Winter has arrived

 It seems winter has arrived with cold temperatures ( minus 7C ) and snow (6") and gusty wind. 
Schools are cancelled and those who don't have to go anywhere are better off staying home. Our little street will be one of the last to be cleared.

Snow or no snow we have to eat. I made Date/Orange muffins  ( those are pieces of dates sticking  out)......

....and an Impossible Quiche.

Teddy Bears in the living room.

That's it for today.  Oh yes, I had some questions about growing small herbs and other plants in teacups since they have no drainage. I find they do fine especially if I'm careful not to give them too much water.  This little Spider plant has been growing in the teacup for about 6 weeks.

Thanks for visiting.

 

 

Orange Date Blender Muffins

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

20 mins

Total Time

35 mins

 

These muffins use an entire orange and most of the mixing is done in a blender! A big favourite in this house.

Ingredients

• 1 orange, quartered and seeds removed (peel on)
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup melted butter, cooled
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup chopped dates (substitute dried cranberries/raisins/any dried fruit)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Blend orange and orange juice in blender until smooth. Then blend in melted butter and egg. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, mix all remaining dry ingredients together, then add the blended wet mixture. Stir until just moistened.
4. Drop into greased or paper-lined muffin cups, filling each 3/4 full.
5. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean. Slather with butter and enjoy warm!

 

February

 

 

I was so glad to change the calendar page that I did it a day early. Sheila came by and when she noticed she warned me that to do so would bring bad luck. *smile* But today it is officially the first and I'm looking forward to Spring. We had such an unusually sunny and dry January but this morning we woke up to a light dusting of snow!!

Later.... Now it is snowing heavily and starting to accumulate.

I saw this arrangement of a tiny succulent in a pretty tea cup and I thought I'd try that with  a small herb plant( once I find one). It would look fine on the kitchen windowsill.

Then there's this lovely display.

or this.....

Thoughts of Spring and growing things!!

Have a pleasant week-end.

Thanks for visiting.

 

Blast from the Past

 

 Monday morning and not much is happening so I thought I'd see if I could find any pictures from the past of grandson M  ( who is now 15 and towers over me) and the dog we had  at the time. I had to find pics where M's face was not shown because his parents don't want the children's faces on the internet. Bracken was a black lab and he and M were pals.
M was forever running around and wielding his sword.  Bracken was forever giving him kisses.

(There's a step from the lower level into the kitchen)

That's it for today.  Thanks for visiting.

Why do dogs tend to run in circles? Because it's really hard to run in squares.

What kind of dog never throws anything away? A hoarder collie.

Books and Kitchen Chit Chat

 

 What I just finished reading........

 

The man's body is found in the early morning light by a local dog walker in the park outside Rosebank, a care home for troubled teens in the coastal village of Longwater. The victim is Josh, a staff member, who was due to work the previous night but never showed up.

DI Vera Stanhope is called out to investigate the death, with her only clue being the disappearance of one of the home's residents, fourteen year old Chloe Spence. Vera can't bring herself to believe that a teenager is responsible for the murder, but even she can't dismiss the possibility.

Vera, Joe and new team member Rosie Bell, are soon embroiled in the case, and when a second connected body is found near the Three Dark Wives monument in the wilds of the Northumberland countryside, superstition and folklore begin to collide with fact. Vera knows she has to find Chloe to get to the truth, and the dark secrets in their community that may be far more dangerous than she could have ever believed possible.

I enjoyed this book but was disappointed in the ending. Somehow it didn't seem right. Almost as if the author was tired of writing and wanted a quick finish.  The previous "Vera" book I read was The Rising Tide and I think I liked that one more. 

In the kitchen....

I tried a recipe for Baked Apple Fritters similar to the picture and they were very good BUT they were nothing like a fritter at all. A good apple cookie with a very tasty glaze ( that was briefly broiled at the end) but not a fritter! Oh well, at least they were delicious.

I roasted some cherry tomatoes that needed using up. We'll have them on our pizza for supper.

When I'm busy in the kitchen I think of my Mom and how she spent the first 10 years  of married life with no electricity, no running water and the only cupboard she had was one similar to the one below.
When I was 6 we moved and although we still didn't have running water we did have hydro.

