granola

Keeping a container of home-baked granola in the kitchen pantry has become routine at my house. I have learned to throw it together almost with my *eyes closed* as I go about some other task while in the kitchen- homeschooling Charlotte, folding a load of clean clothes or while making telephone calls. Granola gives allowance in changing the recipe a bit with either the addition or the omission of certain ingredients. In attempts to cut down on the brown sugar in this batch, I added an extra tablespoon of honey along with 1/3 cup coconut.

Inadvertently, I had bought whole allspice while at the market. Since I like this spice in my granola, my porcelain white mortar and pestle worked nicely in grounding the allspice, a fulfilling task, rather reminding one of an apothecary of the past.

Just as I thought, delicious!

Domesticity

"Last of all came Domestic Science. One great advantage to being a junior girl was that you were eligible to take Domestic Science.

"I think I'm going to love Domestic Science," Betsy said.

Betsy Was A Junior

Maud hart Lovelace

"For me it is recognition - recognition of the worth of homemaking, of overlooked skills, of ordinary things. Above all it is the recognition of the small but significant moments of pleasure that come with an acceptance and enjoyment of the domestic space."

The Gentle Art of Domesticity

Jane Brocket

Domesticity presides over my life, yet I am certainly able to master it and even take delight in the substance of which inevitably creates the minutes and hours of my day. I swell in the very meaning of the word and I willingly abide with the satisfaction of knowing there is no better place I would rather be.

Some domestic pleasures on this day:

:teaching Charlotte how to crochet

I love to crochet. She would comment every once in a while, "I thought you said it was easier than knitting."

: smashing and chopping of fresh vegetables

Preparing guacamole to go with the pot of beans simmering on the stove for tonight's dinner.

:sewing a sleeve on the silk peach colored dress I am making

Rose will be attending a Regency Era Ball in March, more on this later.

:completing the fingerless mitts made from Malabrigo yarn, a heavenly blend of wool and silk.

I had knitted a pair of mitts from the same pattern in a luscious shade of creamy sand for Claire as a Christmas gift. They were lovely on her long slender hands.

: hand washing the dishes from our afternoon tea

Even though my automatic dishwasher is always in some process of being loaded or unloaded, I savored those few moments of washing those pretty china things in the soapy suds.

How was the art of domesticity revealed in your life today?

Daily Light

First published in 1794 in Great Britain by Samuel Bagster, this little black book is a treasure and has never ceased to feed me. It consists of two scripture readings during the day, one for the morning and one for the evening. It contains no additional devotional thoughts, only pure light from the Holy Scriptures. It sits on the table in my kitchen's sitting area, a feast.

And if you do not have one to hold in your hands, you may read the daily readings here.

China Teacups

We were passing through a popular department store for some reason or another recently; whatever the reason, it has completely slipped my mind. But as we walked by the china department I remembered that Witt and Claire had registered their china pattern and I wanted to see the pattern they had chosen.

A glimpse of a shelf containing mix matched china caught my eye. Three matching teacups and saucers were setting there waiting for me at an unable to be resisted bargain price, almost a steal.

Especially pleased to know it was Waterford.

I am thinking these china teacups cups would make nice gifts, to be given with a special blend of tea, and maybe a little dish of homemade scones on the side, tied up with satin ribbon.

points of view

It's all in the angle. This past weekend the angle of the kitchen rocker was adjusted to look outside the windows at our winter wonderland.

It was a favorite viewing spot throughout the day.

Some of us sat and drank coffee.

While others sat and smocked.

That is when we were not outside viewing this.

An exceptional batch of biscuits

The secret to a very good biscuit, versus a good biscuit, is to cook them on a high temperature. It makes them slightly crusty on the outside and deliciously moist on the inside.

However, there are some other things that make a batch of biscuits rise to higher levels of excellence in taste and texture.

2 1/2 cups unbleached flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup, plus 1 Tablespoon butter, cut into pieces
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat to 500 degrees.

Whisk dry ingredients and cut cold butter into the flour. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add all the buttermilk at once. Now here's another trick, do not over mix the dough, just stir until incorporated, the dough should be sticky. ( If not add more buttermilk, 1 tablespoon at a time). Pour onto floured surface, knead briskly but gently about 8 times then roll with floured roller to 3/4 inch thickness. Prick the dough with fork tine and cut. Place on baking sheet and bake in hot oven for 8 to 10 minutes.

