COOKBOOK LOVE

I'm squeezing in a post before a crazy weekend.  Today is the first day of sunshine that we've had all week.  It makes me want to go out and play in the dirt!  But it's the same old, same old with getting this house back in order.  Thank you, all of you, for your ideas for making some changes in the living room.  Who needs decorating magazines?  Within the next 3 weeks, my new chairs will be delivered as well as my area rug and I am going to start off with a clean slate.  I am really leaning towards a small section for a gallery, I saw some ledges at Pottery Barn which will keep the pictures from "floating"...more of a shelf~like look and I'm sold on that.  I seem to like order, probably because I am so mentally scattered! lol!

Anywho, with the gloomy weather I hunkered inside and worked on my kitchen.  I lugged all of my cookbooks back into the kitchen and lovingly cleaned each and every cover with soapy water to get the accumulation of gunk from the stove off them.  I went from the six piles that you see above to three, giving away a lot of them.  It really was a walk down memory lane for me.  If any of you are cookbook/recipe lovers, you know how these books become your friends, a sort of scrapbook of your life.  Crammed inside most of them were recipes torn out from newspapers and magazines, grocery lists and menus.  It was a very bittersweet moment when I came across a book that I used to cook from when I was making meals for my Mom and Dad years ago.  My Mom was losing her struggle with cancer and my Dad didn't have a clue how to cook, even if he had had the time, so I would make meals over the course of a few days, enough for a few weeks and freeze them.  I would bring them bag fulls that they could pick and choose and microwave.  Well, in this much used, stained and tattered book I found the menus, my notes, little stars by the dishes they loved and it really choked me up, especially now since they are both gone.  I put a lot of love in those meals and they so appreciated it, they gave me a lot more credit for my cooking abilities than I deserved and I would do it all over again if I could have more days with them.

Onward.  I don't know if you have ever heard of Charlie Trotter, a world renowned chef who had restaurant in Chicago named after himself.  Well, he was my idol and this was back in the day before celebrity chefs on television, popping up with multiple restaurants all over the place.  The Husband bought me this book, the year was 1997, and he made reservations at the restaurant for my birthday.  I was beyond thrilled!  I remember picking out a brown velvet dress to wear and thinking I was going to be too excited to eat!

Well, not only did The Husband make the reservations, he made arrangements for me to meet the chef himself!   OMG!  So this is me and Charlie, posing a little awkwardly (gotta love that 90's hair on me!).

And he signed a book for me, "After love, there is only cuisine".  What a night that was, I don't even remember the food!  I still follow him in the society pages, he closed his restaurant last year after thirty years and is doing some philanthropic work.  Did I ever make anything from the book?  Well, can you say, "Morel Flan with Black~Eyed Peas, Roasted Baby Fennel, and Herb~Infused Chicken Stock Reduction"?  Nope!

This weekend Emily and her fiance move into their new house.  Have I mentioned it is next door to Papa?  Isn't that great that she will be living next to her own grandfather, they can keep an eye out for one another!  And Mike's parent live two doors down, how's that for closeness?  As I said, Emily grew up on this block with her Nana and Papa living there so she knows everyone.  Tomorrow is the closing and then they are going to get right in.  She came home from work last night they moved gifts from the shower into their cars and then she started to box up the things in her room.  I nearly had a meltdown right then and there.  With all the wedding plans and craziness going on around here, I never fully realized that my little girl was leaving and starting a new life away from home.  I mean, I knew it, but it hadn't really registered until I saw the boxes of her clothes and all of her personal things from her room, which will soon be empty.  I know it's a new beginning for us, she is going to become a wife, homemaker (is that an outdated word?), and mother, and it's a happy time.  So why do I feel so sad?

Tomorrow I will be shopping for the Easter menu, the traditional ham and all the fixings, we have a small group here for dinner and dessert and I have just started to think about the dishes and centerpiece.  I have looked at so many pretty tables over the last few weeks, I'm kind of excited to do something elegant and spring~like.  Dinner is a no brainer, but I am going to try to make something delicious and new for dessert.  I'll share that with you next week when things are much more calm around here.