I remember she had a canister set like this one. I have since found some tins at the thrift store and now keep things like chocolate chips and coconut in them.

She did not have anything like this strange appliance.

Jeanna & Cathy..... No secret admirer. One of my sons arranged for the flowers to be delivered💗

That's it for today.

Thanks for visiting.

Flowers, Recipes and Thrift Store Finds

 

 

I wanted to go to the thrift store and look for new albums to put my recipe cards into.  When I got home there was a bouquet of flowers on the front stoop. Miss Kitty was very curious 💗
 

 I found these albums and they're exactly what I was looking for.  As I put my cards in their new spots I also got rid of some that I no longer wanted. So that's done. ( One album is for Savories and the other for Sweets.)

I've always thought that we spelled it savoury in Canada but I found this when I googled it.

In Canada, there is a preference for "savory" over "savoury" (61 to 39).

 When I was at the thrift store I spied this "foot warmer". New, with tags still on it. I looked it up and apparently it goes for $36 ......I paid $5. It's perfect for evenings when I'm at my computer. 
My feet are cold for 10 months of the year.  :)))

 

 

While searching for the spelling of savory I came  across other words that are spelled differently depending on the country. Please  feel free to skip the following:

When adding a suffix to a word ending in “e”, British spelling often keeps the “e” (e.g. “ageing”, “likeable”, “sizeable”, “judgement”) whereas the American and Canadian drops the “e” (e.g. “aging”, “likable”, “sizable”, “judgment”).

 

Canadians write fibre, sombre, kilometre, and centre, while Americans write fiber, somber, kilometer and center. 

Canadian and British spellings include cancelled, counsellor, fuelled and travelling compared to the American canceled, counselor, fueled and traveling. 

Okay. You've come this far and had enough of this English grammar  lesson. For some reason I find this interesting. Weird, I know.
Thanks for visiting.  Please come back. I promise to limit grammar lessons in the future.

My Day

 

 I had two jobs I wanted to accomplish today. One was making jam....Strawberry/Blackberry  and also Raspberry.  That went well and I moved on to the second job........

 .......which was tidying the spice shelves. I took everything out, wiped the surfaces and began putting all the little jars back. Top row holds seldom used ones like dry mustard, sage, star anise and ground anise.  Second row: celery seed, celery salt, crushed chilies, roasted garlic and Everything bagel.

Third row: whole cloves, ground cloves, allspice, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon.  On the lowest row
( hadn't done it yet) oregano, basil, chili powder, Montreal steak spice, and Uncle Dan's dip mix.

 

In the cupboard itself the top shelf ( which I can't reach without my little bench) I have sea salt, coarse sugar, and a little box where I keep various extracts ( lemon, almond, etc..) and cream of tartar ( which I rarely use).Then I tried to organize all the rest of the mess. I didn't take a picture because it was only somewhat better than it was before.  But it's done now. Tomorrow's job involves going through my recipes and getting rid of some while organizing the rest.

So that's my day's efforts. Oh yes, I finished Always pack a Candle and I see there's a sequel which I will look for.

Thanks for visiting.  

 

Butter Tarts and an Interesting Book

 Our weather continues to be clear and cold...what we consider cold ...which I realize is nothing compared to what many are experiencing. So far today I've done the laundry and took fruit out of the freezer to make jam tomorrow. Strawberry/blackberry and also raspberry ( I'm about the only one that prefers raspberry so I freeze it in smaller containers).

I forget that Butter Tarts are a Canadian thing and not widely known outside of Canada.  I read on-line that they may have evolved from a Scottish sweet called Egglefechan. I don't know if this is correct.
The filling is very similar to pecan pie and is delicious!!
The first picture is from the internet. The second are the ones I made.

 

 I'm currently reading one of my own books ( most of the library ones were not interesting). If I would have known how much I'd enjoy this book I would have read it a long time ago.  The story based on the experiences of a public health nurse in the northern parts of British Columbia in the 1960's. Besides the adventures she has there's the wonderful description of the countryside. This is an area we saw part of in our camping days.  Here is an excerpt from the chapter I'm reading. It's winter and she's driving her government issued 1962 Chevy II on a perilous mountain road.

