kitchen

An Art Do-Over

/ Jodi / 48 Comments

An Art Do-Over.

Don’t you love a good do-over?

The opportunity to do something over?

I had a painting I had hung in our bedroom that I just didn’t love.  It was way overdone and needed a do-over.

It had some great texture on it that I thought might make a lovely rustic looking sign, so I went to work and covered the entire canvas with a gray acrylic paint.

Once that coat dried and the textures shown through, I went over that coat with a parchment color.

My intention was to sand it and stain over it using that texture to pull out a worn character look to it.

I then used stencils to paint the sign using black.  I really should have measured, but I didn’t, and it is a bit wonky, but oh well – makes it more “homemade” looking…..  Right?  Argh!

Once stenciled, I sanded and rubbed some more gray paint on.  Then I used some Annie Sloan dark wax I have for chalk painting to antique it up.

It’s not perfect, put it’s kind of fun.  A lot of our family and friends refer to our home as the McKinney B&B.  We love hosting and having stay-over company, so I hung this in our kitchen.

Now I have a big ole’ empty spot in the bedroom.  YAY! – I get to create or get something new for there now!  What project will be next?!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Dear Kitchen Table

/ Jodi / 22 Comments
This week leading up to Christmas, I am sharing a few of my favorite posts from the past.  This letter to my kitchen table makes me smile.  It still remains sturdy and proud in our kitchen – though it is usually covered with a table cloth these days.  I love the memories formed around our kitchen table.

Dear Kitchen Table

 

kitchen table

My Dear Ole’ Kitchen Table –

I know you are growing old and tired and worn (and as I look at this photo I took of you just yesterday, I realize it even more!)  There are days I think I want to replace you – or at least refinish your surface.  Many a discussion has been had about you!

But then I remember all the things we’ve been through together… The memories you’ve been a part of…  The people that have sat around you…    the food and festivities you have held…    the activities that you supported….   the different homes you have moved to with us through the years….  and I have a hard time parting with you.

Remember all those Christmas cards we colored on you?  Hours and hours over the years of markers and ink accidentally sliding off the paper onto you, which you gracefully accepted.

Remember how many times milk was spilled on you?  It often slithered through the cracks and off the edge onto the floor, but you never complained while we all scampered to gather clothes to wipe you off and rearrange dinner.

Remember homework, filling out school papers, permission slips, sick notes….?

Remember science projects and art projects?

Remember gift wrapping sessions with paper and scissors and tape and boxes and bags and tags?

Remember daily family dinner time conversations?   Arguments?   Laughter?   Prayers?   Tears?

Remember games of Chutes and Ladders, Old Maid, Monopoly, Life, Trouble, Five Crowns, Rummy, Yahtzee, Set, Operation, Battleship, Trivial Pursuit, Cranium, and the hardest of all on you – Jenga!?

Remember breakfasts with friends with strips of sizzling bacon, stacks of pancakes, bowls of eggs, and cups and cups and cups of coffee?

Remember when the boys were in high school and we hosted weekly Thursday night flag football games for 5 or 10 or 15 at a time – and then served pots of spaghetti or chili or whole hams or turkeys or roasts to all for dinner – always with a cake or pie or plates of cookies for dessert for hungry growing boys (and girls!)?

Remember vacation-planning sessions discussed around you – like our trip to Hawaii with Jill & Todd – or reminiscing about favorite vacations like our Caribbean Cruise where we met our wonderful Bubby and Glenn or our ultimate excursion to Alaska with our sweet Janet?

Remember our first Christmas reunited with Dad and Carole and Aunt Gwen and Uncle Frank and John and Jeff and Dawn and Jen and the whole gang?

Remember bantering and jokes between Pap and Ron?

Remember shower and wedding planning discussions for Jake and Colleen?

Remember meeting Liz and seeing how happy she makes Nick?

You’ve cooled cookies and cakes and pies on warm summer days and cold winter evenings.

You’ve held fresh flowers and birthday cakes and candles.

Each scratch and fade and mark is a reminder of all of these times….

Thank you for being with our family and helping to keep us in touch with each other.  You were often the center of important deep and meaningful conversations.  Other times you were pounded on as we laughed until we cried…..   or cried until we laughed.

