Sunday, January 31, 2010

Chai Tea Recipe

I found this at Angry Chicken, sounds like it's very good and would make a nice homemade gift.

Chai Concentrate

Published December 1, 2009

MAKES ABOUT 1 1/2 CUPS (ENOUGH FOR 28 CUPS OF CHAI)

Unlike many brands of chai mix, this one includes the sweetener and the milk. All you add is a mug of hot tea.

Ingredients

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Instructions

Empty condensed milk into a jar or plastic container with tight-fitting lid. Stir in the sugar, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Store in refrigerator.

To use: Brew a cup of strong black tea, such as Assam, then add two heaping teaspoons of concentrate or more to taste. Stir well until concentrate has fully melted.

To give: Pour into small jars with lids and tie with an attractive bow, or wrap the jar first. Attach a tag with instructions to keep the mix refrigerated and how to use it.

To keep: Store in refrigerator for up to 6 months.

I was looking this recipe up to make next weekend and thought I would share it with you. It's from The Pioneer Woman Cooks blog. I think I will try the freeze method-if you like olives you will LOVE this.

Olive Cheese Bread

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Prep Time: 10 Minutes

Cook Time: 25 Minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 12

Ingredients

1 loaf French Bread
6 ounces, weight Pimiento-stuffed Green Olives
6 ounces, weight Black Olives
2 stalks Green Onions (scallions)
1 stick Butter, Room Temperature
½ cups Mayonnaise
¾ pounds Monterey Jack Cheese, Grated

Preparation Instructions

Roughly chop both black olives and pimiento-stuffed green olives. Slice green onions into thin pieces.

Combine butter, mayonnaise, cheese, olives and green onions in a mixing bowl. Stir together until thoroughly combined. Spread mixture onto French bread that has been sliced lengthwise. Bake at 325ºF for 25 to 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and browning.

Mixture can also be refrigerated (up to two days) and used as a dip. Great with crackers.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Decorating-Winter

Terrariums seem to be very popular right now.

It's almost impossible to kill them and the cats can't get into them.

The Christmas garland is now ready for Valentine's Day.

One bedroom is ready upstairs. I'm going to try not to mess it up.

These curtains were 50% off at Target. I like this window with and without treatments. A little color is nice right now.

Old Frame

This caught my eye at Goodwill this morning. Once I looked past the cute little bunnies, I noticed the oak leaf carved frame. Our house is surrounded by oaks so it's appropriate.

I used some wallpaper I saved for matting. It's the living room wallpaper that was destroyed in the remodel. I felt kind of bad about it because I still really liked it. The butterfly is from a calendar.

I'm pretty happy with the results for $2.99.

The bunny picture was created by Danny for somebody in 1980. I'm going to see if any of my 5th graders are interested in it. Unless I hear from any of you first that is.....

Thursday, January 28, 2010

I Am Smitten...

with the new IPad. It's coming out in March, hmmmmm.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Yes!!

Just got the call that teachers should not report until 10am tomorrow due to the storm. No need to set the alarm clock tomorrow either!!! :))))))) Happy-happy!

Stormy Monday & other stuff

So, Dan & David were right about the Vikings last night. It was still a very entertaining game and I bit my thumbnails right down in the 4th qtr. It was fun to watch Farve this season and I have the feeling we won't be so lucky next year-the poor man is getting pretty beat up. It was a very fun evening at the neighbors-what a spread they set out!

Today I was surprised to find that the weather turned my inservice day into a snow day. I'm not complaining-it was wonderful to have an unexpected 3 day weekend in January. The kids will not arrive until 10 tomorrow giving us a couple of hours to submit grades. It will be a short week! Yeah! The Christmas tree is now down and I put all the tubs away so the other bedroom upstairs is clean and waiting to be decorated. I spent a lot of time reading "Loving Frank" for bk club this month, which is about Frank Lloyd Wright's love affair-very interesting so far! Dan and I visited his Oak Park home and studio on our first trip to Chicago. It's a beautiful place.

The following picture is one that I found on a former student's FB page. I actually taught all the kids in this family in second grade. Both the girls live in New Zealand now and I love this frame-have you seen anything like it before? What a clever idea!!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Lily the Bear

I first heard of Lily on MPR a couple of weeks ago. This week, they reported that she was due to give birth any day. On Friday, my class watched her in full screen on the Smartboard. It was fun but we didn't see her do very much. Becky reminded me this morning to check in on her and I found out she had one cub over the weekend. Her den is somewhere up in Ely. You can check it out yourself at www.bear.org

This Weekend

We are going to the neighbors for the game this evening. The Vikings usually lose when we watch them anywhere else but our own living room. Dan thinks they are going to lose anyway so I'm not going to worry about jinxing the game. I hope Dan has to eat his prediction!