From my family to yours, wishing you a wonderful and blessed Easter! :)

EMILY'S BRIDAL SHOWER

The day of the shower came and I was so excited, I was up with the birds!  But that was a good thing because three girls fighting over a bathroom and a curling iron is not a pretty thing!  But I'll skip over all that fun stuff and take you right to the party.  A first shot of the tables.  Three mason jars on a table (we ordered them in bulk), filled with blush pink and green hydrangeas, baby's breath, and tea light candles.

Emily and I made the favors, Kraft bags embellished with a stamp, doily and sweet fabric ribbon.  Inside are delicious homemade cookies courtesy of the mother of the groom (to be).

Emily (dress courtesy of Dress Barn).

The sweet table.  We opted for simple cupcakes made by a traditional baker up the street.  I brought in 6 or 7 of my own cake stands to display them.

Emily made this cute banner from pictures she had of her and Mike over the five years they've been together.  Just hung on twine by mini clothespins.

A close up shows that they are layered over a paper doily.  And yes, Emily goes back and forth from blonde to brunette!

A vintage hatbox with one of their wedding invitations on it...so cute!

The gift table.  Emily told me it felt like Christmas morning! :)

Lunch was Chicken Picatta with wild rice and a tossed salad.  That's my empty mimosa glass there, proof positive that I was going to keep my word and relax!

This is a group of Emily's long time friends who will be bridesmaids.  I loved seeing all these gals dressed up and looking pretty for this occasion after knowing them almost all their lives!

Mike came just in time to help open the gifts and there were a ton!  He was so thrilled that not only were they gifted with the juicer he wanted, they received a margarita machine to boot!  Woo Hoo!

The love birds!

And the end to a great afternoon!

They say it takes a village, and it's true.  I have known Mike and his family since The Husband and I were married, they lived next door to Papa, that's how we all met, including Emily and Mike.  So this really was a celebration of two families that have been together for a very long time.  I love his mom, Moe, dearly, we go a long way back.  So together,  along with other special family members, we really put this shower together from scratch using a whole lot of Pinterest and Etsy shop finds and cut corners wherever we could without compromising the dream party Emily wanted.  And what a day it was.  I hope I didn't overload you with pictures.  Now it's clear sailing until the wedding in May!  Whew! 

Thanks for all of your help and ideas for The Great Wall Project I posted the other day.  Sweet Lynne from Dreams On 34th Street emailed me a little sketch of what she thought would look good on my blank living room wall.  Isn't this cute?  Gallery walls are the number 1 ideas out there and I think it's a winner.  I'm going to work on getting my kitchen back in order after the paint job we had and then fiddle with the bathroom.  The living room will wait until the chairs and area rug come, then I'll have a clearer idea what I'm doing.  But thanks so much for coming through for me, guys!

See you later in the week! :)

A WHOLE MESS OF DECORATING GOING ON!

Okay, the last thing I should be doing right now is a blog post but it might be a couple of days before I have a chance so I thought I'd just do a quickie now.  I'll start by being blunt...my house is chaotic.  A mess.  So my brain feels that way, too.  It will make me feel better to share it with you and then you can all go back to your normal, organized, well~structured lives!

Emily and Mike move into their new house on Friday.  This really is so exciting.  She has been shopping non stop to fill in all the nooks and crannies where they have not been given second hand furniture from family and friends.  She was able to do one of the bathrooms herself, as well as the master bedroom, so we have piles and heaps of everything everywhere.  She found these nightstands on clearance at Target yesterday, $48.98.  The mirrored drawer fronts are quite popular now...I like them, they are very transitional.  Both the bedroom and bath are going to be done in pale blue and gray.

She has two of the smaller lamp for the nightstands and the larger on the left is for the living room but she's going to swap out another shade.  I love the base.  This was from HomeGoods.  Gifts for the wedding and shower have been arriving here and are stacked up everywhere.  It's a happy but crazy time!  On top of it, my rooms have not been put back together since the painting was finished a week ago.  Last week we were all fighting bad colds, all of us.  I think all I did was drink tea and sleep.  Every day I would shower, dress and vow to get the kitchen back in order...those darn shelves done, but I would crawl back in bed and sleep more.  I think I finally kicked it in the butt yesterday.

