Tea Time

I love tea houses. Maybe you do too? Well, here's a sight that my mom sent to me that finds tea rooms near you. Enjoy!

http://www.teamap.com/

and for those with some adventure in you...here's the recipe for a cucumber sandwich. I am going to make one. If you do... let me know how yours turned out ok?

Peel a cucumber and slice it into transparencies on the slicing side of a grater, or by adroit (whatever that is!) use of a potato peeler. Sprinkle these see-through discs with a little vinegar and salt. After half an hour, (good grief!) drain away the excess cucumber juice by shuffling the slices in a sieve. Cover a slice of lightly buttered paper-thin brown bread with two layers of cucumber, and top with another slice of bread. Apply firm but delicate pressure with the palm of the hand. Slice off the crusts, and cut into three rectangles. Pile these neatly (naw.. I think I'll pile mine all over the place after all this work!) on a porcelain serving plate, (or a paper plate- ha) and cover with a lightly dampened cloth until tea is served.

"The cucumber sandwich is the aristocrat of the teatable; cool, gracious and impeccable. Should you peel the cucumber or not? It depends on whether you like the thin green line (also upon whether or not you live in America, where cucumbers are waxed and therefore must be peeled). One thing is for certain- the bread must be as slim as a leaf. (good luck on that one sista!) By virtue of its utter simplicity and symbolic status, the cucumber sandwich is also one of the few foods to rise from the merely culinary world to dizzy literary heights."

from the book The London Ritz Book Of Afternoon Tea

wow... these people are serious about some cucumber sandwiches! HA!

Gwen

Practicing with a spoon.


Yesterday we went to Ben's Grandma and Grandpa's house. We found a rocking chair just her size. Grandpa says it was his when he was a little thing. I teased him about how in his day babies had to rock themselves to sleep.

Meal Plan

makeover nacho turkey bake
pasta with fresh vegetables
homemade fish sticks, sweet potatoes, salad
grilled chicken salad
pressure cooker pork chops, hominy, roasted parmesan green beans
chicken soup with cream of wheat gnocchi

This week my new thing I'm trying is hominy. I bought it a while ago and just never have tried it yet. We'll see...

Review from last week:
roasted chile and tomatillo stew- I loved the tomatillos. Ben said he thought it was a bit too tart for his taste.
shrimp curry and rice- it was excellent. It tasted like take out from an Indian joint. You must make this with basmati rice. It is incredible and has a different taste than just plain Uncle Ben's.
Spanish beef stew- nice and spicy... I took some short cuts, but I think it would be nice to do the recipe like it says and cook the meat until it is falling apart. It just took too long for me.
White bean soup- didn't make. It is one of my back up meals for this week.
tomato tart- that's tomorrow night. Ben and I had a night away... so some of these meals I didn't get around to.

Mama and Thoughts

I know a lot of people must feel this way, but I really have the best mama in the world. I love the feel of her hands and how she laughs a lot. I love that she is giving and loyal and a good example of how to stay true to the marriage vow.

I want Gwen to call me "mama". Not mommy, not mom, not mother, but mama. That's what I called my mama. I have been saying it, oh, a thousand times a day to her trying to get her to say it and last night it sounded like she said it. Maybe it was an dream, but Ben heard it too.

Speaking of motherhood... I got a book from the library yesterday called "Miserly Moms" by Jonni McCoy. I've read her recipe book called "Miserly Meals", but I'm always looking for advice to live more simply and smarter. I included a picture here of the front of the book. It has to be the silliest picture I've ever seen. A lady carrying around a paper mache pig. I laughed out loud. BUT it does have neat statistics in there. Listen to this:


A restaurant meal costs six to ten times more than one made from scratch.

A frozen meal costs four times more than one made from scratch.

A prepackaged mix costs three times more than one made from scratch.

Precut foods (ready salads, sliced carrots, shredded cheese) cost two times more than if you cut them yourself.

How's that for incentive to cut out convenience foods from your life and cook at home!!!

What I do to save money in this area is I shop at Aldi's market. They are great. I look for deals and use a few coupons. I just don't have the energy to collect and remember coupons even though I know they are a great tool. I plan my meal plans around what I know I can get at Aldi's. I do go to another store if I have an ingredient that I can't find though. This week I made something with tomatillos so I sent Ben out to get some from another market. Lo and behold I go to Aldi's and they have them. Go figure! By the way, tomatillos are delicious!! I just broiled them with salt on there and put them in a stew.

Ok, another thought. Last night I was reading another book I got from the library about the art of having tea. I mean a sit down tea in the afternoon. I like the idea of doing that. Who doesn't right? I found this nursery rhyme in there that I've never heard before. Ben said he hadn't heard it either.

The lion and the unicorn
were fighting for the crown;
the lion beat the unicorn
all round the town.
Some gave them white bread,
and some gave them brown;
and some gave them plum cake,
and sent them out of town.

poor unicorn...

Garden Update and Weekend Fun

So today Ben and I walked around the downtown market and bought some more plants for our garden. We bought a purple beauty bell pepper plant. This is what the purple pepper will hopefully look like. I've never seen one before.. have you?



You'll probably have to enlarge this photo...but we have peas around the outer perimeter of the box (don't ask me why I did this.. I now regret that sort of) and then two big boy tomato plants and one "burpless" cucumber plant. I'm not sure why it's burpless because personally cucumbers don't make me burp, but I couldn't resist buying one of those.


In this one I have buttercrunch lettuce, peas, and now peppers. I have three yellow pepper plants and one purple. They didn't have red pepper plants. I think I might get one though because I love the taste of those.


Today at the market we saw these lambs and kid goat.

