Less is more today as the temps in Chicago have hit the high 60's and I'm chasing daylight once again. All of the snow piles have melted over the last few days. I saw a flock of geese flying this afternoon and I thought, "They've come home." My neighbors are out working in their yards, children are riding bikes and parents are taking babies for walks. There's just a little extra bounce in every body's step when we first warm up here in the Midwest, though we know it won't last and we will probably have several more snowfalls. But today is gorgeous and I thought I would do a little 'springy' tablescape for you and include one of my favorite recipes as well.
Today my centerpiece is a simple white basket of white flowers that I made a few weeks ago and I believe I posted a picture of. I also have a little white pitcher filled with blue flowers and a new addition to my bunny family. Isn't he precious holding his little basket of eggs?My tablescape is very simple as well. I bought some pretty salad plates that I wanted you to see. They are called Blue Chintz and I bought them at HomeGoods last fall. I also bought the white dinner plates there.
The salad plates came four to a package for $7.99. Yes!
The place mats and napkins are from Steinmart, the wineglasses are from Target and the silver is vintage.
Very simple. And now I have a recipe for an easy soup that your guests will think is anything but. It's not a cream soup, but it has a velvety taste and texture. You will love it.
Spinach & Rice Lemon Soup
1 onion, chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
4 shallots, minced
2 T butter
**************************
3 cans (10 1/2/ oz. ea.) chicken broth
2 10 oz. packages of frozen chopped spinach
4 T fresh lemon juice
1 c. cooked rice
1/2 c cream (optional)
salt to taste
In a dutch oven, saute the first 4 ingredients until the onions are soft. Stir in broth and bring to a simmer. Add the spinach, lemon juice, and rice and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the cream if you are using it. I do. Heat through. Looks lovely garnished with a sprig of parsley.
I hope you try this recipe. I love it and I think you will too. Let me know if you like it.
Today I am joining Susan from Between Naps On The Porch for Tablescape Thursday and Michael Lee from Designs By Gollum for Foodie Friday. Please visit each of these sweet ladies and then make the rounds of all the participants.
I am happy you stopped by and hope you all have a great evening.
My week has been getting better and better. The weather is warm and sunny and we are expected to get up into the mid 40's over the weekend. Yes!! We actually have patches of grass showing through the snow after just one day of sunshine. The smell of fresh air makes me want to inhale and never exhale... I love it.
One of my favorite things to do when it is cold and gray and I don't have anywhere to go is to browse online for unique shops. I got a tip from another blogger about a website called Farmhouse Wares. I was thrilled to find so many things to go with the English Country decor of my kitchen up at the lakehouse. I ordered up a storm and I still have another list! In the picture above you will see the galvanized metal stand I ordered. Now wouldn't a dreamy angel food cake look cute sitting on that? I just love mixing things up like that. I threw some fruit on there for now so I could show it off (fresh out of angel food cake). Is it not the greatest?
Yes, I really did just throw the fruit on it after my trip to Pete's Market and never bothered to take the netting off of the clementines. That's just me. And although to my knowledge, galvanized metal is pretty much used as a receptacle for cows milk and scraps for the pigs, it is making a big show in all things rustic and chic, right up there with burlap. Pottery Barn is busy selling their galvanized wares and not to compare apples and clementines, I think I got a great deal. The shop owner also has a blog called Farmhouse Musings and she has some really cute stories about farm life, so pay her a little visit and pop into her shop. You will love it.
And again it was my lucky week. See the beautiful tassel? I never thought I would own one, although I see them all over Blogland. I mean, do I look like a tassel person? Beyond the tassel is the parrot's cage with a box of Fruit Loops on top!! But I mentioned in the comments to another blogger that I loved bunnies and I loved the bunny tassel she had and the next thing I knew, our wonderful girl from that mountaintop in California, Gloria from Happy To Be sent me this adorable bunny tassel that she made! For the very few of you who don't know Gloria, go directly from my post to her blog. You will have a friend forever.
I was so surprised. Gloria really has my style pegged. I think Mr. Bunny just might look good in my English Country kitchen at the lake. Or should I ask, does one put a tassel in a kitchen? Well, if I can have a parrot in my living room, I can have a bunny tassel in the kitchen.
Look at this face. I just want to kiss it. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Gloria. From my lake to your mountaintop! ;-)
I was playing with my flowers again the other day and having a bit of rainy day fun. I made these two arrangements for spring. Emily has been joining me and she is just SO creative. I'm in awe of her most of the time.
I bought this little urn from the clearance section at Michael's. From my Floral Shop post, you all know that I have enough flowers to last me forever, so this was very inexpensive to make.
This one is made with a crackle glass container, also from Michael's. Both of these are blogger gifts so I can't say much more. How do you like them?
The beautiful day is getting away from me. I can't believe it is staying light out until almost 6:00 p.m. In another 6 weeks or so, my tulips and daffodils will be coming up. Whoo hoo!! And this reminds me, St. Patrick's Day is also approaching and Kathleen from Cuisine Kathleen is having a Blog Crawl. You can click the button on my sidebar to get all the details. It sounds like it will be loads of fun.
Thanks for coming by to visit. It's always appreciated. I'm thinking of letting the dogs take me for a walk now and then I have a beautiful veal roast going into the oven. Happy Wednesday everyone!
