7 posts categorized "Wishes Are Like ..." Feed

Wishes Are Like ... Strawberry Infused Balsamic Vinegar

Strawberries

 

    "Wren sets another bushel of tomatoes under the table and sets to making a salad. On the outdoor worktable Wren has arranged small crocks filled with herbs; chives, basil and hyssop. Next to the crocks is a large shallow pan filled with lettuce leaves floating in cold water. From the pantry she procures some fresh ripe cream brie Luc has sent and carefully crushes a handful of herbs with a clove of garlic in a mortar. Taking the heady paste, she whisks it with some olive oil and strawberry infused balsamic vinegar. Last summer Wren had macerated large vats of balsamic with strawberries from the garden. After a day, she strained them out and set the vinegar in a dark corner of the pantry. This is her favorite vinegar. The strawberries bring out the fruity intensity of the balsamic.

    Carefully drying the Red Speckled lettuce, Wren arranges it on an opalescent platter. Adding fresh figs and slices of brie to the dressed leaves completes the salad. She admires it for a moment the intense purple against the cool white platter.

    Devlin comes striding out of the dining room with a tray of iced tea. He hands her a glass, kissing her cheek. “Another work of art!”" from Wishes Are Like ... the sequel to Wren Bay

After picking 20 pounds of strawberries, I have been making vinegar for the winter!!

  Strawberries3

Strawberry Infused Balsamic Vinegar

makes one bottle, plus one small jar

1 bottle of balsamic vinegar

frozen strawberries, see notes about amounts*

In a jar or bottle bigger than your bottle of vinegar, pour our vinegar inn it. Add enough strawberries, still frozen, to come halfway up the vinegar. Cover jar and set aside, out of the sun. Let the vinegar sit no more than 2 days. When it smells like strawberries, strain out the berries. Pour you vinegar back in the bottle. You will have extra, which can go in a smaller bottle. A gift for friend, maybe? Store in vinegar a cool, dark cupboard. It will keep for one year. The berries are good in salads. They will keep in refrigerator 2-3 days.

*Note

You can make a small batch or a large batch. Just eyeball it, and use about half the amount of vinegar for the strawberries. For example, one cup of vinegar, you would use ½ cup for frozen strawberries but it does not need to be exact.

It is important to use frozen fruit, because they give out more juice.

 

 

 


Wishes Are Like ... A Sample

Wishes Are Like exrta
 

Good day, I wanted to thank everyone for the wonderful support I have been getting for Wishes Are Like ...

I shared this on Wren Bay's facebook page (which I think everyone can read, even if you do not do FB. I post coupons and extra info there) I tought I would share with all of you, the intro and first 2 chapter. Just to give you a taste of Wishes. Also in my shop, there is a pre-view with these chapters too. I broken down the chapters into 3, to make reading easier. Enjoy xox

Wishes Are Like ... Intro

Wishes Are Like ... Chapter 1

Wishes Are Like ... Chapter 2


Wishes Are Like ... the sequel to Wren Bay

Wishes cover

Wishes are like …

lace.

Fragile bits of thread, twisted and knotted and woven into a thing of wonder.

A worker’s heart and dreams go into this small bit of lace.

She painstakingly works each spool, over, around and through until a pattern appears.

Our life is the same.

Fine threads of dreams and wishes we carefully weave and twist until …

the pattern of our life appears.

 

   Good day! After 5 years I am please to announce my second cooking novel Wishes Are Like ... the sequel to Wren Bay is published. Writing Wishes was like a long labor, but I found out I actually love to write. With Wren, I just sat down to write  a two page story about a doll and out came a novel. Wishes is so much more. I wanted to write a much more compelling story, as well as reflecting what a cooking/crafting blog represents. I feel I have done that with Wishes Are Like ..

   In the first novel/cookbook Wren was adjusting to a new life, as a married person, in a new place, Bay Farm.. Now four years later Wren is dealing with what she wants her future to hold, and that is being a mother but her wish is not coming true. Have you ever been in a place where you know what you want? Your gut can picture your future, but it is not happening. Even more so, there is nothing you can do to make it happen but wait. Waiting for most of us is a very difficult place to be, I know it is for me. Like Wren, I want to make things happen, now. To get in there and push, control, and just plain use my will, to make them happen. But there are times in our lives where we have to die to our wishes and just let things happen.

    This is the heart of Wishes Are Like ... The importance of having wishes but holding them gently. Wren has a wish to be a mother, Devlin has a wish to be what Wren needs, Aida has a wish to be strong and make a hard choice, Luc has the wish to trust again, Sophia has the wish to be able to let someone into her life and Thayer cannot acknowledge his wish. Not all wishes come true, but it is important to wish no matter what because without wishes, one's life would be very small and sad.

    Wishes has 29 chapter, 4 parts, as well as 42 original recipes. Storybook Woods is about taking the simple things of life and making celebrations out of them. Wish Are Like ... reflects this and will inspire you in your own life!

Alphabetical list of recipes from

A review of Wishes Are Like ....

"Clarice Fox-Hughes’ latest novel, “Wishes Are Like…’, will delight readers of “Wren Bay: The Story The Making a Home”. Wren and Devlin have matured and so has Fox-Hughes’ ability to weave a story that entrances the reader from the first page to the last! Familiar characters reappear in the novel, Madam Mimi, Aunt Sophia, Lily, and Mary, but new characters introduce fresh themes to the novel as well, enriching the novel with their own stories and challenges.

 Long anticipated, “Wish Are Like…” promises to leave the reader eager for the next chapter in Wren and Devlin Bay’s lives." Matty Holder

Wishes Are Like... is available in my shop

Bckchalkboard noborder pickmon

 


Wishes Are Like ... Recipes

Red wine truffles a recipe from the novel cookbook Wishe Are Like Storybook Woods
 

   Good day, well I am pleased to share I am just about done with my new novel/cookbook. The title is Wishes Are Like ... a squeal to Wren Bay. I will share more soon but I have finished all the recipes and wanted to share (because I am too excited). There are 42 recipes. Some well know from the blog but 35 new one. I have to say I did not create one recipe my family is not begging for me to make again but the Marmalade Gingerbread (which uses a whole cup of marmalade) was a favorite. Also the Meringues Filled w/ Whipped White Chocolate Cream, was a favorite too. Here is an alphabetical list, to tempt you xox

Alphabetical list of recipes from