Old Man Winter is Back

News Flash and Update:

Since Thursday, we've gone from this . . .

To this.

What a difference a day makes

when Old Man Winter makes a visit.

Gives a whole new meaning to "Snow Bunny".

Today marks the first day of Chinese New Year, and despite the fact that it occurs in the midst of winter, it is also known as Spring Festival. Texas has been enjoying spring like weather for the past week, and I had planned a post for "The Year of the Rabbit" today,

BUT . . .

Old Man Winter came knocking at our door.

Suddenly we've gone from 70 to 17.

It's cold and blistery outside,

so come on in and join a different kind of party.

As Andy Warhol would say,

The snowmen are all excited to have their

"15 minutes of fame".

I've set a table for us on the sun porch

where we'll be warm and comfortable.

These cheerful fellows are so happy you have joined us today.

They've actually been patiently waiting

for their turn to be featured on a tablescape.

The cute little salad plates, designed by Williraye Studio, are called "Snowy Smiles". Can you see why I just had to have these? Yes, indeed! These little plates have a black and white check border.

To pull out the red and yellow colors of "Snowy Smilies" I used a yellow dinner plate for one setting and a red one for the other. The Courtly Check chargers mimic the border of the salad plates.

The snowmen thought these colorful glasses

with etched "snowballs" were a good choice,

Along with the "Treble Clef" flatware with its curled shape.

White winter berries ring the napkins which are edged in lace.

The delicate lace designs remind me of

the little snowflakes of the "Snowy Smiles" plates.

I layered various textiles to give the table a cozy feel.

A recent birthday gift, I've been eager to use these vintage tea towels which are large enough to use as table cloths on my small drop leaf table.

Both have fringed ends, and the largest of the two

has rows of red check details at either end.

The other has wonderful textural details and end borders of this red design.

A couple of friends, while shopping at Round Top last fall,

bought these with my birthday in mind.

They know me well ~ I couldn't be more thrilled!

Ironically, the beautiful little hand towels that I pulled into service as napkins were a gift from one of the same friends. Though after many years she's probably long forgotten she gave them to me.

I wanted you to feel warm and cozy, so I pulled in a couple of my French provencal pillows to use as chair cushions.

Layers of rich colors

highlighted with my favorite

black and white checks

warm my heart.

Even the snowmen are happy to be inside today.

So pull up a chair and join me

for a light lunch and a little conversation.

Suppose we talk of the early spring that

Punxsutawney Phil has predicted for this year.

We won't talk of the record snowfall that

has covered much of the country this winter.

Although snow does have its perks!

Please join me this Sunday for the

Tablescaper's Seasonal Sunday meme

for "The Year of the Rabbit".

The Snowmen will be joining the following memes.

Please click on the links below to visit.

Tablescape Thursday @ BNOTP

Feathered Nest Friday @ French Country Cottage

Friday Favorites @ Whistlestop Cafe Cooking

Show & Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home

RED HOOK ROAD, by Ayelet Waldman

RED HOOK ROAD

By Ayelet Waldman

Available here on Amazon.

I found RED HOOK ROAD a poignant novel. Like Waldman's earlier work, LOVE AND OTHER IMPOSSIBLE PURSUITS (FFT review here), her latest book also deals with relationships, heart wrenching loss, profound grief, and unexpected healing.

Our sorrows and wounds are healed

only when we touch them with compassion.

~Buddha~

Class and cultural divides provide the fundamental basis for the characters of this book. The Copakens are Jewish, privileged, and summer residents. The Tetherlys are Protestant, blue-collar, and Maine natives. The story spans four years of summers spent in a typical small coastal town of Maine. Both families, stricken with unbearable grief, find themselves awkwardly charting the course of their intertwined lives after a fatal car accident takes the lives of their newlywed children.

The mother of the bride, Iris, whose family has summered in Maine for three generations, is a sophisticated New Yorker, a professor, and daughter of a renown classical violinist. Jane, mother of the groom, is a native Mainer who cleans houses for a living. Both strong women, the reader is taken close to the heart of a mother's loss of a child.

