Recent Happenings

I have been out of the joining on line parties for nearly a month. November is always craft sale month for me so it is a very busy time.  I made the time today even though there is still a to do list waiting.

We had a great Welcome to my Kitchen fellowship time last week.  A couple of ladies shared the responsibility where one hosted and the other provided snacks.  We had home made cinnamon buns, pistachio cool salad, a variety of cheeses and great crackers.

The tea was hot and plentiful.  We made at least 3 pots for 13 ladies in attendance.  We had a few coffee drinkers as well.

We had a wonderful time as we always to getting caught up and sharing about getting through tough times.

I met my sister half way between our homes recently to pass stuff to her and bring home stuff from her.  It cuts down on time and gas money and we were able to visit a few thrift stores while we are there.  I was glad that I had just had my all weather tires put on for the trip out of town.

One of the things that came to my house is my updated plate rack.  I had a near disaster with this wire rack about 2 months ago.  I really enjoyed having the plates vertical instead of horizontal so asked my handy brother in law if you could stabilize it with wood supports on either end. He applied tung oil to the surface before he assembled it was it was all done when I got it back. It looks fabulous and as you can tell it does the job wonderfully.  Thanks Brian!  I owe him lunch next time I see him.

I placed it on the freezer between the 2 cupboards so it breaks up the white surface without limiting the air circulation.

The kitchen is really coming together and with a new dishwasher it is staying tidy!!

It was not tidy for most of the day today.  Flour, butter, and savory and sweet elements went into 3 batches of baking for the fund raiser Bake Sale tomorrow.

I made variations on the tea biscuit recipe in the Puritan Cookbook.  The first was Buttermilk Biscuits, then Savory Cheese Biscuits (my favorite) and then a try at Cinnamon Pinwheels. I baked them in silicone cups in the muffin tin.  The dough was not what I thought it should be but with no experience they look like they turned out okay.

The biscuits were cut with a nice recent addition to the kitchen of a 2 inch scallop cookie cutter.  In my opinion it makes them the perfect size and pretty too.

I love that it has a handle and it was exactly what I had in mind when looking for a cookie cutter for my kitchen.  Maybe sugar cookies will be next.

Well I could not bake most of the day and give it all away.  As it was there were 18 pinwheels and I made sets of 4 for the bake sale so that leaves two!  Imagine that.

So I took time to have tea.  I made Oprah Chai Tea in my Maxwell & Williams Fusion Yellow tea pot with the built in infuser.  It is a nice deep pink color to go with pomegranate seeds on my plate.  A mandarin orange for vitamin C and a bit of old white cheddar cheese for a bit of protein.

I have recently added these beautiful blue and white oriental napkin holders to my blue and white dinnerware collection.

It was nice to sit down for a bit before I start on the next project tonight.

 
I bought this pomegranate to share with my niece during her visit last Saturday.  It was a quick visit and it did not make it to the table.

I am reminded though how we found a quick way to get the seeds out the shell.  You can check this post out for all the details.











I have read a couple of great books in the last month. The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane was excellent.  I had to wait to get it from the library but it was worth it.  I heard of the book through this book club hosted by Angela.  I hope I remember enough to offer a few comments on the book.

I got this book through our book exchange at Welcome to my Kitchen.  We bring books we have read and put them on a side table then others can browse the selection and bring a new book to them home to read.

I was not sure I would like this book but it was still on the table when the ladies left on November 16th so I thought why not!

It was a good ready with good history of Paris and when so and so lived, etc.  It is set just after the end of the Second World War. A young lady takes her life in her own hands and decides to pursue an art career in Paris. How bad can that be and of course as you can see from the cover this was a handsome man thrown into the mix for good measure.

I am sharing with the following:

Share Your Cup #273 hosted by Jann at Daily Cup with Mrs. Olson

Bernideen's Friends Sharing Tea

Anything Goes Pink Saturday hosted by Beverly

Tuesday Cuppa Tea hosted by Ruth

Tea and Lunch

I started by trying a recipe I saw on Jill's blog last week as part of Mosaic Monday.  These are Herb Scones.  I chose savory with basil, rosemary, oregano, and garlic.  As you can see that I baked them on my pizza stone which works really well and since it is very seasoned no danger of them sticking to the surface.  The recipe yielded 12 scones cut with scallop cutters.