 

On top of the hill, the plateau rolled out in front of me. Miles and miles of white snow, covering the grasslands. Grey sticks of willow along the ditches and bare grey branches of poplar groves in the white fields created the only colour accents  on the land. The sky was cobalt blue and immense. It was such a contrast from my eastern district where the sky was confined  by the evergreen-covered mountaintops.

Then a page or so farther: The sun lit the tops of the Coast Mountains to the west, shining a brilliant white on those soaring peaks. They were a dramatic and awe-inspiring contrast to the flat land I'd been travelling through, I stopped the car to stare. I wished passionately that I could paint. Someone should record this beauty. It was dramatic and overwhelming. I stood watching until the cold forced me to move.

 The title of the book comes from the advice she got when she first arrived. Always carry a candle and matches because if you have car trouble you may be stranded for some time and the candle may keep you from freezing to death. The name of the author is hard to make out on my picture. It is Marion    McKinnon  Crook.

I have an hour and a half until I need to start supper. I can get a few more chapters read.

Thanks for visiting.

My Saturday

 

 I just came in from bringing in my geraniums from the porch. The forecast low tonight ( and every night this week) is minus 3C  which might nip them. I don't want to take the chance.
It was a pleasant day for January. We walked at Willband this morning and again we saw so many swans on the water and also some flying over our heads as they left.... in search of breakfast?

With DH's help in the kitchen I made butter tarts and an apple pie (he peels and chops the apples). Middle son had mentioned that if I had the lard he'd make the dough and we'd each take half. That suited me just fine. I had to look up a recipe for butter tarts that didn't call for corn syrup ( my usual recipe did) and I found one that will replace my old recipe since I don't really use corn syrup in anything else.

That was my Saturday. Thanks for visiting.

 

sunrise at Willband. Photo not taken by me.

 

 

 

 

This and That

 Thursday already and half of January past!  The month sure is going by quickly ( which is good because we're ever closer to Spring).
I tried 2 new recipes this week. The first was an Oatmeal bar and it turned out rather dry. I won't be making it again. The second one was one of my Impossible Pies that I so like making. This one is a lemon flavour and I can't decide how much I like it. The recipe called for 1/4 cup of lemon juice and in addition I added a few drops of lemon extract. Even so the lemon is hardly noticeable.

 We finished this puzzle. Although it had only 400 pieces they were odd shapes and all those gingerbread men were a challenge.  This morning there were about 20 pieces left. Now it's done.

 I was browsing Pinterest again and saw some pretty sewing/quilting projects that I liked. 

Aren't they pretty?  Thanks for visiting today. Have a lovely Friday.

 

GMO Food Products or Organic?

 

 Thanks for all the comments on the kitchens.  I've talked about painting ours here but DH very sensibly tells me that it would be awful to paint solid oak cupboards. He's probably right. Eldest once lived in a small house with a tiny kitchen. She painted the cupboards mustard yellow and they were stunning. 

 Miss Kitty has been up to mischief again. Twice this week we've found a dead bird. I feel really bad about it but cats do what cats are genetically programed to do no doubt. Typing the word genetically made me think of something I read on line this week. I checked it out and it seems to be true.  How do you feel about GMO foods?  Do you buy organically grown?

Why Some Apples Are Sold With Stickers And What It Signifies

  All organically grown produce will have a 5 digit PLU code starting with 9. The remaining 4 digits are the same as the conventionally grown version.

 Similarly, an "8" as the first of a five-digit code indicates genetically-modified produce

 That's it for today. Thanks for visiting.

Full moon and Kitchens

 The full moon last night was as lovely as usual. The January moon is called the Wolf Moon after the howling wolves that used to exist during the cold winter months  (according to the Farmers Almanac). The moon will appear super bright for about 3 days from Sunday until Wednesday.

I took the picture from the internet.

It's a normal Monday here. We walked around Mill Lake before DH left for Gleaners. I started laundry. Since I don't have much to blog about I thought I'd show a few pictures that I was admiring on Pinterest last evening.  Mostly kitchens. 

I'm not sure about pink in the kitchen. What do you think?

Maybe pale green?

This one I really like.

If you're still here it's amazing. Thank you for putting up with my excuse for a blog post on this wintery morning. Have a great day.