Hello Monday

Last week was a quiet yet busy week for me. I was off work all week. We decided not to go on a trip and just hang out at the house. I loved every minute of it. I think it was a great preview for retirement.

We are so enjoying our new girl, Bunnie, if you missed my post about our newest family member you can check it out here. The kitties are adjusting. So far Gus has been the least friendly and he has been so territorial. We are trying to introduce Bunnie to them slowly. it is taking some time.

I finally finished the afghan I was working on for my niece. I couldn’t show it before I finished because it was a surprise for her for her Birthday which was last week.

***Not the best picture but you can get an idea of what it looks like. She loved it.***

My hubby and I decided to take a little road trip last Thursday. We went into the mountains to look at a local waterfall, Bald River Falls. The road leading to the falls has been closed for over a year so that a viewing bridge could be built. The road opened back up last month and the new bridge was opened. We went to check it out. It was just beautiful. Because of all the rain we have had, the waterfall was flowing fast and hard.

***We decided to get a Frappuccino to start the trip into the mountains. It was*** ***delicious***.

We stopped and had lunch in Tellico Plains at Ironworks Grill, and then stopped at the local Mennonite Market.

***Beautiful vegetables. We will go back on Saturday and stock up for the week.***

***This was our haul from the Market. Mark wanted some local honey. I love the oatmeal raisin cookies.***

I had to take my sister in law and her daughter and granddaughter to the airport on Friday and then we helped another niece move into a new apartment on Saturday. So a busy and fun filled week. It’s back to work for me today and the usual summer crowds.

I leave you with a picture of Bunnie enjoying a walk with us and a picture of Gus who has claimed Bunnie’s new bed.

***This is the bed I bought for Bunnie but both Gus and Kitty Kitty have claimed it***.

Have a wonderful week and always remember

Love your day your way.

Dogwood Winter, Orchids and Sourdough Bread

Hello friends, How was your weekend? Easter is always a special family time for us. We went to my sister’s house for a cook-out. I made baked beans and some cookie bars. How did you spend your Easter Sunday?

***My cookie bars just before baking them.***

I have been sitting in the early mornings listening to the whippoorwills while I drink my coffee. Whippoorwill winter will be here soon. All last week we were experiencing Dogwood winter. The Dogwood trees are now fully bloomed out and the temps have turned quite warm again. Dogwood winter was very nice while it lasted. Cool mornings and warm afternoons.

***I think the Dogwood is one of the most beautiful trees.***

I mentioned last week that I had visited Harmony Lane Farms in Smithville Tennessee. If you missed that post check it out Here. I took a sample of their sour doughbread starter. I didn’t have time to make the sourdough bread when I brought the starter home. I kept the starter in the refrigerator and took it out last Friday to feed it and get it to room temperature to get it ready to make bread. Just like my yeast bread it is a two day process. If you are unsure of making sourdough bread check out some of the YouTube or Instagram videos out there. There’s so many good ones. I think I’ve watched about a million trying to get different ideas of how people do theirs.

I fed the bread on Friday morning around 5:00 AM and marked my jar to be able to see if the starter was active and rising. I came home Friday night and ran to the kitchen to check the starter and it was rising. It had almost doubled in size. I fed it again that night and the next morning I started the bread.

There is a lot of stretching and folding when you are dealing with sourdough bread. It took most of the day, off and on. I finished it in the afternoon and decided to let the dough sit in the refrigerator overnight. I had read that this makes for a more flavorful bread. On a side note I made more bread a couple of days later and didn’t do all of the stretching and folding and I didn’t leave it in the fridge as long. I couldn’t tell a bit of difference. I did stretch and fold a few times and let it rest and rise for a few hours.

***This is the proofing basket. I used to put the dough in after I had folded it and seamed the bottom.***

I baked the bread on Sunday morning. I was very happy with the way it turned out. It is very different from my yeast bread and the artisan bread that I make.

***I love the color and the texture of this bread.***

I celebrated my birthday this week and my 35th wedding anniversary. I don’t know if I told you but I got married on my Birthday. So we have a double celebration. I asked for an ice cream maker for my Birthday. The electric kind not the one you churn by hand. No thank you on the hand crank job I remember those from my childhood. Hubs and I took the day and did a little shopping and went out to eat. Very low key.

***My morning view a couple of times last week.***

I had read that if your cat has a box to play and sleep in it makes them more sociably comfortable and happy. I fixed a box for the kitties. They were very interested. Gus was the first one in it.

