Happy Easter!

Spring has sprung!!

It's been very busy in our household lately, so I had to put some things on the back burner until I had more time.  See you soon!

Enjoy

Kerry

Vegan Ville

When I was younger, my best friend and I would stay up and watch what was then called Saturday Night Live.  Now its called SNL because we're too lazy to say all the words.  Anyway, after all the big name originals left, Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, Gilda Radner, etc., (yes, I'm dating myself) after awhile it lost its pizzaz.  I haven't watched it in a long time but when I was up at the family's house this weekend, we popped it on the tube to see who was on and this skit came on.  It's the best and funniest thing I've seen in a long time!

After this skit, one of their make believe commercials came on- Nuva Bling.  I wish I could find a copy to share but alas they haven't released this yet.  Sheila, we never thought of this type of commercial when we were younger.....  :)

Have a great rest of the weekend!

Don't forget to put your clocks forward :(

Kerry

Craving Alert! Craving Alert!!!

Yes! I have a craving!  Whoopie!!  The other day when I went to the grocery store to buy bread, I happened to stop by the Bread and Cie stand.  For those of you who do not know, this is a local bread bakery and cafe that makes fantastic artisan breads.  Usually I don't stop at the little stands located in most grocery stores out here because they've run out of everything and only have the walnut bread left.  But on this day, there was one loaf of ....

Lemon Pugliese

A classic Italian bread in the “low-salt” tradition of the bread of Puglia, Italy. It is a unique creation by the bakers of Bread & Cie Bakery, designed to go with the classic “lite” Southern California food favorites like chicken, fish, etc. A fresh and clean taste.

Lemon bread??!  Know one ever told me they make this type of bread.  So of course, I bought it.  I immediately cut into the bread, hearing the knife crunch through the crust and glide along the light fluffy inside.  Blueberries popped into my head.  How am I going to keep them on the bread?  Wait, I have vegan cream cheese.  So I spread a thin layer of cream cheese and then squish blueberries into the bread.  Ohhhh! It was sooooo good.  Like eating a lemon meringue pie, good.  Ok, maybe not but it was tasty.   I cut another thick slice and this time spread it with some vegan butter and apricot jam.  Again, a success!  

The next day, went to work... and all I kept thinking about was making this deliciousness again. Came home and had another slice with the blueberries.  Today, again came home made this concoction.  I'm happy..... the baby's happy.  May not be the healthiest snack but it sure it good!

Enjoy!

Kerry

Roooo-bard Pie!

The other night, Nigel made a rhubarb pie.  They say that husband's can sometimes take on sympathic pregnancy cravings and he had been wanting to make this for about a month.  I had bought some frozen rhubarb from Whole Foods that sat and sat until he finally found a recipe that he liked.  My only suggestion was to have a crumb topping.  Here is the recipe he used.

Rhubarb Crumble Recipe

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INGREDIENTS

Filling:

• 2 lbs rhubarb, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 1/4 cups white sugar
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

Crumble Topping:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of butter (1 stick or 4 ounces), cut into cubes

METHOD

1 Preheat oven to 375°F. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the rhubarb, white sugar, 1/4 cup of flour, the vanilla extract, and the ground cardamom. Spoon into a 9 x 13-inch baking dish.

2 In a food processor, pulse together 1 cup of flour, the salt, and the brown sugar. Add the butter and pulse until the pieces of butter are pea-sized. (Alternatively, mix the dry ingredients together and cut the butter in with two knives or a pastry cutter.) Spread topping mixture over rhubarb mixture.

3 Place in oven and cook for 35-45 minutes, until the filling is bubbly and the topping is lightly browned. Let cool for at least a half an hour before serving.

Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Now just like me, he made some changes. He used a delicious shortbread crust that he bought at the store. He blind baked the crust according to the package directions.  Once he filled and baked the pie, like any good Brit, he made a custard which he poured on top of the pie.  It was so good!  I've only had rhubarb once. But I can't wait until he makes this again!

Singing the Blues

Ok, I knew being pregnant would have it's ups and downs, well I knew most of what was to be expected. But no one said anything about it being near impossible to design a baby's room! When we found out that we were going to have a baby, we knew right away which room would be the baby's.  The problem is trying to figure out how to decorate it.  I've picked out the bed, a red crib from Newport Cottages and the bedding.

Isn't it absolutely perfect!!  Ok, so maybe I'm not having the problems that I first led you to believe.  The problem I'm having is picking out the color for the walls.  I could go cream but, I can't stand cream walls!  I thought of painting the room a shade of grey but thought it would look too drab. So now I'm leaning towards a typical color for boys- blue.

