The Three Birds Pub…

…or Public House. All secrets will be revealed and all projects will finally be shared from the mysterious sewing and planning for this evening of “Celebrating” good friends and good food.

We had a wonderful time at a “Thank You” celebration at this old ~~house~~ Pub on Sunday November 10th. We wanted our friend from England (who now lives in Washington) to know how much we appreciated his offering of his parent’s home in Porthtowan to us this past September. He not only offered their home but also gave us some great recommendations for things to do while we were there. Our guests were very surprised when they arrived to our ~~house~~ Pub on Sunday!

We decided to name our pub “The Three Birds” because of the 3 birds on our stained glass window.

The reader board is from a business our son Josh had when he was in high school. Dear spray painted one side of it with chalk board paint that you can buy at craft stores. We used Union Jack duct tape to frame the chalkboard and frame some other signs that we made for the evening. Our daughter in law, Laura, did all the printing on the chalk boards. The printing on the signs were my effort…oye.

In England a lot of Pubs have Beef and Yorkshire pudding as specials on Sundays so we decided to do the same since our meal was on a Sunday, too.

As you stepped into ye olde pub you were greeted with various scarves from English premier league futbol (soccer) teams.

We had lots of fun with our signage…

We carried the bird theme wherever we could. These sweet birds were in a flower basket that Josh and Laura gave me for Mother’s Day symbolizing my 3 little birds that are all grown up now.

Laura printed the names on the place cards, too. See the bird place card holders?

This was another Chalk Paint project that Dear painted for me. I bought the white photo frame from Michael’s on clearance for $11.88. I liked the shape of the wood frame. Dear took the glass out of the frame and spray painted it with the Chalk paint. We let it dry and waited a few days before we treated the chalk paint as directed by rubbing chalk all over it and then wiping it off. Now it was ready to go. I stuck on the stickers and Laura printed out the menu.

These banners were some of my sewing experiments. The front banner is just a short twine tied between our island pen lights with 3 of the 12 napkins I made for the table. There were only 9 of us at the table so I used these 3 to fill in the air space in our kitchen/eating area trying to cozy things up to look more like a pub. I’ll be brave and show more close up detail on my sewing efforts at the end of the post.

Each place setting had a poppy broach that I made by cutting off individual poppies from a bouquet stem of poppies that we bought at Hobby Lobby. I used wire cutters to do that and then attached stick on pin fasteners on the backs so they could be pinned on easily, or not so easily as it turned out. The reason we decided on the Poppy broaches was to commemorate Remembrance Day/Veteran’s Day since our time together was on Veteran’s Day Weekend and Poppies are worn extensively in England during this time.

The centerpiece was filled with some items that we would see on pub tables when we were in England and some things I added. I wanted to use as much pewter as I could.

I used pewter mugs that Dear and I bought in England in the early seventies for our flower arrangements.

The napkin rings were silver tea pots. All the plates were made in England. I used a combination of three different blue and white transferware.

These are the rough cut napkins that I made from a yard and a half of British themed fabric. I was able to get 12 napkins from the yardage I bought. I trimmed the runner with some bias tape I found in my MIL’s old sewing box. I also used bias tape for the little triangle cut outs that were left over from my original Pub banner.

Now to the most important reason for our evening…our guests!

The lovely ladies with their poppies on. Left to right, Katie, Laura, Gwen, Terri, and Sophie. Terri and Gwen are sister in laws. Terri is married to Gwen’s brother Luke. Luke was too sick to be able to join us. Sophie is one of Terri and Luke’s daughters.

Our guest of honor Gabriel with his wife Gwen and Josh and Laura. It was fun to share our England experiences with our friends and to thank Gabriel in person for his generosity to us and his great suggestions on what to see and eat in Cornwall.

Last but not least was our dessert.

Sticky Toffee Pudding. I will be posting the recipe at Mennonite Girls Can Cook on Wednesday, November 13th.

We said farewell to our guests with our stomachs full and our hearts full. A most wonderful evening. Our kids helped us clean up and we went to sleep content with visions of Prime Rib and Yorkshire pudding dancing in our heads. If you want a tried and true recipe for Prime Rib and Yorkshire Pudding for your Christmas Holidays this year make sure you order one of our Celebrations Cookbooks. If you gift someone with this book you are also gifting children in Kenya who need clean water to live well. All of our author royalties go to this cause.

For the next couple days I think I’ll sit with my feet up and enjoy this book that I first heard about on Vee’s Blog, A Haven for Vee. It finally arrived last Saturday. We ordered it before we traveled to England! What is on your schedule this week?

I’m linking up to Cuisine Kathleen’s Let’s Dish. As soon as her direct link is up for this week I’ll add it to my post. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to link up. Looking forward to seeing what’s going on in Dish world!!