2010 Winter Olympics biggest fans, Emily & Mikey
It was that time to start thinking about what I wanted to give up for Lent. Usually it takes me awhile because I try to come up with something that I will miss the least, something that is easy to give up (great Catholic, aren't I?). But this year I knew it well in advance and although it could have been a New Years resolution, I thought it would be better for lent, because if I messed up, well, HE would know. So what did I give up? I am giving up asking people for help and favors. Anything that I can do myself, for myself and others.
If you have been reading some of my recent posts, you know that I can get up on my high horse when I feel people (my family in particular) aren't pulling their weight. As my friend Pat from Gypsy Heart said, "Do I look like I am walking around with a shirt that says Hilton on it?". Well, I think I got most of that out of my system, or at least I came up with some solutions and some things I will just have to live with. They are universal problems and well, if the universe hasn't figured it all out... So you might think it odd that I am giving up the very thing that I have been fighting for, but no, I'm not in the least. I will continue to have my expectations, but it is time to take a look at my responsibilities and how I manage to bump them off on others (gasp).
Case in point: Abigail uses my car for school (and for her mani/pedi's, tanning, mall runs and the occasional visit with a friend). So I only see fit that since she is using my car, I can ask her to stop and buy milk and pop, drop off a package at the post office, bring home the dry cleaning and take the car through the car wash. After all, she is using my car. And well, there we have it, all of Blondie's errands for the day are taken care of. I sit back with a Cheshire cat smile and if I want, I can stay in my jammies all day. And I have. Occasionally I don't even brush my hair.
I do this with The Husband too. I catch him before he leaves from work to ask him to pick up this or that at the grocery store or stop by a friends house to get a book I am borrowing. After all, I am in the middle of making his dinner. Probably in my jammies.
So I ask you to look into your heart of hearts and tell me if you ever do any of this. This taking advantage of a good situation. Do I sound ruthless? In my head I justify this, as I have illustrated. But is it fair?
I racked my brain trying to come up with something to justify my behavior. I was starting to meet some resistance on the part of the slaves, er...family. I was accused of never leaving the house (true), of blogging half the day (true), of neglecting my duties (well, um, okay...true) And so I made my decision and decided to start straight away with my new found sense of doing it all myself. Active Blondie. Off and running everyday. Smiling and laughing all pink cheeked with energy and glee. Well, it didn't take long to fail miserably and here is what happened.
On Saturday I went out to Michael's with my daughter and then out to lunch. Afterward I was to stop at the pharmacy and pick up prescriptions for myself and The Husband. Emily and I had a wonderful afternoon and it was only until I was back home, in the house hanging up my coat, that I realized I had forgotten to get the prescriptions. The very first thought that popped in to my head was, The Husband can pick them up on his way home from the office, where he had gone to work for a few hours. My sacrifice never crossed my mind. To make a long story short, The husband was NOT happy to hear from me and was even less happy when he found the pharmacy had closed by the time he got there. And so we did not speak to each other all evening, as that is how it usually goes when things get ugly between us.
The next morning I lay in bed thinking and admitting to myself that I had been wrong. Wrong from the minute I hung up that coat instead of putting it back on. I got out of bed with a renewed purpose.
And there in the kitchen I found a dozen roses, a luscious carrot cake and a mushy Valentine's Day card from The Husband. I went and gave him a big hug and kiss and all was good between us. But then I did something, something so small. I threw on some clothes and actually brushed my hair and I went to the drugstore, got our prescriptions and also picked up a magazine, batteries for my camera, some discount Valentine's Day chocolates, a newspaper...the whole time thinking, "Wow, this getting out thing is fun!" But most of all I realized the err of my ways. And that if I wanted to get on my high horse over chores not getting done or a golf bag sitting in my living room for a week, that's okay. And it is okay to delegate duties to everyone to keep a house running. And it is okay to ask for a favor once in awhile. But as a woman of the new millennium, I have to take care of myself and not rely on others to do it for me. And thankfully I have a husband who knew I would figure it out.
I won this award from Hummer of Joyous Tomorrows.
Thank you so much. As this was a lengthy post, I am going to list 7 things about myself and pass the award on in my next post.
Thanks so much for visiting me today.
Less is more today as the temps in Chicago have hit the high 60's and I'm chasing daylight once again. All of the snow piles have melted over the last few days. I saw a flock of geese flying this afternoon and I thought, "They've come home." My neighbors are out working in their yards, children are riding bikes and parents are taking babies for walks. There's just a little extra bounce in every body's step when we first warm up here in the Midwest, though we know it won't last and we will probably have several more snowfalls. But today is gorgeous and I thought I would do a little 'springy' tablescape for you and include one of my favorite recipes as well.
Today my centerpiece is a simple white basket of white flowers that I made a few weeks ago and I believe I posted a picture of. I also have a little white pitcher filled with blue flowers and a new addition to my bunny family. Isn't he precious holding his little basket of eggs?
The place mats and napkins are from Steinmart, the wineglasses are from Target and the silver is vintage.
Very simple. And now I have a recipe for an easy soup that your guests will think is anything but. It's not a cream soup, but it has a velvety taste and texture. You will love it.
Today I am joining Susan from Between Naps On The Porch for Tablescape Thursday and Michael Lee from Designs By Gollum for Foodie Friday. Please visit each of these sweet ladies and then make the rounds of all the participants. 
