Melissa’s Cozy Teacup

I’ve been trying different recipes for what I like to call, ‘Super soup’. It’s all the same basic ingredients but I look for ways to make it more interesting. I think I’ve found a winner.

When I start feeling like I’m coming down with something and my throat starts to feel funny and my ears and glands start to tingle, here is what I do.

1. Drink green and/or white tea. Four to five cups a day. Really.

2. Eat dark chocolate 70% and up if you can find it or as a last ditch desperate attempt to get better, 60%. The higher the cocoa content and the lower the sugar levels the better.

3. Drink Airborne.

4. Eat my ‘Super Soup’

Super Soup recipe

2 leeks chopped into small pieces

1/2 sweet onion in thin slices

2-3 cloves garlic

1 can pre-cooked chicken (why do more work than you must?)

1 TBS of fish sauce

2 cans of low sodium chicken broth (fish sauce has sodium you will not need salt for this recipe)

1 C water

1 ‘chunk’ mung beans (these are the bean strands you buy dried in the Asian food isle. They are very hard when dry but soften up when soaked in water or our soup broth)

In skillet on medium heat, place 1-2 TBS of coconut oil and fry up the leeks and onion.  Fry until soft. Add garlic cloves. I press them in my garlic press first. Add can of chicken right after you add the garlic. Allow it to simmer for a bit. Add in fish sauce. Saute’. Add chicken broth and water and simmer adding chunk of mung beans. When beans start to soften, cut them into manageable pieces with kitchen sheers.

I use my kitchen sheers for almost everything. They are a very important part of my kitchen gadget repertoire. I even use them to open mail which was a huge thorn of contention in premarital counseling  until those in objection realized metal could be washed and sharpened. Hello!

When beans are soft, the soup is done. I hope all of my home remedies help those of you who need to get well soon, to get well soon! lol

All Thing Bright and Beautiful!

I had a contest this week during my cook book expose’. Who ever left a comment on any of last week’s posts, had their name put into a drawing and ATBB won! Woohoo!

Her prize?

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Her choice!

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But it sure is handy in the kitchen/dining room.This is not a cook book and in some ways, it’s a bit better. The Perfect Setting, Peri Wolfman and Charles Gold, is filled with ideas on how to dress a table. Yeah baby! I have been getting more into presentation following exposure to Asian movies about cooking; Dae Jung Geum, and reading Asian cook books; Harumi’s Japanese Cooking.I don’t just want to make tasty food, I want to create a beautiful experience. Do you feel sometimes as I do, that your day can get caught up in rushing around so much so, that every beautiful moment is snatched up and stolen away by the urgent? Well, make a cuppa and put your feet up and learn a little about how to make eating more than a few gulps before you go on to the next task. Let’s make it a beautiful moment in the day.

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Doesn’t the cover look like it has something good to offer inside?

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This book teaches you the names of different utensils and how they are used.

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I have cutlery very similar to this. I don’t care for it, it is too manly for me. It is Tech Hubby’s from before we were married

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Also featured are different types of linens and full examples of place settings in different styles and colors. There are many photos of teapots inside a country kitchen, outside, ready for a breakfast of croissants and tea under the shade of a tree.

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Look, even a paper Alice and her friends are enjoying the perfect setting for an enjoyable meal.

From a simple soup, to a rustic loaf of bread, from appetizers to fancy parties, this book can tell you how to make it look fabulous.

Christmas seemed to go by so fast this year.

Here is a look at my Christmas cook book collection for those of us who would like it to be Christmas all year. Or Valentine’s Day. I could live in a heart shaped world.

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Recipe from the Christmas Foods book to the bottom right of the group photo.

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Let’s take a closer look at this one.

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This is not only a cook book, but a craft book as well. You could go, buy this, decorate your house with the suggested items which all have patterns and supply lists, then cook fab foods for your family, friends and guests. Remember ribbon crafts? How cute are these little houses?

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When my book sells and is then turned into a movie (complete with my walk on scene) I’ll stay home all day making ribbon house villages and baking. yeah, right.

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I’m thinking about trying these today. They are cheese tarts filled with marmalade. I think though, they may taste better with some sort of apple chutney instead of marmalade but since marmalade is all I have on hand, we’ll go with it for now.

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Pictures and recipes taken from: The book of Christmas Food, and The Spirit of Christmas from Leisure Arts.

So, after many weeks of being unable to come to home group, our friends made it tonight. Woohoo! I kind of feel sorry for Mr. Music, the husband of my friend, The intercessor, because he is the only extrovert in the room. The three of us are happy to sit there and listen to him which is good for him. He’s one of the few men I know who actually has 20,000 words to use everyday. Really, I’m not kidding. He’s not as bad as the visitor we had in November who, I-kid-you-not, talked for oh between 12-16 hours straight one day. I finally just got up and went to bed and left my husband to deal with him. I couldn’t take it anymore. I wanted to jam knitting needles into my ears.

