Weekly Header Challenge -- In the Kitchen

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Fishing Guy 

Kathy 

Imac 

Lew

I'm joining in the group above for this weekly challenge.

Click on the other participants' blogs to see

what they've come up with!

Theme ~ In the Kitchen

Chosen by me.

Since it's winter, I've been in my kitchen a lot.  Cooking and baking are not only fun, but they keep me warm!  These images are all from the past two months; to start, here is the full-frame version from my header:

Homemade ravioli!

Over on my family blog, I post lots of recipes.  I like sharing them with the cyber-world, and I want to eventually include all my favorite ones for easy access when I'm away from home.  Or, you know, if my house burns down and I lose my recipe binder...  So, I take lots of pictures, not just of the finished product, but of the process as well.  Here's one image of my ingredients, ready to be turned into Bay Rice Pilaf:

I love a good salad, and though I don't eat many of them during the winter, I have to satisfy the craving when it occurs.

Salad with peas, tomatoes, and cranberries.

A new recipe for me is this delicious Ham Chili, which I paired with cornbread made in my cast iron skillet.

Whole-wheat biscuits make a delicious and healthy side dish.

Here's the finished product:  Bay Rice Pilaf.

Finally, here's a new cake I tried--Almond Cream Cake, for Jake's birthday (he had friends over for his "Games 'n Grub" party).  It looks nothing like the picture showed me it was supposed to look in the original recipe, plus Jake bought me blanched sliced almonds instead of regular plain ol' slivered almonds.  The cooked frosting--my first attempt at such a recipe--was a disaster, but I doctored it and made it work.

The Games 'n Grub (board games, card games, etc., plus food = Games 'n Grub) was a ton of fun, and we ended up in the kitchen for dessert, which was said cake above.  While we were singing Happy Birthday, our very own Craver (who, with his wife, partied with us!) grabbed my camera, set it to auto, held it up, and snapped this picture:

Birthday in my kitchen!

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge - Winter

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Craver VII 

Fishing Guy 

Katney 

Imac 

Lew

I'm joining in the group above for this weekly challenge.

Click on the other participants' blogs to see

what they've come up with!

Theme ~ Winter

Chosen by Lew.

Winter is a perfect theme for this week, obviously (thanks, Lew!).  But, since I haven't been out in the recent snow, preferring to attempt hunkering down and staying warm inside, I thought I'd go through last January's pictures to see what I shot.  Turns out, I did go out a few times then, and so I chose a black and white header that fits the theme perfectly.  Here's the full image:

Then, as I browsed through the rest of those images, I realized--I did stay in a lot then, too.  What did I do, you may ask?  The answer is seen in the rest of these pictures.  Want to stay warm in January?  Go hang out in the kitchen, turn on the stove, and cook something.  Here are the rest of my January winter images--surprise!

The ones I've blogged the recipes for will have links.  Clicking on the link will take you to my family blog.  Just so you know.  Stay warm!!

Sausage and White Bean Soup

Confetti Rice with Beef

Slow Cooker Orange Chicken

Chicken Soup from Scratch

Blueberry Pie with Crisp Topping

Baked Yogurt Chicken

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce and Meatballs on top of Brussels Sprouts

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting

Shredded Chicken Tacos

One of my Winter Salads

Broccoli, Barley, Cheddar Cheese, and Salsa

Breakfast Puffs

This post took longer than I expected it to!  I've blogged a lot of recipes, with a lot more to go.  And now I'm in the mood to bake and blog some more!  I hope I've warmed you up a bit today!!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Restaurant, Cafe, Brasserie, Bistro | Paris Travel

Our Silver Paris

Welcome to my Paris travel journal,

where I share our experiences of a special journey to Paris.

Please use these posts as a guide

for your own travels to this amazing and wonderful city!

Or simply sit, read, and dream...

I never did (and still don't) understand why one is called a café and another a restaurant, or brasserie or bistro, for that matter.  But they're all there in Paris, and you see them on almost every corner--and in between, too!  There are so many places to eat, whether you want a full-scale meal, or simply to sit, sip an espresso and people-watch.

The best I can tell, here are some of the differences between places in Paris to grab a bite to eat or even a full meal.

A brasserie serves food all day and evening, and some are open all night. Their typically Alsatian origins are reflected in the food usually served at these places--sausage, saurkraut, beer, etc.

A bistro is like a cafe/bar where lunch and dinner are served, and just drinks in between.

A café serves light meals (omelette, sandwiches) and coffee, bar drinks, and also a typical French petit dejeuner (breakfast).  We began our first day's walk with a small lunch at the below café.

Café de Florés in St. Germain.

Croque madame at Café de Florés in St-Germain.

One note about Fernando's sandwich above:  a croque monsieur is basically a grilled cheese sandwich with béchamel sauce, yum.  To make it a croque madame, serve a fried egg on top.  Major yum.

