How to Make Mexican Wedding Cookies
Mexican Wedding cookies are not exclusive to weddings in Mexico. These delicious cookies get made more and more during Christmas. These have been first seen being served in Mexican weddings and hence the name. The truth, however, is it is not really of Mexican origin. Its other names are Spanish Wedding cookies and Russian Tea cakes. Even those names are deceptive for, these two countries are not the birthplace of the cookies either. It is the Arab culture which came up with these cookies and they slowly made their way to Europe and Russia. It is only in the mid-1950s that Mexico adopted it from Spain where many of its immigrants came from.
The cookies resemble snowballs and they are sometimes referred to as snowball cookies in some parts of the country. It is easy to make these cookies. You can see that the recipe is not anything completely new. If you have made traditional butter cookies, you can find that this is a variation of the same.
Following is the recipe to make a dozen of Mexican cookies.
Ingredients you need:
2 cups of all purpose flour
3/4 cup of powdered sugar
1/2 cup of almond extract
3/4 cup of chopped pecans
1 cup of unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoonful of salt
2 teaspoonful of vanilla extract
First, you must heat the oven to 350 degrees. Take a clean cookie sheet and spread the pecans evenly on it. You must toast it inside the oven for some 6 minutes or so. See that it goes beyond being lightly brown. When sufficiently browned, cool it.
While you can process the pecans in a food processor or a blender, the tradition way of chopping them with a knife produces better results. For one thing they have uniform shape and another, the heat, however insignificant, that a mechanical blender lends to the pecans thereby changing the taste is missing.
You should now beat the other ingredients almond, vanilla, powdered sugar, vanilla, butter and salt only so much as to make them look fluffy. You can now add the pecans. When all this is done, you can add the flour until an amalgamation is formed.
Roll the dough now into whatever shape you desire. Traditionally balls are the most popular though you can make them into crescent shapes and a flat round also.
Spread a thin layer of grease on a cookie sheet and for about 15 minutes bake by which time the cookies would have started to turn brown.
When it is done, remove the cookies out of cookie sheet and let it cool. When they are completely cool and firm, you can roll in the sugar.
Your Mexican cookies are now ready to be devoured by grown-ups as well as children.
How to Address Military invitations
For all purposes, a wedding is a life-time affair. It is only natural that you want everything, big or small, significant or trivial to be perfect. Invitations form an important part of a wedding preparations. While care is to be taken to properly address the envelop, if the addressee is a military personnel, extra care is to be exercised.
If your acquaintance with defense personnel is few and far between, you just have to carefully address the envelops, have a review of the address and be done with it. However, if you are somebody with a lot of people in the army, navy, air force, marines and coast guard, you could hardly take the matter casually. You had better make a list of the officers and men separately. Be careful to attach the correct rank to the invitees.
An invitation to an officer is personal no doubt, but it is also a treatise of showing respect to an individual in the service of the country. The recipient's full name should come first. You may be close to a particular recipient and may address him by his nickname when you meet up with him or on phone. Not here on the envelop though. IT should all be business-like here. Name should always and every time be followed by rank. Abbreviation of state names is not desirable. When you had completed the task, it should read something like this:
General and Mrs. Leonardo Goldsmith
120 Sunrise Boulevard
San Anton
Lakeshore, California 87854
The inner envelop, if there is one, should only have the last name of the invitee. If you feel obliged to have the children names, were they to have them, you may write their names in the next line. Here on the second envelop too, you must make sure to give the military rank in full.
Here is how it would all look like:
Major and Mrs. Alan Kimberly
Bertha, Greta, Brad
In the case of a female military officer having a civilian for a husband, the first line should contain only the salutation of the gentleman and the name. Second line should have the name of the female officer. This goes both for outer and inner envelopes.
Here is how it would look like on the outer envelope:
Mr. Alistair Greene
Lieutenant April Greene
555 Great Avenue
Linking Park, North Carolina
And, on the inner envelope it should read:
Mr. Alistair Greene
Lieutenant April Greene
Glenda, Ricky, Gladstone
Here is best wishes for a happy married life. Send out those invitations
Advice For Wedding Photography
A wedding photographer is very much part of the goings-on at a wedding but he should be almost invisible because he does not take part in any of the goings-on. He is the one who etches the precious moments of a wedding on photographic plates. So needs to be utterly careful with what he does with his camera.
