by Krista | Mar 21, 2011 | Bootstrap Monday
Good morning, dear ones! Alas and alack my laptop is ailing and out of commission, so my posts may be sporadic and photo-limited until I can get it fixed.
How was your weekend?
Mine was the usual mix of wretchedly sick and sublimely wonderful. Even the painfully sick times were good though, because I got to rest, watch Cary Grant movies, and listen to Clive Cussler adventures on cd. 🙂
Yesterday was a splendid day though, a lovely day, all full of sunshine and dear friends and good food and glimpses of spring and strolls through a gorgeous harbor city. And tomorrow I shall tell you all about it. 🙂
by Krista | Mar 14, 2011 | Bootstrap Monday
Good morning, luvs! Thank you very much for your kind and supportive comments on Friday. I was so sick and in great pain and your words cheered me right up. 🙂 I’m doing much better today after a gloriously restful weekend.
How are YOU? Were you able to rest, have fun, work like mad on a great project?
I mostly rested and had such fun watching old movies featuring the oh-so-fabulous Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, and Cary Grant. I love old movies. I love the fabulous dialogue, great characters, and splendid outfits. A friend and I were wishing that men would return to their dapper roots and once again don wool suits and jaunty fedoras. Mind you, that might mean we’d have to return to wearing corsets and heels all the time, and that would never do. 🙂
A while back I went on a stroll through the woods. At first glance the forest seems dead this time of year, but there were still bits of beauty to be found on the carpets of brilliant green moss. I thought you might like them too.
Sunday afternoon I started feeling better, popped in a book on cd and went into a cooking/baking frenzy. I have a bright blue bowl filled with luscious clementines and simply had to turn some of them into a dessert. Knowing I’d be heading to Culinary Experimentation Club tonight, I thought I’d get a head start and make a gluten-free Clementine Tart.
I zested and juiced and stirred and mixed, popped everything in the oven and smiled at the citrusy buttery smells wafting through my apartment. Because the crust is gluten-free it didn’t quite hold together as well as a normal crust, but it still tastes marvelous. Buttery and flaky, a lovely base for the cheery clementine filling.
What is your favorite old movie?
This is my contribution to Chaya’s Meatless Mondays. Click here for other meatless recipes.
Gluten-Free Clementine Tart
Ingredients:
1 cup gluten-free all-purpose flour mix (or regular all-purpose flour)
1 stick butter, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2/3 cup granulated sugar
zest of four clementines
juice of three clementines
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Mix flour, butter and powdered sugar. Press in ungreased pie pan, slightly building up edges. Bake 20 minutes.
- Combine remaining ingredients in bowl and beat until light and frothy.
- Pour over hot crust and bake for 20-25 minutes.
- Let cool and cut into wedges.
by Krista | Mar 7, 2011 | Bootstrap Monday
Sometimes when I’m walking in the woods I forget to look up. I get distracted by a gurgling stream or finding treasures on the forest floor. But when I do remember and turn my gaze up to sky and branches, I inevitably smile.
I did it recently, just as the sun was slipping behind the trees and I loved how the branches were etched against the sky, looking almost like pieces of lace.
How was your weekend? Mine was painful physically but so lovely in all other ways. I have much to be grateful for.
- a bright and shiny turquoise balloon swaying in the blast of my heater
- good talks and scrumptious food with kindred spirits
- a gorgeous bouquet of roses on my counter
- a drive in the sunshine
- Old Time Radio mysteries to entertain me when I rest
I’m also grateful for comfort food like Cracker Salad. It’s a family favorite and one I tend to forget about until a sudden craving hits. Such a thing happened this weekend and I hustled to the grocery store to get the fixings. It’s simple as can be, so easy you hardly need measurements.
Break up a sleeve of saltine crackers (I use whole-grain to assuage my conscience) into a bowl, add sliced green onion, two diced tomatoes, fresh ground pepper, and a big spoonful of mayonnaise, mix it all together and eat immediately.
What is your favorite memory from this weekend?
Cracker Salad
Ingredients:
1 sleeve whole grain saltine crackers
2 green onions, sliced
2-3 roma tomatoes, diced
1/4-1/3 cup mayonnaise
Freshly ground pepper to taste
Directions:
- Break up crackers into medium bowl.
- Add remaining ingredients and stir until well-mixed.
- Serve immediately.
by Krista | Feb 28, 2011 | Bootstrap Monday
Good morning, luvs. 🙂 I woke this weekend to a winter wonderland! I’ve only seen snow a couple of times this season, so it made me smile. Then I hunkered down under the covers and spent a glorious morning reading and drinking tea.
