Daffs for Dad...

Spring is in the air... granted, here in the Northeast, it's still pretty chilly, but Spring is definitely brewing... I can finally see grass... brown instead of green, but no snow... bulbs are starting to push through the ground and buds are forming on the trees... the days are getting longer and the birds are getting busy.

It's only a matter of time before my attention turns to the great outdoors and all my indoor projects go on the back burner... So, before Spring fever takes a hold of me, I decided to start painting the kitchen cabinets... I've taken them all down and removed the hardware, and so, I am now committed to the task ahead... it's going to be a long and arduous one, but it has to be done... Wish me luck, chaps!

Anyhoo, before I get elbow-deep in paint, I thought I'd just pop in to let you know why I'm not posting as frequently, and, also, to share my Friday Flower.

Daffodils... the epitome of Spring... This week, my flower is dedicated to my Dad, as this past Thursday was his birthday. I won't go into details, but his story is an amazing one of survival against the odds... Each year that we celebrate his birthday, I always say, 'you've made it to see the daffodils for another year'... You did it again Dad! Love you!
Wishing you all a very happy and healthy weekend!
Take care.
Lx

If you would like to join in with this week's Friday Flower, simply use the linky widget below to link to your lovely blooms...

I ♥ hearts...

This past Valentine's Day, I felt inspired by all the blogs out there making paper heart decorations and so, I decided to snip some out myself and string them across the headboard in our bedroom... As I strung the little hearts over our marital bed, I smiled to myself, thinking it was like dressing the bed up for the bride and groom on their wedding night... not that anyone did that for us, but I imagine that this could happen...

Anyhoo, I was quite taken by the sight of those little hearts dangling above us as our heads hit the pillow... hearts mean 'love'... and, with this physical reminder staring us in the face, I figured that if they were always there, then we could never go to bed angry with each other... this little cue would tell us, 'hey you're in love'...

So, this past weekend, I dragged out the sewing machine and created a more permanent string of hearts. As I'm still a novice at this sewing game, I spent an inordinate amount of time cutting out the 'perfect' heart ... and that was supposed to be the easy part... well, in hind sight, I guess it was, because then came the sewing...

Now, sewing the perfect heart has proved a little elusive to me, but I'm always preaching to my girls 'practice makes perfect'... and, I have to admit, towards the end of this little exercise, I was getting a little more proficient in the old heart sewing...
There was one lesson learnt... the opening for turning should be left at the bottom... well, in my case anyway, as my dodgy hand-sewing led to some bumpy hearts... But, who ever said the road to love was smooth??

Hope you're all having a great start to the week. Toodle pip!
Lx

Shared at A Beach Cottage - Good Life Wednesday, nip over for inspiration and a lovely yarn from Sarah.

Say it with flowers...

Flowers... I wonder, when the first flower was given as a gift?? Flowers are given to express so many emotions... whether it be love, sympathy, congratulations, or a thank you. The simple act of giving this delicate bloom can convey it all... and, let's face it, there's no such thing as a bad flower (unless it's dead)... Granted, some flowers are considered passe or unimaginative, but each in their own right is beautiful... I mean, they have to be, after all they are the reproductive organs of a plant... their beauty is there to attract that passing insect... but, hey, we won't go there, as the act of giving reproductive organs as a gift just becomes plain weird...

Anyhoo, this past Valentine's, the hubby came home with this wonderful bouquet, and it just spoke to me... metaphorically, that is, not literally (although after the few glasses of wine I'd drunk, who knows). This bouquet told me that this man knows me well... knows that I love the natural look (green filler... no idea what it is but love it),  a little traditional (in the form of a rose), a little different (as an orchid), and something a little showy (the Gerber daisy). This bouquet told me that my man gets me and all the facets of my personality. Flowers really can say it all...

This week, I would like to dedicate my Friday Flower to Lou, who writes the beautiful blog Lou, Boos and Shoes. I never miss a post. I find myself nodding along to her insightful words... sometimes, I almost feel as though she were writing on behalf of me, as though she has insider knowledge of my life and, not only are we treated to her wonderful prose, but we can then sit back and swoon over the beautiful pictures that sync with her posts perfectly.

This week, I was also lucky to receive a a voucher for Belle and Boo from Lou (I feel I should be writing a rhyming ditty now)... yeah, little old me actually won something... Thank you, Lou, for hosting the competition but, most of all, thank you for putting together a perfect blog! If you haven't visited Lou yet, pop over... savour her words and absorb the pictures.

