Enjoying Life's Detours

Dear Mom,
We left for our scheduled haircut appointments on Saturday morning, thinking we might stop for lunch on the way home.  A rare day with Nothing else planned. We had an entire sun shining Saturday before us. Before we knew it the shadows were getting long and it was time to be home, tucked in for the evening. The hours had flown by.
We discovered a new (to us) tea room and had a delicious lunch in a charming atmosphere,

surrounded by tea pots and anglophile delights.

Our Derbyshire chicken salad sandwiches were perfect with our pot of Prince of Wales tea

 and we strategically ordered two desserts to share: an orange scone (with clotted cream and lemon curd) and an almond-y tart that I can't remember the name of…. a Bakewell Tart maybe?… so we could taste both. I purchased the owner's Scone Recipe Book and baked blueberry scones on Saturday night. This afternoon I baked cranberry scones. The recipes in this book are easy to follow, with simple basic ingredients, and the recipes yield about 1/2 dozen scones- which is a nice amount to bake and enjoy. I managed to get 8 scones out of today's batch.

After lunch we strolled a couple of blocks to a favorite antique mall and browsed the afternoon away, hunting and finding treasures. I brought home some editions of Tom Swift for My Hero's collection, a set of six coaster-sized, crocheted doilies and two things I'd been keeping a look out for.
The first is a lowly old potato masher. I had My Hero hang it on the side of the cabinet next to the sink. It now functions as a very capable dish towel hanger.

And the second "treasure" is a very old, somewhat beat up but still in working order, scale. For a long while now I've thought a scale would be an interesting "something" on my kitchen island. This one had a handsome face and was the right price. I laid a crocheted doily on it, a domed plate on top of that and my scones have a keeping place.

I think a small flower pot with ivy or herbs would look nice balanced on the scale, too. The little checked tin next to the scale was a previous antiquing find. It is an old lunch box with a previous owner's name scratched into the lid. We use it to hold Olive's dog biscuits.

 “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” 

― William Morris

Our Saturday together and lunch last Thursday in the warm home of a new friend/kindred spirit have gone a long way to re-awaken, affirm, and invigorate my love of home and home-making, the importance of hospitality and the joy in life's simple pleasures.

“The true secret of happiness lies in the taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life.” 
― William Morris

 “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” 

― Maya Angelou

Love, 

Kim

Pasta!

Dear Mom,
Several hours on Friday were spent getting a lesson in pasta making from Brother. I also asked him to teach me how to make Alfredo sauce,because Fettuccine Alfredo is one of My Hero's favorites. So off we went, just before noon, to purchase the ingredients and look at pasta machines. Our plan was to use Brother's pasta machine, but I wanted his expert advice when I purchased my own. I went ahead and bought one, knowing that I could return it (unused, of course) if I found the process too difficult.
We did not linger over ingredients or other kitchen gadgets. Being his father's son, we had a mission to accomplish and we were sticking to it! NO DETOURS.

We returned to my kitchen, found the least girlie apron that would fit him, and set about making pasta.

"This is STUPID EASY", he tells me.

He was right.

How can it be that egg and flour can be manipulated and formed into noodles? And why don't they boil into one messy blob in the pot? A kitchen mystery, and frankly, one that I had to see to believe.

Easy, but a little messy.

I am thinking that once I am a more efficient pasta maker, I won't have quite so much mess to clean up. Plus there were two cooks.

We made fettuccine noodles, then we proceeded to make Alfredo sauce. Again, Stupid Easy. But time consuming. I am not a fan of standing over a sauce pan and stirring. But I did it, and I'll do it again.

After Brother left, I went solo and made some ravioli. (Fettuccine Alfredo is not one of my faves. I much prefer ravioli, so while I was at it, I decided to make both.) I stuffed the ravioli with spinach, ricotta and feta cheese. Next time I will add some garlic, because my combo was a bit bland. I also tried a new tomato sauce recipe. It was good, but it didn't have the zing I wanted.

After literally spending the entire afternoon cooking and anticipating the meal, I was so anxious to taste everything that I forgot to take any pictures of the end results.

We all sat down and gobbled it up. My Hero said that it may be the best Fettuccine Alfredo he has ever eaten.......
What really happened is this:
I said, " Is it the BEST Fettuccine Alfredo you've ever had in your WHOLE LIFE?" and he said, " May be."
I think it was.

And I am keeping my pasta machine.

Love,
Kim