I spied these lovely pumpkin pies in a jar over at Inchmark and I think they are a beautiful idea, for a little something different!
They would look charming displayed on a table set upon Johnson Bros. “Friendly Village Autumn” luncheon plates. I also think they would be the perfect breakfast, because, you have to keep your energy up as you slave away over that succulent roasted bird and stuffing!
All I need is a spoon and a little extra whipped cream…
(All images copyright Inchmark)
Orange you glad that as it gets darker sooner outside, it gets cozier sooner inside? I am! My candles are lit as soon as I get home from work and my cozy lamps make the rooms feel cheerier in this Fall season. We are not long away from twinkle lights and late nights up talking over a cup of hot chocolate for me and a cup of hot tea for Mr. Michie.
When the seasons turn to evening coming quicker and the air gets frosty, I love to have breakfast for dinner. We do it so many ways; we will have Southern breakfast with biscuits and grits, or maybe French style, a Croque-Monsieur with a fried egg on top and a dressed salad, or a fluffy cheesy omelet with toast or simply a nice stack of pancakes, dripping with syrup.
After receiving my last “Willard” from the lovely Susan Branch, I went to check out her new homepage and in reading, discovered the following recipe, I think it will be going into our “breakfast for dinner” stash of ideas. I can’t wait to try it!
(Image copyright Susan Branch click on the image to go to a larger version)
Armed with my new camera, a trip into central London this week, meant an excuse to go into Snog and grab a tasty frozen treat! I’ll be honest, at first, I was not sure about their frozen yogurt, but now I think I have been won over. I really enjoyed their chocolate flavour with white chocolate stars, and they were far from skimpy on my toppings!
The walls had wonderful colorful art, like a page out of a storybook. My first Snog treat was on my Birthday day out and I was not expecting the Greek slightly soured tartness to it, I expected it to be more like frozen yogurt from the States, which is sweeter, but little by little, it is growing on me, even if only for the chocolate stars!
* A note, for my non British readers, “snog” is slang for kissing in jolly ol’ England & I like the fact that they have played on that word, because who doesn’t “fancy a snog”?
Yesterday, it was particularly sunny and hot here in our little London Burb and homemade ice-cream sandwiches were definitely in order!
To begin with, you will need ice-cream (flavour of your choice), cookies (something softer is a bit better than a crunchy cookie, but it is up to you), sprinkles or nuts (if desired, to roll the edges in, we decided to be purist yesterday), a spatula or knife, waxed or parchment paper and the most important ingredient: someone to share them with.
Gather your ingredients around you and let your ice-cream be slightly softened, it will be easier to spread. I normally keep homemade cookie dough in the freezer, but I had run out, so cheated and bought cookies from my local bakery.
Lay your cookies down in front on you, bottoms up and spread ice-cream over one cookie, use as much or as little ice-cream as you want, alternatively you can use an ice cream scoop and place one scoop in the middle and then mash down with the top of your other cookie. Place the other cookie on top and press them together.
Fold them up in wax paper or parchment paper, creating a little parcel of happiness and place them in your freezer, they need to sit in here for at least 30 minutes for the ice-cream to harden. You can leave them in longer. These were made in the morning and not enjoyed until the evening after we had eaten dinner.
When you are ready to eat them, pull them out of the freezer, folding your wax/parchment paper back so that you have a little opening in which to munch away at your ice-cream sandwich, but the bottom is still covered to keep your hands clean.
Make sure you have a nice sunny day (or a cloudy one if you need something to cheer you up), a front porch to sit on or a nice walk to go on and most importantly someone you love to share it with, because that will make it taste that much sweeter!
It’s hot here! This is the hottest weekend of the year so far. As a girl raised in the South, I am used to heat. Heat, mixed with humidity that seems to dew on your skin the moment you step outside. Heat, mixed with humidity that takes your breath away when you open the door. Heat, mixed with humidity that feels as if you are breathing through a wet cloth.
Summer, in the South, symbolizes the beginning of so many things. It means fresh fried chicken with sliced tomatoes straight off the vine, cucumber salad and cantaloupe dripping its melon nectar to mingle with the vinegar of the salad on your plate. All purchased that afternoon from the Farmer’s Market. A large shed that held inside its walls the best of Summer: fresh vegetables, watermelons, boiled peanuts. Bushel baskets by the door to place your selected items in as you shopped. The smell of the sun and warmth, on the vegetables, that had not long come in from the fields.
