Author Archives: Ellen

Family Celebration

After I picked up Katie from LAX we headed East to Whittier for a family gathering to celebrate Katie being here and Letty and my birthday.

My sister Kathy and my mom. My niece Michelle and Katie. My sister Vera and SIL Letty.

My niece Michelle and Melissa with my Grand Nephew Jackson. Michelle, Jessica, and my sister Lana. Kathy and Lana. Oops…I managed to miss getting my niece Debbee in any of these and she’s probably quite happy about that :0)

For dinner everyone brought along a favorite Chinese take-out item to share and my mom made this birthday cake for Letty and me along with those flaky delicate yummies on the right which are called Kudrishky. Kudrishky are a light flaky Russian dessert that is made from a dough rolled very thin, curled and fried. After they cool you dust them with powdered sugar.

The birthday girls! These extended birthday celebrations are a fun deal!

She’s Stepped Away From the Computer…

Today my daughter Katie arrives for a visit from Seattle. She will be here until next Tuesday. The main event she is coming for is the wedding of one of her Wheaton College friends here in Southern California. After I pick her up from the airport today we head to a family gathering in Whittier. We will be having many adventures while she’s here so if I’m AWOL from Bloggy world you will know why.

Blessings and see you sooner or later! :0)

Outdoor Wednesday ~ E.W. Low Tide

Time for another Outdoor Wednesday hosted by Susan at A Southern DayDreamer. My outdoor photos this week are from Ventura, California.

Early on Saturday we drove to Emma Wood State Beach in Ventura to enjoy the low-tide. We love to be able to explore these tide pools that are visible when the tide is low.

I thought the colors of these anemones were wonderful.

We were amazed to spot this Sand Shark in one of the pools and we investigated and discovered it was dead.

The light of dawn had a pretty effect on the water, sand and sky. Those black spots you see in the water are surfers.

On our way home we spotted this pretty Wisteria and I had to stop and take some photos. The Wisteria in Southern California blooms a lot sooner than in Washington State.

For more Outdoor Wednesday posts visit Susan at A Southern Day Dreamer.

 

Birthday Girls at The Tudor House

My walking Bloggy buddy Willow was blessed to be born on St. Patrick’s Day (which makes her exempt from the wearin o the green) I was born on the 14th of March. We decided to celebrate by taking tea in Santa Monica, California yesterday. Willow happened to have the day off and we worked it to our advantage.

Happy Real Birthday Willow!

 

We drove south along the coast to Santa Monica. This British Corner on 2nd and Santa Monica Blvd. has the Tudor Tea Room and Bakery,  Ye Olde King’s Head Shoppe, and a British Pub.

Look at that! They set all the tables in Willow’s favorite china pattern…Willow! We enjoyed eating our food and drinking our Earl Grey with these great Churchill plates, cups and saucers.

After our tea we strolled through the British shops and pub that was all decked out for St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations.

You can see Willow’s reflection in the mirror. Darn! We forgot to have someone take a photo of us taking our tea!

We headed for Ocean Blvd. to catch another glimpse of the Pacific before heading home.

This was waiting for me when I got home and it’s exciting and scary at the same time…

This is my birthday present from Dear. I’ll let you know if I figure out how to put it together and use it! :0)

Have a wonderful St. Patty’s Day!

Corned Beef & Cabbage

Kathleen at Cuisine Kathleen is hosting a bit of the Irish food fest. So I decided to join in by offering this simple Corned Beef & Cabbage how to. I’m looking forward to cooking this up tomorrow for our meal tomorrow night! An early Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you!

When Irish eyes are smiling,
Sure, ’tis like the morn in Spring.
In the lilt of Irish laughter
You can hear the angels sing.
When Irish hearts are happy,
All the world seems bright and gay.
And when Irish eyes are smiling,
Sure, they steal your heart away.

I’m combining this post with Three or More Tuesday that Tam at The Gypsy’s Corner hosts each week. I think the regular clover qualifies for 3 and the three vegetables I include in the Corned Beef and Cabbage qualify, too!

I bought the flat cut corned beef brisket seasoned in a package with an extra spice packet enclosed. I covered the brisket with water and brought to a boil with a couple onions quartered. After it came to a boil, I lowered the flame to simmer and let it simmer for a couple of hours. I pulled the meat out and added the cabbage, potatoes, and carrots and simmered the veggies until they were done. Put the meat back in the pot till I was ready to serve it. It has always turned out great but I really do notice the difference between the flat cut and the cheaper cut…

Don’t forget to click over to Kathleen’s to see all all the celebration posts around… and don’t forget the Guinness!

 

 

Birthday Dinner at the Tam O’Shanter in Los Angeles

First off I’d like to thank you all for your sweet comments and prayers for me on my birthday. It really meant a lot for me to read them. God used them to encourage me and to bless me. I cherish my bloggy friends, those I’ve never met and those of you I have had the privilege of meeting and spending time with.

