I love a bargain, especially an unexpected one!  During a simple grocery shopping trip to Safeway a few months back, I stumbled upon a 75% off display of floral items.  Not that I need any more vases, but I was so drawn to the cool, serene blue color of these glass ones designed by Debi Lilly.  I purchased 6, yes 6 of the smaller ones at $3.25 each and the two larger ones were $3.75.

Don’t they just make you happy?  I also bought the most beautiful white roses with a pale pink blush to the petals.  Hard to believe the flowers cost more than the container but I’m thrilled with my discovery!  It’s nice to find unique items in ordinary places and at such a great price.

A very long time ago, I worked for a company that had fresh flowers delivered to everyone’s desk each week. Flowers add such an elegant touch to every environment.  Wouldn’t this make a great hostess gift or a “just because” gift to a friend or family member?

I get to enjoy 3 arrangements on the living room mantel and 3 on the dining room table!  The blue containers are perfect for adding a touch of spring to the house! Love, love, love a bargain!!!!

I hope you have a bargain story of your own.  Also, treat yourself to some flowers ~~you deserve it!

Save

Save

May the Irish hills caress you. May her lakes and rivers bless you. May the luck of the Irish enfold you. May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.

St. Patrick’s Day is a significant day for our family.  March 17 is my Mother’s birthday. Mom passed away in 2014 at the age of 89. My second child, Julianna, was also born on March 17 and as a result was named after my mother, Julia and my great grandmother, Anna.  Though we are not Irish, Julianna feels like she is Irish by having this very special birthday date.

Celebrating Our Daughter’s Birthday

Tonight we will take her out to dinner to celebrate and then come home and have dessert. Julianna wanted me to make a Brooklyn Blackout Cake from my FAVORITE cake cookbook, Layered by Tessa Huff.  My son, Benjamin and I made this cake last summer and it was a big hit.  I will be assembling this cake later today so these photos were from the last time we made this cake.  Please forgive the clarity of the photography, but I wanted you to see this cake.

This decadent chocolate cake, was named after blackout drills during WW II. It was developed by Ebinger’s Bakery and was a staple for Brooklyn for many decades.  Unfortunately the bakery went bankrupt in 1972 and though many have tried to replicate it, apparently nothing can compare to the original.

This devil’s food cake is layered with chocolate custard and then the cake is covered in more cake crumbs. It is DELICIOUS and will be the perfect birthday cake for my sweet daughter.

As you know, I am always so curious as to why we celebrate and recognize certain holidays.

Who is St. Patrick?

So who is Saint Patrick and why do we celebrate March 17th?

Saint Patrick was a fifth-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Known as the “Apostle of Ireland”, he is the primary patron saint of Ireland, along with saints Brigit of Kildare and Columba.   However, St. Patrick was born in Scotland but devoted his life to missionary work in Ireland.

A Few Misconceptions

Patrick isn’t really a Saint with a capital S, having never been officially canonized by Rome. And Patrick couldn’t have driven the snakes out of Ireland because there were never any snakes there to begin with.

The modest observance of St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland dates back to the 17th century, as a religious feast day that commemorates the death of St. Patrick which was on March 17, 461 AD.  Patrick is credited with having brought Christianity to Ireland, and as such became a figure of national devotion and, in due course, the nation’s patron saint. The day’s importance was confirmed in 1631 when it was recognized by the Vatican.

The first recorded celebration of St. Patrick’s Day was in 1737 in Boston, held by the Charitable Irish Society of Boston to assist Irish immigrants in finding jobs and homes.

The day grew in significance following the end of the Civil War and the arrival, across the 19th century, of ever increasing numbers of Irish immigrants.  In essence, St. Patrick’s Day was a public declaration of a hybrid identity—a belief in the future of Ireland as a nation free from British rule, and a strict adherence to the values and liberties that the U.S. offered.

The tradition of celebrating St. Patrick’s Day grew across the U.S. and became a day that was also celebrated by people with no Irish heritage. Corned beef and cabbage—rarely eaten in Ireland but commonplace in American cities as a springtime dish—became the meal for March 17.

