Mangia Magazine Cover

I am still swamped with business (Thank you New York Times and columnist Ms. Slatalla!) so this week, all you get is pictures but they are all photos that I took of things I have pruned, coddled, fluffed, cooked or have about the house.

Here's the mussels I made the other day. I adore mussels and when I can buy them inexpensively, I will eat them at least once a week. This is my Mussels Marinara. I think I posted this recipe on this blog last year. I used a FLICKR toy to make my photo into a magazine cover I have called Mangia. Click on the picture to view it full size.


Flaurella's Mussels Marinara makes magazine cover!

Yes, I am a star, if only in my own mind but I am a damned good cook, too.

Spring!

Looking forward to a warm spring weekend here in North Florida.


Dogwood blooms stunted by freezing
back so many times this year.

Time to scoop out the pool. Not that we can or would swim in it yet but it's full of leaves. This is leaf dropping season for all the huge old oaks. We'll be raking and cleaning up the yard for the next few weekends. As long as it's warm, there will be no complaints.

Enjoy your weekend.

Bottom of the Bird Cage

Today, my vintage jewelry dot com was featured in an article in the Online Shopper in the Fashion and Style section of the New York Times. Woo-Hoo!

By this time tomorrow, I'll be in the bottom of the bird cage.

Sure was nice while it lasted.

Redbuds

After a cold start, it was a beautiful day. Another frost last night (but not another hard freeze again) that turned plants and tender blossoms to mush, but whatever... they will survive since it wasn't that cold for that long.

Here's a pic of our redbuds against the silver Spanish moss.



After 34 degrees this morning (not that bad compared to the last few weeks here), it got up to 70 perfect degrees this afternoon. It was glorious! I love Spring.

W4D, I hope you are having fun in Tallahassee. I am eating airline food. Details later.
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We Are the Web

The web is us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE

This is about as techie as I get these days. I remember back in the early 90's learning how to write HTML. While I still find it easier to type certain commands and set up spacing and tables myself, I gave up most of the grunt work when style sheets came out.

W4D is in Tallahassee this week and I am all alone (sorta) drinking those lovely Peartini's. In a while, DD and I are going to go get chicken sandwiches and Caesar salads from the quickie place over by the highway. I think she'll have to be the designated driver. Hey, come to think, that's why I call her DD.

It's President's Day so here are some cherries I photo'd and fiddled with:

Absolutely Intoxicating

It is supposed to be so cold tonight that it will break the record set in 1920 for this date. We are expecting lows between 21 and 24 degrees. The record is 25. Already, it is getting so cold that I may have to put on socks.

To keep the house warmer, I cooked a pork tenderloin this afternoon seasoned with lots of lemon pepper, garlic and fresh rosemary from my herb garden. Using the oven on cold days keeps the kitchen on the north side of the house warm and makes the house smell yummy.

To add comfort on this cold day. I made Absolut Peartinis. I've decided that a peartini is the most wonderful way to become aromatically intoxicated. I didn't follow the Absolut recipe since I am not a fan of simple syrup unless I am drinking mint juleps. Here's how I made our Absolut Peartinis. For each peartini, pour the following into a cocktail shaker that is loaded with ice:

3 parts Absolut Pear Vodka
1 part Triple Sec or Cointreau
1 part unsweetened apple juice
Squeeze of fresh lemon
Fresh rosemary sprig for garnish

Shake well, strain and pour straight up into martini glass. Add a sprig of rosemary for the garnish



I have to tell you that this is the most delish aperitif to grace my palate in years! I bruised the rosemary and made it into a sort of cocktail stirrer and the fragrance of fresh rosemary with the pears and apples is divine. I can't even begin to tell you how good it smells mingled with the oven baked scent of lemon and herb roast pork tenderloin. Try this drink! If you like pears, you will not be disappointed. I can't wait to get to the market and buy some fresh pears to experiment some more with this delicious flavored vodka.
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Cooking with Care - an Act of Love

Pretty Camellias on the table.
Big as saucers, from my yard.



It was a nice Valentine's dinner even if the cook did get bombed before she made the meal. (The Cosmopolitans and Shiraz did me in - never got to the champagne.)



Underneath that glob of fruit and cream and balsamic berry reduction is a little round cake saturated in Amaretto. By the time I assembled the desserts, I was having trouble focusing so it became fruit blobs. Whatever. It tasted good.

And then...
There was basketball.
.

Roll Over

I collect vintage Valentines and other old post cards. Here's one that looks like DH and I when we were babies.



Click the link to view a slide show of more vintage Valentines from my collection.

Hope you are spending the evening with someone you love. I also hope you are as happily bombed as I and are about to receive what I am about to enjoy.

Damn. It's a week day, too.

:::hick:::

(Pictures tomorrow)
Ha!

Two for a Dollar

This weekend, W4D gave me an early Valentine's gift.

I received 4 of the largest Peep hearts ever. Each is about 3.5 inches across. I didn't even know they made them that big. If you've read my blog for any length of time, you know I have a thing for Peeps, those icky, sticky seasonal sugared marshmallow candies that will practically smack you right into diabetic shock. Generous friends have gifted me with Peep mouse pads and official Peep hats, genuine Peep factories and more. Everyone knows I not only like to eat seasonal Peeps but I like to nuke 'em and blow 'em up. I even have a collection of petrified Peeps from holidays of years past but I'll save that for another day.

So, W4D gave me pink heart Peeps on the porch.

