A few more visitors..

I was glad I had the hummingbird feeder out because our little ruby-throated hummingbird arrived yesterday. He was so happy to find his feeder all ready for him!
He just sat down for a little drink.
(yes, those are ants floating around in the fluid. Ugh. Impossible to prevent...)

We keep hearing the cardinals singing - so fabulous as this is just beginning to become "home" for them here in north central Minnesota.

The ma and pa cardinal came together last night at dusk for a little dinner.

Love is in the air.

Ah! more love in nature... can you see Mr. and Mrs. Wood Duck?

Look closely.

A sweet little yellow goldfinch. Waiting his turn for at the feeder...

But where, oh where, is Mr. Grosbeak?

He's usually so dependable!

How to decide?

Oh my, oh my. What a feast for the eyes and refreshment to the soul following a long white winter! This is a fabulous garden center here in our town and the only hard part is deciding what to buy!

What colors this year?
I need hanging plants, bedding plants, garden plants....
Oh, such fun!


I like to shop early when the selection is the best.

I get so jazzed..

Every year they return! Almost the same day as the year before!

Mrs. Grosbeak comes first - I should see Mr. Grosbeak tomorrow...

check back for a picture of him!

and the beautiful cedar waxwing!

They usually come in a big flock.

I so enjoy spring birds!

Thank you

Last evening our weekly group of friends, who meet at our home on Sunday evenings for Bible study, had dinner together at a local restaurant.

These dear friends facilitated this meal as a thank you for our study leader and wife, Dan & Connie and to us for sharing our home each week.

It was a lovely time together, as always, and W and I want to thank you ALL for the evening and for being friends on whom we can depend in all kinds of weather!

If you "double click" on the picture, it will enlarge and fill out your screen and you can get a good UP CLOSE look at our smiling faces!

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

P.S. - Happy Anniversary to Dan & Connie today! 41 years!

Happy Birthday to Marlane and Debbie!

How fortunate I am to have a sister that is also my best friend!

Happy Birthday to my dear sister Marlane!!

Also I am fortunate to have sister-in-laws, and I value their friendship!

Happy Birthday to my sweet sister-in-law Debbie!

Waiting

This is the BEST time of year - the summer birds are soon coming back to the feeders!

(In fact, a few are already here, like the sweet little yellow-rumped warbler..)

And, before the leaves fill out on the trees, we can see so much activity.

I have gotten all the feeders ready as I know pretty much who will come when..

we've been keeping track for years and it still never ceases to amaze us when the birds return!

I have the hummingbird feeder ready..

and the orioles don't want to miss this! Fresh oranges and grape jelly!

and I wouldn't be surprised today to see the
rose-breasted grosbeaks.
I keep looking out the windows... it's really hard to get anything productive done!
My binoculars are in one hand and my camera in the other (well, practically...).
Stay tuned!

Cooking with Candis

Yup. It's official. My favorite room in the house is the kitchen!

Today I made buns. In fact, I was taking them out of the oven just as W walked in the door.

Talk about good timing!

Yesterday I got out an old Farm Journal cookbook and decided to make the granola I made years ago.

Mixed it up and baked it.

Came out great.

Then it was on to bagels. (yesterday)

Shape them and

boil them and

bake them and

EAT THEM.

And for supper, something I haven't made before:

Pigs in a blanket (also know as stuffed cabbage.)

I was inspired by my daughter-in-law Sara...

Ready for the oven.

It was good and enough for two nights.

That's always a plus.

Happy Birthday to my chubby cheeked little honey!

You knew how to charm everyone around you.

You always had the cutest eyes too.

You were a little musician.....

and grew up to be oh-so-handsome!

And a great daddy and hubby.

Happy Birthday to a son of whom we are proud!

We love you very much.

In the interest of full disclosure...

Bummer.

I burnt the english muffins.

So much for being perfect.

Something's missing

Someone lost a tooth!

Tea time company!

What a wonderful way to spend a Friday afternoon on a cool blustery day - company for tea!

