11.28.14--Trader Joe's

Look what I have! Soup from  QuiltyAppliqueFriendSB, who was shopping and thinking about my fondness for Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Soup! I am very grateful.

I have never been to Trader Joe's, but I have been making a shopping list for the next time I find myself in Roswell, Peachtree City, Marietta, or Chattanooga.

I reviewed a couple of sites that claim they know the best and worst buys for Joe's, but I did not find much that would make it onto my list other than the great soups. Most of the gushing compliments centered around cookies and cheesecakes.


If I drove the two hours to get to one, I would have to remember to have a cooler to bring home some frozen offerings like Tandoori Shrimp or Chile Lime Chicken Burgers. 

I would probably not buy sweet/snacky things, because, generally, I just don't, except I have heard wonderful things about their ginger snaps. Unfortunately, I also read they are chewy. What is snappy about chewy? They seem to have a good reputation for nuts and dried fruit, so I might browse the trail food department. 

Maybe I would have to bring TWO coolers. I can not get enough Indian food and I miss the occasional South East Asian food that the Mills and Colonial area of Orlando has in great abundance.

I never thought I would miss FOOD, but I guess I do.

11.27.14--Happy Friends and Family Sharing Day

I found this on a Tea Blog I just LOVE to read everyday: Tea With Friends.

Wikipedia says, 

"Ellen Hattie Clapsaddle (1865-1934) was an American 
illustrator and commercial artist in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

11.26.14--A Lazy Day

Last Sunday, I spent an entire day in my nightwear. I can't remember if I have done that at all in the past few years. Maybe once a winter? I am not sure. It was WONDERFUL. I had a bag of novels loaned to me by OTHER QUILTY FRIEND (The Tallahassee Lassee). 

The weather was PERFECT for an all-day-read-a-thon. It was windy and rainy and beautiful. All the shades of gray you could possibly want to see. When the rain stilled and the wind let up, the bare branch tips held little globes of water. 

So, I spent a HUGE chunk of Sunday warm and toasty under the blankets. I even had a cup of hot cocoa at the end of the evening.

Now, THAT is the way to spend a rainy day.

11.25.14--TEA TIME TUESDAY

TEA TIME TUESDAY

Next time I visit Florida, I will visit my favorite stores around Mills and Colonial. I want to get a gaiwan for enjoying my loose tea. I had never heard of gaiwan until I had tea at the Lan Su Chinese Garden in Portland, Oregon. 

Read about gaiwan at TeaNerd

If I lived in the Portland area, I would join the museum and try to visit at least once a month. Yes, I enjoyed the Japanese Garden very much. I would join that one, also. They offer reciprocal membership benefits.

Tea House at the Garden of Awakening Orchids

But, The Lan Su Chinese Garden is a completely different experience, and I cherish the memory.

11.24.14--MONDAY MANTRA

MONDAY MANTRA

11-21-14--MORE WOW

photo from Dinner With Julie

Dinner With Julie. I might actually make these.
These are parmesan, panko and two other ingredients. They are baked and not fried. Go visit and see what you think. I think WOW.

I might make this Sweet Potato Avocado Soup from the LunchBoxBunch. I think bacon would be a great garnish, but I do not have any.

The photo is by Kathy Patalsky, but stupid blogspot won't let me caption it correctly. At least you can see her copyright at the bottom left.

GimmeSomeOven's photo makes my mouth water

GimmeSomeOven has this five ingredient white chicken chili. I hope I was successful in begging for this for Wednesday's dinner.

11.20.14--AV-O-CAD-WOW

Not just for guacamole anymore.

Photo: Jeanine / Love and Lemons

My SouthFloridaFamily sent 12 avocados from their avocado ranch. No, they don't really have a ranch, but in the very few spare moments they have on a very tiny piece of growing space, they have managed to grow a farmload of produce. I received 12 of these on Monday, and promptly ate the last one out of the box almost before it was unwrapped. Did you know avocado can replace butter in baking recipes? These are very mild and I can imagine they would be great in one of these.  The links will take you to the recipes.

photo from DETOXINISTA--chocolate avocado truffles

Of all the chocolate in the world (remember, I am not really much of a chocolate fan), truffles are my favorite. Detoxinista features healthy for you recipes. Go visit her site and find out how to use avocado in place of the heavy cream in truffles. These look very easy to make.

HowSweetEats is a FUNNY, FUNNY person. This is her
photo from her site. I am going to become a regular reader.

HowSweetEats made avocado BROWNIES! If I enjoyed cooking in any way at all, I would definitely make these for family and friends because everyone I know adores chocolate. 

Photo and recipe from EndlessSimmer

If only I could remember this for summer...Avo-Rita from EndlessSimmer. I can imagine that avocado and tequila make the perfect margarita for an evening of salsa and chips with friends. But right now, looking at this drink is making me want to find my sweater to put on over my two shirts. Come back tomorrow and see what else I would cook up if I liked cooking.

11.19.14--CELL PHONES AND TURKEYS

Most people know not to call my cell phone, EVER. I simply do not get a signal. I switched from Verizon--where I COULD get a signal and could usually rely on texting, at least. Now I use Consumer Cellular which uses an AT and T signal, so I can not even get my voice mail when I go into town unless it feels like revealing that I actually HAVE a voicemail. But it IS $130 less a month. 

