Mr. Prof designer home

Back in Scandinavia I thought I'd go all out white and wood today. But with a twist. Neon lighting. YAAAAY! This fab loft space in Canada belongs to fashion blogger and stylist Katharine Horsman and was photographed by Janis Nicolay for House and Home. I'm still drooling over the natural wood kitchen table. And of course the neon lighting over the bed - very very cool.

Photographer: Janis Nicolay for House and Home

Can't get a proper idea just how fab it is from the pics? Well, guess what - there's a video of this home too!

Have a lovely evening!

Hi all…for anyone coming to the Lititz Craft Show on August 11th
I hope to see you and also I’m offering this coupon worth 20% off your purchase!

As a reminder I’m in space D-54, in the 200 block of
Main Street by Sturgis Pretzel and Linden Hall School.

 

Right click, save and print out…then fill out the information needed.

Hope to see you there even it’s just to say HI !

So what did I do today….I met a fellow blogger.
You all know her as Primitives by Olde Lady Morgan
http://primitivesbyoldeladymorgan.blogspot.com/

I offered to take some of her gals/guys and some wonderful Fall prims to sell them at the Lititz show and we met up today so I could get them.
We had a wonderful lunch, visit and an exchange of gifts.
Marie is just as sweet and fun as her blog and her products are fantastic and fun.
We met half way for each of us in Crystal Lake, Il.
We decided on Applebee’s but I got a call from her at about the time we were to meet saying the Applebee’s was no longer there and luck had it that I was in the same mall parking lot as her and I saw a Chili’s and said meet me there….and it was a great choice because the food was perfect.
So after chatting a bit we both exchanged gifts and then the talking never stopped.  A great hour and a half and now I have a new wonderful blog friend!

Marie gave me an adorable Pumpkin with the cutest smile and in the bag was a beautiful tin candle sconce that hangs on a cupboard door and a battery candle (one with a timer!)

THERE SHE IS….MS. MARIE!
 

 

 

Could this Pumpkin be any more adorable?

 

THANK YOU SO MUCH MARIE…

Last week when I was visiting blogs I saw I won Carol from Buttermilk Creek Farm’s giveaway…am I a lucky gal or what…meeting blog friend and winning great things from another blog friend.
You can find her here:  http://buttermilkcreekfarm.blogspot.com/
You must visit Carol’s blog if you haven’t already.  She is one fantastic creator and I will honestly say she is way too modest about her work – CAROL….your work is wonderful.  If anyone has received any of her work you would be able to attest to that too.
Her work is so meticulous – all details so perfect.
I received my package on Saturday and was soooo in love with it all…it’s time to be envious guys!

 

In the box was a set of 3 Gingerbread men – all decked out with Red checked Gingham and a bell.
And the aroma so yummy – you could almost taste them!
And…a bag of vintage Candy Canes – oh they are so sweet!

Close-up

And then the ‘glory gift’ – a beautiful hand made Santa.
He’s sporting a pure wool coat and that is a real sheep’s wool beard.

Could I have had a better few days???  I think not!
Thanks so much Carol – I don’t want to put the Santa away ‘till Christmas.

Thanks for visiting and for all your wonderful comments.

And please, I hope some of you take advantage of my coupon or at least stop in to say hi…

Blessings
Karen

Hi campers! I'm back, and what a week! Anyone in England and Sweden will tell you that the weather last month was attrocious - so we packed for rain and more rain. And guess what? The weather was hot, hot, HOT! Perfect for breakfast al fresco and surfing on Cornwall's finest beaches! Here are a few pics from the wonderful Polgreen Glamping complete with beautiful fields, Rosie the sheep, pigs, chicken, a nature trail and a wonderful little honesty shop stocked with produce from the local farms. Thank you Sarah and Simon for a wonderful stay!

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All photos: Polgreen Glamping or My Scandinavian Home as specified

I can warmly recommend this wonderful 'glamping' site, especially if you would like to get back to basics but with an added touch of luxury - double bed with a duvet in a tent anyone?

At the weekend I managed to catch the Olympic men's cycling in Richmond Park, London - which was so exciting! Now I'm totally into the Olympics, which is why i'm writing this post so late (I couldn't tear myself away!!).

It feels good to be back in sunny Sweden though and I'll be blogging daily again with lots of interior design inspiration, so pop back tomorrow!

It's always good to be home!

