Tasha Tudor

Hey, hey, just a reminder that Tasha Tudor day is in a month!!! I have a yummy idea to share. As I ask every year, please help me get the word out. Post on your blog, FB wall, tweet and tell your friends. Feel free to use this image if you want. My hope is each year more and more Tasha lovers find out about Tasha Tudor day. Thank you xox

 

Also I am thrilled to announce the pilot chapter of the Tasha Tudor Museum Society. I think this is a brilliant idea for people like me who live so far away and may never get to visit the museum. Also a fun way to meet other Tasha lovers. I hope this idea takes off and more chapters open. Here is the press release, also where you can purchase tickets.

Pilot Chapter of the Tasha Tudor Museum Society

for the greater Pennsylvania area

 

The Tasha Tudor Museum of Brattleboro, Vermont, is pleased to announce the launch of a pilot regional chapter of the Tasha Tudor Museum Society. You are invited to attend its opening tea party and enjoy refreshments from Tasha Tudor’s Cookbook while sharing your enthusiasm for Tasha Tudor.  Those interested will also discuss forming a Pennsylvania chapter of the Tasha Tudor Museum Society in order to celebrate and promote Tasha’s life, work and lifestyle.   

 

Your hostess, Museum volunteer Peggy Yoder, has been a Tasha Tudor aficionado for over 38 years.  A mother, grandmother and retired educator, Peggy invites you into her home for love of all things Tasha. 

 

Soon after Tasha passed away in 2008 at the age of 92, Tudor fans launched an online celebration to take place on Tasha’s birthday, August 28th.  The blogger behind this movement, Clarice of Storybook Woods, says “Really I would love it if the whole world would stop and remember her. This could simply be sitting in your garden with a cup of tea, reading her books, doing a sketch or just stopping to smell the roses. On Tasha Tudor’s birthday, let us all remember her and how she has inspired us to live.”

 

Tickets $5 

Seating is limited; please purchase your tickets online by August 21. 

 

What: Meeting of the Pilot Chapter of the Tasha Tudor Museum Society
When: Tuesday, August 28th, 2012 at 2 pm
Where: 8467 William Penn Highway (Rte. 22), Huntingdon, PA 16652 (30 miles south of State College, PA)  Be sure to note that Huntingdon Valley is another, separate town in Pennsylvania. This event is being held in Huntingdon, not Huntingdon Valley.

Who: Sponsored by the Tasha Tudor Museum of Brattleboro, Vermont

Why: For love of Tasha Tudor

 

For more information please call the Museum 802-258-6564 or Peggy at 814-599-9910

Just Beacuse It Makes Me Happy & a winner

This week's Pinterest is this wonderful illustration by Kelsey Garrity-Riley. Gosh I love her work and this says it all. This birthday was probably one of the most simplest I have ever had. No gifts (except breakfast in bed three days in a row), no trips, no out to dinners but it was the most heartfelt. Thank you so much for your kind words. Honestly you made my 50th B-day rock. You gave me things to think about, you humbled me and mostly you made me feel not alone. Thank you xox

The winner of the give away is Nadine. Congratulations!!! I will write you!!!

Birthday Give-away

   

    Today is my 50th birthday. It is very hard to me to not be real, so I am going to be real with you. I am NOT happy about turning 50!!! I have been grumbling about it for a couple of years. I just do not know how I got here :-O  I mean I still feel like I am 16 and hardly recognize the woman I see in the mirror. Now I realize I am lucky to be 50. I am even sure one day I would love to be 50 again. I also realize this is a new season in my life with it's own set of blessings. I have talked and talked to myself but if I am honest, in my heart I do not like it. I feel invisible. I am sure I am the only one who feels this way but this blog is a picture book of my life and I want to remember how I felt today, warts and all.

    The picture above is me on my first birthday. I love this picture because of the sour look on my face and my father pointing out the cake. I like to think it is me turning up my nose to the pre-packeaged, too sweet snowball. A foodie in the making!!!! As I celebrate today I would like to offer a copy of The Vintage Tea Party Book, a charming British tea book (or if you do not own Wren Bay you would like to win a copy) to you readers who always brighten my day. I will pick a winner on July 25.

 Thank you for listening to my bratty whine. I am sure one day down the road I will read this post and give myself a good talking to but today is a bittersweet day for me and that is how I feel in my heart!

