Mother’s Day is coming. Chappell Hill Lavender Farm has so many fun things to do… classes (growing cut flowers in Texas), lavender cuttings, flower pounding, hummingbird class, peach picking, plants for purchase, picnics, gift shop with lotions and soaps, tea and spice blends, painting classes on the deck, and more depending on the time of year and the weather. They also have the best cookies called Lavender Pecan Crisps… see recipe below. They’re delicious. Makes about 36 cookies. If you don’t have time to go to Chappell Hill and pick up dried lavender, then you can get it at some grocery stores.
LAVENDER PECAN CRISPS
4 sticks softened butter
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
6 teaspoons ground lavender (culinary lavender)
4 cups corn flakes
1 cup chopped, toasted pecans
Cream sugar and butter. Mix in dry ingredients, then fold in corn flakes and pecans. Spoon onto cookie sheet and bake at 350 F for 20 minutes.
Starbucks is now offering Spicy Lemonade Refreshers in three flavors, or you can just add spicy cold foam to your coffee. Hmmm. My mother always said,” If you can’t say something nice, then say nothing.” Nothing.
Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive is on Saturday May 11th. Place a bag of nonperishable food next to your mailbox and your letter carrier will manage the rest. #StampOutHunger.
EGOT winner, Barbara Streisand, is releasing her first song in six years…Love Will Survive – for the upcoming Peacock Original series, The Tattooist of Auschwitz. Leonardo DiCaprio may play Frank Sinatra in the long-planned Sinatra biopic, costarring Jennifer Lawrence as the singer’s second wife, actress Ava Gardner. Beetlejuice 2 will be released on September 5th. It’s the sequel to Tim Burton’s 1988 hit, Beetlejuice and will bring back Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, and Michael Keaton from the original cast. Timothee Chalamet is the first actor since John Travolta with Saturday Night Fever and Grease to have two top-grossing films in eight months with Wonka and Dune: Part Two. The movie Footloose is 40 years old. Oh, my. Kate Hudson appeared on The Tonight Show performing the song, Gonna Find Out on TV for the first time. Her debut album Glorious will be released May 17th. She was dressed in a white tasseled dress that reminded me of something Stevie Nicks wore way back when. The album includes rock, soul, country, Americana, and pop. I think it was quite good.
Security Guard: Ma’am, you can’t bring outside drinks in here.
Mom: This is a service mimosa.
RECENT BIRTHDAYS: Actor Jessica Lange is 75. Actor Clint Howard is 65. John Cameron Mitchell is 61. Actor Claudia Cardinale is 86. Pink Panther. Singer Bobby Vinton is 89. Hit’s include Roses Are Red, Blue Velvet, To Know You Is to Love You, Take Good Care of My Baby, Tell Me Why, I Love How You Love Me, Please Love Me Forever, Mr. Lonely. Spike Lee is 67. Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III is 94. Actor singer Ann-Margaret is 83. Actor Paul Guilfoyle is 75. Former Tonight Show host Jay Leno is 74. Mary McDonnell is 72.
Motherhood: All love begins and ends there. Robert Browning
Brunch is always a promising idea. The newest addition to the Saint Arnold Cider lineup has hints of pineapple and orange, which sounds like a rather clever idea for a brunch. Saint Arnold says Tropical Mimosa Cider brings together elements of a classic cider, crisp apple, with the addition of your favorite brunch beverage. Aromas and flavors of citrus and tropical pineapple play in sync to provide a flavorful cider. It’s 5.6% ABV and gluten free. Tropical Mimosa Cider joins Dry Cider and Strawberry Kiwi Cider in their lineup and is now available in a six pack.
My mother told me a million times not to exaggerate.
Are you looking for a great taco salad… served by some of the nicest people in town. Sitting here at my desk, I just put the last bite into my mouth… an incredibly good taco salad from LoveBirds restaurant across the street from our office on Parking Way. It had cold crisp lettuce (not dead brown lettuce like some establishments), tomatoes, black beans, onions, taco strips, salsa, guacamole, and other things that I have forgotten because I ate every last bit on my plate. Go see Bobby or Raymond. They’re great! They also have a bunch of smoothies, healthy drinks, wraps, breakfast bowls, avocado toast and so much more. 206 Parking Way LJ. 979-316-3416. Menu: lovebirdstx.com (haha…this is not a paid advertisement, I just like the nice people and the good food.)
A Mother’s sacrifice isn’t giving birth… it’s 9 months without wine.
Here are some of the movies coming out this spring and summer. Ryan Gosling in The Fall Guy. Jerry Seinfeld, Melissa McCarthy, and Amy Schumer in Unfrosted, a mash-up of fact and fiction about how Pop-Tarts were invented. (I started watching it last night and it’s mostly fiction but pretty cute.) Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. Marisa Abela in Back to Black, about Amy Winehouse. Furlosa: A Mad Max Saga with Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth. The Garfield Movie. Young Woman and the Sea with Daisy Ridley as Trudy Ederle, first Hitwoman to swim the English Channel. Hit Man directed by Richard Linklater, the story of a teacher who moonlights as a hitman. Inside Out 2, sequel to the 2015 Pixar hit. The BikeRiders with Austin Butler. Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1, written by Kevin Costner (June 28 release) with Chapter 2 released August 16. Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F with Eddie Murphy, Kevin Bacon, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Netflix. Despicable Me 4 with a big voice cast. Fly Me to the Moon with Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, Woody Harrelson and Ray Romano. Twisters. Deadpool & Wolverine with Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman. Borderlands with Cate Blanchett, Jack Black, and Kevin Hart. Alien: Romulus, the latest in the Alien franchise. And many more.
My nickname is Mom, but my full name is MOM MOM MOM MOM
Frankie Valli celebrated his 90th birthday with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. It is the 2,780th star on Hollywood Blvd. When the unknown group sang “Sherry” on American Bandstand in 1962, The Four Seasons band, and after nine years as a recording artist, Valli became an overnight sensation with a no. 1 record.
When I was a boy, my mother wore a mood ring. When she was in a good mood it turned blue. In a bad mood, it left a big red mark on my forehead.
You can now eat your ice cream with an edible vanilla-flavored spoon. The company’s other spoons, sporks, straws, and chopsticks include wheat, corn, rice, and chickpeas, not only entirely plastic-free, BUT fully edible. It’s about time. IncredibleEats.com $9.50 for 20. ONE-USE plastic is so wasteful. Starbucks is going straw-less, and McDonald’s is switching to cutlery with renewable fiber. Umaro Foods has turned sustainable ocean-farmed seaweed into meaty, crispy vegan bacon. Their goal is to make seaweed the most productive, environmentally friendly, and flavorful source of protein on this planet.
I child-proofed the house, but they still got in.
Last week I took a quick day trip to Taylor to where my mom lives, then met my sister Dani, niece Katherine, and her new baby girl Riley Danielle (named after my sister, of course). We had a super-nice visit with mom, then lined everyone up and took a four-generation picture. What a great Mother’s Day gift to us all. My mom who doesn’t say much anymore, told me to make her eyebrows really dark for the picture. A winner of a day. Happy Mother’s Day to my mom, mother-in-law, sisters, friends, co-workers, and everyone else out there. Being a mother is hard, but it is still my favorite job of all time, and it just keeps getting better and better as my children become full-fledged adults.
Today we honor cooks, nurses, chauffeurs, counselors, teachers, maids, and referees. In other words, we honor moms everywhere.
LISA
Send comments to Lisa Baker at lisa@thesourceweekly.com