I won’t lie to you. It has been extremely difficult for me to open up my house to others but, it has also been rewarding. Today was the easiest home group day I’ve had since Tech Hubby and I began last year in September. Yes, it’s taken that long for me to relax and we, so far, are only hosting one other couple besides us, and they are our friends. We love them dearly and I’m thankful God has given us just them for now so I can acclimate.

The only down side to the night was how gassy I got after dinner. You know how on t.v. when an actress gets pregnant but they’ll hide her tummy with a pillow if they don’t write the pregnancy in to the story? Well, the pillow-in-front-of-the-tummy trick works well for hiding the fact that while you’re sitting on the sofa reading the bible and talking with your friends about God, your pants are undone so that the incredibly painful bloating won’t press against your jeans and cut you in half.

Tomorrow, I continue cook book week.

There might be a give away on Friday if you leave a comment on any post -for this week only.

Mmm, chocolate. I love chocolate more than any other person in my family except perhaps for my dad. See previous post on his Candy Drawer. I even have chocolate tea with rose buds mixed in, from Harney and Sons. It tastes so good.

Here is my small, but loved, collection of chocolate cook books.

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This one is my favorite.

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It taught me that chocolate didn’t have to be constrained to just being a dessert. It could be a meal, all on its own. Now, I have chocolate sandwiches too!

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Ah, my small, but dearly loved collection of tea cook books. These aren’t merely a cook book with a chapter on tea as the Bead and Breakfast Cook Book or the William Sonoma cook book. These are fully devoted to tea, and the yummy food that goes with it.

I tried to like coffee, I really did. It smells good freshly ground. It smells good freshly brewed, however, unlike tea, which not only smells good but tastes good, coffee doesn’t taste all that grate which maybe why all those extra calories need to be added in the form of caramel, whipped cream and chocolate in order to make it palatable. Also, coffee has a nasty effect on me. Right after I drink it, I am over come by severe stomach cramps and diarrhea. So, yeah, why would I drink it? Now yes, some folks do look trendy holding their paper travel cups, but why be a copy cat? If your in a restaurant be the one with the mini teapot on the table filled with steeping tea. Granted, most restaurants in America don’t know how to serve tea and they seem a tad afraid to give boiling hot water to their patrons for fear of lawsuit, but come on people, does that mean we must give up such a wonderful beverage while in public or only enjoy it at a tea room? In order to get the supply, you must make the demand.

Coffe, coffee is for rushing around. You get it ‘to go’. ‘May I have that ‘to go’, please? Sure, you can put tea in a travel mug and go, or a thermos and go on a picnic, maybe take the camera and get something good for the blog, but typically, tea is a sit down and relax, indulge a bit, sort of thing. Tea is a moment to yourself or a visit with friends. Even the brewing of it involves a bit of ceremony. So, sit down, put your feet up, grab a cuppa and lets look at tea cook books.

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What makes a good cook book? For me, it’s not only great recipes…

From the Afternoon Tea cook book.

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But also artistic photography, or illustrations.

Illustration by Sandy Lynam Clough from the book; ‘If Teacups Could Talk’, by Emilie Barnes. This tea book/cook book taught me how to make scones and Mock Devonshire cream and was a big inspiration to me on getting going with being a hostess in my home.

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Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some tea and cook books waiting for me to enjoy.

Happy sipping!

La Tea Dah over at Gracious Hospitality has been featuring some of her cook books lately. I love cook books. This has actually surprised my family because when I was single, I didn’t cook beyond opening a can of something and heating it up in the microwave. I also lived on Totino’s Pizza (nasty) and rotisserie chicken.

When I married Tech Hubby three years ago, I was given some cook books as gifts. The classic and always popular, Betty Crocker cook book, among others, but my favorite was a gift from my cousin Julie. It is The Bed and Breakfast Cook Book, by Martha W. Murphy (C) 1991, and I love it! It not only features recipes, but also interesting stories about the B&Bs and lovely photographs. (btw, my mom’s Betty Crocker CB advertised, “New with Colored Photographs” as a marketing ploy back in the day.

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Here are my cook books on the shelf in my dining room. I have several in the themes of Christmas, Tea and Chocolate. You can see where I pointed them out.

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Here’s the cover. The book has recipes from, beverages, to grits and sausage casserole. La Tea Dah is so good having vegan and gluten free cook books, while mine all center around butter, sugar and flour, mostly, with of course some tea thrown into wash it all down.

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Having ladies over and need something quick and tasty? Try a tea bread recipe.

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Need to plan an Afternoon Tea? It’s in here. Several pages of tasty sandwiches and quick breads.

Tomorrow, for Tea Tuesday, I’ll take you browsing through one of my tea books. Wednesday, will be chocolate cook book day. yes, entire cook books dedicated to the most perfect food in the world!

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