Finally, restaurants are open for lunch, then close to get ready for dinner. You usually order more of a full meal here, not just a snack or a dessert.  We found that most are open from noon until 2:00pm, then from 8:00-10:30pm, give or take an hour or two on each side.  :)

La Petite Chaise, the oldest restaurant in Paris.

A restaurant in le Marais district

Here are two little stories--with pictures--about meals we ate at restaurants in Paris.  Enjoy!

Our Anniversary Meal

On our anniversary, we took our own self-guided walking tour from the Louvre to l'Arc de Triomphe.  Once we were on l'avenue Champs-Élysées, we were both famished.  Fortunately, restaurants usually place their menu at the entrance.  We figured if I, with my very basic French skills, could figure out what they were serving, we would eat there.  The first restaurant we came along looked contemporary, and didn't appeal to me.  I picked out just one or two words on their menu, so we kept walking.  We didn't have to walk far.  The next restaurant we came upon looked inviting, I could understand a lot of the menu, and we stepped inside.

The server handed us our menus, and I was pleasantly surprised by two things.  First, the name of the restaurant, which we hadn't even noticed!

For our 25th anniversary meal!

Second, the menus were in both French and English!  Located on avenue Champs-Élysées, they probably realized the wisdom of a bilingual menu.  :)

I wish I had written down the French for what we ordered, but photos will have to suffice.  I felt a little strange at taking pictures, but Fernando gave the go-ahead, so I went ahead.  :)

So you're not confused, here is the French:

L'Entrée -- appetizer

Le plat -- main dish

Le dessert -- dessert

L'entrée (appetizer) -- fresh mozzarella cheese with freshly sliced tomatoes and basil,

drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette.

Le plat (main dish) -- Fernando ordered the Chateaubriand.

Le plat (main dish) -- I ordered fish on a bed of leeks, with tomato and olive garnish.

Every dish is a work of art, masterfully presented.  The appetizer was beautiful to simply look at!  I could have died happy after eating just that.  But, I also especially loved dessert, which we shared.

Le dessert -- Crème brulée waffles with pistachio ice cream.

My birthday meal

On my birthday, we started the day by wandering around le Marais with our trusty walking guide book in hand.  After a lovely morning filled with delightful discoveries--a cobblestone merchants' street, a  city park, a farmers market, and a flea market--we found ourselves on rue Paul-Bert with three restaurants to choose from.  The Little Black Book of Paris recommended all three.  We walked into one, but they were packed and asked for reservations.  We wandered back to this one below.

It looked almost empty, with no one sitting at the two little tables outside.

We decided to go on in, and a friendly waiter greeted us in French.  There was only one other person--a businessman--at the indoor tables, but the waiter slid a table out so I could get to the seat behind, and we were ready to eat.  We counted seating for only about 18 people inside, so this would be cozy.  Fernando shook his head when I asked about taking food pictures, but he helped me write down everything we ordered.  English was definitely not spoken at this little restaurant, and my pocket French dictionary was no help at all, so we were on our own.  How fun!

The waiter leaned the large menu placard against the counter area near us, and we set about looking up words and ordering.  This was a prix fixé menu, which meant that for one price, we could order one appetizer or one main, plus dessert; for a second price, we could order an appetizer and a main; or we could order a la carte, meaning just one of the items.  The placard listed two items in each category--very different from a typical American restaurant!

~     ~     ~

Le Temps au Temps

("The Time of Times" or "The Season of Seasons")

crème de haricot blanc (froide)

(cold cream of white bean soup)

suprème de poulet jaune, pilaf d'épicure

(chicken with a pilaf of barley and grains)

roulé à la rhubarbe et masqué chocolat blanc

tiramisu au café

 (rhubarb-filled cake roll with a white chocolate ganache)

(layered tiramisu served in a glass coffee cup)

~     ~     ~

Once again, we were not disappointed.  The bean soup was simple, beautifully presented, and amazingly delicious.  The chicken was tender and the barley flavorful.  Finally, nothing needs to be said about dessert--I ordered one, Fernando ordered the other, and we shared.  Sigh.  :)


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Project 2012 -- Week 20 -- May 13-19

Project 2012 -- Week 20

May 13 - May 19

How to Link Up With Us

1.  Click here to read the Project 2012 Guidelines, and to get the code to place in your blog.
2.  Fill out the little form below (insert the URL of your blog post, not the main URL of your blog).
3.  Please visit others' links and leave comments; you will receive visits and comments in return!

My Week 20 Photos

Last week consisted of flowers and fried chicken, friends and fun.  Here are my images with their stories:

The guys worked all afternoon digging, shoveling, loading, dumping, planting, covering, and watering.  Here is the end result:

[134] Raised beds

Off to my front yard garden and the happy daisies blooming in the sun.

[135] Daisy love

Time for dinner!  I made this oven-fried chicken one night when I had my camera out.  :)  Recipe to come soon.

