A Cure for the Common Cold

Alright, here's a happy thing. I actually made this tutorial for a friend who wasn't feeling well, and well, at the time I thought... "This is a happy thing. I will have to put this on my blog at some point."

So here we go. :)

This is something that my mom said she learned from her mother, and I honestly have no idea if it does anything medicinal... but to me, a little kid with a cold, it was an extra-special treat (we never got to drink tea as little kids, much less with raspberries in it). I can recall a couple of times as a sniffly young child being brought a cup of tea like this, to make me feel better. If we didn't have raspberries, in went the second best thing-- a little bit of raspberry jam.

Perhaps it was just the magic of this out-of-the-ordinary treat that made me feel better... But feel better, I did. And to this day, when I'm feeling poorly, I think of this old remedy and wish I had some raspberries to go in my tea.

Want to know how to make it? It's pretty simple. Here goes!

[Note: I MUCH prefer to make the tea in a pot. That is the superior way to do it, but if you don't have a pot in which to make the tea, this will do the trick.]

Step #1 - Get yourself a cup, a tea bag (whatever kind you want), and some raspberries. Wash the raspberries and put a few into your cup like this... If you want it to look pretty. Or you can make the tea and add the raspberries later... whatever you want. It's up to you.

Step #2 - Boil some water, and pour it into the cup. (I like to put the tea bag into the cup after the water, when making an individual cup, because I like my tea on the weaker side. It is almost always gets too strong if you put the bag in first, I find... But again, this is just a matter of preference, so you do whatever you jolly-well want.)




Step #3 - Swish the tea bag around a little bit, till the tea is the color you like it (I like mine honey-colored, or a little darker.)



Step #4 - Add some honey. Now, easy here... You don't want to go all crazy on it. A little honey will do the trick. See the photo below to see how much honey I would recommend in a teaspoon for one cup of tea.




Step #5 - Enjoy! :D I recommend the use of pretty tea cups for little girls (or, if you have a group of little girls and boys, use them for the boys too-- they probably won't want to feel left out.) For everyone else, I would recommend a nice, chubby mug. Then get yourself a blanket, cuddle up with your cup, breathe in some of the steam, and then.... Smile. Mm. :) Smiling makes most everything better... (Including the common cold.)



Step #6 - Get better.


And there you have it. Easy-peasy. :)

Pumpkins, Cakes, and Pumpkin Cakes (and also some random pies)

Wow, has it been a long time or has it been a long time?! It's been forever. That's what.

Well, here I am, finally! With more to say. In fact, so much more to say, that I've been too intimidated to try and say it all... hence, the lack of posts on the blog. :-D But I'll try to fix that up now, by saying little and picturing lots so that you can get the general idea. ;)

Here's a tiny bit of what I've been up to... Complete with captions, so that it makes sense. :-D

First off, I bought a pumpkin. Why? Well, because... It was stinkin' cute. Look at it! Gah!



There I was, walking through the grocery store, and I spotted them... "Oh look, tiny little pumpkins! Buy." Haha... I'm not usually an impulse buyer, but sometimes... You've just gotta do what you've just gotta do. ;)

I've baked this pumpkin, and shortly, I'm gonna make a pumpkin cake out of it. I haven't yet... Though, I almost feel like I have. I'm that excited about it. I love baked pumpkin-y things. It's going to be a good time.

Now, here are the "Cakes" I spoke of. Since I make cakes (don't know if y'all knew that or not :-P), I've been... well, making cakes. Lots of cakes. So here are a few, for your perusal.

Fall wedding cakes...



Slab cake, to go with the fall wedding cakes...



Baby shower cakes...




Fancy-shmancy cupcakes...


And more weddings cakes! You can see more on this cake, as well as some other ones, on My Other Blog by clicking on the link. It'll tell you more about them.



And then, last but not least (and not all, certainly-- more will be coming to the blog later), here's some random pies that I made. Smile! Pies are delicious. :)



That's all for today, folks! Thanks for stopping in and for reading all of my rambling. And remember-- your comments are a "Little bit of happiness" in my life, so don't hesitate to leave them. :)

--Naomi

Water Droplets (and Spiders)

Say, look what I found in the garden the other day?


And I totally took those pictures. B-)

So There Are These COOKIES...

And Oh-My-Land. I love them!

They are called "Stroopwafles" or "Syrup Waffles," and wow. Was there ever anything more perfect to eat with a cup of tea?? I don't think so.

I was introduced to these cookies last year by a good friend of mine, and then, on a short family trip that we took to Holland Michigan shortly afterwards, I was thrilled to find them for sale there. These cookies are traditionally Dutch, and as far as I've ever seen them, are imported from Holland.


