On the (never-ending) to-do list....

This weeks project:

It doesn't look bad in this photo, but the finish was becoming faded and several places were worn thru entirely.  I've had this table for 20+ years - my children grew up eating at this table.

We refinished my old table.  I thought about painting it - and I might still do that one day - but once I sanded it down a little it was easy to see how nice it would look with just a coat of stain and a couple of coats of a Polyurethane finish.  We're on the fourth application of Poly, and I think that's gonna do it.  A couple days for it to dry and set up completely, and we can go back to eating on it.  Someday I hope the bf will make me a long, gorgeous farm table, but til then this table has lots of memories behind it.


Another item on the January "to-do" list:

Salvia, Sea Holly, Coneflower and Monarda seedlings-to-be!

Last fall I gathered up and saved seeds from some of my favorite plants I already have in the garden, with intentions of quadrupling my flowers without having to spend any money.  Wish me luck!

And here is what we did tonight:

An after-work glass of wine outside on the patio...

I am so loving this weather!  It was almost 70 degrees when I got home from work tonight!  Last year about this time we were shoveling snow.  This year I think we've had 2 or 3 days of less than 65 degree days.  So nice.  Thank you Mother Nature!  Come on Spring!

I'll be back in a day or two with the afters of the table and another item we crossed off the list last weekend.

Til then...peace, y'all.

Por favor, ven a cenar

In an effort to stay true to my intentions to write a post at least once a week, I will post a recipe!


This past weekend the bf and I hosted a dinner for friends who have just come back from a few months in Central America.  What were they doing in Honduras, Guatemala and San Salvador for a few months you ask?  That's just how they roll.  They're both retired (well and happily! and young!) and often spend several months at a time driving - yes, driving! - all over the continent.  Most years they spend at least a good part of the winter in Mexico and/or Central America, fishing, spending large amounts of time in hammocks (that last part may or may not just be in my imagination) and generally just living the dream.  My dream, anyway.


Anywayyyy... they came back to town just after New Years so we had a Mexican style dinner (as a former Californian I like to think I know my way around Mexican food, but I don't know anything about Central American food, although I suspect it's similar). Apps consisted of Ceviche with shrimp and scallops, and for dinner I made my favorite chicken enchiladas, cheese enchiladas and some Mexican style rice, and one of the guests brought an avocado salad.  It was all delicious, but the biggest hit of the night was the Flan we had for dessert.  I've made this before and it is incredibly easy, which of course makes it even better, right?  But honestly I was surprised at the reaction of my guests - they loved it and we finished it off quickly!


Flan

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup milk
• 5 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a small nonstick saucepan, heat the sugar over medium heat. Shake and swirl occasionally to distribute sugar until it is dissolved and begins to brown. Lift the pan over the heat source (4 to 6 inches) and continue to brown the sugar until it becomes a dark golden brown. You may slightly stir while cooking, but continually stirring causes the sugar to crystallize. Pour caramelized sugar into a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish or a large loaf pan, and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan evenly.
3. In a blender, combine sweetened condensed milk, cream, milk, eggs and vanilla. Blend on high for one minute. Pour over the caramelized sugar.
4. Place the filled casserole dish into a larger pan and add 1 inch of HOT water to the outer pan. Bake in preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes, or until set.

This is actually one of the "mini-flans" I made before.  I forgot to get a picture of the bigger one I  made for this dinner.

**A couple of notes:

When I made this flan before I used a large muffin pan and made 18 or so individual mini-flans.  This time I used the casserole dish and there was enough to make two!  Also, in the muffin pan it did set up in about 50 minutes, but in the casserole it took more like 75 minutes (maybe a little more). I would suggest just checking to see that it's "set", however long that takes.

It's important to bake the flan pan inside another pan with the hot water.  If you don't it will crack and not look very appetizing.

Flan can be made with a lot of "extras" - fruit, etc., but I made it plain and honest, and it was fabulous.

a very happy new year!

I don't make New Year's resolutions, do you?  I think every day is a chance to make a resolution, set a goal, become a new and/or better you, or start a new life. But I have recently decided that I'm going to try (my very best) to post something here at least once a week from here on out. "Try" being the operative word here.

So what's new? 

