CAROL'S SPRING PEA SOUP AND MY MOST FAVORITE COLOR!......



Even though we still have about a foot of snow on the ground here in the Adirondacks, Spring is definetely in the air.....

Why, it's supposed to be almost 55 degrees here, all week long....SWEET!

And if you've been checking out this here blog for any time at all, you know what a freaking FREAK I am about decorating my home for the seasons. It's an obsession...probably the old retailer in me. Valentine's Day over and done? February 15th, wipe the slate clean and bring in the Springtime! Day after Easter? Why not decorate for Summer?

Yes, I know-- I have a few screws loose. But you still love me, right?

You know what makes me craaaazzzyyy? Folks that leave up their Christmas decor until St. Patrick's Day. How can they stand it? I mean really, at this point, why not just leave it all up until next Christmas, hmmm??? Well, everything except the dead and dried BROWN wreaths and kissing balls, that is...

(Believe it or not, I'm trying not to judge....I know that people are super busy and have actual JOBS and all. I just happen to believe that one's home should be one's haven, and how on earth can home be a haven if there's dusty Christmas ornaments and burned out lights everywhere? Oh there I go, thinking too much again.....)

I just love the color green....it truly is my favorite. Used to be barn red, but I've found that green just makes me feel calm, and whenever I decorate with green, my home just feels freshie fresh--know what I'm sayin'?

Here's my centerpiece for our kitchen table...kinda went nuts at Hobby Lobby recently...can you tell how much I love my two-tiered plate rack (I've been using it since last summer!)?......

The candle holder, she's from Hobby Lobby, and so are all the terra cotta pots that I white-washed.....

Remember that song, "God didn't make little green apples"? Well, I beg to differ--Yes, yes he DID....and little lambs, too (watering can also from Hobby Lobby--think I paid about $3 for it).....

The hidden little fleur de lis is from our recent trip to the Big Easy.....twig ball also from the "Hob-Lob"....

Wink and I are trying sooo hard to be a little bit more "green", and one of the ways we're achieving this goal is to use cloth napkins at most meals...just so they're handy, I have them piled into another terra cotta pot....

I love this graphic table runner, also from (guess where?) Hobby Lobby......

I am OBSESSED with bird's nests (when I open my dream shop some day soon, I think I 'll call it "The Nest"--get ready!)....this one is the real deal, saved from a climbing rose vine that grew up the chimney of our Omaha home....

I crack myself up....like a bird (chicken) with eggs this large wouldn't have a bigger nest!...

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My mom Carol sent me this Spring Pea Soup recipe years ago, and it's a real favorite in our home. I can't think of a better first course for your upcoming St. Patrick's Day feast!

To begin, my mom sautes yellow onion in butter, then adds flour and stirs....

Add pepper, salt, curry powder and broth, and bring to a boil....

Add thawed chopped frozen spinach.........

and tiny baby frozen peas to the broth, along with some sugar......

Puree with an immersion blender (I busted my old one just so I could buy this shiny new model!) until ALMOST smooth....



Turn off heat and stir in some half and half.........

And VOILA! You've got yerself some nice Spring Pea Soup...thank you, Mom!...

Here's the recipe....

CAROLS' SPRING PEA SOUP

Serves 4

1/2 cup butter

1 large yellow onion, chopped

2 tblsp. flour

1 tsp. curry powder (or more, if you like!)

1/4 tsp. pepper

5 cups heated chicken broth

3 3/4 cups tiny frozen peas

1/2 cup chopped frozen spinach, thawed

1 1/2 tsp. sugar

1 1/2 cup half and half

1 1/2 tsp. salt

Saute onion in butter until translucent. Add flour; cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add pepper, salt, curry and broth. Bring to a boil; simmer for 5 minutes. Add peas, spinach and sugar. Simmer for 8-10 minutes. Puree with an immersion blender until almost smooth. Add half and half--do not boil.

TODAY I'M SO GRATEFUL FOR.....

***This Friday..our town's annual and quite famous St. Patrick's Day parade! Our group, once again, is hard at work, trying to win the coveted first place! In case you missed last year's extravaganza, here were a few of us, getting ready...our theme was, "When Irish Eyes are Smiling"........(girls in photo are Sharon on far left, Pam in middle and Yours Truly on the right--I was "Red Eye")

***We just found out, due to internship scheduling problems, that our very own Little Miss Thing will be home for summer, one last year! I am one happy, happy mama!
Here's a cute photo that a friend took of her, during their recent spring break trip to Spain/Portugal...LOVE it!

