Hudson, NY

For our wedding anniversary, Mr. Spice and I drove to New York state for a weekend break. Being bibliophiles we headed to the used book store on the tourist map right away, and breathed deeply of the bookish fragrance inside.

If it hadn’t been raining, we would have taken advantage of this lovely outdoor area behind the shop. I was amazed to discover a memoir by Mary Higgins Clark- thanks, Rodgers Book Barn!

Once in Hudson, we perused antique shops, indulged at the chocolate bar (Verdigris Tea Café & Bakery), ate truck food and restaurant food, and picked up a tremendous poetry magazine, Ruminate.

It’s easy to take unusual photos when props like this one are plentiful! 

Paris & Card #37

As I created a third card with a photo taken in Paris, I wondered why I’d never posted about the city? In my excitement to create many cards last year, I just grabbed random photos, but now that I’m a bit more organized, I’m trying to created themed posts of cards (stay tuned for fruits and veggies!). Last year, cards of Notre Dame Cathedral, along with the exterior of the Musee de l'Armée were featured.

We were in Paris four years ago for just a few days, and crammed in as much as possible while attempting to not run ourselves ragged (aided by outstanding meals and chocolate croissants). Recommended ideas for tourists include a river cruise, in the evening if possible.

A day trip to Versailles is easy by train, though it’s not essential for first-timers on a tight schedule, in my opinion. When I first saw this room during my junior year abroad, I thought it was a ballroom. Come to find out, it’s just a hallway! My entire house would fit into less than half of this hallway…

Artists with a phenomenal backdrop! When booking a hotel, I get travel guides from the library to learn about neighborhoods and transportation options, read reviews on tripadvisor.com and make a chart to compare my favorites (free breakfast?, special package deals, etc.). We preferred the Musee d’Orsay over the Louvre, and also benefitted from taking the hop-on-hop-off bus tour around town to Sacre Coeur and other neighborhoods. Do you have a favorite Parisian location to share?

Road Trip

Instead of a speedy flight with hefty airfares to visit family last summer, we drove nearly half-way across the country. The weather was mostly cooperative, with nice views like this:

At one rest stop in upstate NY, a dairy farm was clearly discernable for those of us whose noses knew that fragrance. A child from another car said, “ewww, Mom, that smells so gross!”. Well, if you want milk, butter and ice cream from cows that’s what comes along with the air near them!

We stopped briefly at Niagara Falls, but didn’t spend enough time in the area to warrant an entire post (second time there for each of us, so we didn’t go to every section). Very majestic, and highly recommended.

And here we are, watching freshly made donuts rolling by…yummy! We also had excellent pastries at a grocery store in Ohio, and would frankly recommend grocery stores as an excellent alternative to restaurants at rest stops. There are always decent restrooms in grocery stores, and more often than not, healthier food choices, such as salad bars, small(er) and cheaper sandwiches, soups, etc.

Do you have any road trip advice? I got a bag of magazines from the library so I could read a few pages while Mr. Spice drove, and at staggering savings from the purchase price of all of the magazines!

Cards #34, 35, and 36 (nature and tomato)

I’ve fallen behind in the card challenge, but hope you’ve enjoyed the cookie posts! I jumped up and down when I saw this door in Hudson, NY. Leaning propped against a brick wall covered with ivy, what a perfect shot. Where would you like this door to bring you?

This cabin at Squam Lake in NH looks ideally situated among the trees by the water. No, it’s not mine! Just a lovely, dreamy photo…

I posted these lovies last year, but had extra prints made to share via greeting cards.

I finally organized the new drawers that were installed as part of the post-flood basement renovation, so I am ready to proceed with the card per week challenge.

Card #33 (fabric)

I’m back on the greeting card challenge, ready to try some new ideas. Those of you who cut cloth regularly know that ordinary scissors can’t get the job done well, but I just made that discovery. I thought it would be clever to cut cloth shapes for greeting cards, but may stick to cutting paper instead! Good thing I had “snips” on hand from a previously jewelry making class... it took way more effort to create heart shapes than I had anticipated. The white one is made of paper.

I also learned that adhering cloth to paper cards may result in warped paper if the card stock isn’t very thick, even using a minimal amount of glue. For the next card, I will try a layer of cloth-decorated cardstock (slightly warped) adhered to a plain card with traditional tape runner. OR I can figure out if there are other adhesives to use with cloth on paper…

I’ve been preparing post cards for the fun of it, in anticipation of next April’s National Letter Writing Month. I’m not counting the postcards towards this 52 week challenge, but here’s a sneak peek of the pile of altered cards I’ve been grinning over:

Cookies!

Wow, have I been baking! Thanks to Pioneer Woman, I discovered this stupendous recipe for sugar cookies at Bake at 350 

Just thrilled that the dough doesn’t need to be chilled before rolling out. Yummy! Here they are in several formats!       

Fancy cookies! I couldn’t resist the circular cutters with space for the jam to show through. Here’s how I made the dough from Bake at 350 (what a fun blog name) by substituting whole wheat flour for part of the recipe:

Cream 1 cup sugar and 2 sticks of butter. Add 1 egg. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla and ¾ teaspoon almond extract and 1 teaspoon water. Add 2 teaspoons baking powder and 2 cups white flour plus 1 cup whole wheat flour. Roll out, cut the cookies, and bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until they are lightly browned.

Use any red jam (I also love peach jam with these cookies) on the bottom layer, then top with punched cookie. At first I was annoyed with myself for forgetting to dust confectioner's sugar on the tops before placing them on the jam, but was pleasantly surprised that the sugar just absorbed into the jam so it was fine to put the top onto the jam, then dust with sugar.

Assembly line! Chocolate chip cookies were per package directions, peanut butter cookies were fairly boring to photograph…here is the recipe for chocolate no-bake cookies

And here we go, out the door! Do you have any favorite holiday cookie recipes?

Tarragon Rosemary Chicken Mushroom Soup

Do you ever feel suddenly inspired to cook a certain dish? Today on the way home from the library, I had a hankering for soup and concluded that it had to be a certain recipe that I hadn’t prepared in at least a year. Thankfully, I had all the ingredients on hand!

This recipe was obtained from a restaurant server who got it scribbled from the chef…the restaurant no longer serves the soup and I modified it- here’s my version:

Sautee chopped onions in butter, add mushrooms. Quantities to your choice- suggest a couple of tablespoons of butter, about 1/3 cup onions, 1 or more cups mushrooms. Set aside onion mixture. Heat 2 tablespoons of butter, and once it's melted, add one tablespoon whole wheat flour. Once flour is absorbed, add another tablespoon of flour. Allow flour to warm but stay nearby to avoid burning. Gradually add 1 1/3 cups chicken stock (I added about 1/3 cup at a time, stirring to incorporate flour). Once stock mixture has warmed up, add 1 cup skim milk*. Add ½ teaspoon tarragon, ¼ teaspoon rosemary, and salt/pepper to taste. Add about 4 ounces of cooked & shredded chicken. Add the sauteed onions and mushrooms. If you are slightly crazy like me, add 4 or so ounces of chopped cooked chestnuts.

I can’t remember if I’ve ever added boiled & cubed potatoes to this soup in the past, but I may try that next time. I can’t believe the original recipe called for garlic powder, which I don’t own. By the time I saw it listed on the card with the herbs, I’d already prepared the onions and mushrooms…note to self: add fresh garlic to the onions at the beginning! That said, this soup is so fragrant and rich, it is actually wonderful without any garlic.

* of course, the original recipe calls for cream!

I never provided an update on the watermelon saga in our garden (bites stolen by 4 legged critters)- here is the one successful melon that grew to softball size.