Not all Sundays, but on some occasions after church we would head to the local family restaurant in town. A place that served Southern food at its finest! No calorie counting here! Turkey & Dressing is always served on Sundays with a choice of vegetables and fresh yeast rolls. That was usually my choice over ham or fried chicken. That lunch mixed with the Summertime heat would often make you sleepy and an afternoon nap on the hammock would ensue.
When my grandmother was a child in the South the big meal of the day was eaten at lunch, or as people called it then, “Dinner” and “Supper” was a lighter evening meal of cold lunchtime leftovers, sandwiches or biscuits, grits and frizzled ham. They lived at the top of a big hill and when my great-grandfather Red would come home for lunch, each child would have a turn during the week riding up the hill with him.
He would place his arm out of the window and help the “rider” onto the foot board, holding onto them with his big worn hands as they gripped the open window frame, they would ride up the hill with their daddy, squealing and laughing all the way as the wind blew through their hair.
For that is the South. Sweat rolling down your back; ice clinking in glasses as it slowly diffuses into sweet tea. The laughter of gossip carrying over the yard as children swing higher on their swing hung on the boughs of an oak to feel the breeze cool their faces.
Harper Lee described Summertime in the South best, in one of my favorite books, “To Kill A Mockingbird”:
Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog suffered on a summer’s day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square. Men’s stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o’clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum…A day was twenty-four hours long but seemed longer.
I love that line: A day was twenty-four hours long but seemed longer. The days did always seem so much longer when you were little, with one day slipping into the next an endless parade of Summer days. Now, time seems to fly, there are never enough hours in the day to accomplish everything. But, that I suppose is how it should be, there is a time to everything and so there should be a time to rest as the sun comes to its end and our pace slows to match the softness of the moon.
(Peach Truck Image: Re-vamped Allman Bros. Album Cover, Pink Tag & Tape on “To Kill A Mockingbird” Image, The Pugly Pixel, Background on same image: The Graphics Fairy, Farmer’s Market & Palm Tree Images, copyright J. Michie)
There is rain steadily pouring outside of my window, the warm weather has now turned cool and in order to function this morning, I think I need to head on down to Luke’s Diner and meet Lorelai and Rory for a giant cup of coffee and some pancakes, or chilli cheese fries, or a doughnut as big as my face.
Alas, there is no Luke’s in my town, he exists only in Stars Hollow on the set of The Gilmore Girls and after a day like yesterday and how my morning is already shaping up today, I wish I could move right into that TV neighbourhood and I could have Rory’s pink striped couch… That couch just looks HAPPY!
(Gilmore Girls images from Hooked on Houses)
I always photograph my bears and bunnies upon completion, but, for my last order as I lined a few of them up, their colors reminded me of a bowl of rainbow sherbet.
When my sister and I were little she would always pick that flavour if we were taken to Baskin-Robbins for a scoop of ice-cream.
I had either french vanilla or more often than not: pink bubblegum, because it was pink and there were bubblegum pieces in it you could chew when you were done, it was like having 2 desserts!
These little guys reminded me of bowls of ice-cream and their little personalities that came through as I was sewing were just as sweet as that luscious scoop on a sugared cone.
(Ice-Cream images copyright Baskin-Robbins, embellished by J. Michie)
I’m in love! And what am I in love with other than my adorable red-head you ask? I am in love with Bonne Maman’s Berries & Cherries Conserves. When we went grocery shopping last week, they were out of the usual strawberry and apricot and raspberry jams that I keep in, but there was a jar of this sitting on the shelf; and anything topped with red gingham ought to be good! Right?
Well, it was better than good, it was downright delicious! I can’t stop putting it on things; toast, bagels, blueberry muffins, my fingers…This will add a new dimension to my turnovers. I cheat when I am in a real rush and want to make turnovers for dessert.
I use my left over puff pastry and instead of making a fruit mixture to put in them, I put jam in the middle instead. They always come out deliciously tasty with the right amount of jam that has always oozed out a little, making one corner a crunchy sugar encrusted sticky jam bite!
I usually make a quick runny icing mixture and just do a little drizzle on top. I am afraid to make my turnovers with this jam though, I might not be able to stop eating them….
Last night while at the grocery store, I got my 1st bit of Valentine’s candy. These little jellybeans just jumped right into my basket, they must be jumping beans, instead of jellybeans.
They tasted like the good Easter jellybeans, you know what I mean?… YUMMY! So, last night while sitting on the couch with my sweetie and watching an episode of “Rescue Me” we munched away on Valentine’s happiness! I have to go back for more, these would be adorable on top of cupcakes or pressed into a sugar cookie…the possibilities!!
P.S. speaking of hopping, those little bunnies hopped right into their box and hopefully by now are safely in the hands of the lovely Penelope.
