window shopping

I begin this by saying, I am not a cook. It's not that I don't like to cook or that I don't enjoy trying new recipes. I do. In fact, there was a time in my life when I liked to pretend I was a host on my own cooking show as I prepared food. But now I have three children who seem to be going in three different directions at any given moment. Most of the time I rely on tried and true recipes. Ones that are fairly simple and don't require fancy ingredients one can only find in tiny little markets in the big cities.

But, oh, how I love love love kitchen stuff. I could waste hours in Williams Sonoma or the now defunct Kitchen Etc. I adore all the ingenious little gadgets and adorable little bowls and obscure spices. One of my favorite all time catalogs is the King Arthur Flour catalog. Have you ever seen this one? I literally read the entire catalog from cover to cover. I pore over it. I read and reread the item descriptions so many times I could recite some from memory. And I lust after just about everything. Even though I know I would probably never even take most of it out of the cabinet. I have just finished memorizing...I mean reading...the latest catalog and these are just a few items that I thought should be in my home. Whether it makes sense or not.

Look, cookie scoops. They come in several different sizes and you get perfectly uniform balls of dough. I don't really have a problem making balls of dough of similar size using my tablespoons but I love having a tool that is so task specific. I didn't even realize I needed one of these...but I do.




Oooh! and this!!! I love chocolate but I do not love chocolate cake. I don't really care for brownies all that much either. But this looks like a cross between chocolate cake and fudge. And I really really really need to try it...today if possible.


I LOVE these cupcake liners. They are so fun and pretty! As much as I want them to adorn all the future cupcakes and muffins I will make even I can't justify spending money on something that is ultimately only going to get thrown away. But oh, they are just sooooooo pretty!!!


I have to admit I have never even eaten crystallized ginger or anything with crystallized ginger in it. I have no idea what makes me want to have it in my pantry but I do.


And look at this. Another item I never even knew I had to have. A salt server with an itty bitty oh so adorable spoon. I think that spoon is the real reason I want a salt server. I will probably have to buy some of the salts they sell to put in my fancy salt server. Something called "fluer de sel de guerande" or "red hawaiian sea salt" because Mortons just wouldn't cut it.


I didn't care much for dried fruits of any kind until quite recently. But now I am a convert. I love them all and add them to baked goods, cereals and trail mix. Once again I am sucked in because it looks sooooooo yummy.


I could add my tropical dried fruits to this! Pompanoosuc Porridge! I don't care what the porridge tastes like because it's just so fun to say the name. Poooooooommmmmpaaaaaaaaaanooooooooooooooosuc!

Or, I could add my tropical dried fruits to my own homemade yogurts? I can make individual servings of yogurt right in my own kitchen. Individual serving sizes customized to everyone's specific tastes. I have no idea how to make yogurt but realized while reading the item description that I've always wanted to. Really. I think.



Oooooooooohhhh!!! and this!!! Look it's a bowl for bread dough to rise in and the coiled pattern of the bowl is imprinted on the dough so your bread has a subtle pattern to it after it's baked. Lets just ignore the fact that I have never made homemade bread in my entire life and really don't intend to. Because this bowl...it's just so cool!



Now these little pans, on the other hand I would use. The problem is I can't decide which one to get. Do I get the pan that makes preformed wedge shaped scones for me?




Or do I go with the one that would make the most adorable itty bitty preformed scones?
OR...do I get the stoneware baking dish because you know everything baked in stoneware is infinitely better?


Maybe I'll just get all three.

Did you know you can BUY a kit of "secret ingredients?" You can. Then all your baked goods can officially have that special something and when people ask you what it is that makes it so unique and so damn good, you can smile, wink and say "that's my secret ingredient." I have always wanted to put secret ingredients in when I cook but have no clue what exactly those were. Problem solved...just buy the kit and you're good to go.

This is another stoneware baking piece. And it has little teacups and teapots that will be embossed into your shortbread when you bake it. Seriously? I HAVE to have this. Stoneware, teacups, and shortbread. It's like a dream come true.


