Mostly Memories

I haven't much to report, but we'll share some memories again. I'm doing a yard makeover, and after 2-3 hours in humid heat, then a trip to recyle to dump yard waste, I'm pooped. Wasps are gone and the nests removed. Mole guy is coming Wednesday to give me an estimate, and the shrub removal people are coming Tuesday to give me an estimate as well.

In the meantime, I'm feeling blessed this week. Remember the nursery song, "Do You Know the Muffin Man?" Well, I know the Muffin Men (and their wives). One day this week Bud brought me two giant muffins of three different flavors (strawberry, blueberry, and apple) from the Hy-Vee bakery. Then Jeremy brought me a sample of the banana muffins he's entering in the county fair.

This week's restaurant - Elly and I went to Senior Julian Mexican Bar and Grill. I loved it.

Everything is bright and cheery.

With such extensive wait seating, they must get a crowd at times.

Even the coke case is wearing hats to add to the fun.

And get a load of the size of the margaritas. Enjoy, Ladies!

Elly had a combo plate: Chile Rellano, Beef Enchilda, Chicken Burrito

Of course, I had my usual Carnitas. I could eat this every day.

More memories while the yard thing is in progress. These memories are all from my blog which was hacked. www.teasandts.blogspot.com. Not clickable. Cut and Paste.

2016, July 31

Time for Others:  Friend Katie and I had lunch and did our show and tell of Sketches 46 through 50.  Mine are on the right.

And a couple of Katie's other creations

Tablescapes: The end of the 2014 Tour of Tables

Opening Night at the Symphony

Garden Party

Dining on the Emerald Coast

Thrifting:  Remember the kitty named Baby at my local thrift.  She has now decided that the checkout counter makes a nice place for a nap.

I found a few bargains:  Glass napkin rings for 20 cents each.

These smiling napkin rings - also 20 cents each.

A strawberry pitcher for $1

And a woven ceramic basket made in Portugal for $1.65

Tidbits:  Ready for Pepper

You can see the two wounds on his forehead and his right front leg.  He almost looks as if he was run over by a lawn mower, but I can't imagine that he couldn't get out of the way, because they're so noisy he'd have to hear it coming.

But as you can see, he has a hearty appetite

Stay tuned

2017, July 30

Thoughts and Quotes: A desire, a plan, a hope, an inspiration all molded into one big shining lump – that’s a dream.  It has been said that a persistent desire is God nudging a person to act in that direction.

                                                    Marguerette Gilmore, Unity Minister

And that, Dear Friends, is why I can't concentrate on anything but finishing these three books. My house is a mess, my yard is a mess, my car is a mess, I'm a mess, but later I'll show you the July tea which finishes the month, and now I'm over the halfway mark. Thanks for coming along. It's a lonely journey, because I don't have people over, I'm not going to card classes, I've neglected calling friends in other states, and I rarely go out for lunch. I did, however, manage lunch out this week with Joey and Robert. Everyone else was out of town or busy. 

The food is artfully presented. Robert had Macadamia Nut Chicken.

Joey had Mongolian Glazed Chicken.

And I had the Chicken Teriyaki Bento Box.

 Joey and Robert split a Creme Brulee, which was beautiful, but over-torched so that the sugar crackle didn't crackle - it came off in one piece and was chewy. Great photos on their website HERE.

                         

Tip: Eating the rainbow can be a challenge when you need blue or purple. Don't forget that beets are great on a salad. Add some right from the can or micro-plane a raw beet right onto your salad.

 

Teas: I used plain ivory dishes for this tea to show that you don't need fancy china for everyday teas. And candles before 5:00 p.m.? Hey, it's an everyday tea. We can do what we want. The sweet little bench was in my CARE package from blog-buddy Carrie. A perfect accent. 

JULY

Menu

Savories: Shrimp Salad Cups, Pimiento Pinwheels

Scone: Peach, Butter, Peach Jam (Purchased)

Sweets: Sugar Cookies, Lemon White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Tea: Peach

PEACH SCONES

2 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 Tbs baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp nutmeg or 2 tsps cinnamon (optional)

3/4 stick cold butter (6 Tbs)

2 eggs

1/3 cup peach yogurt

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup finely diced canned peaches

Sugar (coarse or granulated) for sprinkling tops (optional)

Heat oven to 375°F.

