Valentine's Pancakes For Your Special Someone

Enjoy Valentine's Day breakfast with the ones you love and the food you will love...

Why have plain pancakes for breakfast when you can have funfetti pancake explosion? Strawberry sprinkle pancakes are something your kids will LOVE in the mornings. Ingredients: 1 cup all purpose flour 2 tbsp granulated sugar 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp kosher salt 1 cup whole milk 1 egg 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 2 tbsp melted butter 5-6 medium sized strawberries - sliced Sprinkles 1. In a small bowl, mix together milk, egg, and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. 2. Make a well in the flour mixture and pour in the milk mixture, mixing well and then adding in the melted butter and stirring until combined. 3. Heat a saute pan over medium-low heat and butter or spray it with cooking spray. Once hot, scoop 1/2 cup of batter into the pan. Immediately lay 3-4 strawberry slices on each pancake, gently pressing each one in. Sprinkle with sprinkle and let it cook and let it cook until golden, flip to other side and cook for another 1-2 min. 4. To serve, place strawberry side up and sprinkle with confectioners sugar if desired.

Updating your Tiki Hut and Tiki Bar

Well here’s  to a new year with new hopes and dreams , and ambitions.

If you are like me you ae thinking about what you can do to to spruce up the yard this spring.

For us it is going to be updating the tiki hut, and tiki bar.

If you don’t have a tiki hut , or tiki bar yet please check out the custom tiki hut kits that are offered on our website at www.suncoasttikihuts.com

Now for all of you long time tiki hut owners, you are probably starting to tire of the old beer signs ,and knick knacks etc. and ready for something new and fresh. Time for a change to the old tiki bar.

Tiki huts and bars can take on many different themes. You have the Caribbean, Hawaiian, African, pirate, fishing etc. Sometimes streamlining to a nice clean look to start the adventure of finding the new pieces  will be just right is the thing to do.

First things first, a good clean out , dusting and sweeping.

Basics- Look to see if you need, or want to update the ceiling fan, lighting etc.

Tip: if you are putting in any new wiring, put the conduit along the back of the poles if you are facing inside out, or to the top of the support poles.

Is the TV, stereo system, or fridge in need of replacement? These can be a big expense, and sometimes you can do a little scrubbing on the fridge and even a little touchup cheaper than replacing.

We have used a regular Panasonic home theater system in our main tiki bar hut for many years, only PD $199.00 for it, and it is still going strong. As long as you keep your tiki hut rethatched on a regular basis, there will be no water that gets to it. Never had a need to go with an expensive outdoor version that costs thousands.

Uplighting that is attached to the tops of the support beams( perimeter poles) is a nice feature to had ambience to the thatching on the inside of the tiki hut. There are many kinds that work well that you can get from your local Home Depot, or Lowes. Including nice outdoor ceiling fans.

Here are the links: Lowes - http://www.lowes.com/Lighting-Fans/_/N-1z13djp/pc

  Home Depot- http://www.homedepot.com/b/Lighting-Fans/N-5yc1vZbvn5?cm_sp=d-flyout-Lighting_and_Ceiling_Fans

I do recommend an outdoor version of a ceiling fan because if you don’t the blades sag very soon after purchasing.

You now have a basic clean slate to decorate any way you want. It is fun taking you time for this part adding feature pieces , barware etc.  There’s always something on your travels that would make a great conversion piece so be on the lookout for a new start to your collection

If you are going for the tiki theme, www.Suncoast Tiki Huts.com carries carved tiki stools that swivel, many styles of carved faces, and the seats now come in several colors. Each one has a 14” base, and everyone has a unique carving, no two are exactly alike.

 Check them out at : http://www.suncoasttikihuts.com/Tiki+Bars+and+Barstools/Tiki+Bar+Stools/

Good Luck! And Happy New Year 2014!

Tropical Christmas Tree

Tropical Themed Christmas Tree

Decorating  your Christmas Tree in a theme can be really fun. If you love Tropical we have some great ideas for you. Using a variety of store bought and homemade beach themed decorations you can create a tree that everyone will love.

First you need to decide what type of tree you will get. Real or fake? Do you want a white one or traditional green? Personally with a beach theme I prefer a real tree flocked white to set off my ornaments but a green or artificial tree will look just as nice.

You can use a decorative fish net as a tree skirt around the bottom of your tree instead of a traditional tree skirt.  This will give your tree a beachy tropical feel.

I like to use clear lights to spotlight each ornament. The number of light strands you use on your tree should be one strand for every foot, so for a seven foot tree you will need approximately seven strands. The lights should be put on the tree before anything else. Start at the bottom of the tree and work your way up. To add depth to your tree wrap the light strand around the tree branch from the back out to the front of the branch.

If you want a more Hawaiian look you can use a bright colored Lei Garland in your tree.

For more of a beachy look you can with a Natural Shell and Raffia Garland.

You should have an average of 20 filler ornaments and 10 themed ornaments for every 2 feet of tree. For a seven foot tree that would be a total of 100 ornaments. If you have more than that then use them to. I don't think you can ever have too many ornaments as long as you have a variety of styles.

Filler ornaments are the solid color ball ornaments that you can usually buy in a box of six or more Instead of using a particular color filler ornament for a beached themed Christmas tree I suggest going with clear ornaments and then filling them with small shells, small pieces of driftwood and beach sand. They come in both glass and unbreakable ball ornaments. If you have children or pets I would purchase the unbreakable ornaments.

If you don't live near a beach or have access to sand you can purchase a bag of fine sand and mini seashells.

You could also hot glue mini shells to the outside of clear or colored ornaments for a great beach themed ornament.

Theme ornaments are ornaments that represent your overall theme. In this case it would be ornaments that are beach oriented. Things like shells, ocean animals and fish, anything you would typically see at a beach. There are several cute beach themed ornaments available from a variety of stores on the Internet.

Finally replacing the traditional star on the top of your Christmas tree would make a nice addition to a beach themed Christmas Tree. Maybe a large seashell or a star fish. If this topper doesn't have any lights on it you may want to make sure and string your Christmas tree lights right up to it so it will stand out.

Your Beach themed Christmas Tree is now complete, just add presents.