Calling all cooks...

This past Saturday Teddy and I spent the day at the South Beach Food & Wine Festival. If you ever get a chance to go to this (for free) GO!!! It is awesome! However, the tickets are $125.00 so, like I said, for free ;) As great as it was, Im not sure that its worth $125.00.

We walked around tasting all sorts of things from cheesecake, to duck, to raw tuna in an ice cream cone! The best part however were the live cooking shows from all of the Food Network chefs! So fun!

This is one of my favorite recipes from one of my favorite Food Network chef's, Rachael Ray, and it's super easy!

Almond-Orange-Apricot Crescent Rolls

1 package store bought crescent roll dough (recommended: Pilsbury brand)
1/4 cup apricot preserves or all fruit spread
1/4 cup orange marmalade
1 egg
Splash of water
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1/4 cup sliced almonds, 2-ounce sack from baking aisle

Preheat oven to package directions and roll out dough on a nonstick cookie sheet. Cut and separate dough into perforated triangles. Combine the apricot jam or fruit spread and the orange marmalade in a small bowl. Place bowl in microwave and cook on HIGH 15 seconds to loosen the preserves. Beat egg with water to thin it out a little for an egg wash. Use the back of a teaspoon to spread a thin layer of apricot-orange jam across each piece of dough. Roll crescents up, brush with a little egg wash and coat with sesame seeds and almonds. Bake to package directions until deep golden in color. Serve warm.

Yummy!! Enjoy...

Love,
The 'Cooks'

Boat Day!

Nothing like a little hepatitis...
We spent Monday, Presidents Day boating in South Lake off of the Intercoastal in Hollywood with Teddy's dad, his sister Bonnie and her boyfriend Brian. Even though I've heard some NASTY stuff about that water...it was an awesome day!

pictures

The Pro water-skier,
Teresa ;)

Congratulations Beckie!!

Congratulations Beckie and Dre! This weekend we celebrated the coming of baby Isabella Nikole Thomas! Beckie and Dre's first little one! She will be making her debut next month!! We can't wait to meet little Isabella, for now, we'll just shower her mommy with gifts! ;)

And I must admit, seeing all of these adorable little baby clothes was very tempting...

More pictures here

Love,
Teresa

'AMEN'

SAY "AMEN" because
You will see the invisible,
You will do the impossible...
Because you will touch the intangible
You will achieve the incredible.......
Because you will hear the inaudible,
You will have the unimaginable...........
Because of you, your family will not know poverty
You will go in and out of your house in peace,
Violence and crying of sorrow shall not be heard in your camp...
Because you are God's Idea and God cannot fail,
you shall not fail this year...
Favor shall overwhelm your endeavors
2006 will be your year of unlimited greatness
You shall not struggle to be recognized
Your gift shall announce you.
You are entitled to daily fruitfulness
Every darkness in your life shall give way to the light of God
All your lack will give way to abundance
You shall enjoy uncommon marital bliss in the year 2006
The rejected shall become the selected
People shall hear your testimonies and follow you to God
In everything you do, you will succeed...
What you have never done before for good...you will do in the new year...
By the time this 2006 ends, you will look back with joy
and ahead with great expectations....
You will take charge of your life as you master your time...
You will discover how to maximize your time and add value to it....
You will become the star of your family....
and the hope of your generation....
Because you know where you are going....
the whole world will step aside and follow u .....
May you find favor with God and men...
May you grow in wisdom and stature....
May you walk in dominion over every circumstance and situation....
May every day in the new year be for you, days of success and purpose....
In this new year never forget to
Act as if it were impossible to fail..
Because for people like you and me ...
the word failure does not exist.....
Your success is non-negotiable....
2006 will be the greatest year of your life and
the beginning of unprecedented success in your life!
Those who laughed at you before shall come to laugh with you.
However bad it has been with you till this point,
you shall from henceforth enter into the rest and
God shall take you to the place of your greatness and destiny.
You shall have
visions that are clear,
virtues that are right
and victory that is certain.
You are
blessed beyond curse,
raised above terror
and established beyond oppression.
You shall not lack counsel and ideas.
You shall have
eyes that see,
ears that hear
and a heart that understands.
In place of breakdown
you shall have breakthrough
In confusion, you shall be enlightened,
In weakness you shall be strengthened.
There shall be for you
beauty in place of ashes,
the oil of gladness in place of spirit of heaviness.
Every closed door against your
goodness, greatness and destiny
shall open of their own accord.
You shall be
instructed and illuminated
within by the Spirit of God.
You shall do the right thing at the right time.
You shall rise above every obstacle and be carried on the wings of eagle.
God will remember you for good.
You shall fulfil and not frustrate destiny.
Christ shall live in you.