Here's my collection of metal scallop/fluted cutters with really nice handles.  I have a set of graduated round ones in 3 different sizes varying from 2 inch at the smallest and 3 inches at the largest.

The rectangular ones are 1.25 inches by 3.25 inches.  They may be a bit small for certain things but it would be a great for shortbread.  A bit of research would suggest these may be from the 1940's.  I had to be patient and wait quite a while to get what I was looking for but these are excellent.  I had hoped to get square ones in the same set as the round ones.  I will keep looking.

I recently replaced a very heavy rolling pin with a vintage rolling pin which serve me well for many more years.

I made some Masala Chai tea which is the best I have tasted.  It is made by a couple of ladies in central Alberta - The Chai Wallahs.  A bit of honey and some cream.
I drank it from a large shallow cup in blue glaze make by IKEA.  I was thinking it would not be great for drinking but it turned out quite nice.  Update: It is a soup mug and not designed for tea.  Makes sense.

I had an egg cooked in my well seasoned cast iron fry pan.  You can see my restoration of it in this post.  it was certainly worth the effort.   The egg is cooked sunny side up which worked well with the place setting I put on my table.

I had the wonderful herb scones to soak up the wonderful yellow yolk.

Dessert was plain yogurt topped with a raspberry rhubarb compote.  Mom sent some rhubarb home with me on the weekend.  I added some frozen raspberries and a bit of honey and boiled over low heat until the rhubarb broke down a bit.  Nice change from bananas.



Here is the total table setting.  I place a navy table runner over a lace table cloth over a white solid table cloth. 

Still love my little square yellow dessert dishes and the yellow is repeated in the egg and napkin.

Sharing with the following link parties.

Bernideen's Tea in the Garden

Tuesday Cuppa of Tea hosted by Ruth

Share Your Cup #253 hosted by Jan at Daily Cup with Mrs. Olson

Summer Colors

I brought out my summer colors - Turquoise and Sunshine Yellow.  I skipped spring as I don't have enough decor to make that happen.  Despite the snow this morning which has all gone now I'm feeling the warmth.  I wore my sandals yesterday for the first time this season.

I bought this small vase recently to go with my turquoise summer dishes.  I dug through my collection of silk flowers and found some that would fit in perfectly.














I bought this cookie cutter on discount to make goodies for when I have friends over for tea.  It happens to be turquoise to it fits the theme for my mosaic.

I brought out my crystal cookie jar which holds my yellow and turquoise potpourri.  It's been sitting on the sideboard for the winter.  It's been dusting and polished up for the summer season.


We need nice bright napkins to work with the theme so out of the storage room came the turquoise ones.  I alternated the color in the napkin holder.
 

I had a friend over for tea today.  I set out the turquoise dishes.  I had myself some Earl Grey tea. 

The water pitcher had turquoise ice cubes but I forgot to take a photo.







Sharing with Maggie at Normandy Life who hosts Mosaic Monday every week.

Earth Day - Cookie Cutter Shapes

Here's a card made with Handmade Paper shapes made with cookie cutters. This shape was made with a cookie cutter. The paper was blended and mixed up and the placed into the cookie cutter with a turkey baster. 

For the card I printed a background poem onto white card. I then hot glued the leaf onto the card.  I added a stem to the leaf with a marker.  I used some chalk to added a bit of dimension to the leaf.



Here's a couple of links to get more information.
http://cutcardstock.blogspot.ca/2010/02/happy-recycling-paper-art-by-martha.html
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/769893/
http://www.hillcitybride.com/2010/11/diy-from-pulp-art-plantable-paper/

Dog Treats

We had a fund raising bake sale at work today.  Last night I made dog treats in the shape of dog bones. I made 2 different kinds - peanut butter and the other fruit based.
On the left, I cut a designer paper with doggie words and images with the TH Ornamental die, folded it in half and added a color printed tag.
On the right, I wrapped metal tea tins with designer paper and I added the red label with the ingredient details which bridges the shortage of the DP.
We had a very good sale but doggie treats were not as popular as last year.