Rainy Day Lunch

I was craving tomato soup and grilled cheese for lunch.  Not just any old grilled cheese sandwich, I wanted to eat the grilled cheese of my youth, with oozing gooey cheese spilling out.  The only way to get that kind of sandwich was to pull out my Toas-Tite antique gadget.  If you've never eaten a grilled cheese sandwich with a Toas-Tite maker, you've no idea what you're missing.

You might have seen one at a flea market or antique store and not known what it was.  This is a Toas-Tite:

Antique Toas-Tite

This was how I thought everyone in the world ate grilled cheese sandwiches for it was the only way I knew.  The only way our family ate them.  It was in fifth grade when some girlfriends came over for lunch and I introduced them to our special grilled cheese maker, it was then that I realized there were a lot of people missing out on something that was special and unique to me.

Buttered side down, cheese in the middle.

Put the other bread buttered side up and close.

Trim off bread.  Eat or give to birds.

Cook on gas or electric stove top.

   Eat and enjoy.  Watch closely or it can burn as mine did on one side.  I put it on the stove top and walked away for a couple of minutes and one side burned.  Oh, I don't mind a little charred sandwich though.

The unburned side.  ;)

Disasters all around, knocked over and spilled my cup of tomato soup before I had a chance to eat it.

Golden oozing cheese.  Yummy goodness!

 You can make a grilled dessert pie with these, too.  Just butter the bread as shown and instead of cheese, put canned fruit pie filling of your choice inside.  Not too much though.  Most likely a tablespoon or two.

Dresses and Things.

I love to sew and each summer usually make a few things such as shorts or tops or skirts.  Here's a very nice clothing site I just discovered.  Some really cute dresses and things.

Shabby Apple

Overboard

Toe the Line

A few of my favorites!  So playful and cute.  The belts really make these dresses adorable and they have that vintage look I so love.

Gold Circles

Fun and Playful

Some Plants We're Considering...

Japanese Maple - Gorgeous Red

Possible fence screening.

Something for ground cover and color.

Grasses for texture and movement.

Landscaping Desperately Needed.

Small section, thinking of putting a tall-ish variety Japanese Maple Tree and some low growing shrubs to fill in underneath.

Main part of yard with Three Graces Fountain.  The birds love to bathe and drink here.  You can barely see the tree in the far right corner; that's the one PG&E is coming to take out.  Our new shed will go there.

Small narrow section for plantings looking toward patio and house.  Undecided what we're going to do with the patio.  Kind of thinking about just painting it with a gray deck paint for now.

A long curvy section across from the fountain and near the soon to be shed area.

We drove to Mid City Nursery to get some plant ideas.  After about 45 minutes of walking us around to show us plants that might work for our yard, the worker mentions that we might want to hire their designer to come to our house and draw up a plan for us.  We voiced an enthusiastic, yes!  The both of us might be able to build furniture and other things but garden plants and design is honestly not our thing.  I suppose we could study and read up on it but don't have the time and would much rather pay a professional to come out, take a look at what we've got to work with and help guide us to the right plants that are on the low maintenance side.  

I love Hydrangeas, have to say they are among my favorite flower and I definitely want some of those.  Our yard is sort of a combination of woodland and Japanese style.  Over in a different section, not shown, we have lots of ferns, Hydrangeas and a Redwood tree along with a little wood bridge that Michael built going over a dry creek we created a long time ago when we had lots more energy.  I even laid a little stone path that meanders through that area of the garden.  

This past summer, once it was decided to remove the tree in the corner because of the hassle and the hazard with the high voltage lines, we tore up the grass, moved the fountain more off center, took up the bricks on the concrete patio and made this little meandering bricked path going all around the yard from one area to another and moved our wrought iron patio furniture into the yard.  It's just a nicer place overall for eating outside and entertaining, under the tree away from the hot summer sun. 

You can see we have lots of statues and things that can be spread around the yard for added interest here and there.  I'm also hoping to add some kind of variety of Butterfly Bush that might work near the fountain.  Keeping my fingers crossed.  One other thing, we need some type of plant to grow sort of tall-ish to help screen the fence a bit. 

The designer from Mid City Nursery is coming over March 3rd to help us.  Can't wait!  Can't wait!

Upcoming Dinner Buffet Party?

Would you like to learn how to set a professional looking buffet table?  Watch Two Chums do it:

Click here to see the video.

Shoe Storage Bench

I asked Michael to make a new piece of furniture for our shop, told him what I wanted and gave him dimensions that would work out and voilà!  He made it.  Michael is such a doer.  Never procrastinates, he gets the job done.  

Here it is!

Cranberry-Orange Chocolate Chip Scones

Made into a rectangle instead of a circle.

A light sprinkle of cinnamon sugar before going into the oven.

Time to cool.

Time to enjoy!

I made scones again, same recipe, slight variation, I added 3/4 cup frozen cranberries, 1/2 cup chocolate chips and 3/4 tsp. fresh orange zest.

You can basically use this same recipe and add nuts, white chocolate, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, chopped apple and oatmeal, pretty much anything you desire that would be good in a scone.  Oh, one thing I forgot to mention, if the dough is a little sticky, use flour on the board to incorporate extra in the dough and to keep it from sticking as you pat it out.

Tulip Tree

Liriodendron

Oh, a sweet little tulip tree.  The most gorgeous tree in our whole neighborhood!  At least, it's my favorite tree and I wish it belonged to me.  Alas, it belongs to our neighbor.

Glorious Pink Blossoms.

Full of blooms.

A beautiful day.

Wishing For Rain

Friday morning after my workout and shower, while dressing I reached up my arm to put on the sleeve and something went 'pop' and hurt sharply.  Now I'm resting and icing it and doing my little exercises to hopefully make it feel better.  It's amazing the things we take for granted such as the simple task of getting dressed or reaching for a glass of water or washing dishes or driving.

