Thursday, January 16, 2014

Gathering

Hello, come on in.. grab a chair and chat with me.  :-)  I was thinking of a title for this blog post and the word "gathering" popped into my head.  I like that word.  It means for people to come together and keep loving relationships vital.  It means to find items to make meals for your family.  Harvesting.. picking flowers.. bring together.. good stuff.  My younger sister Denise hosted my older sister Roberta and sister/friend Shirley for lunch on Tuesday.  Denise made salmon roasted with leeks and a wonderful fresh salad with crunchy veg such as carrot, pea pod, etc.  It was my job to bring the bread.  There is a bakery in Hillsdale, the little town where my sister lives near, called Baker & Spice.  Want to visit with me?  Look at this bread, it's called "Daily Bread".  It's a crusty sourdough artisan bread.


Their bread is on display across these shelves, isn't it clever to have the chalkboard fronts for the prices of the breads?  I got a loaf of "Daily", "Village" and "Fiselle".  


Oh.. I wanted one of these.. :-)


They had cookies, muffins, brioche, all manner of delicacies.. but I just got bread.. this time.


These were very hard to pass up.  Makes you want to bake, doesn't it?


My sister had the table set so pretty!  Aren't the table mats cute?


Now to cut the bread.. 


My sister is a quilter and I thought it looked neat where she hangs her quilts when not in use, being snuggled under on the sofa.  


I just had to show you this really beautiful lantern that my sister's husband got for them at an art fair.  It's a work of art made of wood, rice paper and beads.


They also have this gorgeous display of butterflies at a butterfly park.  I hope these guys died of natural causes.  :-)


They are so iridescent and pretty.



Luncheon is served!  Each bite was delicious!  


Shirley brought gluten free blueberry and marion berry cobbler!


After lunch we retired to the living room and visited - the conversation turned to meatloaf and I told the girls about the best meatloaf I'd ever had which my friend Judy made when I visited their home in Los Angeles, CA.  It had a regular type meatloaf, but she made a well on top and mixed cinnamon, allspice and sumac into applesauce and spread it on the top.  I'd been looking for the ground sumac.. and Denise said there was a market nearby called "Barbur World Foods".  She called them and they had ground sumac, so Denise, Shirley and I headed there after our visit.  What a neat place!  The produce was exceptionally beautiful.. I got two zucchini to make bread with later today.



The green beans were the most perfect I'd ever seen, now I'm kicking myself for not bringing home a bag of them.


And ladies and gentlemen (do any guys other than my husband read me?  I don't think so!).. so ladies.. this entire section was imported CHOCOLATE!  Oh my goodness.  


This one came home with me.. I have not tried it yet.. (the chocolate sticking out the top is part of the package design.. brilliant, yes?).  The decal on my laptop always makes me smile.


Here is the sumac, have you ever used it in cooking?  I posed it in front of our new toaster which I gave Dayle for Christmas - it has a glass window so you can keep track of how brown your toast is getting!  :-)


When I got home on Tuesday - the moon was glowing in a slightly foggy sky.. I 4-wheeled out into the pasture and got this shot.  I love our moon.


Yesterday I met Gracie at the pool and we both swam for an hour - I'll be back there tomorrow too!  Do you have any weekend plans?  We don't!  Just home and sunshine and warmth.. we're having a spring-y spell of weather!  The Snowdrops are coming up and so are the daffodil leaves!  ((hugs)), Teresa :-) 

25 comments:

  1. You've made me very hungry with your bread and pudding photos, mmmmm! The cobbler looked especially good! The butterfly 'explosion' looks amazing! I know what you mean about wanting them to have died naturally, still it is beautiful

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  2. Small world! Years ago my son lived in SW Portland and he introduced me to the wonder of Barbur World Foods:) Since then, I make a trip over there at least once a year to fill my refrigerator full of Middle Eastern foods (the owners also own Ya Hala Restaurant)--my last trip there was to get food for an Epiphany meal. Yum! And yes, their imported chocolates are most delicious.
    Glad to hear you had a great luncheon! Mmm--that bread looks fabulous! Baker + Spice is a wonderfully tempting place--LOL
    Have a great day--hope you are seeing some blue skies your way.
    Blessings, Aimee
    PS: LOVED what you said about gathering!

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  3. Oh my, that baker's shop and the world foods shop take my breath away. I would definitely have had to have one of those lemon tarts - my favourite. Nice to see Green & Black's chocolate, it's absolutely delicious. The butterflies are beautiful. How amazing nature is.

