Happy Birthday

Lots of sunshine and mild breezes fill the quiet streets and empty porches today. That's how I like it. The  town celebrates the 4th of July on the 3rd. The park oozes people, food on offer, and music.  A near sonic boom goes off every hour on the hour startling us with a jolt,  just in case folks don't know the fireworks are at dusk.  Cotehele loathes the boom,  the fireworks, and especially the people down the street who have been setting off fireworks every evening-all evening long- for a week.

My mini-holiday turned into a few days of siffles, stuffy head, sore throat, and aches in my ears and a walloping headache.  I have had enough tea to support the Sri Lankan economy single-handedly.   Today is better.

Time to bake has become a luxury since I started working in March.  Baking bread is a hurry-up and get it started so I can go to bed at a reasonable hour kind of baking.  It is working, but it's not fun.  We have had to buy bread for lunch only once.  Today baking was fun.  I made marshmallows for the first time.  Tomorrow is my birthday. I wanted chocolate covered marshmallows instead of cake.  Hope they turn out to be scrumptious.  French bread is stretched into long baguettes almost ready to bake. French bread pizza dough is rising.  I wonder if my taste buds will recognize homemade pizza after endless boxes of Kirkland frozen cheese pizza.  I can't wait to find out.

This is the only picture I managed to take over the holiday after a quick run to Lowe's.

All of this 

  I was not going to make a second trip into town for the last couple bags of mulch.

was crammed into this.

It is still there waiting to be spread over the area a redbud tree was removed last year.  

I am going, I'm going ......

Happy Birthday to me ieee!

Hope your holiday is everything you dreamed.  

Happy Easter

My favorite flowers are violets, pansies and violas.

Deep purple, a little white and a hint of yellow.

Royal Color

Beauty and Simplicity

Wishing You the Peace and Joy of a New Year

It is a treat to have Mr. C home in so many ways: Waking up to the of the light the morning. Reading the paper in the keeping room sipping a mug of tea.  Sweet Girl lounging on her cozy bed. Peace and quiet.  Eating breakfast when we are hungry rather than grabbing a bite before hurrying off to work.  

Mr. C wanted waffles this morning. Crispy, fresh, waffles to start the new year.  Crispy little pockets to soak up warm maple syrup. Freshly made waffles to smother in blueberries simmered with butter, sugar and honey. And not wait until pictures are taken to eat breakfast . . . so here is the only picture.

I discovered this recipe a few weeks ago when I couldn't locate my old Favorite Waffles recipe that came with the waffle iron. I am glad the old recipe went missing. The new recipe is even better.  


Light, Crisp Waffles

3-1/2 oz. (3/4 cup) bleached all-purpose flour
1 oz. (1/4 cup) cornstarch
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup milk
6 Tbs. vegetable oil
1 large egg, separated
1 Tbs. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Heat the oven to 200°F and heat the waffle iron. Mix the flour, cornstarch, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a medium bowl. Measure the buttermilk, milk, and vegetable oil in a Pyrex measuring cup; mix in the egg yolk and set aside.
2. In another bowl, beat the egg white almost to soft peaks. Sprinkle in the sugar and continue to beat until the peaks are firm and glossy. Beat in the vanilla.
3. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients and whisk until just mixed. Drop the whipped egg white onto the batter in dollops and fold in with a spatula until just incorporated.
4. Pour the batter onto the hot waffle iron (mine takes about 2/3 cup) and cook until the waffle is crisp and nutty brown (follow the manufacturer's instructions for timing at first and then adjust to your liking).
5. Set the waffle directly on the oven rack to keep it warm and crisp. (We split each waffle and ate it as soon as it was cooked.)
6. Repeat with the remaining batter, holding the waffles in the oven (don't stack them). When all the waffles are cooked, serve immediately.
   Pamela Anderson
   From Fine Cooking 47, pp. 62-65,  November 1, 2001

Happy New Year, my friends.

Starting 2011 with a clean slate

Wouldn't it be nice to tie up everything at the end of the year? Not have projects spill over into the new year? Clean house. Clean laundry. Ironing and mending done. Clean cars. Clean refrigerator. Really clean refrigerator. I mean no left overs, nothing to use up. Can I name every bottle of open condiment in the fridge? Nope.  Gone are all the lemons bought for  humus, but had a change in plan. That little dab of tomato paste. Leaf lettuce that was buried in the vegetable bin.