It rained all night on Friday and snowed most of Saturday. Nothing seems to be happening out there today, hopefully the roads aren't frozen for people out traveling. We'll be on foot for our travels today. I'm grading papers and entering grades this morning. The end of the quarter was Friday. The year is half over already!

Cat Pictures

Maisy, bird and squirrel watching.

The cats recently discovered that the new bathroom has radiant heat. Guess where they hang out most of the day? BK used a towel for a pillow-very clever.

Molly on her favorite sofa. She looks a little sad here, probably just worried about the camera in her face.

Finds...

So, here is my floral jacket, that Ethel Love from Traverse City sewed many years ago. I'd guess it's from the 50's or 60's?? She stitched a little "made by" tag inside that I think adds to the charm. I picked this up for about $5. I wore it around the house yesterday just to see if I could imagine myself wearing it in public. Maybe in the spring/summer with capris and sandals. It has buttons up the front and two handy pockets. Wait 'til you see the brown fur trimmed coat I got with Amanda at Goodwill!

I haven't had a lot of luck lately at the Bargain Bazaar, which is a good thing, since I'm trying to reduce clutter. However, I don't feel guilty buying items that are useful. These shelves were $1 apiece. I knew they would work great in the pantry but thought I might need to paint them. Well, the color works perfectly and makes them look old too, which they are not. Aren't they charming? I also picked up a pair of black Isotoner gloves in perfect condition for 75 cents.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

I know it's still January, but I am still going to post these pretty flowers.

This reminds me of a floral jacket I purchased at Rummage in the Park up in Hibbing. I might wear it someday with jeans and a white tshirt just like this.

We have an early faculty meeting tomorrow morning. Man, I've been having a hard time getting up since Christmas break. Wish I had all of January to sleep in and stay warm in bed. Winter wouldn't be so bad if I could do that more often.

Home-made ravioli

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to try home-made pasta for the very first time. It was fun and easy but I didn't get the pasta rolled thin enough. It was still very edible. See that little scalloped rolling wheel? I knew I would eventually need that thing!!! I love my little rolling pin too- but maybe that's why it was hard to roll it out nice and thin? No, I think it was my dough.

I used egg, cottage cheese, mozzarella and spinach for the filling-herbs too.

They floated right to the top like they are supposed to.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

New old bag

I started using this bag recently. I bought it rummaging with Shari, Mom & Carly at the Hibbing all town rummage sales. We ALL had great luck that morning and I only had to pay $1 for this purse. The outside is in excellent condition and it's fun to see who compliments me on this bag. It tells me who appreciates vintage. The others are probably thinking, "Where did she get that ugly thing?!" I happen to love it.

Birding with Joel & Amanda

Dan and I went to Fergus on Saturday check out the waterfowl on the open water right downtown. I had no idea they were there, so it was a fun outing. People feed them here, so they are quite tame. The grayish colored swan is a juvenile. This photo shows the contrast well. They are so beautiful and nice to see their numbers increasing as they were on the brink of extinction in the last few decades.

I didn't get a picture, but we also saw a cool duck called a Golden Eye. It was a first for me. There were plenty of mallards here too. They stay here all winter.

"Mom, was I adopted???"

I think they look most beautiful in the water. We had a pair in a nearby slough all summer. Hopefully, they will nest this spring. It would be fun to observe them as they're on our gravel road just to the left when you turn off the tar to come to our house.

Their necks are so long and graceful.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Around the house in January

The oaks around here were covered with moss in November so I harvested some of it. I saved it in a plastic baggie in the fridge for almost 2 months and decided I'd better do something with it. I'm sure there will be more of it this spring, so let me know if you'd like some. It's nice to add to your shady pots and helps to retain moisture too. We really do have a ton of it and it is very expensive to buy at a greenhouse.

I painted yesterday in the new hallway. It needs another coat today and you can see I did a collage of NYC pictures above.

I did a little more decorating here with the addition of the candelabra and jewelry holder on the wall. This area has become a catch-all spot for me and that is why I cropped out the messy table in front.

I'll be painting the wainscot on both sides of the French doors today. It was fun to display some Christmas cards and photo's on the doors and looks especially pretty in the evening when the garland is lit up.

I picked up some cheerful primroses at Trader Joe's on the way home from Jim & Shelly's. How could I resist at only $2.29 each?! They love cold temperatures so it's perfect for our house right now. The indoor variety do not re-bloom inside but the internet said that if I store them in a dark cool spot they may survive outside as a perennial. It's worth a shot.

A Cute Project

I found this before/after project on another blog and had to share it here. Wouldn't this be a fun thing to make and accessorizing it would be the best part. The burners are painted on and I bet they used wood drawer knobs for the controls. Kid size appliances are not cheap and this one is cuter than any other I have seen.