Week 29, July 10, 2016

Thoughts and Quotes:  Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe be beautiful.        William Morris

I think these could qualify as keepers.  Friend Katie sent me a forward and I found the link. If you can have the patience for all the ads, these bonsai trees are worth the wait. Click here

William Morris was a textile designer, among other things, so I don't wonder that he was trying to promote beauty.

Thoughts and Quotes (again):  People continue to surprise, amaze, and delight me. 
                                                                                  Patsy in Nixa, Missouri
What if it had rained?  Oh, my.  Take a look.  

Tasting:  My week seemed to be built around food - good food.  The 4th of July was Chosen Brother Peter's birthday, so we went to lunch at F-D Grill. Then four of us came to my house and played Trivia all afternoon.  We had dinner at Applebee's.  Remember the pay-at-the-table gadget at Chile's which allows you to play games and then charges you without prior warning? Well, Applebee's has the same thing.

The next day I took some of the library ladies to lunch (including Dana of the famous Library Soup recipe).  Dana was the one who suggested Salvatore's in Ozark.  Everything is fresh and homemade.  We had an appetizer I'd never heard of called Arrancini - rice balls with a filling of mozzarella and deep fried with marinara dipping sauce.  So eager to eat them, I forgot the photo before we'd all helped ourselves.

Dana chose Gnocchi with Creamy Pesto

Pam had Cheese Ravioli with Creamy Marinara

Katy had a Caprese Panini

And I, the carnivore of the bunch, had Chicken Parmesan

We were also served homemade bread with herb butter

Those library ladies know everything.  They'll be pleased to see that the method they suggested for changing the color of my links so that you know where to click works perfectly.

On Friday, Chosen Niece Terri took her Mom Joey, her Aunt Kathy, and me to lunch and a day of fun.  The tea room she chose was an hour wait, so we headed back to Salvatore's. They loved it as much as I do.

Kathy had Chicken-Artichoke Fettuccine Alfredo 

Joey and Terri had Chicken Parmesan with mixed Alfredo and Marinara sauces

This time I chose Chicken Marsala with Roasted Rosemary Potatoes

Let's look at something else.  This is making me hungry.  After lunch we visited a fun store called The Persimmon Tree.  I could only find a Facebook link.  Such a fun store and there's a new bistro next door which opened that very day.  I don't even know the name, but I really like the way it feels there - very calm and restful - not what you'd expect from a bistro.

Time Waster:  I've been making gift sets and cards from wallpaper again.  This wallpaper made all of these things and I still have some left over:

  

More gift sets 

Tablescapes:  Here are more tables from the Tour of Tables.  I forgot to mention that after you tour the tables, you are served tea, finger sandwiches, and tea sweets.  How I miss these.  Note that, as this is the garden clubs, all the tables have fresh flowers.

This is Lunch with The King (a peanut butter sandwich, of course)

Peaceful Swan Lake

Sea Escape

More next week.

Tidbits:  My trust needed a change in the paperwork, so I visited my attorney in Ozark, and parked in the parking area was this police car from the adjoining city of Sparta.  Don't you love it?  Wonder how long it will be before someone raises a fuss.

Tactile No-no:  Watercolor USA is exhibited at the Springfield Art Museum right now.  I could take photos without a flash, but when we got too close to examine a wall hanging, the guard came to tell us "no touching".  Guess we got too close and set off his alarm.  We did not, however, touch it - period.  Read about the exhibit here.  

Here's the wall hanging on some sort of canvas tarp with grommets around the edge.

Oh, great!  More food.

I didn't think much of this until I saw the name.  Rock, Scissors, Paper.

One of my favorites.  It's called "Tying One On"

Is this the new insurance claim?  The title is "Lost in the Fire"

I liked this a lot, but it didn't get an award.

And this

Best of all

Loved the llamas

This is in the permanent collection.  Made of junk and LOTS of paint.

In the lobby you'll find "Warhol Uncanned"

Read about it here.

Then we left for Panera Bread to have tea and show and tell - our next five cards.  Katie on the left - Patsy on the right.  

Mine has rain boots to go with the inside.

Mine is all wallpaper except the solid red and solid white.

Mine is all wallpaper except the "Thanks".

Ditto

I made this to thank my niece for the cute refrigerator magnet notepad.

And these are Katie's cards made with a wallpaper background.  Adorable.

Togs:  Had to do red, white, and blue for the 4th, than all brown again.

Day 43, July 4

Day 44, July 5

Day 45, July 6

Day 46, July 7

Day 47, July 8

Day 48, July 9

Day 49, July 10

And the brown continues next week.

Let's see how many National Days we can celebrate next week:

Monday, July 11 - National Blueberry Muffin Day OR National 7-Eleven Day (go get a Slurpy)

Tuesday, July 12 - National Pecan Pie Day OR National Eat Your Jello Day

Wednesday, July 13 - National French Fry Day OR National Beans 'N' Franks Day (how about both - they go together)

Thursday, July 14 - National Nude Day OR National Hot Dog Day (since we had beans 'N' franks yesterday, how about we skip this day unless you look better nude than I do, okay? Or since this is Bastille Day in France, let's eat cake. 

