dinner night, a collaboration

this is an open invitation to our virtual house for dinner. about once a week, middle son and i will  find inspiration from a cookbook, magazine, our pantry and our csa veggie share and make a meal.  we thought this would be a neat way to document his last summer home before he goes off to college.  and we like to share. 

middle son has had his own blog for a few years now where he creates his own recipes and talks about all things gluten free.  why gluten free?  his brother has celiac disease which means that gluten is really, really bad for him.  for a better description than that, check out this.  since we never wanted our celiac to feel like some foods were off limits all our meals are gluten free.  and they're good enough that even the gluten eaters are happy.

so our first dinner will be at middle son's blog and next week it will be right here.  our dinners are very casual, flip flops and dogs are welcome.  enjoy!

tonight's dinner

 

gluten free pancakes, homemade whipped cream, strawberries.  after a long day of painting, scraping, nailing, fixing, we thought we'd do dinner and dessert in one. yum.

books - our friends

stopped in the salvation army the other day to donate some things and of course had to look around.  "isn't that a bit like taking one step forward and two steps back?" i thought to myself.  "we are trying to move, you know,"  i muttered, silently, irritably.

but i ask you, can you resist shelves upon shelves of books?

i only brought home a small stack.  ok, maybe it was a little bit bigger than small.  but here's how i'm rationalizing this, once i finish them i will pass them on.  i think that makes it all better.

here's one particular score i'm thrilled about.

 

isn't this just a beautiful cookbook?  look at the size of it!  can not wait till cucumbers are in to try this recipe.

and here's a happy father's day to all the dads out there, including mine.
miss you.

changes

So much has been happening - a graduation for middle son, a party and house guests for his graduation and a  firm decision to sell our house and a list of everything that needs to be done to sell it.  

First the graduation... so happy and proud am I and we got to share it with good friends, you know, the kind that are family.

So the decision to sell our house is a bittersweet one.  We love it but it's just too big now. So on the market she goes.  The list of things to do is long and we've set a date to put it on the market, which isn't far away.  To both challenge and treat ourselves for all the work, middle son, a very good cook and baker has promised a new dessert for every few things we check off the list.  Strawberry shortcake was our first treat.  We plan to get sick on strawberries while they are in season.  

Middle son and I plan on starting a blog within a blog thing where we will cook gluten free and post recipes and pictures to share.  Our dessert treats will be a part of this.   Here's what we have been snacking on from our first quart, strawberries and nutella.  Yum!

I'm not hungry, I'll just pick...

While middle son was replacing outdoor light fixtures, he found this nest tucked on top of one.  We will have to wait till the babies fly away to cross that chore off our list.  But how sweet is that?

The work that went into this beautiful little nest is just amazing to me.  Look how soft it is.  A perfect home for these eggs.  A little gift for us.

seriously adorable treasure (at least to me)

i have a thing about old childrens chairs.  their miniature size just gets me.  the more age the better.  worn finishes, paint spatters, some rust - that's all just glorious patina, right?  so i convince middle son to stop at a yard sale because they have lots of big people chairs lined up and so maybe there's some little people chairs too.   there is lots of old junk, stuff my father would have had stashed in his work room - i love it.  the problem is, is that we are trying to declutter to move into a smaller house.  but then i saw this little blue chair.  and a neat old book for inspiration.  i just had to have them.  so middle son suggests to me that i should give up one of the other little chairs at home that i've collected.  i am outraged.  i tell him that if the house was on fire, he and his brother and sister would be the first things i would get out and then i would go back for those chairs. 

i'm kind of joking but i'm also kind of not.  

middle son probably thinks i'm crazy.

seriously adorable little blue chair and 1912 tennyson book

 

two kinds of cute

preview of some new things for the shop.  cute 1

and cute 2, but if you actually knew him you might not think so.  this is blue eyes a.k.a. fluffy, fargus and bro as my youngest son calls him.  he only looks adorable.

look at those claws -  and he's not afraid to use them.  i'm calling him ninja kitty.

auction finds and some new work in my shop

so we went to an auction for a car and came home with books.  it could be a long story. i'll make it short.  teenage son wants car.  auction has car.  car has long list of undesirable qualities - bad battery, burned out fuses and likewise,  burned out front seat.  looks like someone was trying to set fire to their crotch.  smoking is bad. so instead of leaving by nearest exit, we stay.  and that's how i got these fabulous books.  i'm so excited.  not the least is the fact that said son, who wants car, has actually read the divine comedy and liked it.   i had to get this book for him - it's a 1944 special edition with engravings by william blake.  they all have beautiful illustrations and lovely aged pages.  one of the books has lost its covers, so it's ripe for the picking.  i'm thrilled.  even better, i got them for 2.50 each.

 

 

 

this is the new piece called a way out that i added to my shop.  many times i'm inspired by a poem or song lyrics so i start by writing these words down on the canvas.  in my own very non-religious way, i think of it like a benediction and a way to start.  then comes the color and the paper and the glue.  sometimes the words show, sometimes they are completely covered but i like knowing they are there. the words in/on/of this little canvas, actually a vintage book cover, are lyrics to the song wounded by third eye blind.  if you don't know it, it's about love and friendship and hope and missing someone and more.  just go listen to it.  they do it better than i could ever describe it.  to me, the song is ultimately hopeful and empowering even though it begins with violation and powerlessness.  that's just my take on it.  so playing around with the strips of blueish green painted paper, they became a ladder to help find a way back, or a way out, even a hand up.