Days of Beauty

Well friends around here in Boston we have had too much cold rain. It made last nights grocery shopping outing an adventure. I was tempted to buy a kayak at the wholesale club but I wasn't sure what Jimmy would say. I think he would understand given the circumstances.

So when I woke up this morning I saw the sun behind the clouds trying to break through and thought of the 30 days of beauty I have been seeing on the blogs. I thought I could do that I already look to the threads, craft books, crayon molds, sweaters even the clipboards. Well what could get me through today if it rains again? Glassware and cups.

I know not natural beauty but a clean cabinet in the kitchen can help on these rainy days. While taking pictures I did catch a ray of sun in my kitchen.

This ceramic dish and glass cup and dipping saucer is Melania's. It's a pleasure to take these out for her meals.

I hope you can find some rays of sunshine in your home where you are friends.

Salmon for dinner

I apologize if the pictures do not make this dish look appealing but I can tell you that there were no leftovers. I didn't follow the orginal recipe exactly. Instead of green onions I used 1 small onion. I didn't mix barbecue sauce with brown sugar. I bought brown sugar barbecue sauce. The cooking method was supposed to be grilled. I cooked it on the stove and then the oven. (A cast iron skillet would have been handy for this recipe.) I basically talked to my friend Love and we finageled the recipe. Isn't that what we are supposed to do with them.

Luisa and Love's Barbecue Salmon

1/2 cup brown sugar barbecue sauce

1 small chopped onion

1 lb salmon filled (deboned and skinned)

Rinse salmon and put in a pan with half cup water. Cook on the stove for 10 minutes. The salmon will not be completely cooked. While salmon cooks in a bowl mix the barbecue sauce and chopped onion. Remove salmon from pan and place in 9x12 glass pan. Pour mixture over salmon. Bake in preheated oven 350 degrees 10-12 minutes. The salmon should be opaque and break easily with a fork.

This went well with rice, green beans and carrots.

Enjoy!

Look to the sweaters

Recently our family has received knitted sweaters and hats from family. They loving took the time to make these wonder knits. Which makes wonder will I ever be able to do that? I sure am going to try. I look to these for knitting inspiration.
Thanks Aunt Eunice and Cousin Nina!

Origami and Legal Pads

What to do with that origami paper that has been folded and refolded so many times that we can't use it anymore?

Cover up the logos and brown cardboard at the top legal pads and memo pads with used pretty paper, origami paper, wrapping paper, pretty envelopes etc.

Besides too much Olympics and too much laundry much rest and minestrone soup is needed this weekend to shake off a cold.

Snow Day Baking

Whenever it snows I think it's a great excuse to turn on the oven and do a little baking. Yesterday it was apple pie and juce muffins.

Luisa's Juice Muffins

Mix 1 1/2 tablespoons canola oil, 1 1/2 tablespoons water and 1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup cranberry juice

1/3 cup canola oil

1 3/4 cups flour

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven 350 degrees. Line muffin tin with paper liners. In bowl stir baking powder mixture, juice and oil. Then add dry ingredients. Stir together well. The batter will be thick and sticky. Fill prepared muffin tins two thirds full. Bake for 18 minutes or until golden brown.

Note: For mini muffins bake for 12-15 minutes. Apple, pear or cranapple juice can be used instead of cranberry juice.

Enjoy the morning muffins!

Look to the books

Ok again not natural beauty but loads of creative craft ideas waiting to be made in days, weeks, months and years to come. All these books are over on the right on Luisa's Craft Books on librarything. Enjoy and happy crafting on these cold snowy days.

Sweets with my sweeties

Look to the magazines

Ok this may not be natural beauty but it certainly does inspire natural creativity. Just browsing through Green Craft and it is a favorite around here. Although my husband is worried what projects I will have for him :)

Comfort Weekend List ::

Valentine's Day (a little behind on the hearts)

Knitting

Olympics

Baking (hopefully)

Continue comforting sick little one

Hope you to have a comfort list for the weekend.

Crayon molds

These were those broken crayons that we baked last week . They came out really nice that we added them to couple of birthday gifts.

