The rabbit spoon rest

 I never really understood the usefulness of a spoon rest until I really started cooking.  Prior to that, they were always just little decorative items that sat on the stove top.  Grandmother had one on her stove that I remember but I don't recall Mom having one on hers. Maybe she did, but if so, I have forgotten it.  Ah, well. Now that I cook a lot, I definitely need to have my spoon rest handy!  I have three different ones that I use throughout the year. This one, with the rabbit, is the second one I bought.  I was at an antiques mall in Kernersville and saw it.  It was in a booth having a 20% off sale so I paid less than $10 for it.  While it is not an antique, more along the lines of a collectible, I love it.  I don't collect rabbits, per say, but this one is very springish to me.  And it's decorated in green, my favorite color! So why not treat myself?  And I did.  And I use it all the time.  It's the one that is currently on my stove top.  

It's the little things that make me happy.  That is all. 

Recipe of the Week - Easy Onion Soup

 There's no hiding that I love onions.  I always have.  I especially love to smell them cooking.  I found this recipe somewhere online.  I had some leftover onions that I needed to use up and this was perfect!  It's very easy and it freezes well.  It's not French onion soup, but it's still pretty darn good!

Easy Onion Soup

4 large onions

4 Tbsp unsalted butter

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

S&P to taste

4 cups beef broth

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried parsley

Slice onions thinly.  Melt butter & olive oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Add onion, salt and sugar.  Cook 20-30 minutes, stirring frequently, until onions are caramelized and golden brown.  Add beef broth, oregano and parsley.  Bring to a simmer.  Reduce heat and cook another 20-30 minutes.  Season with salt & pepper. 

You can top with some shredded cheese if you like.  Enjoy!

Mama Will Provide

 In honor of last night's Tony Awards, I thought back to the performances over the years that have stood out to me.  This was a great year for musicals:  The Will Rogers Follies, Miss Saigon, The Secret Garden and Once On This Island. All very different in style but I think that Once On This Island had the best score of any of them.  Enjoy!

Shenandoah - Robert Shaw Chorale

 The first time I remember hearing this song is from one of my piano instruction books when I was a child.  The arrangement was fairly simple but beautiful.  It became one of the pieces that Grandmother would ask me to play for her.  I was looking online one day for different versions of the song and came across this one.  And, of course, I love the Robert Shaw Chorale anyway, so this was a good fit for me.  I hope you enjoy!

Old Britain Castles by Johnson Brothers

 

I love this pattern of china. This was Grandmother's everyday china pattern. Before she had this, she had the blue willow pattern but it eventually went away and she replaced it with this pattern.  She got it from the Monroe Hardware Store since Granddad worked there.  It was a part of my growing up.  Almost every meal I had at her house except for Sunday lunch or holidays was served on this china.  Oh, wonderful memories of eating off of these dishes (and I still do!)

When we were dividing up her estate, everyone took one piece of the Old Britain Castles as a keepsake.  I chose the serving platter.  I remember many family breakfasts when this platter would be heaped with piles of scrambled eggs surrounded by sausage.  I can smell the aroma still!  Well, no one really wanted the rest of the china so of course I took it.  It stayed packed away for years with only my using that before mentioned serving platter.  I finally decided to get it all out just to see what I had.  Dinner plates, luncheon plates, salad plates, cups, saucers, serving bowls, soup bowls, etc.  All different numbers, very few complete place settings but I don't care.  There are chips and cracks in many of the pieces but I still love them.  And they do fine in the dishwasher too haha!

Sometimes, when I am out thrifting and antiquing, I will pick up a piece here or there that I don't have but not too often.  I have the dishes up in my kitchen cabinets now and I use them weekly.  One day they will belong to someone else, I hope, but in the meantime it is another way for me to honor the memory of Grandmother every time I use one of these pieces.  I love that!

Recipe of the Week - Cornbread Salad

 

This is a wonderful comfort food salad!  I found this recipe watching one of Paula Deen's tv shows.  It's easy and delicious and can be made ahead!  I have made it several times this year and it is added to my canon of go-to recipes!

