Becka's blog

Today at work someone asked me if I was feeling all right--she said "You look really tired." I had to reply that I was pretty tired--we've had a busy week. We helped DD, Nora, move one evening (she's becoming a live-in nanny) and we've been finishing up the final phase of the kitchen project this week. We had new counter tops and a new kitchen sink installed.

Here are the before and after pictures:

Old Sink (rather shallow stainless steel):

New Sink (deeper, almond-colored Kohler smart divide porcelain) :

Old Counter (beige laminate):

New Counter (granite patterned laminate):

We had first seen this counter top material earlier this summer when we were up in Ohio visiting DSIL and DBIL, Deb and Dan in Ohio. They are re-doing their kitchen and had chosen this exact same material. We really liked it and decided to put it in our kitchen if it was available down here.

This was the first time I have ever chosen a new sink or new counter tops. I had seen a smart divide sink when we visited our friends Cathy and David in North Carolina. I debated whether to get a two compartment sink or one large one and this option (the smart divide has a lower center partition) seemed like the best of both options.

We still have a bit of touch-up work to finish up and a few things to put away, but hopefully we are finished with big projects for the summer. We are thankful that the Lord provided this opportunity to redo the kitchen and look forward to using it for many years to come.

Becka

I recently had a birthday and I received two of these non-stick Madeleine pans from DH. I tried them out for the first time this week and made these lemony Madeleines. I have eaten Madeleines before, but I had never attempted to make them. I discovered that most of the recipes are basically sponge cake recipes that you bake in these special shell-shaped pans to produce tender, cake like cookies. I think they would be nice as refreshments for a shower or tea.

I work in an office with two other ladies. We often discuss books that we are reading or authors that we have enjoyed. This summer all three of us have been enjoying books by Alexander McCall Smith, a Scottish author who has written a delightful series of books about The Number One Ladies Detective Agency. The stories take place in Botswana, South Africa. They do not contain a lot of violence or bad language — the stories are primarily about relationships between people and you can learn a lot about the customs and life in Botswana. I have found the stories to be quite charming.

One thing that the ladies in the Number One Ladies Detective Agency do quite often is to drink Bush Tea.They also treat themselves to donuts on Fridays. I found some Kalahari Bush Tea at a local grocery store (Ingles) and on Friday we had a little tea party at work with the Bush Tea and Madeleines. The tea is a herbal tea and we tried a variety that was lemony. It went quite well with the lemon-flavored Madeleines. It was a fun way to end the week.

Becka

The other night when I went to open up a can of cat food for the two resident cats, I accidentally opened up a small can of salmon instead. I recently had a coupon for a free 5 oz. can of Chicken of the Sea salmon which just happened to be the same size as the cat food. Deciding that salmon was really too good for the cats I refrigerated it and then made these salmon patties for our lunch the next day:

Salmon Patties

1 16 oz. can salmon
1 egg
1/3 cup finely minced onion
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 tsps. baking powder
2-3 Tbsps. cooking oil

Drain the salmon and place in a bowl. Add the egg, onion, flour, and baking powder and mix lightly. Form into small balls. You can get 8-10 from this amount. Place the balls on a plate or tray (line with waxed paper) and let stand for about 15 mins. This helps them to firm up a bit. When ready to fry the patties, heat the oil in a skillet and then gently place each ball in and press down with your fingers to form a patty. This method helps to prevent them from breaking. Brown for about 3-4 mins. and then turn with a spatula to brown the other side. Drain on paper towels and serve.

Since I had just the small 5 oz. can, I halved all the ingredients. (To halve an egg: break into a cup, stir with a fork, and then use just half.) This amount was perfect for two people. You can also make these with a can of tuna if desired.

I had mentioned in the comments section of my last post about an accident a former Home Economics student of mine had where she broke a cast iron skillet. I was actually rather stunned because I thought those things were indestructible. Our class was meeting in a basement kitchen which had a concrete sub floor. When she dropped the skillet it broke right in two. Children and students have a way of doing things you never thought possible!

Becka

Our new floor is finally finished and I wanted to post some before and after pictures.

Here is the old, dingy, stained white vinyl floor:

Here is our friend Bill installing the new tile:

Here is the finished look:

We are very thankful for the opportunity to replace the old vinyl linoleum and are very happy with the new look.

Becka

Well, there have been some delays so the floor is not quite finished. I do hope to post pictures soon. We did get the appliances back in place so I am able to do some laundry and now I can cook and use the refrigerator in the kitchen again.

Since I was pretty much banned from the kitchen for about a week I started work on a sewing project--another baby quilt. I'll post pictures of that soon as well. This one is girly and I've been having fun working on it.

In the meantime here's a cool and easy summer pie recipe:

Symphony Pie

1 King size Symphony Candy Bar (4.5 oz.) milk chocolate or toffee flavored
1/4 cup water
8 oz. tub Whipped Topping
a prepared graham cracker crust

Break up the candy bar into a large microwavable bowl. Add the water and heat for 45 seconds. Stir until the chocolate is melted. Set aside briefly to cool. Stir in about 1/3 of the whipped topping to cool the chocolate and then fold in the remainder. Pour into the crust and freeze for at least three hours. Garnish with additional whipped topping, chocolate syrup, chocolate or toffee chips.

I have also made this using 1 cup chocolate chips and omitting the water when I did not have a Symphony bar.

Becka