Blog vacation

These are a couple of pictures I took on our 2006 trip to the South of France. Just a little teaser of what to expect when I get back. These were both taken at a winery near Aix en Provence.
I debated weather to try and blog from afar, and I think I decided that I'm not going to worry about it. I'll just give you all a little virtual trip when I get back. So, look for pictures on or around June 15th or so! I look forward to sharing my visit with you.
See you all later.

Laughing until it hurts

Caitlin ordered these Saltwater sandals last week. When she slipped them on, we laughed so hard that I cried all my make up off! I don't know if it translates well in the photos, but these sandals were so large and wide on her foot, that they looked like snow shoes! I have wide feet, and when I tried them on, they were even too big for me.
I think we got the giggles because we have this little thing that we do every May, when Nordstrom's has their half yearly sale. Caitlin and I go to the shoe sale area, and slip on funky shoes that we would never in a million years buy, and laugh ourselves silly. I'm sure we have caused many stares, but it is just too much fun to resist. Anyway, when she slipped these bad boys on, we lost it!!! Needles to say, they have been returned. The funny part was that she only ordered one pair, and they shipped two. Had these fit, that would have been a great score, but alas , they must go back.

Happy Friday !

I hope everyone has a nice holiday weekend! We tend not to travel anywhere on this holiday or Labor day for that matter. Not to mention we are going to Europe in five days.
Last night we had an old friend over for dinner. This is a childhood friend of my husbands, one that he has known since 7th grade. It was fun catching up with him, and soon his family will be joining him here in Northern California to live. We got to laughing about old college days, and how he and his family have moved all over the U.S. and now they have come full circle, and are moving back. Even funnier, he has accepted a job in the company that my husband just left!
So, since we were having someone over for dinner, I decided to make a strawberry tart for dessert. I haven't made one in ages, and being spring time, for the most part, I thought it was a nice idea.
This is just a classic recipe, with pastry cream and a butter crust. So simple to make and so very tasty.
On another note, I'm almost done with the other dress that I'm making for Caitlin, and hopefully I'll have a post of it before I leave for France on the 27th. I really can't believe it is soon time to go on an adventure.
Happy Memorial day everyone!!

The taste of summer

The very colorful ingredients for "Ratatouille Stew With Sausage And Chickpeas"
You have to sop it all up with this very yummy bread.
We found that the flavors were so much better the next day.

Recipe:

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 cup finely chopped onion

6 oz. smoked turkey sausage or kielbasa, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/2 inch slices( about 1 cup) * I bought a 12 oz turkey kielbasa and just put the whole thing in.

1/2 cup diced yellow bell pepper

1/2 cup diced green bell pepper

4 cups (3/4 inch) cubed tomato
(about 1 1/2 pounds)

2 cups diced zucchini

2 cups diced peeled eggplant
(about 1 pound)

1 1/3 cups fat-free, less sodium chicken broth

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 clove garlic, minced

1 (15 ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme


Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium- high heat. Add the onion, sausage,and bell peppers; saute 5 min. Add tomato and next 8 ingredients(tomato through chickpeas); bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 35 min. Uncover; simmer 20 min. Stir in parsley and thyme. Yield; four servings (Serving size 2 cups)

This is pretty low in calories, coming in at 294 per serving

Dress completed

I finished this last week, but my little model was under the weather. I took this picture of it outside hanging in the wind.
Detail of pocket
Finally got her in it and posing for me! I have another one on its way to being completed. It has more detail than this one,so I hope I get it done before we go on our trip.

I have been missing from here for a bit, because I did some spring cleaning the other day. I cleaned every window in the house, inside and out. They were dirty!! Now they are all sparkling like crazy,and I feel like I really accomplished something. It got to the point where there was an actual film on them, kinda like when you don't clean you glasses properly, and you wonder why everything looks so fuzzy! I thought I was going to be crippled after cleaning all of them, but I'm only a tiny bit sore.
Well, guys have a fantastic weekend......It is going to be a hot one here in my neck of the woods, I just might escape and head into the city.

