Finishing Touches

When I was living alone in grad school my mom and dad found this adorable table with green painted chairs and legs and a varnished top.  It had a few scratches and bad spots on top, but it was adorable, so they bought it and gave it to me.  A few years and 4 states later, we are still using it.  The varnishing was neither in good shape, nor waterproof, so I had been thinking of refinishing it for a while.
Enter summer (excessive heat)
The weather finally cooled off enough for us to go for it.  I didn't get a really good before picture, but I think this first one gives you an idea of the condition of its condition.

We are so thrilled with it.  The wood turned out to be in beautiful shape.  What a happy surprise!  Now it looks good and I can relax when we or guests put sweaty glasses on the table.

Tater scale

Things have been busy.
Things have been good.
I'm doing a lot of teaching
And a lot less with food.

What kind of poem is that?

I got this from a student family this week.  We cooked it on Monday and have been eating it ever since.

This picture has not been manipulated in any way (I did make it black and white, because the color version was a little too vibrant), I am holding the biggest sweet potato I've ever seen right beside my head. 

Days Like This

Listen here

Scroll to "Days Like This"

Sip favorite drink

Enjoy with me

Love,

Molly

*I stepped out my front door, looked one way and took the top two, turned around and took the bottom.  It is so beautiful I had to share it with you immediately*

Tomato Soup

Another ode to the in-laws:
For a dinner this week Nate and I had homemade tomato soup. We had some home grown yellow pear tomatoes in the freezer from the in-laws. I bought some tomatoes last week that we didn't get to, so I thought they would be good in soup since they were getting a little mushy.
The recipe was adapted from my Joy cookbook.

Ingredients:
olive oil, fresh garlic (yum), onion, fresh basil (from the garden!), tomatoes (frozen and fresh), crushed red pepper flakes, chicken broth (that I made from the chicken bones in my freezer), salt, and pepper.

Directions:
cook the first part of the list in the olive oil, add the rest and boil for a while. Salt and pepper while it is cooking. I really think when I get into this habit it will push my cooking over the edge.

The broth! The rest of it is in the freezer!

We also had white cheddar bread. Needless to say it was awesome.

This is the finished product sliced. I would have taken a picture of the loaf whole, but then I would have had to share it with you and due to a mishap between the wood cutting board, the cornmeal, and the heated pizza stone, it was not camera ready. I have since made a beautiful loaf, but like many foodstuffs here it did not survive long enough to be documented.


Thanks Mom and Dad W!!

well shucks...

I had my lessons today and one of my students brought me this.

Names have been blocked to protect the innocent.

This certainly warmed my heart. And the sun brightened my day, because boy is it rainy here today. I'm not leaving unless I have to.
Her rendering of our lesson is very accurate. My cello is lighter in color than her violin. I put my end-pin on a little mat so I don't scratch the floor. I wear jeans. And I wear these slippers, without fail. She was much kinder to the cat than he deserves. Guests are a traumatic experience for him, and put a stringed instrument in their hand, he's done, we'll see him tomorrow. She even made him smile, that's so sweet. She got the coloring right on him though, even though she can't have seen him for more than 5 seconds, ever.