Mix the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

Cut the butter into small pieces and add to the dry ingredients.

Work the butter into the dry ingredients with your fingers until thoroughly mixed.

Break the eggs into a smaller mixing bowl and whisk until whites and yolks are blended. Whisk in the yogurt and vanilla.

Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and mix with a spoon.

Stir in well-drained peaches.

Scoop the dough onto lightly greased (or parchment paper lined) baking sheets with an ice cream scoop. If your scoop is about 1/4 cup, you’ll end up with a dozen scones. Sprinkle with sugar, if desired.

Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

2018, July 29

Thoughts and Quotes:    Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability. 
                                                                                                Sam Keen

And laziness found me this week.  Actually, it was part busy, part lazy. The lazy part followed the busy part. Maybe I should rename it recuperation.

Monday and Tuesday were grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning for the tea on Wednesday.

Teas: I wanted to test the June tea plan from my book, but decided to extend it.

Savories: Ham salad finger sandwiches, chicken salad on biscuit halves, tomato and butter sandwiches.

Scone: Raspberry drop scones (middle) with lemon butter (in the green cup).

Sweets: Frosted brownies with pecans, banana snack cake, pineapple cookies, brown sugar chews, and filled strawberries.

When I finished cleaning up and putting things away (though Joey helped me a lot with washing dishes), it was 11:30 p.m. Thursday I did laundry and a lot of deep couch sitting.

Tales: Saturday, I was back on the couch with my book, which I finished and loved and highly recommend. Ann Barry wrote and edited for the The New Yorker and the New York Times. She never married, was from St. Louis, lived in New York and bought a 200+ year old country cottage in the southwest of France. She only went to France while on vacation; once in the spring, and once in the fall.

She kept a journal of her time there, which later became this book. I'm not sure of the dates, but it all takes place during the 1980's and 1990's. Lots of talk of food, so I loved it. She was a brave soul, taking on the improvements of the cottage and traveling around France alone. No photo on the book cover, so I went to the internet. This was her only book, and I'm not sure she published it, as the copyright is "The estate of Ann Barry". She died of cancer in 1996 at the age of 53. I was so sad, because she was so happy and full of life. She shouldn't have left at such an early age. I never could find a photo.  

2019, July 29

Tasting: Rib dinner at Jim and Becky's on Saturday. Yum! It's usually on 4th of July, but they were attending a family reunion this year - Becky's family.

My plate

Then we had homemade vanilla ice cream with the peach pie I took.

And while we're on Tasting, let me tell you about my strawberry jam. I've always used liquid Certo pectin for strawberry freezer jam, and it's always pretty runny (seems to be a theme for me these days).  Anyway, this time I tried Sure-Jell powdered pectin, and it works a lot better. I bought the pink box which is the less sugar option, and made one recipe. For the second recipe, I added an additional cup of sugar and used my immersion blender to puree the strawberries a little more than just mashing them with my potato masher. Better.

The instructions are a little drawn out on the recipe in the Sure-Jell box, but here's my abbreviated version:

Wash and remove stems from four 1-lb containers of strawberries.

Crush Strawberries and set aside.

Mix 3 or 4 cups of sugar (see note), a package of SureJell pectin and 1 cup of water in a saucepan.

Stir constantly over medium heat until it comes to a boil and boil one minute (keep stirring).

Add stawberries after removing from heat.

Stir constantly one more minute.

Pour into plastic containers or glass jars with lids. 

Leave ar room temperature up to 24 hours until set. This also gives you a chance to admire your beautiful work.

Store in freezer up to one year. Thaw in refrigerator before using. Of course, you'll want to put one in the refrigerator instead of the freezer so you can have it on your morning toast the next day.

Note: Do not use fewer than 3 cups of sugar or jam won't set properly. The instructions in the box also have a version to make with Splenda.

2020, July 22

Only one post during this Covid year. Some tissue box cards.

Thoughts and Quotes: When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Unknown

Well, alright then. I can't go anywhere. No one can visit. I can travel in the car, but there's no place to go, because everything is closed. I'll work on my books. I've been sitting around waiting for this virus to end, but it seems it's going to be awhile, so between July 1 and December 31 I can finish five books: Afternoon Tea, Tablescapes, Theme Dining 1, Tissue Box Cards, and Soup.