I am really having a problem with this wall in the living room.  It looks much more expansive than it is in this photo.  Ignore the piles and stacks, this is a Reality Blog.  This is basically the only wall I have in the room.  One wall is all fireplace and flanking windows, the other is a large picture window and then we are open to the kitchen.  So...it's just obvious this wall is not happening here with these four pictures.  I did like them because the colors were a slightly darker hue of the pastels in the room, and the frames went well with my style.  Then to the right, I have a problem with this antique cabinet which is not  so tall and even with a large object on it, like the blue pitcher, I still have a large amount of space above it that looks empty.  So those are the two main problems...or maybe just one problem:  How to do this wall.  It has to be divided up in some way.  Art work, mirrors, a gallery wall?   Any suggestions?

When your life is in decorating turmoil, you need to turn your attention to other things...like a quick bathroom redo.  That always works for me.  No major cosmetic surgery, maybe just a shot of botox, like a new shower curtain, rug and towels.  I found this at JC Penney after scouring Kohls's and Target.  I'm always pleasantly surprised by that store.  And I found a nice linen valance for the window for $14.00.  In the space over the toilet I just have a picture hanging, but I got it in my head, in the midst of all this other crazy stuff going on, that I'd like two shelves there instead to put hand towels on and some glass jars with cotton balls, etc.  So off I went to Home Depot this morning and had some wood cut, bought some brackets and I already have paint.  So, the bathroom project is in the works and keeping my mind off all the other projects in the works!  Okay, lock me up now!

Lastly, I pinned this from the blog Thrifty Decor Chick.  These are the coolest switch plate cover I have ever seen. Alas, I couldn't find them at Home Depot so I'm going to check Lowes, Menards, Target, wherever you can get switch plates.  Love them!

So, tomorrow is the shower.  The cupcakes are in my car, the favors have been made, the flowers will be delivered, we'll be there an hour early to hang banners and light candles.  Then I am going to sit back and sip a mimosa and enjoy my little girl's day!

And don't forget, let me hear your ideas on that wall! :)

A QUICK SHOWER & A HAIRDO

No, this is not Emily's shower, that's next Saturday.  This past Saturday we went to the bridal shower of my daughter in law's sister, Katie.  I thought I would share a few pictures.  This is the sweet table, and it shouldn't be surprising that I spent a lot of time hovering around it!  The shower was held in the suburbs at a little cafe called Sweet Banana Bliss.  It was really a cute place.  There was an Irish theme going on, not just because St. Patrick's Day was Sunday, but because Katie is marring Kevin, a true Irishman from County Cork.  In fact, they are getting married in a centuries old church in Ireland next month.  I so wish we could go it's not going to happen.  My son Kevin will be there.

I thought I'd share a picture of my plate.  A variety of sandwiches were served as well as a delicious salad.  Fruit punch and sangria were also offered.  I've never had sangria before, it was a bit too sweet for me but it was fun to try.  Emily is never going to let me live it down that I put my dessert right on my plate instead of going back for it.  She eluded to the possibility of me worrying it might not be there if I had to go back!

This is Katie opening her gifts.  She was just beaming!  You might have heard me mention Katie before, she is the one that does my hair.  And speaking of hair...

...I actually did this myself!  This is how I want to wear my hair for Emily's wedding.  Katie is supposed to come over the morning of and do it.  But I thought I would give it a try myself and I'm happy it turned out the way it did.  And it took less that ten minutes!  I just pulled it up into a ponytail on top of my head and curled sections with a wand.  I normally wear my hair stick straight using a flat iron, so this was really different.

