Rabbits and Eggs and Cookies, Oh My!

I am so thankful that Spring has arrived.  I am looking forward to Easter this year as we have our first grand baby.  She is not old enough to hunt Easter eggs, so in her honor,  I decided to purchase these whimsical salad plates from Pottery Barn.  Normally, our children's Easter baskets (yes, I continue to fill a basket for my adult children) adorn the table as a center piece, but I like this much better.

The cookies are a lemon ice box cream filled cookie.  One day while in Fort Worth, I stopped in McKinley's to buy a piece of cake and pie as a surprise for my husband.  They had three Lemon Cream Cookies, so I added them to my bag.  I ate one on the way home.  Oh my goodness was it good.  If you have never been, and are in the area, do go by and taste their baked goods.  These were melt in your math delicious.  Of course, I have to make them now, so I have been sampling different recipes.  I have not found one quite as good as theirs, but these from Betty Crocker come close.

Mr. Rabbit is ready for Easter.  He is thinking about taking a bite of the cookie!

The glass  cloches were a Christmas gift  a few years ago.  My daughter helped create a table scape for a spring and summer setting. I use Robin's Egg Blue throughout my home, so these eggs are the perfect touch.

 The moss covered ball and bird freshen the  table scape.

No time for cooking today.   I must venture outside to work in my flower beds and garden and listen to the birds sing as they build their nests and to the wind stir the blossoms on the fruit trees.  Enjoy!

Lana 

Betty Saves the Day

My husband travels nationally and internationally for business.  His days away from home range from one to several weeks.  Most of his trips are 4-5 days in length, so when he helps with grocery shopping, I have yet to understand why he buys a bunch of bananas knowing that he will be gone for the next week.  Inevitably, we end up with over ripe bananas which I dutifully place in the freezer to be used at a later date.  On this particular morning, I opened the freezer and alas I had 12 frozen bananas stored, so I decided to make banana bread.  I have been carb watching the past year, so I don't indulge in breakfast breads often.  This would be a treat for us.  

I gathered my tools and trusty cookbook.  This particular cookbook has my favorite recipe, so when I discovered I did not have enough brown sugar (and knew from past experience the substitute methods do not work well for this recipe), I decided to check out the banana bread recipe in a Betty Crocker circa 1950's cookbook I acquired on a recent antique shopping trip.  I had wanted one for awhile as my mother cooked from hers frequently, but my sister has our mother's cookbook complete with our mother's notes, so I bought one for myself.

I found a recipe titled Fruit Loaf.  Additionally were the different substitutions to make for various breads.  Viola!  The recipe did not call for brown sugar, and I had the ingredients for everything else.  The basic recipe:

2/3 cp sugar

1/3 cp soft shortening  (I substituted Coconut Oil)

2 eggs

3 tbs. sour milk or buttermilk  (I keep powdered buttermilk on hand for just such occasions.)

1 cp mashed bananas

2 cps sifted Gold Medal Flour (General Mills was the publisher of the cook book.)

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup chopped nuts (I had walnuts from Christmas baking)

*1/2 cup blueberries (My addition to the mix as they were very ripe and needed to be used.)

The recipe is much like any other for making cakes, breads, etc.  Cream the sugar, shortening together.  Add eggs one at a time.  Add the buttermilk and bananas and mix well.  Sift dry ingredients together and stir into the wet batter mixing thoroughly.  Add the nuts. (Gently stir in the blueberries so they don't pop) Pour into a prepared loaf pan and bake in a 350 degree preheated oven for 50-60 minutes.

This bread is a lighter loaf than my brown sugar version.  It is almost cake like in texture.  I made two loaves, and shared one with my daughter and son-in-law.  She called me within 15 minutes of us leaving her house to say the bread was like eating a dessert.  Her husband loved the blueberries.

Needless to say, the bread lasted for one day, so I have none this morning and must rely on the delicious memory of sweet banana, tart blueberry and crunchy walnut bites to see me through until my husband buys another bunch of bananas.

Enjoy!

Lana

With a Stroke of the Brush

I am not an artist, but there were artists in my family.  Give me a picture or idea and I can create from that, but I cannot create from nothing as my mother and mother-in-law could.  I am very blessed to have some of their work.  Both women were accomplished seamstresses, cooks and artists.  I strive to be like them, but alas I fall short.  

My mother-in-law specialized in miniature oils.  I keep groupings of them in my home all of the time.  Her favorite flower (and mine as well) was the daisy, so many of her paintings reflect that flower as seen here.

She did paint larger pictures, usually still life flowers, but I love these of the boy and girl.

My mother painted mostly water colors.  I had not seen these two paintings until after her death.  We stumbled across several water colors she had done, and my daughter has one of a city scene hanging in her home.  My mother typically painted in earth tones, so these are a rarity.