You may not be as beautiful as you were 24 years ago when we bought you from the quaint shop that sells handmade Amish-built oak furniture, but neither am I?

And I’m ok with you if you’re ok with me.

What we have together goes much deeper than superficial “looks.”

Thank you, my dear ole’ kitchen table, for all you have given to our family.

With love,

Jodi

*This post was inspired by Thursday’s Daily Prompt at The Daily Post, entitled:   Literate for a Day:   Someone or something you can’t communicate with through writing (a baby, a pet, an object) can understand every single word you write today, for one day only. What do you tell them?

Funny Kitchen Towels – A Wedding Shower Gift Idea

/ Jodi / 35 Comments

Funny Kitchen Dish Towels – A Wedding Shower Gift Idea.

This past weekend, I went to a bridal shower for a sweet young lady who I wanted to get something special for.

Becky has been out on her own for a while, so she has most of the “basics” some brides need when starting out.

One thing she is known for is her an amazing sense of humor, so when I saw these adorable funny kitchen towels on ETSY at WorksOfHeartDesignCo., I just knew I had to get them for her.

In case you can’t read on the photo, they are each personalized with her name and have the following sayings:

  • I Like Big Bundts and I Cannot Lie (Bundt Pan)
  • This is How I Roll (Rolling Pin)
  • Don’t Go Baking My Heart (Pie)
  • Chop it Like its Hot (Knives)
  • Shake it Up Baby (Salt & Pepper Shakers)
  • I Say Whip It, and Whip it Good (Whisk)
  • You Spin Me Right Round Baby Right Round (Electric Mixer)

I added a few kitchen tools and gadgets, put it all in a fun basket and wrapped with clear cellophane tied with a big bow.

If you are looking for a cute and unique idea for a bridal shower, wedding gift, or someone who loves (or hates) the kitchen, I think these are so cute!  (and FYI – I have no relationship to Jess at WorksofHeartDesign Co., nor did I receive any compensation for promoting – I simply just love her products!)

Wishing Becky and Michael a lifetime of happiness and love!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

 

A Taste of Italy in the ‘Burgh

/ Jodi / 37 Comments

murante-girls

What a fun evening we had with friends this weekend when we had the privilege of enjoying a private dining experience at Merante’s special upstairs kitchen where “Mamma” Maria and her long-time assistant, Linda, made us feel like family around the Sunday supper table!

  • murante-marie-and-linda

What a unique experience this was!  Merante’s is a quaint Italian gift shop in the Bloomfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where beautiful gifts from pasta bowls and fine ceramics (and even the game of Italy-Opoly) are sold and cooking classes and Italian-themed events are hosted.

My sweet, long-time (Italian!) friend, Mary, found this little gem and invited a group of friends (several months in advance, which is necessary due to its popularity) to bring a few bottles of wine and dine Italiano style (complete with clear plastic covered dining table cloth!).

murante-kitchen-table

Are you ready to see all the amazing food?!
A special thanks to Mary and Jill for sharing their iPhone photos with me to feature here.

I may have forgotten to bring my camera…
my iPhone may have been down to 3% battery…
and I may have been a bit too tipsy on red wine and sweet red sauce to take clear photos, but they were awesome to share!

We arrived at 6 pm and climbed the stairs to the “apartment” above the shop.  We were escorted to the parlor where wine glasses and cork screws awaited our unloading of a “few” bottles of BYOB wine.

merante-wine

An amazing array of appetizers was served…
Seriously enough for a meal, and we could have been done!

There were stuffed mushrooms…

murante-stuffed-mushrooms

and stuffed tomatoes (MY FAVE!).

murante-stuffed-tomatoes

There was succulent shrimp…

murante-shrimp

and there were spicy meatballs.

murante-meatballs

There was a cheesy quiche…

murante-quiche

And the most divine version of Caprese with sweet roasted red peppers and plump mozzarella.

