Happy New Year's Eve

I'm having a little trouble getting my breath (chemical pneumonitis from breathing cleaning solutions), and Dr. Gollum told me to take it easy tomorrow. I've been given inhalers, steroids, and Singulair, so my dear husband has half cured me already. Meanwhile, I'm leaving you with some dishes I cooked when I COULD breathe.

Anyway, the tip-top picture was part of the Christmas Day "tea." We made blinis, added salmon, and put the "extras in martini glasses: sour cream, dill, green onions, capers.

I don't know if I've ever told you about my secret diet weapon--Walden Farms dressings. Zero calories, zero carbs, zero fat. Lots of taste. I am not their spokesperson, but Mister says he'll take the job. I love the bacon dressing, but I also like the honey mustard.

This is a savory pie (onion, garlic, mushrooms, and spinach in puff pastry). I discovered the recipe on Once In A Blue Moon. I used the frozen puff pastry sheets and just ran a rolling pin over them, with a bit of flour. I have ordered a lattice pie cutting tool to make a gorgeous top layer. Everyone agreed that this was the hit of the holiday season. Thanks, Once in a Blue Moon!

And here are the chocolate mice. Let me just say, they were a challenge, and not the SNAP I thought they'd be. Huh.

My Christmas mice were plentiful; but they all had unibrows. So I used Red Hots for their eyes,and now they look like the mice from a Steve King novel. Next time I need to find my pastry bags.


This was a tomato basil sauce that got out of hand. It was supposed to have a cream sauce, but Young Bandwith Gollum brought home Cool Whip rather than heavy whipping cream. I tried to repair it as best I could. Dr. G and Young G told me that it was hearty and good. Which just goes to show that a good recipe is hard to destroy.


I'll be around blogville, just in a diminished form.
Love,

2008: A Year in Review

Please join Cindy at My Romantic Home for the Year-in-Review Party.

Tablescape Tuesday: Bird Plates

An after-Christmas sale is going on at the antique store , and I snapped up those pheasant plates, along with two dainty Limoges dishes. And I paired them with modern Lenox (click on any picture for a closer look).
Each dish features a different bird.

The shamrock salad plate (above) has an H on it--I bought it many years ago. Sometimes it hangs on the wall, and sometimes I use it in tablescapes.

I love when the dishes don't quite match. And the beauty of each piece is allowed to stand on its own.

The Limoges dishes look sweet with the Lenox--and the bird is fun.

Here's the view from Dr. Gollum's chair. The men in my family are quite territorial about "their" chairs.

This little pheasant is much more colorful in person. I think it's going to look beautiful with the gray-blue pottery.

I am so glad that all of you encouraged me to buy the pheasant plates.

Because I have a major bird theme going on in the house. I found birdcages and bird dishes and little nests--and it will be fun to use these items in different ways.

And here's a little nest ...it's sitting on a ceramic leaf.

This plate has pink flowers.
A closer look at the bird.

The stemmed water glass was a wedding gift, but I bought the iced tea glasses at the sale--couldn't pass them up! $5 for 6. They're quite elegant, and I just know they're going to be versatile.

Another pheasant dish with slight wear--all the more wonderful. I can't help but wonder at the history of this plate--how many Thanksgivings, how many family dinners. Oh, the tales he could tell.

A closer look at the Lenox.
Dr. Gollum received the orange flowers--and the Eastern Phoebes.
Another quail plate.
Up close, the two dishes almost seem like jewelry.
Or delicate ballgowns from another place and time. Here's a closer look at the Limoges.

Here, you can see the edge of the lovely shamrock plate, with its faded gold H.

Well, I'm off to visit Susan and all of my tablescaping buddies at Between Naps on the Porch. See yall there.

Afternoon Tea With Mister & Me

Won't you please join Mister and me for a spot of tea?

Mister lifted his paw when he heard Dr. Gollum's footsteps. In dog-speak, I'm just not sure what that means--but he seems to be saying, "Hark! Something humanish this way comes!"

Now he's relaxed, waiting for his humans to drink tea...

...and nibble the petit fours.

A view of three teacups.


I found the dog cookies at Publix --Mister wants to be their spokes-dog, but his conditions are: Must pay in biscuits and must work from home.

Mister says come back and see us soon. :-)

Pink Saturday

It's Pink Saturday!

I've always loved pink--so the minute I found out about "Pink Saturday," I emailed Beverly at How Sweet the Sound. Beverly hosts this fabulous, weekly event. Please visit her blog to take a gander at today's participants. http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/

Pink-stemmed crystal is a delicate thing.

Paired with coral roses and a flower-strewn Limoges bowl, you can breathe in the pinkness of it all.

Four pilsner glasses hold pink and coral roses.




Limoges and pink go together like biscuits and jam--at least, in my pink world.


I love any food that has a touch of pink--here, ham and creamy brie peek out of a puff pastry roll.


Coral roses always make my heart speed up.




The pink flowers in Desert Rose pottery just make food taste better for some reason.

Each soup spoon has an engraved "G" ...it must stand for Gollum, surely.

A closer peek at the potato soup and the "Desert Rose" pottery.

"G" or no "G" on the flatware, Dr. Gollum needs a more substantial soup spoon. :-) Therefore, I must go shopping immediately to find one!

Mister sits on a pinky coral chair cushion. "Please save me a bite," he says.