LoveFeast Table

Shooting prairie dogs and eating French Crepes for breakfast is not typically the way we roll in suburbia.  Well the French Crepes part, probably.  But shooting prairie dogs before breakfast?  Only on our Colorado vacation.

Once a year my family takes a road trip in the minivan to visit my husband’s sister and family.  We leave our home in the suburbs of Minneapolis, my husband leaves behind his corporate job and our kids their video games, soccer and friends.  As we wind down the road we let go of the city life, catch up, and eagerly anticipate a week filled with activities we only get to do in Colorado.  And, so far we have lived to tell about it!  We four-wheel, shoot guns, swim, boat, hike, picnic and take in our happy growing families.

Our first morning in Colorado started out just wonderful.  I got up early having heard the beep of the coffee pot going off.  After searching a few cupboards I found a coffee cup, poured some jo’ and found a place on the deck to sip and stare at the Grand Mesa.  Soon, the family drifted out to join me, my nephew first and then my husband, Todd, his sister Missy and her husband Tony.  We chatted, sipped our coffee and woke up.  Until, Uncle Tony spotted a prairie dog.

Game on.  Prairie dogs….they’re the demise of the garden, the grass, the rosebushes and anything else they find.   And, they dig holes in the pasture – a danger to the horses.  To top it all off, they carry the bubonic plague.

Therefore, when they popped their little faces up, our coffee mugs were set down and the gun came out.  My husband was now armed and dangerous (to prairie dogs, that is)!  We chatted, we spotted, we sipped our coffee some more and my husband took aim of the prairie dog.  Dead on, like, literally.

We had a funeral of sorts, um, we had a burying anyway.

He was laid to rest in a circle of witnesses.

The angels were there when he went to meet his maker.

Well, there is not good segue here, but it was time for breakfast, and to celebrate my middle sons birthday, he chose roll-ups.  That’s what they call them out here on the frontier.  In suburbia, I’d say they closely relate to the French Crepe.  They’re a favorite, and we usually have them at least once while we’re out here visiting our family.

Here’s the recipe for Frontier Roll-Ups ~aka French Crepes.

Ingredients:

4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup flour

Mix eggs and flour into smooth paste.

And then, stir in the milk.

Put a little butter in a frying pan and then pour on top, like a thin pancake.

They will cook fast!

Frontier Roll-Ups….they make even the angels happy!

We ate ours with bananas, butter and maple syrup.  What do you like in your crepes?

Kristin’s Mugs~

Look closely and you can see a coffee stain in this mug! This is my happy mug and it was given to me on my Birthday from my kids.  I drink my Americano out of it every morning.

This little baby was given to me by Chris Ann years ago.  She bought it while she was in NY at one of our favorite stores, Fishs Eddy.  I love to serve lattes in it for our guests!

Whenever we travel, we pick up mugs.  Devon brought the black one back from Ukraine.  The other two were from a trip to India.   I love the texture!

Can you guess where these are from?  I’ll give you a hint…the black one is fashioned after a favorite pint…of Guinness.  Yes, these ceramic beauties were made in Ireland.  A coffee shop we visited in Belfast used the Guinness mugs as their house mugs.  We had to have one!

Those of you who have traveled to India would recognize these as tea cups.  But, we leave them stacked right next to our coffee maker.  When we have a house full of guests, this is what we use!  They fit perfectly in the palm of your hand.

Here is one of the pair that I bought with Chris Ann at a craft fair in Minnesota.  The other one is Devon’s morning mug.  It’s either in his hand or in his truck.  He has a double shot of espresso in his.  His mug has little Nintendo controllers on it!

This is our newest addition.  It doesn’t have a story…I just like it.

This little cup was picked up for .53 cents at a thrift store.

And this cup was given to us because those who know us, know we refer to our morning nectar as liquid love!

Chris Ann’s Mugs~

These are the Martha Stewart-colored mugs that I’ve had for almost 18 years.  My husband and I bought them when we first were married.  They remind me of the early 90′s.  They have been incredibly sturdy.  But, they’ve been replaced by these.  These are fancy.  They chip easily, but we don’t care.  They are like small bowls.  Perfect for our morning lattes!!

This is my bowl of bliss at home!

Our children needed little mugs too.  So, we picked these out on a trip to Germany.

Kristin and I picked two pairs of these mugs out at an art fair.

Little owl mug is a favorite.  I only have two.  So sweet.

We can’t wait to hear about your favorite mugs!

Many of our mugs come from our travels and special friends and memories!  Yes, our cups are fancy but, useful too!  Our mugs inspire us by helping us remember friends and faraway places!  That’s why we linked up with Melissa, at The Inspired Room!  She likes to decorate with inspiration in mind, just like us.

Share your mugs this Fancy Friday by linking up here!  And, please add the Fancy Friday badge found here!

A couple of months ago, as I was visiting Honey and Jam’s blog, my eyes fell on a Cinnamon Swirl Bread recipe and it caused me to pause…to salivate…to dream and plan (’cause sometimes it take a bit of planning to make bread with my crazy schedule).  Yes, it took me a couple of months to slide it in, but boy am I (and my family!!) glad I did!  If you’ve never attempted to make a loaf of homemade cinnamon bread, I encourage you to try!  Making bread sounds daunting to many, but once you get the hang of it, it really is easy and well worth the time.

