Birthday Tea

My two Bethany's took me into Seattle this week for a surprise early Birthday Tea at the incredible Queen Mary's Tea Room! The decor was opulent and the food was a delicious treat for the palette! 

Afternoon Tea

Afternoon Tea is served anytime, includes a pot of

Queen Mary Tea and each of the following:

Fruit sorbet trio

Queen Mum’s gingerbread cookie

English crumpet

Cranberry orange scone

Gingerbread

Pecan pie bar

Snickerdoodle

Cherry chocolate shortbread

White chocolate candy cane mousse

Assorted fresh fruit

Bacon, mushroom, scallion quiche

English cucumber and radish tea sandwich

Chicken almond with mustard butter tea sandwich

Q.M. smoked salmon tea sandwich

Pork sausage roll

Served with whipped cream, butter, jam and marmalade.

Thanks Ladies :-)  I totally enjoyed the experience and the company!

Christmas Foods

We ate like Kings and Queens while daughter Bethany was home for the Christmas Holidays!

Christmas Breakfast.....

Christmas Dinner.....

.....and Christmas Dessert!

Merry Christmas 2011

 Zeke in his new dapper sweater.       Annabelle with a looooong bone           Chewing antlers

Darrell, Bethany and I went to Seattle and saw a funny yet heart warming play and ate at Guanacos Tacos and Pupuseria.  I LOVED the pupusas!

Healthy Dog Biscuits

It's not too late to make Fido that last minute Christmas gift to put under the tree tonight!

 Healthy Dog Biscuits

 

1 3/4 cup beef or chicken broth

1 package dry yeast

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup wheat germ

1 tsp salt

1/3 cup safflower oil

1/3 cup finely chopped fresh mint

1 egg lightly beaten with 1 tsp water

 To make the dough, heat broth in small saucepan to 105 degrees.  Sprinkle yeast over water and stir to dissolve.  Let mixture proof at room temperature for 5 minutes.  Pour yeast mixture into bowl of a standing mixer with a paddle attachment.  Add flours, wheat germ, cornmeal salt, oil and mint.  Mix on medium speed until a soft dough is formed.  Remove to well-floured surface.  Knead 10-12 times until texture is smooth.  Cover dough with a kitchen towel and let rest for 20 minutes.

 Roll dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness. Using cookie cutters that are bone shapes, cut out the biscuits.

 Place 1/2 inch apart on parchment lined baking sheets.

Brush the biscuits with the beaten egg and water mixture.

Bake at 400 degrees for 30-50 minutes, depending on the size of cookie cutters you used, until lightly browned. Turn oven off and keep biscuits inside for another 30 minutes to crisp. Remove, cool and store in plastic bags.

Your dog will not only love you for these treats, but he will also have fresh, minty breath!



Birthday Breakfast and Concert

Anna Lyn's birthday is actually Dec. 20, but Joy and I celebrated it a bit early with a birthday breakfast in early December.

Joy made the cutest, most delicious individual omelets, full of vegetables and meat!

On her actual birthday, Reba and I went with her to the beautiful Covington Library to hear erwilian, a Renaissance Musical group that plays a wonderful assortment of instruments!

There are 5 musicians.  One man plays a variety of percussion instruments, two men play different stringed instruments such as the guitars, mandolin, viola and the mountain dulcimer, as well as the bodhran.   The woman plays a recorder, the mountain dulcimer, and the larger hammer dulcimer.  The young man plays the other smaller hammer dulcimer, the xylophone, the celesta (the instrument that plays the Sugar Plum Fairy dance in the Nutcracker Suite), the marimba, the melodica and the recorder.  Not only ONE recorder, but TWO recorders at the same time!  He was absolutely amazing!  They all were! Someone played an auto harp as well.  Very beautiful music! 

It made for a great evening out to celebrate the birthday of a great friend :-}

 

Happy Birthday, Anna Lyn!

Family Christmas

This past Sunday brought us all together for a time of Christmas Cheer!

Love these times together :-}

Santa: The Early Years

This very short video (since the last one was sooooo long) is one that I made from http://www.animoto.com/  They offer free 30 second videos, or a cheap annual basic subscription or more expensive annual professional one, both for unlimited videos.   I have the middle one.

Thanksgiving 2011

I am truly posting another SmileBox........ not a scam, though family may be the only ones interested in it :-}

This free photo slideshow created with Smilebox