Yes, I CAN Cook!

I may have said this before, but I'm pretty sure my kids grew up thinking I didn't know how to cook. The truth is, I love to cook and baking is a passion. But I can rarely get into the kitchen because my dh loves to cook and he took over the cooking when we got married. He wanted me to concentrate on my studies, on my career path and then our family. Even when he went back to University, he would be home early in the afternoon, and dinner was his commitment. Truly I didn't fight it, as I would rather cut the grass or play with the kids. So it was a great arrangement. Now that I have a very small contract after retiring from palliative care, I've been figuring out ways to get back into the kitchen. I collect recipes ~ grand dinners I want to create, baking to fine tune and scrumptious dishes to explore.

The photos above show my latest attempt to feed my family and have them love my dish, knowing the daddy guy had no hand in it! It's a Garlic Parmesan Cheese Tortellini Chicken and Broccoli. And I can happily report it went over very, very well. Easy to make, so tasty and everyone had more than one helping! I had one tiny helping that was leftover today for lunch. Next time, I'll make a double batch so we can have more the next day.  A great success!!

I'm off to gather more recipes ....

💗 Chy 💗

Eastern Sun.

I'm so thankful we faced the back of our little cottage to the east. We get this wonderful sun that streams in early and sticks around for a good part of the morning, until lunchtime, when it starts to move towards the south end of our abode. It was a messy sink pic this morning but frankly, with temperatures still stuck in the deep freeze, and a cottage that is all neat and tidy, one spot can be messy! We baked cookies on the weekend and will now have to do more time on the treadmill! But oh, they were so yummy and we still have enough left over for the week, while we wait for the warmth to return. Someone today said that the predicated temperature on Saturday will be +3 C. Wow! To go from - 50 C one weekend, to + 3 C the following weekend is crazy. We'll take it though. Grateful for all we have but wish the weather could be more stable here. So tiring.

I find it hard to deal with bad weather. It could be massive thunderstorms, that increase my stress with thoughts of lightening strikes or possible tornadoes. Too much heat translates to forest fires. Last Summer was the first time since we moved to the country that we were on high alert due to a fire just down the road from us. We are so fortunate to have the best firefighters and they did a brilliant job of putting out a very large fire, without a single home lost. When it snows, it's so pretty and mkaes me feel so cozy, especially when I'm home. But when we have a blizzard with icy roads and very low temperatures. I love our 4 seasons but truly wish we could have warm Winters, with some snow but no blizzards, beautiful Springs but no flooding, warm Summers but no scary storms, and long Falls without threats of early snow storms. My ideal!

Not sure I could live somewhere where there is literally one season. I need the change every quarter, with a break from the hot, or the cold, the wind or the rain. It's fun to to decorate and prepare for each time. Having different sets of clothes and footwear is a pain. But doable. One of my favorite author, L. M. Montegomery, wrote in Anne of Green Gables ~ "I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers."  The cool crisp air, the crunching falling leaves, and the homeyness of life around us makes Fall my favorite! Ah, Fall! Makes it worth the seasons to get thru the crappy days to get to the good days. Seasons mirroring life!

Do you have 4 different seasons in your area?

~ Chy

AGA Decorating.

Every year, we love to put a bit of Christmas in the

kitchen. This is how we decorate our AGA ~ with

our own version of "Elf on the Shelf" ~ all in green.

And a pretty wreath and vintage wine bottle. In the

corner on the counter is a print of a Christmas scene

and I'll add in a tiny wreath on my canisters. Cheery!

Do you decorate your kitchen for the holidays?

~ Chy

One Task at a Time.

I'm working on a Fall clean now that

the weather is starting to cool. And

my process is "one task at a time."

This week: cleaning out each kitchen

drawer and next week will be each

kitchen cupboard. A great system!

~ Chy

More Green Kitchens!

