by Diane on April 28, 2013
Look at the pretty dessert glasses I got yesterday at a Church rummage sale! There were only 3 of them there, but I thought they were so pretty, that I bought them anyway.
I looked them up online just now to see what they were because the price sticker said they were Berwick, so I was curious. Turns out they are called Berwick Boopie. HaHa! They are vintage glasses made in the 40′s, 50′s and 60′s.
I found some on Ebay selling with an asking price of $15 each and I paid $4 each for these ones. Not that it matters – I just like them.
This is the other stuff that I got at the same sale. Two tea cups, a nice gravy boat with saucer and a very nice Lennox covered butter dish. They were all only $2 to $2.50 each! Love it!
by Diane on April 28, 2013
Since we are trying to cut down on the amount of bread we eat, we have been making soup to take to work for lunch. I didn’t think that I would like clam chowder because seafood is not my favorite thing, but it was really good! It didn’t taste fishy at all. It would have been a lot better if I could have eaten it from a nice sourdough bread bowl, but oh well. 
I looked at a bunch of different recipes and couldn’t find one where all the ingredients appealed to me, so I kind of took things from a bunch of different recipes and made one to suit myself.
Ingredients:
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 1 medium onion, finely diced
- 2 celery stalks, diced (reserve leaves)
- 2 carrots, shredded
- 3 Tbsp flour
- 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
- 2 (10 oz) cans chopped clams in juice (reserve juice)
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 lb potatoes, diced into small cubes
- 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
- Saute the onions, celery and carrots in the 2 Tbsp of butter until softened, stirring often.
- Stir in the flour to coat evenly.
- Add the chicken (or vegetable) stock, cream, clam juice from the canned clams (put the clams aside to add just before serving), bay leaves and the potatoes. Stir to combine and bring to a simmer. When up to a simmer, reduce heat to medium low and stir frequently until the potatoes are cooked (about 20 minutes). Soup will thicken as you cook.
- When potatoes soft, add the clams, celery leaves, red wine vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. Cook just until clams heated through and serve.
Here is how mine went:
I sauteed the celery, onions and carrots in the butter.
This is how I strained the canned clams. You use the clam juice first when you are heating up the whole soup and then at the end you add the clams to just heat through before serving.
Here are the potatoes that I cubed up and the celery leaves that I chopped up and also set aside to add just before the soup was done.
After the sauteed vegetables were done, I added the clam juice, chicken stock, heavy cream, potatoes and bay leaves. I brought it up to a good simmer and then reduced heat to a low simmer and cooked for about 20 minutes until the potatoes were done. Make sure you don’t boil the soup because the cream will burn. Also make sure you stir often or else the cream will burn.
When the potatoes were soft, I added the clams, celery leaves, red wine vinegar and salt and pepper. Just heat for a minute or two to heat the clams through and then serve. Like I said earlier, this would be awesome served in a sourdough bread bowl!
by Diane on April 21, 2013
Steve and I went to Galesburg, MI to visit a couple of Antique Stores I like and I bought a couple of these cups and saucers. This is the pattern that Mama had!
The store had a whole big set of them which I first saw a few months ago. I didn’t buy the cups then because I didn’t want the whole set and would have felt bad breaking it up. I couldn’t resist this time though. I really wanted them.
I counted the pieces that were there and there was an odd number of everything, so I figured if someone wanted the whole set they wouldn’t miss a couple of pieces. At least that is what I told myself. I really just wanted them really bad!
I also bought that little blue and white vase behind the cup. There is nothing special about it except that it matches my sun room.
by Diane on April 21, 2013
We went out for dinner last night and on the way home we were driving in a blizzard! Not very much of it stuck, but here is what it looked like yesterday morning. I can’t remember ever getting snow this late in April since I’ve lived here (1994)!
This poor little robin is saying, ‘What the HECK!!??!!!’