Still, I realize cell phones are an American habit. Every meeting I go to, within five minutes of the speaker asking that phones be turned off or set to vibrate, someone's phone goes off. Usually, the more annoying the ring tone, the more likely the phone owner thinks she is the only one in the room and the rest of us are just part of the video she is watching. I have even been in meetings--WITH A GUEST LECTURER-- where the "lady" answered the phone and had a conversation with the person on the other end as if the rest of us were not even there. Well, she probably does not read my blog so she will miss this great video. But you are here, so enjoy! 

Then look at the video below that if you could not see my "pet" turkey video on FaceBook Monday.

--

11.18.14

TEA TIME TUESDAY

It can be seen HERE , in Italy

I could do this. They are mounted to a board, which is painted the same color as the wall. I don't have a wall in my kitchen or dinning room, but I could put it in the bedroom...no kitchen utensils, though. Maybe scarves.

11.17.14

MONDAY MANTRA

Haha! Every day is Saturday, but I do enjoy that first cup of coffee in the morning.

I found it on Pinterest. 

11.14.14

I am still searching for the perfect mug. Tomato soup in a mug sounds just right, doesn't it?

Too bad this one by Morales Pottery in Miami is reserved.

Then there is this one by Barbara Robertson Pottery in Virginia.

I was concerned that it might not be big enough on the inside, but her listing says it holds roughly 13 oz. That makes it just about perfect, doesn't it?

I am enjoying the hunt from behind my laptop since if there ARE any art shows in the area, it is too cold to venture out. Our temperatures are in the low to mid 20s and it is quite possible that the debris in the roof gutters will be blown away before I decide who to hire to take care of it for me.

I like window shopping. Wallet is in stasis,  none of the artisans will be disappointed when I move on to the next booth, and it is very unlikely that I will break anything.

11.13.14

We are having some real, comfort food weather at our house. 

Whole grain only, please

For the longest time, as long as I can remember, tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches have been at the top of my list for generating a sense of well-being.  Now that I am "mature" in experience (years), I find I do not care for "American Cheese Food Products", but cheddar, Muenster, or smoky Provolone will do the trick quite nicely.

Campbell's canned soup is a good choice in a pinch, but I really prefer Pacific's Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup. Since Pacific Soups are hard to find in the area, and the Roasted Red Pepper is the rarest, once again I will be making my own. And even though you know I do NOT like to cook, I  DO like to eat.

11.12.14

Having tea this afternoon. Fixed it for myself.


The Republic of Tea's Good Hope Vanilla. Thanks, Mom and Dad!

11.11.14

11.10.14

11.7.14

Mugs were in my care package from my parents last week. I have used three so far. I always had an appreciation for hand-thrown pottery, especially mugs, because the perfect mug was the "prize" we used to look for at art festivals. 

Some of the above I remember looking for with my parents. I remember using the one with the shell impressed in it so many, many times.

I know the one with the stars is not really part of the group, but my mother knows it is the shape I like best and for a time, she collected the Polish pottery. I will be moving aside my more mainstream, factory made mugs and bringing hand-thrown pottery back into my kitchen. It is like having tea with old friends.

11.6.14

When the going gets rough, cast-on yet another project.

This is one of a number of patterns called the Noro Striped Scarf. There are lots of incarnations of scarf knitting that call for a yarn with a long color repeat. The one I am using is by Jared Flood. In his version, he uses two colorways of Noro yarn, four balls, total. His scarf costs about $40 or so. 

I had two balls of a very SHORT color repeat (Rustic Wool) and two balls of Vista in two shades of gray.

I don't know what size my needles are. In my upheaval, ALL of my gauge finders are lost. I vaguely remember putting them together one time, instead of running the risk of having to search through every project to find one. Now I have to search through every box to find ALL OF THEM.

LOVE working with this. I think it is
Classic Elite Vista ASH

It is a great "Dummy-Knitting" project. It has NOTHING going on in structure--really--just two rows of purple, two rows of the gray worked completely in the cliche KNIT ONE, PURL ONE pattern. 

When I run out of the lighter gray, I will be finishing with the darker one. 

Love this one, too. Probably
it is the Beaver Grey. I have
always enjoyed natural, gray wool.

I have about 14 scarves in various stages all around the house. Today is a great day for knitting.

If you are entertaining the idea of a striped scarf but don't care for the alternating knit-purl stitches, try Susanne Pietzrak's Noro Scarf. 

Entirely garter stitch with a clever little INC and DEC to make it come to life with a diagonal energy.

Pretty excitng. Also reversible
and FREE on Ravelry

11.5.14

On difficult days, I wear his wedding ring on a chain next to my heart. Or, one of Oregon-Sister-in-Law's scarves. Today, I wear both.

This afternoon, I will go for a walk. If it is raining outside, I will be on the treadmill.

At the end of the day, I will have a hot cup of tea and I will say, "Today was a good day." And I will believe it.

11.4.14

TEA TIME MONDAY

My old hometown has a tea store! It is called TEA WORLD, and I am going to go there next time I go to Florida. I guess businesses in the Central Florida area have not given up on naming EVERYthing after Disneyworld.

I have not had time to photograph some of the treats I found in a care package from my parents, so here is a picture sent to me by my SouthFloridaSister-in-Law.

I am almost CERTAIN that this once belonged to Jane Jetson

Isn't she lovely? I enjoy fond memories of 
the Jetsons and so many other cartoons of the 60s. If you are in MY demographic, do you have any favorites? Thanks, Hannah-Barbera, Biggers and Stover (Underdog), Jay Ward (Rocky and Bullwinkle). I would gladly pour a cup of tea from Jane's tea pot and rewatch some of my favorites.

11.3.14

MONDAY MANTRA

I am going for a walk.