RURAL MISSOURI

 

Doesn't this old Victorian have potential?

We passed it today in a little town we

visited north of our area.  It is in Monroe,

Missouri.

This was not a good sign that the antique

place had a for sale sign on the door.

The local Ben Franklin does a huge business

in this little town selling cotton quilting fabrics.  There are tables with unbolted calicos.  Rural ladies come from all around to purchase fabric for their quilts.

And lots of corn which I thought

looked pretty poor compared to

other years:

REST IN PEACE

 

My heart is heavy because of

the horrible decisions concerning

the handling of our nations departure

 from Afghanistan.  Please pray

for the civilians who have stayed to

continue to try and get people out.

ZINNIAS HANDLE THE HEAT for "Tea In The Garden"

 I was hoping by now to have set up many more little "Tea In The Garden" photo shoots but August has been really hot.  I did

go out earlier and set a tea cart up

in front of some zinnias.

Last year I got some seeds from

a landscaped area in a subdivision

nearby.  At the end of the summer they

were looking pretty ugly and I knew

the company they hired would be

replacing them with chrysanthemums

like they usually do.

We are in need of some soaking rain.

Early this summer my husband moved this

arbor to the side fence so now the

 bittersweet is growing up it nicely.

As you can see, our yard is not flat but

has hills every direction.

This yellow plant is a Missouri

native wildflower called Rudbeckia

 and is in the Coneflower family.

A MORNING VISITOR

 

As I was enjoying my morning coffee

today I also spied a visitor to our yard.

We have a huge cedar in the very

back and there he sat on a limb!

I hope your summer is going well.  We

are praying for our nation and the decisions

being made by our present government.

This is a very concerning time.

We have had a very hot week and I need

to spend 2 full days in the garden dealing

with weeds but will wait hoping for

a little cooler weather.

OLD ORIGINAL BOOKBINDER'S APPLE WALNUT PIE for "Tea In The Garden"

 We have had some apples on our kitchen counter for far too many days.  Today I thought I better do something with them.  I have been trying some recipes from an old Victoria cookbook that was published in 1997 called "Sweet Baking".

This pie is different than the usual apple

pie because it has a lot of sour cream in it.

I set a little tea table up out on the deck

off the kitchen:

Here is the cookbook I used from the

days when Victoria was owned by

Hearst Publishing:

I think I would add raisins to this recipe

and a little less sour cream.

The original restaurant from the 1800's 

is gone but Bookbinder's now produces

other products.

And oh my - we need some rain:

AUGUST IS FLYING BY AND OHIO TEA ROOMS

 August is flying by and fall will be here

before we know it.  I am so excited to

find that the church we attend will be

having it's first tea for ladies this fall.

August 21st we are meeting at a restaurant

to begin making plans and I was invited

to help. Of course I can help!

  When we

lived in Colorado many of the

churches in Colorado Springs had

teas for the women.

I share a collage today of some of my

2021 summer bouquets.  They bring me

so much joy as my garden is ever changing!

I love my new TEA TIME MAGAZINE

and if you live in Northern Ohio you will

love the tea rooms they feature in your

area:

These tea rooms are the type I love with

charm and comfort:  Quintealia's Tea Room in Burton, Sisters Tea Room in Mentor, Piccadilly Parlour Victorian Tearoom in Canfield, Macaron Tea Room in Woodere and Miss Molly's Tea Room in Medina,  Clementine's Victorian Restaurant in

 Omlsted Falls.

LITTLE WOMEN RECIPE BOOK for "Tea In The Garden"

Welcome to a "Little Women

Tea In The Garden":

A darling cookbook I ordered recently came in the mail. It was published in 2019 and I was reminded why I love this type of cookbook.  I adore cookbooks that are historical and those that feature recipes to do with classic books and movies.

Have you seen any of the Little Women movies?  I have at least three.  I prefer the one with Winona Ryder in it but enjoy them all. I feel I need to actually read the book because

I can see from the cookbook that there is of course much more to enjoy about the March family than what is presented on the screen.

