Three Local Upcoming Activities

If you live local, you might want to know about these upcoming activities.  The first one is tomorrow, April 6th.  Sorry for not posting sooner, but tickets might still be available.  Call 586-465-4918 to inquire.  Cost is $45 per person.  Tickets will not be available at the door. I think this is the last luncheon they're planning to host.

This is the event that features a large number of different tablescapes.  I'll be taking pictures to share on my blog.

The second event is the Great Lakes Depression Glass Show and Sale.

Saturday, April 27 - 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Sunday, April 28 - 11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Admission is $6

It will be held at:  Madison Place

876 Horace Brown Dr.

Madison Heights, MI 48071

The third event is the 2019 Clara Ford Tea - Theme:  "The Spirit of Nursing"

Date:  Sunday, May 5, 2019

Time: 3:30-6:00 p.m.

Place:  Ford Piquette Avenue Plant

Cost:  $40 [Tickets by Eventbrite]

~ Clara Ford is in the center in the black suit ~

Hope to see you at one of these events!

Julia Child

Cherry Hill Presbyterian Church has invited me back for the third time to be the speaker at their ladies tea on May 11th.  My first time was Nov. 2016 presenting Queen Elizabeth, II and Nov. 2017 J.L. Hudson Department Store.  This time the theme will be Julia Child in Paris.  

For the presentation I've put together a 'Julia Child outfit.'  Of course, I'll be considerably shorter than she was [5'2"].  She was 6'3" but usually told everyone she was 6'2".  One inch must have seemed significant to her.  ;-)  I won't be able to re-create her voice either, but hopefully the interesting highlights about her life will make up for it.

Julia usually wore a cotton blouse with the logo Paul [her husband] designed for her.  Her PBS cooking show was titled, The French Chef, and began in 1963.  Usually a single strand of pearls accompanied her outfit as well as a long chef's apron with a dish/hand towel draped over the ties.

The logo loosely translates, "The School of Three Happy Eaters", referring to her two friends who taught cooking classes with her in Paris - Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle.

My Julia Child presentations in the past have been from the biography pictured below.

But this time I've going to use a book she authored with Alex Prud'homme - the grandson of Paul's twin brother, Charles Child.  It primarily focuses on Julia's life in France and her pursuit of French cooking.

I have a trip coming up shortly that will require a 5-hour airplane ride, so I'll be taking along the book below to occupy my time in the air going and returning.  Dearie is the name Julie called everyone.

She said her book, French Chef Cookbook, Volume II was a personal meander full of stories, tangents, and comments about her twenty-five years in the kitchen.  It was her most personal book, as well as her most favorite, so I'd love to be able to find a copy of that book.  

I've enjoyed re-watching the DVD, Julie and Julia and it's a lot more meaningful after reading My Life in France.  It's a cute movie with a twinge of sadness that Julie Powell never got to meet Julia Child, because Julia didn't think Julie was truly serious about cooking.

It's incredible that Julia went from a 37-year-old who previously had no interest in the kitchen to one of the most famous chefs in the twentieth century - even though she said she wasn't a chef.  She referred to herself as a teacher and a cook.  What an amazing person to research!

Last Day of March

Daughter-in-law, Sharon, and granddaughters, Brianna and Brooke are enjoying the Florida sunshine this week during spring break.  So happy they could get away and enjoy some fun time together.  Brooke posted this picture of her taken yesterday.

The background scenery is quite different from what I saw when I woke up in Michigan this morning!  All I could say was 'seriously?'

I spent yesterday putting my program together for the monthly assisted living tea.  The subject was Ireland, the Emerald Isle, so I purchased their treats while they were available at St. Patrick's Day and froze them so they'd still be good today.  The dark green bags are filled with various shades of green mint M & M's.

We started out with two tables for 11 ladies, and then had to set-up another table for five more ladies.  It was a good turnout today, and they were quite responsive.  Two ladies in the group were Irish, and one lady had been to Ireland twice.

When I got home my hubby was watching the NCAA Tournament games.  I sat down and watched the last few minutes of Duke Blue Devils vs. MI State game.  What a nail-biter.  No wonder they call it March Madness!  MI State won [barely] and will go on to the Final Four, so the guys in my family are very happy tonight!

[Internet Photo]

It's been a long time coming, but the water lines are finally going in on our church property at 30 Mile Rd. and Mound in Washington Twp.  Construction for our new sanctuary will begin soon.

Tomorrow begins a new month - April 1st.  Beware of any April Fool's Day pranks!  ;-)

Estate Sale Finds

Last Saturday after my hubby and I went out for breakfast, we stopped at a nearby estate sale. In the publicity photos I noticed a Scarlett O'Hara figurine. My presentation at the assisted living facility on March 31st will be all about the Emerald Isle. Even though the Gone with the Wind O'Hara family is fictional, I thought I'd begin with them since the movie is celebrating its 80th anniversary this year.

This is the figurine I went for and purchased for $15.