Seattle’s All a Buzz!

You could literally feel the excitement coming from people as Laura and I walked into the Century Link Stadium on Saturday night. There was to be a “huge announcement” before the game and they asked everyone to make sure and be in their seats at 7:15. We complied because we heard rumors and wanted to see if what we heard would be true and it was…

Clint Dempsey is now a Seattle Sounder!

“Dempsey, the captain of U.S. national team who was purchased from Tottenham of the English Premier League, joins a Seattle team that is getting healthier, hungrier and hotter.”

“Going into the season, I thought I was going to be at Tottenham,” Dempsey said, “but MLS and the Seattle Sounders, they moved mountains to get me here. I am excited to be back in America.”

OK…I realize not all my bloggy friends are Soccer fans and some of you won’t even recognize his name but this is a huge development for the Sounders team and it was so much fun to witness and especially hear the excitement on Saturday night when Dempsey peeled off his hoody and revealed his new Sounders jersey.

In case you are wondering why it was just Laura and I walking into the stadium, Josh is at Lakeside Bible Camp directing the junior high camp for this week. Laura was busily texting him with the news that the Clint Dempsey signing rumors were true. Josh was very excited about two of his favorite things on Saturday…Soccer and Lakeside Bible Camp.

Home front news:

My mom has decided to go off oxygen and morphine so as of Sunday the oxygen has been removed from my parents apartment. My brother served my mom and pop communion on Sunday evening and several of us were able to google hangout to be part of the evening at the apartment. We sang together and prayed together. My mom is still very alert and she continues to make us laugh with her down to earth comments. The dialogues between her and my pop are priceless. Our nephew Caleb is getting married this coming Saturday in Gaviota, California so mom and pop in their words are “putting off dying till after the wedding” they call the wedding a detour from dying. We have enough material from our dear parents to make a mini-series.

My mom with niece Melissa on Sunday. My mom said “I like this gadget”.

From the eternal to the mundane…our floors are now ready to receive their new padding and carpeting. What interesting room landscapes we are living with for a couple days. 2 queen mattress sets are stacked where our dining table usually sits. Fun times! Even with this configuration we enjoyed a wonderful Copper River Salmon meal last night with my sister and her hubby. Before their softball game Lana asked if she could drop off all the supplies for dinner so Dear and I could cook it for the 4 of us while they fulfilled their team duties. Little sisters can make those kinds of requests. I did reply to her “what do you think I am, a Mennonite?” She replied, “yes, I heard you were adopted in.” So there you have it. And because our garage is full of our other furniture which made our barbecue impossible to retrieve I cooked the salmon on the deck in an electric skillet…if that’s not a Mennonite alternative cooking method I don’t know what is!? We had salmon, black rice, broiled asparagus-zucchini and a cucumber heirloom tomato salad. Delicious. Chunky Monkey Ice Cream for dessert.

How was your weekend?

Happy Fourth of July!

My decorations are going up today and the smoker is already cooking away.

If you head over to Mennonite Girls Can Cook you will see a recipe for easy delicious Pork Loin Ribs slow roasted in the oven.

God Bless America

While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,

Let us swear allegiance to the land that’s free,

Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,

As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer.

God Bless America

Land that I love.

Stand beside her, and guide her

Through the night with the light from above.

From the mountains, to the prairies

To the oceans, white with foam.

God bless America, My own sweet home

God bless America, My own sweet home.

God bless America and God bless all who visit here!

Ditt enn Daut…

This and that from the rest of our time in Manitoba…and of course food is involved. These events are not in any particular order.

This was the Retreat Center that we stayed in during our time in Manitoba. Our last morning there we took our coffee out on the wrap around porch.

Betty is keeping an eye on me as I trek through the tall grass and weeds over to the church next door to take a stroll through their cemetery. She was hoping I wouldn’t end up with ticks on my legs. Yikes!

Here I go…

When I got back from my trek I found most of the girls having their coffee on the porch while we waited to enjoy our breakfast. Or maybe this was after breakfast. Anyhoo I won’t say out loud on my blog what I said to make them laugh.

One thing for sure is that we did not go hungry on any day or for any meal!

We were able to make a quick stop at Betty’s home and have a little tour to see where she cooks. While we were there a storm blew through and Lovella was excited to get out into it. The reason she’s toting that hanging plant is a whole other story.

While in Betty’s community we stopped at Main Bread & Butter Co. so some of the girls could buy some famous Bothwell Squeaky Cheese. We were excited to see our book for sale on one of their displays.

Now we are all the way back to the beginning of our time in Manitoba and our first night at the Women Refreshed at the Well Retreat Center. We pretty much started with good food and ended with good food. After all…it was a cookbook signing tour.

