A Red Tablescape!

This is one of my favorite red tablescapes.  It comes from my annual Moroccan dinner party!  The tiny tajines in the middle of the table are filled with condiments!

I'm linking with

Rednesday!

Make sure you click through to join the party!

It's Purple in the Pottie!

It is is Tabletop Tuesday time and I'm happy to show you

the decor in one of my bathrooms!  You would be welcomed into this little powder room with this cute wreath!  Miss Phoebe loves "Robin Eggs" in all colors.  She makes up stories about saving Robins!

The Easter Egg tree is a big hit, too!

The little table I keep in that room is a perfect place to change the seasons.  It never takes much to get that done ... just a little shopping through the house.   Purple is the color of choice for this spring.

Red and Pink Tabletop Tuesday

Who says red and pink aren't pretty together? 

 Nobody that I know!

I love to keep red in my sunroom all year round, but I have many other things that I love to use in that room, so I have to mix it up a bit!

So, Spring in the sunroom will be red and pink!

Here's the tabletop of the buffet server!

One of my favorite decorating pieces is the crystal hurricane.  I love changing seasons by filling it with potpourri.

My red geranium wreath looks like it was perfectly ready

to have a little pink and purple added to it!

My bee hive beverage decanter gets used almost every weekend during the spring and summer.  It won't be long before you'll see it filled with fresh strawberry lemonade to go with my strawberry honeybee tablescape!  

I'm linking to the cloche party at Tabletop Tuesday, but before you skip away,

check out the details of the new Monday blog party I'll be hosting. 

 Making Merriment Monday!

For the Birds!

I'm happy to re-post some pictures of my spring mantel.  I'm joining the Mantel Party at Fox Hollow Cottage!   The temperatures go up and down in Southern Illinois this time of year and yesterday, we needed the fireplace again!  Before you skip on to visit the other posts at the party, take a look at the details of the new weekly party I will be hosting on Mondays.   Making Merriment Mondays is an "anything goes" party, as long as your post makes us smile!
   

Pink Roses for a Bunny!

It's time to post a pretty spring tablescape, but before you look at these gorgeous pictures, click through to read the details of a new blog party that I'll be hosting on Mondays, opening it at 3pm on Sundays.  Merriment Making Mondays will be "anything goes", as long as it makes us smile!  Hope you'll join me!

We'll celebrate St. Patrick's Day at our house, but I promised Miss Phoebe that she and Gwamma would start getting out the Easter Bunnies ... so here's a beginning!   This pretty bunny came from HL and my candle hurricane is my all-time favorite candle holder.  I love changing the decor by switching the things I have nestled in the bottom.  These pretty pink peonies came from Dollar Tree, but they are some of the prettiest I've seen.

 I posted pictures of this china perched on my hutch a few weeks ago and promised you'd eventually see it on a table!   It is American made Style House from the 1950s in the Dresden Bouquet pattern.  I have twelve place settings and lots of serving pieces, including the coffee server below!  How pretty is that?

I think the prettiest part of this china pattern is the wide gold rim on the pieces.  This china was in perfect shape when I  bought it .. .not a mark on it and the gold is in more than perfect shape.   

My Mikassa stemware and the Big Kahuna flatware with the gold pineapple on the end looks great.

The centerpiece began with a scarf that is often found around my shoulders!  The pink, green and gold print was perfect for this tablescape.   We all love our candle lite and I continue to be a giant fan of QVC's Bethlehem Lights battery candles.  As long as I have big dogs that help me with my dinner parties, I'll avoid burning candles!

I'm posting with the following parties, so make sure you click through to visit the other participants!  Thanks to our hostesses!


Tablescape Thursday
Potpourri Friday
Home Sweet Home
Pink Saturday
Seasonal Sundays

Rednesday Brunch Posting!

Hope you'll read my cooking column today in the 

Southern Illinoisan Newspaper.  

My Made at Home column is published on the first and third Wednesday of the month.

I'm participating the the Rednesday Party!   Make sure you click through to see all the othe posts!

But, before you do, check out the details of my new blog party.  I'll be hosting a Monday party, which will open at 3pm on Sundays!  Anything goes as long as it makes us smile!

Check it out right here

Merriment Making Monday!

Red Hat Leprochauns

Today was our monthly YaYa Red Hat luncheon ... but a couple of us are getting ready to be leprechauns!  I'm not big on hats .. but I love my fascinator burlesque hat!   Why the red and white shoe?  We are getting ready to host a "glass slipper exhibit" as a promotion for our Summer Theater's production of Cinderella!   So, we are collecting party shoes with a story!  It is a few months away, but 
I'll post pictures while it is running!

Memories in Pink!

I've been enjoying some memories, lately ... and wanted

to share some things that prompted them.

I'm posting with Potpourri Friday,  The Friday Party and

Pink Saturday!   Make sure you click through to the parties

to see all the other posts!

None of these things belonged to me as a child, but I would have loved them.  The tatting thread on the right came right out of the sewing chest that we brought from my Mother-in-Law's house 35 years ago.   My husband and I couldn't part with her things after she died and our home is still filled with things like the sewing chest!  She and her mother tatted ... I've never been patient enough to do that!

The first gift of a book I ever received was Little Women and I just picked this up at an antique mall, just because it was pink.

I love the pink book cover ... it is the size of a little New Testament ... and I can't find mine ... but I'll dig it out and give it this new/old cover.  I think the tatting on the edge is precious and I can just see a 1950s little girl carrying it to Sunday School!   The Salt & Pepper girls in prayer are Lefton ... My favorite aunt collected Lefton!   