Grilled Apricot Quinoa Salad

 

    For those of you who are not on FB, I am always posting what we are having for dinner. Usually it is a “last minute, what do I have on-hand?” kind of dinner. This recipes is one of those. I had just picked up 10# of bing cherries and 13# of apricots. The apricots were sweet and delish but still a little firm. Looking for a way to use them in my dinner I came up with this salad.

    Grilling apricots is easy. You want ripe but NOT too ripe of fruit. If they are too ripe, they are soft and hard to grill. I tossed the apricots with some cooked quinoa, arugula from the garden, feta cheese and a lime vinaigrette. Oh and I added some chopped lemon verbena but basil would be good too, only just use fresh herbs!

    Quinoa is my favorite grain for salads. Not only is it a super food but it has have a yummy nutty flavor and holds well in the fridge. You know how cooked rice and other grains when refrigerated stick together? Well quinoa does not do that. So you can keep cooked quinoa in the fridge ready to use. I love it when something makes my life healthy but easier at the same time!!

 

Grilled Apricot Quinoa Salad

6 grilled apricots, cut into large pieces *

Quinoa **

Lime dressing ***

feta cheese, amount to your liking

1-2 cups arugula leaves

Toss all together and enjoy!!

 

*Grilled apricots

Use apricots that are ripe but still a bit firm. If the fruit is totally ripe it is very soft and hard to grill. Cut apricots in half and discard pits. Coat fruit in oil. Grill apricots cut side down, 2-3 minutes. Until it starts to soften a bit and you have grill marks. Flip fruit over and grill 2 more minutes.

 

**Quinoa

Bring 2 cups of water and 1 tsp of salt to boil a sauce pan, Add 1 cup quinoa and lower heat to a medium heat or simmer. Cover with a heavy lid and cook 20 minutes. All water should be gone. If not, cook another 5 minutes. Pull off heat and let quinoa sit 5 minutes covered.

 

***Lime dressing

1/2 cup good olive oil

juice of half a fresh lime

1 garlic clove, finely minced

1 TBL. honey

6-8 lemon verbena leaves (or basil) torn into bits

salt and pepper to taste

Wisk all together in a small bowl. Taste and adjust to your liking.

 

Just Beacuse It Makes Me Happy

This weeks Pinterest is this beautiful homestead. I was looking for a picture of the lovely Norwegian town I live in. Poulsbo was founded by Norwegian immigrants in the 1880's. It is this tiny town on Liberty Bay, surrounded by Hood Canal and other body's of water. In essence I am surrounded by water. A wonderful way to live. In the summer I never want to travel because when the sun is out there is not a more beautiful place in the world. The green trees glow and the water is such a bright shade of blue. I was sure this photos was of Poulsbo, it looks just like the kind of old homesteads you see around here but it is in Norway. I guess Poulsbo really is a Norwegian town!!

Happy Independence !!!!

 

Second image

Cabinet Redress

Do you ever just want to get rid of all you stuff and start over? That is how I feel but I cannot at this point in my life, so a makeover is called for! I will be honest and tell you this project came about because I am so lazy. As you all know (because I keep whining about it)I hate painting but did not like this big, dark cabinet in my living room.

 

Here you can see my cabinet six years ago when I first started my blog. I love the little pretzel cabin's we made for President Lincoln’s birthday. As you can see I had a bird theme and lined the back of the cabinet with scrapbook paper.

For a long time I use to change out the decor of my house every three months with the season. But as I get older (and life gets busier) I find I want things simpler and simpler. I wanted this piece to blend into the wall more but I did not want to have to paint anymore of the cabinet I had to. Here is what I did, I painted only the inside of the cabinet an ever so slight shade of pink, sea salt pink. For the bottom, David cut me a piece of plywood one inch bigger than the top of the bottom piece. I covered it in cheap muslin. Then gathered the rest of the fabric and stapled it to the edge of the board. I simply painted over the staples to cover them. You cannot see it but there are three ruffles. You can lift the middle one to get inside the draws underneath.

I arranged my grandmother's china and see the sweet portrait on the left? It is painted by a good friend (the same person who made my Wren doll). I am hoping she will open an Etsy shop and everyone can buy one! All the glass bottle (except the one w/ the flowers) came from a friend of my husbands. He is a diver and mentioned to David that he was getting rid of a lot of old bottles. David knows me so well and told the man I would take them. See how grouping the same thing has such impact? In the gravy boat below I have a pile of tiny salt shakers I have collected. I am very happy how this came out. It was not expensive and could be changed out easily. My living room already feels lighter and more open.