Golden Cottage Happenings

 

Greetings Y'all - I hope your week has been good.  It's been a Haleluyah week here at Golden Cottage.  A long-awaited prayer has been answered, and we are praising God.  We even went out to eat at a very expensive restaurant to celebrate.  My sense of frugality was hurt, but I pushed through!!  It was well worth every penny!!

We celebrated all week, and went galavanting down to the beach where we visited an English pub.  We love all things British, and were thrilled with the fish and chips we had for lunch.  They even serve it with mashy peas.  I didn't care for that, but Jem loved it.  He ate them when he visited Malta during his Navy days.  I like the doorway and wanted my picture made with the faux phone booth.  Nope...Dr. Who wasn't in there.  We'll visit again because on Sundays they have Premeir League soccer playing in the mornings.  So, we'll go back for a "full English breakfast".  Can't wait!

 Hi-Yah!  (as they say in England)

We've been working in the garden, planting lettuce and other veggies.  Here's a photo of my lettuce.  They'll be ready for harvest in a few days.

 

 The "reds" are showing off in the front garden:

  Amaryllis, caladium, poinsettias, busy lizzies (aka impatiens)

 

I found this little orange smiling up at me from my fruit bowl yesterday and it made me smile.  Can you see it?  She's happy! 

Rocket launches are commonplace here, but last week I got a great pic from our front yard.

 

Lately, I have ventured into the world of AI --  been creating images using AI websites like Grok.  Here are some that I've that I made: (plus the one at the top of this post)

 

 And this is my favorite:

 

I mentioned last month that I'd post some pics from our Purim celebration at our new synagogue, so here are a few.  

One of the ladies helped design and write this beautiful magillah.  It is gorgeous.

 

 

The whole magillah was read out loud by different people, and the main characters play-acted their parts.  Jem played Haman and I played Esther.  I didn't get any pics of us, sadly. 

 Some people dressed up, and my pic for the best costume was Mordecai.

 

 Here are a few others:

 This family was, by far, the funniest! Fred, Pebbles, and Bam-Bam. Check out Fred's feet!  Do you remember the Flintstones??

 

 

And, of course, we had lots of fun, food, and fellowship. (Too much food, as always.)

 

In the week ahead, I'll be throwing out the leaven in my house and from my heart -- getting ready for Passover.  Jem and I are looking forward to our first seder at our new synagogue. This will be the first time in almost twenty years that we haven't been in charge and that feels GOOD!  We're enjoying retirement!!

 

I won't be posting next week, so Chag Pesach to you all.  See you week after next with news from Golden Cottage. And I'll be sharing about our Passover observance.

 

Blessings and Shalom!

Golden Cottage Garden & a Recipe

Greetings, Gail-Friends!

Mr. Green Jeans and I have been working in the garden.  The weather here has been glorious! With highs in the mid seventies, we are making hay while the sun shines, as they say, to get things growing before the oppressive heat sets in.  Spring only lasts about a month in sunny central Florida

So, Golden Cottage Garden is coming along nicely.  We even have a new bunch of bananas on two of our trees.  This is unusual because we just had one in this past summer, so the trees are bearing twice in a year now.  I think it's because we've been fertilizing them with banana peelings.  Works good!  AND, we have two new trees that have come up.  These are called pups! 

 

Did you know that Dollar Tree sells vegetable and flower seeds ?  And they are only 3 packages for $1.25?

We planted lettuce, peas, green beans, squash and cucumbers.  AND we finally found some Everglades tomatoes (on Etsy) and they are doing well.  I had searched high and low locally  to find those plants/seeds with no success.  This tomato is a variety that thrives in hot weather and it also reseeds itself.  We're excited!   They are small, like cherry tomatoes, and are great in salads.  Believe me, we'll be savings those seeds, too, because one package of twenty-five seeds was $4.00.

Last post, I mentioned doing a post about our Purim celebration, but that will have to be later.  I'm pressed for time today, and I want to make it over to my friend, Sarah's, Homemaking Party (see below).  I will tell you that we were part of play at the synagogue.  Jem was Haman and I was Esther!  It was fun.  Pics in next post.

Passover is almost here, and I'm preparing -- getting rid of the leaven in my house, gathering matzah and other food for that week, and pulling out my recipes that are free of leaven.  This is one of my favs.

Lime Cheesecake (sugar-free)

CRUST:

1 c. almond meal
1/2 c pecans, chopped fine
1 T. Stevia in the raw
4 T. butter, melted
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp salt

FILLING:

8 oz. cream cheese (at room temperature)
1 package of sugar free instant pudding
1/2 c. lime juice (these were fresh off our own tree, hand-squeezed on my mama's antique juicer)
1 cup skim milk

TO PREPARE:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Mix together the crust ingredients and then press into a lightly greased pie pan. (I used a square glass one).  Bake the crust until the edges are slightly browned (about 10-15 minutes). Place the dish on a rack to cool.

FILLING:

Mix all of the filling ingredients  with an electric mixer until well blended. (Use a deep bowl, or you'll make a big mess like I did).  Pour the filling over the cooled crust.  Refrigerate 3 to 4 hours.  

Enjoy! 

My husband and I loved it, and I hope you will, too.  Let me know if you try it.

*** I'm sharing this at the Classical Homemaking Party  I hope you'll stop over and meet some new friends.

Golden Cottage Spring Happenings

 

Spring Greetings Gail-Friends!

While the official beginning date of spring is March 20, she has already arrived in all her glory here in central Florida!  My azalea bush is showing off as usual.  Full of blooms that continue almost all year, she has brought us so much JOY!  

And around the neighborhood, the pink trees are competing with her glory.  I don't know this pretty lady's name, but isn't she beautiful?

 

Jem and I visited a new business near us.  It's a very fun combination of lovely plants, art, unique gifts, wine, tea,  a snack menu, and a large,  courtyard for enjoying our gorgeous Florida weather.  They even have "mocktails" for those of us who don't drink alcohol.  Sometimes, they have live entertainment and book clubs.  While there, we saw a blooming mimosa.  We don't usually see them in our area, but we see them when go to north Florida in late spring.  

When I was a child, my girlfriends would use these for powder puffs,  and play like we were  putting on makeup.  They are sooooo soft!

There is a small pond in the courtyard that I thought was nice:

 

 

 

love these toadstools!

In the gift shop, I found these pretty luna moth earrings that I loved, loved, loved...so Jem bought them for me. 

 

We went to a Mexican restaurant on Valentines Day and I fell in love with the mural paintings there.  

 

 

Aren't they breathtaking?  The artist is local and has many other murals around the downtown area.

While we ate dinner, he told me what he adores about me, and I did the same for him.  Here's my list:

• he's romantic (bought me flowers, which I forgot to take a photo of)
• he's a southern gentleman 
• he loves and obeys God in all areas of his life
• he helps his friends and neighbors
• he is a wonderful gardener (I call him Mr. Green Jeans)
• he can fix anything (so I call him my handyman)
• he has my best interest at heart in everything -  always 
• he is kind, loving, and, forgiving 
• every Sunday, he makes me breakfast - he calls it Pampered Princess Day

Honestly, Gail-Friends, I could go on and on.  I say he is the best husband in the whole, wide world, and I know I am the most blessed woman in the whole USA. 

I have more to share, but I'm going to do that later.  We celebrated Purim yesterday with our synagogue family and had a great time!  I'll post photos of that in my next post.

Today, I'm joining in the Pink Sunday link up with my friend Sarah Coller.  Give her a visit by clicking the link.  I know you'll  enjoy her blog.