I am Thankful. . . . . .

This month I'm only going
to blog about things that
I'm thankful for.
(I think. . .I hope)

Tea time. . . . .

On Saturday Miss Harmony made reservations for “High Tear” at the Beehive Tea House in downtown SLC. Her mother-in-law was visiting from Buffalo, NY and the 3 of us hustled ourselves, in the rain, into this quaint little “oasis”. It was a treat for the senses and it spoke to my soul! When you enter, you are scrunched into a small-ish area with a
array of teas and tea-service items.

The table was set beautifully. There was a goblet in the middle of the table with a brown
Blob of something in the bottom. We inquired as to what it was and our waitress (who was so gracious and helpful and explained everything in detail) informed us it was a “blooming flower” It is a dried flower with some accompanying greenery and wrapped and dried. Some hot water was poured over it and within 3-5 minutes it had expanded and literally “bloomed” in the goblet. It was BEAUTIFUL.

Looking from the top

After the scones were devoured and the lovely saucers (beautiful china that matched and yet didn’t) were cleared. A tower of tea sandwiches were set in the middle of the table. They were crust-less and filled with yummy ingredients and some were rolled in pine nuts. They were little bites of bliss – really. Not enough O’s in GOOOOOOOD.

We were taken to a back room that was average sized with very tall ceilings, perhaps 20’ tall. It had a Moroccan feel it the place. There were low tables with a wonderful collection of mismatched chairs, some were over-stuffed, some were wingback, some had a few tears with a wee bit of stuffing peeking out, some had long braided fringe along the bottom, they were all wonderfully homey and comfortable.

We ordered our drinks from an extensive tea menu, as well as some espressos and some French-pressed coffee and Italian sodas. After our beverages were delivered we had a plate of fresh warm scones (English, not fried bread) there was a lemon scone and a cranberry scone, with butter and jam. They had some delicious large-crystal sugar sprinkled on top. They were flaky and fabulous, and I wanted more more more.

The pictures are out of order, that is because of my sad blogging skills, I acutally deleted the tower of sandwiches . So Sad. This is the table before we started - beautiful and quaint and everything girly!!

This was placed on the table with the pot of tea, this is the perfect tea timer, each tea has a perfect steep time.

I loved going with Harmony and Gina. It was so much fun. Thanks Harm! The next time my mom comes up, I'm going to make us a reservation.

CAN You Believe it. . . . .

I was riveted to the television last night
watching the rescue efforts in Chile.
It was amazing, I cried.
I didn't realize until I
got in bed that I had been
holding my breath and very tense,
because when I relaxed in bed, I
was weak.
I thought of Jessica McClure
falling in a mine shaft years ago,
someplace in Texas. That
was a tear-jerker too.
Miracles still happen!

RAIN . . RAIN . . .PLEASE STAY

I gotta tell ya,
I'm LOVIN' the rain.
I could so have
it rain once
a week!!!

Ah. . . . Fall

I know it's fall when I start cooking again.
I made 10 dozen meatballs.
That's it for this winter.
Meatball sandwiches,
Spaghetti and meatballs,
Sweet and sour meatballs,
Meatballs and gravy. . . .
you get the picture,
I make enough to have
a meatball on the menu
about every other week!!!
Into the freezer they go
12 winter meals
ready!

Oh, beans with the
ham-bone from Easter.
Yeah, beans beans the musical fruit
Make your pants go rootie toot toot. . . .
Oh who cares about a toot
among friends.
Into the freezer
4 winter meals ready.
(I've already made and
froze my meatloaves
no pictures!
See what I do,
make 'em once
enjoy all winter.)

The last few tomatoes
hanging on for
dear life.

Whew, taking the lid off the
hot tub and looking
at all the scum. . . .hummmmm

Me (a.k.a. Fattie-La-Rue)
scrubbing the scummy hot tub.

Another attractive angle
of Fattie La Rue cleaning
with her butt-crack almost
exposed!! GROSS

This is the beauty
clean, filled, heated
and waiting for a cool
down so she can be enjoyed.

This is when it really
feels like fall, the Halloween
Wreath on the door. . . . .

And best of all, the candy dish filled.
Is there anything better than
a peach
a pumpkin
a mini candy bar
a bottle of Peach or Pear bubbly drink
a tall pretty glass to drink it in
and someone to enjoy it with.
Ahhhh. . . . . .Fall
I've been waiting for you!

Say, we're tourists

I've been wanting to see the Lion King but didn't have

tickets. I had gone on-line and they were more that I wanted to spend

not to mention the "convenience" fees charged. So I give up hope

of seeing this performance on this tour, maybe in a year

or two.

We had planned to go to St. George this weekend.
Boyd's work schedule messed it up.

That said. . . . Boyd and I decided to treat ourselves and go downtown and

pretend we were tourists for the weekend. We headed to the ticket office of the Capital

Theater, parked on the street on the 2-hour free meter. We asked the ever

lovely girl at the "will call" counter (who by the way only had one arm and was

so efficient I couldn't stand it) if there were any *giggle*giggle* seats left (with

the hopes we could get a scabby seat for the Saturday night or even the

Sunday show) Well, we were able to get orchestra seats about 9-10 rows

back smack dab in the middle **INCREDIBLE***for the 2:00 p.m. showing!

AAAHHHHH only 45 minutes to move the car and grab a bite to eat. Boyd

parked the car and I ran to Siegfried's Deli and grabbed us a sandwich that

we ate as we stood in line to enter the theater. By the time we got seated

and the curtain went up and as the music started and the parade of animals

down the aisle for the opening song (Circle of Life) at pride rock, I'm not

ashamed to say, tears were running down my cheeks. (This is my favorite

Disney animated movie - I love the Music)

IT WAS FABULOUS!!!

We didn't want to try and fight the crowds at the underground parking plaza

so we wandered to "Acme Burger" They were closed. Who knew. So we

wandered up Pierpont Avenue and found the "Sandbar" - great pub-grub!!

Fantastic Chips that they bring out in gallon sized sand pail!! Homemade tortillas - yummy!

We stayed in the Towers at Little America. There was a fund-raiser for the

Governor at the Grand America so there were a few peeps in their "finery"

wandering the foyer, all hoity-toity-ish. The room we were in was great.

Lovely linens, lovely soaps, huge tub etc. etc. They have an incredible chocolate

ganach cake on the room service menu. De-lish!! Then we ate at the

breakfast buffet on Sunday morning where I can eat all that yummy fresh

fruit and a made-to-order omelet - not to mention my body weight it bacon.

(Natures PERFECT food, I refer to it as Divine Swine!!) Later we tried to get

to see the Hubble 3-D show and the Clarke Planetarium, but missed it by a

few minutes, so we headed to the Megaplex for a film. Large Drink. Box of

Milk Duds.

AHHH, great weekend. I want to do it again. Because we never do this kind

of thing and everything was so great I hate to jinx myself and try it again

anytime soon.

hooky. . . . .

This is what playing hooky from work looks like.
Happy faces all around.
Well, mine looks happier
but I'm sure happiness was found
in my friend Val.
This was after a scone
the size of your head
smothered with butter
and raspberry jam.
This happens each 1st
Friday in September.
Also known as Swiss Days.
This is when we ride up the
canyon to the lovely town of Midway.
We wander the stalls looking
for something that we cannot live without.
You cannot see them in
this picture, but our
feet are doing the "happy dance"
They know that they are
headed to Shirodhara Day Spa
for the ultimate pedicure.
Yeah.
Actually we made our way to
Tai Pan and lunch before our
delicious feet pampering.
It was close to a perfect day.