Mother's day loot

Is there anything ever bad when you get this little bag/box???
I really love Tiffany's understated silver jewelry, and I have another very dainty necklace that David gave me on another occasion. This one is a lower case cursive "e." Pretty cute huh?!
Nicole and Pierre gave me these very fun Japanese craft books. We all know how adorable Japanese craft, embroidery books are don't we! These are no exception,and I can't wait to start on some of the cute ideas and projects.
Caitlin's gift was a morning theme. Nice pair of PJ's and.....
a darling mug with Jamie Oliver's expressions he likes to use. Mine says "Hot Babe" on it :)

We had a very low key day, as Caitlin was not feeling well. We went here for a nice brunch. We did take some pictures, but they are on my husbands camera right now.
I'll possibly do a part two when the other pictures get up loaded onto the computer.
Hope everyone had a very Happy Mother's day!!!!

Fabric Fun and a little pal

I went to Piedmont Fabrics last week and picked up some pretty fun material. This one was so cool, that I thought a little book bag would be cute, since it is thicker in weight.
I love dotted Swiss, and I haven't decided if this is for me or for Caitlin.
This fabric does very strange things to the eye. I laid it out to cut a dress for Caitlin, and it was doing me in a bit. It is a very lightweight cotton, that almost looks as if the hearts were batiked on there. The pattern I'm using for this one is very cute, from the "Project Runway" collection of patterns that Simplicity has. I had hoped to show you the dress that I just finished for Caitlin on this post, but I didn't get a chance to have her slip into it yet. Tomorrow I will have the opportunity, so stay tuned.....
I went out to water the three little plants in the entrance to my house, and this little guy slithered out of the flower bed, and wasn't at all frightened of me. He let me take several shots of him, and I bet when I finish this post, he will probably still be out there. I'll call him Frederick, I think he is kinda cute for a slithery little guy.

New cookbook

I got this book in the mail today. The guy who wrote the cookbook, a Brit, came to the U.S. to visit family, and fell in love with American pies, cakes, and especially cupcakes He decided to take a pastry course here in the U.S., and return to London to open up a bakery, to sell pies, and other American desserts. I found it quite funny,when I lived in France, that they never made layer cakes, only one layer with frosting on it. When I made a layer cake for my daughter's birthday, the girls were amazed.
I made these carrot/zucchini muffins today,and I think they are pretty good. I'm always looking for good muffin recipes and I thought this one had some potential, since it had a lot of good ingredients. They may be the type of muffin that tastes better the next day, when all the flavors meld into one another. I'm also on the look out for a good banana bread recipe. I posted about one not too long ago, and I really liked it, but I made it last week,and wrecked it with too many bananas. There is a recipe in this book for banana bread, and I'm really liking the ingredients, so I may give that one a try once my bananas get over ripe.
Anyone in blog land have this book? Let me know if you like it or which recipe is your favorite. If you like cupcakes, the whole first chapter is on them.....they look very good and unusual.
Happy baking and happy beginning of the week.

Happy May Day

Wow, I can't believe it is already May 1st for one! I almost forgot about "May day" until I read Annie's post over at The Bunny Bungalow. Here in the States, May Day has kind of died out I think, unless there are small towns around still having children put flowers on neighbor's door steps. I haven't seen any for many moons though.
I really liked that fact that on May first in France, everywhere you went, you got a spring of "Muguet," to wish you good luck and happy spring. I remember going out to dinner once, and at each place setting there were little sprigs muguet. I love this little flower, and here in the States,unless you grow them yourself, are quite pricey just to get a little pot of them.
I remember getting so excited to see them for sale in these adorable little terra cotta pots in the grocery store. I bought several of them, because I couldn't believe they were so inexpensive. The cashier must have thought I was loony!
Anyway, I hope somewhere in America, May Day is being celebrated with flowers being left on door steps.
Happy May Day to you all.