All grown up...

From hiding behind her Mama's legs when she was 1...and shy, to all up in your face like the spazz that she is today...and not so shy! Not to mention all of the wonderful times in between, like, leading her high school volleyball team in kills, or were you leading the entire county? Or taking out her big brothers girlfriend in pool basketball...! Good thing she didn't kill me or I wouldn't be here today to wish her a HAPPY 18TH BIRTHDAY!!!

Click here for more pictures of the party! Stuffed shells...ice cream cake...and even that annoying game at the fair that is as addictive as crack! (atleast for my mother-in-law and I)

Have a great week everyone...
Teresa Cook

There's no place like home...

...it's true! Italy was is one word: freezing! I finally figured out how to get all of these pictures online for your viewing pleasure! They are backwards, we went to Florence first, then Rome and finally Venice! Enjoy!!

Love,
Teddy and Teresa

pictures

The Cook's take on Italy...

I can't believe it's actually here, tonight!!

We will be in Florence, Italy tomorrow morning!! On Wednesday we will head down to Rome for the day and on Friday we will head to Venice, Italy for the last 3 days of our trip!!

Pray for safe travel, HEALTH (we're both getting over colds), and good weather!!

When we get back I will try and figure out how to post all the pictures...

Buona giornata! Ciao!

~Teresa

Date night on Las Olas!! Our New Years
Resolution as a couple has been to have a
date night once a week! We take turns on the planning and it is always a surpirse
for the other person! This was date night
number 3! We've been very consistent on this one (a lot more that I have been on mine...to blog everyday....) We had dinner at Mark's on Las Olas (don't waste your money...) and then we went to Kilwins for ice cream and a walk to the coffee shop that our Pastor owns in downtown Ft. Laud. If you don't do this already, start! We look forward to it every week! Our date night this week will be in Venice, Italy!! WOOHOO!

Ten Dollars...??

The deal of a lifetime! As Teddy and I strolled the rows at the Baer's once-a-year warehouse sale this past Saturday looking for a new couch, we stumbled upon this table. "Ahh..this is the table of my dreams" I said, reminded me of North Carolina, Scrubby's BBQ and Teddy's Grandma's house all in one! We stopped and looked at it for a second, there were about 8 of the same tables in the section, all with SOLD tags on them, except this one. The price read $1700.00, knowing that the sale was 60-90% off we knew it still had to be atleast 300-400 dollars. We waived down a sales associate and asked her 'How much is this table?' She walked over to a few of the sold tables to double check and came back with the response 'ten dollars'; Teddy: 'reaching for his wallet to whip out a ten dollar bill!' Teresa: 'Ummm...we'll take it' Wait, whats the catch we asked? No catch, except that it doesn't come with chairs, but the table is ten dollars!!!! It was the last one and it was ours!!! We looked all over for chairs and finally found the two head chairs, not as cheap, but still a steal at $29.00 each! The following day I headed out to American Signature in sawgrass and found the final touch, two absolutely perfect benches that look like they were made for this table! The final price tag, $360.00 for the 'table of my dreams!'

Three things learned:
1. We went in for a couch and came out with a new dining room table set.
2. We now have a table that sits 8...mmm...time to make babies?! HA!
3. A table for ten dollars, seriously, just give me the dang thing...

5 days till Italy,
Teresa Cook ;)

IT'S A BOY...!!

Johnny and Kathy Ramey will be welcoming a baby boy this May!

Please visit her baby web site and leave some love! ;)

New Year's Resolution!

To blog everyday!! HA ;)

What's yours...?

Christmas 05!

While we spent Christmas Eve relaxing on South Beach, Christmas Day was a little more hectic. Our first Christmas as a married couple! Teddy unfortunately had to work, I spent the day driving from house, to house, to house...
I got started at 9:00am at my Dad's house! We exchanged gifts (yea! Portable DVD player for our flight to Italy) from there we headed west to his girlfriends house to exchange gifts with her and her kids and to have breakfast! From there I made the looong trip down to South Miami to be with Teddy's family, minus Teddy ;( We did the mad crazy gift exchange with all 27 people and had a wonderful Christmas lunch! I finally ended up at the station, yes, Christmas dinner with 'cookie' and the boys! My second 'ride time' was much more eventful than the first! Near drownings, drunk people passed out in the street (on Christmas, I know...so sad) and a young boy having seizures right on the sidewalk on Washington Ave. In between calls we managed to inhale dinner!