But this was only a teaser of what was to come!

murante-caprese

After a few cheers and intros, we moved into the kitchen where we began with the most amazing bowl of Stracciatella – an Italian soup that is made from a simple but flavorful chicken stock kept at a delicate simmer until  a creamy mixture of eggs, Parmesan cheese and Italian parsley are whisked in to form the “little threads” that take the place of pastina.  Grandma’s polish version was called “Egg Drop” soup.

murante-soup

This may have been my favorite course, if it weren’t for the next, which was the pasta course!  Gnocchi alla Sorrentina is Maria’s handmade ricotta gnocchi gently turned with her creamy, dreamy red sauce and topped with tiny bits of fresh mozzarella and fresh basil.  THIS was absolutely my favorite course!

murante-gnocci

As if we weren’t absolutely full-bellied by now, the main course was served next.  Mary chose the juicy, tender roast tenderloin of pork, which was surrounded by a ring of seasoned roasted root veggies.  My favorite was the fresh beets!

murante-pork-roast-and-roasted-vegetables

And because you get to also pick a vegetable (since cauliflower, beets, butternut squash and green beans are not enough!), we also had rosemary roasted potatoes.

murante-potatoes

In true Italian style, the salad was served next (last before dessert), which is completely opposite of how most American restaurants serve salad first.  And this salad….  OMG…. if I weren’t so full, this may have won for my favorite course!  We had the most amazing Apple, Pecan, and Gorgonzola Romaine Salad with tart dried cranberries drizzled with tangy balsamic vinaigrette – a perfect combination of sweet, salty and crunchy…Yum!

murante-salad

It was then time for dessert.

First, Maria placed an overflowing tray of Italian cookies in the center of the table.

murante-cookies

And, as if that wasn’t enough, a beautiful parfait of chocolate hazelnut gelato, shipped fresh from Italy, was served to each of us with a cup of freshly pressed and sweetened Espresso.

murante-hazelnut-and-chocolate-italian-gelato

I still can’t believe we ate all that food…

I can’t believe how sweet Maria and Linda were…

I can’t believe how reasonable the whole experience was!

And all of the leftovers were packed up in “to go” containers for us to continue to enjoy!

I couldn’t even bring myself to each a cookie that evening, but oh how glorious did the chocolate dipped biscotti taste the next morning with my coffee!

The only thing better than the amazing food was the wonderful fellowship of friends!  If you live in, or are ever planning to travel to the Pittsburgh area, what a treat it is to enjoy this special dining experience at Merante’s!

One day, I will actually get to visit Italy…

Until then, I will visit Maria at Merante’s and experience a little taste of Italy in the “Burgh!”

Cheers and Ciaos,
Jodi

 

 

 

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Fresh Peach and Blueberry Greek Yogurt Cake

/ Jodi / 39 Comments

Peach Blueberry Greek Yogurt Cake 1

Sunday was a rather rainy, oppressively humid, relaxing, fabulous, lazy, stay-in-the-house kinda day.  What better kind of day to bake a beautiful treat like this Greek yogurt cake with fresh, juicy, ripe peaches…

Peach Blueberry Greek Yogurt Cake fresh peaches

and tart, tangy, locally-grown blueberries…

Peach Blueberry Greek Yogurt Cake fresh blueberries

for a lovely dessert!

Peach Blueberry Greek Yogurt Cake slice

OH How Yummy…

Peach Blueberry Greek Yogurt Cake

and OH How Beautiful!

Peach Blueberry Greek Yogurt Cake 2

Moist and sweet – but not too sweet, bursting with fresh summer fruit flavor, delicious warm or cold, amazing alone – and possibly even more amazing with a dollop of whipped cream or melting vanilla ice cream.

Hope you’ll give this a try.

Here is the recipe slightly adapted from JuliasAlbum.

Fresh Peach and Blueberry Greek Yogurt Cake

Ingredients:Peach Blueberry Greek Yogurt Cake 1

  • 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 cup Greek vanilla yogurt
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3 fresh, ripe peaches, sliced into wedges
  • 1 cup fresh blueberries
  • 1 Tbsp raw or granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray the side and bottom of a 9″ springform pan with Pam cooking spray.  Line bottom with parchment paper, and spray it too.

Cream butter, sugar, and eggs until light and fluffy for approx. 2-3 minutes on high speed of an electric mixer.  Add vanilla and Greek yogurt, and continue beating for another minute.

With the mixer on low, add baking powder, baking soda, and then flour, and mix just until combined.

Pour batter into the prepared pan. Top with two of the peaches, sliced, and two-thirds of the blueberries in any design you like.  Sprinkle the fruit with sugar.