In this picture you can see a couple of deer in the top left corner and a couple of ducks in the pond. We have 2 pairs of ducks nesting in those cat tails. So far, ducks haven’t had much luck in our pond. If the coyotes don’t get them, then the hay guy’s tractor does! Steve says he doesn’t think the hay guy’s tractor got the little dead duck I found in the grass last year, but I found it the same afternoon after he’d cut the hay, so I’m blaming him! We didn’t see any more of the ducks – mother or babies- after that day.
Now I have to worry over two mothers and their nests! I’m trying to keep the dogs away from the pond during our walks.
Here is Lucy when we first got outside. She is saying, ‘I thought we were done with this stuff!’ HaHa!
I was taking a picture of the flooded field behind us when these deer decided to run by! It has been raining a lot lately and the flooding is crazy in some places!
That snow covered log in the left bottom corner, is where I park myself on nice days to read. This year, my mission is to get a nice bench or something down there. I’m going to move our bird feeders down there too.
by Diane on April 14, 2013
Here is the Banana Bread that I make all the time! I let the bananas get over-ripe on purpose so that I can make this. It’s pretty similar to my banana muffin recipe except that you don’t have to mess around with the muffin tins, so it’s easier.
The following recipe is for one loaf of banana bread, but as I did today, I usually double it and make two loaves at a time. I put one loaf in the freezer for another day.
Ingredients:
- 1¾ c unsifted flour
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- ½ salt
- ¾ c sugar
- ½ c butter, softened
- 2 eggs
- 1 c mashed over – ripe bananas (I use 3 or 4 bananas)
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Grease 9 x 5 in loaf pan.
- Mix flour, baking powder and salt in one bowl.
- In a separate bowl, cream butter, sugar and eggs together until light and fluffy.
- Mix mashed bananas into the creamed butter mixture.
- Add the flour mixture into the butter mixture and fold until all just moist – do not over mix.
- Pour batter into the greased loaf pan and bake at 350° for 50 to 60 minutes until firmly set when lightly touched in center top.
- Cool on rack for 10 minutes and then remove loaf from pan.
Here is how mine went:
Here are the mashed bananas mixed into the creamed butter mixture in one bowl and the flour mixture in the other bowl.
I doubled the recipe, so I filled two greased (with butter) loaf pans and baked them at 350° for about 55 minutes.
I had two differently shaped loaf pans, so that’s why these two loaves don’t look the same. I ended up taking the shorter one on the left out of the oven first because it was done first.
Here is a better look at the top of the loaf so you can how it looks when done. Don’t worry about the cracks – it is supposed to crack. You can see it is lightly brown around the edges. I like to pull my banana bread out of the oven a little early sometimes because I like it when it is mushy in the top center – I don’t do that when company is coming though! I’m sure most people wouldn’t appreciate a mushy slice of banana bread! Ha!
by Diane on April 14, 2013
I bought myself some pretty carnations at Horrock’s to brighten the place up a bit. We got a taste of Spring a few days ago, but now it’s cold and rainy and snowy again!
The vase and ribbon are from Trevor and Kylie’s wedding. Brings back memories!
by Diane on March 31, 2013
Spring has sprung! The herons are showing back up at the pond. I looked out the window this afternoon and saw these two stalking across the yard.
They ended up down at the pond and started doing what looked like some kind of mating dance. They must have known that I was watching because it didn’t go any further than the dance!
by Diane on March 31, 2013
Bottle of Frankenmuth White and some chocolates that we picked up in Frankenmuth.
We have been having the most beautiful Spring weather the last few days – FINALLY! It was so nice to be able to get outside and feel a bit of warmth!
Yesterday was especially warm and pretty, so we decided to take another trip to Frankenmuth. It is such a pretty place to walk around in the sunshine. It was all decorated with Easter/Spring decorations and was very festive. One of the drivers of the horse drawn carriages was dressed in an Easter Bunny costume and I was too slow in getting out my camera and I missed the shot. I actually didn’t take any pictures while we were there – I was too busy enjoying the sunshine!
