Tag Archives: food

Weekend In Pictures

Posted on March 18, 2012 by WoolyMama | Comments Off

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

As you may or may not know, St. Patrick’s Day is our wedding anniversary. This year was number 16 – and we celebrated the way we always do: with good food, cold Guinness, and watching Darby O’Gill and the Little People together. Maddie made a lovely Chocolate Stout Cake with Bailey’s Cream Cheese frosting, and I made Jamie Oliver’s Steak, Guinness & Cheese Pie (from Jamie At Home). I made fresh granola and played with my new Janome sewing machine, and Paul brought home his new toy: a giant trailer.

There’s no real recipe at play here: I just toss some oats, sesame seeds, coconut & sliced almonds with some dried blueberries, some honey, some maple syrup and canola oil and bake it lightly.

Truffles and Speckles fighting over a nesting box. Neither one would cede to the other, and they ended up both laying their eggs at the same time.

No, I don’t particularly like “Hello Kitty”. The machine just happened to be branded that way and it was a steal.

Paul’s new toy.

What do you mean I can’t have this marshmallow Oona dropped that’s bigger than my head??!!

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Tagged Farm, food, Kids, Pets, Sewing

Week #2 Mosaic …

Posted on March 11, 2012 by mvobsession | Comments Off

(Click on picture to enlarge)

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Tagged architecture, food, water

Like Kids In A Candy Store …

Posted on March 7, 2012 by mvobsession | Comments Off

In my post of Feb 24th…’Painting Party’… I said I had one more birthday gift to collect. I did that recently with my daughter Deb. There are actually two gifts to tell about. One I knew about, one I didn’t.

Dylan’s Candy Bar I knew about… but before we went there we walked a little further down E 60th St to.

Serendipity 3 for lunch. Why there? Well, because of their famous, delicious, heavenly chocolate dessert….. Frozen Hot Chocolate, which I adore.

I would have gone straight for the frozen hot chocolate but Deb said we should at least have a sandwich or something first. They were okay. I only ate half of the chicken salad and Deb’s prosciutto sandwich turned out to be less than fresh… I’m pleased to say that the management generously rectified that situation.

And then…. tah dah… THE frozen hot chocolate.

This is me today.

This is me in 1994 the first time I had frozen hot chocolate.

Good to the last lick.. and as sinfully delicious as I remembered it… and yes, I drank it all by myself.

You might think we had no desire to even look at anymore sweets. Nope. Still had Dylan’s Candy Bar to visit and use my gift card from Deb.

So down the block we waddled to…

Dylan’s Candy Bar

We were literally like kids in a candy store.

So much to look at, so much candy it boggled my mind. And there were other interesting things like this illuminated staircase.

Miscellaneous this and that… a birthday hat, and yes, apparently chocolate does aid in healing.

Um… hmmm…

Our loot.

Starting at bottom left going clockwise: chocolate/raspberry bar – chocolate covered pretzel balls – a box of chocolate covered pretzels – chocolate covered krispies and chocolate covered sandwich cookies.

There was one other stop, the New York Public Library, but you’ll have to wait a bit for that post as I’m coming down off my sugar high and think I need to rest a bit

(CLICK HERE for a sneak peek at the library lions at ‘Through Jersey Eyes’)

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Tagged food, New York, Photographs, shopping

Week #1 Mosaic …

Posted on March 4, 2012 by mvobsession | Comments Off

Every day in March is a different assignment. I’m going to try and post mine as a weekly mosaic every Sunday.

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Tagged flowers, food, weather

MV Obsessions …

Posted on March 2, 2012 by mvobsession | Comments Off

MV Obsession is four and a half years old and I’ve never done a post about my obsessive rituals and quirky have-to-dos. So here it is.

I HAVE to wear something Vineyard related every day. I’ve been wearing this watch since 1995. But sometimes, like today, I like to wear…

… a Vineyard shirt.

I’ve had a Vineyard related license plate on my New Jersey car since 1993.

And since 1988 I’ve been carrying this stone from State Beach in my wallet.

Those are just my quirks when I’m not on the Vineyard. When I’m on the Vineyard I have other rituals and compulsions, here are a few of them.

Espresso Love’s blueberry scones. I love them so much I bring them home, put them in my freezer and sometimes, just sometimes offer them to other people. Espresso Love coffee is of course a must to go with the scones. (CLICK HERE)

The Tabernacle. I love this place. No visit is complete without visiting this hallowed place and doing a bit of reflecting… and always taking ‘just one more picture’ because, well, I’m obsessed. (CLICK HERE)

The Bandstand in Ocean Park is one of my favorite places to sit and enjoy just being. I’ve been known to take ‘just one more picture’ here too. (CLICK HERE)

The house my godparents owned. I spent every summer of my childhood here and I always, always drive past it at least twice when I’m on MV. One time years ago I was fortunate enough to step back into the house and step back in time.

Heading Up-Island now. Almost every trip includes a visit to the Gay Head cliffs. No matter how many times I see them they always take my breath away. (CLICK HERE)

When our dog Chappy visits the Vineyard he has his own ‘must visit’ places. The Black Dog for their droolicious biscuits. Good Dog Good for their goodies as well, and to visit the ladies there who always remember him. (CLICK HERE) and (HERE)

All my obsessions, quirks and rituals are not necessarily Vineyard related though. I’ll admit to one that makes my family chuckle every time I do it. I have to end up on my right foot going up or down stairs… stepping on or off curbs… putting on shoes and socks.

Now that you know my obsessions let me hear from you about yours.