New Year's Eve conjures up thoughts of party food. Little nibbley bits of sweet and savory treats.  Chocolate and cheese.  This year we are sharing our son and daughter-in-law with lots of family.  Christmas with her mother, the last two days with our parents, overnight with her dad, and New Year's Day with her family.  They came up one evening this week to bring my car back from the trip to visit her mom. We enjoyed a nice evening catching up and opening Christmas stockings. I am so happy that our families get along. No fuss or squabbles about who hosts or who spends the most time where.  It's not that holidays don't matter.  It is the day that does not matter. What is important is the time we do spend together.  We are the luckiest of all the family because it is only a 30 minute drive between their house and ours. We are blessed to spend time with our dearest family every week and happy for them when they have time with everyone in the family.

As you may have guessed, we are on our own New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.  Our friends are with family or are away.  No matter. The temperature is 50 degrees. It is so nice to be outside. The cars are washed. The garage is clean. The blueberry coffee cake from Christmas is eaten up. The laundry baskets are empty. The ironing is dwindling. . . I still have eight hours. We just got home from the park with Sweet Girl.









Lunch was a COR meal. Clean out the refrigerator as mom always said. Rice from the scallop dish. Savoy cabbage, carrots and red peppers from bibimbap, the last of the frozen Quorn Turkey roll, half a sweet potato, mushrooms, zucchini, onions, garlic, a little murin and soy sauce.  It just needed a spoon of hot pepper paste . . . and a glass of water.

Happy New Year to you all. May you leave all the bits and pieces of 2010 behind and start 2011 with a clean slate.

Wishing you all the best!

Cheers!

Fresh Cranberry and Crystalized Ginger Scones

Winter holiday season is always filled with programs and concerts, enough to fill more free time than anyone has.  Last week was the community band's 10th Annual Christmas Spectacular. We are a collection of amateur  musicians and music teachers who enjoy making music and giving back to the community. All of our concerts are free.  The Mississinewa Valley Band Christmas Spectacular is our best-attended concerts. Community folks attend as well as vans full of people from retirement homes. 

I needed to make some last minute cookies for the Christmas concert, something different than the usual homemade cookies most of us bring.  Christmasy red cranberry scones were perfect.

 Scones are always a favorite, especially with fruit.  We have been on a blueberry and orange scone binge since fresh blueberries were available this summer.  Mixing in frozen blueberries into the dough makes it an almost unworkably stiff dough. I was ready for something easier to make.

When I saw Gena's recipe at A Bluebonnet in Beantown for scones using fresh cranberries, I knew I had to try them. The recipe notes the dough is sticky. It is. A scoop rather than a biscuit cutter worked fine.  The two-bite scones were perfect for a cookie tray.  Of course, we wanted some too. The bigger scoop was about the size of the small biscuit cutter.  

They are so yummy, one must have two, with coffee or tea!

 These Cranberry and Crystalized Ginger Scones keep better than any other I have made. The fresh cranberries must absorb some of the moisture, the crystalized ginger gives a little kick, and the flavors meld to yield a buttery scrumptious flavor.  Gena's recipe goes into my 'keep' file.

Family Thanksgiving

 Family are all those at our Thanksgiving table. 

           Whether related by blood, law or friendship, 

                     We are all a family related by love. 

                             I missed all my family who were elsewhere Thursday. 

                                     Blessings and love to you all.

We had Thanksgiving dinner at my sister-in-law's house in Michigan.  

She is a very gracious hostess who loves having a house full of people. 
She plans the menu and gives us each a dish or two to bring.  
The meals are a feast for the eyes and tummy.

I brought the rolls and an entree.   

Dinner is served buffet style on the island.  
The dishes: L-R
Cheesy scalloped potatoes, lentil patties, chix-special k loaf,
pickled beets, white and wheat rolls, veggie turkey and stuffing rolls,
vegetable tray, cranberry sauce, red hubbard squash, 
clear noodles and veggies, green beans with almonds.

 Granddad (father-in-law from Ohio), our son (Indiana) and Mr. C

 Always cheery Niece (Grad student in California) and Grandmomma (Ohio)

Brother-in-law's (oops I missed him) cousin and his family from Kentucky.