Family Videos

I thought I would say goodbye to the holidays by posting an old family video of us on Christmas Eve doing out traditional skits, talents, singing, and more. This video brought back so many memories. One being that we wore these antlers and noses as we would go from door to door delivering gifts to friends, families, and neighbors. We would hop out of the car, run up to the door, ring the door bell and when they opened the door we would begin singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas"

.....and we thought this was normal. Every family does this, right?

Well, speaking of videos. My sister sent off a hilarious video to AFV (America's Funniest Home Videos) and yesterday they called her! They wanted us to fill out the release forms so they could look into putting it on a future show! I mean, what if we win!? How funny would that be!?

Okay, so I have posted the video before but here it is again...

It is probably funnier for people who don't know us because they think Mac is the Dad. I am sure I will be posting more on this later, but for now, let's hope we make the cut!

Mac in Birmingham Magazine: Smart living, savvy business

Mac made Birmingham Magazine with his Sweet Potato Gnocchi!

(btw ladies.....he's taken :)

Standard Bistro’s Mac Russell prepares a tasty and simple gnocchi.

By Jan Walsh Photos by Miller Mobley

A new addition to the Standard Bistro menu is Executive Chef Mac Russell’s Fudge Family Pork Mania. The Sweet Potato gnocchi side for this dish is one that can easily be matched with any other proteins yet goes especially well with chicken.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi Recipe

Ingredients:

• 6 sweet potatoes
• 2 Idaho potatoes
• 3 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (plus more for rolling out gnocchi)
• 2 tablespoons herb salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• Chopped flat-leaf parsley
• Fresh herbs like sage, savory and/or marjoram
• 1/2 cup fried chestnuts or roasted hazelnuts for garnish
• 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley and fresh sage leaves

Procedure:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roast the sweet potatoes until tender, 20 to 30 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Boil the Idaho potatoes until a knife pierces them easily.

After all of the potatoes have cooled, work them through a food mill or potato ricer. In a bowl, combine all the potatoes, by mixer or by hand, with the eggs, flour, salt and pepper. Mix only enough to incorporate all of the ingredients. Test by taking a small portion of the dough with floured hands, form into a ball and blanch in boiling salted water. When it floats, remove, taste and adjust seasoning.

Shape the gnocchi into one-inch ropes, then cut into oneinch squares. Mark with the back of a fork. Heat a saute pan over medium-high heat. Add all herbs except parsley.

Boil shaped gnocchi until they float. Add gnocchi to pan.

Season with salt and pepper. Sauté until the gnocchi is slightly golden on that one side. Add nuts and finish with fresh chopped flat leafed parsley.

Finished Banquette

So, I finally bought a cow at Scott's in Atlanta! I got it for $100 which is an unbelievable price for this much leather/suede. Normally the leather man at Scott's sells his leather for $150, but since it was the only one left he gave it to us for $100. I wasn't initially going to get this color or type of leather but it does go with my pewterish (I don't think that is a word, but you get my drift) color scheme AND since getting leather was one of the main reasons I was going up there I figured it was a God-send. He just so happen to pick it out for me!

this is the final product...

I will soon show you the table that my grandfather is working on which will go with this bench one day!

Tacky, The Club, and family Christmas

Friday night:

I participated in this tacky christmas party wearing my mother's High School sorority (TKD) fall formal dress...

it is a red and green gingham white collard dress. Real cute.

Notice I wore a tank top underneath due to the hole in the middle of the dress...

Mom is still trying to find the picture of her wearing it in High School. She thinks the dress "didn't hit her at that spot"..."I can't imagine wearing that dress with that hole in that spot in High School!"

Once you find it mom, let me know!

Saturday night:

We went to family tradition of going to The Club with my Dad's side of the family...

And Sunday:

We did our "immediate family Christmas" the Sunday before Christmas this year to spread things out a little bit.

Since I was little our family has celebrated Christmas primarily on Christmas eve. We go to both sets of grandparents that day...

my mom's parents for lunch and my dad's for dinner.

