First Guest

December 6, 2010

Our favorite Terry was on his way back to KC and stopped to break bread...er, French toast...with us (along with turkey bacon, spiced peaches, and grapes). Although I had "cooked" tea in our new home, this was the first meal I cooked, and I must say that it was pretty yummy!

Those two are so silly. But if it lets me get a photo, I'm all for it!

Thank you for indulging my sentimentality, Terry...and for that sweet pie. Oh, that pie...I could feed it grapes...it's THAT good. :)

Happy birthday, Aunt Jeannie!

September 14, 2010

Last night Aunt Jeannie stayed with us because she is working at Lake Hamilton today, and we celebrated her birthday with French vanilla cake topped by my now "[facebook] world famous" poached fruit. It was yummy. :) Happy birthday!

We also learned that Trenton Lee Stewart, author of The Mysterious Benedict Society, attended high school at Lake Hamilton, as did a Playboy Centerfold. We couldn't believe they put THAT on their website.

Poached Peaches and Apples

September 13, 2010

Tonight I made scrambled eggs and French toast with poached fruit for dinner.

I have always wanted to try poached pears--I'm not a big fan of pears, so I think that poaching them would improve them for my palate. :)

Well...we had two fresh peaches left from a roadside stand we passed in Conway on Saturday. There were several Granny Smith apples.

So I put some Merlot, brown sugar, water, and dashes of cinnamon and ground cloves on. I cored and peeled the apples and added them. When they were halfway done, I added the peaches, peeled.

Once they were done, I removed the fruit and cut it up while the sauce simmered down. Then I added them back in, and we served them atop the French toast.

SOOO GOOD!!!
I forgot to take a picture at the beginning of the meal, especially as I was running behind and we were trying to watch the season premiere of House. As you can see, not much was left.
Oh, I could just drink the sauce with a straw!

AG Kirsten...and as many versions of strawberry shortcake as there are Americans

[photo courtesy http://e.joz3d.net/pages/Pamphlets.html]

Today I went over to Momo's for lunch and had strawberries and angel food cake (topped with a dollop of Cool Whip!) for dessert.

It makes me think of American Girl Kirsten Larson, who celebrated her birthday along the same lines, and is the doll I always associate with deep dark winters and sunny summer days. She was a farm child, after all.
(I just HAD to find a picture of the doll with the birthday party set, and it would have been nice to find one with Kirsten's kittens because Momo has a cat. I was lucky to stumble across a website that features Pleasant Company's old newsletters, so this photo made a perfect recapitulation of everything I'm discussing in this post.)

[photo courtesy http://agplaythings.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=kirsten&action=display&thread=4473]

I love strawberries on cake. We used to buy those sponge cake rounds and cut up the strawberries, adding a little sugar so that they became syrupy and pouring them over the cakes. YUMMY!(I've decided I like Cool Whip on desserts, including Jell-O, and Reddi Whip on ice cream and hot beverages, like cocoa.)

Strawberries are some of my favorite fruits, along with peaches and melons. (I really can't pick ONE favorite!) I think these are my favorites because there is nothing like fresh fruit in the summer, all sun-ripened and lush. I remember picking berries and peaches when I was little and LOVED it. There is nothing like a sweet strawberry or a plump and juicy peach...and nothing beats a Hope watermelon, I've heard. :)