***My thoughtful husband, who, once realizing that (oops!) we sold Little Miss Thing's car last year, thinking that she wouldn't be home much anymore, has decided to buy his girls a cool new bike to share for our jaunts into town this summer. Hopefully, this will resolve our squabbles over who gets the car!

A NEW ORLEANS CITY TOUR.......

If you read the fat-fest that was my last post, then you already know how much weight I gained during our 7 day stay in The Big Easy....boy, if I lived there, I'd wind up somewhere like this, waaay before my time..........



That's right..an early grave. And SPEAKING of graves...did you know that all of the cemeteries in my beloved New Orleans, Louisiana are like the one pictured above? No graves 6 feet under, like the rest of the country, because New Orleans is actually below sea level! And I found it fascinating that most people, when they are buried in New Orleans, are not entombed in a coffin, because these crypts are built for whole families, and a coffin just would take up too much space!

I guess the money saved on an expensive coffin goes into building one of these beautiful crypts....look at the angel on top of this one....

I found this Mother Teresa quote and statue quite moving......

It says,....

"If you pray, you will have faith

And if you have faith, you will love

And if you love, you will serve, and

If you serve, you will have peace".

Thank you, Mother Teresa

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On about the fifth day of our New Orleans stay, Wink and I decided to hop on one of the awesome and vintage St. Charles Avenue trolleys and take in the Uptown/Garden districts. I love these trolleys so much, I could ride them forever! Unfortunately, they'd probably kick my sorry arse off, eventually........

First stop, the gorgeous Loyola and Tulane Universities.....we are always drawn to college campuses, for some reason.....

(Hmmmmm....maybe I can convince Little Miss Thing to do her graduate work down here?)....

Look at how tiny this Live Oak tree on the Tulane campus makes Wink look!.....

Here's how festive New Orleans is, right after Mardi Gras.....beads in the trees, everywhere.....

Next, we headed into the Garden District, truly my favorite part of the city. Stately homes, each prettier than the next, surrounded by incredible, well manicured gardens.....Azaleas in bloom.....

Camelias... 



Such welcome sights for our winter-weary Upstate New York eyes.....



House envy........this one was having a little bit of concrete work done.....

This little cat followed us everywhere..almost took her home!......

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The next day, we rented a car and took a little jaunt out of town, along the Great Mississippi River Road....had to do a little detour, as we were told  that Leonardo DiCaprio was shooting a movie............

If you follow the river about an hour north of town, that's where most of the remaining large plantations are located.....here's Oak Alley Plantation, where the movie Interview With a Vampire (starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt) was filmed...look familiar?...

Gotta love that canopy of Live Oaks, over 300 years old!

We decided to take a guided tour of the plantation next door, which was called The  Laura Plantation...very Creole, and very different from the more traditional Oak Alley above (I toured Oak Alley last time we were here).........the Creole plantation owners loved to use vibrant colors on their homes.....

A view from the front porch...all of these homes face the Mississippi River, but there are levees now to protect from flooding, of course....

Beautifully maintained boxwood hedged gardens............

One of the few photos I took inside the house....because I'm ALL about the kitchen! (actually, this was a pantry...kitchens were always in a separate buildings, both to keep the main house cooler and to prevent fires)..........

A kitchen garden...........

I have some photos of the existing slave quarters, but I'm not posting them today, because I find them too depressing for words....but here are some banana plants!..

And last....some grapefruit blossoms....I can still smell their sweetness.....

Thanks so much for coming along with us on our trip down south.....OOPS! one more photo for you.....I made these chocolate peanut butter cup cupcakes for some dear friends upon our return, as a thank you for taking such good care of our home while we were away--they were SUCH a hit--somebody told me that  I should go into the cupcake business! Too funny! What do YOU think?

TODAY I'M SO GRATEFUL FOR....

***The wonderful phone conversation I JUST had with my girlfriend Lynn in Omaha--that woman GETS me!

***Our warm temperatures over the past few days...so sweet to open a few windows and let the fresh early springtime air in!

***Car washes.....