Author Archives: Dianne

Unknown's avatar

About Dianne

Domestic goddess, wife, mom, gardener, paper and collage artist, geocacher, local traveler, cross stitcher, baker, crafter, Facebooker, blogger, decorator and photographer.
Apr22

Beef stew

Posted on by
Standard

I have to admit, this was the best I’ve made in a while. I make stew at least twice a month in the cooler weather. No way was I going to make it in 80 degree weather yesterday. It was in the 60s today, so I made it. I swear, the turnips and parsnips make the world of different flavor-wise. I like a bit of rosemary and parsley with a splash of Worchestershire sauce. I made some ‘packaged’ lemon squares for a treat. My son Sean has a terrible sweet tooth. He’s practically eaten 4 packages of cookies in less than a week. Half the tray of lemon squares are gone too. And look ma, no cavities and he’s ‘just right’ with his build.
~~~~~~~~
I did weed whacking instead of food shopping. I have a lot of pent up anger in me from my phone conversation with mom. I did almost the entire front yard! Mom even involved my uncle in this spat. He called and was very cool with me. I don’t know when all this will end, but I really hate it because I feel like a heel and I don’t want not to like myself when I didn’t really do anything so horrific.

Apr21

Dry as punk

Posted on by
Standard

My grandmom use to say this. I would get a visual of the little sticks that we would burn to ward off mosquitoes in the summer. What was the ‘punk’ part anyway? We were told it was manure and would dare each other to taste it! This is a suppressed memory and they spring into my head a lot lately. We use to do to weird stuff to lightning bugs (earrings out of their behind!). Kids can be cruel.
Anyway, I can’t really do that much in the flower beds because it is so dry. I could use the ‘weed whacker’ which I may do later, but I need some groceries too. Weed whack or grocery shop? I may choice the later because my eyes are red (see old post update).
It’s a lot cooler today anyway. I do not like warm weather in April. For one thing there is no shade and I end up sitting on the front step. All the spring flowers were wilting too.
They are telling us that the whole area is a fire hazard. There have been wildfires in New Jersey.
Hopefully we will get a little rain soon as it’s been 11 day since we had a decent rainfall (we had a wee bit last night).

Apr20

A new Pontiff

Posted on by
Standard

I’m a Catholic girl (have been since 1983), so I was interested in who was chosen to fill some pretty big shoes. When I was watching around noon, the tv guys couldn’t figure out if the smoke was white, but I could tell right away. It took awhile for Pope Benedict XVI to come out and I was surprised they had chosen such an old man. Even his brother is wondering about the new position for an almost 80 yr old. Brother said ‘Sometimes when you are approaching 80, you don’t feel like getting out of bed the next day’.
The new Pontiff seems very talented (piano, languages), but so conservative. We will never have a ‘fun’ Pope. They are so stuffy and are against everything that has to do with the modern world. I guess tradition lives in the Catholic church.

Apr19

Silent treatment

Posted on by
Standard

Oh how I hate silent treatments. My mom is giving me one now. She was mad at me for making fun of a shirt she bought for Brian at the Goodwill. Now I don’t know what possessed her to buy this shirt as it is at least from the 80s with a fitted waistband for him and it’s faded. Brian just had a birthday and got new shirts. Mom hung up on me last night and said she’d never buy us another thing (promise?). My brother has her all stirred up because he wants her to get her house cleaned up and in shape. She’s hoarded so much. She was going through bedsheets and I saw a fitted sheet in the pile that I used as a teenager, so that was 25+ yrs old.
I am curious to see how long she can hold out. I love her, but man, I don’t miss the complaining and all.
Update 4-21
I’m not going to do another long post about this. I tried to make amends with mom to no avail this morning. It turned into a shouting match. All the stuff I was thinking about that was negative concerning her boiled over. Mom said that maybe we shouldn’t call each other anymore. Told me my family was dysfunctional(not sure what she means). I almost threw the phone and was in tears. She just tried to call about 45 minutes later and I didn’t answer. We need more of a break from one another. Family issues suck.
~~~~~
For dinner tonight we had chicken tenders spread with a mixture of mayo and parmesan cheese. On top of that you shake on some bread crumbs. You bake it for about 20 minutes at 425. I cooked them in the toaster oven and put the broiler on them to make them nice and brown. I went to a produce place looking for broccoli rabe (which they didn’t have) and got some ‘homegrown in our town’ spinach. Sean likes it raw, so I saved him some. I followed a recipe on the bag-heat olive oil, brown some garlic in it. Take the pan off the heat, drop in the bag of spinach. Put a lid on the pan and cook for 6 minutes. Add lemon juice. I threw in some cooked bacon and it was so tasty. Try it as it’s so good for you too.