The power of St. Patrick’s Day in the U.S. was its ability to survive and then spread. It survived over the decades because generations of Irish immigrants were eager to celebrate their origins.

So, wherever you may be on this day, raise a glass to toast not only good old Ireland, but America’s interpretation of it as well.

Happy 20th Birthday, Julianna!  Miss you, Mom….

With the coming of spring, I am calm again.  

Gustav Mahler

This weekend, I made a cup of my favorite coffee and enjoyed a stroll around the property.  You can definitely feel a difference in the air~~spring has sprung!

Our pool has become a love pond for a female and two male ducks.  Last week she had 3 suitors, but now the final two seem to be competing for her attention.  Lots of quacking and flapping of wings from the males as the female seems rather bored!

It’s also the time of year where the air is heady with the fragrance of orange blossoms (and grapefruit, lemon and all citrus) from our orchard.  What an intoxicating smell!

 

The Lady Banks roses which we planted years ago to hide an original chain link fence, has since turned into a thick, lush wall of green.  The pale yellow roses are just starting to bloom and soon will be a long blanket of yellow.

The scented geranium has lovely delicate purple flowers that stands out amid the fragrant leaves.

The grapevine is just beginning to show some foliage.  I will need to keep an eye out for those creepy bugs that destroyed all the leaves last year (see my post here about the Western Grape Skeletonizer).

Lavender does very well in our Phoenix climate.

We have a few succulents in our planting beds and the Cape Aloe, which is native to South Africa,  produces the most gorgeous orange-red spikes in the spring which attract hummingbirds.

The fruit trees are blooming-especially the apricots!

The peaches have already bloomed and are producing fruit!

We’ve had a strange hollyhock year.  Typically this is what you see growing in our yard in early spring, the seedlings sprouting from the earth.

But last year, my chiropractor, Dr. Diane, gave me some hollyhock seeds and I scattered them in various locations around the yard.  These plants have taken off and grown throughout the winter months.  They are huge and I feel a bit like Jack in the Beanstalk as these are over 8 feet tall.  Here is one plant that has taken over the well tower window.

They have such beautiful brilliant clusters of showy flowers.

The property is full of new spring colors.  The nasturtium adds a bit of bright yellow and various shades of green to the garden.

My father’s memorial garden (Pop Pop’s favorite spot) is showing fullness and growth with all the rain we received this winter.

And of course, here’s my trusty companion, Cooper, who follows me wherever I go!

For those of you who are hunkering down in the big snow storm, I hope you enjoyed a bit of spring at Bella Terra!

 

The Willetta project is moving along and I’ve got my fingers crossed that it will be completed by March 25.  Right now, we are putting all the pieces of the puzzle back-the kitchen cabinets, countertops, appliances, tiling, final window and door trim, and final paint.

The last 5% of any renovation/restoration is the most important.  Generally that’s when your work crew is looking to their next job and may be losing interest.  It’s the last chapter that requires the most attention to detail.  Picking the right faucet, cabinet hardware, the door knobs is what I call the house’s jewelry….it’s what people notice.  Even though most of the investment is behind the walls in the form of new electricity, plumbing, HVAC, it’s the details that win over a potential new owner.

The Willetta house had many original details that we have chosen to preserve.  However, much of it was covered in layers upon layers of paint or deterioration.

These solid brass door hinges with the ball pin are very expensive to replace, if you can find them at all.  My husband accepted the task of cleaning all of the hardware from the house.  In our relationship, I’m the more organic one-never wanting to use chemicals and exhausting natural ways to accomplish tasks.

I have an old crock pot I dug out of the basement and read that you can “cook” hardware overnight to loosen the gunked up paint. Note the dents and the rust….after using this for cleaning hardware do not prepare food in it…

I added some dish soap and turned it on high and left it on the counter in the kitchen overnight. Not the best idea because the smell the next morning in the kitchen wasn’t very pleasant-a dusty, stale, old smell.  Just what you’d expect from boiling decades of old paint from hardware.