This was Charlotte’s Cake that she made for our dessert on our first evening.

We are grateful to God for all he has done in each of our lives and the great times that we enjoy together.

It’s been good to have a large chunk of this week without any plans or appointments. The next thing on the calendar is a bridal shower on Saturday for my nephew’s future bride. Those of us up here in the PNW are happy to be able to attend a family shower without having to fly. We will be flying to the wedding in August that will be in the Santa Barbara area.

I’m experimenting with a new way to make ribs in the oven and if the recipe turns out well I’ll be sharing it on the Mennonite Girls Can Cook website on the 4th of July. Time will tell since I’m cooking it low and slow…

Fancy Egg Scramble…

Fancy eggs with no fuss the morning of. This was a go to recipe years ago and I decided to revive it and make it for a Sunday meal. It worked out great for inviting someone from church for brunch. We go to the 9:00 a.m. service. By the time our company found our home the egg dish was in the oven and half way done. Before church I washed the fruit and mixed it together. The other way I simplified the meal was to have muffins that were purchased. We were able to sit down and enjoy a meal and conversation with no fussing over the meal.

We enjoyed this make-ahead breakfast dish years ago and I finally revived it for brunch recently. Everyone enjoyed it.

1 cup diced ham
1/4 cup chopped green onion (scallions)
3 tablespoons butter
12 eggs beaten
1 6oz. can diced Green Chiles

Cheese Sauce:

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 cups milk
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Method:

Melt butter in heavy large skillet. Saute ham and green onions in butter.
Add beaten eggs and diced green chilies.
Mix ingredients and cook until eggs are just set. Remove from heat and prepare cheese sauce.
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in heavy bottom pan.
Add flour, salt and pepper to butter and cook on medium heat for 2 minutes.
Add the 2 cups of milk gradually and blend well. Cook to a gentle boil.
Add the grated cheese and mix well until cheese is melted. Add the cheese sauce to the egg mixture and fold in till combined.
Pour mixture into lightly greased 9×12 casserole dish.
Cover and refrigerate overnight until 30-40 minutes before you want to serve the dish
Cook uncovered at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

Serve with fruit and muffins or toast. Serves 6

We had this meal on Memorial Day weekend so it was also fun to set the table ahead of time and enjoy it all weekend.

This is a traveling week for me. Dear has been away since last Thursday and he arrives home tomorrow. I’m very excited to be reunited with him before I leave for Canada to fly to Winnipeg with the “girls” for some book signing events. I’ve never been to that part of Canada and I’m looking forward to seeing where our Betty and Charlotte live.

Hope you all have a good first full week of June!

Rhubarb Coffee Cake ~

In April I visited the Skagit Valley Tulip festival and after I walked through the beautiful tulip fields I stopped at a fresh road stand market in the valley on my way back home. They had fresh rhubarb from their fields available so I decided to buy some to take home. I ended up making a Rhubarb Coffee Cake.

I’ll admit that I had never used rhubarb in my kitchen before but was pleased with the lovely color and result.

Rhubarb Coffee Cake

Filling:

3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
4 cups fresh washed and chopped rhubarb
2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice

Optional:

You can add 1 cup fresh blueberries and 1 cup fresh strawberries or 2 cups fresh strawberries and then cut down on the rhubarb to 2 cups.

Cake:

3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup cold butter
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk (I used powdered buttermilk mix)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Topping:

3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup quick cooking oatmeal

1/4 cup cold butter

For the filling:

Combine the sugar and cornstarch in a sauce pot and add in the rhubarb.
Cook over medium heat until the sugar and cornstarch dissolves with the liquid that is extracted from cooking the rhubarb.
Cook for at least 2 minutes. This helps the cornstarch break down.
Remove from heat and add the lemon juice. Allow to cool.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare a 9 x 13 baking pan by lightly greasing it.

Method for Cake and Topping:

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda together in bowl.
Cut in the butter.
Beat eggs, buttermilk and vanilla in small bowl and add to the the other ingredients until moistened.
Put 2/3 of this batter into prepared pan.
Spread the filling on top of this layer.
Add the remaining batter on top spreading it as evenly as you can. Don’t worry if you can’t cover it all. Also the batter will be sticky to deal. You can grease your fingers with a little butter to help spread the batter.
In a small bowl combine the dry topping ingredients.
Cut in the butter until crumbly.
Spread the topping over the top of the last layer of batter as evenly as possible.
Bake in preheated oven for 50 minutes or until tester comes out clean and top begins to become golden brown. Ovens vary, so check after 45 minutes and don’t worry if it takes longer than 50 minutes.

Set the Table…

…and they will come!

