Showing posts with label Return to Loveliness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Return to Loveliness. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Time To Celebrate
Monday, November 30, 2015
Joyful. Joyful
Finally, the Christmas box is out of the living and things are shaping... perhaps not completely but well enough to make me happy with my quiet time in there! Because of a decorative light problem I did some changing about to make it all work.... the mantel and the tree in the corner are finally complete!
Here is one of the several changes that have happened that I wrote of in my previous post....
We have arrived at a juncture in life when neither of us was willing to put the big tree up.... so We are enjoying our year round trees in new venues and new purposes.... it surely is much easier!
I had a lovely wrought iron planter as the centerpiece for the mantel, but it was a royal pain plugging the lights in so I switched it for this sweet medieval lantern
So now the living room is aglow with lights..... I do enjoy them so!
But because of the rough iron I must use cloths on the surfaces.....
A bit of a wider view on into the dining room...
Thursday Favorite Things
No Place Like Home
I was also over the moon to find that I was featured on Sandi's fabulous blog....
No Place Like Home
I was also over the moon to find that I was featured on Sandi's fabulous blog....
Monday, November 23, 2015
Season of Gratitude Celebrated
For us Thanksgiving has come and gone..... and it was a time of reflection, grace, sharing, and gratitude with not only some of our very best friends but our whole church fellowship as well.. I almost giddy with it all so when I saaw this erse it really resonated with me
"The morns are meeker than they were,
The nuts are getting brown;
The berry's cheek is plumper,
The rose is out of town.
The maple wears a gayer scarf,
The field a scarlet gown.
Lest I should be old-fashioned,
I'll put a trinket on."
- Emily Dickinson
Saturday evening the table was bedecked and ready for our guests.. the candles lit and the kitchen permeated the home with the sweet aromas of harvest meals of the season!
I even made two large pitchers of hubby's favorite ice tea!!! Something I hadnt made in sevearl years!
The parlor was alight with the fiery tones of autumn... ready for some casual conersation and warm friendship!
I absolutely love the six turkey plates I got this season that go so well with my black Royal Stafford transferware! I am definitely a mix and match gal!
I decided with this bunch of pals it wa s best to put the guys at one end and the gals at the other so we could all really chat up a storm unheededly.... So I found some cute name tags for each setting... Of course, I placed the guys at the end nearest the kitchen so hubby could play Carson, the butler, for the evening!!!!
Looks like the table was ready..... and
the side board was clear for extra food!
Now for the food.... I wrote in a previous post my menu.... here are the delicious turkey cutlets braised in Madeira sauce.. the sauce there on the side! YUMMYY!!!!Recipes wre previously posted as well!
Hubby prepared his delectable kale here dressed with crumbled apple wood smoked bacon...
Fluffy mashed potatoes.. I did add a dollop of sour cream to these which made them rich and yummy!
These sweet potato Medallions were a hit... roasted with a brown sugar and orange glaze.
My first attempt at a molded salad.... it almost came out ! hahaha .. but it was also completely homemade another also first attempt!!! I will never purchase canned cranberries again!!!!!
and I really enjoyed the green bean casserole... I believe it was because I made it in a flat quiche dish and everything was just the right amount of bubbly... YUM! Oh, and I did add splashes of worstershire to it... !
My brothers and sisters in Christ... love them so much!!!!
Then last night our whole church, about 350 people came out for a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner... the church provided the meats and the tables were laden with family's specialie of the season! WOW! it was amazing... but the evening began with a time of repentance and then a glorious communion service!! We are so blessed.... let us never forget that as a nation!And now... I get to pack autumn all away and start sorting through Christmas !!!! Yippee!!!!
How exciting.. last week I was featured here!
How exciting.. last week I was featured here!
I am sharing on
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Harvest Home
Harvest Dinner
Turkey Cutlets
with Madeira Gravy
Orange Glazed Sweet Potatoes
Mashed Potatoes Green Bean Casserole
Orange Glazed Sweet Potatoes
Mashed Potatoes Green Bean Casserole
Kale Cranberry Apricot Sauce
Rolls
Iced Tea Water
Pumpkin Pie Coffee
T hanks for time to be together, turkey, talk, and tangy weather.
H for harvest stored away, home, and hearth, and holiday.
A for autumn's frosty art, and abundance in the heart.
