Going Green

Today it is 10 degrees and going much lower tonight.  The ground is mostly snow covered with a few patches of very dead looking brown grass.  The idea of Spring seems almost like a myth. There is absolutely nothing green outdoors.  I am craving green, so I went around the house finding green things for my table.

I am wondering if the colors show well in these pictures.  I usually take them in the morning, but I think the light is too harsh then.  Next time I will wait until the afternoon.  I went thrift shopping a few weeks ago and picked up these adorable plates.  I love the plaid rim.

Actually there are two different designs.

The green napkins and brass rings were treasures from the same trip.  (I may have to move the napkins to the side.  It looks like my place settings are wearing hair  bows and if Mr. Bill has that thought it would really gross him out.)

I paired new $1,00 pressed glass goblets from Dollar Tree with vintage Czechoslovakian crystal wine glasses.  Surprisingly, they have a similar pattern.  The crystal does have a much higher monetary 

value, but mine are actually priceless.  They were a gift to our family from relatives in Slovakia.  My in-laws traveled there in 1976 while Slovakia was suffering under Russian rule.  The people had little, but were very generous in sending such beautiful gifts to us so that we would remember them.

Two brass candlesticks (stacked), some faux ivy,

 and a gently used light green candle complete the "greening" of my dining area.

I  think my new favorite color is green!

La Fleur de Fevrier - Violettes

How could I let February pass by without a tribute to its lovely little flower - the humble violet?  That would be impossible since violets are my favorite flower!

So delicate and sweet, they are the perfect decoration tea things.  (For full disclosure, I have mixed in some pansies with my violets - but after all, the are really called Violas.)

The hot chocolate station has become a tea tray.  Much more springlike don't you think?

These beauties deserve a closer look.

Can you believe that these were all gifts - including my 'new modern' teacup that I received on my fiftieth birthday more than 20 years ago!

What could be better than a lot of violets? More violets!

One day one of my daughters pointed out to me that I was a violet person and she was a rose person.  She was right!  So I traded her my rose dessert set for her violet set and I have been very happy since!

This little pitcher, a gift from another daughter, was one of my first violet pieces.

Well, I have more pretty violet things, but I'll save them for next February.

Meanwhile, select some special tea, find a flowered teacup, and join me for teatime!

And above all - THINK SPRING

Staying on Top of the Weather

An overnight temp of -10 and a high of  2 degrees for the day is very unusual for mid February here in Northwest Indiana.  More snow is expected today.  Winter still has us in its grip!  But like true mid-westerners we soldier on and try to stay cozy , warm, and cheerful.

New Haviland plates and brass napkin rings.

This winter we developed a little hobby of setting up a pretty table once a week using things that were usually just stored away.

For some reason the tablecloth looks red in this light.  It is actually burgundy.

Mr. Bill said we should keep the settings up all week for our use.  What a great idea!  It is so nice to have a pretty table to sit down to for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  And speaking of cozy things, there is nothing like a cup of tea mid-afternoon.  This week I am using an heirloom teacup from my Grandmother.

I love the little pedestal on the bottom of the cup.   The markings say "Hand Painted" , "Nippon", and there is  a small logo.  I have done some research on it and discovered it was made about 1912 in Pre-WWI Japan.  The cup has 1 miniature painting on it and the saucer has two.

Click on any of these pictures to see the paintings close up.  

So much beautiful artwork for such a tiny cup!  Needless to say, I am very careful with it.

Stay warm and cozy - and THING SPRING!

Ice and Snow: the Beauty of Winter

Many of my friends are 'snow birds'.  They have flown south for the winter.  I wonder - do they take little snowman figures along to remind them of the fun of winter?

Do they have hot chocolate stations in their kitchens for a treat on a cozy winter afternoon?

Do they set up little vignettes here and there as reminders of what they are missing?

Do they celebrate winter?  Or, do they just forget about it?  I don' think I could, because I am really a four seasons gal.  I love the beauty of each one, and winter can be very beautiful here in Indiana.  Even on the days it's not, we still celebrate it at our house.

We haven't had a whole lot of snow here so far.  Not like last year - that was glorious :

And, as the Canticle from Sunday Morning prayer in my breviary says:

 Cold and chill, bless the Lord.

Dew and rain, bless the Lord. 

Frost and chill, bless the Lord.

Ice and snow, bless the Lord.

Nights and days, bless the Lord.

Light and darkness, bless the Lord.

Lightnings and clouds, bless the Lord.

Let the earth bless the Lord.

Praise and exalt him above all forever.

Meatball Kabobs

Our snow all melted and an ill wind blew in Sunday night. It was cold, damp, blustery, and rainy yesterday. The temperature was actually warmer than usual, but with the wind and the damp, I felt colder. The landscape certainly did not look like a winter wonderland!

What a relief to wake up to a light snow covering and gentle flurries in the air. The forecast for the last week of January is that the month will end with dignity - crisp and pretty.

We have been busy indoors putting away the stray ends of Christmas. After all the glitz and glimmer of the season, the house always looks a little dull. We made some adjustments to our decorating, but nothing takes the place of that Christmas warmth. After a few weeks, memories fade and everything looks fine again.