Oh – and we were busy enjoying the beer and wine too! HaHa! First we went to the same Brewpub/Restaurant we went to when we went to Bronner’s at Christmas. We had to get another one of their Reuben Sandwiches and of course you can’t have a Reuben Sandwich without beer!
Then as we were walking around Frankenmuth, we ran into a little wine and chocolate shop and did a little tasting. They pair their wines up with certain chocolates. I was surprised at how good they were together! We ended up buying this Frankenmuth White and some of the dark chocolate marzipan chocolates that paired with it. I also got a good mix of some of the other chocolates. They are almost as good as my Purdy’s!
I wanted to open the wine and chocolates tonight to celebrate Easter, but Steve fell asleep and ended up going to bed early. He went to bed at 7:00 which is early even for him! Guess I’ll have to wait until tomorrow.
Here are some quilted placemats that I bought at one of the stores. Aren’t they pretty? They were half price too! This is exactly the kind of pattern that I have in my head for my Grandma looking loveseat that I want for the sunroom.
by Diane on March 31, 2013
I took these pictures a couple of weeks ago. I have been having technical difficulties with the computer, so haven’t been able to post anything for awhile. Anyway, I wanted to get some shots of the pond at its fullest. It was so low last summer with the dry weather we were having - it was nice to see it full again!
I thought this was the first day all winter with no ice on the pond, but when I got up close, I could see there was just a thin layer of ice – it had disappeared by afternoon though!
Here is a picture of my flooded path way out back. In the spring when the snow melts and/or it rains a lot, the water rolls into the pond on one end and then rolls out of it on the other!
When we built the dock last summer, the one end was way out of the water! Ha!
You can see the thin layer of ice in this picture. Lucy is wondering how she is going to get a drink of water.
Tucker can’t figure it out either and is so thirsty!
Here are my ravaged cat tails! Steve went down there one day when the pond was totally frozen and tried to cut some of them down. I kept checking out the window to make sure he hadn’t fallen through the ice. I didn’t see him at one point. I got scared and grabbed my coat to go fish him out of the pond, but he was just on his way in the house. Haha!
Here is another picture of my ravaged Lucy. I had gone after her with my clippers again. I think I did an excellent job on her ears if I do say so myself, but the rest of her has the disheveled, just got out of bed look!
by Diane on March 13, 2013
Whenever I make rice, I usually make more than I need so that I can make Rice Pudding with the leftovers. It is such a nice comfort food.
This is another one of those recipes that is not set in stone. After you have made it a couple of times, you will get a feel for how much of each ingredient you want to put in there. You can even play around with the spices if you want to – maybe add a little nutmeg or use pumpkin pie spice instead of cinnamon.
My mom used to eat the Rice Pudding with just a little bit of milk or cream poured over it before serving, but I like mine with ice cream or whipped cream.
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked rice
- ½ cup raisins
- ¼ brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp cinnamon
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1½ cups milk
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Grease baking dish (I use butter).
- Mix rice, raisins, brown sugar and cinnamon in the greased baking dish.
- Combine the lightly beaten eggs with the milk, then pour over the rice mixture.
- Sprinkle a little more brown sugar and cinnamon on top if desired, then bake for 40 – 50 minutes at 350° until the top of the pudding is lightly brown and the pudding as set (slightly firm to the touch).
- Serve warm.
Here is how mine went:
Mix rice, raisins, brown sugar and cinnamon in the buttered baking dish.
Combine two lightly beaten eggs with milk, then pour over the rice mixture.
Sprinkle additional brown sugar and cinnamon on top if you like, then bake for 40 -50 minutes at 350º.
Here is the finished Rice Pudding. You can tell it is done when it is lightly brown and is slightly firm to the touch.
Correction – here is the finished Rice Pudding. It isn’t done until the ice cream is on it! What a nice comfy warm dessert on a cold winter day!
