Banana Cream Pie and Antiques

I hope everyone has had a good week. It has been very busy around here so I haven't accomplished much. The weather is beautiful. Still so very dry that I'm getting worried about fire season. This is the driest winter on record unless things change. It's nice having 70 degree days but this wind is awful. I'm getting spring fever early this year. I was watching Martha the other day and she made a banana cream pie and it sounded so good that I had to make one today. I almost burnt the meringue because I was getting out my taxes so I could finish them. And speaking of taxes if anyone would like to donate to help me pay mine, please let me know. But on to better and happier things now. I also made a huge batch of marinara from the rest of the tomatoes I had in my freezer. I'm trying to get it cleaned out and use everything I froze last year. I put two containers in the freezer and then added Italian sausage to the rest for spaghetti tonight.

As I've been cleaning out closets and drawers I'm trying to take pictures of some of my treasures and yes, some of my junk. This was my grandmothers fur collar. I think she used to wear it to church.

She also loved these little hats. Her hair was down to her waist and she always wore it braided and twisted in a bun at the nape of her neck. She always wore a little hat when going to church. The black one reminds me of a beret and I remember her wearing it.

I have two sewing stands. This one I found in some junk store many many years ago.

This is my favorite. When I was in Kansas and bored out of my mind I started working auctions on weekends and I got the bug so I started going to a few. I bid on this one and I didn't think the lady was going to quit. I learned to put a maximum bid in my mind and if it went over that I would quit. Well needless to say I lost a few things I really wanted. I did get this sewing stand though and I had a feeling the other lady was upset with me so I gave her one of my biggest and happiest smiles!

My hope chest was a Christmas present my senior year of high school. The upright style is the only one I've seen so I don't know if they make them anymore. I like it because I can store blankets and linens on the shelves. I should have opened it and taken a picture of the inside. I keep a lot of vintage linens in the drawer.

So my high school Christmas present is now a vintage item? Have a good week everyone.

Roast Pork, Coconut Key Lime Cake, Awards and Gifts.

Happy weekend!!! Bailey would like to thank everyone who came to his birthday party. He also wants you to know that he is being very very good now that he is all grown up and he is not spoiled!!! Yeah right Bailey. I hope you have had a good week. It was springtime here and we were supposed to have snow today and it did for 5 minutes. I wish it would, it's been a warm dry winter. I know some of your are shuddering because you've been so cold and snowy.

I received this wonderful award from Penny. She is so sweet and so creative. Thank you Penny.

My February snowflake arrived too!! This is my third snowflake from Crystal. I look forward to them every month.

I made this cake today. It is in the Gourmet magazine and as soon as I saw it I knew I had to make it. The hardest part was squeezing 1/2 cup of key lime juice. Lucky for me my daughter came in the kitchen as I was grating the zest to see what I was doing and I asked her if she wanted to squeeze some lime juice for me. She said yes and I handed her the key limes. She said "Out of these little things?" I just said start squeezing honey!! The recipe is here.

I made a pork roast with roasted pears that was so good. I got the recipe from a Williams Sonoma catalog. You can find it on their website here. I must be in a roasted pear mood this winter. I made a chicken with roasted pears not long ago that I got from Mimi's blog. Mimi always takes you on wonderful trips to Paris or walks with her Grandmother. She is a wonderful story teller and writer.

All these recipes should keep you busy for the awhile. I'm making a new mac and cheese recipe tomorrow. I'll let you know how it turns out. I'm still spring cleaning but took last weekend off for my Mother's 90th birthday party and this weekend I'm just too lazy to do much. I have my bathroom and living room to do and I'm done. I just have to get back in the cleaning mood. Have a wonderful rest of the weekend.