Dishtowels

I can never resist leaves!

It doesn't take much to make me happy. Dishtowels are one of those things. Just out of college and living off $1000 of my remaining savings and pursuing an internship as a wildlife researcher, I discovered that if I could afford to buy fresh mushrooms and a new dishtowel, that I was living the good life.

Time has past, my tastes and savings have evolved. It still feels good when I have fresh mushroom and new dishtowels. These are my new finds from Crate and Barrel. Leaves - I couldn't resist.

After all, isn't this one of the secrets of life? Find joy in the small things.

Why make bread when you can make Zucchini Chocolate Cake?

2 1/2 c flour

½ cup cocoa

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

¾ cup soft butter.

2 cups white sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp orange juice concentrate

2 tsp vanilla

½ c milk

2 c zucchini

Mix dry ingredients and cream the rest in a separate bowl then mix it all together. Pour into greased and floured bundt pan and bake at 350 for one hour.

It's Peachy!

Anticipation!

Here is your postcard from my trip to New York City. We enjoyed the landscapes of four Great Lakes and the Finger Lakes. Historic districts Marshall Michigan, Niagara on the Lake Ontario, and Hudson Ohio were welcome distractions to the miles of roads in between. Moosewood Restaurant in Ithaca NY, sushi in Brooklyn and Balthazar - a French Bistro in SOHO made us glad to be hungry. Farmstands graced the roads in Ontario and New York. We stretched our legs from the long drive and walked from Battery Park into Manhattan. My friends sister gave us a personal tour of Ralph Lauren Corporate headquarters on Madison Avenue. I was adopted to experience apartment living in Brooklyn and a home on Long Island. We worked at a Vineyard sampling grapes and bottling Pinot Noir.

The highlight? It was the peaches. Those numerous farm stands had peaches galore and I did my best to eat up to three of them a day. Eyes closed, a deep breath and sweet juice running down your chin...heaven.

Whole Peach Pie

The prize of August since I can remember

I can't let summer go until I have made this recipe. The trick is finding good peaches. I have feasted on good local peaches in the southeast, northwest and northeast - if that matches your zip code, you will be more fortunate then those of us in the Midwest who must wait for the Colorado peaches to arrive in late August. My mother made Whole Peach Pies as long as I can remember, and I plan to do the same - as long as I can still remember!

Pie Crust (enough for 4-5 peaches)

1 c Butter-flavored Crisco or unsalted butter

2 c unbleached flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

6 tbsp ice water

Mix the shortening and dry ingredients with pasty blender until it is the texture of course sand. Sprinkle the ice water over and blend together - do not overwork! Divide into 4-5 balls and roll each between waxed paper. Wrap each peach carefully, avoid stretching or tearing the dough. Bake at 375 for about 35 minutes until golden.

4-5 washed Peaches

Honey Sauce

1 c powdered sugar

1/2 c butter

3 tbsp cream

5 tbsp honey

Mix the sauce ingredients and cook on low heat for 30 minutes until golden in color. Pour sauce over peaches just before serving.

Tell me this is not heaven....

It works!

Wow this is too easy!
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device from U.S. Cellular

Exceptional Apple Cake with Carmel Sauce

1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature

1 c sugar

1 egg

1 c flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

2 large or 4 small tart apples, sliced thin

1/2 c chopped walnuts

1/4 c whipping cream

1/2 stick unsalted butter

1/4 c granulated sugar

1/4 c packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

This is the BEST apple cake I have ever had! Heat the oven to 350 and butter a 9x9 or Swedish loaf pan. Cream the butter sugars and eggs. Mix in the dry ingredients and stir together. Add the apples and nuts and bake for 40-45 minutes. On the stove top heat the cream, butter and sugar until sugar is melted and then boil for one minute. Add vanilla and serve over the top.

Blueberry Galette

1 1/4 c flour
1/4 c cornmeal
2 tsp granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick chilled unsalted butter
4 to 5 tbsp ice water

3 c fresh blueberries
1/4 c granulated sugar
1 oz (2 tbsp) butter, chilled
Pinch of cinnamon

2 tsp powdered sugar

Mix the cornmeal, flour, sugar and salt with the butter using a pastry blender until it is the consistency of sand. Then add ice water and roll out into a circle on wax paper. Do not overwork - dough should stay cold, if not chill for up to 2 hours. Transfer to a parchment lined cookie sheet and chill until you are ready to add berries.

Cut the butter in pea sized pieces and mix with the blueberries, sugar and cinnamon. Pour into center of dough leaving about three inches you gently place over the edge of berries. Bake at 375 for 30-35 minutes. Let cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Lost Boy

Davyd was to finish his homework before soccer practice. I called his name, but couldn't locate him. I went outside and this is where I found him. Sometimes being a mom is priceless!

Grand Vacations: Vancouver Island

Consider this a postcard. Yes, we had a great time and we wish you were there! Pete, Davyd and I spent last week on Vancouver Island. I have thought about going there since 1978.

We took the Anacortes ferry to Victoria, British Columbia and explored the southeast quarter of the island. Riding ferries always adds a romantic notion, who doesn't love cruising archipelagos?

We were smitten by the small farms around Cowichan Bay and fell in love with the artisan cheeses and breads at Hillary's Cheese Shop. Walking the labyrinth at Demali Lavender Farm was a sensory delight. My favorite B&B was Arbutus Bluff on Gabriola Island (yes, another ferry ride). We were surprised by a pod of Orcha's just a hundred feet in front of us along the beach there. Next, the origin of my curiosity - Strathcona Provincial Park. We took a seven-mile alpine hike to add to the beach walks on the smaller islands. In between, we ate plenty of fish (halibut-yum) and chips with Canadian ale. A day in Victorian and then Seattle paled compared to the quiet island pace, though I did enjoy the Seattle Art Museum.