I love when we come across photos of green kitchens. In 2014, when we designed our little cottage, this was our dream. But it was a bit of a concern for our Builder and his wife, who is an Interior Designer. The concern was resale value. But our thought is that we will be here for awhile, so why do a house for someone else's tastes OR what is on trend? No regrets at all and now we love to see so many green kitchens now in 2023. I feel like we started a trend, though of course our little kitchen, in our little cottage in the big woods was not visible to most people. So highly unlikely we were the catalyst for this change. But one can wonder!

                       What color is your kitchen?

                     Is it your dream or for trends?

                                     ~ Chy 

Corner Candles.

Candles in the corner. I used to love

this little corner in the kitchen. But

when we bought our SMEG kettle,

my sweet candles got moved so dh

could have the kettle out all the time

in the Winter. One day I'll have them!

~ Chy

Yellow Kitchen.

I love our sage cabinets but this yellow

kitchen is quite cute too. I can see it in

a very vintage styled farmhouse or a

Victorian home in the country. Pretty!

~ Chy

Finally Home.

The sun shining thru the window late

that is in the nook. These visual shots

truly make me feel like we're finally

home in our tiny cottage. Life is here!

~ Chy

Vintage Shelf.

My other favorite corner in our kitchen.

A sweet place to fill with items that make

me smile. And new plants that get just the

right amount of light. Perfect vintage shelf.

~ Chy

Blogtober: Day 19.

The view from the laundry room of our
kitchen. I love the homey feeling. It does

remind me of my gramma's tiny kitchen,

in her very tiny period styled home. The

aprons hanging on the wall, the colored

cabinets, the wood floors, the recipe book

on the counter. And the bleak end of day

site through the dining room window on

the other side of the butler's pantry. Our

cabinets look quite lime green but they

are actually a light sage. I love how the

lighting at any time through the day can

change the shade and tone of the cabinets.

My favorite room in our family home ....

~ Chy

Vintage Look.

My all time favorite view in our kitchen.

I love the vintage look of our AGA and

the colors we chose to make this space

eclectic and unique. I think we hit it!

Enjoy your amazing Friday.

~ Chy

Foody Books.

Yesterday was a crazy, busy work day. And today is the same. I don't think I have a quiet day this week until Thursday when it's a bit calmer. New programs this week starting up, new referrals for counselling, deadlines, etc. I'm starting to get super tired but working out each morning and the weather is helping. Pushing through and getting it all done. Feels good once I get to the other side and the to do list is smaller. The rest of Spring should be a slower pace for work. Not life, as we have some grand landscaping plans this year but work will be quieter. I am thankful each day that we both still have our jobs through this Pandemic and that we enjoy what we do. When it's super busy, it's very tiring. 

Our kitchen island looking all forlorn. No food being prepared. No one sitting on a stool working on a project. Just an empty island, waiting patiently for the next user to come along. Do you collect cookbooks? I started with one given to me at one of my bridal showers. And over the years, I've collected a few. I have a stand to hold the book when its in use but sometimes find using my laptop works well too. Those are all my sweet "foody books" on the bottom shelf. Just enough to give us inspiration for trying new things. 

All for now, my blogging buddies.

Wishing you a peaceful day. Namaste!

~ Chy

Tears and Vines.

A pot of baby tears, with a basket of

trailing vines on the bottom. Love both!

~ Chy

A Longer View.

Dh was having fun yesterday taking lots of

pictures around the house. He took this one

to show the fridge is done and I love the 

longer view of the shot. Relieved and happy.

It's done ....

.... after more than a year of waiting, our

fridge doors are finally on the actual fridge.

It took so long because none of the guys

working on our house could figure out how

to get the fridge to be further back in the

cupboard that was created to "house"

the whole thing. And then they couldn't

figure out how to get the doors to be

open without hitting the sides of the

cupboards. So who do you think did do

all the figuring out, in less than 5 minutes

one day? Yes, that would be me .... I

ended up having to draw it out but in the

end, they "got it" and now we can finally

enjoy a completed kitchen after a very,

very long wait. Worth all the waiting stress.