I'm mostly on schedule with my first-of-the-year bookkeeping. It's my time to clean out last years files and to readjust the budget to cover holes created by holiday spending. I also made some changes to my bookkeeping system. In the past, I kept two sets of spreadsheets that would both balance against my checkbook. One was to keep track of all expenses according to category, and one was to enter all expenses against future income to see how we were going to end up at the end of the year. It was a lot of work, since I was doing it for two checking accounts (four spreadsheets in all). I've decided to eliminate three of the spreadsheets and keep only the one for the household budget which is run through my checkbook and the only thing I really can control. This will be a lot more 'effortless' (my key word for the year).

Here is the delicious recipe Steve used for his meatball kabobs. I also happened to have this recipe, although I had never made it. He had another one for chicken kabobs that was different and equally delicious. I'll have to track him down to get it.

MEATBALL KABOBS

1 Package wooden skewers soaked in water 30 minutes before using.
32 frozen fully cooked 1-inch meatballs (1 pound), thawed
1 red pepper, cut into 1-inch squares
1 green pepper, cut into 1-inch squares
Opt: Wedges of onion, chunks of pineapple (Steve used both)
1/4 cup apricot jam
1/4 cup barbecue sauce

Thread meatballs, vegetables, and fruit alternately onto skewers.
Microwave jam on HIGH 15 seconds. Mix with BBQ sauce. Brush half onto kabobs.
Grill 8-10 minutes turning occasionally and brushing with remaining sauce.

Served with cous-cous or rice, this fits my profile for more 'effortless' cooking for the new year.

Betty and Me

We are on day two of heavy snow and I have spent some time curled up with a book and an afghan. It didn't turn out to be 'Snowbound' as I had predicted, but one of my good old cookbooks! (You just never know where your muse will take you).

I had been thinking that watching 'Julia and Julia' would be really great, but I didn't have the DVD. Then I was thinking that reading 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking' would be really great, but I have given it away. Then I remembered that I have a cookbook that, like Julia, I have made almost everything in it - and it was all really good. It's my Betty Crocker Cookbook.

Not only is it good, but it's really old. I remembered where I first saw it, but I couldn't remember when.

I had turned into the cookbook aisle at B. Dalton's and there it was, propped up in it's own little cardboard display in the middle of the aisle. I took one look at the luscious red-orange cover with the picture perfect dishes on it and I fell in love. This was totally irrational because I was well on my way to becoming a food snob and would not normally consider having anything to do with something as banal as BETTY CROCKER.

How old is it? It took a while to find out. When I looked it up on line I discovered that there are more than one red-orange editions and I couldn't remember exactly what mine looked like. About 20 years ago I covered it with wallpaper and mystic tape because it was looking a little worn. Since there was no copyright info inside, I took the wallpaper off and there it was - looking pretty well preserved for a 30 year old cookbook that is used daily. 1978 is the first year this edition came out and I think that's when I bought it.

It was well worth the purchase if only for the five beef pot roast recipes and seven variations on pages 12 and 13; I've used these recipes countless times. Or for the Mandarin Salad on page 134; I use the sweet-sour dressing all the time on any salad. Or for the Bean-Mushroom Medley on page 166; several generations of our family have become famous for this dish. Or for the Watermelon Supreme on page 287; the aloha sauce is a superb addition to the fruit. Did I mention the Bonnie Butter Cake on page 247? It makes the best birthday cake ever. Of course, then there is the whole pie section. But I won't go on.

Julia of the book and movie had Julia Child to inspire her and she spent a year working through MAFC. I started out with Julia Child and James Beard, but in the end it was good old eveyday Betty Crocker that inspired me - and has continued to do so for 30 some years.

Sometimes you CAN judge a book by its cover!

Snowbound!

Out of the bosom of the Air,
Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken,
Over the woodlands brown and bare,
Over the harvest-fields forsaken,
Silent,
And soft,
And slow
Descends
The snow.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - my first and favorite poet thrills me every time it snows with his lines - 'Silent and soft and slow, Descends the snow'. What a gift to be able to paint a picture with words.

Well, right on cue as we closed the Christmas season, the winter season jumped upon us. As I sit at my desk looking out the window across the field, I can't see anything but white. No houses, no road, no soccer storage shed, are in view.

Birds are being blown past my window on their way to the feeder and there is one lonely large bird digging in the snow trying to get down to the dirt for a snack. It may be the young grackle that I saw on my porch rail the other day. I wondered how it was going to eat. Grackles don't do seeds.

Snowbound! One word that paints many pictures: bread baking, soup simmering, hot chocolate and cookies; crunching in the snow to fill the feeders; curling up with an afghan and a book (probably Snowbound by Whittier). It used to paint a picture of snow shovels and snow blowers, but that isn't needed at our new place. We can just open the curtains wide and enjoy the experience and spectacular view.

Living in a new place leads to learning many new things and to many new questions. For instance, the weather forecasts around here are hard to figure out. 5-7 inches of snow today, 1-3 tomorrow, and more the next day. That I understand - but 'freezing fog' is something I never heard of before and is something that I can't even imagine. I'll let you know if I figure it out.

In the meanwhile, I am going to try to find something for the poor grackle to eat. What do you think - peanut butter and raisins?