More miniatures painted by my mother-in-law.  I like the way the painting spills onto the mat.

When my father-in-law remarried after my mother-in-law's passing, his wife had these water colors hanging in her home.  I love the vivid shades, and when he asked what I would like to have of hers after she passed, I said the paintings.  There is a common connection now between all three ladies as my mother and mother-in-law both took an art class from her, and she was a friend of my husband's stepmother.  I admire all of these women and I am glad to have such a connection to all three.

I did take art classes in college, and in fact, was taught by one of my mother's art teachers when she attended the same school.  I was not the same student as my mother but I do enjoy trying.  Here are a few photos of an outdoor project I am working on.

Hope you enjoyed the beautiful strokes of these three women.  What about you?  Do you have items you have kept that tie your family's memories together?  

Enjoy!  Lana

Texas Backroads and Drop Cloths

I travelled to Hobbs, New Mexico last week to help my sister-in-law reupholster a sleeper sofa.  She had pinned several examples of others using drop cloths, and she thought that would be perfect for this sofa since it was housed in her husband's shop/office.  The day I left home was overcast with weather warnings for wintry ice/snow mix.  I left early enough to miss most of the unpleasant driving conditions, but about 45 miles from our lake home (where I would stay the night before journeying on) I encountered a blizzard.  Visibility was almost zero, but I made it, turned on the coffee pot and stayed warm with a blanket while watching the Oscars.  I left the lake house about 9:00 AM on a gorgeous, yet bitterly cold, Texas morning.  

Below are pictures I took just as I left the Caprock outside of Snyder, Texas.  If you have never visited, these are considered the plains of Texas.  There are places along the way that you can see communities 12-15 miles away.  That is how flat the land is, and how clear it was the day I passed these spots.  I love this part of Texas because of those very things.  The red dirt contrasts with the brilliant green of new grass growth.  The white/blue winter sky spreads across the plains like a blanket.  It is so beautiful until the sand blows.  I encountered only one sandstorm while visiting this part of Texas, but the storms can last for days.

When I arrived, my sister-in-law showed me the couch, and we planned our course of action.  The next day we began removing the fabric.  With three of us working, it took about 5 hours.  I could tell that my strength was waning as the day went along-not like the times before when I tackled such a project.  Oh youth please return when I need the muscle!  

It took the brains of all three of us to determine how to remove the sofa bed, but we finally managed.  Once it was out of the way, flipping the couch as we needed it was easy.  We removed most of the staples as we took off the cloth, but my nephew helped after school.  

I accompanied my sister-in-law to her wine club dinner and met an eclectic, and fun group of people.  I am not a big wine drinker, but I thoroughly enjoyed tasting all of the wines and two sangrias.  We rested well that night, and began cutting out our fabric early the next morning. 

I won't go into much detail, but suffice it to say that we encountered several issues.  First, when using the drop cloth be sure to allow several inches as the fabric frays excessively.  I recommend either stitching the edges closed or making bias tape to lap over the edges.  Second, drop cloth material may not hold up to the wear and tear of a teen and others in a shop situation.  I think it works well as seat covers or slip covers but not as upholstery fabric.  Third, have all of your supplies ready to keep the work running smoothly.  Who knew how difficult it is to find staples to fit a pneumatic staple gun or tack strips.  We spent nearly a full day trying different staple guns and staples.  We ended up making our own tack strips.  Have a great sense of humor and be prepared to create on the spot. 

I had to leave before we finished completely, so I will post pictures of the completed sofa later. I don't think I will reupholster again.  I will let the professionals with all of the correct tools and supplies do it, although I have numerous ideas now for drop clothes.  Enjoy!

Lana

A Baby on the Way

We learned on our trip to Charleston that our daughter and her husband are expecting their first  baby in September.  We are overjoyed to hear this news.

Our daughter lives in an historic neighborhood and home that has been featured in This Old House magazine.  As with most older homes, there is a steady stream of repair work needed, and the room that will house the nursery will need a closet makeover.  It is not as simple as adding a closet or modifying the existing closet.  We must find period doors and have wood moulding made.  There also needs to be some work on the floor where we remove a wall, but generally the room is in great shape and is a nice size.

This view is from the doorway.  Furniture and other objects are placed around the room to get a feel for the new design.  

 The room is currently used for storage.  It has the original woodwork and great hard wood floors.

 Closer look at the closet door.  It will be replaced with double doors.  This door will replace a door in their bedroom.  The wood moulding was removed carefully, so it could be reused.

The inside of the closet is a mess.  A front parlor shares a wall with it, and previous owners used the space to build a recessed entertainment center that our daughter and son-in-law removed which left exposed wires and insulation.  We don't know who added the panelling.

Doors are ordered, so now we wait for them to arrive.  I will keep you posted with progress along the way.

LANA