Category Archives: Homemaking

Recipe Round Up ~ Sandwiches

Italian Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Sauteed Zucchini

I saw Rachel Ray make something similar to this and I didn’t write down the ingredients but played it by ear to recreate something similar.

 

For the sandwich I used fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and basil. Any bread you like will probably be fine. I used a white farmers bread.  I cut the crusts off. I layered cheese, fresh tomatoes and fresh basil on a slice of bread then topped it with another slice. I heated a large frying pan with olive oil dipped each sandwich in the egg and milk mixture and then set the egg coated sandwich in the pan.

 

When browned on one side I flipped it over and browned the other side. Rachel Ray served something similar (she used sun-dried tomatoes and cut her bread in circles) and served it with some sauteed zucchini. Here’s how I made my zucchini.

 

Cut zucchini, drop into pan heated with olive oil. Salt and pepper well. Cut a bunch of scallions and add them to the zucchini. Grate or press a couple cloves of garlic over the zucchini. When the zucchini is done add some grated Parmesan on top. (I think Rachel Ray added some chopped parsley to the dish also).

Enjoy! For more Sandwich recipes head over to Dorothy’s at Field Stone Cottage.

For my Calzone Recipe that I posted earlier this year click here.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!

Gracious Hospital-i-Tea Blog-a-thon ~ Stitches

 April 6th – 12th ~ Share ideas and pictures that involve stitching for the tea table. Any kind of stitches count: sewing, embroidery, knitting, crochet, tatting, quilting, etc. The work can be yours or of someone else, but should be homemade rather than done by factory machines. Ideas are
napkins, tea cozies, table linens, and other creations made with tea themes.

 

I have always called these dish towels tea towels so I’m including them in my stitch post. The Tea Cozy in the center was a gift that a friend in England knit for me after I was so excited seeing my very first tea cozy at her house in 1973. The doilie to the right of the tea cozy is great for setting a teapot on. I have a lot of tablecloths and napkins that I use for pretty tea tables that do not have a tea theme in particular. Most of these items are in my home in Washington and I don’t have access to them for this post. I’m looking forward to my visits to your sites to see what stichery you have…

I forgot about these fancy teaspoons we inherited from my MIL and decided to add them to this post

 

For more Hospital-i-Tea blogathon posts on stichery click here.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!

Gracious Hospital-i-Tea Blog-a-Thon ~ Decor-a-Tea #3

For my next Decor-a-Tea post I’m sharing my random sugar and creamers that I have displayed here and there in my house.

 

Every time I see a complete sugar and creamer set at Goodwill or any thrift store I’m tempted to buy them.

I keep some of my tea and other entertaining goodies in this old cabinet from Dear’s parents.

An old pink depression glass sugar and creamer.

More Royal Albert Moss Rose accessories and a Homer Laughlin plate.

For more Decor-a-Tea posts head over to LaTeaDah’s.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!

Decor-a-Tea ~ More Pink…

This is a follow-up to my Pink Tea collage with some larger photos. I’ve posted these before in 2007 but wanted to re-post them for the Decor-a-Tea theme.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage. I’m working on updating my blog posts very slowly.

 

 

 

 

 

My next Decor-a -Tea post will be Blue!

Oops! Sorry ladies I just read LaTeaDah’s weekly themes a little more carefully and see that my tea tables could have waited till May. I’ll share my Vintage Blue tea table then and my Tea for One in that week, too. Now to follow the directions and stop jumping the gun! 🙂

For more tea posts visit our Gracious Hostess LaTeDah.

Tea Blog-a-thon ~ Decor-a-Tea

This weeks theme is decorating with tea items, or tea collections etc. I’m getting ready for my posts and wanted to remind you that’s it’s not to late to join in. Head over to Gracious Hospitality for the themes each week. Then you can click on the link below my collage to see other posts for this weeks theme. Here’s my first contribution to Decor-a-Tea.

 

The tea set and dishes are Royal Albert Moss Rose. The napkins and napkin rings are Target clearance. The glasses and clear glass plates on top of the Moss Rose plates are from Goodwill. The tablecloth is a quilt I bought at T.J.Max. The runner is a piece of dotted swiss fabric with lace that I found at Goodwill, too. The salt and pepper shakers are a gift from a friend who purchased them in Victoria, B.C. I love to find things here and there to add to my different ideas for place settings. When I find bargains it’s easier to justify adding them to my collections. I’ve gotten a lot braver in throwing odd things together and most of the time it works out well. Enjoy…

I’m headed to the airport now to return to Southern California. I will add some more Decor-a-Tea posts from there. Have a wonderful week everyone.

To see more Decorating Tea posts click here.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage. I’m working on updating my blog posts very slowly.

Our Time in Washington ~

 

While we’ve been in Washington (me for 2 weeks, Dear for 1 week), Dear has been gutting our basement. We need to take care of some water issues and do some structural strengthening. Today is the day for a very heavy steel beam to replace a wooden beam. Anyone free at 2:30 for some heavy lifting.

