Cold cucumber soup

Good day to you!

Do you like cold cucumber soup?

My oldest daughter gave me these old country roses soup bowls for Mother's Day.  I dreamed of having a cold summer soup the first time I used them and so decided to make a cold cucumber soup.

We found a recipe and went to town blending. It smelled very refreshing. 

Turned out so very pretty!

I have to be honest though I really didn't care for it very much. I don't think anyone at the table really did, although Steve dutifully ate his.

In the end I was very thankful that was not all we had that night!

My first chiffon cake

I have a confession to make.

I have never made a chiffon cake.

Knowing how serious this omission in my life was, I decided stop delaying a moment longer and committed to here and now (last night) put an end to my procrastination and chef me up a chiffon cake!

I gathered my ingredients and set off in pursuit of a new kitchen adventure.

I whipped my egg whites, I put my liquid ingredients into a well I had dug in my dry ingredients, I mixed and I folded and everything was going along quite well.

I cooked it for about 55 minutes and went to turn up the heat a tad and it was at this point I got a smidge worried...

Oh my, it appeared to be growing at an alarming rate! 

Well, it did eventually cook and I was able to contain it within the walls of the kitchen when I pulled it out of the oven.

Had to trim it down "a bit" before it would really stand on the little legs.

After it was cold I released it from its pan and decided to wrap it for the night and continue on the morrow.

This morning I de-crumbed it and frosted it with a vanilla-almond buttercream frosting.

Maybe not the prettiest cake I have ever created but tasted great and was fun to create. Next time I will only make the small batch of batter. 

The cake fit perfectly on our new platter too!

Fun finds and a tale to tell

My daughter has been gone the past couple of days and so Little Companion and I have taken the opportunity to see The Karate Kid, we went to the splash pad, and of course have had massive thrifting fun!

Now, while we were at the Goodwill store we came across some plates. There were 4 plates, 3 salad plates, and a round platter.  These are vintage Noritake Craftone in the Buttercup pattern, they are dishwasher and oven safe. Do you think that means they are microwave safe? Okay, anyway, Little Companion and I thought they were pretty and would be nice to use occasionally. 

I originally put 2 dinner plates and 2 salad plates in my basket and walked away. I had one set for me and one for Little Companion, enough right?

I got about halfway down the isle and figured that my daughter might just join us in using these plates and so I hustled back and got another plate and salad plate. Well, at that point there was only one plate left so I just put it in my basket too. I drew the line at the platter thinking this will just be a casual little setting, I wasn't paying the extra $1.49 for the platter, no way. 

So... I'm minding my own business, strolling around with my goods safely tucked in my basket when, while rounding a corner, a lady peers into my basket and starts talking to me about how lovely the plates were. I asked her if she liked to tablescape and she affirmed that she did indeed! While chatting she informed me there was a platter that I really should get to go with the plates. She suggested using candles on the platter as a centerpiece and she was so very nice...

Okay ... so I forked out the extra $1.49 and got the platter. 

It is a very happy platter!