Up To My Cake In Eyeballs...

I will be joining Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday, for the first time. Thank you for hosting, Gollum. Click on the picture to enlarge it.

I made this little 6" Halloween cake for Trevor, the little guy that spends a few hours each Tuesday and Thursday with us. I made a white cake with 'blood' (strawberry jam) filling and a white frosting. The eyes are edible gummy candies.



Close up of the eyes...

Thrifty Thursday No. 2

Here it is Thursday again....make sure you stop by Leigh of Thrifty Thursday at Bloggeritaville to see what all the other great thrifters have been doing this week. You can click on the picture to make it larger.

Thrifting was pretty lean this week. I hit a couple different Goodwill's and the only things I came up with were 4 clear water glasses for 37¢ each and 3 crystal, yes real crystal wine glasses for $1.48 each. The mercury glass candleholder was not part of the loot this week but sure would love to find a couple like them at the thrift shops!



Thanks for stopping by today!

Cheer Me Up, Please...#6

Another week has gone by and it is time for Tablescape Thursday hosted by Susan at Between Naps On the Porch. You can click on the photos to enlarge them.

Here is another very simple tablescape...

With all the rain we have had in the last few weeks I thought something bright would cheer us up. It clouded up around 4 this afternoon, getting ready to rain, yet again!

I looked through the cupboards and dish armoire for something cheery and came up with red/white/yellow to rid myself of the doldrums.




The tablecloth, place mats and napkin rings were found at an estate sale this past summer. The napkins, I have no idea, they are something I have had for many years. The stemware is from World Market.


The rooster pitcher may have come from Tuesday Morning; I have had it for quite awhile.


The candlestick is one of my favorites and it came from the dollar store. The little lime green/polka dot pitcher is a fairly new acquisition from TJMaxx.




Thank you for stopping by, comments are always very much appreciated!
Make sure you take time to visit Between Naps On the Porch for many more beautiful tablescapes.

Rolling Pin Collection

This is my first time posting on Three or More hosted by Tam at The Gypsy's Corner. Thank you, Tam, for being our hostess.

I decided to make a pie many years ago and found that I couldn't find my rolling pin, so I had to go out and find one. I hate breaking in an unused rolling pin, the dough sticks to it. After that, every time I went to an estate sale I would buy one...what does a girl do with more than one? She finds an old metal picnic basket and stands them on end. I now use the big fat one on the table that a friend gave me for my birthday a few years ago.




My intent was to buy only green handled rolling pins, but they were fairly scarce so I started picking up plain, red, yellow and even a pale blue handled one. Some are narrow, some fat, some long, some short, some embossed with designs, some with grooves...but they are all round!



Click on the photo to enlarge it.

Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I really appreciate it.

Thrifty Thursday #1

Late as usual......This is my first time posting at "Thrifty Thursday" at Tales from Bloggeritaville, but I have been a faithful reader for quite a while.

You can click on the picture to enlarge it.

Last week was pretty fruitful at the local A.R.C. Thrift Store that I haunt a couple times a week. I found lots of old Homer Laughlin creamy white dishes at 25¢ apiece. I have a few other pieces, not in the photo, that I have slowly been collecting. Monday while in the city I stopped at Goodwill and was about to leave empty handed when I spotted this cute swan soup tureen; it was $1.98. I scooped it up fast as I saw another lady headed toward it.



Thanks for dropping by and commenting.

Orange and Yellow...#5

Wow! It is Thursday and you all know what that means....Susan at Between Naps on the Porch is hosting Tablescape Thursday!
You can click on the photos to make them larger.



The Orange Rooster pattern is one of my very favorites. The yellow and orange are such happy colors. In October they remind me of the colorful maple and oak trees but when I use them in July they remind me of a summer sunset.
You can click on the pictures to make them larger.


The dinner plate.

The square luncheon or salad plate.

The dessert plate.

The soup/salad/pasta bowls were the first pieces I found at TJMaxx. I had a hard time finding enough dinner plates, square luncheon plates and dessert plates so I put out a SOS...thankfully my friend, Jayne, of A Grain of Salt , graciously offered to check the stores in her area. Once located, she mailed them to me. It was like Christmas opening that package!

Jayne also found the cute little pail, upper left, in front of the rooster...which I use for breadsticks.

I found several serving pieces after the initial soup bowls so I snatched them each time I saw one I didn't have as they seemed to be a hot seller at the time!