(In the bottom picture to the right is the ottoman that will be in the baby's room)

The paint sample was actually suggested to me by my Mum who is using it to paint the wood floors at her house. I'm leaning more towards a greyish-blue (the sunlight in the photo above is not helping you see the colors).  Basically, the decor is going to be British Invasion.  I would love to paint a mural on  ones of the walls of buildings found in London such as Parliment, Big Ben, The London Eye, The Gherkin Building, The London Tower, maybe some housing, a double decker bus, etc.  Similar to these...

I'd love for the mural to be this tall! 

Or maybe even something similar to this.  A full size wall map, wouldn't that be great!!

Though this would be cute too.

 What?  How big is the room?  10x10, why?  Well, I can't wait until it's done so I can show pictures.  I have a feeling that the mural will have to wait until after the baby is here...

TTFN!

Kerry!

27 Weeks and Counting....

One of my best friends, who lives in a different state than I do, kindly reminded me that she would like to see a new photo.  By coincidence, another friend who I work with, caught me in our shared kitchenette and asked me to wait.  She ran back to her room to return with a sticker stating "organic," placing it on my belly and had me pose.  Today after work, I took a few more shots using the setting sunlight. Yes, I used photoshop, the really blurry is natural.  :)  Me at 27 weeks, baby is 3 lbs already!

Tuesday Tunes- Cravings?

Yes, there are certain foods that I have been craving but I haven't really had any weird cravings.  No pickles and ice cream or apple juice and fried chicken.  I did have some cravings occasionally, for instance, last Saturday when we went to Whole Foods I spotted from far away onion rings. We just HAD to get them and we were making pizza for dinner. Hmmmm...   I also remember when we bought our mattress, I kept looking at In and Out burger.  I made Nigel stop and get me a shake and fries. Oh, they were so good!  And in the beginning of the pregnancy I was craving Mexican about twice a week.  But now not much.  Though one of the kids in my class asked why I have cereal with berries every day.....

And the Winner Is.....

Ok, I really enjoy watching what the stars wear for the Oscars. This year, the flow-y long gowns were reminiscent of old Hollywood when Barbara Stanwyck, Norma Shearer, and Myrna Loy were the big screen goddesses.  Here are some of my favorites from last night's Oscars.

Was anyone else surprised when they heard Helen Hunt's dress came from H & M?  Why can't I find something this cool when I go there??!!

Just like her Mum said, business up front but party in the back.  This was a fabulous dress and loved the backwards necklace.

But for me, the winner was Jennifer Lawrence's Dior gown. She looked simply beautiful and elegant, just what you want to see at the Oscars.

Enjoy!

Kerry

Two of Us - (formerlyTogetherness)

You live in the same house but still have a hard time doing things together- one is always running errands or someone has to do some extra work over the weekend.  One of my goals before the baby comes is to do more things together- just Nigel and me.  Well those plans didn't quite work out this weekend but we did do a lot together and I have to say, I had a lot of fun.  Saturday we worked on taxes- yippee.  I hate taxes, luckily Nigel is good at them. (think of a toddler falling on the ground when they don't get what they want, that's me) The crossword puzzle.  Then we went to the grocery stores.  I say stores because I usually need to stop at many places because one place does not have everything we need. Trader Joe's and Whole Foods were the two where we made stops.  Making his and her pizzas for dinner followed our trip.  Can you guess who made each pizza?  Sunday, we made breakfast  (Nigel heated up the quiche I made yesterday and I had whole grain banana pancakes). Okay two different breakfasts but the point is we ate together.  Later, we ran to IKEA (unsuccessful trip) and Costco.  Then to top off our trip we headed to Cold Stone.  Though ideas for doing something together may not always go how you want, you still enjoy the little moments, the talks and just being together.

Kerry

What Would the Flowers Say?

Ahhh, flowers! It seems that I've been surrounded by their beauty forever but it was not until I was older that my appreciation for them grew. When I was little I had entered a flower arrangement into some contest, I think it was at our church.  I don't remember how I submitted the arrangement but I put a bunch of Pansies into my Charlie Brown thermos. I also remember my Great Grandfather taking me out into his garden and telling me the different names of flowers (Pansies were one of his favorites).  My Grandfather had a love of Hydrangeas, our house back at the Cape has several varieties (mainly traditional blue) but last year my husband and I added a green and white variety when we got married.  Even when we walk around the block with kids from work or when I use to babysit (eons ago) I will often point out flowers to the children.  I often head to flower tours when I have time to see what plants other people find attractive and long for a true English garden.  I envy the flower arrangements on the TV show Downton Abbey.  Oh, to be able to just go outside and cut my own flowers.  It's never too late to stop and smell the roses.

My wedding bouquet that I picked that morning using flowers from our garden.

Enjoy the weekend!

Kerry