The deceased lady of the house loved old movies and had so much memorabilia that I couldn't leave with just the figurine.  She had several Gone with the Wind commemorative plates and I bought three at $1.50 each.

She loved Shirley Temple too because she had several Shirley Temple dolls in their original boxes for $20 each [Dolls of the Silver Screen Collection].  I passed up the doll with Shirley wearing the red and white polka dot dress [Stand Up and Cheer] once before, so I wasn't about to leave her behind this time.  I also bought two pictures of Shirley Temple.

And this commemorative plate... [I left several more behind]

This book...

And lastly this figurine.  Here's hoping I'm asked to do another Shirley Temple presentation in the future.  ;-)

When I saw my grandson at the Wedding luncheon on March 16th, he gave me a framed [18 x 24] 1936 newspaper article about Shirley.  There has never been another child star as talented as her.  No wonder she's so loved.

I left the estate sale with $66 less than when I entered, but I got a lot of nice memorabilia for future presentations.  I think I'll pass on any more estate sales for awhile though.  ;-)

Thoroughly Modern Millie

As promised in yesterday's post, I'm sharing highlights from Romeo High School's musical, Thoroughly Modern Millie that my hubby and I went to see last night.  Our granddaughter, Brooke, was in the ensemble.

I had never heard of the play before so had to do some research.  The stage play is from a 1967 American musical-romantic comedy film.  The setting was the roaring 20's, and features a fiesty, young flapper named, Millie Dillmount, who plans to find a job as a stenographer in NYC, and marry a wealthy employer.  Even though she's fond of a penniless paper-clip salesman, she's determined to marry her boss, Mr. Graydon, at Sincere Trust.  In the end, she marries Jimmy [the assumed paper-clip salesman], who turns out to be a millionaire.  It was a very cute musical.

~ Brooke ~

By the way, she didn't cut her hair, and she isn't wearing a wig - her hair is penned up in back.  

[Brooke and Jerry]

[Brooke and Me]

She has a performance tonight and one tomorrow afternoon and then the musical will be over for this year.

Happy Spring!

Yesterday was the first day of spring, but you can't tell it by Michigan's weather yet. We've had gray skies with rain and even some snow flurries.  The temperatures have hovered just below 40 degrees, but flowers have blossomed inside. Below is a beautiful bouquet my daughter brought over for us to enjoy.  Love the pussy willows in the arrangement that definitely say spring.  I've seen and heard cardinals and robins, so I know spring is coming.

The general manager at The Whitney recently asked me what I thought about taking a tea party [tea, scones and pastries] to a local assisted living facility as a way of giving back to the community. I think it's a great idea, and the first one is scheduled for April 22nd.  It will give me an opportunity to share some of the information I've been gathering about the Whitney family who once occupied the beautiful mansion [particularly the Whitney women].

To make the traveling tea party a bit easier to facilitate, I ordered the pretty 'spring-like' paper teacups with saucers, and dessert plates, pictured below.

  

If you are planning a tea-themed party in the future and don't want to use china products, these are beautiful.  The teacups and saucers came from Amazon [Talking Tables Tea Party] $12.09 for a package of 12, and the coordinating places came from Etsy [Party Connoisseur] $7 for a package of 12 [plus shipping].

I can envision them sitting on a pretty pink paper placemat with a pink paper napkin, and silver plastic eating utensils.

On another subject, tonight is my granddaughter Brook's high school musical, Thoroughly Modern Millie.  I can't wait to see her in the performance, and you know I'll be blogging about it!  ;-)

That's Brooke in the burgundy dress in the lower right corner [above picture].  That's got to be a wig, because I can't imagine her cutting her long hair - even for the school musical!

A Belated St. Patrick's Day Treat

Before St. Patrick's Day arrived I bought a new tablecloth for the holiday, but with the weekend's activities I didn't get a chance to use it.  Kohl's had some nice table linens for St. Patrick's Day and Easter, and on sale too!

I saw two recipes for an Irish Apple Cake on the Internet, and decided to make one yesterday since I had the day off work.  One recipe was from the website 12 Tomatoes and the other was from the blog Home is Where the Boat Is.  I opted to go with the blog recipe.

We declared it a 'keeper'!

Another thing I've been wanting to make is Cauliflower Steaks [much more calorie friendly than Irish Apple Cake!].  I spent quite a while yesterday looking at recipes on line and watching four different YouTube videos.  I decided to go with the recipe from Health Food Shoppe because it had a delicious basting sauce.  I made them for dinner tonight, and they were soooo good!  I'll definitely be making them again.  Love my grill pan.

Dragonwell Green Tea [from Capital Teas] went perfect with both recipes.  Have you tried any new recipes lately?

Tea Time magazine has a Special Collector's Issue out right now called British Tea.  It'll be on the shelves until June 3rd.  I purchased my copy recently.  I visited two of the places featured in the issue during my 2015 trip - Highclere Castle and Ham House.  There are great recipes, beautiful pictures, and lots of good information in the issue, so make sure to look for it at your favorite magazine stand.