Michael is busily working on orders today and tomorrow afternoon everything will be in the 'paint department' as he likes to jokingly tell me.  ;D

We're both so happy the orders keep coming in!  I just wish I could go out in the garage to help him.  I feel so lazy during the daytime, most likely because each night for the past week my sleep has been interrupted by long bouts (from an hour to three hours) of insomnia and it's draining me.  Not sure if it's my shoulder that awakens me in the night or exactly what it is.  All I want is a good nights sleep!

After the gym yesterday I went to Barnes & Noble with Shilah to purchase some puzzle books.  I need something to work on besides the computer that will make me work my brain.  For starters I picked up a Sudoku Puzzle Book with Easy, Medium and Hard puzzles and this is the first time I've ever played Sudoku, after having Shilah explain it to me.  Now I'm hooked.  I started playing it yesterday beginning with the Easy ones and once I did a couple of those I tried the Medium and even tackled a few of the harder ones to my amazement.  I also purchased a Word Search puzzle book but haven't opened it yet, just having fun with the Sudoku puzzles and getting quite quick at working them.  There are a few Challenger puzzles in the very back of the book and I've done one so far.  

I wish it would rain some more...

Our view of last nights sunset

Pizza Pie

Before baking.

I made homemade pizza last night, because for some reason, I was craving it.  Freshly made dough from scratch, grated mozzarella, mushrooms, green onions, bell peppers, fresh tomatoes and as you can see, fresh feta cheese on my side.     

The dough is easy:

1 pkg. yeast, 2/3 cup warm water, 1 tsp. sugar:  Proof the yeast by letting this mixture sit for 5-10 minutes until it foams.
Put 1 2/3 cup unbleached flour and 3/4 tsp. salt in a bowl or food processor.  Slowly pour the yeast mixture into the bowl and pulse to mix.  Add 3/4 tsp. extra virgin olive oil and pulse a couple times.  Take out and pat out to fill on a greased pizza pan or use a pizza stone.

Set the pizza pan with the patted dough circle aside to rest while you grate the cheese and get your toppings ready.  This pizza was made with no sauce and I used fresh tomatoes in it's place.  Use sauce or not, your preference.

Bake in a preheated oven at 450 degrees for about 20 to 25 minutes, depending on how hot your oven gets.  I didn't check my pizza until 25 minutes and the crust was slightly overdone.  Not burned, just crispy brown.  Delizioso!      

All done.  A little on the over done as I checked it at 25 minutes instead of 20.

A Man Who Loves People

I just learned of Johnny Barnes through a link to a video shared by Justin Geer, who've I'd already shared with you here in an earlier post.

Johnny is 88 and lives in Bermuda and is a man who loves to wave and throw kisses out to the passersby, rain or shine.  If he's not there, they notice and miss him and might worry some.  Here's a glimpse of the short film made by Matt Morris about Mr. Barnes.  Here is a link to watch the whole video (approx. 10 minutes) which helps explain a little bit about the man behind the smile and how he's touched those who pass by him each day.

Recipes

My Vintage Tin Recipe Holder

I bought this old tin recipe holder in the early 1980's at a yard sale in Auburn for 10 cents.  It has a quite a few old time favorites in here, Pasta Vazoole, Minestrone, Chicken n Dumplings, Chocolate Sheet Cake, all my favorite Jello recipes, Pineapple Carrot and Raisin Muffins, etc., etc..

You might be wondering why I'm showing you my old tin box of recipes tucked inside.  I plan on going through this old box and picking out some of our family favorites, whipping a few up to show pictures and sharing the recipes. 

Time to organize it all?

Shoulder Healing Fast!

My daughter drove me to a post op appt. this morning and the Dr. I saw was pretty impressed with my recovery.  I began moving my shoulder on the third day after surgery even though it was painful, several times each day doing little arm circles, arm raises and stretches.  The doctor that saw me today said it's the best and quickest recovery he's seen.  He said most people come in with their arm in the sling, no movement and having lots of pain.  Doc wanted to know how I'm doing on my pain meds and I told him that I only took 3 1/2 pills the day of my surgery and couldn't take any more because they made me sick and I don't need or want them.

Then I proceeded to show him all my arm movements.  His eyes practically popped out of his head and he had such a big smile on his face.  I confessed that I was worried that I might have overworked it and he said, "Probably, but that's a good thing, not a bad thing."

Tomorrow morning after the gym is my first physical therapy appointment.  I'm on the road to a full recovery within 2 to 3 months.  I can do very short distance driving, no freeway yet and am so happy about that, just can't drive the stick shift yet.  So very grateful for the speedy healing!!

The doctor said they're putting me in the advanced program of physical therapy.  ;D   

A Treasure I Found

A Really Cool Coil Vase

Italian Postcards

Last night we were watching this episode of House Hunters International, one of our favorite shows to watch, especially if it's involving Italy or France.  The episode was about a young woman who left her home in Park City, Utah, to move to Turin, Italy, for love.  She needed an apartment that had plenty of storage and closet space for her new business venture: an online vintage clothing shop.

Chelsea modeling a cute coat.

Immediately, I figured she must be on Etsy!  After the show was finished, I typed in her name: Chelsea, which was all I had to go on for an Etsy search.  13,957 people with the name Chelsea.  With a little detective work, I dug a little deeper with a few more searches and found her!  Italian Postcards.  A very cute and chic Italian vintage clothing shop!  And here, is her blog.

A cute sweater.

Messenger Bag

Vintage Shoes

Vintage Leather Jacket

Another Pair of Vintage Shoes - Super Cute