1000th Post, Hooray!

"I learned this, at least,

by my experiment;

that if one advances confidently

in the direction of his dreams,

and endeavors to live the life

which he has imagined,

he will meet with a success

unexpected in common hours."

~ Henry David Thoreau

Today is the day, 1000th post.
I will draw for the give away in celebration at the end of the day
and announce the winner tomorrow.
There could be other things tucked into this gift,
so go ahead celebrate with me and leave a comment on Friday's post.

I think the #1 thing I have been gifted in blogging these 1000 posts
is the gift of friendship.
Thank you so much for each of you I have met through blogging,
I continue to enjoy the ride and look forward to more celebrations with you.

California Road Trip

Road trips seem to be the mode of travel here this year.
Though the road trip was only four days, it was extra special.
The purpose of the trip was to meet a dear blogger friend from Norway.


On Sunday afternoon we ventured into the heat of
the California valley near Sacramento to this wonderful oasis.
It was the home of my friends hosts, Jane and Lanny.
I couldn't help but take peaks around their wonderful compound.
Jane is an artist, so of course a stop in her studio was part of the tour.
Oh would I love a studio such as Jane's.

There were many different rooms in the garden to sit and visit.
This is looking back at the artist studio, a sweet little house.

There was time to sit and visit here surrounded by grapes
 that will ripen later in the summer.

Oh, but best of all was the purpose for the trip.
To meet my friend, Britt-Arnhild.
You can visit her blog here, The House in the Woods.

We arrived early to have a lovely visit with Britt-Arnhild, her husband, Terje and daughter, Marta.
They were staying in a lovely guesthouse at the back of the property.

One of the pleasures of blogging is having opportunities
such as this and to meet face to face.  
It was a delightful day and one that will always remain in
my memories and I will treasure each moment spent with a new friend.

This is #999 post, remember to leave a comment on Fridays post for a small give-away.
I am sure there will be some tea tucked in with the charm.
I have a special, new Yunnan Gold to share.
The give-away will be tomorrow on my #1000.

Charmed and a Gift

 

   

The gift, a special yummy recipe.
Charmed, the small charm you see in the lower picture.
With only a couple more posts I will be celebrating 1000 posts
here at Delights of the Heart.
The charm is small, but made by me.
I will be sending it to someone when I reach 1000.
Leave a comment here to receive a chance to win this charm.

The gift is a recipe for each of you.
A recipe for Cranberry Hazelnut Crackers.
It comes from Cathy at Wives with Knives here.

Cranberry Hazelnut Raincoast Crisps
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey or maple syrup
1 cup dried cranberries or raisins
1/2 cup hazelnuts or pecans, lightly chopped
1/2 cup roasted pumpkin seeds (pepitos)
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup flax seed
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda and salt.  Add the buttermilk, brown sugar and honey and stir a few strokes.  Add the raisins, nuts, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, flax seed and rosemary and stir just until blended.

Pour the batter into two 8"x4" loaf pans or 4 small loaf pans (I used 5-3/4"x3") that have been sprayed with nonstick spray.  Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden and springy to the touch.  (I like these crackers very crisp so for my second batch I reduced the temperature to 300 (275 F. convection) and baked them for 20 minutes on each side and they were perfect.  Watch that they don't get too brown.  Remove from the pans and cool on a wire rack.

The cooler the bread, the easier it is to slice really thin.  You can leave it until the next day or pop it into the refrigerator. (I refrigerated the loaves overnight and they sliced perfectly the next day). Slice the loaves as thin as you can and place the slices in a single layer on an ungreased cookie sheet.   Reduce oven heat to 300 degrees F. (I turned the heat down to 250 degrees) and bake the slices for another 10 minutes on each side.

Makes about 6 dozen crackers.

Experience Tea

 

Last Friday evening a group met for WuWo Tea Ceremony.
It was a special evening of wonderful teas, food, and friendship.
We had a special guest, Shuiwen of Floating Leaves in Seattle.
Shuiwen shared with us her passion for tea
with a tea tasting of Baozhong Oolong teas recently brought back from Taiwan.
From Shuiwen I learned that tasting and drinking tea is a time to savor the experience.
Savor the fragrance, the appearance, and then the flavor.
Shuiwen's stories of purchasing and drinking teas with the farmers was pure delight.
Each of the teas just tickled my palate and reminded me of why I love
these beautiful teas from Taiwan.

Happy Fourth of July!

 

The greenhouse in my garden is almost finished.
I has been a labor of love, built by my husband of recycled materials.
Soon we can open the doors and share more fully.
I will be out there enjoying the day and
helping to make it more beautiful.
All the windows are in now.
It just needs cleaning, caulking in places, and paint here and there.

Have a delightful, happy fourth of July!
Stay safe and enjoy the day.

Grace, a form of movement

 

This is Carol.
She was one of the speakers at the conference I recently attended.
The theme was Grace, a word I am quite familiar with.
It was my word for the year several years ago before I started blogging.
It's a good word.
Carol is 83 years young and her topic was saying "Yes" to grace.
I often say no because somedays I just feel overwhelmed with all there is to do.
Carol was a young mother when she first said "Yes".
In 1961 she wrote to the Portland Reporter about her concern for the crisis in Berlin
and how that would effect "our little ones".
She became involved and for many years she traveled the world working with
American Friends Service Committee "working for peace and social justice by nonviolent means".
Her desire has been to be "An instrument of peace."

Through Carol's words and thinking on the word Grace
I realized that Grace is a word of movement.
Saying "Yes" is a form of movement.
What we say yes it allows us to move forward.
I am not sure from day to day where saying yes might move me,
but for me I will move forward with Grace.

One Word

 

Peekaboo!