it's raining, it's pouring.

It's snowy and rainy here. So we've been squeezing plump oranges for juice,

laughing at this Japanese paper ballon monkey,

celebrating the beginning of maple sugaring season by finishing off our second gallon of local syrup and thinking that maybe next time we should really get three gallons (this picture was taken on a sunny day before the Great Rains, but really our syrup is helping us make it through!),

trying to keep milk cool when our power fails and being thankful for snow and ice to do just that,

marveling at the invention of electricity when it finally comes back on, and day dreaming just a wee bit about spring with the help of newly opened, purple irises.

Oh, I know there are just so many banana bread recipes but I had to share this one from one of my all time favorite cookbooks. The book I have is now out of print but they sell another one here. It does not have the banana bread recipe but many others that are just as divine. Anyways, you see, something exciting happened in our little house this past week. Our kitchen stove, whose oven had been broken was fixed! So, we have been baking whenever possible! We finally had a proper snow here in New England at the beginning of the week so when my son woke from his nap we set to work. With our blue stove burning hot and these lovely, large snow flakes slowly meandering from the sky, I gathered all of our ingredients onto our coffee table. I love baking with my two-year-old. It is a good old lesson in getting messy and following the creative baking spirit! Banana bread worked well for that as there is ample banana mushing and flour measuring, egg cracking and butter softening. Here is the recipe:

8 tablespoon sweet butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup whole-wheat flour

3 large, ripe bananas, mashed

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup shelled walnuts, coarsely chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Grease a 9 x 5 x 3 inch bread pan.

2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

3. Sift all-purpose flour, baking soda and salt together, stir in whole-wheat flour and add to creamed mixture, mixing well.

4. Fold in mashed bananas, vanilla and walnuts.

5. Pour mixture into the prepared pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then on a rack.

Makes one loaf

Yes, it was very good indeed!

P.S. We like to use this cake tester and cooling rack from here. They are very nice.

Have a lovely Sunday!

tea.

She really knows how to make everything so beautiful and fun and delicious. We had another grand time!

On, and speaking of tea, I stumbled upon this lovely box of tea the other day. Really, the packaging is so beautifully designed that I can only imagine the tea tastes just as divine! Have you tried it?

"A Proper Tea is much nicer than a Very Nearly Tea, which is one you forget about afterwards".

-A.A. Milne

egg.

Maybe it is because my family keeps laying hens that I often have chickens, and eggs and all things related on my mind. We often start each morning with a sunny, yellow egg that we gathered from our hens the day before. It feels wholesome and hearty and tastes delicious to boot! So, in the spirit of those delightful eggs and in honor of our dear hens, here is a simple project of making a fried egg out of wool felt. The end result is a fun addition to a child's play kitchen!

You will need: 

one piece of 100% wool yellow felt

one piece of 100% wool white felt

yellow embroidery thread

white embroidery thread

a bit of wool stuffing

a few sewing pins

a large eyed sewing needle

a pair of scissors

To begin, trace two white circles out of the white felt.

Next, trace one smaller circle out of the yellow felt.

Cut out all three circles.

Pin the yellow circle onto one of the large white circles. It is nice if it is slightly off center as is the case with a real egg!

Now, using the blanket stitch, begin sewing the yellow circle onto the white circle. You will want to leave it slightly open so there is room to put a bit of the stuffing.

Take a small amount of the wool stuffing and put it between the yellow and white circle. Fresh eggs have big, plump yokes! This is a great time to make use of those little hands that I am sure are eagerly waiting to help you!

Once the yoke is stuffed to your liking, finish sewing up the yellow circle. Now, pin the two white circles together and once again use the blanket stitch (with the white embroidery thread) to sew the two halves together. Before completely closing the halves together, stuff a bit more wool into the egg.  The wool may buckle slightly as you sew the two circles together but that will only add to that real egg look!

Now you are done! Fry up your egg...

and enjoy!

vera neumann napkins.

I was quite happy when I found these inexpensive, vintage Vera Neumann napkins on etsy the other day. They arrived at my door wrapped in white tissue paper(and what's better than getting little parcels in the post?) and were in that perfectly soft vintage condition of years of use. They were certainly cared for with not one thread loose nor one stain from some dear old, rosy-cheeked woman cleaning her hands of her overly buttered morning biscuit and tea. There were only three, which I don't mind in the least, and now I just need to figure out what to do with them. Maybe a pillow or a bag, but I think I may very well just leave them as they were meant to be used, for cleaning honey and yogurt off of the happy mouth of a little two-year old lad. 

p.s. I found the napkins from this etsy shop owned by a lovely woman and you can also search for Vera Neumann to find more of her linens....if you are so inclined!  

our winter view.