Wednesday ~ beauty, hope and busyness

Today was good.

Full. I rested some...

I am enjoying having fast-free week,

lots of tea with milk and small treats...

Laundry, a walk, a pumpernickel bagel from our local coffee shop, 

paperwork errands, an 

email box that is over 110 again, dishes, 

and a myriad of things...

Tomorrow DV a friend is coming for lunch and

possible another stopping by briefly, later.

I hope to keep up the walks, and tomorrow morning I hope to start writing.

I've been listening to a classical FM station and loving hearing

songs, many old favourites from various times in my life,

and that's been a blessing.

I hope you are all doing well

and that God is merciful to all of us!

Tuesday ~ A dusting of snow, a friend's visit and NYC

Light snow this morning! 

This week feels long though it's only Tuesday night!

So today a friend came over for lunch and tea 

then we went off to Purl Soho in NYC.

It was really nice spending time with her!

I did not get anything as I have enough of everything

at present for many projects.

I am obsessing about pens though, I admitted to my 

Husband at dinner. 

So had dinner with my beloved Husband and then

read more of this book and then prayers and then 

more of this book, which I finished all in one day 

and WOW.  A good read. Intense. Lots of thoughts 

whirling around from it. 

Well, tomorrow is a fast-free Wednesday and I 

am looking forward to it!

I get to stay home DV and that will be good,

as I feel like I have been running here and there 

and need some quiet again. 

God bless you all, save and protect!

Monday, blessing and light + new Turkey Cream Pasta

OK!

A good day today!

Lit a candle early for a dear friend whose kids are sick + 

all Moms with sick kiddos; it was a big blessed candle

and clearly can be for specific and general prayers :) 

***

I finally made the Turkey cream Pasta from the One Pot Pasta. 

So I doubled everything but the peas.

I was worried about the liquid part of this meal, as the instructions said

only 3/4 cm left at end before it sets for 5 minutes.

It took a good while to boil, which I don't know if it was supposed to boil or not,

I had it at a higher temperature than medium as I was short on time and 

had doubled the recipe.

In the end, I cooked it longer on stove than 15 minutes.  More like closer to 25-30 minutes 

I am guessing.  I could of stopped earlier.

The cream was all lapped up by the pasta that continued to cook.

Next time less time!  

It needs salt and less cooking time as the peas got quick cooked.

For sure I can add more scallion/green onions - a whole bunch would have been fine,

I had used about 4 stalks, which was double the amount called for..

For reheating it, I baked it at 425F in toaster oven,

with more scallions and some grated gouda on top.

I think having a Parmesan cheese may be a really good addition here,

perhaps halve the more creamy cheese. 

I think for reheating by baking, adding french fried onions on top

would not be a bad edition.

I was really glad to try this and I think would do some variations,

like adding Parmesan cheese, and perhaps towards the end of the 

cooking instead of all together.

Perhaps the scallions towards the end as well.

But it was super cool to see that you can have the pasta cook

in the same pot at the same time.

This cookbook calls for layering the food in a certain order.  I am not sure why,

as the food all gets mixed in once the liquid (I can see that for 

sure needing to be *last*) is added and heat turned on,

they all is stirred up!

I am pleased with this recipe and look forward to trying more

and changing things up as I understand this way of cooking more!

By doubling it, I made a very large amount

and I think it would freeze OK.

This is fast-free week though so no freezing necessary! 

***

I made this in the morning.

I had an errand to run and then went to the mall,

where I got 2 simple long-sleeved crew neck tops.

***

A friend is hoping to come over tomorrow,

if possible.

I am grateful for this day.

And the unbloggable prayer request that I had in mind

yesterday is A-OK too! :)

God bless and help us all! 

Quickly reporting on the good

Will try to write more later.

A great day and beautiful house blessing. 

The Chocolate Torte (with no flour) was a success!

Made whipped cream with the Chambord Liqueur to go with! 

(The liqueur was also in the torte itself!)

***

I have an unbloggable prayer request for tomorrow,

can you say a prayer?

***

God bless you all!

and onwards

Today ended up being a bit of a scramble.

Late night/poor sleep.

Torte baking that, if I do this again, will be easier

by only using the food processor for grinding up the chocolate

with sugar and a pinch of salt

and then moving it all to a mixer to be finished.

My food processor bowl was too small to fit it all...

I had to laugh at lunch (bacon, rice and salad)

the diner came through for dinner

and we were able to go to Confession and Vespers tonight.

Tomorrow is our house blessing.

I am trying not to stress about every detail of it

and be a bit more inwardly peaceful;

I got a bit overwhelmed this afternoon but am doing better

with it now. 

A quiet Friday with beauty and books

I managed to clean up our home, 

but not make the chocolate torte, yet.

a little more cleaning yet to do. 

I began the book on Buechner by Dale Brown and am enjoying it. 

It has already given me a new reason, however, for the book

and series of essays that I hope to write.

I am also reading the newest Ann Lamott book.

I hope to write on this later.

I appreciate it but am also aware of areas that I find it lacking.

I have finally began taking notes in earnest for essays again.

I hope next week to start working on this.

We shall see...

I hope you all had a good day today! 

A little bit of NYC and after

Really quick as it is late

(I had 101 emails again! Some were reminders only

so those and others were all taken care of; back to 83 backlog...)

I had a great day with my friend from my far-away church!

We had breakfast and talked and talked...

then we went to get tickets for the Downton Abby Exhibition. 

I admit to only watching a bit of the very first episode,

however I knew I would enjoy seeing the dresses and the dining room (Swoon!!)...

so we then ended up going to the Russian Tea Room, an old iconic NYC institution.

It was fancy and over-the-top in terms of decorations.... 

we were not planning on going, but then it was 2018 Restaurant Week 

and a lot more affordable than otherwise for lunch

and so we went... then went and saw the Downton Abby exhibition. 

Then I went off to a bakery and found the jam that I loved in Holland

(I had loved that jam so much that I emailed the company who makes it

to see if I could get it Stateside.  I got an email back saying that while they don't 

have it available Stateside, they did make jam for a bakery that was in NYC

(and other places) and today was the day that I got that jam!

I hope it is as good.... 

Then I went to Trader Joes and stocked up on somethings...

and then back home 

(it got too late for me to stay for dinner as I had hoped to

but that was fine)... I talked to my Mom while I put things away...

and we were surprised with a gift of chocolate from Mr Husband's parents!

Very generous of them!

So I have lots more pictures from today, but that will have to wait for another day,

God willing!  

I am happy to say that my foot only twinged a few times and that 

today was a really nice day with my friend and then in 

Trader Joes :) 

Thanks everyone for your comments on yesterday's post;

that was a really special quiet day! 

Tomorrow is clean up the house and make the chocolate torte day!

House Blessing this Sunday night, God willing!