So The Little Women Cookbook by Wini Moranville is really sweet. Many of you will remember when Amy March said that Pickled Limes were all the rage at school and her sister Meg felt sorry for her. She gave Amy the rag money so that she could buy some to trade or give away with friends.

 

"Amy's Pickled Lime Sugar Cookies"

suggests you purchase a market sugar

cookie mix and add the icing.  I took my own sugar cookie recipe and reduced the quantity.

 So here is the recipe I made for todays "Tea in the Garden".

Sugar Cookie Base 

if you want homemade:

makes 2 Dz medium cookies

1 stick butter - 1/2 cup , 1/2 tsp vanilla, 2 med eggs, 1 3/4 cup sifted flour, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 tsp cream of tartar, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt

I prefer to roll this out and cut it with a medium size scone cutter or round cutter

Bake 375 degrees for about 8 minutes

in a regular oven or 7 1/2 convection

Cool completely and then ice

Icing here:

1 1/2 Tb butter unsalted/soft, 1 1/2 Cup confectioners sugar, 4 1/2 tsp lime juice. 1 1/2 tsp grated lime zest, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, little milk if need to thin, green food coloring, 8 small jellied line green candies sliced into 4 pieces each

I could not find the lime slices but found something else that worked....be flexible right?

I hope this has been fun and I would suggest it for a tea time with little girls or teens

and especially with a "Little Women" tea themed party.

Late note: Now I am in therapy twice a week

and will be doing exercises three times a day.

As you may be surprised to see this post and

me out setting it up - I am not one to sit but

I am moving slow and easy!

COMFORTING BREAD PUDDING

 Certain foods just evoke comfort and bring wonderful and familiar smells to the kitchen.

Today I baked a simple Bread Pudding and will share the recipe here.  I think you might already have these ingredients on hand.

Apple, Pecan, Maple, Raisin

and Cinnamon Bread Pudding

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and bake for 30 minutes in a convection oven or longer in a regular oven and serves around 8 in a 

8 x 8 butter greased metal or pyrex pan

2 apples peeled and chopped and sautéed till tender in a pan with 1 stick of butter (1/2 cup), combined with 2 tsp cinnamon and 1 tsp maple extract, 1 cup milk, 2 large or 3 medium eggs, 4 cups of torn small bread slices, 1 cup brown sugar and 1 cup chopped pecans and 1/2 cup raisins

So now you have a simple dessert!

I did not have any regular bread so I used

(2) two day old rolls, a thick sliced of day old homemade bread and some raisin bread slices combined making 4 cups of pieces of bread.

...yes, I still added 1/2 cup raisins

If you don't have any apples - no problem!  You could use peaches, plums, etc and you

only need to melt the butter but not saute them  

COMPANY FOR A WEEK

 Last Sunday (7/25) we enjoyed the

arrival of some house guests who

are lifelong friends.

We took our friends to the usual

places like shopping, going to 

Osage Beach to the Yankee Peddler 

Tea Room and visiting the Churchill 

Museum in Fulton, Missouri.

This is the house in Fulton that

houses the offices for the

Churchill Institute.

To understand about Winston Churchill's

visit to Fulton, Missouri in 1946

PLEASE CLICK HERE!

The museum is housed in

the basement of the rebuilt

Church of St Mary Aldermanburg.

Read about it here!

As we entered the museum we received a 

history lesson from our guide below:

I was reminded on the tour of

several things Hitler did in Germany

after he became a leader.  He brainwashed

the young people and formed Youth

Organizations to indoctrinate them with his

values of hate for the Jewish people.  He burned past history, Bibles and

books to rewrite and erase and he took away

the guns so people could not defend

or protect themselves.

 

This was an actual display

piece of the

Berlin Wall outside:

We enjoyed our visit with our

friends, John and Lou Ann:

 

 On one day this week,  the men went to

several car museums while we went

shopping and antiquing.  I really 

enjoyed cooking and baking for our

guests and yes we still have some

leftovers in the freezer!