The Pleasure of Sharing Your Home

I don't know if it is because I was raised with the idea of Southern hospitality but I have always loved opening my home for guests. I love cleaning obsessively, stocking the guest room/guest bathroom with goodies like candy, bottled water, snacks, toiletries etc, and of course cooking for them, especially breakfast. I hosted a girls weekend a few years ago and I remember getting up and making everyone pancakes with fresh peach compote. I was so happy to be spending time and sharing a meal with some of my favorite people and to share something that I love to do with them.
I have a busy few weeks because I have one of my very best friends coming to visit for a week and then my mom is coming for a week right after. Needless to say, the house was cleaned top to bottom this weekend, sheets and duvets were freshly laundered and housing projects completed (I refinished my counter-tops and applied window film to my bedroom window-I'll probably do a post devoted to home improvement in the next few weeks. The counters and window came out fabulously).
As I said, one of my favorite things to do is cook for my guests (plus it helps get rid of the paint smell) so for my dear friend I made some lavender honey scones and simply because once I get cooking I have difficulty stopping I went ahead and made some spiced nuts (Recipe posted here).

Lavender Honey Scones

Lavender honey scones on my newest silver antique find, also came with a round tray and a pitcher

I am not sure how easy it is to find cooking lavender in the USA. I bought a big package when Logan and I were in France last year so I am still using that. I wouldn't be surprised if it required a visit to Whole Foods or similar to find.

1 1/2 cups of white flour
1/2 cup of whole wheat flour
1/4 cup of sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
4 tsp of cooking lavender
3 TBS of butter, cut up into small pieces
10 TBS of buttermilk-I never stock buttermilk so I just used skim and then added 1 tsp of apple cider vinegar, this curdles the milk and gives you the same effect
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/8 cup honey, spray the measuring cup with cooking spray and the honey will come out easily
2 tsp of flour plus extra for dusting kneading surface
1 large egg white, beaten
Lavender sugar for sprinkling on top, to make lavender sugar take some white sugar and put in a container with some of your cooking lavender and leave it. I make a bunch and use it when needed. The lavender scents the sugar plus you have some buds in the sugar for color.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Take the white and whole wheat flour and combine it with the sugar, baking powder, salt and lavender in a bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or knives until it looks like coarse crumbs (often I get frustrated and just use my hands, quicker but messy). Set aside and then combine buttermilk, vanilla, egg and honey in a bowl. Add the wet into the dry ingredients and stir until just moistened (this is one of those batters that you DO NOT want to over mix. Don't worry if it is really sticky.) Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead the dough 4 or 5 times and shape into an 8" circle. Dust the top with flour and then cut into 8 wedges. Place the wedges on a greased cookie sheet and brush the wedges with the egg white then sprinkle the lavender sugar on top of them. Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly browned.

These scones are delicately sweet and have an amazing honey floral scent. They are fantastic with afternoon tea, a good book and a cat on the lap.

Happy Spring,
Steph

PS. Here is a picture of my newest night time visitor. Apparently I am feeding quite the menagerie.

He/She is eating cinnamon raisin bread I put out

Home Again

After a long weekend in Dallas and a week in Niagara/Finger Lakes area it is so nice to be home. The simple acts of sleeping in your own bed, making coffee in your coffee maker, using your own shower, and petting your own kitties are all comforts in their own right. The end of our trip marks the beginning of a busy season for my husband and myself so it is very bittersweet, however our trip was lovely. We went to an Ice Wine festival-ice wine is made from naturally frozen grapes and is only made is very limited quantities. It is very sweet and it usually an after dinner drink, similar to port. I have tried ice wine before and I was not a fan however I was able to try many varieties at this festival and found that I simply had not tried the right ones! I fell in love with Standing Stone vineyards and their Riesling ice wine, as well as Fulkerson's Cabernet ice wine and Johnson Estate Vidal ice wine. By the time we left the area we bought 8 bottles of wine and 4 bottles of ice wine (although one ice wine and one regular wine were for the neighbor who house and cat sat for us). It was such a fun festival, there were lots of wines to try, cheese and fudge samples as well as an ice carving demonstration.

Right as he was getting started

Sanding the ice sculpture

Finished product, only 45 minutes after he started!

After the wine festival we went to Niagara for a night. We stayed at Embassy Suites where we were all the way up on the 32nd floor and our suite had a great view of the Falls. Also Embassy Suites is one of the few hotels in the area that has windows that open so we were able to fall asleep to the roar of the falls (actually quite soothing).

American side of the falls, also called the Bridal Veil falls

Canada side of Falls, also called Horseshoe falls because they go all the way around making a horseshoe shape.

At the top getting covered in mist. It was so neat watching the water come plummeting down

We went behind and under the falls. This is a view from under to the side.

One of the portals directly behind the falls...frozen this time of year

 We also did an educational tour where we found out how the falls were formed. The tour had an interactive part where we got pummeled with fake snow, pelted with water and wind and eventually felt like we were going over the falls with the help of huge, wrap around movie screens and a moving floor. We also visited the Butterfly Conservatory where they had over 2,000 butterflies. It was nice to hang out in a tropical environment for a few hours-what a change from the winter outside!