Fortunately we are so blessed to have all of our grandparents still alive and going strong! And now that my parents are grandparents

they want to start building their family traditions thus the "immediate family Christmas day" came about and it is ALL DAY and SOOOO FUN!

At this joyous occasion we:

Cooked some really good food!

Skyped my cousin Rachel in China to say Merry Christmas and WE MISS YOU AND KEITH!

...here is us "skyping" for the first time:

It was 7:00 p.m. for us but 8:00 a.m. for Rachel and Keith...so we basically said good morning!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH4rGMAAa6E

Here is her blog to see the family photo of us via skype

We tried to get pretty pictures taken:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D05cgAMlZ68

The newest addition to our family, baby Rhodes:

Lovey (mother) always gets a toy for all the boys to play with outside...this was the toy this year. You basically put a target on your chest and try to throw the ball on the velcro target.

Robert set up a game and here he is as a "moving target" worth 20 points! Yes, his arms are swaying back and forth as he moves left and right- very creative! Mac is a "still" target in the back ground...

There goes Robert again...

We exchanged gifts

I gave this limbo toy to the kids it was the most popular gift being played in the back of Smith's Variety:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okgdQRG74Ww

And, some "Blessings in a Bottle"... I infused garlic and red pepper into the oil and bottled it for the fam...

a little drizzle will give a little kick and a little flava

Mac and I have already used some of our gifts...one was a gift card to PF Changs which we used Monday night. Then we came home and rested in all of our snugly accessories! Thank you for our gifts we love them all! I need to get rested for the rest of the holidays!

Let the festivities continue!

I hope you have a very Merry Christmas!

Craigslist Chairs

I LOVE craigslist. Even though it can be kinda sketchy to meet random people for a purchase. But, I just love to look on it a couple times a week to see what it out there...you never know what you are going to find.

When I communicated with the sellers on these items I talked to the wife via email. Which, you never really know if you are really talking to the "wife." I mean, who knows who it could really be. So, no worries I had my guard up. The wife told me to meet her husband at the Dairy Queen off 459 where Tazikis, Billy's, and a few other stores are. In other words, it is nicely lit up and should be pretty safe. So, I arrived about 15 minutes before 6:00 PM which is when we were supposed to meet there. I call Fred to a) confirm that we are meeting here and b) to tell him I was already there. Fred said he had someone at his house fixing something and he would be able to be at the DQ by 6:00. So, I wait. As 6:00 rolls around his black SUV pulls up quickly and he hops out wearing a "life is good" type t-shirt. First impressions: very clean cut, nice looking man. Well, right when he hops out he says, "So sorry I am late, the chairs are actually in the storage unit 2 miles down the road...would you like to follow me and unload them there?"

Uhhh!? I have never been in this position before. Keep in mind this particular storage unit is PITCH BLACK DARK. I think my face spoke for itself, because shortly after Fred said, " I mean, I don't mind going to pick them up....I just didn't want to be any later!"

Whoo!

"Yeah, I don't mind waiting. If you don't mind, that would be great."

So, needless to say, I wait another 20 minutes, but I came home with these beauties...well, not really beauties....They are pure 70's mustard yellow with velvet cushions!

I did try to bargain with Fred, but he said many other people wanted these chairs too so $50 each was the lowest he would go.

At first I didn't realize I could unscrew the cushion from the chair, so I covered it to do my layers of paint. BTW, this bright lady was the one that gave me the idea to unscrew the cushion.

Then I painted it with a color called Knights Armor... a dark grey color. It's kind of the Anthropologie grey/gold/yellowish look. Of course, I have to give some very slight gold highlights here and there with a gold spray paint and do a sponged coat with an Antique Glaze.

Once I realized I could unscrew the cushion, it allowed me to paint the wicker part. So, I painted that with the same color but did not apply the Antique Glaze which makes any color look darker. So the wicker looks a little lighter than the edges.

Then I applied some nailhead trim...

My dog insisted that I take a few pics of her in the chair, even though I am

NOT done with these suckers- I don't think!... But, of course, I gave in.

Audrey: "How about this pose?"

"Or this?"

"No, this one."

"I don't know, I think this is my better side...?"

I am debating on covering the cushion cowhide. What do you think?