Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Boo!

Well, I wish I could have my bloggy buddies over for a good catch up time together.
I promise I would wear a great outfit like this one when you came over for the party.
(Hostesses may not wear a hat...so a cool skirt would make up for that disappointing little detail.)

My last post mentioned that we had a few snowflakes.
The next day we had quite a bit more than a few flakes.
A good four inches fell at our place...and today?
It is well over 70 degrees!
I sat on the deck and wondered if I needed to put on shorts and apply some sunscreen!

Since the "in person" party isn't happening, consider this our catch up session.
This morning I made a skull motif latte.
Have you seen all the youtube latte art videos?
They are creating wonderful designs on not only coffee but on tea and cocoa too.

An easy way to dress up a cuppa:  Cut a stencil and shake cocoa over the froth, then use a toothpick to open up areas or move the lettering around.
Pumpkin Spice latte cup for my DIL as she dropped off  Luke on her way to work.

Luke of course entertained me nicely.
And Tate entertained Luke nicely.
It was a win-win!

Tate is either evolving into or from leaves...

There seemed to be cats every where today...and who can blame them for wanting to be outside with the nice weather.

Luke...evolving into a cat....

New subject:  The first day of snow last week was to be followed by warmer temperatures so I didn't bother to pick our tomatoes.
My bad.
The next night it did freeze and so I had to quickly harvest the last of our tomatoes which had suffered some frost bite.
What to do...what to do...
Especially since Bernie is out of town and I certainly can not eat that many tomatoes by myself.
Now I have read about *some* bloggers being "meh" about fried green tomatoes.
Especially ones that are fried with a coating of corn meal.

I totally agree with their reaction.
The way I do fried green tomatoes:
Make a milk/egg/mayo mix, about a cup of milk, two eggs and tablespoon of mayonaise
Dip the tomatoes in that, then into a flour/salt/seasoning mix.

I highly recommend this particular seasoning, but an Italian mix or just plain salt and pepper combo works too.
What ever seasoning you like will work.
Then I deep fat fry them until they are tender.
Delicious!
And they can be zapped back to hot in the microwave or popped in the oven later if you make too many.
(And resist eating them all...)

Another new subject:
Over the past four years I have posted lots of photos of our living room.
You might remember that we have apple green chair and couch upholstery and birch wood.
The idea was to have an airy space that was modern and easy to live in, with minimal details.
Well...I was quite happy with that.
But...
The upholstery faded badly.
Good news was that I was able to haul the upholstery back to Ikea and they issues me new covers, explaining there had been a dye lot issue.
So about a half a year ago we had brand new covers again.
Which faded...again.
Turned out that there was one particular lot of Karlstad frames that had received a flame retardant that caused fading of just the green and the brown slip covers.
This time Ikea issued us new frames and new covers.
The bad news:
The green covers are no longer available.
AGgghhh!
Nothing like having to pick a second choice when you really liked your first choice.

The good news:
I think the brown works well.
We used to have a white wool shag area rug that was twice the size of this area rug but I didn't want the white fur fuzz transfering to the brown upholstery.
The birch end tables looked whimpy against the brown, as did the steel/paper shade lamps.
I switched out those items for the rug that originally was in our entry way in Houston and has been in our library/wine room here.
The end tables and lamps that used to be in our Houston living room have been in our downstairs storage area since we moved here.
Too fussy...

Well, I guess I am ready for a bit of fussy again, because I like them with the brown!
A quick trip to SteinMart for some colorful pillows (which turned out to match our wall green perfectly!) and the living room re-do was done.


I think the brown upholstery sets off our Japanese print collection quite nicely too.
They are interesting...
I never would have chosen them personally but they generate a lot of favorable comments from our guests, especially the 20-30 somethings guests who think we are quite hip for owning them.
Truth is: They were collected by Bernie's grandmother back in the 1960s!
She lived in Guam and used to hop over to Japan with friends to shop.
She was quite flamboyant and artistic...the modern Japanese style struck her fancy.
Bernie had admired the two brown toned prints (the madona and the girl feeding birds) so she willed the whole collection to him.
We inherited them about five years ago....back when we lived in French country style house in Houston where they really didn't "go".
We would never have guessed that a year later we would be living in an 1950's modern style ranch house and the collection would be just perfect for a large wall in the living room area.

And for the record...last Sunday Bernie skiied for the first time of the season.
 

10 comments:

ellen b. said...

Wouldn't it be fun to have a drink and talk between little treaters coming to the door! Love Luke's little face peeking out of that costume. Too precious! You are just full of news and photos this last day of October!!

Vee said...

Very newsy post. Luke looks like a little version of what showed up here...characters from Madagascar I was told. Very cute little tiger who obviously does not intimidate the cat.

Great new furniture. I think it's terrific that Ikea fessed up and did the right thing.

Glad that the snow is gone from your lawn for now. (It can stay in the mountains if Bernie likes to ski.)

Sara at Come Away With Me said...

This was a comfortable, newsy post! I really like your new living room...noticed the arrangement of the end tables right away and thought how clever that is!

You've got autumn and winter all together in this one post...love Tiger Luke's outfit!

Sara at Come Away With Me said...

This was a comfortable, fun and newsy post! I really like your new living room...noticed the arrangement of the end tables right away and thought how clever to put them next to the chairs like that.

Little Tiger Luke is ready for this evening I see!

Pondside said...

I'd be over in a minute and have just the outfit!
Love that little Tiger - I wish I had one of those close enough to visit.
I enjoyed the look at your newly decorated living room. Goes to show - sometimes the things that aren't planned turn out to be just right!

Kathie said...

The did know how to entertain in those days - my mom had people over almost every week. After Dad died, her friends met every Friday for bridge club.

Your new living room look is lovely! and Luke is such dear little tiger!

Snow? oh dear . . .not yet please.

Judy said...

Cute little pumpkin...that Luke!

And a whole new look in your living room...again! Looks good...and reminds me that maybe I should change things up at my place once in awhile.

I have yet to try fried green tomatoes...but you tempt me.

RoeH said...

How my cat would love to be related to your cats and that deck. I so wish he could be outdoors but it's impossible around here. He is loving the front porch area that I fixed so he could go out there. Lays in the sun and sleeps out there on his little bed. I can tell he wants very much to go further. "sigh"

Vicki said...

I'm just now catching up. I know, I'm such a slowpoke. But...I love this post!

I like the brown upholstery as well as I liked the green. I've been pondering the brown for my house...if we can ever make a decision about buying a sofa, that is.

Luke is absolutely precious!

Lovella ♥ said...

Oh so much has happened since I've last read blogs.
First of all...the cutest ever little tiger. I love that you fix a hot artistic latte for you dil as she passes through the door.
Your new decor is so lovely. It really looks warm and inviting.
Just the best kind of post.