Happy Easter

  I was MIA at Paint Party Friday last week, one of the very few times I've missed...because I was at the beach!! Not once did I look on a computer so it was a nice break to be "unplugged". My girlfriends and I mostly went to do a thorough Spring cleaning of the house, and we worked very hard but also took the time to walk on the beach each day, and enjoy fabulous dinners we took turns cooking in the evenings.

          It was so wonderful to be able to have breakfast and coffee on the deck each morning.

  After some hours of cleaning we took nice walks on the beach and found a few special treasures:

  There were many horseshoe crab shells-mostly baby ones which we hadn't seen here. Kinda sad. They must have been swept ashore by stormy waves and weren't able to make their way back to the ocean.

 We ate very well each night, had a bottle of wine with our dinners, and then champagne on the last night to celebrate all our hard work in making this gorgeous house sparkle and shine again.

 I made a Panko Mustard Crusted salmon, green beans with lemon vinaigrette and red quinoa with spinach and mushrooms one night.


      (RECIPES AT END OF POST)

   And on the last night I made Chicken Piccata, sweet potatoes and spinach sauteed with garlic, white wine, olive oil and lemon.






 And best of all we didn't gain a single pound because we worked it all off during the day:)

 I did manage to get some simple lettering practice pages done in my journal but that will have to wait til I photograph them. In the meantime this is my April calendar spread done as prompted by the Draw Your Awesome Year class.

  The initial Pitt pen layout:

  and with the watercolor paints added:

                              I am caught up and the days are journaled in up to today.

  

  To all who will be celebrating the Easter holiday this Sunday, I wish you and your loved ones a joyous day. I will be hosting a small, very casual dinner for some family and a dear friend. But I will be stopping by to see as many of you as I can in between preparations. Thanks to EVA and Kristin for hosting Paint Party Friday, along with all the inspiring artists who share their creativity with all of us!

                   " April hath put a spirit of youth in everything."     William Shakespeare

                                               Panko Crusted Salmon (serves 4 )

   2/3 c. panko breadcrumbs       2 Tbsp. olive oil          4 salmon filets        salt, pepper

  1 tsp. grated lemon zest      2  Tbsp. Dijon mustard       2 Tbsp. olive oil      parsley

    In sm. bowl mix together panko, parsley, lemon zest, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. pepper. Drizzle with the olive oil and stir til crumbs are evenly coated. Set aside.
    Place salmon filets in a baking dish. Generously brush tops of salmon with mustard then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Press panko mixture thickly on top of the mustard on each salmon filet. Bake in 375 F preheated oven 10 - 15 min.


                                                   Chicken Piccata (serves 2 )

  2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut in half, pounded into cutlets      1 tsp. minced garlic

  flour      1/2 c. low sodium chicken broth     2 Tbsp. oil       2 Tbsp. lemon jc.     parsley

  1 Tbsp. capers        1/4 c. dry white wine       2 Tbsp. butter      fresh lemon slices

   Season cutlets with salt and pepper; dredge in flour. Add oil to pan, heat and sauté cutlets 2 -3 min. one side. Flip and sauté covered 1 -2 min. Transfer to warm platter. Deglaze pan with wine and garlic about 2 min. Add broth, lemon jc. and capers. Return cutlets to pan and cook on ea. side 1 min. Transfer cutlets to warm plates. Finish sauce with butter and lemons. Pour sauce over cutlets. Garnish with parsley and serve. Note- I use Smart Balance instead of regular butter


                                   Red Quinoa with Spinach and Mushrooms (serves 6)

  2 tsp. olive oil        1 c. finely chopped onion       2 c. low sodium chicken broth    1/2 tsp. salt

  2 c. chopped spinach      1 tsp. minced garlic     1 c. red quinoa, rinsed well    1/4 tsp. pepper

  1/2 c. chopped mushrooms     1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese

   Heat oil in saucepan. add onion, cook 5 min. Add garlic and quinoa and cook 1 min. Add broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer 12 min. Mixture will be brothy and quinoa almost done. Stir in spinach and mushrooms and simmer 2 min. more. Add cheese and season with salt and pepper. 

Beverages and More at the Beach

  A special thanks for your thoughts and comments last week. As you know, I mentioned going to the beach and did not have the time to reply personally to anyone. During my beach time I chose to be "unplugged" except for having my cell phone on. Photos to follow.

  I am linking this card I just made to the Simon Monday Challenge Blog whose theme is "Winged Things" this week. They offer a new theme each week along with a random drawing to win a $50 gift card to their shop! And the DT always has the most beautiful projects to share around the themes.

 Products: white card stock-the Paper Studio; patterned card stocks-Café Mediterranean Stack-DCWV; paper flower-Studiog; clear stamp-Think Big Favorites #3-Papertrey Ink; bird stamp set and punch-Stampin Up; Onyx black ink-Versafine-Tsukineko; die cut machine and dies-Spellbinders.

 Needless to say , the beach getaway was awesome!! We had wonderful weather. We worked HARD Spring cleaning our friend's beach house all together, top to bottom. But we also took some time to walk on the beach each day, and end our evening with a delicious healthy meal (mostly), conversation and wine :)

 Beverage of choice in the morning was Starbucks coffee and breakfast on the deck each morning-what a glorious view eh?

Our first walk down to the beach. I stopped, looked down for some shells and found this beautiful starfish with that small white shell attached! There were numerous small gatherings of reeds etc. that reminded me of nests so I staged the starfish on one for this photo.

 And we came across this vignette while walking:

  There were many horseshoe crab shells lying on the beach-many of them babies which we'd not seen before. There must have been some nasty storms that brought them too far on the sand to get back to the ocean. I did bring a shell of a little one home.