The bottoms should be brown, but we like our biscuits with the slightest touch of golden glow on top. ( I bake mine 8 minutes).

I fed yesterday morning's leftover biscuits to the neighborhood kids when they came in to get warm from the cold weather. They gobbled them up, absolutely no jelly, honey or butter was necessary!

Purple Toile T- Cozy

Marvelous purple toile waiting for the perfect day to be made into a tea cozy.

I only wished I could have finished it before nightfall and then I would have set it amidst the beautiful snow for photographs.

Something called gimp cord, made by Mettler, was used to create almost a shirr with a strip of fabric; I must say this gives this tea cozy a more formal look in my eyes.

I am dancing a merry step very much like that woman on the right. My family is cozy, and now due to this perfect snowy Saturday, so is my teapot.

The variants in the shades of purple are manual versus automatic focus. The lighting outside would have been so much prettier.

the positive force of making lemonade

"Accentuate the positive,

Eliminate the negative;

Latch on to the affirmative..."

And so the song goes, and I can not but help being reminded of the 1980's TV show" Laverne and Shirley". Do any of the rest of you remember these crazy gals singing this song?

My children have been querulous these days.

I am attempting to grab their focus to do as the song says.

Hopefully, we will be serving tasty lemonade very soon.

Alan's Room

Alan left to head back to college last week after a month long visit at home.Yes, I am aware that appears as an oxymoron, but it seemed like only a visit since he is spending more time away at school than here at home these days.

The instructions for him were to strip his bed the morning of his departure. I finally remade his bed this week and replaced the empty towel racks with clean blue towels in his bathroom. His room will be waiting when he comes for a "visit" in the near future.

Two years ago, in January actually, I started crocheting this afghan. A gift wrapped up and given as a birthday gift to Alan in early April. I was pleased with its log cabin type of pattern and masculine colors.

On one wall are pewter plates the boys received from showing their sheep at the state fair from 1994 to 1998. Fills a blank wall to say the least and what else, may I ask, can one do with these sort of plates?

Boondoggling on the sidelines.

Candlelight Hot Pot

My husband called this evening to inform me he was detained in a business meeting and would be arriving home later. I put Charlotte in the bathtub, fed the girls something quick, but nutritional, and planned a special meal for just the two of us to be eaten by candlelight.

There happens to be a restaurant, a favorite of ours to dine out, that has on the menu a delicious soup called Hot Pot. A soup I honestly believe my husband dreams about in between visits to this restaurant.

I set out to make my own version of hot pot for him tonight. Some key ingredients were not available and I did not make a trip out to the market, but I thought I could still get a very tasty and perhaps pleasing dish with the ingredients that were on the pantry shelves and in the refrigerator:

Shrimp, asparagus, tomatoes, garlic, chicken broth, coconut milk, cremini mushrooms, and some very hot thai sauce.
He was not disappointed to say the least.

Frank sang his classics for us while the candle's glow created a soothing mood, something very needed in my hard working husband's life. How fulfilling it is to be able to offer that to him.

And we discussed the upcoming wedding, and our plans for the rehearsal dinner we will be hosting in May,

as we nibbled chocolate and sipped our coffee.

Classical Homeschooling

The phone rang about 9:15 last night, at the time that I am thinking it is time to be letting the day's activities slow down to a steady drip, yet here was a request made out of desperation. Would I be willing to tutor the Classical Conversations first grade class tomorrow morning?

Maybe I should give a bit of explanation here. I signed Charlotte up for Classical Conversations as a part of her homeschooling this year. We go every Tuesday morning from 9-12 where a tutor gives instruction in history, grammar, science, Latin, math, geography, music and art. Also included is the Veritas time line cards and science experiments. The child's parent is required to attend with the child and is responsible how the material will be used at home as part of homeschooling. I have found this curriculum to be rich in the material offered and I personally love the freedom of using the program in whatever manner I decide.

Weekly presentations are given by each child regarding the material of the past week. Charlotte's presentation today was on Latin noun endings, first declension.

As it turned out, the tutor showed up and I did not have to teach.
So volcanoes, the area of a circle and the rivers in Africa were some of today's lessons addressed by someone other than me, and due to the limited time I had to prepare, that was a very good thing.
I do so love the process of learning and relearning which homeschooling provides.


And after lunch and playground, friends came home with us to play for several hours.