Simply....a picture.

One of my Someday chairs, in the yard of weeds. Out back I look a little more deeply, a little more narrow, to find the beauty.

 

Outdoor Wednesday ~

Today, I have had thoughts of last summer, our lake days.  For years I've been too frugal to purchase a pop-up canopy, seeing sales all year and still letting them passing me by.  Last summer I was happy to use bamboo and cotton fabric to make a cover for us.  Rinky-dink....or romantic?  I found it had a touch or romance in it.

I'm looking forward to soft quiet lakes days this summer.  Mmmmmmmm ~

Basa, baby!!

Glancing at the time stamp from my last post.  (oy)  Moving on......

Oh, hello.

I miss having seafood, darned expensive stuff on a budget minded life-style.  So much imported seafood from sources I have not researched and wonder (question, really) about.  I have been craving fish lately and gave into it yesterday...ignoring the lack of knowledge regarding sources while still keeping in mind the frugality of protein costs that runs through me.  I adjust my mind to the compartmentalize setting....which carries a degree of aware ignorance - I made that up mahveryownself...I'm sure that's obvious.  :)  I call this place my Lala-Land....it runs on senses first and chooses to ignore practicalities.  


Basa in Lala-Land, baby!!!  *happy-happy* clapping with child-like glee.  


Lord, this was good.  I've not had Basa - a fish renamed to appease American catfish farmers, to detract consumers and...oops...I'm slipping out of Lala-Land.  Basa is a white fish.  Mild.  No distinct fishy flavor, a neutral protein that will take on what flavors it is given.   It was cheap, on sale for $3.99/lb.  In went two fillets in my Lala-cart.

We had this last night, a Monday.  It coincides nicely with Meatless Monday. 

Poor lighting, poor camera skills, I know.  Good recipe.



This is a rough recipe - salt as you go along, as you add new ingredients.


A pound of fish fillets
A couple shallots, sliced thin
2-4 garlic cloves, minced
Butter
Thai spice blend
Tomato, seeds removed and chopped
1/4 c. coconut milk
Cilantro, chopped
Kosher salt

• Salt the fish, sprinkle with as much Thai blend as you like.  Taste the dry spice to get a gauge on how spicy you like it.   Set aside. 
• Heat saute pan to med-high.  Add 2 T. butter, then shallots and garlic and a sprinkle of kosher salt.  Let brown.   
• Add fillets, let one side cook to half way done.
• Turn fillets.  Add coconut milk, chopped tomatoes, and cilantro.  A sprinkle of salt if you desire.
• Cover pan with a lid for remaining cook time, which is only 3-5 minutes.  This will add moisture and loosen the coconut milk.
• Check the middle of a fillet to see if it's cooked all the way through.  
• Serve it up and enjoy.

My children loved this!  My children ~ they love many kinds of seafood.  I think that counts me as lucky, as it makes cooking that much more of a joy when I don't have to restrain desires in the kitchen.


Signing out of Lala-Land ~


Toodles ~
xoxo

Truffle cake ~

Truffles.  Soft....melting....rich.  So many subtle variations, so little time.  This is an easy peasy recipe - as are most truffles.  Get out your favorite dark chocolate...find some yummy heavy whipping cream.  Got some favorite libation you feel like dripping in the mix?  Good for you!  Go!

This is a very soft truffle ~

10.5 oz. chopped chocolate
1 c. heavy whipping cream
2 T. liqueur of your choice

• Place chocolate into a glass bowl.  
• Heat cream to almost a boil.
• Pour over chocolate, cover with a plate.
• Wait five minutes.
• Stir chocolate and cream until combined.  Add liqueur.
• Place in fridge for at least three hours, or up to over night.
• Use a little scoop or spoon, place on parchment.   
• Put back into the fridge for an hour. 
• Dredge in dutch-processed cocoa.

For the cake, I dipped the truffles in chocolate, letting them harden.  Then coated them with gorgeous cocoa.  What a lovely shade, a dreamy-dusty scent that lingered in my Eskimo nose.   


Truffles ~ a nice little decoration, don't you think?  :)

Toodles!
xoxo

Ladybug cake ~ for the sugar and spice crowd

I initiated it, I did.  "Come on, sit here.  Let's look at pictures of ladybug cakes together."  Oy.  Not a can of worms, but page after page after page...after *page* of ladybug cakes thanks to Google Image and a six year old that thinks a long period of looking is fun.  It was.  It didn't end with one session.  There were many requests for looking at cakes.  We saw pink ladybugs, flat ladybug cakes, a green ladybug cake, orange ones, even a large white wedding cake with dozens of itty bitty sugar ladybugs cascading down one side.  In the end, she picked the one she wanted, not the one I wanted.  Have you ever seen a 46 year old pout?  

 I used this cake opportunity to try out a new recipe from a new cookbook I received for Christmas.  If you collect baking books, this is a good one.  I varied the yellow cake recipe just slightly and lemon'd it up.  Sofia's request ~ lemon with cream cheese frosting.  

Later, after the party, as the night was winding down, she asked, "May I please eat an eyeball?"  Then it became a cake mutilation by two girls.  Is this the new Sugar & Spice and everything nice? 

She was absolutely tickled...with the cake, with her party...with her turning seven years old.  There is nothing like having children to know that the saying - How time flies - is so true.  Love of children is absorbed instantly, given quickly...lasting forever.   I love my babies like nothing else I've known ~ being their Mother makes me glow inside ~ as I know other mothers feel about their own...and can understand how vast the love.

How time flies.

xoxo

Do you know what love is? ~

 

~ I believe it takes many forms ~

 

Valentine Day afterthought ~

 

I hope your day was full of love ~ 

Toodles! 

xoxo