April 2015 Photo Challenge ~ Day Eight.

"From where I stand".

Today's prompt for the photo challenge.

I imagine standing at our kitchen island &

watching my dd walk into the laundry room.

I imagine standing at our kitchen island &

seeing the wildlife outside our kitchen nook door.

I imagine standing at our kitchen island &

seeing a fire roaring & beautiful baroque music playing.

I imagine standing at our kitchen island &

watching our little guy play with his toys in the sun.

From where you stand, what do you see?

Finally.

It took a while, but we finally chose our cupboards.

Simple shaker with a beaded lip.

This is what we envision our butler's pantry to look

like. The kitchen cupboards will be solid. A simple

but solid look. I hope it's easy to keep them clean.

And that the look will stay classic through the years.

One last item to share.

In our new kitchen, there will be a lovely

& big centre island. We've never had one

before, so we're pretty excited. The plan

calls for plain, wooden corbels under the

countertop. We were fine with that, until

we found these really great brackets at the

Antique Mall. We're off tomorrow to buy

them & get them off to our kitchen guy.

Love this french country look for the kitchen.

Drool ....

.... there are no words ....

End of post!

Inspired!

I have been inspired this weekend to get life in to order. A big announcement is brewing in my world, created by me, supported by my boss, encouraged by my family ~ an announcement that will take my job to a new level and add to my workload. A good move, a great plan and part of the legacy project my husband and I have been working on for the last 16 years. Now all the small pieces are fitting in to place and the big stuff begins!

But to do this, it was really important to me to have life in order. Phase one was this weekend. Here's what we accomplished:

* took apart our leased office and program space to sort out what is not needed, what we still need and to move things into the middle so we can patch and paint the walls, make new curtains, sand and paint the furniture, hang new pictures and dejunk! More to do but this was the biggest piece to get the rest going.

* our son came over and helped us get the garage under control again. Still need to do a bit more but most of it is now complete.

* took apart our makeshift pantry we created a few years ago in our laundry room, that really didn't in the end, work well. Too cramped and we forever throwing our coats over the shelf because we couldn't reach the actual closet to hang them up properly. And because we couldn't always see what we had, we often would buy something then come home to put it away, only to discover we already had it! Not very efficient. So we created a new pantry today, in the kitchen, accessible, without any barriers and it looks great.

* cleaned out and sorted the kitchen cupboards. This resulted in many items being donated as we discovered we had doubles of some many "things". Yikes! But from there, we went thru the house and came up with lots to donate, including clothes, toys and books we no longer need. Love the feeling of purging.

* cleaned all the bathrooms, dusted the entire house, vacummed and scrubbed all the floors, and took all the recycling in.

* caught up the laundry. Never ending job. But all is well now, clothes hung up or folded and put in drawers, towels away in both the bathroom cupboard and the kitchen drawer, all bedding washed and back on the beds. The laundry basket now has just a few things to be washed by hand.

* rearranged our bedroom so that it functions better, leaving us more room to move. Created a new desk area and am so relieved that I now have a dedicated spot for my writing.

* sorted out the art studio/sewing room/guest room and the library/scrapbooking so that the items needed are back in their respective places.

* found our Brita that had been stored away. Ironically, Home Depot had the filters on sale this weekend. Tonight, we enjoyed fresh, cold, filtered water. No need to buy water now!

In between all this, we did treat ourselves to some fun Canada Day fun, including spending time at the activities our community organized, took our grandson for at least 6 long walks, visited the Antique Mall and visited with our son. It was a great weekend and I`m now focused to carry out this new project with a renewed energy and a house that is all put back together.

To reward myself and inspired by Mrs. Thrifty over at New Beginning http://craftthriftandlove.blogspot.ca/, I am now enjoying this yummy, fresh, warm Raspberry and White Chocolate Scone from Cobs Bread. Yum!