by Krista | Mar 14, 2011 | Bootstrap Monday
Good morning, luvs! Thank you very much for your kind and supportive comments on Friday. I was so sick and in great pain and your words cheered me right up. 🙂 I’m doing much better today after a gloriously restful weekend.
How are YOU? Were you able to rest, have fun, work like mad on a great project?
I mostly rested and had such fun watching old movies featuring the oh-so-fabulous Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, and Cary Grant. I love old movies. I love the fabulous dialogue, great characters, and splendid outfits. A friend and I were wishing that men would return to their dapper roots and once again don wool suits and jaunty fedoras. Mind you, that might mean we’d have to return to wearing corsets and heels all the time, and that would never do. 🙂
A while back I went on a stroll through the woods. At first glance the forest seems dead this time of year, but there were still bits of beauty to be found on the carpets of brilliant green moss. I thought you might like them too.
Sunday afternoon I started feeling better, popped in a book on cd and went into a cooking/baking frenzy. I have a bright blue bowl filled with luscious clementines and simply had to turn some of them into a dessert. Knowing I’d be heading to Culinary Experimentation Club tonight, I thought I’d get a head start and make a gluten-free Clementine Tart.
I zested and juiced and stirred and mixed, popped everything in the oven and smiled at the citrusy buttery smells wafting through my apartment. Because the crust is gluten-free it didn’t quite hold together as well as a normal crust, but it still tastes marvelous. Buttery and flaky, a lovely base for the cheery clementine filling.
What is your favorite old movie?
This is my contribution to Chaya’s Meatless Mondays. Click here for other meatless recipes.
Gluten-Free Clementine Tart
Ingredients:
1 cup gluten-free all-purpose flour mix (or regular all-purpose flour)
1 stick butter, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2/3 cup granulated sugar
zest of four clementines
juice of three clementines
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Mix flour, butter and powdered sugar. Press in ungreased pie pan, slightly building up edges. Bake 20 minutes.
- Combine remaining ingredients in bowl and beat until light and frothy.
- Pour over hot crust and bake for 20-25 minutes.
- Let cool and cut into wedges.
by Krista | Mar 11, 2011 | Fabulous Friday
Hello luvs. xo
I’m in too much pain to write today, so I thought I’d just share some quotes and pictures that have inspired and cheered me this week.
So grateful for you today. 🙂
* * *
“Worry pretends to be necessary but serves no useful purpose.” ~ Tolle
“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.” K. Gibran
“Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come.” ~Anne Lamott
“Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today.
I can choose which it shall be.
Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I’m going to be happy in it.” – Groucho Marx
“Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” –AA Milne
by Krista | Mar 10, 2011 | Plucky Thursday
I haven’t shared too much about my spring road trip through Albania yet, but I hope to rectify that in the very near future.
I can’t wait to show you the gorgeous but wild back country, tell you stories of our adventures driving through this country without a working map or GPS, and the stark remnants of a history marked by war and economic upheaval.
Albania was the country hardest to get into and out of, the one place I was truly scared, and by far one of the best adventures I’ve ever had.
Today I want to give you a tiny glimpse of this wondrous country.
Near the border between Montenegro and Albania
Mountains between Albania and Greece
A glimpse of the sea on our way to Greece
What would you like to know about Albania?
by Krista | Mar 9, 2011 | Spring
I arrived at Culinary Experimentation Club Monday night to the unmistakable smell of slow-cooked beef. On any other night such deliciousness would delight me beyond measure but this night was supposed to be the first of an entire month of vegetarian cooking.
Hmmm.
The guilty smiles and furtive looks from the menfolk assured me that indeed a mutiny was afoot. My ears were soon assaulted with all manner of excuses for their rebellion, including their assertion that “cows are vegetarian!”
In the end, it was the beef itself that won me over. Slow-cooked in sherry, hard cider, shallots and potatoes, it was fork tender and perfect with the rich gravy.
The rebellious meat-cookers were soundly forgiven.
It was definitely an evening of good-natured kerfuffles. Even simple biscuits caused a ruckus! Robin brought out a platter of her tender Lemon Thyme Biscuits and scolded us when we mistook them for scones. This started a discussion on what exactly the difference is between biscuits and scones. We have no idea. Whatever their “real” name, they are now officially known as Robin’s Lemon Thyme Scone-Shaped Biscuits.
To accompany the Vegetarian Pot Roast I made my favorite Aussie roast potatoes with Kalamata olives. It’s a wonderfully simple dish yet absolutely packed with flavor, and I’ve been craving it ever since I got back from Australia. I will share the recipe with you in an Australia post coming soon.
Robin contributed fantastic Curried Carrots, plump and soft, cooked in a savory sauce that was so good I wanted to scrape out the pan for every last drop.
We ended our night with a soak in the hot tub and rousing games of Uno with steaming cups of Darren’s Red Tiramisu tea and Michael’s splendid gluten-free chocolate chip cookie bars.
What is your favorite vegetarian dish?
by Krista | Mar 8, 2011 | Gulliver Tuesday
There are few things more relaxing to me than several hours spent lounging in a hammock, eyes closed, gently swaying in passing breezes.
It’s even more wonderful when that hammock is slung between two palm trees on a white sand beach in Fiji, mere yards away from the South Pacific.
I found such an idyllic spot on my recent trip to Fiji as I was strolling the fairytale beaches of Denarau Island. Astonished that it was vacant I strode over, kicked off my shoes, and sank back into hammock heaven.
The ropes were soft with just enough give to cradle you like a newborn baby. Above me the palm fronds rustled and the gentle lap of the waves lulled me into delicious stupor.
How long I lay there I don’t know, but suddenly I heard a soft voice saying, “Bula, Madame.” I opened my eyes to find a smiling man wondering if I would like a drink from the hotel bar nearby. I only had to think for a moment before grinning and requesting a glass of fresh mango juice. Perhaps it’s because my first trip to Fiji coincided with Mango Week in all the restaurants, but nothing quite says vacation to me like a frosty glass of cold, freshly pressed mango juice.
When he brought it to me moments later in a turquoise goblet, my bliss was complete.
I’ve returned to that hammock many times, usually with book, towel, and swimsuit in tow, delighting in peaceful afternoons of reading, swimming, snoozing, and just gazing out to sea.
Here are a few lessons I’ve learned in how to really enjoy a hammock in Fiji:
- Go to the bathroom BEFORE finding your hammock. Don’t let the call of nature force you to give up your place to other marauding vacationers.
- Stake your claim first thing in the morning. Hammocks are treasured spots along the beach. Getting up and about while others sleep in is the most reliable way to secure one.
- Go at noon or dinner. If you just can’t pass up a morning sleeping in to the sound of waves crashing, go scouting for a hammock when folks are otherwise occupied with eating.
- Bring a well-stocked beach bag: water, snacks, great book, journal and pen, towel, sunglasses, sun hat, camera, room key, sunscreen, and watch.
- Spread your towel on your hammock to keep your hind quarters from looking like they’ve been branded by said hammock.
- Tuck your beach bag under a corner of your towel so you can nap without worrying about your belongings.
- Then lay back, close your eyes, and let the sea breezes rock you to sleep.
What is your ideal scenario for relaxing?
