An exciting idea

I love food blogs. I have secret dreams of becoming a food blogger. I surreptitiously take photographs of my food sometimes in the hopes of posting them with a recipe and a clever anecdote attached. These dreams never come to fruition for several reasons.
1., The photos turn out ugly. Either poor lighting, a previously unnoticed cluttered background or just plain not-pretty looking food, my photos of food never look as yummy as they taste.
2., I make the mistake of NOT writing down my recipe as I make/invent it. I've been getting better at this, though.
3., I am my own worst critic. Even when food, desserts, baked goods, breakfast, lunches and or dinners I make turn out amazing, I never think it's good enough to share with the world. Or I feel it's too complicated. Or I did some silly thing as a short cut that I just can't admit to...Or explain.
4., I'm really impatient. This one sums it all up. Cakes that would have looked beautiful look like crummy blobs because I couldn't wait for the crumb-coat to chill, and I didn't feel like waiting for the butter cream to warm. Ice cream I was SO eager for, I did not wait for the ice-cream bowl insert to freeze completely before attempting to churn it. Deciding NOT to strain this or that because it probably won't make a difference. (It did.) *sigh* The list goes on and on. And it's amazing, the good results I get when I plan ahead and take the time I give myself to make something. It turns out! It looks good! It tastes great! Why can't I do this more often?!

Anyway. My idea. If I can get over these obstacles, that is. A food blog of a different kind. I mean, there are a lot of them all over the place. Really good ones. But I want mine to be magical. Both enjoying the magic of seasons, which I now am growing to love, and the glory of being able to forage for ones own food in this bountiful state in which I live, but also to take on the aspect of story magic. I've had this idea for a "Fairytale Cook Book" for some time. With gorgeous illustrations and cutesy stories, as well as excerpts from real fiction that feature such food types. And it seems to me that now a-days, so many good cookbooks started as blogs and why not mine? It could be a start, at least. I guess I'll be thinking about it....

Library and Tea shop, amongst other things...Hills, most notably.

When it comes down to it, I really am a flatlander. Florida is flat. It really is. Especially the Keys. They're all at sea level. Well, okay, Key West has a hill which inclines to about 4 feet above sea level....and we think that's something. So when I came to this hill country of New Hampshire, I can't say I was prepared for...well, hills. I rode my bike to the library downtown today. It's about a mile and a half, and a mostly flat ride. Mostly. There are two hills. One going down, one going up. Down is easy! Up killed me. And this is a LITTLE hill, mind you. Exeter, compared to other parts of New Hampshire, is a decently flattish town to the naked eye. It's not until your actually walking or riding a bike that you realize .... "Wow, this here is a HILL." My best guess is that I rode about about two to four feet of slow ascent and then gave up. I got off and walked that blasted bike up. I didn't have enough speed to bring me along (I really couldn't get any speed on my bike, it's a put-put bike) and my legs were in no shape to pump me up. I felt really lame. I guess it didn't help that my tires were pretty low, either...

But on the good side! I got a book to read for when I'm done with The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. (Which is amazing. It's my first read by Steinbeck, but it won't be the last. It was a slow start, but now that I'm into it it's beautiful. He's poetic and illustrative through every sentence. And the people are so real, so feeling.) I got a book called Crown Duel by a Sherwood Smith. Some fantasy novel I've never heard of by someone I've never heard of but it looked interesting. That kinda book. But I love reading. And now that the weather is really warming up, I can sit outside and read. And pure loveliness, it is, my friends.
Another delightful thing is that I splurged on buying some organic Lavender flowers today. An ounce. And I am SO excited about them. I love lavender and I'll be baking spring in to a lot of concoctions now that I have it. Not to mention Lavender Chocolate ice cream...

That's right folks. I now I have an ice cream maker and I'm NOT afraid to use it. Just today in fact, I made some Papaya Ginger Ice Cream and Chocolate Spice-cream (clever name, no?) is in the works. The papaya recipe I developed on my own and the chocolate one I adapted. If they end up turning out delish, I just may post the recipes. I love exploring new flavours and combinations, and ice cream is a great format for a lot of them. It would be fun to turn this blog in to a foodie type one...amongst other things. You know?

Rainy days are here again, hey!

Our short week of gorgeous days has passed. Back to the grey and rainy days of early spring. Yes, that's right spring. The first day of spring arrived beautiful, warm, breezy. How often in New Hampshire does the first day of spring actually feel like spring? Not very often. Two years ago, the first day of spring (My wedding day!) was NOT warm by any stretch of imagination. And besides it being about 15 below, it was very windy. Good thing our wedding was inside!

But speaking of spring, pretty soon things will be blooming. Already I have seen some daffodils unfurl their glory. Which means spring greens will be poking up...And I fully intend to be out foraging them when they do. Dandelions and nettles, chives, too, perhaps. And I'll be planting this year too. I have some seeds I've saved and now is the time to plant! Peppers, cantaloupe and something else...
And maybe the geraniums I planted last year will come back! Does anyone know if those are perennials?

