DRAWERS

Our new console table has 6 small drawers. We have 6 grandchildren. We've decided that each child will have a drawer where we gather treats and treasures between visits. Each child will know their own drawer--from left to right, in birth order. Liliana, Jonah, Kristina, Lucy, Noel, Levi. There are already surprises in each drawer. RvH wants her own drawer at our house...

VALENTINE'S GIFTS FROM RVH

My dear friend is a relentless gift giver and a wonderful gift wrapper. Between traveling, bad weather, illness, etc. we've not been together for almost a month. We met today for a late lunch at Bone Fish Grill. A very yummy meal and great ambiance for lingering through a Sunday lunch. I enjoyed the special Huge Wild Shrimp Pad Thai (substituting grilled chicken), and RvH loved her grilled fish (Tilapia) burger.  And, may I say my Bloody Mary was spectacular! We plan to meet there again soon.

The lovely gifts included a pink and black journal to remind me of Paris, and a very thoughtful gift of The Pioneer Woman Cooks.

Thank you RvH!

And, since RvH is cleaning out her storage room, I got a stack of books, a bunch of current magazines, and these treasures--a lovely Haviland Limoges cream pitcher and precious painted glass plate.

Such a friend!!

WHEN I'M 62

This is what I want for my birthday this year! Do I dare? Stay tuned...

ORDINARY DAYS

I love an ordinary day! We didn't have to set an alarm, but still we're up fairly early. CA goes to exercise and I just putter, take and return some phone calls, and while away the morning and early afternoon.

LA and I have a few conversations about a crib skirt she needs for the new baby's new crib--he's coming June 10, or before.

MORE FAVORITES

My favorite pastry scraper is from Target--$2.99. It's a great straight edge for cutting bars and batter breads. Target's version has a 6" rule along the bottom edge and is perfect for cutting equal portions.

OLD-NEW FAVORITE KITCHEN TOOL

http://www.applesource.com/pearcorer.html

I've owned mine for 15 years or so. It's made to core pears. You drag the small loop down the center of a halved pear to remove the stringy part, and also the stem if desired. Then, scoop out the seeds with the round end.

JILL STONE'S WILD RIDE...

This is not the original facade, but I love it.

Remember Disney World's Mr. Toad's Wild Ride? They shut it down a few years back, but I love to refer to my days spent with my friend as Jill Stone's Wild Ride. Jill likes to get together and do projects--usually baking, but they vary. For a couple of weeks she has been talking about making marmalade together at her house. For whatever reason we always end up in my kitchen.

We start this ride out by planning to get together at her house because she also wanted to discuss paint options for a guest room re-do and the finishing touches on another guest room. I had to cancel last Thursday as I extended my time in Michigan. So, today Jill comes to my house between a hair appointment and meeting with her mother's doctors. That's the thing with Jill--you always see her between other appointments and events as she double books and is most energized when she has 3 or 4 things to do each day.

Interestingly, Jill found her inspiration for the orange marmalade on the sale table at Williams Sonoma--a can of Seville orange marmalade base (for want of a better descriptive word) that originally retailed for over $12, but was on sale for just over $3.00. She comes in laughing as the recipe calls for 4 pounds of sugar and she is baffled about how to measure that amount. I pull at my handy-dandy culinary scale and we quickly dispatch the 4 lbs.

The instructions say to measure 3/4 pint of water and dump that and the canned orange mixture into an 8 quart sauce pan, add the sugar, and stir over a medium high heat until it boils. You continue to boil for 15 minutes, and then there is a set-up test where you put a teaspoon of marmalade onto a cool plate, refrigerate it for 2 minutes, and drag your finger across the jam. If it wrinkles, then the marmalade is ready. We get ours right the first time and it is time to decant.