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Tagged food, Martha's Vineyard, Memories, Photographs, Tabernacle

Let’s Start a Magazine Together!

Posted on March 2, 2012 by WoolyMama | Comments Off

This is the post where I steal an entire bit from Susan’s blog and pass it on here. She and the crew at JMF are starting magazine. A beautiful, lovely, useful magazine centered around all things done by hand. Cooking, sewing, knitting, building…..you name it. I’m super excited about it (and having a hard time not boasting that I’ve known about it for quite awhile and have seen some of what’s going to go into it…..it’s too exciting to keep to myself!). Here it is in Susan’s words. There’s some lovely prizes to be had for those who can help get it off the ground.

Very Big News!

by Susan on March 2, 2012

So for months now I have been alluding to a big secret I’ve been keeping. I am thrilled that today I can finally share the news with all of you.

Juniper Moon Farm is starting a magazine called By Hand. By Hand will be a lifestyle magazine for people who make, with departments for cooking, crafting, DIY, gardening, and do-gooding, with a bit of travel and profiles of makers every month.

The idea is to celebrate creating things with our hands, and to explore the motivation to make things in a world where there are cheaper and immediate alternatives. It will be both practical (patterns, DIY projects, etc) and thoughtful, with a lovely and gentle aesthetic.

We have lots of amazing contributors and editors on board already, and the first issue is well underway. But before we go any further, we need your help!

We are holding a Kickstarter campaign to raise the rest of the money we need to make the magazine everything we want it to be. And as an added inducement, we have commissioned so amazing rewards! Our art director Michelle Lukezic has designed posters and t-shirts that are going to be incredibly popular with people who make things with their hands. Here’s a sample:

There are posters and t-shirts for each of the sections in the magazine!

If you like what you see and want to support us, great! If you can help us get the word out about the Kickstarter and the magazine we will be forever in your debt!

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Tagged Farm, food, garden, Giveaway, Knitting, Sewing, Uncategorized

Lemon Cream Cake …

Posted on March 2, 2012 by mvobsession | Comments Off

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Tagged food

Quickies

Posted on March 2, 2012 by WoolyMama | Comments Off

What’s going on right now:

There’s 14 1/2 dozen eggs in my fridge right now. It’s getting dire, people. I am going to start doing egg drops on peoples’ doorsteps.

I’ve been reading 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created by Charles C Mann and I am loving it. There’s all kinds of great little – known facts about the impact that contact with the “New World” made globally. Did you know that at Columbus’ time (he was called Cristobal Colon then, btw) people had known for years the earth was round; Columbus (or Colon) insisted it was pear – shaped, with the very top resembling a woman’s nipple? Did you know earthworms were unknown in the Americas before the Europeans arrived? Or that Pocahontas’ name was actually “Mataoka”. The name “Pocahontas” was a nickname which meant “Little Hellion”?

I’m working furiously on Wicked using the luscious Superfine Alpaca yarn Caroline and I bought from the Montpelier Fiber Festival in the fall. It’s very slow going, and normally I would be ultra bored with it by now, but the yarn is just so wonderful I can’t put it down.

To assist with all that knitting – we got a new dvd player. Okay, we got it because our old one broke. Paul picked up a new one with all these crazy bells and whistles that I can barely figure out BUT. I can access my Amazon Prime account through the dvd player so that I can watch any of the streaming shows and movies from my online account ON MY TV!!! I know I am so late to the party on this but I am very much enjoying it! Now I don’t have to rely on my laptop to watch Downton Abbey!!! (And goodness, if you haven’t been watching Downton Abbey, please do. It is so very good!)

I started working out every day back in January. I’ve been alternating between a strength – training Pilates program with resistance bands and an “Ease into 5K” program on the elliptical. I also gave up soda completely and have replaced it with green tea. My favorite is The Republic of Tea’s Blueberry Green Tea. I’m feeling pretty good. My goal is to run on the beach this August during my book club beach weekend. My super – fit friend Beth runs every morning while we are there, and this year I plan to join her.

Today I got my spinach and broccoli planted. As last year, I am using all heritage non – GMO seeds from Baker Creek. We’ve expanded the vegetable garden site and I am excited for all the fresh veg we’ll have this year!

Last but not least, I bought supplies to take to Juniper Moon Farm this weekend where I will get to meet Lizzy House! She’s giving a quilting workshop and I get to go sew with some of my favorite people (and meet Lizzy House!!!!!!)

What are you up to this week????

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Tagged Farm, food, garden, Knitting, Sewing, Uncategorized

Saying Goodbye to Winter

Posted on February 27, 2012 by WoolyMama | Comments Off

Normally I wouldn’t give up on winter so soon. After all, where I grew up, March was blizzard season. Even here in Virginia we’ve had more than a few surprise March snowstorms; at least of those was nearly record – breaking. However, given the incredibly mild weather we’ve had since fall I think it’s not foolish to expect winter is done. Perhaps we’ll have another blow-out – who knows? But I am not holding my breath. Not when in the same week we’ve had several inches of snow followed by nearly 80 degree temperatures three days later.

So, over the course of the week we’ll be washing and packing away the heavier winter items and changing out our winter decor for spring.

Yes, I change the art on the walls along with the sheets, the pillows and the blankets to coordinate with the seasons. It’s easier than a re-doing your furniture every time you get sick of where it all is.

It’s hard to believe I took all of these pictures not eve a full week ago, considering a few days ago we were outside like this:

I gave in and planted some of the cold crops: beans, peas, arugula, Black Seeded Lettuce, and Red Romaine. I’m afraid if I wait for the normal planting date it will be too warm.

Spring cleaning, here we come.