut bread and a lemon pound cake. And if you have a few extra minutes to chat, ask her how she became "the happy baker" it is a great story and I must say she was an absolute delight to talk with not to mention she has one of the pretty smiles around!! happybakernation.com


I wish I had taken pictures of all my goodies, but i didn't think of it until after we had devoured them!


The market had lots of different crafts and goodies for sale; jewelry, photography, scentsy, soaps lotions and more.


They even had Animal Services there with some of the most adorable dogs available for adoption. I came very close to adopting one of them. I actually went back to the farmers market with my hubby to get the dog but she was gone..I guess it was not meant to be.


http://www.ybormarket.com/