Thursday Theme "Just Being Girl-y"

Welcome blog girlfriends!  I have been so busy with day to day chores that my blog has suffered from neglect, as well as my femininity. So while I go and fluff my stuff, I invite you to relax in a comfy chair with your prettiest teacup and dream of delicate visions of your favorite things. I have provided some femine, sweet delights to start you on your way. 

What do you do when you want to feel like a princess? Candles, bubble bath, favorite scent or perfume, soft, lyrical music, a mani and pedi.....Share with us.

If you have been bogged down with daily chores as I and missed the blog tea party, do stop in to visit with Silken Purse. There is more to savour at  Tuesday Tea for Two, silkenpurse.blogspot.com and Wednesday Tea for Me and Thee, theplumedpen.blogspot.com. 

Do be a dear and invite a friend or two as well.

2 Corinthians 2:14  But thanks be to God,who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. (NIV)

I so appreciate your comments! Do sign in the guest book with a comment and I will be sure to reply in like.

Photo credits

alana'hodgson'photostreamflickr

shausD'sphotostreamflickr

Love and Tuesday Tea for Two

LOVE - Let Me Count the Ways

You are welcome to come and chat with me about your thoughts on love as Valentine's Day approaches.  Do invite a friend to come along to Silken Purse's tea party at Tuesday Tea for Two and we can all share in the delights of this special day. http://www.silkenpurse.blogspot.com


I  wonder if there is any topic more written about than love. The highs and lows, the hurts and healing, the regrets and dreams. I think the essence of the human condition is the need to be loved and to love.


I  wondered if there was anything new that I could write about love? I didn’t think there was. So I would love to share with you, some favorite quotes of mine on love.




A baby is born with a need to be loved - and never outgrows it.
~Frank A. Clark

 

Shall we compare our hearts to a garden -
with beautiful blooms, straggling weeds,
swooping birds and sunshine, rain -
and most importantly, seeds.


~Grey Livingston




The ultimate test of a relationship is to disagree but to hold hands.
~Quoted by Alexandra Penney in Self




The hardest-learned lesson: that people have only their kind of love to give, not our kind.
~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960




Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit. ~Peter Ustinov




Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own. ~Robert Heinlein




Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.
I Corinthians 13: 13

As Valentine’s Day approaches:

 May your days be filled with the warming rays of someone’s love.

May you be a source of some one’s love.

May you feel the Father’s  grace-filled  love for you.

I hope you had a moment to sip a cup of tea and ponder the ways you share love with those around you.  Spouses, children, neighbors, friends, pets and strangers: all flourish with love.


Photo credits hearts-teacup-and-saucer_-_19_95-emma-bridgewater
                   heart_teacup300
                   doggy.blogsome.com/2008/10/01/teacup-yorkies/

Winds of Change

“Sometimes in the winds of change we find our true direction”

T hank you for dropping by today.  Its a perfect day to ”nest” and savour the aroma and warmth of a steamy brew with a heart-warming chat .


C old! Artic, bone chilling cold.


W indy! A wind so strong that it ensures its frigid fingers


grasp your very essence.


C old! Windy!  The wind is a fierce force of nature today. I can hear the


roar of each gust, echo in the ravine outside my home.  As I watch the


cardinals perched on the barren branches, dancing hither and yon I


too feel an unsettling in my soul.


E ach day this week has brought its challenges and with that, decisions on


what direction our lives should take.  With an eye to the future, and its


uncertainties, I am trying to look at it, as opportunties, with positive


possiblities.   I suspect, if God wasn’t blowing change into my world, I


wouldn’t even take a glance outside my comfy circumstances any other


way or embrace the idea of change.

I would like to share a recipe for soup that my family enjoys on cold days, like today.
 
 

RIB STICKIN' BEAN & BARLEY SOUP

 

1  TBSP  olive oil

2             large carrots,  sliced

2             stalks celery, sliced

1             large onion, chopped

1 BOX     (900mL)    Campbell's Ready to Use Organic Vegetable Broth

1 CAN     (19 oz/540mL) red kidney beans, rinsed and drained

2 CUPS    diced plum tomatoes, fresh or canned with liquid

1/4 CUP   nucooked pearl barley

2 CUPS    firmly packed chopped fresh spinach leaves, washed

Ground pepper, garlic, your favorite herbs to taste

 

1.   Heat oil in large saucepan, over medium-high heat.  Add the carrots, celery and onion, fresh garlic.      Cook and stir until vegies are tender.

2.   Stir in broth, beans, tomatoes and barley.  Heat to a boil.  Reduce heat to low.  Cover and cook for  30 minutes or until the barley is tender.

3.   Stir in spinach and seasonings to taste .  Cook until spinach is tender.

 

I have used Campbell's Chicken Ready to Use Broth and added leftover chicken or turkey, as well.

 

 

W hat better way to serve a piping hot soup than in pretty cafe au lait cups that a friend gifted me with.

 

Photo credit "Cardinal in Snow Storm" by Jayne

FORWARD...

FORWARD…


 On this dreary grey day, it is wonderful to have someone come to my blog door and sit awhile with me and share a cup of tea.  Please feel free to invite others to join me and my friend,   Silken Purse, Wednesday Tea for You and Me, at  theplumedpen.blogspot.com

As I have dropped in on a number of blogging friends I have been relieved to see the
trend has been toward “No New Year’s Resolutions”. I have chosen not to make
resolutions the last few years, simply because doing so has not proven to be effective for
me. High expectations, black and white thinking and the agony of defeat seem counter
productive. And if that is my expectation for myself, what about those poor souls around me?