Old Rosie could have  come right out of the library at Lincoln Elementary School in Murphysboro, Illinois!  Lincoln was just two blocks from our house and we 

walked to and from ... and always home for lunch, too!   

I had a pony that nobody understood!  Powwow, a most politically incorrect name today, had been a carnival pony and all he really knew how to do was walk in circles!  He had always worn a bridle that had blinders on it and when my daddy put a normal bridle on him ... and me on his back ... he threw me off in seconds.  I ended up under the pony;  Daddy got down on the ground to get me and was laughing so hard that he couldn't talk.  Know what he did?  He put me right back on that pony and made him behave ... me in tears ... and Daddy laughing the whole time.

I'm launching a new blog party on March 25th.  
Check out Merriment Making Mondays!  
I've made it easy to participate!  Help me spread the word.

Blue Spring!

Happy Spring!
I have a few new things to add to my living room decor ... just wanted a little more blue in the room I decorated with red furniture!   I kept my blue draperies and wallpaper ... and blue walls ... and since the colors are all kind of primitive shades ... 
it works!

I love those sachet packets that seem to be in every store these days ... and I always like the envelope as much as the content, so I've just started slicing open the top and clipping it on my "Love" sign ... When you have two big dogs ... a little extra 'scent' is a good thing!   To a dog lover, nothing smells better than 'dog' ... 
but when the house gets that stale smell ... it is time for a little help!


I'm posting with Tabletop Tuesday!  Be sure you click through to visit the other posts.

Sourdough Bread Focaccia from Starter!

Here's another way to use your Friendship Bread starter sponge.  This is so good ... and you can adjust the ingredients to include whatever you like best in or on your Focaccia!  Have fun with the recipe!

Sourdough Focaccia – Basil Flavored

Ingredients A:

1 cup of starter

1 cup of warm water

1 pkg yeast

¼ cup of basil flavored canola oil

1 Tablespoon basil pesto

1 cup of bread flour

Ingredients B:

1 cup almond meal/flour

3 cups bread flour

1 teaspoon salt

Salad greens or fresh basil

Basil flavored mozzarella cheese

Slivered almonds

Mix up Ingredients A and let the combination set in a warm place for an hour.  It will bubble on top.   Then knead in 1 cup of almond flour/meal, 1 teaspoon of salt and 3 additional cups of bread flour.   Knead it for 5 minutes.  Add a tablespoon basil flavored oil at the end of the kneading.  Cover it and let it rise again for 2 hours.  Punch down the dough, divide it in half;  pat it into a round shape on an oiled baking sheet.  Punch finger prints in the surface;  drizzle on a little flavored oil;  sprinkle on fresh basil or chopped salad greens and slivered almonds.  Add a little mozzarella cheese or parmesan cheese.  Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, until the toppings bubble.

Cool slightly and cut into wedges.  Serve with additional dipping oil.

Sourdough Focaccia – Rosemary, Tomato and Cheese

Ingredients  A:

1 cup of starter

1 cup of warm water

1 pkg yeast

¼ cup of almond oil

1 cup of bread flour

Ingredients B:

1 cup almond meal/flour

3 cups bread flour

1 teaspoon salt

Sliced grape tomatoes

Cheddar Bleu Cheese

Fresh Rosemary sprigs

Mix up Ingredients A  and let it set in a warm place for an hour.  It will bubble on top.   Then knead in 1 cup of almond flour/meal, 1 teaspoon of salt and 3 additional cups of bread flour.   Knead it for 5 minutes.  Add a tablespoon olive or almond oil at the end of the kneading.  Cover it and let it rise again for 2 hours.  Punch down the dough, divide it in half;  pat it into a round shape on an oiled baking sheet.  Punch finger prints in the surface;  drizzle on a little flavored oil;  sprinkle on fresh Rosemary, sliced tomatoes and Cheddar Bleu Cheese.  Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, until the toppings bubble.

Cool slightly and cut into wedges.  Serve with additional dipping oil.

Hazelnut Friendship Bread

Hazelnut Friendship Bread


Here's another recipe to use our Friendship Bread Starter ... Hope you still have your sponge 'brewing' in the fridge!

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups warm water

1 packet of yeast

3 Tablespoons Hazelnut Oil

2 teaspoons sugar

1 cup of bread starter

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup dark rye flour

¼ cup brown sugar

3 cups bread flour

3 Tablespoons Hazelnut Oil

4 ounces chopped Hazelnuts

Combine the warm water, yeast, hazelnut oil and sugar and let it set for 5 minutes.   In a mixing bowl, combine the yeast mixture with 1 cup of Friendship Bread Starter and 1 cup of flour.  Mix well.  Cover this and place it in a warm location for 1 ½ hours, until it doubles in volume.

Back to the mixer!   To this risen mixture, add 1 teaspoon salt, 3 Tablespoons Hazelnut Oil, the rye flour and brown sugar.   Mix in the remaining 3 cups of bread flour and knead for 5 minutes.  In the last minute of kneading, add the chopped hazelnuts.   Form into four small loaves and cover and let rise for another hour, until they double in size.  Bake in a 375 degree oven for 25 minutes.   While still hot, brush with melted butter or additional Hazelnut oil to soften the crust.

Don’t mistake this for a sweet bread because of the brown sugar and nuts.  It is just a nice soft loaf that will accompany any meal … or make beautiful chicken salad sandwiches!

Videos on YouTube

Check out my videos on my YouTube channel.  I've posted all kinds of cooking class videos ... tablescapes ... and more!  Click through to have some fun!


Coming soon ... a neat video on some important women in world history!  Do you know this one?