Placesettings: winter wake-up with steel-cut oats

Posted: January 24, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Placesettings, Pyrex & Fire-King, Recipe, Vintage tablecloths | Tags: , , , , , | Comments Off on Placesettings: winter wake-up with steel-cut oats

We woke up to a bright and sunny, if very cold, morning today. After half an hour outdoors with the dog, we warmed up with piping hot bowls of steel-cut oats and strawberries.

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I started with a bright tablecloth of daisies in red, yellow, and green. That’s a lot of wow for only three colors!

Then there’s a yellow Lu-Ray plate. Because yellow is a happy color, of course. The really old Sterling China bowl is perfect for oatmeal because the thick hotel china holds the heat.

I like steel cut oats a lot, they’re filling and they warm you right up on a cold morning. But I don’t like standing over the stove stirring them for thirty minutes till they’re cooked. Most mornings I have better things to do to get everyone out the door to work and school.

So I cook oatmeal the lazy way: overnight in a crockpot. Easy!

Yep, there’s more!

Placesettings: cake for three kings

Posted: January 7, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Placesettings, Recipe, Vintage tablecloths | Tags: , , , , , | 2 Comments

Since yesterday was The Feast of Epiphany—aka Three Kings Day—I finally baked some Three Kings Cake today.

I’m only a day late!

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Why it’s called “cake” is a mystery. It’s not cake. It’s a barely-sweet yeast bread studded with bits of yummy dried fruit, baked in the shape of a king’s crown and topped with cherry “jewels.” Yep, there’s more!