How do you go about the business of being the perfect wedding photographer?
You equipment and accessories should be in top condition. Back-up equipment is a thoughtful idea, if you can organize them. You should know the operation of each of them like the back of your hand.
You must sit with the bride and groom to make a list of who they want photographed. If possible,you must familiarize with those that are to be photographed by having a look at old photographs.
You must also discuss with the couple the angles from which the photographs should be taken. Ask them which part of the ceremonies they want captured and from which angle. Impromptu photos, capturing the joyous mood should be the prerogative of a photographer.
A wedding is not an official get-together. People will tend to be given to a mood of relaxation and might not all be present at the time of family and group photos. And, you being a stranger, can not very well go about commanding people. It is always get a family member as a co-ordinator and leave the responsibility in his hands.
You might be expected to photograph many locations, not just the wedding venue. Visit all the locations beforehand and identify the ideal vantage points to shoot from. How natural light come into play is important too. It is not a bad idea to have a sort of trial run by shooting one or two photographs.
If there is a rehearsal, as many weddings have, make it a point to be present there to get acquainted with the places and people.
Remember to keep the sound muted during the wedding. The beeps from the camera usually are an intrusion into the function.
You must have an eye for details. Small articles that are not going to be visible in log shots should be shot at close range. Rings, table arrangements, flowers, the parts of the dress not easily visible like the back, footwear all should be given special attention.
It is better to be prepared than to be sorry. Cameras have been known to get stuck at crucial moments. It is better then to have an extra camera. This will also enable you to shoot with two different kinds of lenses so that some important moments can be shot from two perspectives.
Which brings us to the question of a second photographer. A lot of moving about by the single photographer is not relished by the guests at a wedding. The other advantage is you do not lose time to catch a particular moment.
If you feel that there is unnecessary obstructions either by people or things, you must make sure they are removed. Be polite but firm in explaining it to the people concerned.
Finally, your fee. You must decide the fee depending upon the number of locations, the number of hours you are expected to be filming and your assistants. Goodwill created during a wedding might lead to other commissions. So you need to be diligent about your fee.
Beach Wedding Flower Ideas
A wedding at a beach is real fun. The beach, even without a wedding is place of joy. A wedding could only add to the festivities. Saying it (I DO)with flowers!
The whole set-up at a beach wedding could be perceived as a flower garden in the midst of sands. There are hundreds of flowers, some very dear to you. But, not all flowers are suitable for a beach wedding. You must choose the flowers carefully, keeping in mind the elements that are going to be at work on the flowers. If it is a bright and hot sunny day, flowers that wilt easily should be shunned. Beaches are more windy that other places and so flowers that have petals that fall off easily with a surge of wind can not be had at a beach wedding.
Look for a florist in the area rather than fetching the flowers from afar. You might hunt for the right one by visiting personally or through websites. You would do well to make a personal visit than using website.
A venue bereft of any standing trees or props will make a poor wedding venue for flowers to be attached to. A venue full of trees is a good choice. Various palm trees make an ideal prop for flowers and garlands. You can have any length of flower decorations hanging from them. You can make a shamiana out of flowers and colors interlinked from tree to tree.
If you don't have natural settings, you can create your own with a decorated arch. Decorated with flowers, palm branches or other greens, your seashore wedding can have a breathtaking backdrop of the water during your ceremony.
Heloconia and ginger flowers are bright and they can be made into small or large arrangements. They come in different colors like orange, red and green. If you are having a Hawaiian wedding, there is nothing better than these flowers can be found.
To keep harmony with great open space a beach is, large flowers like Anthuriam will be very apt. The myriad colors of pink, orange, white and red offer the best choice. Whether they are in a stand alone arrangement or as centerpieces, they look grand.
Bird of Paradise is almost synonymous with beaches. Whether it is in a personal arrangement or large bunch, it makes an ideal beach flower arrangement. Its blue, orange and green combination is irresistible.
If you have chosen a venue that does not have any trees, you can use your imagination and rig up arches. You can do anything with flowers, fronds of palm trees, leaves of various kinds, anything you fancy does not look out of place is game.
