Summer Food

Even though we had unusually cold weather on Memorial Day I just NEEDED some summer food- you know the kind: salads; crispy, tangy salads!

One of my favorite salads is the Strawberry Spinach salad but I didn't have spinach (and Gordon doesn't care for spinach). So I decided to improvise- I love that way of cooking. There is always an element of serendipity in improv!

What I DID have was strawberries (yum!),  iceberg lettuce, an aging avocado (how the heck did that happen) candied pecans left over from the last time I made SS salad and, to make it more acceptable to my carnivore husband, a grilled chicken breast. I made up some of the fresh strawberry vinaigrette dressing that I love and threw it all together in an aesthetically pleasing manner...



Now I have another favorite *summer food*!

More Happiness

Several years ago I became aware of this faux stained glass window film at Home Depot and wanted it! I love the Clematis design. At the time I was planning on doing all three half circle windows on my house and decided it was just too cost prohibitive.

Ah, but now I have my *happy room*! And it just begged for this beautiful window to go in my happy new blue office.



It wouldn't be difficult to apply if I WEREN'T DYSLEXIC! I thought I had the first piece right, put it up... nope, couldn't make the second piece match. Took down the first piece, fooled around with it on the table and FINALLY figured out I was right the first time... but for some reason couldn't make the pattern match (reference the dyslexic comment above! Welcome to my life!) Anyway, I was able to eek out the 60" x 30" half circle window using only two rolls.

I love it! It makes my happy nest even happier!

Let's Hear it for Purple!

"Purple? PUR-ple! PURRRR-PLE! That's a stupid name! Why don't they just call it BOINK!?!" 14-year old Stuart.

We've laughed about that conversation for years!

But you know? Purple Boink just makes me happy!

What caught my attention this morning was one of my beautiful, late-blooming, *black* tulips. How can you NOT love this color?



Now don't get me wrong... this wasn't an epiphany this morning, I've known I love purple for a long time... but take a look at the rest of my garden.

There are my happy little spotty-dotty violets (they grow like weeds! Lucky me!)...



Purple salvia, mud splattered from all the spring rain (a lovely perennial)...



Ooh, ooh, and one of my favorites- ruffled petunias (I found these a couple of weeks ago at Carpenter's Nursery in South Provo with DeLoris)...



Regular purple petunias (these are from Home Depot's nursery)...



My purple bearded iris on the *island* with purple salvia in the background...



And purple snow clouds, WAIT A MINUTE!! WHAT ARE THEY DOING HERE ON MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND?

Hmmm, welcome to life in the mountains... reminds me of Greenville.

Tender Mercies

In April 2005, just 6 months after Elder David A Bednar was sustained as an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, he gave a beautifully moving conference address, The Tender Mercies of the Lord. I wept through his talk because I have been the recipient of just those tender mercies from the Lord!

"The Lord’s tender mercies do not occur randomly 

or merely by coincidence."

The ancient prophet Nephi states, "But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance." 1 Nephi 1:20



This day, Amanda's 35th birthday, I was the recipient, once again, of a tender mercy from the Lord. I love to see Him work through those who love Him and are receptive to His promptings. My sweet friend, Maureen, appeared today with this beautiful mum to brighten my day. She had no idea it was Amanda's birthday. Yes, a tender mercy from the Lord.

Strawberry Lemon Tart

Several weeks ago my friend, Sheri, post a photo of a luscious dessert she'd made for her family! It was a strawberry mango tart! Oh My YUM! Did I ever want some!! Being an old hand in the kitchen, it was something she'd just whipped up on a whim. I hounded, begged, asked her for her recipe, which she kindly shared. BUT COULD I FIND IT? Umm, no...

So also being an old hand in the kitchen (and having the ability to Google recipes) I give you my offering of Strawberry Lemon Tart-



Strawberry-Lemon Tart
1 Easy Tart Crust Recipe (below)
1/2 Lemon Curd Recipe (below)
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 pint strawberries, sliced

Roll out pastry dough in a large circle (slightly larger than your tart pan. I have a 11" pan). Carefully transfer the pastry dough into your pan. Pat it into the pan and then pinch of the extra on the fluted edge. Prick dough with a fork at about 1/2" intervals. Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove pan to rack and cool.

Prepare Lemon Curd using the recipe below.

In a bowl whip cream cheese and powdered sugar until fluffy. Stir in 1/2 Lemon Curd recipe into the cream cheese mixture. Pour into cooled tart shell. Refrigerate for an hour or two until set. Just before serving arrange sliced strawberries on filling. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream.

(This was a big hit with all the epicureans at my house last night. "It's crazy good!")

Easy Tart Crust
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) chilled butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
3 tablespoons (or more) ice water
2 tablespoons chilled whipping cream

Blend flour and salt in processor. Add butter; using on/off turns, cut in until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 3 tablespoons ice water and cream. Process just until moist clumps form, adding more ice water by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic; chill 1 hour. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled. Soften slightly at room temperature before rolling out.)

(I used my food processor, but just turned it on high and waited for it to resemble coarse meal.  I didn't wait to roll it out and it was just fine.)

