you're like me, but different

Sometimes I come on here in the morning, open up the comments on my latest post, and feel my heart over-flowing with love when I read what you have to say. My whole being turns into a smile. I feel understood, heard, and appreciated....which feels amazing. 

This blog is something very special to me. Because of YOU.

You're like me...but different. And I absolutely love that.

For some laughs about blogging, read this post called 'you know you have a blogging problem if...' It's bound to have you nodding your head in recognition and laughing out loud. 

Now to the great news: the sun is shining here!!! I can't believe it. And I can't really describe what a difference it made to wake up to sunshine pouring through the window. My husband and I were bopping around the kitchen, laughing, feeling so GOOD. Kiki is dozing now in a stretch of sunlight on the floor, warming her little bones. We're going to walk to town now, camera around my neck, off to the arts and crafts store, and then the hair salon. Fun girlie things. I'm flying to Frankfurt tomorrow to write and record a song for a commercial. More about that later...

Love to you all...

xoxo country girl

tender stone fruit cake

A friend came over for lunch on her break today. I made her my potato leek soup , and for dessert, this lovely, tender, simple stone fruit cake. I used organic plums, but as the name states, any stone fruit will do.

Stone Fruit Cake

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 cup yogurt

2 cups chopped stone fruit, such as peaches, nectarines, or plums; stones removed, cut into little pieces

powdered sugar

In large bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla.

Sift or stir together flour, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg; gradually stir in to butter mixture. Fold in yogurt and chopped fruit. (note: the batter will seem very thick, almost like cookie dough; this is how it is supposed to be!) Spoon batter into greased and floured baking pan.

Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30-40 minutes, or until tester comes out clean. 

Once it has cooled a little, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

I think you'll love it.

xoxo country girl

praying for happiness

Once, when I was in highschool, I was so in love with a boy that I actually prayed every day that he would love me back. We dated for about three years off and on, and he treated me horribly. Still, I prayed, and prayed, and prayed: "Please God, let him love me, let us be together." 

I had a friend who liked to hold gatherings, mostly during the full moon, with only women; we would take moonlit walks to the beach, light candles, burn things, make potions and talismans, all sorts of hocus-pocus. Mostly just for fun. But at every one of these little parties, I would ask my friend to cast a love spell, in hopes that this boyfriend of mine would finally love me and belong to me. 

One day, heartbroken and exasperated, I said through tears to my friend, "I just wish he were mine!" She looked at me and said, "If he were yours, who's to say you would be happy? Maybe, instead of praying for him, you should pray for happiness."

That single remark changed the way I thought, and prayed, for a long time. And it served me very well. Any time I found myself praying for a particular thing, like a certain job, apartment, vacation, result...I would correct myself, let go of wanting that thing, and pray for happiness instead. And that practice of letting go of specific things really worked well, because I felt I was leaving the details up to God, and living in faith that God knew what was good for me much better than I ever could. 

Then, the other day, I was talking with an old friend on the phone. He has been through alot in his life, but has managed to remain a positive person. We were talking now about my miscarriage, and I told him how it had come as such a shock, and as such a stark change from the happiness we had experienced while I was pregnant. I told him I was praying that I would be happy again some day soon. 

To that he said, "But hard times are a part of life, too. People need to stop their addiction to happiness and to good times, and accept the hard times as they come. We need to be at peace with the fact that life isn't always easy or happy."

This made me re-think my prayers for happiness. I began to realize that I often spent many hours of my days thinking of the future, of all the things I hoped would happen or come, of all the happiness I hoped to experience 'some day.' And now I feared that, by always praying for happiness, I was neglecting the opportunity to live in gratitude for what IS. For all the happiness I already have. For my life exactly as it is today, in this moment. And to live in acceptance of the hard times, too. 

The more I thought about it, the more I decided that I should strive for a balance of the two....because although it's good to live with an atitude of gratitude, it's also important to dream. 

Those are the thoughts I am having today. 

My head is also swarming with ideas for my etsy shop, Kiki La Ru, for which I am so grateful! Ever since I decided to open up that little online store, I have been having one inspiration after another. So, yes, dreaming is important. Having a vision and following through is important. 

Well, that's what I think right now.....who knows, maybe that will change too, some day! I am open to learning new truths and changing my mind. And I hope that fact remains until the day I die, because a willingness to learn and change are what keep a person young.

xoxo country girl

Brown and green, the colours of March.

My seed potatoes are doing well on the window-sil.

xoxo country girl

Washboard Tea Biscuits

Just reading the description of these in Cook's Country made my mouth water and I knew I had to try them out: "These cookies are crisp and not too sweet, with the distinct flavor and aroma of coconut." The first tray-full burned horribly, so I was extra careful with the next. These fill the kitchen with a delicious coconutty, buttery scent, and that's how they taste, too. These are meant to be the perfect addition to tea. I ate mine with a glass of milk. These washboards, named for the ridges made with a fork, are highly addictive; the mixture of coconut and nutmeg, which I never would have thought to combine, lend these tender buscuits a delicious and delicately spiced flavor. I hope you enjoy them!