Butterflies feeding, apparently they were quite hungry

After Niagara we traveled to the Canandaigua area of New York where we stayed at an absolutely wonderful lake cabin for 5 days. It was so restful just cooking, using the hot tub, playing games, star gazing, bird watching, hiking and just reconnecting with my husband. While we were there we went and hiked the "Grand Canyon of the East." It had three waterfalls on site and we hiked to two since the roads were closed. After seeing Niagara I expected to be underwhelmed but actually it was very beautiful.

Grand Canyon of the East, as a visitor to the real Grand Canyon I am not quite convinced :)

The Middle Falls

Pretty rainbow over the falls

We made our way home on Friday and have spent the weekend relaxing and getting ready for a busy few months. I can't believe we have been in Connecticut for 9 months; it has flown by so quickly. I am happy that we have been able to explore our new home as much as we have yet there is always so much more to see!
Happy Mardi Gras (almost),
Steph

Traveling Time

As the snow slowly starts to melt, things in our household are heating up as we prepare for our big trip for the season. Every year we try to take at least one bigger trip but this year has been full of a lot more weekend getaways as we explore our new state. This past summer we traveled to Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard for a long weekend and had a great time checking out some of the most in-demand beaches in the country and eating lots of ice cream (Cape Cod is saturated with ice cream shops. Almost all of them make everything on site so the finished product is absolutely divine).

One of many, many photos of us eating ice cream from various parlors around Cape Cod

Since Logan has been so busy with his intern year we thought a relaxing trip would be the way to go so I researched for weeks to find a romantic lake cabin. I had the criteria of semi-remote location, lake view, hot tub, and fully equipped kitchen (we love to grill and cook throughout the trip). It took me a while to find the perfect spot but I finally "found the dot on the map" (that's their slogan) and was overjoyed to book The Quiet Place on Canandaigua Lake- one of the Finger Lakes in upstate New York. They have several different options for cabins but we fell in love with the view from the Naples Chalet. Check it out, they look so nice and I bet it will be so romantic.
Our cabin website: The Quiet Place
Apparently Naples is the grape capital of the world and the home to Grape Pie. It is suppose to taste a lot like blueberry pie and I am excited to sample the unique deliciousness.

We booked for a week but then we found out about a Ice Wine festival (lots of free ice wine and tasty treats to go along with it) at the New York Wine and Culinary Center just a few days before we go so our relaxing, romantic lake weekend got a bit bigger...
We decided that we would drive up to Canandaigua for the festival and visit some friends in Rochester for a night then Logan pointed out that Rochester is so close to Niagara Falls (about a 2 hour drive). After a bit of research on Niagara Falls we decided to go for it, you're only young once right? Now we are spending a day in Niagara before heading back down to the Canandaigua area to enjoy our lake trip. Niagara in the winter is said to look absolutely beautiful and this will be my first time seeing the amazing falls. Apparently during the winter the mist from the falls will freeze the trees nearby creating a vision of water and ice.

From CanadaCool.com

Photo from:http://www.photography.ca/Forums/attachments/f32/5853d1267392844-niagara-falls-ontario-canada-5.jpg

We are planning on heading into Canada for the night (yay for another passport stamp!) and stay at one of the hotels with a view of the Falls. We have been told that a view of the Canada falls is better but the American view has a cool lightshow at night. We haven't settled on a hotel yet because we are messing with the details but I will definitely take tons of pictures and post them here.
I am huge fan of taking some time away with your significant other, friends or simply by yourself. It is a wonderful chance to reconnect, relax and enjoy your beautiful surroundings. Also, I also really like researching before heading off for a trip. I had not done this much in the past and then when Logan and I spent three weeks in Europe we used Rick Steve's guidebooks. They were incredibly helpful and I felt that it helped find great restaurants, we got some history on what we were visiting, and also saw some off the beaten path sites. For example, I had been to Paris before but I had never heard of the Alpine Garden in Les Jardin des Plantes and it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.

For this trip, we have combed through many books on the Finger Lakes and now, Niagara Falls to find the most delectable eateries, greatest places to hike and most beautiful views. I hope all our research pays off but I am just so excited to get away with my wonderful husband and share a cool new experience with him.
Happy Trails,
Steph

Huzzah!

I am happy to report that my project was a success!