The wedding rehearsal dinner, an occasion of exquisite joy, was held the evening of July 4th at the Copaken summer home on the Maine shore. Now a painful year later, the bride's younger sister, Ruthie, wants to repeat that joyful evening with a 4th of July picnic complete with fireworks just as they had done the night before the fateful accident. "A celebration?" Yes, a celebration of Becca and John. We'd all be together and celebrate their lives." Frozen in grief, few others can muster enthusiasm for Ruthie's attempt to heal her broken heart and find a way to honor the memory of the deceased young couple.

Once Iris agrees to Ruthie's idea, she must take on the matter of convincing Jane to agree to attend the party. In an attempt to persuade Jane, Iris bakes one of her famous bundt cakes and arrives at Jane's kitchen with cake in hand. Food for Thought was abundant in this book, but with the dichotomy of the class and cultural differences it seemed appropriate to focus on the diverse offerings from the kitchens of Iris and Jane.

"Iris baked a lime pound cake. It was her most impressive cake; she used a Bundt pan embossed with a complicated pattern of grape clusters and vines. The cake baked up tall and golden brown, and the lime sugar glaze crackled tangy and sweet when you bit into it."

In stark contrast, Jane's cooking moment is her yearly 4th of July contribution of Nilla wafer pudding.

"Jane peeled back the plastic wrap from the Nilla wafer pudding. She had actually been looking forward to not being obliged to make the damn pudding this year, but then, when she had decided to come, she seemed to be unable to prevent herself. And so once again she had found herself standing in her kitchen, slicing four dozen bananas while staring at a sampler her mother-in-law had embroidered for her as a first anniversary gift, with its homely saying that had struck Jane, then as now, as an ironic if not overtly hostile comment on Jane's skill in the kitchen. "Bake a little love into every bite," it read, in letters once bright red and now faded to a murky pink. But the subsequent improvement in Jane's cooking had little to do with love. Baking was no different than anything else; there was a right and a wrong way to do it, and no room for forgiveness of one's mistakes. While she had waited for the meringue to brown in the oven, she had wondered if the bile, fury, and scorn she was baking into every bit of this particular Nilla wafer pudding would manage to affect its flavor."

Nilla wafer pudding was prominent in several passages of this book so it the seemed the most appropriate food connection.

Nilla wafer pudding brought back memories of my own childhood growing up in a small community. I don't recall that my mother ever made anything as exotic as a meringue topping on the banana puddings from her kitchen, but they were delicious.

I found the original Nabisco recipe for Nilla Banana Pudding here. It 's easy to make, and I have to say there was something refreshing about watching the pudding thicken as it cooked over the double boiler.

The meringue topping was definitely

the crowning glory for my taste buds!

Try it!

I'm not a voracious reader like most who share at FFT, and I'm ashamed to admit that this book lingered on my bedside table far too long before I opened its covers. Waldman is a master at character development and gives her readers an intimate look into the lives of those who fill the pages of her books. Her stories are love stories woven with honesty and the pain that many encounter when one loves deeply. A favorite quote I'll long remember from this work: "A long marriage, like a classic wooden boat, could be a thing of grace, but only if great effort was devoted to its maintenance."

Though RED HOOK ROAD is a story of tragic death, complicated relationships, and the painful journey of two families who must learn to cope with unbearable loss, don't be reluctant to read this one. Ayelet Waldman's writing offers up beautiful lessons to be gained, and there's plenty of Nilla wafer pudding in the offering.

Coastal Maine has long held a bit of mystique for me. It seems to be a far away world of rugged coastlines, wooden boats, lobster boils, and clam bakes. Perhaps a 4th of July spent at a summer house on the coast of Maine would be a nice change for this Texas girl.

Click here for more Edible Book Reviews at Food For Thought, a delicious blog for readers with an appetite for the written word.

Ann Estelle Ready to Ring in The Year of the Rabbit

With cold winter days and evenings, I find myself wanting to curl up under a quilt with a cup of hot tea and a good magazine. Sadly one of my favorite magazines, Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion, is no longer in publication. Fortunately I'm a pack rat who saves back issues of favorite magazines.

