I know this looks like just a photograph but it is so much more! It is actually a postcard that I sent to my husband via Postcardly. I don’t remember where I first heard about Postcardly but I was instantly excited about it. It might be the easiest way to send snail mail. And who doesn’t like to get mail that isn’t bills? My nieces live in another state and while I wish I could see them or talk to them on the phone all the time, it just isn’t possible. So I wanted a way that I could let them know that my and my family were thinking about them.
All you do is set up a quick account and create an email address that corresponds with a mailing address. Then, right from your own inbox, you create an email. You use the email address you created through Postcardly and upload any image. The company will turn the image in to a postcard and whatever is in the body of the message will get printed on the back. How cool is that! There are different plans to chose from. For instance, you can pay $4.99/ month and be able to send 5 postcards or pay $9.99/ month for 10 postcards. Yes you are paying for convenience which unfortunately I need or else nothing gets put in the mail. Take a look at all their pricing info and frequently asked questions here. They do offer a free trial which you should definitely try!
Check out those killer Photoshop skills! Wink. I think this is the perfect way to make someone smile. My husband was super excited to get this postcard in the mail. And I know my nieces will be jazzed to get theirs too.
*This was not a sponsored post. I emailed Postcardly and asked if I could review it because it looked like something I could use. I was given a free trial. All opinions are my own.
Well, here it is. Our family Christmas card for 2012. Some of you may know the story behind our cards. If you don’t you will probably want to read it 
This Blue Cheese Vinaigrette Salad Dressing recipe is my favorite! Not only does it taste great (for some it is an acquired taste), but there are also family ties. I only know this salad dressing as “Grandma’s Dressing.” When you taste it, if you like it, you crave it. If you taste it and don’t like it, you never want it again. I’ll explain more about that in a minute. The story goes that after my grandma tasted this dressing at a neighbor’s house, decades ago, she asked for the recipe. But they wouldn’t give it to her! So my grandmother made sure to hang around when they were making the dressing. She came home and wrote down everything she could remember and then modified it to taste once back in her own home. Yup. One of the many reasons I love my grandma. Good food is meant to be shared, people! So I want to share this zingy Blue Cheese Vinaigrette recipe with you. Another reason I love this post is because I had my mom help me shoot it! So fun to include her in this post.
The reason that some people tend not to like this dressing is there are an awful lot of bold flavors going on here. Sure all vinaigrettes use vinegar, but when added to fresh garlic, blue cheese and a few spices it creates a tart flavor explosion.
First you mash the salt and garlic into a paste. My family has always used a mortar and pestal for making this salad dressing. If you don’t have one, you can create the 
You may or may not need to stop and kiss your child at this part of the recipe. Since we were hanging out at Grandma Marilyn’s house, both kids were continually under foot. If you don’t have kids or they aren’t in the room, just proceed to the next step.
Next add your spices. The recipe uses dry mustard and paprika. Are those common spices to have around your kitchen? If you think you want to make this recipe be sure to double check if you have these things. So often, I am midway through a recipe and realize I don’t have what I need. You would think I would learn from that mistake…
You will add two tablespoons each of oil and apple cider vinegar to the other ingredients right in the mortar. I think this will help distribute all the flavors evenly when mixed up later. Yeah. That sounds good.
Smoosh it up…
then add it to a mason jar. Have you heard? Mason jars or so hot right now. I think they were made to make dressing in. They are perfect for shaking them up and storing. Efficiency is hot.
If you aren’t a blue cheese fan, you aren’t going to like this recipe. There is lots of it. But you don’t want huge chunks. We usually buy a wedge of cheese and chop it. You could also use crumbles and just make sure there aren’t any large pieces.
Add the rest of the oil and vinegar to the mason jar and shake the crap out of it. Leave the jar out on the counter for 2 hours at room temperature to allow the cheese to break down in the vinegar a little and for all the flavors to start to marry.
We have always served this Blue Cheese Vinaigrette over romaine but feel free to choose what lettuce you like best.
It is best when tossed in a big bowl before serving. This is pungent stuff, you guys. You don’t a pool of this at the bottom of your bowl. You will have leftovers which will keep fine in the fridge for several days. But I warn you, it becomes even more zingy with each day that passes. But it is SO good! Just be aware. This dressing, by day 3, might be too much for some to handle.
Thank you, Mommy, for helping me to take photos of the recipe process and laughing through it with me. And thank you, Grandma, for being sneaky and stealing this recipe from your neighbor. I have had daydreams of opening my own restaurant and this is the house dressing. But that ain’t happening so you’ll have to make it for yourself. Enjoy!
I’ll be starting back up posting next week but here is what we have been up to in the meantime…First off, I ugly cried today. I went to download all the pictures from my camera on to the computer and they vanished in to thin air!! They aren’t on the home computer, they aren’t on my phone. Boo. I spent hours trying to recover them but I just have to be ok that I lost a lot of Christmas, 4th birthday and birthday party pictures as well as some from the Kismet PR class I hosted right before Christmas. :( But I’ve chosen to not dwell on it and we’re just going to proceed like nothing is missing. I still had the pictures from my Nikon so luckily I do have photos of most of those events on there. But only a few.
The boys got to open a ton of gifts from their cousins and grandparents and then we headed home so they could get nestled in their beds so Santa could come.
We had an awesome Christmas morning breakfast with my parents. Yes, those are cookies and rice krispy treats in the mix. Every good breakfast buffet has sweets. Not pictured is a gruyere and ham strata! Yum!
We hung out at the house for several days playing with all of the new Christmas toys. The kids don’t want to stop playing with some of them and wear them around the house for hours.
My youngest celebrated his 4th birthday with a party at 
And then it was his actual birthday and we had a day full of opening presents and trying to move presents around the house to allow for family to come over later that day for cakes and ice cream. I’m exhausted. I’m so glad that we have 5 days left before the kids go back to school!
