Oops

This is why I wear an apron when I cook



stroganoff explosion

It was all worth it though, the new stroganoff recipe I found was delicious!

retrophone

I really don't like phones - don't like making calls, talking to people, answering them. Yuck. I avoid them at all costs even though sometimes they're necessary. But I really do like retro-looking stuff. If I see something that is similar to something I've seen in a 1940s movie, especially if it's a little kitschy, I go wild. So perfect solution - disguise something I hate (phone) with something retro (handset) and suddenly I'm looking for people to call. Make it pink and I'm in retro heaven.



my new handset



Besides being super cute, it actually makes me enjoy talking on the phone...at least for a few minutes. The sound is pretty good and it keeps the screen from getting dirty plus it keeps the cell phone away from my head in case they eventually discover it really does cause health problems.

If you want one for yourself (it comes in several colors although why someone wouldn't want pink is beyond me) then skedaddle on over here and pick one up for yourself!

365

always in my heart

Dogiversary

Today it's been exactly 6 months since we met a scared little dog at the vet's office and brought him home with us. Of course it was only supposed to be temporary while he recovered from kennel cough and couldn't be around other dogs. I think that temporary thing lasted all of one day, maybe not even that. We both knew when we saw the intelligence and concern in his eyes that he was going to spend the rest of his life with us. I don't think there's been one day since we brought him home that he hasn't made us laugh with his antics, he's a little goofball and so sweet and loving. It's been fun to watch him blossom, to see the fear leave his eyes to be replaced with love...especially when we have pizza.

Happy 6 month dogiversary Shifu Peanut, you've found a forever home and yes, we're having pizza for dinner to celebrate.

I scream, you scream

We all scream for ice cream!

What's a national holiday without homemade ice cream? I wouldn't know because freshly churned homemade ice cream has been a part of every summer holiday since before I was born and I'm not about to break the tradition now so we had to have ice cream today as part of our 4th of July celebration.

 Of course, all traditions can be improved upon so I'm very glad that today's ice cream makers are so much easier than the old wooden bucket with the ice and salt.




my adorable Mickey ice cream maker

 Another modern invention that makes ice cream making super easy these days is the pre-packaged ice cream starter. Yes, I know that it's probably better to make everything from scratch but bite me, it's easier to buy a package and get all sorts of fun flavors without the extra work. Today's flavor was salted caramel...yum!

You just need 3 ingredients - starter mix, whole milk and heavy cream. Actually you can do it with just milk and starter but it's creamier if you substitute half of the milk with cream. Mix it all together, pour it into the container (which has been sitting in the freezer overnight) and press the start button. The hardest part is waiting the 25 minutes.

Don't forget to set the timer



yes, I have a Mickey timer too

 The top of the ice cream maker is clear so you can tell when it's done, no more big surprises when you pop the top off. Of course the best part of ice cream making is the soft stage when you can clean up the paddle.

 And then the hardest part of the day, putting all that salted caramel goodness into the freezer and waiting until it's ready to eat.

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 100th

It's a big day here at Jasper's Cottage, the 100th post! Hard to imagine I've been doing this since 2008; it's been an interesting few years. The last two years have not been my favorites but I have high hopes for the future.
Today is also our 26th wedding anniversary and in honor of that we took a little trip over the weekend to a favorite spot where we used to go often with Jasper. As you can imagine, it was a little bittersweet to be back there but it turned out to be very relaxing and we had a fantastic time. Shifu (who is also known as Peanut these days) is shaping up to be a good traveler. He was a little subdued when we first got to the hotel because it was a scary new experience but he was soon walking around as if he owned the place. Just like any good adventurer, he has his own suitcase.

Peanut's suitcase has little airplanes on it

 No trip would be complete without some great food and we got to visit two favorites Wild Ginger Cafe and The Tea Cozy. Enjoy the food porn from the Tea Cozy. (Wild Ginger pictures later this week.)


tea in the garden



Corn chowder with a unique presentation



British pasty



the fruit and cheese plate was not only delicious, it was a work of art



Peanut enjoyed tea in the garden



Create

This lovely rock used to belong to a dear friend of mine. She was an amazing lady and I only wish we'd known each other longer. She was a journalist for our local paper when I knew her but had lived a rich and creative life in all parts of the world long before we met . This rock used to sit outside her apartment and her daughter (also a dear friend) gave it to me both as a way to remember her mother and as a promise for my future.

The rock has been sitting in my bedroom for the last year and a half. I look at it every day - sometimes it fills me with energy and other times it mocks me a little. I think I'm trying to make myself worthy of having received such a gift.

The big creative projects that I'm currently working on are still works in progress and I'm not sure I've made much progress recently which can get discouraging so sometimes creativity needs a little instant gratification which explains my kitchen beautification project.

I'm not particularly fond of my kitchen cabinets. The cabinets themselves are plain and they are painted orange...the walls of the kitchen are painted orange too. Not that I'm not fond of orange...well, actually, I'm not. I know that it's some people's favorite color but it's not mine. Oh, it goes well with the green accents in the other parts of the house (I do like green) but there's just a little too much orange for me so I've decided to liven it up a bit without having to repaint the whole kitchen.

A few days ago I got the creative idea to stencil something onto the cabinets to work with the orange but also draw my attention away from it. I wish I could paint freehand but my art always looks like a 3 year old did it so that's out of the question. Stenciling, however, is something I can do. I once stenciled a rose border in our master bedroom in Virginia and it looked lovely. It had better have looked lovely, it took days to do and my arms were really sore plus I'm not really fond of ladders.

Of course that bedroom thing was almost 20 years ago (when I was 5) and stencils don't seem to be as popular now as they were then. I had a heck of a time finding something but finally good old Martha Stewart came to the rescue.

Projects are always more involved than you think they will be when you conceive the idea but at least this one only required some paint and a couple of sponge brushes. I decided to get fancy and use 2 different shades of green for the stem and leaves.




And here's the final result

Well, it's not the final final result because there's a whole lot more cabinet to paint and there are at least 10 more cabinet doors in the kitchen but this was my test run to see if I liked the idea on the cabinet as much as I did in my head and guess what - I do! I think it adds that extra something that the plain doors are missing while giving the kitchen that 1930s cottage look I love.

Today I made my rock proud.