Before

After

The entire deck is shoveled! Well...the areas around the planters have a bit of snow around them but I figure that will melt fairly quickly. We are suppose to get another round of snow this week (as is most of the country, even my beloved Oklahoma) but I have a really good feeling about winter being on a downturn. I know that we are getting an epic storm on groundhog day which probably means 8 more weeks of winter but I have a good feeling so we'll see. Honestly, I am just happy that temperatures will start getting high enough to slowly melt the snow. I was chatting with my neighbor about how my mom told me it was 70 degrees a few days ago in Oklahoma and how I was so jealous. He said that it would be a big problem if it got even up to 50 degrees because the snow would melt too quickly causing flooding in our basements. It's strange that almost all homes here have basements but back in Oklahoma, right in tornado alley, no one really has basements...kind of weird.
One reason I started this blog was to talk about how things are different in the north and I have recently learned about "ice dams."To learn about ice dams Apparently, when it snows a bunch homeowners either have to clamor up on their roofs themselves to get all the snow off the roof or hire someone to do it. Luckily, my neighbor tried to do it himself and failed miserably and now is having a friend do his, another neighbor and mine for a discounted rate (still several hundred dollars). It is a huge help because some buildings locally have been collapsing under the weight of the snow and then ice dams can cause winter damage in the home. All my neighbors have been incredibly nice--snow blowing our driveway, helping clear around the mailbox and generally assuring me that this is incredibly unusual. Apparently, no one has had to hire someone to clear their roof since 95/96 winter when they got 115" of snow in one winter. We are at 71" so far with almost all of that in January. Right now we are at the 11th most snowy winter, but after this week I think we will easily be in the top 10. The gap between the snowiest winter and the 2nd snowiest is huge: 115" for number 1 and 84.9" for number 2. Lets hope my good feeling is indicative of a calming mother nature...please?
Praying for an end to the snow apocalypse,
Steph
Top 10 Snowiest Winters for Connecticut:
Here is a list of the 10 snowiest seasons on record: 1995-96 115.2”, 1993-94 84.9”, 1966-67 82.8”, 1977-78 82.3”, 1960-61 80.2, 1945-46 79.9”, 1947-48 77.7”, 1915-16 77.1”, 1955-56 76.1”, 2004-05 74.1”.
-from http://www.wfsb.com/technicaldiscussion/index.html

Snowy Weather

January 2011in Connecticut is officially not only the most snowy January on record, but also the most snowy month ever in Connecticut. My first New England winter and it is a record breaker :) How ridiculous! I love snow and most people say to just enjoy it...but I can't. My husband doesn't have the option of not going into work so we get up at 4am to shovel the driveway and then I proceed to worry while he drives into work and then worry some more when he drives back home. It also makes me painfully miss Oklahoma. I love how Oklahoma gets a few inches of snow and everything shuts down and then in a few days temperatures rise to the 50s and it all melts. We got over two feet of snow on Christmas and it is still here. There have been several mid level storms since then and  last night we had another foot and a half. It has been so cold that only negligible amounts have melted so the snow banks are getting huge. I haven't kept up with shoveling my deck so it has chest level snow on it.

My deck is under there somewhere...you can't even see the chiminea anymore!

Before the big snow last night, I had decided my new project would be clearing the deck so I could at least sit outside and enjoy the crisp, cool weather with a nice chiminea fire. That plan may have to be put on hold because once snow is this deep it is such a pain to shovel (although I may try since Logan is on call on Saturday).
My point in writing this is just to say that moving up north from the south is really hard and there are tons of things to adjust to but all you can do is make it work (Tim Gunn is a wise man). Yeah, I am less than thrilled about having multiple feet of snow on the ground but it is giving me a chance to learn how to cross country ski and how cool is that? There is a store up the road that rents equipment and people from my neighborhood ski through the woods behind our houses and there are tons of cross country skiing places around CT, many within just a few miles. This winter has really been a challenge (and it is not even over!) but all we can do is rise to the occasion with a smile. I miss my home...but I am slowly making a new one.
Happy Trails,
Steph

A bit of Sun

Good Evening lovely readers,
I wanted to say a quick word to let you know that I won't be posting for a few weeks because I am heading on vacation. Funnily enough, my husband is holding down the fort and supplying the kitties with copious amounts of food and catnip. I have been trying to convince my mom that she should go on a vacation forever and when she decided to go she invited me along. We are actually heading to a Couples Resort in Ocho Rios, Jamaica which I find hilarious because I think most will assume we are a same sex couple (by the way, I think same sex couples are awesome, I just think it's funny that people will think my mom and I are one). I think we will have an amazing time hanging out on the beach, drinking fruity cocktails and generally relaxing. It is a pleasure to leave this 24" of snow so until I get back hope everyone has a great weekend! Any fun plans for Valentine's Day?

When life gives you snow, make snow ice cream

I wrote my last post while we were getting 14" of snow. At the time I was very impressed by the plethora of snow. Now, I realize that 14" is nice but try 26". We got 26" yesterday. Literally over two feet of snow in a little over 12 hours...ridiculous!

I spent 5 hours shoveling the driveway and now I walk stooped over like an old woman. Yes, it's pretty sexy. I leave for Jamaica on Sunday and can I just say thank goodness? I feel bad about leaving Logan to fend for himself but at least I left him with the recipe for snow ice cream.

Snow Ice Cream
8 Cups of clean snow...I tend to brush off the first inch  although lets be honest, you are eating something from off the ground so you can't be too picky.
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp of vanilla
Optional:
Baileys or Kahlua or Peppermint Schnapps
Chocolate syrup

Mix, consume and be happy :)

Off to go sledding,
Steph