I live in a teensy apartment in a rather scary part of town but I do so love the views from my windows. They make the occasional crazy neighbor and subsequent police investigations bearable. 🙂
How was your weekend? Mine was a mixture of bliss and ugh.
Bliss was celebrating my friend’s wedding Friday night with many dear friends. We cried along with the groom as he tried to get through his vows, laughed hard at the wedding speeches, and danced with joyous abandon. Bliss was also having a cozy Oscars-Homemade Soup, Cheese and Crackers-Really Good Wine evening with more dear friends.
Ugh because I was sick, so very sick on Saturday and Sunday. But even that was made tolerable by my lovely friends Nicole and Marie bringing me homemade cranberry bread and a stack of historical novels to cheer me up.
As I lay in bed, I thought about gratefulness, and how hard it is to think of good things when I’m in pain and feeling so sad and wretched. So I wrote a list of good things, lovely things that put the little trials of my life in perspective. It helped so much.
I started reading “Awareness” by Anthony de Mello again. It never fails to jolt me out of self-pity and help me to wake up and be grateful and brave.
I love these thoughts on gratefulness by Melodie Beattie:
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more.
It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity.
It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events.
Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
So I woke this morning with a renewed hope. My pain is still here but my heart is lighter, and I feel blessed beyond measure.
What little things are you grateful for today?
by Krista | Feb 21, 2011 | Bootstrap Monday
Good morning, luvs! Oh, I am a happy soul today. I’ve had an entire weekend of glorious sunshine, hikes in the woods, and true comfort food. I finished reading an entire book and watched the fascinating new PBS series Downton Abbey. I feel inspired and rested, ready for a brand new week. 🙂
It’s still wicked cold around here, but the sun has been out and I had to be out in it. So I bundled up and went for long walks every day, so thrilled to see snowdrops and crocuses blooming cheerily.
I just loved being out there, breathing deeply of cold, fresh air mingled with wood smoke, strolling past neighbors going for walks with their kidlets.
When I got home from my walk this afternoon I was craving comfort food and hastily whipped up a batch of whole wheat scones. Mmm, they smelled so toasty and grainy fresh out of the oven.
I slathered one half with lime curd and the other with boysenberry jam, then topped each one with a healthy dollop of sour cream and dug in. Oh my. Twas pure deliciousness and the perfect accompaniment to a big mug of Earl Grey Tea and a British mini-series.
What is your favorite memory from this weekend?
Whole Wheat Scones
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup white flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup butter-flavored shortening
2/3 cup half and half
1 egg
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F
- Combine first five ingredients, sift if necessary.
- Blend in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
- Stir half and half and egg together. Add to dry mixture and toss with fork until moistened.
- Lightly mix dough until it holds together.
- Pat into circle 1/2 inch thick. Cut into wedges.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden.
by Krista | Feb 14, 2011 | Bootstrap Monday
Brrr! It’s a cold, damp night in Washington and I’m writing you by candlelight, snuggled up under a cozy blanket.
There are times when I really love living here. Winter, alas, is not one of them. Although it is still stunningly beautiful, the incessant gray and abundance of rain can be rather vexing to body and soul. This winter seems to be worse than usual and instead venturing out for my usual hikes and treks through the woods, I want nothing more than to stay dry and toasty warm indoors.
So today I decided it was time to remind myself why I live here. Inspired by my fellow Washingtonian, Nicole Durbin’s, Washington post last week, I decided to go back through my photos of this area and find reasons to take heart and press on through these few months of icy, gusting, pouring misery. And I found them.
Here, dear ones, are a few photos from one my favorite places to hike: Fragrance Lake. It’s a gloriously secluded spot tucked away in the woods above Chuckanut Drive near Bellingham, Washington.
I’ve been here in winter, summer, and fall, and it never fails to calm and inspire me. The glassy lake mirrors the sky beautifully, and there’s always a fallen log to perch on to take in the inspiring surroundings.
This particular hike my friends and I arrived just as the sun was setting behind the hills. There was nary a soul to be seen and we ambled along the shore catching our breath from the steep climb in, feeling that every aching muscle in our legs was worth it to be in this gorgeous place.
We finally tore ourselves away as the sun disappeared entirely, and hoofed it back down the mountain in the gloaming.
Tonight I shall ignore my soggy environs and remember days like this when the sun is shining, nature is at her very best, and dear friends are tagging along to make any adventure delightful.
Do you have a peaceful place you like to visit?