We used to eat pierogies all the time. I'm not sure what changed. I think SP decided he was tired of them so I stopped buying them. A few months ago I saw Christina from Tales from a Mad Men Kitchen make this Bacon Pierogie Bake twice in a matter of weeks. She recommended adding broccoli, which I can't believe I didn't think of myself considering I served steamed broccoli with this the last time I made it, not to mention I used to serve broccoli with pierogies all the time.


I decided to leave out the bacon in order to make this mostly vegetarian (I still used chicken broth so it's not a true vegetarian meal). I was a little worried when I opened the package of pierogies and there were only 12 of them, but the broccoli made this a filling meal. I love the flavors, especially the tomato and green onions mixing with the cream cheese sauce. Baby Girl loved this dish, proclaiming it "yummy, yummy in my tummy."

Broccoli Pierogie Bake
From Cooking Light, as seen on Tales from a Mad Men Kitchen

1 (16-ounce) package frozen potato and onion pierogies (such as Mrs. T's)
Cooking spray
2 broccoli crowns, cut into florets
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
2 ounces shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup thinly diagonally sliced green onions
1/4 cup chopped seeded plum tomato
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400°.

Steam broccoli until tender. Coat an 11 x 7 baking dish with cooking spray. Arrange the broccoli and frozen pierogies in the dish.

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add cream cheese to pan, and cook for 1 minute or until cream cheese begins to melt, stirring frequently. Gradually add chicken broth to pan, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Pour the cream cheese mixture evenly over pierogies. Top evenly with cheddar cheese.

Bake for 20 minutes or until bubbly and thoroughly heated. Remove from oven, and sprinkle with green onions, tomato, and pepper. Put back in the oven and cook for another 10 minutes. Serve.

Note - if you want a saucier dish, double the sauce ingredients (garlic, cream cheese, broth and cheese).

I have a food confession. Until I made this recipe I had never cooked tofu. I'd eaten it a handful of times, mainly when my vegetarian aunt visits and we get Chinese food to share. I was missing out.

I've mentioned several times that I'm trying to cook healthier meals, but lately we've been tossing around the idea of going mostly vegetarian. We won't cut out all meat, but we've decided to make a concerted effort to eat meat less often, maybe twice a week. This goes for everything from red meat to chicken.

Enter the humble tofu. All I really know about tofu is that it tastes like whatever you cook it in. I've had my eye on this Chili Lime Tofu with Rice and Spinach for awhile now, so when it was submitted for the last recipe swap I knew I had to make it. As luck would have it, I was given Stefanie's blog for this swap and the stars aligned. Stefanie really enjoyed the dish and Heather, the blogger that gave the recipe to Stefanie, loves it so much so that she puts it on her weekly menu every other week. That's a serious recommendation, so I figured what better recipe to try for my first tofu experience.


We loved this. Absolutely loved it. SP said if this is the kind of stuff he needs to be eating to stay healthy it wouldn't be as hard as he thought. The flavors from the sauce were outstanding. I doubled the sauce and I'm glad I did. There wouldn't have been nearly enough otherwise. The crispy tofu was delicious, although we decided I needed to cut the slices thicker. The thinner pieces were too chewy while the thicker ones were just right.

I also had a minor mishap with the tofu due to my own ignorance of how to prepare it. I started slicing the tofu, marveling at the amount of water that was coming out of the brick and wondering how it was going to get crispy in the skillet. Then I reread the directions and realized I needed to press and drain it. A quick Google search led me to instructions. I've added the steps to the ingredient list below for other tofu novices.

Chili Lime Tofu with Rice and Spinach
As seen on Kickin It in the Kitch, originally from Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks

1 cup jasmine, basmati or white rice
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 limes
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons garlic chili pepper sauce
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 package extra-firm tofu
2 cups fresh spinach
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 garlic cloves, minced

In a medium sized saucepan combine the rice, water, salt, zest of 1 lime, and nutmeg. Cook according to the package directions.

In a small bowl combine the sugar, soy sauce, garlic chili pepper sauce, garlic cloves, and juice of both limes. Mix well and set aside.

Unwrap the tofu. Place on a plate lined with 4 paper towels. Cover with 4 more paper towels and weigh down with a plate or skillet topped with heavy cans. Allow to press and drain for 30 minutes - 1 hour. Once drained, slice the tofu into 4 slices lengthwise. Cut each rectangle in half then each square into two triangles. Spray a skillet with cooking spray and cook the tofu for 10 minutes on each side or until it is golden brown.

Lower the heat and pour the chili lime sauce over top of the tofu. The sauce will bubble up, reduce, and form a glaze. Watch carefully so the glaze doesn't become too thick. Remove from heat once the sauce is at your desired consistency.