But before you think he's cheap...
There was more.

This was sitting nearby!



Another Valentine gift.


How cool is that?

I've been wanting a Highlander for several years and now I have one. Everyone says it matches my hair color. 4 giant Peeps and a blonde Highlander!



Good hubbie.
Happy wife.

... And it's not even Valentine's Day yet.

Azaleas and Wrought Iron

Azaleas and Wrought Iron
Originally uploaded by flaurella.

Spring is here. The azaleas are already in bloom. This weekend, many flowers should really POP! Spring is good since pink is my fave color.

I posted this directly from FLICKR so we'll see how it goes.
Is it Tuesday already??

Cocktail Hour

Look what I found on You Tube.
Dang, I can't figure how to embedd You Tube on this new blogger so here's the URL:

CLICK HERE or
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHZ2qWTDsw4

Enjoy Pink Martini's version of Amado Mio and Rita Hayworth. Isn't she divine?

I am going to go now and have my own martini and listen to Hang on Little Tomato. Here's some more Pink Martini on You Tube:

Una Notte a Napoli:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICfue4iDseU

Let's Never Stop Falling in Love:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFE_2dVIc0A&mode=related&search=

Hey Eugene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vf4X6WKPtk

Sympathique:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Zimh8xl9lc

Spa Date with Sheree

Tucker Pupper has come of age. He is no longer a baby. W4D found him a lady groom and Tucker loves her.

Yesterday morning, The Tuckster rode off in the front seat of a cute little car with Sheree, his new groomer, who picks up her clients and delivers them back again after her care and treatments. Yesterday afternoon our puppy returned a manly man, Old Man Tucker.

Before Tuck left, his coat was so full and fluffy that he looked like a giant badger. We called him Pinhead since his head looked ridiculously small next to his huge furry body.


Cute when hairy


Pinhead Badger Dog with fave toy

He returned from his Spa date with his dense puppy undercoat combed out and removed, all the hairs from inside his ears removed, his face shaped, whiskers trimmed, eyebrows neat and tidy, anal sacs expressed, his legs properly shaped, his paws trimmed, toenails pedicured, and his butt and privates shaved as smooth as a baby's bottom.


Gentleman Tucker


Never felt a breeze there before. Cool!

I am going to call Sheree and see if she will take W4D tomorrow.

Frigid and Farewell

It's going to be 22 degrees here tonight. It's been very cold all day and I haven't heated the bathrooms. I finally, at long last had to go and plopped my bare butt down on the toilet seat and it was so cold, I shrieked! It was like sitting on a block of ice, which I might add, I have done - in a bathing suit for a promotion at Channel 4 in Miami many years ago. I don't think they do that anymore since it is considered child cruelty or abuse or something to see how long a bathing suit clad kid can sit on a big block of ice in July, but I digress...

Anyway, it is bitterly cold today to this Florida gal and tonight, the dew point is 15 degrees. ARGH! You read that right! 15 DEGREES! At least it can't get colder than that. The coldest I have ever been in Florida is 9 degrees and let me tell you, that is friggin' cold no matter where you live.

I've baked a large roaster chicken and plenty of veggies and biscuits this afternoon to help keep this drafty old 1885 sieve we call home cozy all day. Now, I am going to go eat some dinner since DH is done carving the Perdue Roaster. All of our moveable plants and flowers are under blankets and tarps and heat lights but the lilies and gladiolus and the tender buds on the dogwoods and redbuds are going to be mush in the morning. Perhaps, I'll go make an icicle with the hose or something.

This will kill the fleas, the cinch bugs and assorted creepy crawlies but I know my froggies will all find safe havens. Everyone stay warm out there.

On a sad note, I was so sorry to hear about beautiful, strong Barbaro. I have been pulling for that magestic animal. He gave his all and was a true champion. I wonder how long before the world is sprouting little Barbaro offspring? Green meadows to you, Barbaro.

Hot Pink, Lime Green

It's raining. Again. Fixin' to turn cool. Cool is like... 44 degrees this year.

It will temporarily wash off the slick layer of Soylent Green pollen on our cars. The Japanese magnolias bloomed 2 weeks ago. The red buds are all covered with pretty pink flowers. The dogwoods have tiny pale green buds. Everything is green, sprouted or already growing like a weed. Actually, we have a ton of weeds since the hurricane year. When was that... 2004 or 2003? We got hit with three in a row here. Must have been 2003. Hurricanes transport an amazing amount of seeds and small foreign particles. We have weeds we've never seen in our yard before but at least they are green... and blooming.

I saw butterflies in the yard yesterday, lots of yellow butterflies. The robins are here again too, terrorizing my large family of pet yard cardinals. Robins are noisy and bossy. The mockingbirds and redbirds and sparrows don't at all like them. They mess up the yard and poop splatter the walkways and decks and I wish they would go home. Dang snowbirds.

Here's a picture taken earlier this month of a peeper in my Tai plant by the pool fence. He let me touch him and he didn't flinch or spring away.


Mr. Peeper on Hot Pink

I just can't imagine what it is like to look at snow for days on end. It's all lovely, serene and monochromatic and I like to go see it every year. I love it for a week or so, then I miss the color I am used to seeing here. I don't think I would make a very good Northerner.

Hey, W4D, enjoy that evening Power Meeting you are attending tonight. I bet your brain is fairly bulging by now. Call me when you get back to your suite, Dude.