New Year's Eve at Foodie Friday

Happy New Year, Foodies!

 

Mister and Zap have been very ill this week, and I have been back and forth to the vet. I hope a wordless Foodie Friday will suffice because I'm too bummed to write. Be sure to leave a message and tell everyone your foodie resolutions for 2012. Or tell us why you selected this particular recipe for this week's Foodie Friday.  

To add your link, click on the blue Inlinkz icon. Please not that it can take a little while for your image to process. If you've come to peruse the holiday dishes, I wish you happy recipe hunting and Happy Holidays!

A Foodie Friday Christmas

Twas the night before Foodie Friday,

and all through blogland, 
cooks set their tables with care.

The dishes were placed on tables with a plan,
in hopes that none would show dust, thumbprints
or even wild cat hairs.

The napkins were all nestled in bows and beads . . .
while dust motes danced and dazzled over their heads.

I love any kind of Christmas dish--edible or otherwise--but I especially love the ones that tell a story. The dishes in today's tablescape illustrate "The Christmas Poem." The pattern is "A Christmas Story" by Portmeirion, and each plate is embellished with artist Susan Winget's inimitable flair.

I've gathered a few festive ideas for you today:

Beribboned sugar cookies 

Iced gingerbread stars stacked in a muffin cup.

A tablescape with roses and greenery.

A magical gingerbread house.

Gingerbread girls.

And a simple from-the-yard addition to a napkin ring.

Be sure to leave a message and tell us what you cooked today for Foodie Friday. Don't forget to describe your recipe! What did you love about your dish? To add your link, click on the blue Inlinkz icon. Please not that it can take a little while for your image to process. If you've come to peruse the holiday dishes, I wish you happy recipe hunting and Happy Holidays!

Foodie Friday

Today was a Wuthering Heights sort of day, so after I finished my work for the afternoon, I pulled out the New Old House file and made notes about our kitchen-to-be, so I can be prepared when I meet with our general contractor. The room is u-shaped and the island is so big, I can play tag with Dr. G.

My present island gets a lot of use (abuse), but it is also chunky and offers minimal storage. Sometimes it feels like a blockade.

But if you are a foodie and a closet designer, kitchen decisions aren't simple. For the new old house, I may or may not move the island to the laundry room (somehow--and hope there's wood beneath it) as a folding area, and I'll add a farm table with chairs in the kitchen.

Or I could add a freestanding island (Crate and Barrel). True, antique reproductions cost more, and this CB island is not budget-friendly. Since it's also smallish, or appears to be, I might need two. But will I need two sets of pendants? And size could be tricky.

If I'm truly sold on this idea (less storage vs openness), I'll hunt for alternatives.

In the above photo, the island is shown with two black pendant lights.

And here, below, no lighting (that I can see).

And here we see one pendant, also from Crate and Barrel. It looks like one would work for this table (4.5' X 2'), and it also looks like a plunger. It's scary how setting and scale affects lighting: 

All photos from Crate and Barrel

Here's the marble island from the film It's Complicated:

Two pendants. Two lovebirds.
And lots of sealer for the marble! But not too much or the marble will get cloudy.
I love the way this kitchen (below) looks like it belongs to a Foodie. It's user friendly, relaxed, and it's also charming.

This Foodie Friday, be sure to leave a message and describe your recipe!
To add your link, click on the blue Inlinkz icon. Please not that it can take a little while for your image to process. If you've come to peruse the holiday dishes, I wish you happy recipe hunting.

Foodie Friday

It's been a wild week here at Bald Hill Farm. I'm the head nurse in the Yorkie Hospital, and I'm doing my best to help Zap with his blood glucose, which has been on a roller coaster ride for the past few weeks. My husband accidentally stabbed his finger with the insulin needle, and on impulse, we checked his blood sugar. It was almost as high as Zap's.

(I won't mention Dr. G's weight. Or mine.)

So we started an ADA diet today. I had to take away the poor guy's sugar, Reeses Cups, sweet tea, and Little Debbie Hostess cakes. And he hates Splenda. But I'm confident that we'll get his weight and glucose down.

Tonight I prepared chicken salad and low-cal dressing.