For now I'm very happy to be spending inside time with the rain outside. As an early birthday present my mother-in-law got me an ice cream maker. Ohmygosh I'm so excited to try it out. I'm about to develop a papaya ice cream recipe. But first I have to clean my kitchen. he hee. Better get to it!

Oh beautiful sunshine!

I just finished taking the most delicious nap. Our room has the full effect of the sun on it and it's totally warm enough outside to open the window. The breeze is barely there, but when it is, it's this delicious almost cool one, but never cold. And birds! And their singing! It's really the most gorgeous day in all the world. I feel sorry for people not born yet, because they can't enjoy this amazing weather and this beautiful day.
This sunshine MUST mean that winter is over. The first day of spring is in a few days (my anniversary!) and soon green will be dominating the scene again! Though I am a little bummed that I missed the melting of the snow while John and I were visiting my family in Florida. But the river here in Exeter was crazy high (due to snow run off and the copious amounts of rain combined, probably) and our creek was also overflowing. So perhaps I haven't missed all the glories of the end of winter. Nevertheless, this weather is perfect for any out-door activity and I do believe I'll be going for a walk!

On adjusting to the (seemingly) never ending rain.

Rain. Still.
It boggles me that last year about this time, when we were getting our end of winter/spring rains I was thoroughly depressed by it. I had just moved from Tampa, FL where it was bright, sunny and about 80 degrees, despite it's being March. Weather in Florida changes so quickly. One minute it's thunder-storming and the next it's a breezy sunny day. Sometimes it only rains on one half of our house... It's amazing and gorgeous. New England, however, is very staunch with its weather. Once it gets rainy it *stays* rainy. For days and days and days. Before moving up here, the longest I had gone without seeing sunshine was four days. Four grueling long days after a particularly crazy hurricane and we MISSED it.
So last year, when weeks passed where the sun barely poked its way through a sky of thick, sodden, dark clouds, I kinda freaked out... But this time around... Well, not only do I completely expect it, (I'd be really surprised if the sun showed its face tomorrow) but I've grown to enjoy and appreciate it, in a way. Rarely did we get a full on rain day in the Keys. And even rarer still did we get one when I had a day off to simply enjoy it. Because I do love rain. And thunder storms too. About as much as I love a good smooth and sunny day. Every kind of weather has its perks. I love all of it.
And these past couple days I've been enjoying my tea time and story time. And today I feel particularly inspired. To write or perhaps draw. It's just lovely to spend time indoors while the rain pelts the windows and fills adorable puddles up outside.

Cleaning day.

Today is very grey out. Yesterday too. We just got back from visiting my family in the Florida Keys two days ago. I haven't seen the sun since. This is okay in my book. I like gray rainy days. They're great for sipping hot tea and cozying up with a book. I didn't do this today, though... You see...

I went to back to work yesterday and found out I had no more job. Which is OKAY! Because I'd rather be a housewife anyway. And so today I was. I made a nice breakfast and then cleaned....
And I've been cleaning all day since. We have so much junk and clutter. We've lived here in this nice little apartment for almost a full year now and we STILL have tons of boxes of stuff hanging out. No good, no good! I cleared out one corner of our computer slash everything else room and it took forever. I ought to go out and clean the main area of my home, the dining room, living room and kitchen, because we're having family over for dinner tonight. First, however, I shall have some tea, seeing as the weather DOES call for it. And perhaps I'll make a dessert as well. I really love desserts; both the making and the eating of.

The Beginning

Almost a year ago, we decided it was time to leave. We being my husband John and I, Christiana. We had been living in Tampa for about two years and were sick and tired of it. Key West was out of the financial question and John never liked the heat of Florida any way. He only put up with it for my dear sake. But now we were married and settled and ready to move on. And on to where would we move? you may ask. Well, New Hampshire of course. John's home state. The state in which we were married (oh right, state of bliss, yes.) I never liked Tampa anyway, it was just cheaper to branch out on one's own than the Florida Keys were. And so we pulled out a map.
"Here, here or here." I said. It looked like a nice area. Close-ish to friends we knew. Close-ish to the seashore, close-ish to John's family. Several good churches were also in the area and a community college. We ended up deciding on Exeter. It's gorgeous. I love it.
It was spring. Almost. It was mid-April, really. The trees were still bare and the grass still yellow, but the air was growing warm (not to my tastes, but to others who had experienced a full fledged winter, it was) (to my Florida skin, it was positively freezing)
Then leaves popped out. And flowers really started to bloom. I was going to love this. And I hadn't even experienced a real full New Hampshire winter yet!
Now 'tis a year later. I had my winter and now the air is growing warm (for real this time) and snow is disappearing. I'm ready for spring with the mindset of one who has seen enough snow and cold for the next three seasons. Last year may have been my first year of experiencing seasons, one by one, spring, summer, the glory of fall and the sparkle of winter. But this year I'll truly be seeing them. Looking forward, knowing what they bring and the way they feel.
And oh BOY am I excited!