And then Kitty Kitty got in after Gus had finished inspecting it.

As soon as Gus saw Kitty Kitty in “his” box he ran straight into it and pushed Kitty Kitty out. The fight was on. I went down to the basement and got a second box and fixed it up for them. And wouldn’t you know it, neither one would have anything to do with the second box. Now they have lost interest in both boxes. Oh well it was an experiment.

***Several of my orchids are blooming and I am just loving all the different colors.***

That is what has been going on around here how is your week going?

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!

It’s Tuesday Let’s Catch Up

Hello friends. I have been a little quiet on the blog lately. My life has been busy but good. I really have no excuse except I have been so tired every evening I usually don’t do much after I get home. So here is a little bit about what has been happening in my neck of the woods.

My sister and I visited the cutest farm on Saturday. We have been planning this for a while. The farm produces tulips every year. For about four weeks out of the year you can go there and pick tulips and take pictures and just enjoy the atmosphere and scenic beauty of the farm. It is really quite lovely. We had put off going for more than a week because the owners had reported a very small crop of tulips this year because of the rain and wind. We finally went Saturday, even though the tulips were a little less than what they will be in a week or two, and we had a great time. The weather was warm and so nice. We picked a few tulips. Most of them hadn’t bloomed out. I put them in a small glass dish and they are really starting to open up. We also had lunch and did a little shopping. I ran into a dear friend I hadn’t seen in a while. She recently lost her husband and she and I have been planning to do lunch forever. I made sure I had her number and we will definitely go in a week or two.

I had to do some work on my orchids on Sunday. I repotted two of them. My orchid Oliver is blooming after almost two years. His leaves were always green and strong but he didn’t bloom. I am so excited that he is finally blooming again. I don’t know why some of my orchids are male and some are female but I just see them that way.

Last week I met up with two of my best friends Lorie and Emily at one of our favorite restaurants in Tellico Plains. It was Lorie’s Birthday and we had dinner and Emily brought a cake. This restaurant has some of the best truffle fries I have ever eaten.

So lots of things going on. I have been working on a crocheted egg for Easter. I will share that with you soon. I’m not sure how crazy I am about them and they are so time consuming.

I leave you with a picture of two of my babies Kitty Kitty and Gus. It looks as though they are on guard, protecting us I guess.

I hope you have a wonderful week.

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!

Making Chocolate Pudding Cake

Hello and happy Monday. It really was a true Monday. I left the house this morning and several miles down the road I realized I had forgotten my purse. I did not go back. I had my phone and my lunch. I can use Apple Pay on my phone if I need to. So I did without it today. It did feel a little strange though. Oh well I guess it just proves I don’t really need a purse. I think I will get me one of those cute little wristlets and hook it to my keys.

It was a great weekend. The weather was so nice. I went outside Saturday morning to check out the tulip bulbs, and there are now fourteen coming up. I am hoping for even more because some of them are just barely breaking through. Of course I had a little helper. Allie.

I spent some time out on the deck reading. I am still reading Ina Garten’s Memoir. The sunshine and warm temperatures were just great. I baked bread and took most of it to work with me today.

When I was growing up my mama made a very yummy chocolate dessert that she called Chocolate Pudding Cake. Think lava cake or something like that and you will have an idea of what it is similar to. For many years we have tried to perfect the cake and make it like hers. I think my nephew and I just about have it down. After we came up with our recipe, other than a few tweaks here and there, my niece casually mentioned that she made it all the time. We are thinking we need to have a bake-off and let the family decide which one tastes the most like my mama’s.

Here is the recipe:
First melt one stick of butter in a 9×5 baking pan or casserole dish.
In a separate dish mix these dry ingredients:
1&1/2 cups of self rising flour
1&1/4 cups of granulated sugar
1&3/4 TBS. of cocoa
after you have stirred these together add:
3/4 cup of whole mild
2 tsp. of vanilla extract
pour into your pan evenly (DON”T STIR) after you pour it into the pan.

In a separate bowl mix:
1&1/2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup of cocoa
Stir all of this together until all of the lumps are out of the cocoa
Sprinkle this mixture over the top of the first mixture (DON’T STIR) after you put it on top of the first mixture.

Boil 2&1/2 cups of water (this is where I am tweaking mine next time and only adding 1&1/2 cups of boiling water.) But I used 2&1/2 cups yesterday and it was still delicious just a little runny while it was still warm. Pour the boiling water over your mixture very slowly. Let it soak in for a few minutes and then put it in your oven at 350 degrees and bake for thirty minutes.