For dinner on my birthday we drove into Los Angeles just East of Griffith Park on Los Feliz to the Tam O’Shanter Restaurant, an Icon in Los Angeles. The Tam O’Shanter has been serving good food with great service since 1922. The restaurant has a Scottish influence with Robert Burns donning the walls and waitresses wearing plaid with a Tam O’Shanter on their heads.

 

This restaurant does traditional very well. Their quality and service have not degenerated over the years. We were very pleased with the food and service.

We both decided to go with the food that made the restaurant famous their prime rib, mashed potatoes, gravy, Yorkshire pudding, creamed corn and creamed spinach! We enjoyed the fresh and creamed horse radish, too.

We were treated to the Tam O’Shanter’s famous Chocolate Souffle for our dessert and the manager sent along a little pitcher of hot fudge sauce that was such a treat for us because it was from the famous C.C. Brown’s of Hollywood that Dear and I used to drive miles to just to enjoy their hot fudge sundaes. They were located on Hollywood Blvd. just down from Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. What a fun memory. C.C. Brown’s has closed its doors but the Lawrey’s chain that owns the Tam O’Shanter bought the rights to the Hot Fudge. We split the lovely souffle in two and loaded it with the whip cream and hot fudge sauce! Oh my was that a lovely end to a wonderful meal.

C.C. Brown’s began in 1906 in downtown Los Angeles where Clarence Clifton Brown invented the Hot Fudge Sauce. In 1929 he moved the business to Hollywood, where it existed in its original form until the summer of 1996. C.C. Brown’s moved to its long-term location at 7007 Hollywood Boulevard at a time when two major landmarks –Grauman’s Chinese Theatre and the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel — had not long been built.

Here we are at the restaurant ready to dig into our amazing souffle! See the lovely flowers? Willow dropped these off to my condo before we left for the restaurant. Clever girl she bought 5 deep pink and 8 light pink Gerbera Daisies to celebrate my 58 years. Thank you Willow.

On the way home from our wonderful time at the restaurant we talked about God’s love and how we, because of His love, offer our love to each other and to all the people God puts in our path. We are called to love. Can we really love too much??? I don’t think so. I pray that I’ll be able to increase in my love for others this new year…

Blue Monday ~ Mussels

My Blue Monday is from an early morning walk at low tide on Saturday the 14th. Many rocks were exposed that are usually covered with water so we got to see a lot of interesting sea life. These mussels looked blue to me :0)

To see more Blue Monday posts visit Smiling Sally the brain child for this fun Monday activity. Enjoy your week everyone…

 

Metamorphosis Monday ~ Bathroom

Our Metamorphosis this week is all about the bathroom. We have one bathroom in our Condo. The sink area is separate from the shower and toilet. There are no cabinets in the shower/toilet area. We decided the space above the toilet could be used to our advantage for some more storage.

Here’s what the wall above and around the toilet looked like before. (It is very hard to get good photos in this small space)

Here is Dear at the beginning of the project. We bought this upper Kitchen Cabinet from the Home Depot. It is part of their standard stock items.

It fits and is ready to add the shelves and the doors. We get three shelves of space in this new cabinet.

The doors are on but we’re thinking we need some hardware to make it easier to open the cupboard.

Now we’re getting there. We decide at this point a little shelf would be nice to tie this space together better.

We found a shelf and started experimenting with decor to add to the shelf. Attempt #1…something is not right.

Attempt #2 after finding these 3 matching plates at the Goodwill for $3.00.

I like this look a lot better than attempt #1.

While we were at it we decided these green towels really didn’t go with our wall color.  Truth be told I do not like to dry myself with a towel that has a large decorative pattern on it that is not terry cloth. So we switched out the fancier towels for plain white towels and I like the look a lot better especially now that we have the white cabinet and shelf added.

Susan At Between Naps on the Porch is the hostess for this weekly Metamorphosis Monday. Head on over and see lots of before and afters. Enjoy your Monday everyone.

 

You Shine ~ Worship

 

You Shine

Why should I feel mad,
When You made the heavens?
Why should I be afraid,
When You put the stars in place?
Why should I lose heart,
When I know how great You are?
Why should I give up,
When Your plans are full of love?

You Shine,
Brighter than the brightest star!
Your Love,
Purer than the purest heart!
You Shine,
Filling us with courage and strength
To follow You!

In this world we will have trouble,
But You have overcome the world!
You have overcome the world…!

You Shine,
Brighter than the brightest star!
Your Love,
Purer than the purest heart!
You Shine,
Filling us with courage and strength
To follow You!
You Shine,
Brighter than the brightest star!
Your Love,
Purer than the purest heart!
You Shine,
Filling us with courage and strength
To follow You!

You—- Shine—-,(oh Lord! oh Lord give us courage,
give us courage and strength, to follow you!)
You—- Shine—-! (to the ends of the earth! oh Lord! oh Lord!
We’re gonna follow, we’re gonna follow You!)

~Brian Doerksen