The holidays are over.  I love the holidays, but I'm always relieved when it's over.  Although I must say, now that my children are grown, the holidays have become so much more relaxed.  More of a time to reflect, to appreciate time. Time to cook and bake, time to spend with my family, time to relax and just be.  The trip to Paris earlier this fall was part of my gift to my daughters, so Christmas was even more low key than it has been for many years, and I think that really contributed to the relaxed and easy feeling we all had this year.  I've decided that giving the girls an "experience" instead of a new blouse or shoes or jewelry is the way to go. Although I certainly won't be able to take them to Paris every year, I think they would both agree that they remember we have been to see "The Nutcracker Suite" every year since they were really little waaaay more than any "'thing" they've received on Christmas.  It might require a little more creativity on my part, but I think (hope) they'll remember it longer.

Another nice thing that happened this year was that while some in my family have been doing it for a while, this year we all contributed to our favorite charities instead of sending gifts.  We decided that we all have enough stuff. Too much stuff. No one needs any more stuff.  It was so nice opening all the envelopes and seeing where the contributions went.  And I learned a lot about some organizations I hadn't heard of before.

New Years was low key as well.  I did my annual 108 sun salutations in the morning, had a lovely brunch with my fellow yogis, went to a matinee movie, then spent the evening laying on the couch while snacking (finished off all those holiday treats!), reading, and catching a few episodes from the first season of "Parenthood" (which I have a love/hate relationship with - it's about a close knit family that reminds me of my own family in California, and while it reminds me of all the great things about being part of a big, close knit family, it also makes me so homesick and heart broken to be so far away from them.  So I spent much of the time watching with tears in my eyes.) Then I cried a little when I saw Dave Clark.  We watched the ball drop, called our children, then went to bed.  Not much different than most other nights, really.  Except for the weeping.

Our weather has been so mild that this was what my Lady Banks looked like on New Years Day (this is not my actual rose, but it looked like this.  I haven't taken a picture of mine, and if we wait for me to do that I may not post for another month!):

I am off to work now, but I will really be trying to get into a regular posting schedule.  Wish me luck! Hope you are all having a wonderful day.

My new favorite hang out...



There have been some pretty exciting goings-on around this old town lately.  We've got a Whole Foods coming! There are rumors of a Trader Joe's as well, but TJ's still doesn't show us on their website, so that remains a rumor at this point.  But while we wait for that we have a new store, right here in my 'hood.  They specialize in locally grown/produced foods, including locally caught seafood, and locally produced eggs, poultry and meat, as well as organic, vegetarian, and vegan foods.  They have a deli and a bakery, too.  It's locally owned and smaller than the big chain stores.  Sometimes that means higher prices, but in this case, because most everything they buy and sell is local, many times their prices on produce are lower than the chain grocery stores.  It opened about 2 months ago and so far it's been wildly popular and has become something of a neighborhood hangout. Love that.  And the best part is...it's about 4 blocks away, so I can ride my bike to get groceries.  Something I've always wanted to do, but with the closest grocery store about 5 or 6 miles down the busiest street in town (the one without bike lanes!), I've never been able to do that before.  It is so much fun to go to the grocery store now!

Nothing fancy, just fresh local stuff.

Just like I get at the Farmer's Market.

Apples from the mountains of NC!

Did I mention they have a bakery?

And home-made Gelato?

Locally brewed beer.  They also have coffee, that while it's not locally grown, it is from a local roaster that uses organic, fair trade beans.  My favorite kind.

Mmmmm...local honey.

Don't look Janet!

While I don't personally eat Blue Crabs, they're pretty popular around here.

So, while you may not think a new grocery store is big news in your neck of the woods we are thrilled with our new neighbors!

More interesting stuff coming up, but I can't tell anyone just yet! (and no, I'm not having a baby :))

Party!

I know I won't have time to post today for Jane's (Small But Charming) Flower Party, so I posted this last night:

Just a few Mums and Daisies from the backyard, along with some Sweet Potato Vine, that I picked on Saturday morning for the breakfast table.

And then there's this...a gratuitous photo of Jack:

Nope, blindness doesn't stop him much.  He can still find his way to food every time!

Have a great Halloween y'all!  I am so looking forward to giving out candy to the kids tonight!

Time flies, whether you're having fun or not.

I remember my grandmother saying that. And truer words were never spoken.

