La Tea Da

Fancy sweet shop? Tea shop in Tillamook? A pastry class? Nope. But are you drooling?

Well, so were we! Anne's invitation to her Big-Girls Tea Party was received with glee and much anticipation - we know how she loves to go all out on a fun food project! And Matt having just had a pro pastry class session, there were definately goodies on the menu.

The only stipulation: a HAT! My friend Trish had a great topper, with peacock feathers, black net and a large crystal star - went perfectly with black top and turquoise jacket - borrowed from mom. So with all my borrowed finery, I was all set for a tasty, gabby evening of fun.

We were greeted by sooooo cute place names - thanks, Meg and Anne, you know what bird brains we all are!

Finishing touches on lemon cupcakes, with blackberry frosting!

Gorgeous presentation...

and incredibly DELICIOUS!!!!

Every item other than the Powdered Lemon Balls from Costco, were totally made from scratch. Even the Blackberry and Peach jellies (the squares). Matt even picked fresh berries for garnish on his way home from work.

The display included: Turkey Cream Cheese stuffed pastry, various savory crackers for the Goat Cheese and Carmelized Onion Cheddar, tiny rolled Turkey Cucumber sandwiches, Scones with homemade Lemon Curd and three kinds of homemade jams, Blueberry Goat cheese tarts, Coconut Meringue, Lemon Blackberry Tarts, the previously mentioned Lemon Cakes, and my personal favorite - Goat cheese stuffed dates wrapped in prosciutto and delicately warmed. Whoa nelly. One could founder on those little treats!

The three days of cooking, baking, decorating and detailing were so totally worth the 1 1/2 hour drive to Beaverton for a Tea Party par excellance! HUGE thanks and hugs to Anne and Matt for a delightful treat!

It's so fun to have adventurous youngin's in the family - especially when they LOVE to make outrageous food - yummmmmm!

And MORE "sweetpeas"!

These two little "sweetpeas" aren't so little anymore! My first grandpunk, almost-18-year-old Stephen, is 'pert near 6'1". Little sister Elyse, 14 in December, isn't going to hit that mark, but she's almost as tall as her gramma and looks like she's right even with GG (greatgramma)!

The kids rode the Amtrak from Olympia to Portland, where I met them at the train station last week. We have had a glorious week with them! Perfect weather, easy-going kids, just kicked back and enjoyed them every minute.

We tried out a new beach for them this time, driving 30 minutes to Manzanita. It was worth it! Windsurfers, sailboarders, bikes, kites, horses, wide sand, warm water in shallow pools, families with kids and dogs galore, enjoying the best of Oregon summertime. Ahhhh!

Friend Winnie invited us to come play in her pottery studio. Elyse turned out two really nice bowls on her first experience. Since we didn't get this arranged until the day before she had to leave, I'll have to finish with glaze and firing then carefully pack and ship them to her.

We so enjoy the grandpunks! And I think they have a pretty good time, too :)

More Sweet Peas

We do love our peas! Sweet green garden peas are the highlight of the garden - our favorite raw snack as we work in the garden, or stroll through the lush green rows showing off the crops to visitors. Sharing a couple of fat crispy pods of peas with gardening novices is always fun! Those fresh-off-the-vine peas have converted more folks to growing a bit of garden than all the books in the library, I'm sure!

Every garden season, our main focus always seems to be the PEAS. When to get them in the ground, is it too wet, too cold still, will they sprout, how are they growing, is it time to tie them up, are the pods filled out enough to pick, will the blight ruin the crop, are they tasty, and on and on, until the last pea is in the freezer for the year!

Shelling peas is such a family tradition, I can't even remember ever NOT doing it!! The back yard saw a lot of pea shelling and string bean snapping while we were growing up.
We used to have a dog that would lay unseen under one of our chairs as we gathered in a circle around a washtub of peapods, shelling the peas into pots at our feet. Buttons would quietly inch forward until she could gobble a mouthful of peas before we noticed her! We always scolded her, not for eating the peas, but for not doing her OWN shelling!

Mom has grown Little Marvel peas for a coon's age. Mom and Dad grew the Tall Telephone variety for many years when we were young. While super productive, they are very labor intensive, requiring extensive trellising - as their name suggests. The Little Marvels are only 36-40" high on an average year, although they have been known to ambitiously reach for the 5' mark. They usually have 7 fat little sweetly tasty peas to a pod.

This year I did plant a short experimental row of Early Frosty peas, and we were pleased with their growth, yield, and flavor. We may go for a longer row of them next spring

Mom's favorite part - they are in the bag, ready to freeze!

After all the work (which was a labor of love), we ended up with several dozen 1-cup baggies of peas to enjoy through those garden-less winter months.

Whether gently heated with a knob of butter and dash of nutmeg, or simply thawed and tossed into a crispy green salad, or included as a must-have in our favorite Tuna Casserole, the tender green peas are our bit of garden sunshine - worth all the fussing and bother, for sure!

Sweetpeas

There has been a dearth of Sweetpeas in my life - like about 10 years. This spring I was determined to break the famine. It was so satisfying to poke those round black seeds into little pots, put them in a mini-green house on a shelf near an east window, and wait patiently for the first green shoots to emerge. Happy day!

The back fence line, already secure with chicken wire, was a perfect place for the new babies. They have responded with zest!

One night, a week ago, I awoke to a gentle breeze drifting through my always-open window. The homespun scent of honeysuckle, growing 20 feet up a nearby alder tree, mingled with the ambrosia of sweetpeas, blossoming just a few feet away from the window. Pure Heaven. I lay awake for quite a bit, breathing in the comforting scents spun with so many memories.

I keep a bouquet of sweetpeas on the stand at the end of my bed, treasuring every opportunity to enjoy these perfumed jewel-like flowers.

I keep the flowers picked, to encourage more blossoms. It's so fun to share generous bouquets with friends and family - everyone loves the nostalgia of sweetpeas!

Oops - a little out of focus - but so endearing.

Sweet dainty butterflies of scented memories. Summer's kisses.

Green Cleaning - with a hint of Yellow

"Green" is all the rage now. Building green, driving green, etc.

I like to EAT green! I use a lot of fresh lemon juice, so there are those nice yellow rinds left over. One can eat only so much grated lemon zest.

Here's the perfect "GREEN" solution: clean the garbage disposal using the lemon rinds!
I cut up the rinds into 1-2" pieces, keep them in a little bowl on the sink. A couple times a day, several go down "George the Gobbler" to keep his gullet clean and smelling like - well, lemons!

Cleaning Green was never so easy. Or so Yellow.