Valentine Tea Party

I took Avery to the Mount Gulian Historic Site here in Beacon for a Valentine Tea Party. Adults were not invited unless they had a child with them! Most all of the girls were wearing party dresses and they were so well behaved. Avery even carried her purse full of treasures.


I wanted to capture Avery drinking and enjoying her tea(all 3 cups) and she caught me with that sideways glance. Picture taking didn't stop her though. She wanted even more. I had to stop her or our shopping trip, which we went on later, would have included many potty breaks!!


We started off with tea breads, biscuits and jam. Avery thinks the jam was peach and I have to agree. Very tasty. Next, they served crustless sandwiches. There were tuna, egg salad, ham and cheese and....cucumber and cream cheese. Avery didn't care for the cucumber one but I did. I helped her out and finished it.


The children went downstairs where tables were set up for a craft. They made a few of the tissue paper flowers before coming up for the "dainty desserts". We both forgot to bring the flowers home! Avery wasn't upset about it. She knew she could make them at home. During dessert there was a raffle for a number of goodies little girls love....stuffed animals, hair supplies, craft items, colored pencils and paper, etc. I didn't know this was going to take place or I wouldn't have gone there without a bit of money. Really, not even a penny!! The Mom sitting across from us had her daughter purchase a ticket and give it to Avery. That was very nice of them. Avery wasn't a winner but she was ok with it. I was very proud of how polite and well behaved she was. As we left the party she told me that she really enjoyed herself but we had to hurry because she needed to get back to the house. Too much tea!!!

Blogging Frustration

Yep, this is me! Most everytime I sit down and think I'm going to add to my blog, this is what I end up wanting to do!! Kate(darling daughter #4) keeps asking me why can't I remember what to do. I have no answer other than I'm old. I'm surprising myself tonight that I was able to find this image and get it on my page. Couldn't do it last night though. My "oldness" keeps me from being a part of some of the sites where you can post your before and after projects, or photos etc. That Mr. McLinky thing throws me for a loop on those sites. The giveaways I would like to enter ask me to grab the button and put it on my blog and then do this and do that and do something else. AAAAAGGGGGHHHHH! I'll get it someday I'm sure. If I didn't lead a pretty quiet life, you know, get up, go to work, come home, make dinner, clean up, go to bed, get up......I might have more to blog about. I do know that the more I blog, the easier it will get and I'll be able to remember better what I have to do to make this something someone else might want to read. Well, thank you for listening and if you have any cheat sheets tucked away somewhere that might help me, you can fax them to 1-866-air-head!!

Biscotti Recipe

Since many of my friends on Facebook requested the recipe for the biscotti I made, I'll post it here for all of you. I found the picture of the biscotti on tastespotting.com which took me to the blog
visionsofsugarplum.com for the recipe. Thank you Emily for posting it.

Chunky Monkey Biscotti

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana
2 large eggs
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
melted chocolate for dipping, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a large cookie sheet with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt; whisk in sugar and chocolate chips until combined. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together banana, eggs, peanut butter and vanilla until well combined. Stir in dry ingredients until well combined. Divide dough and shape into three (9 x 2 1/3 inch) logs on cookie sheet.

Bake for 30 minutes; cool 5 minutes before transferring logs to wire racks to cool an additional 15 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board and cut rolls diagonally into 1/2 inch thick slices. Place, cut sides down on baking sheet. Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees; bake 10 minutes. Turn cookies over; bake an additional 15 minutes (cookies will be sllightly soft in center but will harden as they coool). Remove from baking sheet; cool completely on wire racks.

Dip in melted chocolate if desired.

The only change I made was I made two bigger logs which, when cut, turned out to be about a 5 inch long cookie.

Enjoy!!

Baking on a Sunday Afternoon

I haven't baked in a while which could be a good thing or a bad thing. If I don't bake, I don't eat it and if I do bake.....well, you know what happens! Today was quiet and a bit rainy so I decided to make something from the website tastespotting.com. I must have found it through someone's blog while browsing. Tastespotting is a mouth watering photo collection of recipes(I found that description on Google!). Wait until you browse through it! Awesome photography too. These are the ingredients that turn into this. Chunky Monkey Biscotti. I knew I had to make them when I saw the picture. I dipped the bottom into melted chocolate instead of just one end. I wanted that chocolate experience to last for the whole biscotti, not just for the first few bites.

The Answer Is.......

Hold on, I'll tell you in a second. I had so many guesses that it took a while to read through them all. NOT!! Actually, I only had one person make a guess. Thank you Mary. I couldn't keep her in suspense any longer. The answer as to what this strange looking green thing is is that it is called a Banana Bunker!! I'll be using it to protect my banana that I will carry to work in my lunchbag. No more bruises or smushes. This was found at a new store in town called PLAY where you can find many unusual and fun items. It was fun shopping there for Christmas gifts.

A Vintage Gift From My Mom

Kate and I made a quick one day trip back home to visit Mom and some of the other family. I love making that trip because it just completes my Christmas. There is always an abundance of family, laughter and food! Mom had mentioned these cookie cutters to me over the phone asking if I would like them. OH, YES, I WOULD!! is what I probably said. As a child, many Christmas cut out cookies were made with these....even the ones that aren't the originals. I'm very happy to have them. I still have to make my Sour Cream Cut Outs for Fred(as a little birthday gift)this weekend. I think I'll only use these.

A Remembered Recipe

When I mentioned that I had made Strawberry Bread while Christmas baking, Colleen told me she had forgotten about it and would like the recipe. I'm taking the easy way out by posting a picture of the recipe instead of typing it out. If any of you out there in "Blogland" would like to try it and aren't able to see the recipe clearly, please comment and I will type it in. I didn't take a picture of it cut or by itself, so I'm showing it with some of the other goodies I made. It bakes up very red so it is a perfect bread for Christmas or even Valentine's Day. I imagine you could serve it with strawberry jam too. Enjoy!!