The paint was loosened up quite a bit, however, my husband thinks that soaking the hardware in the chemicals work better.  He used Klean Strip Stripper for wood, metal and masonry and Brasso Metal Polish.

At least one has choices!

All the interior doors have skeleton keys and mortise locks–of course there are no keys to be found, but the octogonal hardware is so attractive and matches the plate behind the glass door knobs.

I can’t wait to show you the finished house at Willetta~~it is such a gem and worthy of all this tedious work.  Big hugs to Scott for cleaning up the “jewelry”!

Yesterday morning,  I noticed so many people photographing their breakfast and sharing it on Instagram.  So I was inspired to do the same.

I made a fresh egg cooked inside a slice of 7 sprouted grains bread, seasoned with fresh thyme, sea salt and pepper. I toasted the bread in olive oil first, then cut out the hole and plopped in the egg.

Since I had my cup of coffee earlier, I made hot matcha tea with hazelnut/cashew milk (see my post on making nut milk) and topped with cinnamon. A delicious and nutritious breakfast, utilizing simple ingredients.

The beginning of a new year is always a good reason to improve upon your health and diet. Though, generally, I consider myself to eat nutritious foods, I find myself skipping meals, eating on the run, all because I say I’m too busy.  As a result, I believe my metabolism is slower than it should be.  After years of creating and preparing meals and snacks for my family, I found myself hardly cooking since my oldest 2 went off to college.  My teenage daughter is starving at 3:00 p.m. after school and that’s when she has her big meal.  By 6:00 p.m. no one is hungry and at that point, why bother?

I was lacking imagination and preparing the same things over and over again and/or relying on take out foods when I was too pooped to cook. And of course, there was that glass (or two or three) of wine nearly every night…..

Adding a few LBs over the holidays didn’t help, so I was very excited to discover that a blogger I admire, Monique from Ambitious Kitchen (and others) put together a healthy eating/exercise plan called Healthy Glow.

 

It’s a 6-week program and for a mere $64 you can download all the recipes, shopping lists, eating guide, etc.  I thought, if nothing else, I may find some great new recipes.  And they have a 2-day preview of the plan that is free.

I personally like the shopping list ~~ so every Saturday we hit the grocery store and get all the items we need for the next week of recipes.  The serving size varies so you can increase or decrease the recipe (or make more and freeze it).  The Healthy Glow team make this a very easy plan to follow.  They also encourage you to dine out once a week and add a glass of wine too, if you’d like.

The coveted Nutella Stuffed Brown Butter Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe (that I made all the time for my son’s crew team) was created by Monique so I know she is able to eat healthy yet enjoy a variety of foods at the same time.

Even though the program says it’s designed for women, I’ve been preparing the foods for my husband too.  He has been adding other foods to satisfy his metabolic needs.  He has enjoyed the meals and especially looks forward to the diverse breakfast options (many made the night before and very appreciated on hectic mornings).

We have completed the first 6 weeks and have begun our 2nd round.  I felt like I was eating LOTS of food, but I didn’t gain a pound, actually I lost a few.  For the 2nd round, I am adding the nutritional information to the LOSE IT! app.  I didn’t realize that the nutritional information was in the packet (last time)  but it’s nice to know there is a good balance of protein, carbohydrates and fats.

I haven’t done any of their exercise recommendations because I already have a weekly routine.  But who knows?  It’s nice to have a fall back position if I become stuck in my current regime.

In summary, I’ve really enjoyed the recipes and eating in a different way.  Knowing what you will be having for each meal is so much easier than spending time staring at an open refrigerator door and wondering what to make for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The egg in toast breakfast was inspired by a recipe in Week 2 of the Healthy Glow plan called Egg in a Frame.   It was absolutely yummy.  Calories: 307; Fat: 20.5 g; Carbohydrates: 22.8g; Sugar: 2.2g; Fiber: 2.8 g and Protein: 9.5 g.

Wishing you a healthy week!