If your curiosity is roused, you can get reasonably priced direct flights on Canadian Air from Chicago to Victoria. One could easily make a long weekend of it. Next time, I would definitely stay at Arbutus Bluff again, and add a night and Damali and splurge to stay at Brentwood Bay Lodge/Spa. Don't miss the the bread and cheese in Cowichan Bay enroute. I'd be tempted to make it a couple weeks though to explore the whole island.

Fish Tacos

Looking up - from the deck - while eating fish tacos!

8 Corn tortillas - I prefer white corn if you can find them
1 small Mahi Mahi (or other) fillet, grilled and shredded
1 cup shredded red cabbage
1/4 c sour cream
1/4 c mayo
1 lime, sectioned

Place the fish and cabbage in the center of the tortillas. Mix the sour cream and mayo and then put in a small baggie, cut a small hole in the tip and "sqiggle" the sauce over the fish and cabbage. Squeeze lime juice over it all and enjoy. Easy, healthy, fast and very very delicious...one of my favorite summer meals!

This I Believe...

• Our first choice should first take care of the earth - we have just one.
• There is no such thing as boredom if you can draw, read, or play an instrument.
• Time with family and friends is never wasted.
• You'll never regret spending money on a vacation.
• The New York Times, the New Yorker and Public Radio can jump start your mind.
• Your home is your castle.
• Be your own best friend.
  
• God is in your heart. Heaven can be on earth.
• Avoid debt - live within you means.
• If you say you are going to do something - do it.
  
• There are just two choices: love or fear.
• Get enough sleep, drink water, take deep breaths and everything will be alright.
• Everything you need to be happy is here, right now. Now, take the next step.
  
• We should all be driving hybrid cars, walking or riding bicycles.
  
• Infants, kittens and puppies should be held as much as possible (between midnight and 6AM.)
• Lake Superior is truly greatest lake in the world.
• Being a mother is one of the greatest privileges.
  
• It's well worth spending extra money on things like original art, Apple computers, local produce, olive oil and Aveda products...

To be continued.....

Going Grey

Going Grey by Anne Kreamer seems to be a Something About My Neck/Nora Ephram wanna be. Kreamer's book doesn't cut it. Ephram's book made me laugh out loud and drew me into her psche. Though drawn out, the points in Kreamer's book rang true.

Going Grey chronicles the choice to stop dying hair and become ones authentic self. Been there done that. The author is surprised to learn through a myriad of surveys that others found women that look their age and not faking it more attractive. I appreciated the book jacket: "Anne Kremer considered herself an impossibly youthful forty-nine until a casual glance at a family photograph stopped her in her tracks. There she was behind carefully chosen clothes, meticulously dyed hair and several rounds of botox - looking (horror or horrors) exactly forty-nine."

Something special happens when you turn fifty. For me at least, it was the very first time besides when I was sixteen and got my drivers license, that I actually thought about my age. I felt good about the first fifty and thought about the next fifty. I also observed my urban life... women with under-aged hairstyles, fake nails, and eek few forty-year-olds that didn't have any business wearing anything that exposed their tummies.

True confession: somehow in my forties I started dying my hair. As I approached fifty, I thought, wait a minute "why am I doing this?" How to stop without having a frumpy striped hairline?

I said "tawanda" and let my hair grow out a little and found a good hairdresser. I had my hair cut down to a half inch. My husband loved it. At work someone told me I looked like I owned an art gallery (my secret alter ego). I got more comments on the street from men and women then since my twenties. My twenty-something son liked it. My late-teen aged daughter said I looked like a cancer patient. My five year old said I looked like a boy.

I felt bolder. I felt beautiful. I felt wise. I felt fifty. I felt like me.

Twenty Questions: Decision-making

Write the answers to these questions down – the first thing that comes to mind. Yes write them down, answer every question (“I don’t know” or “doesn’t matter” don’t count) even if the questions seem dumb. Don’t worry about the questions or your answer - just see where they take you in the end. Once you have done this, is anything more obvious?

1. What are your dreams? Is this one of them?
2. If you don’t do it now will you do it later?
3. How could your decision make the world a better place?
4. Will this decision hurt or disappoint anyone? Can you soften the blow?
5. What would your mother say?
6. List the things that are irreversible in this decision. Can you live with them?
7. Think of someone you admire. Would they make the same decision?
8. What happens when you’re nervous? Will you do this more or less?
9. List your three greatest attributes. Will this strengthen them?
10. What is the healthiest thing to do?
11. Will this decision put you in a better place a year from now? In ten years?
12. Christian or not, what would Jesus do?
13. The little people in cartoons on peoples shoulders…what do they say?
14. What would you do if you had one year to live?
15. What would you have done five year ago? Five years from now?
16. Imagine the next six months are you feeling vulnerable or gutsy?
17. What is the financial impact?
18. Where will you get emotional support through the change?
19. What is the worse case scenario? Can you live with it?
20. What is your Plan B?

List five other questions and answer them. Yes write them down.

Lake Superior, Really?

Can you believe these colors? Sunday, after Anna and Jessie's wedding we ventured to Little Girl Point - a Lake Superior beach just across the Michigan line. I have long favored the scenery and smooth dark rocks of Lake Superior's north shore. I made my third circumnavigation of Gittche Gumme last summer with my friend and rock hound Candy, and she introduced me to a few other prize beaches on the south shore.

These little gems (and a few pieces of beach glass) were a treat for the eyes and a relaxing distraction to an already fun weekend.

Let Them Eat Cake

You saw the test cake, posted on July 15, and here is the final gateau. Anna and Jessie's grooms cake turned out lovely, shadowed only by the event itself hosted on Jessie's family farm in northern Wisconsin.