Washboards

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg 
1 large egg
2 tablespoons milk
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup sweetened, shredded coconut

1. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg in a medium bowl. Whisk together the egg and milk in a small bowl. With an electric mixer at medium-high speed (I used my kitchenaid), beat the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg mixture and beat until well combined. Reduce the speed to low, add the flour mixture and coconut, and mix until just incorporated.

2. Flour your hands. Then turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and shape it into a 15-inch log.  Flatten the top and sides of the log so that it measures 1 inch high and 3 inches wide. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 45 minutes. (The dough can refrigerated for up to 2 days or frozen for up to 1 month.)

3. Adjust two oven racks to the upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator, unwrap, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices, and arrange the slices 1 inch apart on the baking sheets. Dip a dinner fork in flour, then make crosswise indentations in the dough slices. 

Bake until the cookies are toasty brown, 15 to 18 minutes*, switching and rotating the baking sheets halfway through baking. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Serve.

*I don't know if my oven is really hot, or if it is because I baked these one sheet at a time, but mine were done within 10-12 minutes. So keep a close eye on them!

I want to thank you all for the support and enthusiasm regarding my etsy shop Kiki La Ru! It was great to hear some feedback. I've been very busy sewing these past couple days. It's such a great form of meditation. I'm getting more and more relaxed about it all. Have been exploring other etsy shops, comparing prices, examining other shop designs and policies. Waiting on my business cards, vintage fabrics, and packaging material. I've also ordered a few things over etsy to see how other artists package their items. Some are very intricate and detailed, others very plain, with basically just the product. It's going to be a bit of a challenge to find the middle road, as I want to package my items beautifully, but not to the point where I have to charge more because the decor is expensive. So many things to think about!

We woke up to snow this morning; it's still sifting down, covering tree boughs and roof tops. Confusing us thoroughly. As my husband says, "This weather is getting awkward." Will we ever be able to fold away our sweaters? When will I get a break from mopping up the muddy hallway? Only nature knows.

xoxo country girl

Introducing Kiki La Ru!

Hello friends!
It's been a few days. Time away from my blog always feels like ages have gone by, I'm so used to checking in daily. I haven't forgot you all of course! I've been busy getting something started. Something exciting: my very own etsy shope! Kiki La Ru (one guess who it's named after :)). It will be a while until it's really up and running; right now I'm still attending to the details, like logo, business cards, packaging, finding out prices and shipping rates....and I've promised myself I won't open up shop until I have at least ten products. 
I've been turning the etsy shop idea over and over in my head for quite some time now, and I finally decided to quit worrying and wondering and just take action. I am aiming to open up Kiki La Ru some time in May. I am a bit of a perfectionist, so I'm giving myself time to make sure I have everything the way I want it, and a nice stack of lovely handmade items that I am proud to offer to the world. 
This process has me wondering if other people in my position have the same cocktail of excitement and worry churning around inside of them: excitement at the thought of making and selling things you love, and worry that no one is going to buy them!
If anything, this will all be an interesting experience. 
I'll be back tomorrow with a delicious old-fashioned cookie recipe! 


xoxo country girl

wild garlic!

As soon as the snow melts and the sun has shone for a few days, I go to a particular hillside in our village in the hope that the first wild garlic has sprouted from the thawing earth. And today was the lucky day! That picture above is my first fistfull of the year, picked this morning.

Wild garlic, which also goes by the names ramsons, wood garlic, and buckrams, is actually in the onion family. We call it wild garlic because of it's strong garlicky fragrance and mild pungent flavour. 

In the beginning it sprouts in patches here and there, and does not yet give off a scent. By this time of year, we are all hungry for things green and fresh. The first tender leaves of wild garlic are very precious to me!

Chop it up and use it in salads, scrambles, sandwiches, quiche, pesto, in creamy dips, or as a soup garnish.

When I see the first wild garlic shoots, I am overcome with a sense of relief. I know that winter is fading, and spring is braving her way up through the soil. I actually get pretty giddy when I can finally crouch down on the forest floor and harvest the first wild food of the year!

After a time, the wild garlic forms a thick carpet on the woodland floor. Here are a couple of pictures from years past when the wild garlic was thriving:

:: look how little kiki is here! just one year old ::

The world will be blanketed in green once again very, very soon. In about a month the fruit trees will be blossoming, and I am sure any day now I'll discover the first frog and toad eggs. This time of year always makes me feel like a survivor, isn't that funny?

Today I experienced something interesting that I want to talk with you about tomorrow. And by the way, I loved hearing what you all had to say about friendship. It would seem that being generous with forgiveness and compassion is what makes friendship work. Thank you for always giving me something to contemplate, and for sharing your thoughts here!

Now I'm going to go spread a nice slice of crusty country bread with cream cheese and sprinkle it with chopped wild garlic; real forager food. :)

xoxo  your country girl

*just to clarify, this plant is not actually garlic. it is from the allium family, and you eat the leaves, not the bulbs. Read all about it here . Find recipes here .