As a child of the 50s, I spent many an hour with paper dolls. My sister and I would spread a quilt out on the lawn, open up our paper doll collections, and disappear into a fantasy world all our own. Betsy McCall, the paper doll of magazine fame, was one of our favorites. When Mary Engelbreit introduced her own Ann Estelle paper doll series, it brought back a rush of sweet memories. I've left the paper doll pages in tack within my archives of HOME COMPANION, but recently while reading HOME COMPANION, February & March 2003, I decided it was time to take out the scissors and let Ann Estelle come to life. In honor of M. E. Monday and the upcoming Chinese New Year which begins February 3, here's Ann Estelle in her best Chinese dress ready to twirl her pretty little parasol.

In addition to the paper doll feature in each issue of HOME COMPANION, Mary offered readers the opportunity to purchase limited edition lithographs of exclusive illustrations that she created for each month's issue of HOME COMPANION. Each issue also included the illustration in a smaller version printed on card stock with a perforated edge so one could carefully remove it and pop it into a frame all its own.

Entitled "Chinese New Year", the February March 2003 lithograph featured two sisters ready to ring in the Year of the Sheep. Notice Ann Estelle, dressed in her best Chinese dress, has her own parasol ready to join in the celebration. I think this charming illustration looks beautiful in its mother of pearl frame and is the perfect touch for my desk as I bring in 2011 Year of the Rabbit. "Thank you, M. E."

Mandarin oranges represent luck and good fortune. They are often given to friends and family who visit during the New Year celebration. Ann Estelle has a mandarin orange just for you and "thanks you from the bottom of her heart" for your visit today.

Click here to see a list of others who are sharing for M. E. Monday this week.

Celebrating the Year of the Rabbit later in the week.

Click here for a look back at HFTS's celebration of The Year of the Tiger, 2010.

Also joining

Mosaic Monday @ Little Red House

Masterpiece Monday @ Boogieboard Cottage

REDnesday @ It's a Very Cherry World!

A Look Back @ The Year of the Tiger

With the "Year of the Tiger" on its way out, join me for a look back at last year's Chinese New Year celebration here at HFTS. I'm joining Sunday Favorites with Chari @ Happy to Design , The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sundays, and Tablescape Thursday @ BNOTP.

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Envelopes of red to celebrate Chinese New Year

The Lunar New Year or Chinese New Year began on February 14 this year. Red, an auspicious color, is the predominant color for the New Year celebration because it is a symbol of joy, virtue, truth, and sincerity. The red envelopes called "Ang Pow" are given out during the New Year celebrations. The elderly and married couples give the red envelopes to the children and single young adults. It is customary for the red envelopes to contain money. The amount in the envelopes should be an even number, and the number eight, which is associated with wealth, is considered to be very lucky. These red envelopes were filled with chocolate coins covered in gold foil.

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Exchanging small gifts of food or

sweets with friends and relatives

During the celebration of the Chinese New Year the practice of "New Year Visits" takes place. Families and friends visit one another, and in addition to the envelopes of red, gifts of fruit and some various types of sweets are given when friends and family visit each other's homes. Mandarin oranges are one of our favorite fruits here at HFTS this time of year. They are also one of the most popular fruits during this celebration. These fruits represent luck and good fortune.

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Egg Drop Soup

The Chinese New Year is also known as the Spring Festival, as this is a time for Chinese families to clean their homes (as in spring cleaning) and to welcome the coming season of spring. Toward the end of the fifteen day celebration it is tradition to serve Egg Drop Soup. The ribbons of eggs in this tasty soup represent fertility.

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Engaging

2010 is "The Year of the Tiger". Those born in the "Year of the Tiger" are said to be engaging, lucky, and brave.

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Entertaining to celebrate the 

 Year of the Tiger

Gung Hay Fat Choy

Congratulations and be prosperous!

Check back this weekend for a "Year of the Rabbit" celebration.

You can read about the Chinese New Year celebration in detail here at Wikipedia.

Be sure to stop by Sunday Favorites with Chari @ Happy to Design, The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sundays, and Tablescape Thursday @ BNOTP.