I'm happy to announce that I found my dress for the wedding.  Yes, now you won't have to hear me lamenting on and on in future posts about not being able to find a "mother of the bride" dress. I went with Emily for her final fitting at the bridal shop last week and while perusing the gowns, I fell in love with three.  I really loved them all equally but the first two were not available for some reason.  So I picked out a silky plum sort of wrap around full length dress with 3/4 inch sleeves and some rusching (sp?) here and there.  Unfortunately, the dresses there were all in sizes 10 and 12, so I couldn't try it on.  Don't get me going about all these dresses on display being in a size fit for a Barbie doll.  I couldn't fit one leg in if I tried.  So I was measured and the dress should be in in about a week.  Oh yeah, it has a little silver brooch type piece at the side of the waist so I'm going to be on the hunt for some silver sparkly shoes and a clutch.  Can you say relieved?

Seems like we are all on board for Emily' shower next Saturday; cupcakes and flowers ordered and just one simple little project to do some time this week.  The poor girl is just spread so thin...between working a full time job, getting ready to close on their new house, the shower and the bachelorette party (a big vineyard tour/wine tasting event in Michigan),  I just don't know how she keeps her head on straight.

Well, that's all I have for today.  Did you have your corned beef and cabbage yesterday?  Ours turned out great.  Corned beef and turkey should be something we have more often during the year...just pop it in the oven and take a 4 hour nap.  Oops, did I just give away what I did yesterday?!

Have a great week, Everybody!

PAINTING DONE AND A LITTLE SPRINGIFYING!

I am so happy to be sitting down and writing a post...finally!  You know how it is when you have a project going on and everything goes up for grabs?  Charlie the painter came on Friday and started the project (tearing wallpaper down in the kitchen, painting it as well as the living room and hall).  Thankfully, The Husband and I were downtown which was nice...I never know what to do with myself when someone is here working.  Well, the exclusion would be my gorgeous Irish plumbers, totally drool worthy.  Where was I?  Charlie finished up on Monday after we spent a weekend with furniture in the middle of the room and all my "stuff" piled in other rooms.  So, yesterday I spent the whole day cleaning, moving furniture, fluffing and adding some spring touches.  Things are almost quite normal now.

Ta da!  This is the mantel and I can proudly say I shopped the house to do it except for the bunny on the end.  I have had the old window for a few years, I found it at a flea market event in Michigan and I was just waiting for the right time and place to use it.  By the way, I'm not doing a full room reveal yet as we are waiting for the new chairs and area rug.  My curtains are at the cleaners.  But you can see the wall color in these pictures, it's called White Rock by Benjamin Moore. 

I found the mossy green basket holding decorating books at Pottery Barn, part of their new spring collection.

This is the letter "B" that I made a few weeks ago.  I found the letter at Michael's and used a spray adhesive to attach moss.  I had the frame, I just popped the glass and mat out.

I've always wanted to put this tray/caddy on my table but thought it was too large.  Then I thought, what the heck, my kids never eat at the table anyway!  It's filled with all things springlike and we are ready for tea or coffee anytime!

I added the Bunnykin pieces by Royal Doulton that we received as a christening gift for Emily 25 years ago.  I plan to pass these on to her when she has her first little baby...sniff sniff

Here are more bunnies from my bin.  I really like that big dude and the smaller one is made of stone.

The crackled eggs from Michael's are hung by ribbon on the light fixture.  Behind it you can see my wreath on the door.  I must have bought it on clearance last year and forgot about it.  Don't you love surprises like that?

I won a giveaway that Judy from 20 North Ora had and the box came filled with handmade Easter goodies.  These are just two of the cuties she made.  There is a colorful banner and wall hanging that I forgot to upload (sorry Judy!).  I will include those in my next post.  

After the painting was done, the rooms look so uncluttered.  I rearranged a few things on my kitchen counters and tossed a lot of cooking utensils I never use.  I still have to wipe down my cookbook covers but I think I am going to store a lot of them to keep the shelves more simple.  For the living room, I've ordered a beautiful cream colored area rug from L.L. Bean and I'm looking for new curtains for the dining nook and kitchen.  The Husband is scouting out corner cabinets for the TV.  It's funny how projects snowball.  I bought a new shower curtain liner from CVS today and I'm ready to change out the bathroom a bit.  I just have the spring bug, I guess!  When everything is done, we'll compare before/after pictures.  I'm just so happy that green paint and wallpaper is gone!