Lemon Curd (Also from Sheri!)
7 large egg yolks
2 large eggs
1 cup plus 2 Tbs granulated sugar
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup fresh grated lemon zest (micro-plane)
4 Tbs butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces (unsalted but sometimes I don't have it)
3 Tbs heavy cream

Whisk the yolks, whole eggs, and sugar til combined. Whisk in juice, zest and salt in a medium nonreactive saucepan. Add butter and cook over med/low heat stirring constantly til curd thickens to a thin, sauce-like consistency, about 5 min...but I usually go to about 170 degrees.

Strain through fine mesh strainer into non-reactive bowl and stir in the cream.

This is so yummy on toasted English muffins... or just about anything.  Sheri says she loves it more than chocolate!

Iris for Elsie

Today is one of those bittersweet days that come around too often at my house. We all know that it is Mother's Day. The sweet part, and I hate to break it to the rest of you- I have the very best mom in the world! The not-so-sweet part is that she's been gone for 34 Mother's Days now! I can't like that part too much!

But as my sweet-niece-Cindy reminds me, "The veil is only as thick as you make it!" So when I look at these beautiful purple iris that grace my garden I remember my Mama!



But Elsie, my Mom, didn't just have the purple iris like these. Oh no! She had such an array of bearded iris as anyone would love to behold: cream, peach, bi-colored, blue, fragile Dutch iris... it makes my heart happy to think of them.

She loved flowers so much. Our funny little yard in Greenville was thick with flowers: daffodils, iris, gladiolas, violets, lilacs; those lovely perennials!



And petunias... don't forget the petunias! That was my standard Mother's Day gift. I would go to Hunter's Hardware down on Main Street and buy Mom a flat of petunias (usually with her money) and then I would help her plant them.

So this year I valiantly remember the happy, sweet memories of my wonderful, loving mother who sacrificed her life and desires to raise her girls!  And I try not too let too many tears fall with missing her!

Smells Like Heaven

One of my favorite things about spring (oh, let me count the ways!) is my lilacs blooming. I think heaven must smell like that!

I've always enjoyed spring, but I think it is an even happier time this year because it has been so slow in coming. My sweet lilacs stayed in the bud stage for the better part of April!

This lilac lives just outside my back door and is ruffled. I've blogged about it before it is called My Favorite Lilac (which is so true!)



I also have the un-ruffled variety like we had in Greenville when I was growing up.



When we moved here 6 years ago I added the three lilac bushes that are along the back of the house. Imagine my surprise when I found that there were 4 other lilac bushes in my little 1/4 acre of heaven! The ones not pictured here are a variety I'd ever seen before. They are very frail... that's the only word I can think of that describes them. They still are in the very beginning of bud stage.

The other beauty that caught my eye when I was out on my photographic explore was my back door neighbor's pear tree... just beautiful. (I can already taste their luscious, juicy fruit.)

Women's Conference Tradition!

2007 was the first year I attended the BYU Women's Conference. I decided at the last minute to go and loved it so much that now it has become a tradition! (If you'd like to read about prior year's escapades click on the Women's Conference tag at the bottom of the post.)

This year only Ann was able to join me, Rebekah's boys were off on spring break and she couldn't leave them to trek back to Provo to join us =(. We always enjoy these wonderful times of being together.



2008 Ann and Rebekah joined me for the spiritual feast. If you know me, you know that I love trail mix and think that it is just about the perfect snack for most places... not just the trail. That year I made a wonderful goodie bag for each of us including: trail mix (duh), nut bars, water, other miscellaneous snacks and a cute notebook and pen for notes. But the trail mix seems to be the one that takes center stage.  Ann and I were discussing how many times we've been and she figured it out by who provided the trail mix each year!!  We've had quite the fun with our *personality trail mix*.   How can fruit and nuts have a personality? I'm not sure, but they do!

But this year disaster struck! (dun, dun, dun!) I thought I'd closed my trail mix bag after getting out the first handful and found that I hadn't shaken it up to mix it... hmmmm, apparently not. I grabbed hold of the bottom of the bag to give it a good shake... umm, dumped it straight into my WC backpack!! I just sat there and laughed! How could I not? Ann held my zip-lock bag while I scooped it back in.  We were just grateful I hadn't dumped it on the floor of the Marriot Center.



On Thursday evening there are always service projects to participate in. There were numerous stations where literally thousands of sisters worked on various projects. This year we wanted to do the newborn humanitarian kits.

Each newborn kit contains:

* a fleece or flannel receiving blanket
* 4 diapers
* a cotton-knit layette
* 2 bars of soap
* 1 pair of booties or socks
* 1 knit cap
* 4 diaper pins

Can you imagine only having that to clothe your baby? But this is a definite step up from wrapping you baby in newspaper!

We worked in assembly line fashion to put these kits together. Ann and I worked on the end with the blankets, diapers, layette and then stuffing that portion into a large zip-lock bag. I stayed as far away as possible from the soap... it always makes me sneeze!  The next sisters added the remaining items and closed up the zip-lock bag.

Our station completed 720 of the 34,315 humanitarian newborn, hygiene and school kits completed that night! What a blessing of many helping hands!


(CAN YOU SEE THAT MY POOR HAIR MELTED IN A SERIES OF HOT-FLASHES DOING OUR ASSEMBLY LINE?)

We came home exhausted, but happy. We were back up the next morning for the second day of wonderful talks and classes that help us grow and become more like our Savior. I'm already looking forward to next year!