My Happy List

I'm joining in on Ricki Jill's Happy List this week. It's just a regular old week for me, but it is always good to take stock and count your blessings, so here goes:

1. I love seeing the signs of spring despite the cold temperatures (it's been snowing a little every now and then for the past few days). These little spring flowers showing their faces in our garden, despite the cold weather, definitely make me happy.

2.  We visited Malcolm and Christie on the weekend for a walk and Easter dinner.  And we Skyped Kate the next day as she is still away at university.  Kate sent me some photos of the cupcakes she and her friends made from the goodies I sent in the Turquoise Easter care package (which you can see here).  It makes me happy to catch up with the younguns.

3.  It always makes me happy to have a four day work week so having two in a row (due to Good Friday and Easter Monday) makes me double happy.

4.  Snacks make me inordinately ridiculously happy.  I actually think I have an unhealthy obsession with our family's recent healthy snack food (you can find the recipe here).  And of course I have a complete obsession with Easter chocolate that I have been enjoying.

What's making you happy these days?

Linked to My Happy List at Art @ Home

The Essence of Wabi-Sabi

Have you heard about the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi? 

It is the idea of finding beauty in authenticity and imperfection. Roughly translated wabi means simplicity and sabi refers to beauty or serenity that comes with age.  Aren't they lovely concepts?

I only recently heard the term and have been intrigued to find out more.  

I've been reading about how the concept of wabi-sabi can be applied to so many areas of our lives. 

Embracing wabi-sabi  in our relationships means forgiveness and acceptance of the imperfect people in our lives (including ourselves.)  

Embracing wabi-sabi in the kitchen means cooking that is natural, simple, and creative.  

Embracing wabi-sabi when we dress means we take care of ourselves, we wear clothes that are comfortable and suit us, and we have enough to wear, but not a superabundance of clothes. 

Embracing wabi-sabi means decorating our homes with handmade or vintage goods or materials that weather well.  It means reducing clutter so we can appreciate what we have. It means surrounding ourselves by things that tell our story, that reflect who we are. It means accepting that our houses are not lifted from magazine pages and they will have finger prints on the walls and stains on the carpets made by the people that we love and live with. 

Some people are better than others at living with the concepts of wabi-sabi.  I probably fall in the middle and am very comfortable with the concepts in some areas of my life and need work in others.  

I love the idea of finding the peace and balance that comes with accepting simplicity and imperfection in our lives.  

What about you?  Are you the master of refined beauty?  If so, do tell.  If not, then perhaps you would like to explore the concept along with me as I look into the ideas and how to apply them to my life.

p.s. I just noticed that I have a wabi-sabi blog name.  Go figure!

Pumpkin Muffins

About a month ago I saw a recipe for muffins that looked delicious (here). The recipe called for an entire large can of pumpkin puree and since I love pumpkin anything, I figured I had better give it a try. Well let me tell you they are so fantastic I've made the recipe three times since I found it.
I made several changes to the original recipe as we are trying to eat along the lines of the Mediterranean diet. (which I plan on learning and writing more about in the near future.)  One of the struggles for me with eating healthier is finding good alternatives for snacking so I was happy to find a healthy snack food recipe.
The Mediterranean diet encourages you to eat lots of olive oil, so I substituted olive oil for the margarine/butter in the recipe.  I also decreased the sugar by a cup and substituted whole wheat flour for white.  When I made them today I also added raisins with the chocolate chips which was met with happiness all round.

Here’s how to make our new favorite pumpkin muffins:

Combine: 

2 c. sugar 

1 1/2 cups olive oil

Then add: 

6 eggs 

Mix, then add: 

1 tablespoon cinnamon 

1 teaspoon cloves 

1 teaspoon ginger 

1 teaspoon allspice 

1 teaspoon nutmeg 

1 tablespoon vanilla 

1/2 teaspoon. salt 

1 tablespoon baking soda 

1 tablespoon baking powder 

Mix, then add: 

4 1/2 cups whole wheat flour 

1 large can pumpkin puree 

3 cups chocolate chips

(and about 2 cups of raisins if desired) 

Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes

This makes a lot, as you can see - one tray of mini-muffins, one tray of regular muffins, and two square pans full.  They freeze well in case you want to stretch out the snackfest.

What's your family's go-to favourite snack food?

p.s. This tastes fantastic with cream cheese icing (recipe here) - we tried it out for you at Easter dinner.

Linked to The Scoop at On Sutton Place,
Make the Scene Monday at Alderberry Hill

Happy Easter

from the MOMA (with apologies to Mondrian)

Hello friends!  Do you have big plans for the weekend?  Do they involve family get togethers? eating large dinners?  scarfing more chocolate than you care to admit? Yeah, me too.  Whether you have big plans or a quiet relaxing weekend, I hope you have a good one.  
I'm not sure I'll get around to making these, but I love the inspiration and you might too:
~ shaving cream painted easter egg cards
~ natural dyed easter eggs with a batik-effect using flowers and leaves
~ a garden-themed Easter table (it is the second one down, although they are all pretty)
~ white paint markers on brown eggs
Wishing you and your family a happy Easter!

Life Imitates Art

When I looked through the almost 1400 photos I took of New York City I noticed that some of the art we saw in the galleries reminded me of some of the scenes we saw around the city.
This red, blue, and yellow painting by Mondrian that we saw at the MOMA reminded me of ...

MOMA

this picture taken out the window of the MOMA with the red, blue, and yellow vehicles. 

This moody painting of Westminster by Monet at the Metropolitan Museum of Art reminded me of ...

Metropolitan Museum of Art

the soft moody view we had of the Manhattan skyline from the Staten Island ferry.

And this gorgeous floor mosaic at the Met reminded me of ...

the Imagine mosaic at Strawberry Fields in Central Park.

And this Egyptian tile at the Met reminded me of ...

the skyscrapers reflected in the windows of other skyscrapers.

Wowzer!  I know the last week has been New York City overload on this little blog, but I just couldn't help myself.  It was such a fun trip for all of us and I enjoyed re-living it.  I appreciate your indulgence.  In case you missed any of the posts you can check them out here, here, and here.

And one last New York tidbit: 

When William and I were on the Staten Island Ferry we were debating whether there are any marine mammals living in the New York harbour.  So I Googled it when we got home and was pleased to discover that there are.  In fact we just missed seeing a dolphin as you can read about here on the blog called Nature on the Edge of New York.  I wanted to tell you about this blog because it is such an interesting read. I spent one evening reading back through his posts about all the birds and marine creatures he has found in and around New York City.  Who knew?  If you live anywhere near New York you might find this a really interesting blog to read.

Linked to Weekend Bloggy Reading at Serenity Now