To accentuate the beach ambiance, you can use shells in many colors and shapes to make many things like pathways, you can decorate the bridal couple's seats etc.
Do you have a deft hand to handle flowers in decorations? If not, hire a professional to do it. Florists can also do it. You might strike a deal with a discount.
Here is wishing you a happy wedding!
How Much Wine Should I Serve At My Wedding
A wedding requires a slew of purchases one of which is a most pleasurable activity: Buying wine, beer and liquors. However, it is a most difficult proposition to arrive at a reasonably correct number of bottles to be purchased. The number of guests, the season, the time at which the dinner is served and the menu all have a bearing on the spirits that are served.
If you are going to serve only wine at dinner, it is safe to stick to the custom and serve two glasses per guest. A bottle of 750ml should be sufficient for six glasses. So case containing 12 bottles will see 36 satisfied guests, having imbibed 2 glasses each. If you were to have 200 guests who drink wine, some 6 cases should suffice. Determining which wine to serve with what menu is crucial. White wine goes well with fish and chicken. But you can not refuse red wine to some guests who insist upon the variety. Sparkling wine with foam can save an ounce each from each glass. You can reduce the purchase accordingly.
On the other hand, if an additional quota of beer is to be served, it will bring down the wine purchase. You can not very well ago around asking your prospective guests about their drinking habits. You just have to be prepared for the event. It is better to be prepared for some good and proper drinkers in the midst of guests than to be sorry by not having enough.
If alcohol is included, the wine count can be expected to drastically go down. Then again, you would do well to have all possible drinks on the card. Whiskey, brandy, vodka and perhaps sherry. Have them in plenty so that no guest is allowed to grumble when paucity hits the dinner table. You can always return the unused bottle to the store if you are careful to make pre-purchase agreements.
Guests at a wedding are some of the strange people. They want a taste of every wine and liquor. A sip from this, a sip from that. You might well find several glasses with some quantity of wine or liquor standing on tables, left by such adventurers. You must allow all these factors to come forth and take their toll on your wine purchase.
Federal and state laws have to be obeyed as far as serving liquor to a large congregation is concerned. Find out the options and restrictions that have to be followed at a particular venue. Some times wine can be brought along by the guests but it may not be possible to do this at some venues.
How to address retired military personnel
Military personnel are some of the best cultivated people that you can find. They hold their ranks in high esteem. The disciple that comes to them is inherent largely to the ranks they hold. Civilians, most of them anyway, do not recognize this important feature inherent in military personnel and address them as plain Mr. John Rebello or something like that. This form of address is immensely disliked by the officers and men of the armed forces. You should always address them by the convention and rules. The Department of Defense Guidelines are clear about all this.
Retired officers and men do feel proud of their heritage and feel very much part of the defense forces irrespective of whether they serving or retired. The system of addressing serving personnel holds good
for retired people too.
Serving or retired officers of a junior rank and civilians should always address the seniors by his or her rank and last name when they start their conversation with them. Subsequently they may call them "Sir" or "Madam" but interspersed with a liberal dose of General, Lieutenant etc. Do not overdo the sir or madam bit too much You should be careful not to call the senior officers by their first name. It is mot only disrespectful but sounds absurd. Like you can not call those knighted by the British Queen by his last name (You must say Sir John and not Sir Rebello), you can not say General John.
Generals of various ranks like Lieutenant generals, Major Generals and Brigadier Generals should all be addressed simply as "General".
Whether an officer is First or Second Lieutenant, you should address them as just "Lieutenant".
Senior officers, on the other hand, can address their juniors by their last name omitting their ranks. Or, they may do away with names and call them only by their ranks.
On to enlisted men now. A chief master sergeant can only be called "Chief" with his last name added. A master sergeant can be addressed as "Chief" or "Sergeant" along with their last name.
Sergeant Majors, First Sergeant are called by their ranks. Names can be added when there are several men with the same rank are present. "Sergeant" will do for the other sergeants. A corporal is simply "Corporal".
When Chaplains need to be talked to, one does not have to take their ranks into consideration. They can just be addressed as "Chaplain".