In a medium pan sauté the spinach, sesame oil, and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes or until the spinach is wilted but still green. Serve the rice topped with spinach with the tofu on top.

Did you ever hear the term before?  It’s a biblical term about ‘Judas’ “Keeper Of The Money Bag”…well in my son/dil’s house it’s their dog KEEPER…he decided to feast on my grandson’s coin stash – yep…he ate 66 coins the other night and after surgery and a 2 day hospital stay he’s doing well.
It was a combination of meds he’s on that was causing him to act different and eat very different things…one being cardboard and well, the coins too.

Here’s what they got from him…the vet was very concerned after the x-ray and saw there were several pennies which can be lethal to an animal – so a quick surgery was done.  There were even some Silver Dollars in there!
 

 

On Friday we had Aidan here for the day – he has been begging to come here so Darren dropped him off and we had such a fun day.
He does keep us busy though – he’s non-stop and doesn’t stay with one thing too long so it’s go-go-go!

He did have to help with making his lunch – he wanted a knife to cut off the grapes – didn’t get too far and then gave up (no surprise).

In the afternoon he wanted to help grandpa water the plants.
Normally we don’t do it in the heat of the day but he wanted to so thought it wouldn’t hurt just once.
 

Bike riding…or crashing…

Then it was playtime in the house…he’s trying to get a toy out of a basket that he tossed in the air.
 

Playing horsy with gramps!

Then quiet time…getting close to ‘baby’ – who has just recently allowed him to pet her.
 
 

Time for an ice cream break.
 

Looks like he’s zoning out!!!  Guess he played his little heart out!

 

We visited Darren and MaryAnn when Miranda was a week old…she changed in just such a short time. She’s 3 weeks old already!

Such a little scrunchy face – she must have been tensing up
 

Well I guess that’s enough about ‘family’ – sorry it went on so long!

 

On the 10th I celebrated another birthday and a friend from Florida sent me a wonderful package…she’s always so thoughtful.
There was a set of ‘old’ Pewter wine goblets, some wonderful scented soap and even a toy for the kitties…sweet!
THANK YOU LINDA AND BEN!
 

 

They say you are never to old to learn but here’s one I thought I knew…since I was very little I have use this particular term when you refer to something that is diagonal from something…the term myself, my family and EVERYONE I know has used it this way…’KITTY CORNER or CATTY CORNER…well that’s not right.
Just found out a while ago (from a book Doug is reading) that the word is CATERCORNER.
As American’s we changed it to Kitty or Catty corner….

I get so tickled when I find out something new …but I’ll still use the term I grew up with!

Here’s something else I found out –(later in life)- I always thought the actor ALDO RAY was pronounced Al DORAY…did not know that the ‘do’ went with ‘al’ – Doug set me straight on this one.

And…if that’s not enough I also found out that when I was a teenager and dating Doug – I had always thought the verse in the song ‘Barbara Ann’ was Bob-Bob-Bob-Bob-Bob Maran.
Being it’s what I thought I never thought to challenge it. Funny what our ears hear isn’t it?

 

Getting ready for my Aug. 11th show has been a challenge along with keeping up with ‘life’.
I cut out many, many circles out of wool for my ‘traditional Penny Rugs’
I have 3 sewn so far and have to cut more!

Yesterday I painted 15 Mache boxes and what a job that was.
First I painted, then had to sand off some areas to make them look old.
Didn’t ever do this before so had no idea how to get it done.  Tried sand paper…nope – wouldn’t budge the paint so I got the idea to wet down the boxes and used a scrubby and WALLA…it worked!
I was a happy camper but oh my goodness what a mess - good thing I had plastic on the table.
And then last night I priced what merchandise I have finished.

Now ask me if I’m ready….NOPE…close, but not totally.

 

Thanks for hanging in there through this long post…but that’s what happens when I don’t get on for 3 weeks!

Please don’t forget to check out my shows…you can find the information on my ‘tab page’:
http://mycolonialhome.blogspot.com/p/shows-you-can-find-me-at.html

WATCH FOR A COUPON FOR 20% OFF YOUR PURCHASE
FOR ANYONE COMING TO MY SHOWS
IT WILL BE PRINTABLE!

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR ALL YOUR WONDERFUL COMMENTS AND TO ALL MY FOLLOWERS AND NEW FOLLOWERS
WITHOUT YOU I WOULD NOT BE DOING THIS BLOG….THANK YOU AGAIN.

Karen