JJM Recovery Golf Tournament

This past Sunday was the JJM Recovery Golf Tournament at Chestnut Hill Country Club in Darien, NY. After weeks (and months) of preparation, the day came! It was a beautiful, sunny day perfect for golfing. Everything went really well thanks to the hard work of our volunteers and our family team.

A little disappointing this year was the turnout. We had 17 teams commit but only 13 showed up and played. We also had 28 people confirmed for dinner, but several couples did not show. We will not let this get us down though! We had so many people sponsor the tournament, send donations, including fabulous auction items!

Christopher played golf but this year I rested in between set up and registration and getting ready for the auction and dinner. It was still a busy day! We bought some auction tickets and ended up winning three prizes! We won a zero gravity chair, a basket of gourmet cooking oils and a liquor basket. We actually ended up winning two more, but for one his mom was not paying attention to the ticket numbers being called out - rats! And then for the other...I am embarrassed to say that we won the prize, but for some reason, I don't know what came over me...I told them to re-draw. I was nervous because we host the event and here we were winning all the prizes. I mean, we did donate and purchase 6 sheets of tickets, so there are quite a few in the bags, but still I felt funny about it.

We are still confirming the final tally, but I am happy and proud of how it all came together! I took a vacation day on Monday to celebrate the hard work put into the tournament.

To celebrate a job well down, Christopher and I went up to Niagara on the Lake, ON, one of our favorite places to go and picked up our quarterly wine club installment. If you have never been to NOTL, it is a must visit place! Our favorite winery is Jackson-Triggs, which is what the wine club is through. They treat all of the visitors like gold and their wine is fabulous.

Date Night

I LOVE date nights with Christopher. Yesterday I planned a surprise date night for us. I made a picnic dinner, packed up our basket (including wine of course!) and headed over to Delaware Park to see Hamlet at Shakespeare on the Hill. I could not believe this group puts on productions for free to the community. It was lovely. Although the play itself is not very romantic, sitting in the sun together and munching on some goodies was fun and relaxing.

I made these petite deli sandwiches on the Hawaiian Sweet Rolls. This recipes has been flying around Pinterest and it is super easy and quite good. I cut the recipe in half (so using 1 12 pk of rolls) and half of the meats and cheeses as well. The buttery, mustard topping with chopped onion makes the sandwich so un-ordinary - it is the finishing touch.

We brought two bottles of wine from our favorite vineyard - Jackson Triggs. We are very excited to be making the trip up there soon to pick up our third wine club installment. Best idea ever to join! We have been tasting different types of wines that we may never have had tried. It is fairly reasonable too.

Sweet Mini Sandwiches  - makes 12 mini sandwiches 
1 pkg Hawaiian Sweet Rolls
1/2 lb of each: Honey Ham, Turkey, Swiss Cheese, Provolone Cheese
1/2 TBSP of each: Honey Mustard and Poppy Seeds
1 to 2 TBSP butter
1 TBSP Onion Flakes

Cut rolls horizontally (do not split up into individual rolls) remove top. Layer meats and cheese on the bottom and replace the top. Mix and melt together all other ingredients in a microwave safe bowl and melt until well blended. Then, spread on top of the rolls. Bake at 400 degrees for about 12-15  minutes.

Crazy Weekend

So Friday the snow storm arrived. We got about a foot of snow total. The way it fell, all of the tree branches and bushes were beautifully outlined. The neighborhood looked beautiful until you had to drive in it. That is another story.

But the snow could not stop us Musialowski’s – we attended the Canisius High School fundraiser and had a great time. We then continued the party to the Empire Grill on Hertel for more drinks and discussion with Christopher’s parents. It was a great time.

On Saturday we decided not to go to Niagara-on-the-Lake, but instead, run errands and have a date night home. We made fondue – a beer cheese fondue then a milk chocolate fondue for dessert. It was delicious! And super easy too. We do not have a fondue pot, we used a saucepan instead and it worked out great. Recipes are included below.

Then on Sunday we visited our friends Dennis and Anna in Rochester and their beautiful baby boy, Jack Patrick. He turned 1 month and is just a little bundle of sunshine. It was so great to catch up with our good friends. At night, my friend Carly and I went to a Victoria’s Secret party for Valentine’s Day. It was really nice. They closed the store down except for those who had an invitation. There were many sales associates there to help with purchases. But it was mostly a fun time to shop for underwear!

Beer Cheese Fondue

¾ cup beer (we used a porter)

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 tbsp mustard, a grainy kind NOT the yellow mustard

1 tbsp horseradish sauce (I would probably use a little less)

1 tbsp flour

12 oz shredded cheddar cheese (white or yellow is fine)

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add beer to pan and stir constantly. Add the garlic to the beer and continue stirring. Do not like the beer boil. If needed, turn down the heat. Add the mustard, horseradish sauce and continue stirring. Finally add the cheese, and stir until the liquid has a smooth consistency.

We used cubed Parmesan-peppercorn baguette, broccoli, carrots and apples to dip into the fondue. Enjoy!

Milk Chocolate Fondue

 1 cup whipping cream

12 oz milk chocolate chips

Optional: 2 tsp orange or other flavored liqueur

Over a low flame, heat the cream in a saucepan until warm. DO NOT bring the cream to a boil. Pour in the chocolate while stirring constantly. Stir until the liquid becomes smooth. If adding a liqueur, add now and stir in.

Dip with fruits, cookies, pound cake, pretzels or your favorite snacks.