On Monday night we gathered around the table to enjoy our visitors from California. We had stuffed cabbage that we call Goluptsi. You can see the recipe here. We had a wonderful salad with lots of goodies chopped in it and dressed with our favorite Persian Dressing.

Thursday the MGCC girls are being interviewed by Suzanne Woods Fisher at 2:00 PST and 5:00 EST on her Amish Wisdom show. You can listen in on a live feed here.

I’m linking up with Kathleen at Cuisine Kathleen for her weekly Let’s Dish Linky Party!

Two Country Drive…

Have I ever mentioned I love being able to take in 2 countries on a drive starting from my front door? Two countries in one day with beautiful weather is a special treat. Having Katie along on this road trip was a delight for me. As we started out our trip we started singing “Oh Canada” and Katie managed to sing most of the words!

This wasn’t our best view but I found out that when I’m the driver on a road trip fewer photos are taken. Our views were truly magnificent and I don’t think a photo could have really captured the glory anyway. We saw our wonderful Cascade range of mountains starting in the U.S.A. with many more glorious views in British Columbia. An eagle flew over us on our way up and on our way back. We drove through a lot of country that these creatures call home…

The photos from the road that I took like this one were when we were stopped for road works or at the Border Crossing. Speaking of Border crossings, I am always appreciative of the kind courtesy we receive from Border Crossing Agents from Canada and the U.S.A. I am grateful for the work they do, as thankless as it might be, to keep both our countries safer.

Our primary reason for traveling to Chilliwack was to pick up a shower gift I ordered for our niece Debbee from Winks. Katie, Laura, and I will be traveling to California soon for her bridal shower. I was so excited about seeing Kathy (one of our Mennonite Girls) at Winks I forgot again to take any photos. Kathy did a lovely job of bagging our purchase. This photo was taken after we got home. Sorry I can’t show you the gift until Debbee unwraps it. We were only at Winks for a very short time as we had a very important date down the road.

Meeting up with these Mennonite Girls was the best part of Katie and my trip. It was fun for Katie to meet them all and to see Bev again. We chattered for quite a while over our nice lunch and then parted ways. What? You want to see what we ate? Wouldn’t you know I at least got a few photos of our food.

I was real happy to see the pickle spears on our plates. Here is another question for you. Do you eat the pickle or leave it on the plate? It seems Marg and I both enjoy eating ours and are willing to eat yours, too, if you leave it there too long!!

From lunch we followed Bev to Yarrow to check out a local pottery shop that her friend Ted Dreidiger owns and where he throws and fires his beautiful creations. Umm, it’s not food, so again my camera stayed in my purse. Oye! I did take a photo of my purchase when we got home. It’s a great piece that’s perfect to warm a round of brie in or to serve other hot or cold dips in.

It was fun to visit Ted in his workshop and to see all his great pieces. Thanks Bev for suggesting this stop on our way back to the U.S.A.

As we continued home after our nice chat with the U.S. Border Officer Katie was game to see the downtown area of Lynden, Washington. Can you guess what we brought home in that box?

Bumbleberry Pie! We wanted Dear to get a taste of our trip, too.

Look at all that yummy filling!

We will be having a nice quiet day at home today with more excitement starting on Friday. It’s good to pace yourself…

What have you been up to?

Olivier Salad ~ Happy Russian New Year!

Modern Russian New Year has happened already but Old Russian New Year is later in January. I’ve posted the recipe for this salad with an interesting history on the Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog today. Head over to see how to put it together!

Happy Saturday to you all. I’m happy for a somewhat normal weekend. How about you?

A Small Interruption…

…to my Christmas table decor.

While working on my recipes for our Celebrations Cook book being published at the end of April in 2013 I had to redo one of my recipes which meant I needed to change out my Christmas table. I chose to set the table using my pewter pieces since my entree was a traditional English recipe. Some of my pewter pieces were acquired in England in the 70’s.

The pewter wine goblets and the Coffee service with creamer and sugar containers along with the salt and pepper shakers are from England. I decided to use the coffee pot as a vase on this occasion. The candle holders are Revere ware and the flatware is Gorham pewter. The chargers were gifted to us from our son and DIL for Christmas one year.

The runner is a gift from our son and DIL, too. I liked adding in the green goblets with the pewter.

The dishes are Royal Stafford and I think I purchased them at Marshalls.

I enjoy this table but soon it will be reset to our casual Christmas setting.

Now I need to get busy getting our Christmas cards ready to send out. Do you send out Christmas cards and do you add a personal note or do you type one Christmas letter to be included in all your cards?

We received good news yesterday from North Carolina! Our son-in-law is now a Marine Corporal. We are so proud of his achievement. I’m hoping to get an updated photo of him with his new blood stripes and pins along with his sword soon. Congratulations Marine Corporal Andrew!

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

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