The way you eat them, I understand, is to put the cookie on the mouth of your cup of hot beverage (my preferred choice is tea) and let it sit there for a minute... Then turn it over and let is sit for another minute (all the while building mountains of precious patience)... and THEN... You eat it. And the steam from your hot drink has made the cookie all warm and soft on the inside, where there is a delicious syrupy filling sandwiched between two baked wafer cookies.


It's kind of like a miracle in your mouth.

The story of my finding them went something like this:

There I was, strolling through the grocery store, when suddenly... a beautiful sight met my eyes. A sight so beautiful, in fact, that I didn't quite know whether to believe my eyes or not. But, sure enough... after a double take (or twenty), I realized the truth of the matter-- There they were, glowing on their own little part of the shelf-- Stroopwafles! REAL ones! From Holland! AHH!!

BUY.

B-)

And then I was happy ever after.


Try them. You won't regret. :)

Once Upon A Today...

Once upon a time (on July 4, 2011), there was a girl named Naomi who liked to make pretty things to eat.

(You can imagine a nice picture of Naomi here, looking something like Winnie the Pooh. 'Cause she kind of does look like him. In her own way.)

Now, Naomi was an adventurous girl, and she loved to try making new things. She was always up for a challenge, and enjoyed the task of making desserts that were unusual, and sometimes, pretty tricky. Often, it was hard, and usually-- it made her nervous during the process. But, at the end of it all, the sound of her camera going "Click, click, click," and the photos of the finished project would make her smile, and thus provide the courage necessary to try something new the next time she had an opportunity.

One day, Naomi decided to make a beautiful little croquembouche, just big enough for a tea party with a few friends. She had made a few croquembouche towers before (big ones), but she particularly wanted to try making a new one this time, to give her the practice of working with spun sugar. Traditionally, Naomi knew, croquembouche towers are decorated with thin strands of spun sugar, and not having had too much practice with that in the past, she wanted to try it out again to see how it would turn out.

Hours passed as Naomi mixed, baked, stirred, piped and spun... But finally, it was finished! It was beautiful; just as she had hoped it would be. Excitedly, she propped up her favorite wooden cutting board to make a nice wooden background for the photo, set her masterpiece down in front of it, and picked up her camera to take some pictures.

Naomi lifted the camera with a smile, and prepared her ears to hear the usual "Click, click, click" of the camera.

"Click, click, *plop*."

What? Naomi looked up, confused. "Plop?"

Yep. There it was... That lovely little croquembouche, crushed. The cutting board, apparently, had a mind of its own... And decided, just in time for the third click, to go "Plop" right on top of the croquembouche.

It was crushed.

"Oh," Naomi said. That... is... really... sad. :(

The end.

At least I got two pictures of it, even if they were really dark. :) I'm glad for that. And our tea party, though not as picturesque as I would have liked, will be delicious. That I know for sure.


Note: This is a true story. The close-ups were taken after the top was crushed... there were a few cream puffs that kind of survived, so I took some close-ups of those (and the lighting was better for those photos.) :)

Mushrooms!

Alrighty. So the past number of weeks have been so crazy that I have not been able to update. But!

Look what I found in our yard today? :) Don't worry, I didn't eat any.







And now, a pretty flower, just for good measure. ;)


Next time, I plan to make a post that is really worth reading (and looking at). I'll work on that! But for now, thanks for stopping in. :)

**EDIT**

Hmm... It has occurred to me that this blog about "Food, Family, and Fun" is actually mostly about "Flowers, Mushrooms, and Chocolate."

...I'll have to start working on that. :-D

Praise!

Wow, God is amazing. Praise Him!

And that's about all I have to say today. :)

Quilting?

Will I ever finish it? I've been working on this quilt forever, and I just can't seem to get it done. Too much else to do!


Until the title of this post has been answered, I will just say-- Check out My Other Blog to see some of what I've been up to. It's just a little thing, but it's something!

(I'll give you a hint of what it's about):




... :)

April Snows Bring the... "Whoa's"?

Well, they make me go "Whoa" anyway. I was not expecting that this morning. BUT... I didn't waste too much time being surprised, 'cause there are few things more beautiful and unexpected looking than greenery and flowers sticking out of the snow. So, I grabbed my camera, strapped my hood to my head, and out I went. And here... are the pictures to prove it.







Also, wanna see what I've been up to for the past few weeks? Check This out.

The Canadian Dream

I am Canadian. And this was my dream.

Happy happy happy happy! :D!!!

;)

You Know What?

Sometimes I'm pretty sure I never want to grow up. Being a kid is just so much less intimidating. :-P