Cornbread Salad

Cornbread - 8x8 pan

1 can kidney beans, drained

1 can corn, drained

1 green pepper, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

1 tomato, chopped or 1 can diced tomatoes drained

1 cup cheddar cheese

8 oz ranch dressing

Cook cornbread per directions, cool. Slice cornbread into cubes and put in a salad bowl. Layer other ingredients in order, ending in ranch dressing. Chill for a few hours before serving.

Enjoy!

Following the same cooking directions

 

The kind of bacon I was hoping for but, alas, did not happen!

Sometimes, following the same directions does not always work out.  I need to be careful with that when it comes to food because I do not like to waste food. Last night I burned bacon.  I cooked it like I normally do now, in the oven, coated with flour.  I like the texture that adding flour to it brings. I cannot remember where I saw that technique, but it has been a while, and it became my go-to way of cooking bacon ever since. This was some thick bacon but a brand that I had not purchased before. You know me and buying things that are on sale!  Well, anyway I cooked it the normal time and temperature that I always do but this bacon apparently did not need to cook that long.  When the timer was up and I took it out of the oven, it was definitely crispy.  I tasted a piece after it cooled down and yeah, definitely burnt. I tried to convince myself that I could just call it blackened as that is a gourmet thing to do LOL  I always say that "blackened" is one of those words used to increase the price of a dish haha! I ended up tossing it in the trash as I did not even want to put it out for the squirrels or raccoons or whatever.  Why make them suffer for my cooking mishap?  Lesson learned, though, and next time I will keep a close eye on the bacon.  Even with it being on sale I hate to waste food!

10 Favorite Board Games

 Board games were a staple of my childhood.  I still have several of them but haven't played them in years.  I think the last time I played a board game was at the beach several years ago when we played Monopoly. It was fun but I believe we stopped after a few hours LOL Still, I would love to find some people to play board games with again.  It's definitely a nice way to pass the evening.  Today is Mom's birthday and in honor of her and all of the fun times we had playing games, here are my top 10 favorite board games!

1. Connect Four

2. Scrabble

3. Monopoly

4. Big Apple City

5. Yahtzee!

6. Trivial Pursuit

7. Boggle

8. Aggravation

9. Clue

10. Sorry!

I know there are others out there that I have forgotten!  Feel free to let me know of some of your favorites I may have missed!

Thought of the Day

 

The other day on Facebook I made a remark about how I need to be a better person. I was not saying that because I think I am a bad person.  Quite the contrary.  I think I'm pretty good person overall.  What I was referring to is I need to/want to be better about keeping up with people.  Yes, I write letters which I love to do but this is different.  Once upon a time I really kept up with people in my life and I knew what was going on in theirs.  I don't really know those kinds of things anymore. I want to work on that. There are a lot of people who were in my life decades ago that I just let those relationships slip through my fingers.  Nothing happened to cause that other than time and separation. I let too much time go by and when I search for them, they are no longer living.  I just hate that I do that.  I googled someone I knew when I was around 18 and his obituary was the first thing that came up.  It is just a deflating experience when I learn things like this.  I don't know why, but it is.  Another friend that I was once very close to passed away of cancer several years ago and I never even knew she was sick.  A mutual friend told me sometime over the past year.  It's just things like that I would like to improve on.  I realize that keeping up with people is a two-way street but I want to make sure that I am doing my part.

That is all.

Daily Challenge for June

 

I missed doing the daily challenge in May, so I am trying to come up with a good one for June.  It's already an incredibly busy month for me and it is only day one.  With work and school and family things to keep me occupied.  I am already starting in the hole because of being sick, but oh well.  I will persevere! So, I am trying to come up with something that is relatively easy this month.  It's not that I am afraid of a harder challenge, it is simply thinking about what is actually doable at this time for me.  I want to be able to have a sense of accomplishment each day that does not come from work or school.  Something that I know is achievable on a daily basis.  Hmmmmm. 

I think, since we are coming upon the end of spring and the beginning of summer this month, that my goal is going to be to get outside every day. And that could be going for a walk or sitting on the porch or working in the yard. So many possibilities.  While, technically, I have to go outside to get to my car, that will not count as getting outside LOL I need to take advantage of the weather while I can.  It will do me good not only to get myself out of the house but also take in some fresh air.  I need that in my life.  We shall see how that goes.  Here's hoping for success!