LauraZ's Profile

I am behind in my reading due to a sick baby last week, but have finally gotten a chance to catch up and am thoroughly enjoying what I have read in these first pages. I can't help but repeat what has been said in regards to Julia's age at the time they moved to France and her passion for cooking was revealed. When she referred to herself as "young" at 36 I was thrilled!

I'm so looking forward to the rest of this book. I can't wait to settle in for a good read this weekend!

I am so happy and cooking up a batch of pork rubs in the slow cooker. This weekend I also got ahead on making baby food for my son. My freezer is well stocked with flash frozen organic purees! I get great satisfaction out of making our son's food.

I have a story about fortunes being read after drinking Turkish coffee. It goes something like this.

Naive young woman meets and falls in love with a man of European descent.

He tall, dark, handsome etc., etc.

She meets his family. The reception is luke warm, but naive young woman believes they will come to love her in time.

The holidays arrive.

Naive young woman is shocked to receive a gift from her future mother in law. It's a copper pot for making Turkish coffee. Young woman is thrilled!

Until ....

Future mother in law offers to make coffee with the new pot after dinner, and proceeds to tell naive girl her fortune.

Basically, she told me I would NEVER marry her son!

I went out and bought a French press on Boxing Day of that year and never looked back!

I always sift when it's called for, but I usually use a fine mesh sieve rather than a traditional sifter. I own a sifter, but the sieve is more readily accessible and so it gets used.

One of the things I enjoy about baking is that I can usually expect decent results if I follow the directions closely. It's a nice combination of science and art.

I never knew that the measurements for the amount of flour were different depending on the wording. I think I need write that down somewhere so I don't forget!

Another tip I learned from Martha is that you should always measure your flour into the measuring cup by spoonful rather than dipping the cup into the container you keep your flour in. I was surprised to see how different the two amounts were when demonstrated!

I was tempted to try this recipe but when I read the comments on the Martha Stewart site and saw that more than 1/2 of them were not in favor of this recipe, I decided against it.

This was painful for me to look at!

On second thought, the tan chair could work, but maybe the other one could go somewhere else?

Pull the couch out from the window about 12-18", place the tan chair at a 90 degree angle to the couch, which will also do a good job of hiding that radiator from view. Put that end table between the couch and chair. Maybe the coffee table will fit in front of that window now? Put books on it, or magazines. Hang some sheer curtains.

Finished that? Now go shop for a new coffee table!

Gasp! Now that is what I call labor intensive! What a nice result though. He must be so pleased!

Going to look at the house tour now and see if the exact paint colors are listed.

I own two of those lidded jars that are pictured at the top right. I think they were used to hold vaseline? Anyway, I love them. I use them to hold coins on my desk.

I keep coming back to look at it. I am in love with this tree!