Have a great weekend all.
Lx

 If you would like to join in with this weeks Friday Flower, simply use the linky widget below to link to your flower post and then post a link to this page. 

Blogging & friendship...

When I first jumped into this blogging malarkey, I don't know what I expected of it, or for that matter, why I was doing it... I'd been reading blogs for a while and I guess I just wanted to join in... wanted to create, write... document my life... stop and smell the coffee (or tea, in my case)... Life is there, happening every day on your doorstep and all too often, we close the door on it. Letting it slip by without even a mention... but the simple act of recording life's daily events makes us slow down, linger on an image viewed through once-tired eyes... it was all there before, but there was never a reason to capture it, a reason to preserve these precious times...

When I was very little, I found a four-leaved clover on the lawn (we didn't maintain the grass too well). I plucked it from the ground and placed it in our huge leather-bound family dictionary and it is still there to this day. You can open that book today and that memory of lying on the grass on a hot summer's day is right there somewhere in the middle of a musty old page... probably around the letter M's... and that is how I feel about this blog... one day I read these entries and be taken back these happy days...

Anyhoo, this blog has now become so much more than a record of my life... it has brought me something very dear... friendship... Friendship from people I will probably never meet, other than in 'Blogland'... but, nevertheless, I feel the warmth of their friendship, as though it were the sun streaming through my windows. It can be in the form of an e-mail to check how I am or some encouraging words posted in a comment... but, today, friendship came in a parcel...

The lovely Melissa, who writes Miss Sew and So, sent a parcel for me and my girls for Christmas via snail mail... it landed on my doorstep today... So, beautifully-wrapped, I welled up at the sheer thoughtfulness of it... even if it had been an half-eaten Mars bar in there, it wouldn't have mattered (for the record, it wasn't... it was a box of loveliness)...

I cannot express enough gratitude... this random act of kindness tells me that friendship can cross an ocean... can be gained via an exchange of words in an e-mail or merely a comment at the end of a post...

When I first corresponded with the sweet Melissa, I mentioned that she was like a modern day pen-friend, and the beauty of this blog is that I feel I can now say I have so many pen-friends... fortunate for you guys, though, you don't have to endure my awful written French!
Take care all, and, if you get a chance, pop over to Melissa, and just tell her how wonderful she is...

Lx

A Valentine's birthday...

So, yesterday, when the majority were concerned with amore and matters of the heart, my focus was on my nearest and dearest (the hubby), as he shares his birthday with Valentine's Day. So, while all others are receiving flowers and being pampered by their loved ones, I become the pamperer, and all thoughts of Valentine's were swept aside... Okay, so maybe there were a smattering of hearts...

... starting with the 6:00 a.m. wake-up to bake cookies for my daughter's Valentine's party at school. As the hubby rubbed the sleep from his eyes and poured his morning coffee, his only comment was, 'Now that's a dedicated mummy'... no, that's a crazy mummy!

Anyhoo, cookies baked and daughter packed off to school, I then set about preparing a birthday meal for my man. Now, once upon a time, we would have hit the restaurants, but, after years of being squeezed shoulder-to-shoulder with other loved-up couples, presented with a prix fix menu (with obligatory glass of champers), and a nice fat bill at the end of it, we decided to ditch the restaurant and have a blow out meal at home... this also solved the problem that no one is up for babysitting on Valentine's night.

So, ingredients brought, I then foolishly decided to bake a birthday cake with girls... this was after we had made a glitter card, and so, said cake had a nice unhealthy amount of red glitter added to it (you know how hard it is to clean up glitter?? I think I'll still be finding it next Valentine's).
Needless to say, after the candle-blowing, the wish-making, and the frosting being licked off the cake, the rest went into the bin (garbage)...

... kids packed off to bed and then down to adult matters... those being food-related (nothing saucy here; it's a kid-friendly blog... you never know who's reading)... I'd decided to cook a man's meal of steak (such a cliche, I know, but it is his favourite)... as I don't eat red meat, I have no idea how to cook steak, so when the hubby stuck his knife in (the steak, not me), it practically mooed. Luckily, I'd doused it in lashings of Stilton sauce. He was very polite, though, and said 'That's just how I like my steak'... not sure if that was a lie... but anyhoo, it made him look very manly... with the blood dripping from his chin, I was taken away to the Brad Pitt vampire movie....