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  4. I adore bread. I think I could live on bread alone! This shop looks wonderful and reminds me of the French Patiserie's, we visited in Tokyo. (I know I spelled that wrong didn't I?). It looks like you ladies had another wonderful time with each other. The quilts are wonderful and the chocolate! Okay...maybe I could live on chocolate alone! :-). I'll be on Portland in either February or March so we'll have to plan to get together again.
    Blessings,
    Betsy

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  5. I could live off bread. Yours looks amazing.
    The simple table setting is lovely and understated .
    Swimming sounds divine. Its cold and snowing here ..so its just the elliptical for me

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  6. Your lunch looked delicious. Imported chocolates, oh my. I'd buy some too. We are having chilly temps and fog. Sun peeked thru a little while but didn't stay long. My daffodils are shooting up. This Saturday we go to a memorial service for one of the pastors at church, 85 yrs old. Jerry will be missed. I'm to bake a cake and take it for meal after the service. Hugs!

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  7. This post was really enjoyable. I absolutely love being taken along on shopping excursions to stores I have never had a chance to visit in real life. The bakery looks wonderful, those lemon tarts must be amazing! Your lunch with the ladies sounds lovely and relaxing. I'm so glad you're able to get together often.

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  8. Oooh I got a picture of the full moon too will do a post soon. Lovely food and what a bakery....and goodness me all of that chocolate lol

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  9. Wonderful lunch and pictures my dear friend. I especially like the picture of the moon and the chocolate. Snow White on your computer always makes me smile. Have a good weekend. :)

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  10. What a wonderful lunch!!! I don't think I knew that your sister was a quilter? I love her quilts there on the railing! Those butterflies are beautiful!
    Love the full moon. And I loved the visit to the bakery with you. I want one of those lemon things too!!!
    The bread looked really great too! What a nice "gathering" here tonight at Teresa's place I had!!
    xo Kris

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  11. what an amazing bakery Teresa..the lemon pies caught my eye...mmm. Great veg too. I'm glad you enjoyed your lunch, happy weekend x

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  12. I've tried to comment...not sure if it went through Teresa! X

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  13. I enjoyed your gathering, too, Teresa :) tonight on OPB there was a segment about a special white butterfly that massively reproduces every 20 years or so. They showed a blizzard of them flying around! Your sisters butterfly display is really lovely. I am so glad she displays some of her quilts where they can be admired as well as be within easy reach to be used. The food you photographed looked scrumptious! Hope to see you at the pool tomorrow :). Xx

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  14. Oh I love the butterflies!!!!!!! Almost as much as the chocolate. ;-D

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  15. It sounds as though you had another lovely with the ladies :) I can recommend the Green & Blacks chocolate - especially the Butterscotch variety :D

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  16. I loved the pictures of the bakery.....such delicious bread and pastries! So glad you had a wondeful lunch with your sisters. And the beautiful shot of the moon is the perfect end to the day. Wishing you a happy weekend, Teresa.
    Helen x

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  17. Hi Teresa, Lovely post. So many beautiful foods. The bakery was extraordinary, I would have had a difficult time not coming home with more, yummy! That lemon pie was stunning, lemon anything is my favorite! All the fresh veggies were so fresh and healthy looking, I'm on a health kick now so it all looked amazing!
    So nice you all could get together and share conversations. I admire you for swimming and keeping with it, that's takes willpower!!!
    Hope you both have a wonderful weekend and stay warm, xoRobin

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  18. I love all that you showed us today Teresa, that bread looks amazing. I love that you, your sisters and Shirley have so much fun together, that bond is so important. No big plans here this weekend, just spending time at home.
    Hugs,
    Meredith

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  19. Oh it sounds like you all have such a wonderful time together. Yum on the bread and the other goodies....I am still dreaming of the chocolate! :) Your sister's quilts are very pretty, too.

    Wishing you a most wonderful day and weekend, too. :)

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  20. How lovely to have some gathering time. Good to see Green and Blacks chocolate and some Cadbury Twirls my favourite!

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  21. I would have purchased one of those lemon cake/tart things. My favorite flavor!

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  22. Hello there Tereas. Those cookies look so beautiful and so big. I have never heard of some of those ingredients. But your lunch looked so delicious. I like that lamp as mulberry paper is one of my favourite things x

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  23. Hi Teresa. That bread sure does look yummy and it makes me want to get out my recipe for sour dough and make up a batch of the starter. The house always smells good when bread is baking. lt would be hard to walk into a bakery and not want to buy everything, especially when you haven't eaten yet, lol. Oh my, you have your early flowers popping up and we are still being bombarded with snow. I went out today to shovel snow and by the time I got done there was another inch already accumulated and still more coming down. It stopped way after dark and I debated for a long time whether to go out and get busy or just wait till morning......I grabbed my crocheting instead so you know how determined I was to be out breaking my back.
    (((HUGS)))
    Susanne :)

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  24. What fabulous foodie post Teresa, it all looks so yummy.

    We use sumac quite a bit in cooking, we usually buy it on one of our trips over to Jordan, where it is used in many different dishes.

    Helenxx

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  25. Hello again !!! That bread looks delicious- love bread !!! Lunch looked yummy. Fab photos of everything. Hugs Anne x

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