Last in the line are privates. They can be addressed by their last name but it is not disallowed to add "Private" before the name.
An office might have been earmarked for a promotion which is good news. But you can not call him by the upcoming promotional rank but stick to the present rank.
In cases of officers of Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Marines, you must address the officers and men by the corresponding ranks. Like Admiral Rebello, Air Marshall Rebello etc.
About Spanish Wedding Cookies
Names are sometimes deceptive. Spanish Wedding cookies are not exclusively Spanish. In fact, Spain can not even put claims to its origin. In Spain, these cookies are called Mantecados. They are also known as Mexican Wedding Cakes or Cookies and Russian Tea Cakes. It was the Medieval Arabs who first conceived it and soon Europe including Spain realized the efficacy of the cookies. United States is a late entrant to the club having joined only in the 1950s.
Spanish Wedding feasts invariably ended with these cookies because, in their belief, sugar based food should always come last in the menu. The ingredients of almond, oil and sugar are said to signify rich and fruitful relationship between the couple. Powdered sugar represents purity. It is not confined to weddings any more. Holidays and Christmas too have these popular cookies served.
While serving, the cookies are kept in a net and a bow is tied covering the net. Some people serve them in smaller nets kept in wine glasses.
It is a simple recipe that brings forth this tasty snack liked by children and adults alike. You will not need elaborate preparations.
You will need a cup of butter, 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, 2 cups of all-purpose flour, half a cup of white sugar, half a cup of confectioners' sugar and 1 cup of chopped almonds. Preparation is a child's play.
First, butter and sugar should be creamed. Put vanilla and water and stir thoroughly. Now add almonds and continue stirring till it is all mixed evenly. A thick dough should be in your hands now. Cover it and chill it for not less than 3 hours. Oven should be preheated to 325 degrees.
Shape the dough in to whatever shape you want, though traditionally it is either crescents, balls or a somewhat flatter round. These should be placed on unprepared cookie sheet and baked for 15 minutes in the oven. Remove and cool the cookies on wire rakes. When they are sufficiently cool, confectioner's sugar should be rolled in until coated all around. One other version does not have the sugars coated on the cookies. Serve them fresh or if you have to store them, do it in an airtight container.
Though weight watchers are wary about these things, we do not grudge them eating a little of these mouth-watering cookies. We are giving the nutritional information here: A serving of the Mexican cookies has a fat content of 13g, 207 calories and 27mg of cholesterol. Carbs are 20.6g, Protein content is 2.7g and dietary fiber is 1g.In the Official New Mexico recipe, anise is added though sparely.
How to address Wedding Response Invitation
A wedding has many a pleasurable activities associated with it. One of them sending out invitations. While the invitees, one and all, would like to attend the festivities, some may not be able to do it. They might have some pre-engagement that they might not very well be able to wriggle out of. Either way, the courtesy should be returned by informing their acceptance or otherwise of the invitation. It is incumbent on the host to facilitate this operation by way of sending out wedding response invitation along with the invitation. It is in the interest of the host that the RSVP reaches him safely.
You must first decide the address to which the response cards should be delivered. Tradition is that the bride's home is the place that the response cards are sent to. The prospective bride and groom might own a house and may be living there. It may then be ideal to have that place as the receiving point of the wedding response invitation. All the response letters should be sent to the same address so that there is no confusion.
The response envelope should contain the address on it. You must write the address justified on the right side and in the middle of the envelope. The first and last name of the recipient should be in the first line. The address should be clearly written under the name. Most importantly, do not forget to affix stamps as appropriate. It is in poor taste to expect the guests to take the responsibility of doing it. Some may choose not to respond at all and you can hardly blame them!
Before sending out invitations, make sure that you have the correct and present addresses. For all you know, some might have moved. If you want your invitation and the response card to have a sophisticated look, you might ask the printer to print the address as well on the envelopes.
The words can be traditional in the response card. This will have the host's and the spouse's name and the invitation will follow. It would look something like this:
Mr. and Mrs. Treat Arthur James
request the honor of your presence
at the marriage of their daughter
Angelina Princess
to
Mr. Richard Gambol
Monday, the third of January
Two thousand thirteen
at 8 o'clock in the morning
St. Paul's cathedral
Gashville, Pretoria
If you are one of those who veer away from tradition and want do it your own way, you can write anything as long as you convey the message.