With dinner cooked, eaten, and cleared away, I slumped into the couch at 9:30 realising that I had not sat down all day. A far cry from the days of being pampered... hand fed chocolate-dipped strawberries while sipping Dom Perignon ... wait a minute, that never happened...
Anyhoo, I hope you all had the day that you wished for...  strangely, I did!
Lx

Today's post is also linked up with Sarah at A Beach Cottage - Good Life Wednesday head over for some truly inspiring posts.

Don't be fooled...

This past week, I sat in my living room... the sun was streaming through the windows... the paperwhite bulbs I have growing in planters on the desk were shooting up.. the birds were busy in the garden and the world just appeared that little bit brighter. I was on the phone to my mum and she too remarked that her garden was full of snowdrops... So, without stepping a foot outside, I decided it was Spring.
Gathered the girls up and left the warmth of home...

... and I was greeted by an icy blast... you know, the sort where you feel you could lose an appendage if you knocked into something... as the kids meandered around inside the car, I (outside in the cold, dressed for Spring) hopped from one foot to another, geeing them along, pleading with them to get into their car seats...QUICKLY!!

Winter is definitely still in full effect... granted, the snow has stopped, but there'll be no Spring bunnies hopping around yet... I guess I'd just got caught up in the moment and forgot that it is still February, after all...

Anyhoo, I'm not a girl to sit and accept things, so I figured I would create a little Spring here in the house... well, when I say 'create Spring', I actually mean I brought some Spring-like branches for the Friday Flower this week... I'm not sure what they are, but to me they ooze Spring... and so, I can sit here in my warm house, watch the birds, feel the sun, and pretend that Spring is here! Now, where's that bunny with my Cadbury's Mini Eggs?
Wishing you all a fantastic weekend... with just the right amount of warmth in it!
Lx

If you want to join in with this week's Friday Flower, just use the linky widget below... You know, flowers are a good cure for Winter blues...

An English Gal's Mexican Eggs...

So, this past Sunday was 'Superbowl Sunday'... now, as far as I can ascertain (in my house, anyway), this just means that we eat all day, and then watch American football. Breakfast was light (just a muffin), but we decided to push the boat out and eat brunch. I've got to say, brunch was something that passed me by in the UK. I was a breakfast, dinner, tea gal ('tea' being 'dinner' and 'dinner' being 'lunch'...get me? Nevermind, it's a northern thing)... every now and then, I would succumb to the old tummy rumblings and have 'Elevenses'... usually some bickies (cookies) or a pastry, but that's about as close as I got to brunch. On my arrival in the States, I found myself meeting people for 'brunch'... this newfound mealtime, where you could have either breakfast or lunch... or, in my mind, you could eat more and sleep in!

Anyhoo, originally, my favourite brunch dish was Eggs Benedict... the poached eggs then gradually gave way to Mexican Eggs... I then messed about with the ingredients at home, and 'Laura's Mexican Eggs' were born.

They always go down a treat... especially on lazy Sunday mornings.. There's quite a few ingredients in this dish, but it's worth it and, as it's lunch and breakfast, I think you can get away with it. So, this up and coming weekend, with romance in the air, why not dish up this sizzling treat to your loved one?... after all, apparently if you win over the stomach, you get the heart!

Take care all.
Lx

A Recipe for Mexican Eggs

Ingredients

mini tater tots or any fried potato product (two servings... you be the judge)

a handful of tortilla chips (I use multi grain)

1/2 a 15oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup of grated cheddar

1 avocado, sliced

2 scallions, chopped

black bean & corn salsa (you can use regular salsa)

4 heaped teaspoons of sour cream

1 small carton of grape tomatoes, cut in half

1/4 cup of cilantro (coriander), chopped

4 eggs (I personally have one, but the hubby has two)

Method
Cook the tater tots (of other potato product like this... sauteed potatoes, potato crowns, mini hash browns etc.) as per the manufacturers instructions. Transfer to a oven proof dish.

Add the chips, black beans, scallions, avocado, chopped cilantro (reserve a small amount for garnish), and tomatoes, and cover with the grated cheddar.  Pop under the grill (broiler), until the cheese has melted and is bubbling...