Anyone want a sweet potato? Good grief! Look how big these are! Ok, so not the size of Grandma and Grandpa's one...but getting there.


and it's that time of year again. My peonies have bloomed once more. I LOVE them so much I can't even stand it.

Here I was trying to get a photo of Gwen and the bouquet but she insisted on tearing the petals off and I couldn't stand that for long.


Ben went around the house singing this tune today:
(to the tune of Do You Hear What I Hear)

Do you hear what I hear?
no I don't so tell me so
a dog, a dog, bit me on the leg
so now I have a wooden peg
so now I have a wooden peg

Big Chair

My mom and dad went shopping for new chairs. They found this store that had this chair for photo ops. The store paid $2,000 for this chair. I was so jealous I didn't have my picture taken in it. :)

Swine

So I was reading nursery rhymes to Gwen tonight and came across this one that made me go, "hum."

Curly-locks, Curly-locks, wilt thou be mine?
Thou shalt not wash the dishes, nor yet feed the swine;
But sit on a cushion, and sew a fine seam
And feed upon strawberries, sugar, and cream.

So... does that mean later on after she finishes her dessert that she'll have to feed the pigs? Just checking...

and finally... I think this is how you catch the swine flu. (compliments to Stacey M. for this pic) :)

My Favorite At The Moment

Dreams

The other night I dreamed that Gwen's first word was "cornbread." Anybody think that's a vision? Just checkin'

Remote

Yesterday I was shopping for Mother's Day in Tuesday Morning store and Ben and Gwen were in the Ace Hardware next door. I normally talk myself out of everything when I'm shopping. I do not like to shop on the whole...but you know me and the unusual. I'm drawn to it like a moth to flame. We have several remotes and we've been talking about getting a universal remote. Well... I found just the one for us. Here it is.

Be Still

Meal Plan

This week I'm trying something new. I'm trying a dish with tomatillos in there. They look like green tomatoes with a little paper like casing over them. They are common in Mexican dishes. So, here's the plan for the week.

roasted chile and tomatillo stew
creamy Italian white-bean soup
shrimp curry and rice
savory tomato tart, salad
spanish beef stew, brown rice

Have a nice week!

Terence and Other Happenings

Ben surprised me with an early Mother's Day gift today. I've been wanting a garden gnome for some time now. Ben just happened to find this one on sale at the grocery store. Don't ask, I don't know. We decided to name him Terence. Are we silly or WHAT? (rhetorical question of course) He is going to grace our front door and tell everyone "hi."


Gwen likes him.


Ben bonding with Terence. No, I didn't put him up to this pose.. he chose it himself. :)


Me with Terence. (ps... notice salad is on the table.. aren't you proud of me?)


Speaking of lettuce... I joined a gym on Tuesday night. I've never actually been a member of a gym unless Curves counts as one. I've taken several exercise classes and worked out with a trainer once (for free) and I'm pretty sore. All told, in a few months I should look like this.


Here's Ben and Gwen tonight after her bath. To distract her we have her work on her math skills so we can put on her diaper. Here she is figuring the square root of something. :)

Gwen the Star

Ben's brother, Jake, put this together for his church. All of the pictures of the babies are professional except my Gwen. I think she fits right in. :)

Ben's Joke

Tonight Ben was sitting at the dinner table and said, "you wanna hear a joke I just made up?" With a raise of an eyebrow I said "ok, sure." He then told this joke:

What did the bean say to the flight attendant?

Give me a seat with more legume.

Nothin' Much

I don't have a whole lot to say, but I wanted to share some pictures of some blooms in my kitchen at the moment. Pretty much I keep fresh flowers in my house all the time thanks to my wonderful husband and family. They make me happy. Here is a shot of Gwen I took the other day. She just happened to match the roses so I thought I'd take a photo. She's got an upper tooth coming in now so it will be so cute when she has two on the bottom and only one in on top. I'll be sure to try to get a picture of that! I know, I know, I take pictures with her and flowers all the time, but they both make me happy so why not put them together?


This is a bouquet that Ben's Grandmother brought me of lilacs and baby's breath. Isn't it beautiful? It smells heavenly too!

Politics

If you live in Kansas please call Senator Brownback at 913-492-6378 and Senator Roberts at 913-451-9343 and ask that they not confirm Governor Sibelius as the Health and Human Services chairperson. She is supportive of abortion and even late term abortion. She has received money from famous late term abortionist George Tiller for her campaign. Please, please, please call. It can make a difference.

Princess

I received a magazine filled with first birthday supplies. I thumbed through it and came across this chair. The caption says "watch her open gifts up on a throne! You'll treasure the photos." Is this excessive or what? Ben gets riled up about stuff like this. I think it's funny and over the top.

Spring

Ok, I officially love spring. Here are a few shots for your pleasure.

Tulips in our front yard.


My two raised bed gardens.


the peony bushes reaching for the sun. Can't wait till they bloom!


Buttercrunch lettuce. They are growing.


Believe it or not, this is a baby pea plant. Considering I really don't know what I'm doing I'm pleased with any progress at all.


and last but not least... Gwen. She's 10 months old now and beginning to speak a language no one can understand. It's so adorable. She loves looking out of the windows. She rarely sits still and is so curious about everything. She loves to stand up and shake the bars of her crib and she also loves it when Ben does the "gorilla dance" while saying "Uga booga booga uga booga booga."

Lugie

We have a neighborhood hawk that stops off sometimes in our backyard. I am fascinated by him. He is a young hawk... I can tell by his size. I call him a "he", but I'm not sure if it's a female or male. Ben and I have affectionately named him "Lugie". His full name is Hawk A. Lugie and his middle name is Alvin. He stopped off today to get a drink from our fountain. When I went outside and said "I love you Lugie" he flew off. Can you believe that?



Here's little Gwen helping me fold clothes. Training early.