Some early morning visitors...

"What lovely weather we have this morning, Mr. Mallard!" "Indeed, wife. I dare say it is this pond is perfectly comfortable to swim in, h'what?"

Ahh, I wish it were raining today!

From here here here here and here

Thoughts on a Friday to breeze me into the Weekend

-We made it to Friday!

-Not sure if food should be an option right now.

-But if I'm hungry....

-May as well.

-Bring on the bagels and cream cheese!

-Apparently I really stink at playing RST.

-A game in which you start with a word (like cake) and someone else comes up with another word that is relevant to it (like fork).

-However, the words can't start with R, S, or T--this is what brought me to my demise.

-It is times like these I wish I had more wit.

-On the bus the other day, a young girl with her mom and slightly older brother were sitting a few seats over.

-The two of them were adorable, but the little one was a ham!! She was wearing a cap on backwards; she would turn it around on her head and cover her face with it, then whip it off as if she were about to take a bow. Of course being a little kid, she was looking for the attention. I decided to humour her and subtly make some funny faces for her (as subtle as one can be while surrounded by other people on the bus).

-She seemed to like it!

-Ahh, a list of people's top ten favourite words.

-Ok, how about a list of people's least favourite words??

-Finally getting a new pair of glasses!

-They're black out the outside, ivory on the inside.

-I don't know how I came across this, but I like it.

-I wish I could be that dramatic and sing out my problems in everyday life.

-Much like wanting to go around speaking in a foreign accent to see how strangers take it.

-Aw, I want to do my nails like this!

-I am very 'wanty' today.

-Would you like some cheese to go with that whine???

-I tend to use that when others complain.

-There was a hawk in the front yard earlier this week, and I missed it because I was upstairs.

-There were also ducks in the pool about a month ago, and I missed that too because I was out of the house.

-Bah.

-But then again, I saw a chipmunk by the bird feeder, and chipmunks are rare in this neck of the woods.

On that offbeat note, now would be a good time to swing out of here. Enjoy the weekend!

From here, and here

Rhubarb-Apple Crisp

The artsy thing I usually do is take a fancy picture of the dessert by itself on a plate in a half attempt at food photography, but I only remembered to do so after I ate mine (with whipped cream. Always. Though of course it is just as tasty without). Instead, I leave you with a full view of the baking dish, with the a scoop taken out of it. Not so artsy--le sigh.

Why, it's a new recipe at last! And a crisp one, no doubt. More often than not, when I bake, I tend to put my own spin on whatever it is I make. Meaning, I don't exactly follow it to a tee' (usually combining different recipes together). For this crisp I made on the weekend, I followed this recipe, but as I didn't have enough rhubarb to make six cups, I just added chopped granny smith apple (about two apples worth) to fill however many cups I needed. I also made it with quick cooking oats rather than rolled, which I found didn't make too much of a difference from its counterpart. But just in case, I just let it bake for 40 minutes.

And it worked! In a food critique-y way so to speak, it made for an excellent tart/sweet combo. Not to mention I loooove the crunchy topping that goes on top. On any crisp, for that matter. I've never baked with rhubarb before; a family friend gave us a bunch of it, so I decided to put it to good use. And good use it was.

Feel Good Songs: Part II

Cinema Paradiso

Friday Magic

-My favourite time of the day is still the morning.

-The smell of coffee.

-Cream going into coffee is a wonderful sight, as demonstrated in the picture above.

-Even milk going into tea.

-I can't drink coffee straight just yet, but maybe someday I will.

-In the meantime I'll be sticking with my lattes and cappuccinos.

-Which are more interesting, if you ask me.

-Speaking of mornings, guess who's going to be up at the (ass)crack of dawn just to see Pirates 4 this Saturday? (hahaha, I love that term)

-Same with 'sticky-wicket'.

-Aww, the lil' Decorah eaglets are growing up!!

-Well, not so little now.

-Since I started following them back in April, I've learned so much about eagles.

-Sadly, it is hard to distinguish one from the other because they look the same!

-But they are funny to watch, because they each have their own personalities.

-I'm putting The Carrie Diaries on my to-read list.

-Franny and Zooey, however, comes first.

-This summer, I'll be tackling the classics in books.

-My first swim of the summer.

-Esther Williams.

-Begin the Beguine.

-Oh spellcheck, you silly animatronic goose: beguine is a word!

-When was the last time I posted a recipe on here?

-A while, it seems.

-This is a couple of months old, but I love going back to this page so much I felt the need to share it.

-I love love looove The Facts of Life series; this clip is one of the reasons why.

-I wish I had a Mrs. Garrett in my life.

Enjoy the weekend!

Ps: The new layout is to honour the coming of June... And summer!!!

From here here and here