That is not to say that I have given up on those few extra pounds I need to shed, eat in healthier ways, try a stint as a volunteer somewhere, organize my desk, my life or the other umpteen things on my list. I find for myself, that lists are the key for me to stay on track. One item on my list was to add the promised pictures from a few blogs ago: my aunt’s vintage suitcases with stationary and accoutrements and how I have pressed my orphaned creamer and sugar bowl into service. Every checked off item, regardless of importance, is a step forward.

My attitude and my gratitude towards each day will propel me forward, to accept the gift of the present with the lessons of the past in my head and faith of the unknown future in my heart, to keep trying. It’s a choice, I make.

If I am to offer acceptance, humility and grace to others, shouldn’t I be practicing this

philosophy on my own misadventures, trials and tribulations? Sometimes it is my heart

that needs to softened and accepting of my short comings, so that I treat my family,

friends, and those who may not be my friends, yet, with the same loving consideration.
With God’s grace this is possible.

 

"Tomorrow I will be better than I am today, as a person, …. That's the beauty of tomorrow. There's no such thing as a setback." Tiger Woods, 2008

“The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.”
Psalms 103:8

T hank you for knocking on my door and stopping in for a visit. Do sit a spell and warm your toes by the fire and your fingers cupping your favorite tea. I hope you had a wonderful time with family and friends and had time to count your blessings.







THE LIGHTER SIDE

The New Year brings a renewed sense of starting fresh, for me. After a busy, bustling social season, with lots of friends and festivities the thought of getting back into routine feels reassuring to me, that there is a season for everything. I definitely enjoyed every sip and extravagant tasty morsel and don’t regret a one. Now its time to get on to the lighter side of life again, with an eye to sunny days when I might like to wear fewer layers and look a little lighter too.

Tea has wonderful healthy properties and there are so many ways to enjoy it, besides the comforting brew. I would like to share a dessert recipe with you that my guests have enjoyed. I don’t believe in denying oneself of dessert.

RED TEA PANNA COTTA

This is a creamy dessert that is satisfying without being at all heavy. I use pink depression glass teacups as my moulds.

¼ CUP berry-flavoured red tea, cooled  (for gelatin mixture
 3 1/2 TSP gelatin powder


3 1/2 CUPS 18% cream


3/4 TSP icing sugar


1/3 CUP berry-flavoured red tea, cooled  (for cream mixture)


Marinate ½ PINT raspberries in


¼ CUP berry-flavoured red tea, cooled


2 TSP sugar



Place ¼ CUP berry-flavoured red tea, cooled, in a small bowl and sprinkle with gelatin powder. Let stand for 5 minutes.



Heat the cream, icing sugar and remaining red tea in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat until warm. Stir ¼ Cup of warm mixture into the softened gelatin, then add back into the saucepan. Gently warm the mixture for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
 

Lightly oil eight ½ cup moulds. Pour mixture into moulds and refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight.



Dissolve sugar in remaining red tea and marinate washed and dried raspberries.


Top each mould or teacup with a few berries and syrup and a sprig of fresh mint, if you have on hand.


Note: Tea should be well steeped for full flavour, but not bitter.

Serving a simple dessert in an unconventional way adds to the ambience of an evening.

T his is one way I “KISS,” my hostessing. Keeping It Simple and Stylish, your unique style of course.

D o give it a try and let me know how you made it, Keeping It Simple and Stylish.

Peace! Love! Joy!

T he wind is mischievously blowing the fluffy flakes of snow about this afternoon. Hither and yon like a game of tag they float gently almost settling on the ground only to be swept up by a jovial gust of wind to touch the top of a tree. Up and down, around and around they go to eventually settle with their friends who have been sidelined on the ground.

   
This playfulness reminds me of the child-like awe that I sometimes struggle to bring to this season of joy. You may have some memories in the distant past that some how take on a new sting, or be missing a loved, this time of year, too. Then now would be a good time to sit with a cuppa of your favorite tea, hot chocolate or latte and share the memories and the truths that you know in your heart and pause to savour them, nuture them lovingly like a child, so they will grow and heal that corner of your heart.

Please feel welcome to join the party at silkenpurse.blogspot.com for "Wednesday Tea for Me and Thee," and bring a friend. The more the joy!!

Isaiah 66:13    As a mother comforts her child,    so will I comfort you;

Luke 2:10     But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

My Pleasure to Meet You

My Pleasure to Meet You!

I am so glad to sit a spell with a fragrant cup of tea. I have missed my writing time the last few weeks, which surprises me, since this is very new to me. Once time permits I will be more diligent to post on a consistant basis and to drop in on you as well. What surprises me even more and encourages me more than I can say is to have comments from such wonderful, talented bloggers.

I am thankful to my dear friend, Silken Purse, from "Tuesday Tea for Two" and "Wednesday Tea for Me and Thee ", for her patient encouraging words that have given me the confidence to try to blog. A true friend, indeed. I know you enjoy her creativity as much as I do!

I hope you enjoy the couple of pictures I have taken and forgive my quick retreat as things need to be tended to. I am going to be testing a couple of recipes soon and will let you know the results.

I look forward to getting to know you better. Do drop in again!

Ready and waiting...

A little angel dropped in to
wish you Merry Christmas!