An unexpected blessing....

Today I received an unexpected blessing. My Cops w/ Hearts (10 big hearts) came for dinner tonight and I was busy running around all over town with last minute errands. While nothing makes me happier than to see Charlotte's finest at my table, they weren't my unexpected blessing -- not this time.

Tonight's Menu

Classic Crock Pot Lasagna (recipe...it was yummy)

Salad

Garlic Bread

Sweet Tea (recipe)

Southern Banana Pudding (recipe)

Old-time Root Beer floats in a frosty mug

Yes....I made three!

Deliciousness!

I think I am the most happiest when my little brain is busy thinking and planning even the most minor detail for an AHOP breakfast or dinner. When the root beer float idea came to me...well...I just had to have the old-time red-striped paper straws. I thought they would be really hard to find, but I didn't have to look far...which leads me to my unexpected blessing....the kind staff at Sur La Table. Sur La Table is the culinary/kitchen store of all stores for culinary chefs, chef wanabees, and amateur cooks like myself. As soon as you enter the store, you want to buy something useful and go home and cook something good....something very, very good! Not only did they have the red-striped paper straws I wanted, but when I shared what the straws were for and WHO they were for, they offered me their Culinary Professional Discount Card with their thanks in honor of my officers. Thank you, Kimberley! If you ever read this....you were my unexpected blessing today.
  

Root beer, vanilla ice cream -- so simple, so delicious!

Thank you Sur La Table....and my officers thank you too!  

Happy Valentine's Day to my Cops w/ He♥rts

I love Valentine's Day!  Okay, so I know it's insanely commercialized, but I still love it.  And, while I don't think you should limit one day out of the year to let someone special in your life know how much you care for them (there are, after all, 364 other days), it is a holiday set aside for sweethearts, for lovers, for friends, for hopeless romantics, and for AHOP!  

I wanted to do something for my officers to commemorate this fun day.  I designed a candy bar wrapper last summer for another event and everybody seemed to like them, so I thought a Valentine's wrapper would be fun to do.  

Making candy wrappers is a great idea for any occasion (birthdays, weddings, baby showers, holidays, etc.)  I designed this wrapper with the special hearts of the South Division in mind.  I used PowerPoint and had to tweak it a lot to get the size just right, but I think they turned out cute.  100+ Hershey Almond Candy Bars later, this is the end result.  The timing of this gift was not the greatest since a lot of my officers are doing the 'Biggest Loser' challenge and competing among the other divisions...but oh well.

To my friends and readers, wherever you are, I encourage you to do something for the officers who patrol and keep your neighborhood safe.  I can tell you first-hand that they don't hear 'thank you' enough.  They will absolutely love you for it, and you will LOVE every minute you put into it.

Happy Valentine's Day! ♥

    

(click once on photo to enlarge)

The back of the candy wrapper didn't come out very clear in the photo, but this is what it looked like.