I suppose this is somewhat food related because my granddaughter found Acquainted With the Night, my latest novel, in a North Carolina Harris Teeter. What a cutie! Her parents report that Annabel is a great junior publicist--she even sold a copy!
I've been on a virtual book tour, and I've enjoyed writing guest posts about the science of vampirism. It's not food related, but if you're interested, you can read Jude Barrett's research journal (it isn't in the novel, by the way)online. Just click on The Science of Vampirism. To be sure, I put my RN degree to good use while I figured out the physiology of a vampire.

I've also blogged about the European settings, writing habits, and how Daphne Du Maurier's Manderley influenced the homes (and one vampire mansion) in my fiction.
If you'd like your funny bone tickled, check out the tongue-in-cheek post at Rabid Reads about how to shop for a vampire. Hint: a hot item at Toys-R-US is a talking Dracula doll, who says such phrases as, "Bring me a bat, Renfield" and "Miss Lucy is smokin' hot!"

This review gives good insight into AWTN without giving away any spoilers (after all, it's a thriller and a mystery).

Today my editor at St. Martin's, the divine Jen Enderlin, told me that Gone With a Handsomer Man was selected as one of the best cozy mystery novels of 2011 by Suspense Magazine in their annual round-up. The GWAHM paperback will arrive in stores on Valentine's Day 2012, followed by the sequel, A Teeny Bit of Trouble in April. Here's a peek at the cover--love the white kitchen:

This was one of the inspiration kitchen photos that SMP's cover artist used, but they ended up using another gorgeous white kitchen in the photo shoot.



Thank you so much for stopping by Foodie Friday today. I can't wait to see what everyone has cooked! If you are contributing a recipe to Foodie Friday, click on the blue Inlinkz frog (below) and follow the instructions. If this is your first time to participate in Foodie Friday, or if you aren't sure how to add a permalink, a short tutorial is available. If you are linking a recipe to Foodie Friday, please add the FF button to your post (see below). The button can be found on the sidebar.

Happy Recipe Hunting!

Foodie Friday: Romancing the Crockpot

I have developed a crush on my slow-cooker. I didn't mean for it to happen--in fact, I

resisted the urge to buy another small appliance. However, after reading many Foodie Friday recipes that involved a Crockpot, I caved. (I also bought a bread machine, but that's another story.)

My husband thanks all of you.

He no longer has to stop by the Dipsy Doodle for onion rings and burgers. He can come home to slow-cooked spaghetti, slow cooked cabbage, slow cooked pot roast.

His especial favorite is white beans.

I won't call this a recipe. I just toss ingredients into the cooker, and six hours later, supper is ready.

The Slob's Way to Slow-Cook White Beans

1 bag navy beans

1 ham hock

1.5 cups chopped white onion

1 cup chopped celery

3/4 cup sliced green onions

1 cup chopped green bell pepper

chicken stock

Kielbasa

salt and pepper

Tabasco (optional)

Salt and pepper

Soak beans in water overnight and discard floaters. Drain beans and place them in a slow cooker. Add a ham hock, kielbasa, chopped onions, peppers, and celery. Pour in chicken stock (I used 1 large tub plus 1 can). Season. Cook on high for 3 hours, then reduce temperature to "warm" or simmer.

Serve with cornbread, sliced onions, and apple pie.

This week's news included our upcoming move to a smaller house and farm, along with my ponderings about whether to paint the new kitchen cabinets

white and add subway tile. Here at the farm, Zap, my Yorkie, is doing much better with his diabetes. The vet prescribed Hill's diabetic food, and Zap's blood sugar is more stable (my home cooking was a bust).

Here's a picture of Murphy (left) and Zap (right).

In the book world, my son, Bandwidth, spotted my new novel, Acquainted With the Night, at Publix. Oh, my! This is the first time any of my books have appeared at a supermarket, and he was so thrilled!  

Thank you for stopping by Foodie Friday today. I can't wait to see what everyone has cooked! I hope you have a great week!
If you are contributing a recipe to Foodie Friday, click on the blue Inlinkz frog (below) and follow the instructions. If this is your first time to participate in Foodie Friday, or if you aren't sure how to add a permalink, a short tutorial is available. Happy Recipe Hunting!