Friday, July 15 - National Tapioca Day

Saturday, July 16 -  National Corn Fritter Day OR National Toss Away the "Could have's" and "Should have's" Day

Sunday, July 17 - National Ice Cream Day

HAPPY WEEK

Thank you for sharing my life

Week 28, July 3, 2016

Thoughts and Quotes:  What kind of man would live where there is no daring?  I don’t believe in taking foolish chances, but nothing can be accomplished without taking any chances at all.

                            Charles Augustus Lindbergh, first man to fly across the Atlantic solo

Whichever - foolish or daring, a big thank you to our forefathers.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA

Another month has come and gone.  The year is half over.  Let's make the second half the best six months we've ever experienced.  Push yourself to be the best you that you can be. And don't forget to check your fire alarm batteries.

TV's: The new TV's are installed and working, and I can even use my old apparatus and play all my VHS tapes and DVD's.  The new TV's are more rectangular than square, so the new one in my family room doesn't quite fill the hole.

Thank yous:  To Stan and Cliff, who got me through the agony of replacing defective receivers and upgrading and adding TV's.  While waiting for someone to show up for an appointment, I feel in limbo and can't seem to start a project.  So I succumb to -

Temptation:  Instead of doing the work I had planned, I made gift sets from wallpaper.  I forgot to take a photo of the wallpaper before cutting it.

  

I remembered this time.

Here's another.

I made two sets with this - different looks.  I had already starting cutting when I remembered the photo.

As we were waiting for things to recycle, Cliff and I started talking about cooking. I mentioned that I was going to make a recipe for a Chicken in a Pot I found on the internet and said that I would post the outcome. The photo on the internet was beautiful, but when I removed the chicken from the Crockpot, I ended up with this. It literally fell apart. Part of the recipe was putting two sprigs of rosemary in the cavity. Cliff mentioned that he didn't like rosemary that much, but adding apple and/or orange sections would be nice. Well, this baby didn't have room after I added lemon wedges, garlic cloves and the rosemary. Should have listened to Cliff - only two small sprigs of rosemary overwhelmed the other flavors - even the spice rub. Should make a decent chicken salad though.

Tri-Tip:  You might have seen this when I posted it before, but I promised Cliff I'd post it for him.  So here we go.

TRI-TIP

Harter House

1 2-1/2 lb tri-tip, with fat on one side

Santa Maria seasoning (available at Harter House) Rub all over tri-tip, all sides

Oven Roasted

Heat oven to 350

Place tri-tip on a rack in a shallow roasting pan, fat side up, no water, and no cover, do not turn

Roast 1 hour and 15 minutes

Barbecue

Bring charcoal to high heat

Sear tri-tip 15 minutes with fat side down

Push coals to one side, cook tri-tip with fat side up away from the coals, for 1 hour

Can also be cooked on gas barbecue

Adjust cooking time according to weight

Tent tri-tip with aluminum foil and rest ten minutes before cutting

Starting at point end, cut across the grain into thin strips

If there's no Harter House in your area, choose a seasoning which says "Garlic and Herb".

Tips:  Friend Katie Sue's husband John took us to Chile's for dinner.  We had great Mexican food (which I forgot to photo - as usual), but I had heard that you could pay at the table and I wanted to see how it worked.  Well - not only can you pay, you can play games while you wait for your order.

I'm happy to report that I went to college and became a doctor, but Katie Sue had twins and bought a mobile home.  John got married and we had to each give him $5,000 as a wedding gift.  We didn't have time to finish our game, so we don't know who won, because it timed out while we ate.

Now here's the Tip: You're given no warning, but $1.99 is added to your tab for playing games.  John bought dinner - thank you.  It was delightful and delicious.

Tablescapes:  Several of you commented on how much you enjoyed Peter's beautiful table from last week's post, so I thought I'd share some photos of the last Tour of Tables, a fund raiser for the Springfield garden clubs.

This is Peter's table - Birds of Paradise

This one is Winter Greetings

 Green with Envy

These tables put mine to shame, but mine are everyday, practical tables with mostly thrift store and yard sale finds.  We'll get to mine later, and I'll show you some more of these high class tables next week.

Time for Others:  Card friends Katie Sue, Jeanne, and Susan sent me these very patriotic 4th of July cards, and I just had to share.

And remember the cards I've been making with a tea time theme?  I sent the rest of the pieces to Katie Sue to give to her card class ladies.  Jean sent me one that she made, and I wanted to show how an expert does it.

Togs:  I was serious when I said that it would be a brown week.

Day 36, June 27

The triangular piece was originally a flimsy white fabric which I covered with rows of seam binding.  Those little beads are not white pearls, but silver-brown beads, so the addition of the seam binding made a big difference in the look of this top.

Day 37, June 28

Day 38, June 29

The first photo is more near the color, but I wanted to show that the plaid has a stripe running through which matches the pants.

Day 39, June 30

More color distortion.  I took these photos on a rainy day, and had only artificial light.

Day 40, July 1

Day 41, July 2

Day 42, July 3 (Pants from Day 41)

Another brown week next time.

H A P P Y   4TH   OF   J U L Y

PRACTICE SAFETY WITH YOUR FIREWORKS

EAT LOTS OF WATERMELON