Tablecloth-BHG/WalMart
Napkins-I have had them for years
Napkin rings-estate sale
Orange Rooster dishes-TJMaxx
Stemware-Goodwill
Flatware-not sure where I got them!
Clear candleholder-actually a vase
Orange/White candleholders-yard sale/thrift shop
Centerpiece-made it a few weeks ago, with what I had on hand

Thanks for visiting and commenting! Make sure you stop by BNOTP to see all the other beautiful tablescapes.

Time Flies When You Are Having Fun...

I polished some silverware, that came from my late mother-in-law, this afternoon and before I knew it, it was time for dinner. Of course, I hadn't even thought about what we would be having. I quickly whipped up some crab cakes and pasta.





This is what it looked like before polishing, not real bad but bad enough.

Here it is after I got done.

This is the pattern, but I have no idea what it is.

Not even sure if it is sterling or silverplate. Do any of you experts out there have any idea what I have here? Sterling or silverplate?

Here is the recipe for the pasta.

EILEEN'S FANTASTIC PASTA

1 10 oz pkg of frozen spinach thawed & drained
4 tablespoons Olive Oil
4 large cloves Garlic minced
1/2 cup White Wine
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup Heavy Cream
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground Pepper
4 ounces Proscuitto thin sice into small ribbons
1/2 cup crumbled Gorgonzola
1 pound Penne Pasta
1/4 cup grated Parmesean

Heat 3 tablespoons Olive Oil in pan add garlic saute 1 minute add Spinach cook 1 minute add Wine and reduce by half about 2 minutes add stock,cream and pepper Bring liquid to Boil reduce heat and simmer for 12 minutes. Take remaining 1 tablespoon of Olive Oil and fry Proscuitto until crisp drain on paper towel. On a low heat add Gorgonzola to the Spinach mixture and now add the Procuitto mix well...Pour mixture over cooked Pasta mix well and sprinkle Parmesean on top. Serve Immediately.

*NOTE* This is from the chef NICK STELLINO from the tv show CUCINA AMORE.

Pink and Teal...#4

I can't believe it is Thursday already! How the time does fly....again, many thanks to Susan for hosting Tablescape Thursday.
(You may click on the pictures to enlarge them.)

I found this bright colored mini tablecloth this past weekend while on an outing to my husband's hometown, Fort Scott, KS. I didn't know what I was going to use it with, but knew I really like the colors. After looking at it a few times during the weekend, I decided I would use it with my pink and teal pottery dishes. The dishes are a little more rustic than the tablecloth but I kind of like them together!

The dishes were made for me by Lisa, a potter friend, from Phoenix several years ago. All pieces have a simple Lisa signed in teal. I stopped at 6 place settings for some reason...I am not sure why...guess I was focused on something else!

The place settings consist of dinner, luncheon, and dessert plates, soup bowls, salad bowls, coffee mugs and iced tea/water glasses. I also had a few serving pieces made.

Coffee mug and iced tea glass, notice the indentation for your thumb.




Soup tureen

Salad bowls


Salad bowls, small platter, colander and dip set.


Gravy boat/tray and ladle. The gravy boat holds about 5 cups so it could be used as a small soup tureen, if needed.

The French butter dish is in the back just to the right of the soup tureen.

Thank you visiting, hope you enjoyed peeking as much as I enjoyed showing! Make sure you check out all the other beautiful table settings that can be found at BNOTP.

Oversized...breasts?

When I took this out of the freezer I thought it was two breasts...turned out to be only one. Why are chicken breasts the size of a turkey breast, lately? Last night we had sautèed chicken with a little chicken broth/Marsala and I was astounded at the size of the breast, it was enough for 2 or 3 people and then some. I butterflied it and put it in the skillet......holy moley it covered the entire surface......I can't imagine that chicken could get off the ground, if it tried!

We, (or should I say Howard) topped the meal off with a little piece of apple/maple tart. I had a hard time cleaning my plate....well, actually I didn't clean it.



As you can see, it didn't shrink up very much........scary, isn't it?

Aqua and Lime #3

Thank you again, Susan for hosting our Tablescape Thursday get together. You can visit Susan at Between Naps on the Porch to see all of the other wonderfully creative tablescapes.

I would be happy with everything being aqua and lime, my two favorite color combos. I am not doing any fancy tablescape today as we are very informal people. Less is more...














Aqua square plates- Roscher & Co.-Marshall's
Small lime green plates-Goodwill
Rectangle serving tray-HomeGoods
Flatware-HomeGoods
Aqua stemmed glasses-World Market
Placemats-Wm Sonoma-Gift from Cuisine Kathleen (she knows lime is my favorite color)
Napkins-Walmart
Candlestick-Goodwill

Thank you for visiting...what are your favorite color combos?