All the way from Calgary too!

Sharon is visiting her daughters Susanne and Nancy - and 7 of her grandchildren here in Fergus Falls - and we made time for a little tea/coffee gathering.

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Sharon and I share nieces and nephews. Not sure what that makes us, but it feels like cousins.

.

Of course, I don't have any 1st cousins, so what do I know what a cousin feels like?

Susanne, Meghan and Nancy enjoyed some afternoon time together.

We had such fun chatting.

There was even a tiger at the tea party! Preston seems to really love wearing his tiger costume so why not? Here the girls all tried tea while the boys had their sippy cups.

The star shaped sandwiches are the all-important peanut butter and jelly ones.

One has to know one's company...

I think the blueberry buttermilk scones were the biggest hit though.
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Thanks for the visit girls!

Mystery gadget. I could use some help.

Update number two: This could be it..
"Cappelletti ....To make Cappelletti, cut 1 ½ inch squares from a pasta sheet. Each square receives about ¼ tsp. of a filling and is folded over, almost diagonally, but not quite. The edges are pressed to seal the filling in and are bent around a finger, almost always the index finger, and one point is pressed over the other. "
Who knew? I've never even heard of cappelletti....

(These pictures above are from a website about how to make cappelletti)

Apparently cappelletti are hat-shaped versions of tortellini. They come from eastern Emilia-Romagna, which is an area in Northern Italy. It was once considered the "bread basket" of the Roman Empire. See what you learn coming to my blog??

Update number one on this mystery gadget.

You may need to read the part of the blog post from yesterday to get the whole picture.

This is some pink play-doh that I rolled flat and then used the cutter to make the squares. I was surprised that it made squares and not little rectangles. One side of the blade-wheel does not make an impression so when you roll it over the play-doh you get a square shape like you see above. Any idea what pasta or pastry one makes with these squares?

I will try this for my crackers, it will be perfect for them, but I don't think it is specifically a "cracker cutter" or it would be advertized as such.

I found this picture (above) on a website that advertized pastry wheels and such. It's pretty much the same thing, but makes a larger square shape then mine.

This item is from Italy. So, I'm thinking pasta?

Here is a similar device in the fact that it has the wheels and rotates and cuts dough. As you can tell, this item is German. I'm not at all sure what you do with those cut dough shapes.
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I see that it is sometimes called a "pastry cutter" and sometimes a "pastry wheel". Another name is also a "pastry jagger" but most jaggers have jagged edges so I'm not sure that term is accurate, though it was used on some website.


Below is the original post.

Seriously, I don't know the purpose of the above gadget. It was a Christmas gift from my youngest brother (Jeffrey, do you remember that?).. maybe around 1980? My brother knew I liked kitchen gadgets (small or big) and he purchased this for me at some trendy kitchen store in New York City.

He didn't know its intended purpose either.

As you can see, there is a rotating blade and, I have determined that if you rolled out dough, you could wheel this gadget on the dough and it would make cuts that would be about 1" by 1 3/4".

So, one day I decided I would ask advice at a kitchen store. I brought it in and inquired.
The sales clerk could determine what it probably did but I had already determined what it DID.
I just wanted to know WHY I wanted it to do what it did...
Does that make any sense?
The clerk just gave me a blank look.

It has sat in my kitchen gadget drawer all these years.

It has moved from Saskatchewan, Canada to Minnesota... unused the whole time!
(No, it is not a ravioli maker. Ravioli is much larger.)

I really want to use it for its intended purpose. I want to make whatever one would make with it.
But what is it supposed to make???

ZOX?

Seriously, does anyone know??

How was that yogurt, by the way?

It was delicious.

Pray for little Stellan

Pray for Stellan, his heart surgery is scheduled for 8:30 a.m., Tuesday, east coast time, however it could even happen sooner, if need be.

You can click on the side bar picture of him for more information. He is the child of a friend of a friend and I (along with so many others) have been following his mom's blog.