 

After all that hard work we want to eat hearty. We try to get everyone together to enjoy a meal. Yesterday I went to the meat market and they helped me pick out some very marbled meat to fulfill the workers cravings. Steak, baked potatoes, steamed cauliflower, salad with Persian dressing and sour dough bread. The meat was very tender and broiled to perfection by Dear. My dishwasher has been filled and emptied a lot.

 

At the end of some of my days here I’ve enjoyed views like this one from my bedroom windows.

Have a great Saturday. I’m meeting my walking buddies at 9:00 for our walk on the trail. I’ll post my average steps later for Lovella’s walking club.

*No walking post today. The walking club is taking the week off so we will resume next week. I did walk this week with two over 17,000 step days, a couple 6800 step days a 8646 step day and a 12,595 step day. So my average for the week was 11,532 steps. See y’all walking buddies again next week.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage. I’m working on updating my blog posts very slowly.

Litera Tea ~ Anne of Green Gables

I just recently read Anne of Green Gables for the first time. I had seen and enjoyed the movies. This is a great quote from the book during a conversation with Anne and Marilla as Anne anticipates going to tea at the manse (a clergyman’s residence).

“But all things have an end, even nights before the day on which you are invited to take tea at the manse. The morning, in spite of Matthew’s predictions, was fine and Anne’s spirits soared to their highest.

“Oh, Marilla, there is something in me today that makes me just love everybody I see, ” she exclaimed as she washed the breakfast dishes. “You don’t know how good I feel! Wouldn’t it be nice if it could last? I believe I could be a model child if I were just invited out to tea everyday. But oh, Marilla, it’s a solemn occasion, too. I feel so anxious. What if I shouldn’t behave properly? You know I never had tea at a manse before, and I’m not sure that I know all the rules of etiquette, although I’ve been studying the rules given in the Etiquette Department of the Family Herald ever since I came here. I’m so afraid I’ll do something silly or forget to do something I should do. Would it be good manners to take a second helping of anything if you wanted to very much?”

“The trouble with you, Anne, is that you’re thinking too much about yourself. You should just think of Mrs. Allan and what would be nicest and most agreeable for her.” said Marilla, hitting for once in her life on a very sound and pithy piece of advice. Anne instantly realized this.

“You are right, Marilla. I’ll try not to think about myself at all.”

Enjoy a little tea in my library in celebration of Litera-tea!
My first Litera post about Russian Tea is here.

For more Litera-Tea click over to Gracious Hospitality.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage. I’m working on updating my blog posts very slowly.

ABC Wednesday ~ J is for…

Blogspot bloggers!! Please do all of us bloggers a favor and add the “Choose an Identity that lets you put in your name and url without a google account” feature to your comment page. It makes life easier for those of us who aren’t blogspot bloggers. Please, pretty please, with sugar on top!
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J is for

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Our Son Josh who has brought lots of Joy to our lives! Click here to see him suspended in the air in China!

 

Johnson Bros. Dishes that I love to collect here and there if I find them at a bargain price.

And for your dining pleasure a lovely Applesauce Rasberry Jello Salad that is perfect for Spring and Summer and you can click here for the recipe.

For more ABC Wednesday Posts travel over to Mrs. Nesbitt’s.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage. I’m working on updating my blog posts very slowly.

Eggs and Kulich

Our Easter preparations are on their way.

Katie colors the eggs each year.

 

I decorate the show piece of our food celebration, the Kulich (Russian Easter Bread). I did say decorate. I didn’t say I baked it. That is still on my list to do before I die.

 

We will celebrate all day tomorrow with friends, family, food, hallelujahs and hosannas to our Resurrected King.

Blessings on all your preparations and celebrations…

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage. I’m working on updating my blog posts very slowly.

Teacup-a-Story ~ Week One

 

March 16 – March 22
Teacup-a-Story ~Share a picture of your favorite teacup and saucer; describe it and tell it’s history (or make up a story about it’s past). Why is it meaningful to you? This would be a good place to share about the details of your teacup collection if you have one.

 

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These cups are each special to me for different reasons. The first one was made in Russia. My heritage is Russian and I was happy to find this cup and saucer at Goodwill on one of my shopping trips there. I really enjoy blues in dishes so that’s another reason I like it.
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The second photo is a tea-cup from the tea set that I bought as a souvenir when I was in England in 1973. I really enjoyed the shape of the Royal Albert china. After we were married we traveled to Canada and were able to add to my original tea set with a dinner service for 12. Besides blue and white I find pink and green very pleasing to my eyes.
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This next tea cup and saucer are from my MIL’s stash. Her brother gave her a set of dishes in this pattern as a wedding gift. I love the flowers and the history that goes with this sweet cup.
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The last cup is from a set of dishes that I saw in a model home that we walked through before we bought our home in Ventura, California in 1984. When we moved in to our home the housing development had a model home furniture and accessories sale and I bought the service for 4 for $25.00. I was a happy camper. The pattern is English Chippendale/Johnson Bros./ England.

I never collected tea-cups but I inherited and bought them here and there when one caught my eye. You can visit LaTeaDah and see more Tea-cups with a story.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage. I’m working on updating my blog posts very slowly.