I still haven't finished the Soup book, and I gave up on a Tissue Box Cards book due to copyright issues.

I find myself watching YouTube instead of TV these days, and I ran across a guy who does short little videos which make a lot of sense. If you watched the one in my last post, you learned about the three ways of spending your money to produce the most happiness. Today I watched the ten top things to declutter. After thinking about all those recipes I have, I added the eleventh. And then I looked around my office and added a twelfth - papers, catalogs, travel brochures, magazines, etc.

If I think about how much this entails, it's overwhelming, so "divide and conquer." I listed the ten things he mentioned, but I rearranged the order, starting with the quickest and easiest first as "success breeds success."

Challenge 1: Some items are quick, so let's start with items 1 through 4. Time alloted - one week.

Boxes: - we all save them, because we might need them. If you can't live without it, at least break it down and store it.

Luggage: - easy peasy, right? So include all those duffel bags, backpacks, tote bags, etc. which you never use.

Games and Puzzles: - I just unloaded most of my games on the couple who came to install my dishwasher. They have four kids who were thrilled.

Expired Food: - canned goods, spices, condiments. Clean out the freezers and refrigerators, pantries, and garages. And while you're doing this, you might want to prepare an inventory of what remains so that you won't have expirations in the future.

Tidying: Time for an accounting of Challenge 1.

Boxes before

Boxes after

The only box left contains things I'm taking to my Lil' Sis. The blue box is a coffee maker I'm also passing on.

Cat food boxes gone, but there's wallpaper in the box, which I'm saving to make cards.

Games before

Games after

I kept everything. Remember, I just sent three people home loaded down with as many games as they could carry. My first thought was to save only the dominoes, as that was usually our game of choice. Then, on a whim, I checked the price of the Trump games, and it seems they're becoming collector's items, AND they're discontinued.

Amazon has only one left of the black box, and it's $122. Other sellers range from $70 to $200. Only one of the red box left at Amazon for $82, and other sellers range from $38-$200. They don't take up much room, and they might be worth more later, and my kids can sell them.

Luggage before

Luggage after

My suitcases are nested in the largest one, and in the garage. Keeping those. 

As for the totes and bags, the two on the top right are kitty carriers, so they have to stay.

The navy bag is my favorite carryon and the striped is for might need - weekends away at snooty resorts (like I do that a lot). The stack on the bottom is in limbo, and on the bottom left are purses, which we'll address later. I'm torn about the beige and orange bag because it came from Galeries Lafayette in Paris. There's also a wine-colored nylon bag in the stack which was a promotional giveaway from there. They bring back happy memories. Perhaps I'll use these bags for cookbooks for my vet's wife who owns a restaurant. 

I've since gotten rid of some of these totes and the striped case.

I discarded some small bags, took the thin vinyl totes to the car for trips to Aldi or Goodwill where you have to bring your own bags.

I actually got a head start on crafts and got rid of a lot of loose patterns. When I started, the drawer was full.

Food

I organized all my garage food and isolated the things which have expiration dates in the near future. I took a photo and printed it, so I can find ways to use these items when planning meals. The canned goods have been arranged so that I use the oldest first. I'm very good at organizing and making a plan for future, BUT I'm very bad at following through and keeping up the plan. I need to go through at the end of each month and isolate what's expiring in the near future.

I also cleaned out my garage freezer and refrigerator. Then I tackled the kitchen. I was surprised to find that I only needed to pitch some chocolate chips, freeze-dried mango, and dried cranberries. Oh, and a chicken carcass from the freezer. I don't have time to make chicken broth right now, and it was in the way.

Too much for one week. I did little else since I also went to Lowes on Sunday,  took Pepper to the vet for his shots on Monday, the plumber was here on Tuesday, and I shopped for food (mostly for cats on Thursday).

These little trips down Memory Lane are making me blush. I need to get busy on my goals. I'm not moving as fast as I used to. No excuses.

STAY COOL - HOT WEEK AHEAD

GO SHOPPING - STORES ARE AIR CONDITIONED

OR GO TO THE LAKE

TAKE IN A MOVIE

BE SURE TO STAY HYDRATED

THANK YOU FOR SHARING MY LIFE