Jill has gathered an assortment of baby food jars from her one-year old (yesterday) grandson, which I clean and warm while she is stirring. She begins dispensing into the jars, and I prepare some additional jam jars that CA has kindly picked up for us at Ace Hardware a few minutes prior. During the stirring I also shop in my basement and bring upstairs these adorable jam lids that I purchased many years ago and some personaliz-able labels cut in an oval shape just made to fit into the flat oval on each jam jar. We end up with 7 baby food jars, 5 1/2 pint jam jars, and a bit of overage in a French jelly jar glass for immediate consumption.

Jill has visions of decorating the lids of her baby food jars in some creative way and has brought along some baby grape hyacinth and violets, along with some elongated baby pine cones, and some decorative papers. I head downstairs again to get the assortment of papers and scrapbooking materials that RvH bequeathed to me a couple years ago after she completed a birthday project for another friend.

Jill has the best time sorting through and finds some bright pink (her favorite color) and red stripes and prints and dots that I measure and cut into large circles. I fit the circles over the top of a baby food jar and use a second jar lid to help pleat and form the decorative doily. Then, Jill glues a button on one, a silk rose on one, some pine shoots and a tiny pine cone on another. She goes a bit crazy with the adhesive paper ribbons, and we work together to tie organdy ribbons around the paper doilies to secure them.

I opt for two of the jam jars topped with the blue and yellow plaid, very French-look Ball jar lids and rings on mine. Jill goes for some grapes and one plaid lid for her three 1/2 pint jars. This recipe makes a bunch of marmalade!

In the midst of finishing up the marmalade and decorating the jars, Jill is determined to make a batch of shortbread for her meeting with her mom's doctors. Mind you, it is after 2:15 when the cookies go into the oven and the appointment is at 3:00pm. Like I said--Jill loves the frenetic energy of double booking. We quickly load up her jams and the still hot pans of shortbread into a carrying box. I include a spatula to cut the shortbread and two floral plates to serve the cookies on when she gets to her meeting.

FYI--I have a batch of Monster cookies in tins in my kitchen that were created for the re-shoot of my business card photo and offer them to Jill, but she is set on making the shortbread...

At 3:00pm I finish cleaning up the kitchen and fall into my cushy, leather recliner with a good book (still sTori Telling) and my favorite fleece blanket. And, here I sit, wallow, and sleep until after 4:30pm.

CA has a couple of soccer games tonight, so I treat myself to a grilled Bari Italian beef and Havarti sandwich grilled on Brownberry Oatnut bread (my fav) in front of junk t.v. I'm watching a combination of HGTV, Bravo Real Housewives of NY, and FoodTV. My tummy is full and I am beginning to regroup. Didn't make it out of the house again today--will have to get to Kohl's soon to finish the Europe shopping.

KILLING A DAY

Once upon a time, a dashing young British Army officer and a lovely student nurse fell deeply, magically in love. Then he was shipped off to Korea and they never heard from one another. Forty years later, fate brings them together again... with hilarious results. From the first moment Jean and Lionel meet again to the wedding of Alistair and Judith, all the classic moments are here for fans to enjoy.

I seem to have acquired the knack of killing a day... With no particular accomplishments unless you count reading recipes online, playing solitaire, checking out kids' gifts on eBay and Amazon, reading my blog roll, writing emails, and manipulating my online photo albums. It is 5:00pm and that is the sum total of my day's activities, unless you count the one load of laundry?

Had a brainstorm earlier today for the perfect birthday gift for my hard-to-shop-for friend who is celebrating 66 on April 1st. I ordered the complete set of the Judith Dench and Geoffrey Palmer BBC series As Time Goes By. Yep! 9 seasons; 1920 minutes; 32 hours; 64 episodes of slow moving, nothing much happens, British humor involving very middle-aged lead characters. She will love it because she loves London and everything English. And, she officially retires the day before her birthday, so she should have plenty of time to enjoy her gift. I consider this brilliant. [I bow.] Thank you!

Now I believe that I shall shower and stage my kitchen for a blog-worthy photo-shoot.

CREATING THE PERFECT COOKIE GIFT

Here is the finished product--monster cookies for my agencies. A true forget-me-not and thank you. I want to make sure they remember me and call with all the best jobs.

Martha (and Alexis) Stewart would be proud!