Sometimes I have things to share that are short and don’t really need a full blog post. My niece Jessie does a Saturday wrap-up post that I always enjoy, so I decided to try it myself. I hope you like my random thoughts. 🙂

Favorite photos

I joined a photography challenge called the 365 Project and have been posting photos daily. The point is to actually take photos every day and get some feedback to improve your photography. I have to admit that I’m not always perfect about posting that day’s photo. Sometimes I get nothing and resort to “filler” shots from previous days, but it’s my project and I can make my own rules. Right? Here’s a couple of my favorites from the last few weeks.

I have taken many photos of this little girl (with her parents’ permission, of course), and she’s always wary of the crazy camera lady. I thought this shot captured her wariness perfectly.

Click into photo to link to my 365 Project.

We’ve been having a whale of a snowy winter here in Chicagoland. Many of my photos were about snow over the last month.

Click into photo for a link to my 365 Project.

 Home decor inspirations

I was looking for a dough bowl on ebay and ran across this one. Someone needs this — not me, but someone out there! Can you imagine the fun tablescape you could create with this cute piggy?

Click into photo for source.

We’ve seen countless tutorials and blog posts about how to dress your mantel (Please check your spelling, folks, when talking about the flat space above your fireplace. It’s not a mantle, it’s a mantel.) The same ideas can be used for decorating your sideboard, which is how I plan to use this tutorial. I don’t have a fireplace. Sniff.

Click into photo for source.

I’ve been sorting and rearranging my kitchen after reading The Art of Tidying (see my post about the book), and one of the things I did was to put my Pyrex casserole dishes on a rack standing on their sides. They don’t stack on top of each other risking breakage and I don’t have to drag out the whole heavy stack when I want just one dish. The author of the Tidying book is Japanese and gives animate characteristics to inanimate objects. She says that no one wants to have all that heavy weight stacked on top of her — it’s both a literal and figurative message, isn’t it? Here’s a link to similar racks from The Container Store.

New recipes I tried

Click into photo for recipe.

I saw Giada de Laurentis make this Halibut Poached in Olive Oil with Broccoli Rabe Pesto on the Cooking Channel and I tried it for our supper. I was only interested in the broccoli pesto, which I made with regular broccoli and almonds and planned to use as a side dish for steak. I think that next time I’ll roast the garlic first, as it was a little overpowering in a side dish. Or possibly I “might” have added extra cloves of garlic that the recipe did not call for which made it pretty tangy. Either way, roasted garlic would be yummy with this and the color was beautiful on the plate.

I had some leftover bits of shrimp and scallops in the freezer that needed to be used up, so I made Seafood Crepes with Mornay Sauce. It’s not the first time I’ve used this recipe, but it’s been a while. It’s a little time consuming but worth every yummy minute (and calorie). I’ve had the leftovers for breakfast the last two days!

Click into photo for source and recipe.

 Favorite off-line reading

For Book Club on Monday, I led the discussion about The Lavender Keeper by Fiona McIntosh. Set in France during the German WWII occupation, it is a touching love story in the midst of espionage and resistance. After reading the reviews, you will know that you should get both The Lavender Keeper and its sequel, The French Promise. You will want to read both back to back to get the whole story.

So that was my week — it didn’t seem all that busy when I actually experienced it. 🙂

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