 Of course there were plenty of various Eastern shore birds sharing our walks with us:

 

  We took turns making dinners in the evenings. Here are two of the dinners.We ate VERY well.  I'll have more to share perhaps in a post on Friday-if I get to the editing.

  First night I made mustard Panko crusted salmon, green beans with lemon vinaigrette, and a warm quinoa salad with spinach and mushrooms. The second night Lynne made a spring mix salad with slices of roast chicken breast topped with walnuts and raspberry vinaigrette. Of course, after all our hours of cleaning we did reward ourselves each night with a bottle of wine for dinner. And did I mention-the oven wasn't working! The next two dinners we had were just as special but you'll have to check back another day for that.

 And there was nothing like watching the sun set on the bay side while preparing the dinners...

  We are blessed to be frequent guests in this beautiful, welcoming home with such spectacular surroundings and to consider the owners such very special, long time friends. It was a privilege for Trina and I to be a part of restoring this home to it's true sparkle and shine. To the power of three!

 You are welcome to join in any Tuesday at Bleubeard and Elizabeth's for T Stands For Tuesday. And don't forget to bring along a cuppa (anything).

     " The ocean stirs the heart, inspires the imagination and brings eternal joy to the soul."  Wyland

It's A Henley...

   teapot that is!!

  Last Tuesday I shared photos of my lunch and shopping at Donegal Square in town. If you missed it you can see it all here.  LuAnn and I both ended up buying this medium sized original Henley teapot. Believe it or not, with all the tea we drink around here I don't own a single teapot so I think I was justified in this purchase :) I also bought some loose leaf decafe Irish tea which is what I was enjoying here along with a new recipe I made for a Spanakopita Quiche.  Both the tea and quiche were excellent!! Even hubby liked the quiche very much (just please don't tell him there's fat free feta in it-he claims he can't stand feta cheese:) The teapot holds enough for 3 nice mugs of tea. And the Irish Breakfast blend has a nice strong, malty like flavor. If in the future I should have to give up my caffeinated Starbucks I would definitely accept this in its place.

 As for some art I just have a few painted backgrounds I did with leftover paints I had on a palette:

  That's all for now. I have been very busy planning, preparing meals ahead for hubby, cleaning, doing laundry, packing some clothes and food ingredients to take for the days I'm in charge of dinners- AT THE BEACH!!! My two girlfriends and I are heading to Fenwick Island , DE for 4 days of girl time! I haven't been to the beach since last Sept. so although I will miss hubby and our dog not being with me I just cannot wait to breathe in that salty air and get my feet wet on some long walks along the shore. I'm sure I'll have some great photos to share next week. Until then, happy "T" day everyone. Feel free to join in with your favorite beverage of choice at T Stands For Tuesday with Bleubeard and Elizabeth.

   " I cannot imagine where I would be today were it not for that handful of friends who have given me a heart full of joy. Let's face it, friends make life a lot more fun."   Chuck Swindoll

Hooray For April!

  What joy to see nature blooming again. It won't be long before we are finally surrounded by the greens of the trees and grass and the colors of the soon to be blooming flowers. I found the perfect quote to end today's post that says just how I feel :).

 Note about my giveaway-I have tried to contact Susi since my  "winners" post and have not heard anything back. I will give it one more week then I will have to choose another winner for the domino kit.

 The theme at Inspiration Avenue this week is "show off your marigolds". I don't have any yet this year but I do have a photo I took last summer of them:

 

   And then  I took a bit of time to play with it digitally in PSE 10:

   I used a blue color fill, "glowing edges" effect, then "color dodge" in layers. What a dramatic difference! Kinda reminds me of an electrical storm.

  My March calendar spread is complete for my online class and also Kate Crane's Calendar Project. This one was a lot of work-time consuming but worth it in the end-I love all the color! I have begun April's but it's not quite ready so I'll share that next week.  

  I also completed another drawing lesson page.

 Filled in with water colors:

 

  That's about it for now. Joining up with Paint Party Friday along with Art Journal Every Day as well as the two challenges I mentioned above. Thanks so much for stopping by!

      " Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush."        Doug Larson

An Irish Lunch and Tea

  Last  Thursday my friend  and I finally were able to get together to have my birthday lunch (thank you LuAnn!). We went to our favorite Celtic place in town-Granny McCarthy's Tea Room which also houses my favorite shop-Donegal Square. This is where I bought my Scottish mug I shared in a post a few weeks ago.

 The first thing you see when you come up the stairs from the shop is the bakery/dessert case :)

                                                                  I KNOW!!!!
 These are THE best-very traditional in flavor and taste and not very sweet-my favorite kind of indulgence.




  But we did have lunch and tea before splitting a little something:

  We both had the turkey melt on brown bread and shared a sponge cake filled with strawberries and cream. The tea we shared was a pot of a berry/herbal blend called Casablanca and it was so good! (We both have to have decafe). You can buy the loose leaf teas they have on the menu. More on that next week:)

  Here's a collage of the tea area, the tea menu and the bar/pub:

  Then we meandered around the shop. So much to see!

  The bottom right photo is of the owner Neville Gardner with one of the two Glen of Imaal terriers he and his wife own and show. This is Fergus. Cormac was with his mum that day. Often when I visit the pups are somewhere either in the shop or out at a table with Neville on a nice day. I love that many of the shops in town are doggie friendly and that they put out bowls of water in the warmer weather.


   I was tempted to buy one of those pots I took a close up of-just because it makes me giggle. But I didn't. LuAnn loves the color pink and she adored the pink teapot with the piggies on it. But she didn't buy it. We both did however buy something else which I will share next time with Bleubeard and Elizabeth and friends for T Stands For Tuesday! I think you got your fill of things for this week:)


       " It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like 'what about lunch?' "     Winnie the Pooh