New Pizza Stone

I love pizza stones! I bake everything on them (mostly pizza, chicken, french fries, garlic bread, rolls, "pigs in a blanket", cookies and brownie pizza) and nothing ever sticks. Cookies are SO much better when baked on stoneware! The first stone I bought (about 8 years ago) broke when Craig dumped frozen fries on it--it shattered because the stone was hot, as it sat on a hot stovetop (accident). My Pampered Chef consultant at the time replaced the stone for free but it took a couple of weeks to get the new one. It was hard to go even that long without a stone so I decided we should have a backup one in case one breaks again. So....

I recently got a 2nd pizza stone from Pampered Chef. The new one is on the left and the old one is on the right. As you stone lovers know, the old one is WELL seasoned (that's why it's so dark) and something to be envied:

I bought the new one because Pampered Chef was having a 25% off sale on stoneware and the new one has handles:

1/2 Stick of Butter

I just discovered that Land O Lakes now sells butter wrapped in 4 Tbsp portions. I didn't realize that is what I was buying--I only noticed it when I opened the box at home to bake bread. This is perfect because I often only use half a stick of butter/margarine at a time and the cut end needs to be wrapped or it will start to darken and change. So this saves me the step of wrapping the exposed end. I don't normally buy Land O Lakes but I might do so from now on.

Jacksonville

My parents flew in from Tulsa, OK to visit us this past week. We picked them up at the airport in Jacksonville on Saturday. It is a 2 1/2 hour drive that we were willing to make because they could only visit us if they flew to there because it was such a great rate. They had talked about visiting for Thanksgiving, but couldn't find a flight at the advertised low rate (they were sold out by the time they looked) so we were very sad. But then we were thrilled when they called in December and said the great rates were being offered again and that they wanted to come before Christmas.

We got to the airport a little early and noticed that they had a courtesy waiting lot where you could park and wait. It was great because then you didn't have to go into the regular lot and be charged by the hour. I've never seen a courtesy lot before and I thought it was so nice of them to do that! The only catch was that you had to stay with your car, which was really no problem at all. It was cold and windy and Craig didn't want to get out so he sat in the back with Alisa while I got out and stretched my legs for 10 minutes.

We had a good time with my parents and Alisa got over her fear of Grandad (she was afraid of him when we visited them in August). She sat on his lap and gave him hugs. He was thrilled! We picked out and decorated our Christmas tree and celebrated Christmas early with them. Alisa loved the gifts they gave her, especially the shopping cart and fake food!

Craig stayed home with Alisa today while I took my parents back to the airport. After I dropped them off it was 10 AM so I went to Starbucks (free wi-fi) and did some work on my laptop. When I had finished all my outstanding tickets, I drove 20-30 minutes to the beach. It was a gorgeous 78-degree day and people were on the beach in bikinis. Some were surfing in wetsuits. I walked on the sand for a bit and took some pictures. Then I went shopping and ate a snack at One Hot Cookie. I had been looking forward to eating there for over a year. I love cookies and ice cream and that place provides both. And even better, the cookies are baked to order so they are hot! I went to another Starbucks next, did some more work and then drove home.