There are a couple of bread making tips I’ve learned along the way.  I’ll share them with you, but then you have to promise me, you will attempt to make bread, you will rise to the challenge and just do it!  Really, people have been making bread for thousands of years!  You can do it!  Your husbands will fall madly in love with you, your children will worship the ground you walk on and your neighbors will be bringing you fresh produce from their gardens in hope of just getting a slice of this bread!  So, dig down deep, find the inner domestic diva and get to baking!

1.  When proofing your dough, I recommend heating your oven to 225 degrees F but, then turn the oven off.  This will set up a “proofing oven”.  It makes it just warm enough to encourage the dough to rise.

2.  If kneading dough in a kitchen aid, keep kneading until the dough pulls away from the sides and begins to pool at the bottom.

3.  Dough is done kneading when it is slightly tacky to touch, but not sticking to your hands.

4.  Pull that dough out of the bowl, flour it and knead with your hands for a bit…just for the primal, organic feeling of making bread

5.  With this recipe, I had ooey, gooey goodness pouring out of the dough when cooking.  I didn’t seal in the cinnamon and sugar enough with rolling dough up.  Make sure you do!  But, just in case, put a sheet tray underneath the loaves to catch the juice!

6.  I did not add raisins.  (A little something about me, when I was 5, I went to a friend’s house and her dad made me sit there and eat a bowl of raisins.  I have hated raisins ever since.)

7.  Loaves should cool before eating, but good luck with this!  Once everyone catches a whiff of the baking bread, you will have a hard time warding them off!

I shared these loaves with family and neighbors.  One neighbor, hid a piece and got up early the next morning and turned it into french toast!  He said it was unbelievable!  It was definitely a LoveFeast moment!

Yum right?  This yummy picture says it all.  Pretend you’re sitting down to eat this right now.  We toasted the hearty bread, melted some fine cheese, sliced a fresh tomato from the farmers market and plucked a leafy green off our basil plant out on the deck.  Just for you our guest!  We are enjoying the pleasure of you enjoying it!  That’s sorta what’s happening with this blog right now.  While you linger over this picture, we are busy cooking up stuff in our kitchens and in our heads to serve you better at this place we call LoveFeast Table.  You are our guest here and we are so pleased you have stopped by to linger, enjoy the conversation, and partake of the pictures, and so on….in fact, we wish we could sit down with you over a cup of joe too!  So, please come back and spread the word and leave us a note (here, on Twitter or on Facebook).  Thanks for being our guests at the table!!

Chris Ann and Kristin

Chai in the summertime?  You betcha’! (That’s what we say about anything we agree with in Minnesota.)  It was the the most wonderful of afternoon pick-me-ups!  And, how fortunate for us it was made by someone who really knew what they were doing!  While we were visiting Kristin & Devon in Baltimore, another one of their friends, Vivek, who is from India, happened to be in the U.S. on business.  So, Devon drove into Washington, DC to pick him up and bring him back to Baltimore for a visit as well.  We usually start craving a shot of espresso mid afternoon, but with Vivek in the kitchen we were in for a special treat!  He was going to show us how to make Masala Chai, a hot spiced tea drink.

The first thing Vivek did to make the Chai was to pour in the water and the milk.   This should be a 50/50 amount of water and milk.  He also added just a splash of heavy cream.

Then, he added 2 1/2 scoops of sugar.  Um, I know we don’t have perfect numbers here, but this is something best made by feel, and to taste,  and perhaps by somebody who is from India.

Then, he added 2 or more cardamon seeds, 3 strips of cinnamon, 4 fresh mint leaves, and a pinch of ginger powder.  (You can also use fresh ginger if you have it on hand.)  No vanilla!!  That’s right Starbucks!

These ingredients should be boiled on high heat.  When the Chai starts to bubble on the edges of the pan lower the heat and add the tea.  Stir in the tea until camel in color.  Then, turn up the temperature for about 2 minutes.  Then, it is finished, strain, and drink!

You can see, while we’ve had other bowls of bliss , we loved these tiny bowls very much!!  We treasured the time Vivek spent in the kitchen with us, teaching us how to make real Chai.  Do you have a friend who has shared a traditional recipe or meal with you?  Please add on your comment and share it with us at the LoveFeast Table!!

Things are getting a bit ramped up around here!  I’ve been scrubbing floors, washing sheets, cleaning up the patio, cutting the grass, painting walls (I like having a reason to check off my list) and menu planning.  Why?  You might ask…well, the other half of LoveFeast is coming for a B’More visit!!  Tomorrow, Chris Ann, hubby and half of their clan are coming!

You have to understand, for the past five years (since living on opposite sides of the map) we have maintained strong friendships through visits.  These visits are precious, not long enough and not often enough!  So, we tend to try and pack in a years worth of visits in a short time.  It makes for an incredibly fun and exhausting time!  We eat like kings!  We drink like…well, let’s just say we’re always very thirsty!

This visit, my handy man hubby, took the libations into his own hands.  He came home a couple of days ago with this.

I said, “What is that for?”  His chest swelled with pride as he responded, “That’s for the sangria brew!”

This morning, he made a pit stop in between jobs, to begin the marinating process.

The fruit went in.

The alchohol went in.

The wine went in.

The firepit is ready.

Even the little ones made a contribution.

24 hours to go!  Not to worry, we will keep you posted on all our antics!