While the dish is in the broiler, poach the eggs. To poach the eggs;  bring a medium size pan of water to boil. Add a tablespoon of vinegar to the water. When the water is bubbling gently, crack the egg into a small ramekin or bowl, gently slide the egg from the bowl into the water. (I use the freshest eggs, as these keep their shape better). Poach gently for  2 minutes for a runny yolk. Remove the eggs, one at a time, from water with a slotted spoon. I usually place on a plate and cover with a bowl to keep the eggs warm if they are ready before the dish is ready, but in an ideal world, they'll be ready at the same time!

Once the potato mixture has been removed from the grill, transfer it from the ovenproof dish onto warm plates. Add the poached eggs on top of each plate. Season with pepper and a sprinkling of the chopped cilantro. Add a couple of teaspoons (or more if you fancy) of the sour cream and the salsa.

Enjoy!

Shared at A Beach Cottage Good Life Wednesday, pop over for some inspiration!

Running with the pack...

When a friend first told me about blogging, I was a bit baffled by it... who would be interested in reading about someone else's day-to-day life? Years later, I sat at home nursing my newborn, and I suddenly felt very isolated and alone... I felt I no longer had a voice or anything else to offer society... That was when I first made my blog entry. My electronic diary... That was back in the dark days, when I was learning to be a mother in a foreign country... dealing with the overwhelming feeling of homesickness, coupled with the raging hormones of a new mother... I only made a handful of entries and, reading back on them, I can feel my loneliness...

Fast forward a few years and another baby later and, this time, I felt I wanted to share again... but it would be more positive this time around, as I had a life and ideas I wanted share... and so, 'A Place for Tea' was born... and I don't think I have ever looked back.
Through this blog, I have met some amazing individuals... People who inspire me, encourage me, and make me look at things in a different light. I feel I can rise to any challenge... these virtual friends are right there, running alongside me... they pick me up and brush me off when I am feeling low. They encourage me in all my endeavours, no matter how trivial. They share their ideas and want nothing in return, other than friendship. Through this blog I feel that I am running in a pack again...

Thank you...

And, with this in mind, I would dedicate my Friday Flower to a like to a lady named Cindy Sue. She writes a blog called My Craftiness Only Dollar Store Allowed. After reading her comment one day, I popped over to her blog and was instantly won over by the openness in her profile. She has just started her blog, documenting her craft projects on a $20 a month budget. I love the idea of that! I'm looking forward to seeing what she conjures up... I'm already planning on stealing her 'To Plant - Pin Board with Pockets'...

Anyhoo, if you get a chance, pop over. We could all do with a little encouragement so we feel we're running with the pack!

Have a great weekend, all!
Lx

If you would like to link up with this weeks Friday Flower, just use the linky widget below to link to your flower post.

For the love of books...

I love books... I dream of a day when I can have a whole room dedicated to them... floor to ceiling bookshelves... it doesn't have to be a big room... I envisage one like the one here from Iris's house in 'The Holiday'... Oh, to dream...
Anyhoo, in anticipation of getting said room, I just can't resist buying pretty books to adorn the shelves. Now, don't judge, it's not all about aesthetics, I love to read them, too. Although, I did read a lot more prior to the little ones joining me. These days though, my literary exploration is limited to the latest Julia Donaldson offering (at the moment, the kids are in love with 'The Wizard and the Princess'... I have to say I'm quite partial to it, too)...

Where was I? Ahh, yes, books... so, last year when I was browsing through Anthropolgie, my eye immediately locked onto the stack of pretty books on an oh-so-beautiful-table.
Penguin Classics had brought out hardback versions of their classics... all prettied up with a clothbound cover designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith.... Needless to say, my heart skipped a beat and these were promptly added to my 'Wish List' (you know, the one as big as the Magna Carta).

Then I went to England and found that there were even more titles in the series... double skip, clicking heals in joy... So, over the course of the year, my hubby and various family members have helped me build this collection up...

They are all good fodder for the old brain and are pretty to look at too... I'm currently ploughing through 'Tess of the D'urbervilles'...  and it's so nice to revisit these old classics without having to write an essay afterwards... I'm not sure whether Penguin will keep releasing new titles with this make-over. I hope they do... I'd love to see Evelyn Waugh's 'Vile Bodies' or 'Brideshead Revisited'... especially after the success surrounding 'Downtown Abbey'...

... and, so my question to you is, which classic would you like to see prettied up? Come on lurkers, I'd love to hear from you!
Lx