Saturday, September 4, 2010

A dear old friend...








Good Morning Saturday!  Nothing makes a morning start off better than setting eyes on my dear old friend.  
This Italian coffee maker brews 
the most delicious 
cup of coffee twice daily in our house on weekends.

Patrick and I bought this shiny coffee device while on a trip to Florence, Italy years ago.  We probably bought it because it was so cute and quirky.  
It was so different from the standard American coffee maker.  
However, we soon realized, it makes the most delicious cups of coffee.  You can hear it beginning to 
gurgle 
and hiss 
as the flame below brings the water in the bottom section to a rolling boil.  
Then there is a pronounced change in sound as the coffee tumbles noisily out of the little spout at the top right under the lid.  
It spits and dribbles the most delicious smelling blend of coffee at just the right strength of richness.  
At present, 
we are really into the Starbuck's brand "Pike's Place".  Its a nice strong and smooth flavor without a heavy bite in the after taste.
 We pour a little steamy milk and add a dash of sugar and 
hmmmmmm... 
what a time to spend with a dear old friend.

It only makes 2 cups at a time, 
mind you, 
but being that there are only 2 coffee drinkers in this household, 
that works.

Have a wonderful Saturday morning in September...

Smoothies!

Ok, so I hate to admit my failure, but the RAW diet isn't for me. It is insane. I have decided that my path to get there begins with slowly adjusting what I normally eat. For example, instead of munching on cheese-its all day at home, I have replaced it with a yummy fruit smoothie. It tastes better, and actually fills me up. Here are a couple that I've made this week.


This one was made with Strawberries, Bananas & some Vanilla Yogurt...So yummy I ate it two days in a row!


This one was even BETTER! Strawberries, Peaches, Mangoes!  To. Die. For.  And I'm not lying when I say that these were Alcohol Free! Haha.  Today I am going to try, Banana, Kiwi, and Peach..& taking a pitcher with us to the beach to see the surf competition. I am also working on my normal food portion size which is difficult considering I LOVE to eat...but I'm feeling good about it.

A Quiet Little Corner

Hi everyone, Its Saturday morning, and today is filled with BCOW(Beach Cottage On Wheels), now to be known as Gracie (that's right she finally has a name). Tell you more on that later. Today is build out day (basically all the molding and anything else that requires carpentry is going to happen today). So that will keep me busy.
This morning while drinking coffee I felt like a small project (just what I need another project). So I looked around the house and decided this space needed something. I thought a quiet corner.
So I cleaned off the top of this dresser, and the memo board. I put out these zinc candleholders and silver tray (which I already had). Moved my French pig, and Walmart radio over (I know the evil empire, but I love some of their stuff and you can't beat their prices).
Wa La a little inspirational corner, play a little music, light a few candles. Also a few inspirational bits on the memo board, and a great place to walk by and feel relaxed for a sec.
The dresser has its own story, as black does not usually fall into my palette. I designed and had this piece built for a local shop, black did fall into her palette. So after a year of no orders (plenty of interest), I decided to pull all the pieces. After some debate with myself (I know you do the same thing too), I decided not to paint it and to put it here. Sometimes you have to throw a zinger, this is mine.
And a little white rose to top everything off.
Ok now I'm getting back to work. I hope this corner relaxes me even for a sec today.
Have a good weekend.
See everyone next time......

Rice Pudding Indonesian Style (Bubur Sumsum)

Rice Pudding Indonesian Style Bubur Sumsum

Pudding:

100 g rice flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
650 ml coconut milk
2 pandan leaves, shredded

Sauce:

200 g palm sugar, shaved
50 g granulated sugar
250 ml water
1 screwpine leaves

Mix the rice flour with half of the coconut milk and salt.

Put to boil the other half of coconut milk and pandan leaves.

Pour in the rice flour batter into boiling coconut milk. Continue to cook and boil until the mixture become thicken like thick cream.

Sauce:
Put to boil all of the ingredients.
Ladle the pudding into bowls, pour the sauce on top. Serve warm.

Rice Pudding Indonesian Style (Bubur Sumsum)

Rice Pudding Indonesian Style Bubur Sumsum

Pudding:

100 g rice flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
650 ml coconut milk
2 pandan leaves, shredded

Sauce:

200 g palm sugar, shaved
50 g granulated sugar
250 ml water
1 screwpine leaves

Mix the rice flour with half of the coconut milk and salt.

Put to boil the other half of coconut milk and pandan leaves.

Pour in the rice flour batter into boiling coconut milk. Continue to cook and boil until the mixture become thicken like thick cream.

Sauce:
Put to boil all of the ingredients.
Ladle the pudding into bowls, pour the sauce on top. Serve warm.