This is just a taste (you like that little pun? totally intended) of the must have goodies I lust after every time I receive a catalog from King Arthur Flour. I rarely buy anything but I do so enjoy all the perusing. With three kids, I don't have the time to wander through kitchen ware stores and even if I did have the time, I'm terrified at the thought of all those glasses, stemware and other breakables at the mercy of my children's manhandling. My studying of the King Arthur Flour catalog is a little escape for me. I can indulge my fantasy of being a baker extrodinaire with every necessary tool and ingredient at my fingertips even as I sip my tea (made from a teabag not with a mix of spices and steeped in a tea ball) and nibble my plain non teacup imprinted shortbread.


(all images courtesy of King Arthur Flour)

eight

I've had eight years of her smile. Eight years of those dancing brown eyes. Eight years of her sassy attitude. Eight years of her infectious giggle. Eight years of living with a real live Princess. Eight years of listening to her sing from the minute she wakes to the minute she falls asleep. Eight years of watching her lipsmacking delight with food. Eight years of watching her greet every single morning with a smile. Eight years of dramatics. Eight years of reveling in her zest for life. Eight years of her making me so angry I could spit nails. Eight years of my wanting to pump my fist and say "atta girl!" when she won't back down. Eight years of snuggles. Eight years of her soft milk chocolate hair tickling my chin when she sits in my lap. Eight years of a love so strong it brings tears to my eyes. Eight years and I still look at her with wonder and joy that she's part of my life. Happy Birthday my Teresa. I look forward to the next year...and the next...and the next....and the next....

finished! (well, not quite but the rest is up to me so it'll probably never get done)

Our builder did an amazing job with the addition. He went above and beyond what we expected. Sam is thrilled and wasted no time moving in. There is still some furniture rearranging and buying to do but unlike Tony the builder, I do not do things in a timely manner. Sam will be lucky to get a rug before he leaves for college.

a glimpse of the young lady

Every so often I take a picture of one of the kids and when I look at it I am struck by what I see. It's a look in the eyes or the shape of their face or something, but I can see the young woman or man that they will one day be. This is one of those photos for me. And I don't know whether to cry because "where did my baby go?!" or marvel at how beautiful she is. Thank goodness for the jimmy on the end of her nose, it helps to keep it all in perspective.

Monday morning

Every Monday morning for the last six weeks I have parked my tush in my beach chair on the little beach of the pond where the kids take swim lessons and gazed out at this incredible view. Katie's lesson is so early in the morning there are only a couple of us there. The quiet and serenity settle over me like a favorite blanket. You would think after a couple of weeks I'd get accustomed to the view but nope. Each week I'm hit anew with how beautiful the pond and the woods surrounding it are. The water is so still and even the kids splashing in their lessons can't disturb it for long. Sitting there, taking in the commonplace, but still awe-inspiring, beauty around me, I find myself absorbing some of that stillness, that peacefulness. What a wonderful way to start my week. Beauty really is all around us. The problem is we're often so busy, we don't get a chance to sit down week after week to appreciate it. I hope I can remember to and take the time to do so once the beach chair has been packed away for the winter.

Maybe the dogs are smarter in Rhode Island

This sign is a source of great amusement to my children. It resides in the yard of a house we pass by on one of our many walks when at my parent's beach house. In fact, my kids will often insist we make sure to go by it. About three houses down from it, they start giggling and the giggles can sillier the closer we get.

What made me laugh even harder than they though, was Teresa's comment one time we walked by. She asked me why someone would want that in their yard...was it a decoration? I told her it was there because they didn't want dogs to poop in their yard. She gave a snort of disbelief and said "don't they know dogs can't read?!"

little treasures from the sea

I cannot go to the beach without scouring the shore for heart shaped rocks. I started collecting them many years ago when my two year old niece handed me one and said "I'm giving you my little heart." I melted into a little puddle at that bit of adorableness (word?) and started looking for little hearts myself. An obsession was born. That little two year old is heading off to college come fall. I've amassed quite a collection over the years. I don't consider it a perfect vacation unless I find at least one heart shaped rock.

The beach we go to every summer doesn't have much in the way of beachcombing. The surf is so strong that most shells are smashed into little pieces. But the flip side of this is that the strength of the pounding waves also polishes those little bits of shells and small rocks. They are so smooth and soft. Teresa once rubbed one of the shells over her chubby two year old cheek and told me "Mumma, my shell feels like lotion." We walk on the beach every morning and choose just a few to add to our bowl at home. Sometimes all it takes to send me back to the beach is to dip my hand in the bowl and rub a few between my fingers.