Look to the clipboards

To do lists, grocery lists, what to do with the kids lists, dinner and baking lists, a place for the kids to jot down ideas, experiments and questions to research later.... What to do with them all? Put them on clipboards on the wall and then cover the lists with pretty paper so I don't get to overwhelmed with what to do. Everyone has been enjoying looking at them while we're in the kitchen.

I should note this isn't my own orginal idea I saw it another blog who saw it somewhere else and thought well that could happen in my kitchen too.

Look to the threads

Well I'm finally back on line after having no internet service for a couple of days. So I got up this morning with every intent of bringing it back. February has rolled in with some challenges and pile ups. All Mondays have turned into flops. A different child each Monday has been struck with an illness. Dishes keep reappearing in the sink and just staying there. Clean folded laundry won't put itself away. Clutter everywhere. Forgotten coffee in the pot and a cup of tea in the microwave. Even Myspace (my desk) is an upheaval.


Well what to do? Slowly peel at my desk the layers of projects. Fortunately Tuesdays are a lot better looking than Mondays. I think everyone is looking towards some beauty in February. Lately I look to the thread holder.

The vibrant colors are inviting and happy while I dream of their future in skirts, bags, scarves, quilts....

In the kitchen

What was cooked in the kitchen this week.

Eggplant, onions, plum tomatoes and shredded mozzarella over pasta.

Chicken cutlets drizzled with sauce with rice,corn and broccoli. To make the cutlets dairy and egg free we dip them in soy milk and then coat with plain bread crumbs.

More calzones.

Cinnamon, sunflowerseed and golden raisins granola.

Thai dish: Cook separetely or together cauliflower, diced carrots, 1 celery, green and red peppers, tofu and half a cup of diced cooked chicken. Once they are all cooked add a handful of baby spinach leaves and coat with Red Curry Sauce from Trader Joe's. Simmer till spinach wilts. Serve over rice. Use any combination of vegetables you like.

Baked crayons. I'll explain next week what we did with these. For now have a good weekend!

Red Scarf

One of the hopes I have for 2010 is to do some crafting for Craft Hope. A friend sent me this link for a Red Scarf Project for Craft Hope due by Feb. 14. I thought great I can do that so I took out some burgunday yarn and started knitting.

Yesterday I was getting a little nervous that I would never have this scarf done and maybe gee I should have crochetted it instead. (I have more crochetting experience than knititing. ) Well looking at it I began to wonder this doesn't look 5 inches wide it doesn't even look like it's 8 inches.

Yes it measured at 17 inches wide. Now what teenager is going to wear that! Oooops! My 5 year old pointed out "Mom you're not good at this. You're better at crochetting.". Together we unravelled the scarf and I began knitting the scarf again. I'm having better luck today.

I'd like to invite you to join me on this Red Scarf Project and hope you too have fun making one.

Article #2

Well my second article is up*gulp* High Calorie Foods Meet A Food Allergy Family. Again I apologize for any typos but I can't go back to read it. This one gives a little insight into our family cooking not just with food allergies but how to incorporate a high calorie diet. The problem is like two worlds colliding. High calorie foods usually involve dairy and eggs and well that completely conflicts in a family with dairy and egg allergies. Well my journey of managing meals and combining many foods was frustrating at first. Eventually it evolved into better planning and strategies and now hopefully an article like this supports other families out there with various needs.

Book Finds

Well Febuary has arrived and so has a new batch of books in our home. We went to a book sale on Saturday and hunted for these treasures.

On Sunday before doing some laundry I decided to go back and see if there was anything leftover. To my surprise it was just as busy and people were still coming in with empty bags. I lucked out again and got a grocery bag full of these treasures.

I love The Snowman and I think the Desk Atlas will be a handy reference for us all during the Olympics. I have to say my favorite find this weekend is this one.

A little while ago I tried my hardest to explain "Cats Cradle" that kids used to play games with fingers and string. Around here this weekend this book was popular along with some yarn. It has many different string games and a little history of how many centuries they existed and where children played them. To think that for centuries up until not to long ago children played these games instead of playing with their parents cellphones or some other electronic device while waiting at lessons and practices. Whatever happened to pockets filled with pink balls, string, a shell, buttons, rocks, little treasures found along the way during the day with a little dirt and sand at the bottom of the pocket. This book was the best find because it brought back so many memories and hopefully bring new memories for my children. With any luck maybe some of these games will spread to their friends.