Pictures below...


The wonderful wrap job of my earrings and ring by my
husband, yes people, no tape required! ;)


My very own herb garden that my mother-in-law came over and planted for me! Awesome! Tomato plant included!













Bonnie and I

Another reason...

...why people live in South Florida!

My family in Kentucky and I have a little thing going...'Why people live in South Florida', and here is yet another reason...!


Teddy and Bo...volleyball, come rain, come shine,
come Christmas!

A poem by Teresa Cook:

ROSES ARE RED
VIOLETS ARE BLUE
I'LL BE AT HOLLYWOOD'S CAFE TOMORROW NIGHT
WILL YOU?

ha! And you think thats good...? Come out tomorrow night for the real deal!

doors open at 8:00
poetry from 8:30-11:00ish
1948 hollywood blvd.
hollywood, fl 33020
call me with any questions:
954-599-8133

*remember its FREE, no food/drink minimum!

You DON'T want to miss this...

You may have seen these flyer's around town...? You don't want to miss this 'Pig-Out' Come out and listen to some awesome poetry next Saturday night, Dec 17th at 8pm!! Teddy head's up the Downtown Poet's group and this is our second event! Come check us out...I promise, it will be a great time! And the best part is it's FREE!!!

Life Group Up-date...

Tonight is our third Life Group and I thought I would fill you in on what's been going on over the last 3 weeks. We have had 5 of our neighbors join us, and one of thier daughters. Four of them are all new believers (within the last 2 months) and along with them come amazing testimonies. One couple was buddhist, along with pretty much every other 'religion' they could 'test' seeking satisfaction, just over 6 weeks ago, they accepted Christ. Amazing couple with a new baby on the way! Our neighbors right next door are newlyweds, they got married in February, by August they were filing for divorce, ready to give up...then they met Jesus. He has saved their marraige. Teddy and I are praying for wisdom, as these new believers are so hungry. Pray for them, David, Simone, Tessa, Tom and Johanna. And pray for Teddy and I as we disciple.
Please join us, tonight at 7:00p.m. for our 3rd Life Group!!!

The Family...

Just thought I'd share some pictures with you of our family this Thanksgiving weekend! Please feel free to vote on a picture of Teddy and I...remember, it will adorn your refrigerator all year!

Mili Cook, Bonnie Cook, David Grulich, Kailee Grulich, Teresa Cook, Teddy Cook, Jamie Cook and Ted Cook!

He's 50...they're just crazy!

Last week, November 17th, my father-in-law turned 50!! His wonderful wife thought she would take him on a surprise field trip! On Saturday morning we all headed down to the Homestead airport! He got to do something he's always wanted to do, skydive! We thought we'd keep it a man's day (not that any of us girls wouldnt have done it...ha) So along with him jumped, Teddy, my Dad, Steve and my brother-in-law, David! They enjoyed it so much that they already bought tickets for another jump! Oh Yeah!!! Enjoy the pictures...


'I'm doing WHAT?!?'
















Dad, signing his life away...
















I'll love you forever...even if you're a pancake
in 30 minutes...
















Pleeeeease don't do it!
















Teresa skydiving, except...not really! ;)
















The Crew!
















Me with my two favorite guys!
















David, Dad #1, Dad #2 and Teddy
















Dad, safely on the ground!
















Ted & Teddy, coming in for a safe landing















The feet that stayed on the ground!

Life Group!!

Join us for our first Life Group tonight!
6:30 p.m. at the Cook's Home.

Click here for directions!

See you there!!

Love, Teddy and Teresa

Life:: the period of existence

I highly encourage you to check out an article posted on Barna entitled 'Rapid Increase in Alternative Forms of The Church Are Changing the Religious Landscape.' It's about taking the 'church' back into homes, or marketplace ministries, the way the Lord intended it to be in the book of Acts. Awesome.

With that said...and as many of you know...Teddy and I are passionate about doing life and being the body with those we love and are called to love. Starting on Tuesday, November 15, 2005 at 6:30 p.m. we will start a life group at our home. We will meet every Tuesday night. We hope to create an environment where there are no boundaries...I hope that you guys will join us.

We love you.

Be a Barnabas~
Teddy and Teresa Cook

Our address: 2010 Taylor Street, #2B, Hollywood, FL 33020
Teresa: 954-599-8133 Teddy: 954-873-4230.