Happy Spring!!

SNOWY DAYS, BAKING AND THE PAINT PROJECT

Well, friends, we got whalloped yesterday but the city of Chicago carried on like a well oiled machine.  We've had a lot of practice for this.  We were also fortunate that the temps were in the high thirties so the snow was pretty much melting before it hit the ground.  I think our area got about 9 inches, but a few miles  away may have gotten 12, snow is random like that.  Doesn't my patio look amazing?  I'd like to write my name on that cake with chocolate icing!

My amaryllis decided to bloom this week.  My $2.50 amaryllis from the after~Christmas sale at my grocery store.  I think I saved it's short little life!

Sorry about the quality of my pictures here.  The skies were so gloomy and I just wasn't sure what mode to shoot in.  Anyway, this is the latest in my bunny collection.  I can see this one getting a lot of love from one of my future grandchildren!

Look at her slippers!  Squeal!

I was so lucky to have so much time last week.  These are the Triple Chocolate Brownie cookies I made.  You definitely have to have a big tall glass of milk with these and then remember to lick your whiskers!

I was in the mood to bake but not kill myself too much with sugar, so I tried my hand at popovers, which turned out quite good.  We had them with dinner one night and I wish I could say everyone liked them.  The Husband thought he was getting some sort of bread or muffin type thing and a popover is actually sort of egg like.

So I moved on to cornbread muffins.  These turned out wonderful.  I found the recipe in the Williams Sonoma catalog and I tweaked it a bit.  I am sharing the recipe at the end of this post.  Now don't forget, we still have some "chili cooking" weather ahead and these goes perfect with a nice big bowl of it. 

The secret?  A nice hunk of cheddar cheese in the middle.  Oh heaven!

This is a peek of the living room right now.  It took me about an hour and 1/2 yesterday to pull pictures down and move all the little things into our den.  Except for a big mirror we are good to go in  the living room.  I left the nails in the walls...I really don't want to change what I have.   I know that sounds weird but I haven't got any new ideas nor have I seen anything anywhere that speaks to me.  And do you want to hear a real kicker?  Someone asked me yesterday if I had picked a paint color and I said, "Yes, for the last time, a creamy white!!!", "Well let's see the paint sample."  What?  What Sample?!!!"  I forgot to go out and look at paint chips! lol!  So, I'm headed to Home Depot after this post.  I mean, how long can it take to pick your favorite white out of a sea of whites?

And there was another glitch (isn't there always?).  The fabric I ordered for my new chairs is on backorder and we wouldn't get the chairs delivered until the end of May, which is after Emily's wedding.  So...I'm at square one.  I am taking this as a sign that the fabric may not have been the one for me.  I keep having visions of the muslin slipcovers I have in the family room.  Why not just a darker shade?  The fabric is soft but tough, sort of like denim.  Emily is bringing me home samples tonight.

Good luck to all of you out East where our snowstorm is heading.  Stock up on the hot cocoa, firewood and movies, stay off the roads and let it pass on through.  Now here's that recipe in my own little shorthand.  Email me if you have any questions.

Cheese Centered Corn Muffins

1 1/2 c. cornmeal

1 1/2 c. flour

1 1/2 T. baking powder

1 1/2 t. salt

2 T. sugar

2 t.. chopped rosemary or 1 t. dried

2 eggs

1 3/4 c. buttermilk

6 T.butter, melted

5 1/2 oz. cheese (I used cheddar) cut in 12 cubes

Preheat oven to 400.  Spray muffin tin wells.  In large bowl mix all dry ingredients.  In another, mix the remaining ingredients except cheese.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add your egg mixture.  Fold until blended and no lumps remain.  Spoon about 2 T. of batter in muffin well, pop in a cube of cheese and add batter until well is 2/3 filled. Bake for 15 minutes or until edges of muffins are golden.  Cool pan on rack.  Serves 12.