The response card can also be traditional or unconventional as below. The first kind will have the following sentence in it:
The favor of a reply is requested by thirtieth of December. Again, if you are a little adventurous, you can write what you want as long as you do not offend the invitee.
How to address envelops for military names
Military personnel are prim and more business-like than most people in other walks of life. Which is as it should be. After all, it is because of their bravery and valor and sense of duty that breathe easy in the hintelands of our country. We must pay them due respect in all communications to them.
When you write a letter of any description to them, you must make sure that every word and letter in the address is good and proper. You must first pay attention to whom you are addressing. Enlisted men or Non Commissioned Officers and officers do not have same form of being addressed and this holds good when you are writing their names on an envelop too.
If you are going to write to enlisted men and NCOs, start with the full name followed by salutation. If it is a married couple both of whom are in the military service that you are writing to, the right way to do is write down Mr. and Mrs. and follow it up with first and last names. The first line should have nothing else written.
If it is to an officer and his non-military spouse, write the officers rank followed by Mrs. and the full name of the officer. It should look something like Colonel and Mrs. Eric Roberts.
In the case of the wife being a military officer but the husband is a civilian, it should be Major Veronica Nicholson and Mr. William Nicholson.
It is possible that two defense individuals with different ranks have chosen to be husband and wife. In their case, the male officer comes come. It should read like Lieutenant Aron Gleason and Major Patricia Gleason.
An official military mail is different. Here, the full name of the individual with middle initial and PSC number is to be mentioned. Then comes the unit number or in case of the addressee being a naval personnel, the number of the ship. There are special codes in place of the zip code that is used for civilian letters. No city name is to be mentioned. It has to be replaced by APO or FPO as the case may be.
You may choose to include the individual's branch under the name but it is not necessary. We must reiterate that an improperly addressed communication may be construed as not only revealing the ignorance of the letter writer but also as showing disrespect.
How to Address Your Wedding Invitation
Wedding invitations are the harbinger of good news to friends, relatives and acquaintances. Addressing the invitations is an art by itself. Various people need to be addressed in different ways.
If you are sending out invitation to a married couple, it is mandatory to write the names of both even if you are not familiar with one of them. If you know only the female member, you still have to say:
Mr. Christian and Mrs. Linda Burton
and follow it up with their address.
If you are close to both, you may just say Mr. and Mrs. Burton.
An unsealed inner envelope should be slipped into the outer envelope and the address might include everybody in the family, including children. It could read: Mr. and Mrs. Burton, Ronnie, Brenda.
If the couple use different surnames, you might consider writing the name of the person closest to you. If you are on equal terms with both, you can resort to alphabetical order.
If the invitees are living together without being married, each of them should be mentioned in a line of his/her own, one under the other.
Mr. Sylvester Denver
Mrs. May Eastman
If one of them is a complete stranger, it is alright to address only him/her on the outer envelope. The other's name should be written on the inner envelope.
If same-sex couple need to be sent invitation, you can simply follow the procedure for hetero-sexual couple. You can write their names in the same line.
If it is to a married woman doctor with the husband of a different profession, and if the lady uses name for professional and social purposes, it should be Dr. Helen D'Costa and Mr. Herman Plato. If she uses her husband's name, it would be Dr. Helen and Mr Herman Plato.
If eachof the couple is a doctor, then you write The Drs. Plato. or Drs. Helen and Herman Plato.
When the person to be addressed is in possession of distinguished titles, you have to mention it before the names. For example, you must say Admiral Glen Freeman, Reverend John Peters etc.
When children need to be invited by name when the invitation is actually sent to the parents, the names of the children should be only on the inside envelope under the names of the couple:
Mr. and Mrs. Grisham
Kate, Lily and Mitch
Or, you can simply say Mr. and Mrs. Grisham and family. If you do not include the children's name, it would mean that children are not included. So,make sure you include their names if you want them to be present at your wedding.
If children should be sent invitation, you must say Miss. Mary Graham, Miss Lindsey Graham, Mr. Bob Graham, one name in each line.
