At Considerable Cost

This week's link-up with Hallie Lord at Moxie Wife: British, kitchen, and flowers 1. Call the Midwife It's BACK on PBS Masterpiece for Season 2.   I've avoided spoilers from the UK as much as I can since the episodes have already aired there.   I love the characters, every last one of them, especially Jenny Lee, Chummy, and Sister Monica Joan.    It's just a simple, but beautiful story of life--and the search for real love in all its forms-- in the East End of London in the 1950s.   It's is based on the memoirs of Jennifer Worth and it is narrated by the older Nurse Jenny Lee.   She recounts leaving her sheltered life to live in a convent clinic where she works as a newly certified midwife.   The show is not what we might expect in the US, where such a title might denote an anti-doctor, anti-hospital message.   It shows the NHS (National Health Service) bringing trained midwives (also certified nurses), under...

I'm finally trying to do this link-up with the blogs Like Mother, Like Daughter , since the format works for this share.   Here's a little of the from our week: {pretty} It's no secret that pies are my thing .   Some women relax at a mall or a spa, but I love to relax by making homemade pies in my kitchen.    There is a homey and wholesome beauty to the sight of my baking island in the midst of pie-baking. {happy} From apple pies above to the apple which apparently hasn't fallen far... My daughters love to play school as soon as they get home now.   This is the sight I found in my oldest daughter's room.   It's the same sight my mother found in my room most days of my elementary school years.   It's the sight relatives and friends will always recount from their memories of me.   The tradition continues as my daughters now line up their own dolls and stuffed animals to teach them. ...

My latest piece is up at Bourbon and Boots.   This time, I'm sharing three of my favorite recipes for summer pies and cobblers, along with some of my memories: http://www.bourbonandboots.com/keep-your-forks-theres-pie/

                       "I still believe in heroes."-- Nick Fury I just wrote a post about our children facing fear by watching the British series Doctor Who.    This is really Part 2 of that post--my change--development as a parent. You may have heard about a little independent movie out right now called The Avengers .   It's part of the Marvel Comic s family.   Unless you're living under a rock, you've probably heard at least a snippet about this movie.   It's been a record-breaking blockbuster hit around the world since it first opened a few weeks ago.   A whole cast of super heroes and master assassins come together to save the world from the Norse god of mischief, Loki.   We're talking Captain America, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Hawkeye (my favourite), Black Widow, and Thor.   All in one movie; a...

In New Orleans, the King Cake is traditional fare for Mardi Gras.   It's just not decadent enough for me, though, in those last days leading up to the penance of Lent.   For our Mardi Gras party this year, I made this double fudge praline cake.   It's a homemade three layer chocolate cake, with chocolate ganache in between the layers and around the outside of the cake.   Then, I made pralines with toasted pecans.   Instead of dropping the mixture to make small pralines, I poured the whole batch over the top of the cake.   Yeah, really.   It's my favourite cake. I don't fry often, but we had homemade chicken strips (after they soaked in buttermilk). Finished strips What fried chicken meal would be complete without homemade buttermilk biscuits?! Enjoying a biscuit with Georgia cinnamon honey.   Biscuits with butter: bread for the meal.   Biscuits with honey/jam: dessert W...

So, I'm a LITTLE bit excited.   A few weeks ago, the company, Bourbon and Boots, asked me if I'd like to write a piece on pie.   Write, not serve up.   I was happy to oblige and the article is up on their site today: http://www.bourbonandboots.com/top-ten-southern-pies-and-cobblers/ I love their company.   They are preserving the best of southern culture through articles and their incredible store.   Oh, that store.   I want that lit arrow sign for my kitchen.   And one of everything else in that store goes on my wish list, honeychild!

Blackberry Pie

Our Thanksgiving mantle this year.   The candlesticks, metal pumpkins, and pilgrims belonged to my mother.   The iron cross was a gift from my friend Amber when my father passed away last year. Our sweet girls.   I wish we could have found the brown shirt in both sizes! Our Thanksgiving plate this year: oven roasted turkey, sweet potatoes and apples , buttermilk mashed potatoes, corn, peas, cornbread dressing , cranberry sauce, and green bean casserole (which I never ate until after I was married), and homemade rolls--Mama's recipe .   I got a phone call from a woman in another state this morning about these rolls.   She saw the recipe in Taste of Home and had a question about how I formed them in the muffin tins.   We do a full meal even though it's "just us."   I look forward to cooking this meal all year! One of my cherry pies this year. Too much Thanksgiving!   Poor baby boy f...

I am up late, writing this just- barely- late- Tuesday Folder post.   If this week had a theme, it was Blessed Simplicity. The past week was busy and wonderful.   The weather at the beginning of the week was gorgeous--skies that were so pretty they did not even look real and perfect temperatures with no need for a jacket and a much welcomed and appreciated reprieve from the heat.   So, all conditions were right for park days--just our family and playdates with friends.   How perfectly lovely and refreshing to visit with a like-minded mom while watching happy children play together in God's creation.   Thank you, Lord for such simple blessings! Playing horse races! He's so loved that he doesn't get to slide alone that often. Lord, help me to stop, slow down and enjoy these precious moments instead of rushing about to the next task. The latter part of the week was all about PIE.   Women of our paris...

It's almost time for the holiday pie baking season!   After my mom died, I decided I had to learn how to make homemade pies so my children would be able to have pie like Grandma would have made.   So, I researched and practiced and discovered in the process a true love for making pies.   I'm also able to express a little creativity as I try to make the pies look as good as they taste.   Here are a few of the pies I made this week: One of the best parts of baking pies is the left-over bits of dough.   Mama always cut these into diamonds, brushed them with melted butter, and sprinkled them with sugar and cinnamon.   I can remember stepping off the bus and smelling the crust cookies baking as I entered the house.   This week, the girls made these pretty leaf-shaped crust cookies.