I've been pretty busy. And lucky.  Very, very lucky. Oh, and blessed. Honored beyond belief. Let me back up.  I have a very, very beautiful and wonderful friend who has been my dear friend for 20 years.  We both have two daughters - her oldest and my youngest are the same age and went to school together through 5th grade and were friends, too.  They went to different schools after that, but remained friends. And Susan and I became stronger friends as the years went by.  I've always said two things about her: one was that if I should ever end up in heaven (highly unlikely!) it would be because she went first and told everybody to let me in, and the other is that, while I'm not big into "soulmates", I do think if there is such a thing, she is mine.  One of the things she and I used to talk about was taking our girls on a never-to-be-forgotten, once-in-a-lifetime trip to Paris, but it was just a fantasy.  Last year her father died after a long, productive and mostly happy life.  Susan had always been close to her Dad, and she misses him terribly. I miss him.  He was a good man.  On the first anniversary of his death I received a card from Susan, in the mail, and in the card was a check.  I still cry thinking about it, but she said that all of his life her dad, a wealthy man, had given 10% of his earnings to someone or something he believed in, and she said she decided, when she started getting her inheritance, that she would do the same thing.  So she sent me the money to take my girls to Paris, because she believed in me.  Yep, I cried.  I still cry every time I think of that. Can't begin to imagine what I did to deserve her in my life, but I am so happy she is.

So, we went to Paris! We got an apartment in the heart of Paris, in the Marais district.  We saw the Tour de Eiffel, the Tulleries, Versaille, Notre Dame, everything.  Everything we could fit into 8 days.  And it was beautiful.  The funniest thing that happened? I've mentioned before that my youngest daughter has many tattoos. Many. Apparently not very many people in France have tattoos.  Certainly not the women.  So Lovey #2 was the center of attention, everywhere we went.  People would stop her in the street and grab her arm to look at them and say things in very excited French.  The day we went to the Louvre - you know, where they have all that beautiful art? - Lovey #1 and I were taking pictures of Venus de Milo.  I stopped to see where #2 was.  I noticed a big group of people in the center of the hall, all talking excitedly.  And then I see this tiny little blonde girl in the middle of the group.  It was #2, and all the other people were tourists lining up to have their pictures taken with her! In the Louvre, people!

We found a VEGAN bistro just two blocks from our apartment and ate there often!



There may be more stories of France to come, but for now I'm tired.  And there are some other stories to tell, too!  Lots of fun and exciting things going on around here.  Time does, indeed, fly, whether you're having fun or not.  I'm having fun.  Hope you are.



Earthquakes? Hurricanes? What??

Today, at work, we were discussing this possibly impending Hurrican Irene, that is at this moment anyway, heading right for us here in Wilmington.  I mentioned that while not wishing for either one of them, if I had to endure one or the other I would prefer an earthquake.  Earthquakes - and as a former Californian, I've been through many - are relatively fast, usually over before you're quite sure that it's even an earthquake.  I realize that in many parts of the world earthquakes can be completely devastating, and I'm not making light of that, but there is something to be said for getting it over with quickly.  A hurricane - and in the 20 years I've been in NC, I've seen plenty of those, too - on the other hand, takes it sweet ass time coming around, making everyone uneasy, questioning "is it coming?" and "will it miss us?" Once it gets here it takes it's time leaving. Twelve to 24 hours later it disappears, leaving behind 20 or so inches of rain, which floods even the houses that are higher than  the flood plain (mine), trees uprooted or many branches lighter than before (and many of those have gone through someone's roof or window, or fallen on their cars), and yards a mess.  The roads are unpassable for days until the crews come and chain saw thru all the debris in the street, which stays on the side of the road, 6 or 8 feet high, for weeks.  And no power.  Usually for several days, maybe a week.  And it's incredibly hot after a hurricane, but there's no AC. I once told my sister, when she called to check and see if we were alright, that the only danger we were in was dying of boredom.

Any way - in the words of Ellen Degeneres: "my point - and I do have one!" - so I mentioned at work that I'd rather endure an earthquake than another hurricane, and guess what?  We had an earthquake!  No more than 10 minutes after I said that. Looks like we're still getting the earthquake, though.  Humph...

*The quake was centered in Virginia, so we only got a tiny little shudder.  Kind of like when a big truck goes by and makes the ground shake a little.  But to hear people in Wilmington tell it - we all almost died from the buildings falling all around us.  And they'd all still rather have a hurricane.

**I really do hope no one in VA - or anywhere else - was injured or suffered any loss from the quake today or from Irene.