Apr15

The Royals of Monaco

Posted on by
Standard

I guess Prince Rainier’s passing took ‘second place’ to that of the Pope’s demise. Most people know he was married to actress Grace Kelly, but they don’t know she grew up in Philadelphia. She had a fake snooty accent during her Hollywood days and as a Princess. Come to think about it, I guess it sounds better in the long run! Her daughter Stephanie use to come to the states to summer in the Poconos and she indeed did not sound as affected as her mother. Stef actually sounds like she is from Philly!
So I wonder how Prince Albert will do as the ‘royal in charge’? Maybe Caroline would do better in this situation. I believe Rainier had a stip in his will that she could take over the job if her little bro couldn’t handle it. Caroline has had an interesting past. She’s on her 3rd husband. Her sister is just as interesting with all the men in her past (though mom was a temptress too).
A few years back, we got to see Princess Grace’s wedding gown on display at the Philadelphia Art Museum.
It was yellowing, but still beautiful and very intricate and looked very uncomfortable. We also got to see Princess Diana’s ‘Elvis dress’-the white gown with the high collar that was covered with little pearls.
My grandmom’s first cousin was family friends of the Kellys and Kate went on the ship over to Monaco to the royal wedding. Kate was a neat lady and it’s cool to know there is somewhat of a long lost connection there. She and her daughter were well off, but they weren’t snooty. Kate’s daughter Gloria started the business ‘Dane Decor’ that sells imported Danish furniture. When Gloria came to my wedding, she gave us a teak tea cart that I still use. Gloria also told us that she looked in the phonebook for Hasselbergs in Denmark (on one of her buying trips) and there were only a few there. She looked in Swedish phonebooks and there were many more. Hasselberg is my grandmom’s maiden name. Don’t I think about that when I see Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Bette Midler who is married to a Von Hasselberg!



Princess Grace’s wedding gown on display at the Phila. Museum of Art (after it was restored). Posted by Hello

Apr15

The Gables at Chadds Ford

Posted on by
Standard


The outside of the restaurant Posted by Hello

I like a nicely presented dinner once in a while. I get excited waiting for the food to come! Brian and I went to a place called ‘The Gables at Chadds Ford’ earlier this evening. We were the first diners there.
From their website:
The Gables at Chadds Ford, established in 1997, is situated in the heart of the historic Brandywine Valley. Located in a converted 1800s dairy barn, the setting is simple yet elegant. The menu offers a contemporary twist on traditional American cuisine, utilizing French and Asian influences.
I was looking at the menu on the website and it’s almost completely different than it was tonight. The only thing that was the same is the Caesar salad that Brian ordered. They didn’t even have it cut up which he would have preferred. I had a spinach salad with pecan fried goat cheese, marinated cherry tomatoes, olives and roasted peppers in a tomato basil vinaigrette (I brought a paper menu home). The flavors were intense and the presentation beautiful.
For our main dishes I wanted the pork tenderloin with a crusty pecan coating, rhubarb compote, etc., but they were all out of it. I did say we were the first diners of the evening, so that was strange. I ended up getting Salmon with English peas and pea tendrils (looked like watercress), garlicy new potato and lobster salad (skimpy on the lobster), with a cucumber dill yogurt. They gave me a huge piece of salmon. It was a little raw in the middle, so I didn’t eat that part.
Brian had the Red Snapper (Hawaiian) with mango barbeque and pecan fried rice. I was getting pretty full but the chocolate mousse on a brownie base with ganache sounded too good to pass up. It was like eating an elegant chocolate Easter egg. I brought half of it home.
Poor Sean didn’t have the car keys for the Taurus so he ate leftover pasta. Bummer. He had other food to work with though. Brian tries to make me feel guilty when Sean isn’t along, but he can fend for himself at 18.
All in all I enjoyed it there. We don’t usually treat ourselves that often.