Bake for 30 minutes.  Pull cake out and add the third peach, sliced, and the remaining blueberries.  Return to oven, and continue baking for 15-20 more minutes until cake is golden, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Allow to cool in pan for about 40 minutes, and then release cake from the springform pan.   Sprinkle with powdered sugar, and serve warm or cold.  Enjoy!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

What’s NEW at McKinneyX2Designs?

/ Jodi / 40 Comments

I’m excited to share some of the new things Colleen and I have been creating for our new Etsy shop!  We are having so much fun with this, and we are pleased to have had over 25 sales already in our first month!Mx2 logTo show our appreciation to our friends here at LifeinBetween, we want to offer a little gift to you.  If you refer someone to our shop who makes a purchase, we would like to thank them AND YOU with a free card of their and your choice. Each of you can choose one of any of the cards offered in our ETSY shop for FREE!  (Simply have your friend let us know when they order that they came here from LifeinBetween and mention your name.)

Have fun perusing the photo gallery of our newest Spring things.

You can visit our shop here:  McKinneyx2Designs on ETSY and follow us on Facebook and Instagram too if you like.

Happy Spring Thinking!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Not Your Momma’s Cookie Exchange Party

/ Jodi / 51 Comments

Colleens Cookie Swap Group Photo Aprons Whip Nae Nae

Remember those aprons I shared yesterday that I made for my daughter-in-law’s cookie swap party?

Well – here we are doing the Whip Bake Bake at the party!

I am so excited to share some photos of the amazing party my even more amazing daughter-in-law (third from the left back row – next to me) threw.

This is not your momma’s cookie exchange like we did back in the day!

Check out the amazing drink station where Colleen served Hot Chocolate with all the fixings and add ins as well as gin and tonics and wine.  All the makings for a “spirited” cookie swap!

drinks 2

Hot Chocolate Bar

hot cocoa fixings

drinks

There were cozy Christmas socks on a festively-decorated antique child’s chair for anyone whose piggies got cold,

cozy socks

and a well-equipped cookie packaging station for us to box, wrap, clip, tag, and/or plate our cookies to take home.

cookie packing station

clips at cookie packing station

tags at cookie packing station

We all brought enough cookies to share tastes that evening and enough for everyone to pack up 5 or 6 dozen to take home and share with our families and friends and for our own parties.  Colleen made little labeled tags for each type of cookie so we knew what we were sampling and so we could vote on the “Most Delicious,” “Most Unique,” and Most Attractive.”  And boy were they ever!

Katie rocked “Most Unique” with these adorable and absolutely luscious cherry snowmen cake balls.

snowman cake balls most unique

Michelle’s Apple Delights were a slam dunk for the “Most Attractive!”  Aren’t the awesome?

apple delights most beautiful

And Alaine’s Pistachio Cherry Cookies had us all swooning for “Most Delicious,”

cookies

though they truly were ALL delicious and beautiful and unique and made with “lovin from the oven.”

lovin from the oven

And……. two of the young ladies actually had some “lovin in their ovens!”  Jen is in her first trimester and Jessica is due any day!

Jen and Jessica pregnant bakers

How cute is this sign that went with Colleen’s Grinch cookies (green crinkle cookies with teeny tiny hearts?

Grinch cookies

And check out these Inside Out S’more Cookies!  (and the little polka-dot wooden spoons to stir your cocoa)

inside out smores

She even had prizes!

prizes most delicious

Before we ate cookies…. Well – we pretty much ate cookies the whole evening…  Colleen made some fabulous food including the most amazing Hawaiian Ham and Cheese Party Sliders,

Hawaiin Ham and Cheese Party Sliders

and Hassleback potatoes,

hassleback potatoes

as well as plenty of veggies and dip, cheese and crackers, spreads, and and adorable cheese and olive wreath.

olive wreath

We even played some fun and silly games like teaming up to make the best reindeer antlers out of balloons stuffed in panty hose!

team 2

Team 1

 

Reindeer Katie and Michelle

Reindeer Michelle

It was the most fun, most unique, most delicious cookie swap party I’ve ever been part of!  I am so proud of my beautiful, generous, creative daughter-in-law, and I thank her for kindly allowing me share this with all of you.

Hope you are enjoying this festive holiday time however you choose to celebrate!

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi