My Casa Bella

COME IN THE EVENING, OR COME IN THE MORNING;

COME WHEN YOU'RE LOOK'D FOR,

OR COME WITHOUT WARNING.

KISSES AND WELCOME YOU'LL FIND BEFORE YOU,

AND THE OFTENER YOU COME HERE

THE MORE I'LL ADORE YOU!

-Thomas Osbourne Davis



Welcome To My Casa Bella

My Casa Bella- means-my beautiful home- but it can mean so many other things. How you make your home a home. The sounds of children or pets playing. The aroma of scones in the oven or a lilac candle burning. The flowers blooming in your garden. The home grown vegetables ready to be picked. Grandma's quilt at the foot of the bed. A fire to curl up to with a good book. Or just a family spending time together with love, laughter and a good time.





















Thursday, August 26, 2010

Storing Spices Enjoying End of Summer!

(Is this the life, or what?)
My Kahlua,
he works so hard at being
so bad,
a kitty needs his rest so he
can torment
his siblings later!

Can't get over how fast the summer
has gone.
Despite how HORRIBLY
HOT
its been,
it's still about over and I will
miss
being able to go outside
and sitting
out there on our porch
enjoying these
lovely
views
I just took this picture,
it is
so BEAUTIFUL out today.
Fall is
knocking on our back door.
It's breezy,
dry and cool out today.
Sadly, we
didn't get to use our new porch
this summer,
it was too hot!!
But now we're enjoying it, trying to
take advantage
of these
lovely days.

Cool days like this put me in the
mood,
HMMMM, in the mood for
what?
For cooking, of course, and baking
and curling up
on the couch
with a warm yummy dessert
and cup of
Joe!
I made Stuffed Peppers
and they were YUMMY!!!
I used my
homemade sauce, which reminds
me, I've got lots of sauce
to make and
freeze!

Last night, I was cleaning out
my fridge
and I bought these adorable
spice jars
at Christmas Tree Shops
They had different shapes
there, and
I loved the shape of these.
So, I took out these
spices
from their original packaging
and put them in
these lovely
jars.
I have Turmeric, Curry, Mustard Seeds,
and Garam Masala
(which I'd like to make my own,
The Spice Goddess on the Cooking Channel
has a recipe for Garam Masala
so I'd like to make it
myself)

Remember my last post, I want to
make all kinds
of recipes of different cultures
and I'm starting out
with spices.

Well, anyway, I need more of
these jars,
they were cheap so I'll
probably go
tomorrow and get more.
Did you know that you should
store dark
colored spices in your
refrigerator?
I read that in a Cooking
magazine years
ago,
they stay fresh much longer
and I must
admit, I think they do.
Try that,
any red, brown, yellow or orange color
spices,
store them in your fridge.
But
whatever you do
DO NOT STORE YOUR COFFEE
IN THE FRIDGE!!!
It ruins your
coffee and makes it
stale.
Ask any coffeehouse
how they store their
coffee
and they'll agree
with that statement.
It's a SIN to do
that!
LOL
Well, not really.

Enjoy the rest of your summer,
it'll be another
seven months for
us NE folks before
summer
returns,
(sigh).

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

French Food

Have you ever watched this show
I absolutely LOVE this show.
It's on the
Cooking Channel.
I could watch Laura for hours at a time.
I love her mannerisms,
the way
she expresses her love of food,
and all the wonderful
recipes she
cooks.
I have her set on my DVR for
every future
show.
As you all know on many
of my previous
posts
I LOVE TO COOK!
And I have made
a few
of French recipes.
I really want to
be able to spend more time
in trying new recipes.
I have become
COMPLETELY
Obsessed
with cooking shows lately.
I currently have
EIGHT
shows that I pre-record.
I also just
thoroughly enjoy
watching
Bal cooks Indian dishes
that I could
smell right from my living
room couch.
She makes my mouth
water.
OK, I am a little obsessed....LOL
But I want to try
all kinds
of recipes.
Whether French, Indian, Spanish, etc....
Cooking is satisfying and
relaxing.
I have taken a break on my
sewing.
I still do personal stuff, but
this past
Friday was my last craft show.
I did well at that
show,
but, I need to take a break
and focus
on something different.
We're learning a new
language as
well
and we're pretty excited.
So some new goals
have been
set.
I'm ready
for change.
Don't you get that way?