Saturday Meanderings

Happy Saturday morning! Gosh, it is hard to believe the first week of the New Year is over. Thank you for joining me for Saturday Meanderings as we reflect on the comings and goings of the week.

It always takes me a while to file away the holiday spirit. Slowly we are dismantling our holiday day decor as we leave it up until January 6th, which is the Epiphany. Organizing and storing it all always takes a bit of time. We’re not in any hurry.

Thinking about my Spring Garden

When it comes to gardening, I feel rather knowledgeable about the vegetable garden. The last week of February through the month of March is the ideal time to get growing, and get the most out of the 2021 tomato season here in Phoenix.

If you live locally and want to start a garden, Farmyard Farmers is an excellent resource. The year I had extensive shoulder surgery I hired them to design and plant my garden. They did an incredible job. You can also purchase seeds and seedlings from them. Here is the link to their website.

However, I am a novice in planning and planting a flower garden. The thought of having access to fresh cut flowers is a dream of mine. I am awaiting several packets of seeds from Floret Farm. A family run flower farm and seed company, they specialize in unique and heirloom varieties. They have a lovely website and their seeds sell out quickly. Once the seeds arrive, I will develop a plan and share that with you. We can learn together.

Inspiration from other sources

As much as I don’t enjoy spending hours on the computer or social media, I do love the inspiration from other sources. A comment from The Vintage Contessa on my last post about the grilled cheese tomato soup party led me to another blogger, Annie from Most Lovely Things (who also happens to have a grilled cheese recipe).

On her post, Annie shares her five favorite things and one is the artist, Aiden Paez. Aiden is a self-taught, 14 year old and don’t you just love the picture above? You can follow him on Instagram @throughaidenseyes.

Another inspirational artist and blogger is Sandra Sallin. Sandra started her blog at age 72. An awarding winning artist, her energy and sense of humor is contagious. Her informative blog, Apart from My Art is here. A good lesson in that it’s never too late to learn something new.

Last week I was craving a hearty, warm Mediterranean style soup~like a tortellini or a good minestrone. And then I read The Enchanted Home’s Seven on Sunday (one of my favorite reads) and lo and behold, there is a recipe for Pasta Fagiole. That was it! I made it right away and it is so delicious. The timing is great because we had a bit of Elisabeth’s homemade bacon that I used instead of pancetta. Adding jars of our garden tomato sauce, this soup is a winner. Here is the link to that post. Note: I doubled the recipe as the original one serves 4.

Another blog that sets my mind into dream mode is Cheap Old Houses. Do you follow them on Instagram @cheapoldhouses? Not only do they feature homes for sale (cheap) domestically, but also internationally. I have often fantasized about restoring a villa in Europe! Once you sign on, it’s hard to not go down the rabbit hole and spend hours on this site.

Fun Recipe

Do you recall back in November we made the Alton Brown Aged Eggnog Recipe (see post here)? Well, it aged for approximately 6 weeks and we consumed it on Christmas. It is D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S! I also discovered that my sister, Susie and her family, made a batch last spring and had it aging for months. We will definitely be making more soon. You can find the recipe here if you want to make it now.

Elisabeth’s Birthday

Hard to believe my youngest is now 20 years old. It seems like yesterday that she was dressing up and twirling around the kitchen. Well, she still twirls around the kitchen! And what a fine young woman she has become.

The children always get their choice of homemade birthday cake. Elisabeth decided on a Chocolate Matcha cake from my favorite cake cookbook, Layered by Tessa Huff.

This is a HUGE cake with 4- 8″ cakes~2 chocolate and 2 matcha flavored. The filling is a white chocolate matcha ganache, all covered in Swiss meringue buttercream.

For Christmas, I received a professional revolving cake stand from my son. Being an amateur cake baker, I still need a lot of practice on this new stand, however, it made frosting this cake a bit easier.

Fortunately, half of the cake is now at college with her and not part of my thighs.

Funny Photo of the Week

As you know, our large dog, Cooper, loves sitting on whatever is around.

However, one night he decides to sit on the sofa on top of our cat, Donovan. Poor thing. The cat tried using all its might to push Cooper off. Not sure Cooper felt a thing.

Well, that’s a wrap! Will be spending the weekend taking down the balance of Christmas. Our houseguests (our son and girlfriend) will be leaving on Sunday to head back to D.C. We feel so blessed to have had our son here for a month. Sad to see them go but know they have their own lives too.

Have a beautiful weekend!

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