Easy, easy!!  I will see you next week.  I'm joining Debra at Common Ground for Be Inspired Friday and Rooted In Thyme for Simple And Sweet Friday. 

HELLO MARCH AND A DIY PROJECT

I feel like I've been away forever!  I had computer and blog problems, thanks to those of you that emailed me about my blog looking all wonky.  Thankfully it fixed itself, I love when that happens.  My laptop is in the shop as we speak and I am using Abby's when it's available.  So, what have I been up to?  Well, I had a very quiet, cozy and relaxing week.  I did a lot of cooking and baking and fluffing and reading.  I wanted to share some awesome recipes I've been making for dinner, I am in love with one of my old cookbooks and have been making something new every night.  I also made some incredible triple chocolate brownie cookies that are to die for.  I will include all of this is my next post.

 

Friday I had had enough of the great indoors and Emily and I were off on the run.  First stop, Michael's.  With the upcoming shower and wedding, and she and her fiance moving into their new house soon, we had all sorts of projects in mind as we stocked up.  As much as I love monograms when I see them, I only have them on towels and I have been coveting the boxwood covered letters at Ballards.  I'm fresh out of boxwood (except for the tons of it we have at the lakehouse...that's a project for this summer), so I bought some moss and this letter. 

Very simple.  I used spray adhesive and just smashed the moss on it and then trimmed it with nail scissors.  And no, the B is not for Blondie!  It's for my last name.  When I do my spring mantle, I'll show you how it looks.  And that's going to be soon, Charlie the painter is coming on Thursday.  Yay!!

So, Friday night turned into craft night with Emily, my SIL Megan and Emily's bestie, Ashley, who are both in the wedding.  We worked on table numbers and favors for the shower.  As you know, I'm in charge of tables.  We are having Ball jars filled with spring flowers, votive candles, and these little acrylic thingies that look like ice cubes scattered around.  The favors will be homemade cookies in embellished Kraft bags, that's all I can say on that, but I will share pictures after the shower is over.  Emily and I threw together some appetizers;  fresh baked beer bread with an artichoke spread, a Caprese salad with avocado and these little crescent roll sandwiches.  These were very simple, just roast beef, Swiss and provolone cheese, a dab of horseradish if you like and then just roll and bake.  They were absolutely delish!  You can ask your deli for au jus for dipping.  We were up until 1:00 a.m. doing this, dancing to 90's music and trying not to wake up The Husband!  The next morning I felt like I had moss up my nose and in my lungs!

I planned on having a low key Saturday, just chill and read the Sunday newspaper, and then someone came up with the idea to go to the Offtrack Betting Parlor.  Whoo Hoo!  We had a big group and everyone won a little something.  Actually, 3 of the guys split a $10.00 bet on a horse and shared the $300.00 win.  But, typical guys, they bet it all on another race and lost it!  I definitely would have left while I was up.  I'm looking forward to the weather getting warmer and going to the "real" horse races.  The Husband and I try to go a few times every summer but the lakehouse sometimes gets in the way. 

 

Well, that's all I have for today.  I have a busy week ahead, a dermatologist appointment (my rash is getting better, hurray!), a bridal gown fitting for Em and a vet appointment for Layla, who is doing really well!  She chewed her stitches off!  I guess once the swelling went down she had at it.  She still follows me around all day and whimpers a bit but I think she just wants me to pick her up.  Big baby~

 

I have 2 more chapters of that never ending mystery series and then I am moving on to The Silver Linings Playbook, (yes, that was a book before it was a movie) The Good House by Ann Leary, and The Last Letter From Your Lover by Jojo Moyes.  These are all ready and waiting in my Nook library.  I haven't even peeked at the pile on my nightstand from the used bookstore.  As Charlie the painter will be coming later in the week, I have to clear out my living room and kitchen.  I know I mentioned this but I'm procrastinating big time.  I can see the dust blowing around and a lot of convulsive sneezing! 

 

Have a good week! :)