[136] Oven fried chicken

Later in the week, as Danny, Jacob, and I planted onions in my front yard flower garden (I ran out of room in my veggie garden!), I noticed the beard tongue was abuzz with honeybees.  I captured this guy on one of the blooms.

[137] Honeybee on beard tongue

I love this dreamy photo of my front yard garden.

[138] Garden love

We ended the week by attending Jacob's graduation from Joliet Junior College.  He, along with his friend Bryan, obtained their Associates degrees.  As they exited the auditorium during the processional, Bryan gave us a glimpse of what he was feeling inside.  I love the happiness on his face!  (Congratulations, Lori!)

[139] Happy graduate

They had a screen set up in the reception area for picture-taking.  We waited until many of the graduates and families left, and then the maintenance guy waited patiently for us to take a gazillion photos.  :)

[140] The graduate and his brothers

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Project 2012 -- Week 16 4/5-22

Project 2012 -- Week 16

April 15 - April 22

How to Link Up With Us

1.  Click here to read the Project 2012 Guidelines, and to get the code to place in your blog.
2.  Fill out the little form below (insert the URL of your blog post, not the main URL of your blog).
3.  Please visit others' links and leave comments; you will receive visits and comments in return!

My Week 16 Photos

Another week of eclectic photos...

I've been posting recipes on my family blog, and the below will be featured in an upcoming post.

[106] Breakfast biscuits with grape preserves

Everything bloomed early this spring in Illinois, including the chives which found a spot to pop up in my veggie gardens.

 [107] Blooming chives

A Scrabble game that started out badly ended with another high score!  I played this one with my mom.

[108] 847

We finished up the weekend visiting Western Illinois University.  Jacob attended a transfer student orientation, where he signed up for fall classes, learned about the many ways to be involved on campus, and got a tour (with us) of the campus and dorms.

[109] Student mail

The below building is the first building that greets you when you enter campus.

[110] Sherman Hall

I couldn't resist getting a shot of Jacob at his future school!

[111] Jacob at WIU

On the way home, my sweet hubby pulled over onto the side of the road in Adair so I could snap this picture (we saw the building on the way in the day before).  This and the Adair Cafe make up the downtown of this little prairie town of about 200 people.  There was actually a guy inside playing pool on this particular Saturday night!

[112] Downtown Adair

All in all, I had a decent week of taking photos.  My brain is filled to overload with college information--admissions, scholarships, financial aid, housing...  Now I have to get to work helping Jacob get the final details in place as he prepares to attend WIU!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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P2012 Week 12 -- March 18-24

Project 2012 -- Week 12

March 18 - March 24

How to Link Up With Us

1.  Click here to read the Project 2012 Guidelines, and to get the code to place in your blog.
2.  Fill out the little form below (insert the URL of your blog post, not the main URL of your blog).
3.  Please visit others' links and leave comments; you will receive visits and comments in return!

My Week 12 Photos

I took a mountain of photos last week.  I have a wide variety of images to share--it was hard to choose just seven!

My week started at Lake Renwick and Turtle Lake and taking pictures for my current photography class.  I took the opportunity of being outdoors with my camera and stayed for a peaceful sunset.

[78] Sunset on Budde Lake

Tuesday was primary elections in Illinois, and my young men and I walked down to the polling place.  I got "talked to" when I snapped a picture of Danny (his first time voting!).  Illinois does not have statues regarding photography in the polling place, but the judges apparently decided that I was not allowed to do so.  The crazy thing is that I announced to them that I was going to take a picture, and that I was going to stand away from the voting booths to be out of the way.  No one else but us was there, either.  I have one more up-and-coming voter, so we'll see if the statutes will be changed in the next few years.  (At least I got the shot!)

[79] Time to vote

We saw some turtles and geese at a pond on the way home from voting.

[80] Geese reflections

My brother called me one evening and asked if I wanted to go shooting with him in Plainfield.  (He's taking the same photography class as I am.)  Of course I would!  Below is a frame within a frame shot that I didn't use for the class.  I love the late evening sunlight.

[81] Downtown Plainfield

My young men went to work this week, shoveling extra dirt from their grandparents' home to put in our vegetable garden.

[82] Moving dirt

I received an invitation to join Pinterest, and I've been pinning lots of things, including recipes.  I made my own version of one of the recipes, seen below with homemade tomato soup my friend gave us.  This sandwich was out-of-this-world delicious!

[83] Bacon guacamole grilled cheese

My dearest knight in shining armor spent the better part of Saturday working on our pickup truck.  A couple of bolts were completely rusted tight, so he has to get someone else to do the remainder of the work.  I'm so proud of him trying to save money!

[84] Mechanic for a day

Since the weeks of Project 2012 start on Sunday, I already have lots of photos taken for this upcoming week!  (Being in photography class helps get me out snapping, too.)  I'm hoping the warm weather will hold for a little while--I've been enjoying getting out this early in the year for picture-taking opportunities!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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