N for neighbors, and November, nice things, new things to remember.
K for kitchen, kettles' croon, kith and kin expected soon.
S for sizzles, sights, and sounds, and something special that about.
That spells THANKS for joy in living and a jolly good Thanksgiving.
- Aileen Fisher, All in a Word
So looking forward to this weekend when we get to share the Lord's bounty with good friends... That is what our season of Thanksgiving is now.. sharing with our wonderful church friends or otherwise folks we know and love who are without family at this time of year. Now that my parents have passed on to eternity... (this is my mom's first Thanksgiving in heaven) it is our great pleasure to include others during this festive and glorious season of gratitude!
In a previous post I shared that I love planning just such events... I have been perusing recipes where ever they can be found. I love the idea of using single serving turkey such as cutlets now because we just cant seem to enjoy leftovers now that it is just the two of us.So when I found this recipe in Southern Living, I was completely allured by the idea since otherwise it is difficult to make a good homemade gravy... For this recipe I am using cutlets instead of the tenderloin...... which simply was not to be found in our area!
I, also, found the cranberry mold recipe here.. I inherited my mom's mold and to be honest, Ive never used one... I know I'm taking a chance on that but nothing ventured nothing gained!
The Sweet potato recipe is found here!
I am pretty excited about using my new
centerpiece~gilded antlers... which reminds me so much of my heritage... my grand dad was a hunter, fisherman, farmer who was almost perfectly self sufficient on his dairy farm. He worked hard, he learned carpentry and built his home and farm buildings, then he married and set about to create a wonderful family on his growing farm.. The Lord blessed them with 6 beautiful hard working daughters instead of sons, but they made it through the great depression with food to share! I loved to go fishing with grandpa... I watched him prepare the food he had hunted on his land, and I plucked a chicken or two myself. I am thankful for this great pioneer spirit that is within me, but also for the heritage of godliness that my forebears passed down through the family... I have so much for which to be thankful!
centerpiece~gilded antlers... which reminds me so much of my heritage... my grand dad was a hunter, fisherman, farmer who was almost perfectly self sufficient on his dairy farm. He worked hard, he learned carpentry and built his home and farm buildings, then he married and set about to create a wonderful family on his growing farm.. The Lord blessed them with 6 beautiful hard working daughters instead of sons, but they made it through the great depression with food to share! I loved to go fishing with grandpa... I watched him prepare the food he had hunted on his land, and I plucked a chicken or two myself. I am thankful for this great pioneer spirit that is within me, but also for the heritage of godliness that my forebears passed down through the family... I have so much for which to be thankful!
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Monday, October 19, 2015
Can Not decide this year!
Ok, I have a bit of a dilemma... I do love the white pumpkin look....
with the black and white check cloth and paisley napkins on
white china.
But the blue pumpkin on the same cloth has it's own allure..
even though that year I used the black and white transfer ware.
maybe I could do better this time with the placemats....
I do like switching things about from year to year....
Maybe I should just move things into the dining room and switch out the cloth with the transfer ware and used the florals..
I am interested to note that these photos were taken the year prior to the season of years I spent taking care of mom and dad after they gave up housekeeping...Lately, things have been so very much less thoughtful... and now I have the time and I am trying to decide what floats my boat!
For example last year instead of shopping for pumpkins and going full autumn... apples from the cupboard were in vogue... for us!
and in the dining room I was still using the blues from summer.. just throw on a sunflower and call it fall!
Well, this year I have pumpkins of various colors and I am thinking of just going for the gold!!! When one has the time they should just go for it and just see where it takes one.... hahaha...
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Sunday, September 13, 2015
After All is Said And Done
We are finally seeing the final touches to our kitchen reno!
I was so excited to see Lynn putting up this light yesterday....
going from this 40 year old recessed light to a pendant was somewhat tricky, but he figured it out beautifully.. just need to do a bit of final painting and filling in around the larger square hole left behind.
Yes, we do still have our 40 inch range... too bad one cannot find a 40 incher in SS. so we will continue with our old one which is basically fairly new anyway!
But I do appreciate my new fridge and dish washer... totally silent!
Another specialty item we have installed are under the counter lights which are so terrific... and I have them on the other side of the room at my computer station area.... Don't have that set up yet... will add an update when that occurs!
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