Sunday 22 August 2010

Marie's Sunday Six



My goodness but the weeks do seem to whip around fast! It seems like it was just Sunday yesterday, and here it is Sunday all over again! I just love Sunday. It is one of my most favourite of all days of the week. I get to go to church and renew my covenants with my Heavenly Father. I get to call my mom. I get to write down some of the blessings of my past week for you to read, my Sunday Smile Makers post! Yayy!!




Getting to meet Carolyn and Dave on Monday was one of the highlights of my week, my summer, my year! Carolyn and I met on the web several years ago, through our mutual love of food and blogging, and it was so fun to finally cement the friendship that developed by getting to meet in person finally! What a lovely couple of people they both are. We spent a few hours together having dinner on Monday evening at the Mollington Banastre Hotel here on the outskirts of Chester and then they came back here to the house afterwards so we could spend another few hours together. The time went far too quickly and it was time to say farewell all too soon, but then again . . . that is always the way with much loved and cherished friends! Carolyn and Dave, I hope that we get to meet with you again sometime soon, for you surely made us both smile!



You just knew that she would get in here somewhere didn't you, so we might as well get the inevitable over with early on! Yes, this little lady brought us many, many smiles throughout this past week! Mitzie is such a little charmer and we are enjoying her so very much! I know she is my doggie but I think she is just the sweetest, most charming, smartest puppy ever! We have had her just a little over a week now and she knows her name and comes when called. I have trained her to sit and to lay down, and the last two nights have seen her staying dry in her crate all night! Yesterday we had NO accidents in the house at all. She is laying next to me on the sofa while I type this . . . when I look down at her my heart just melts with love for her. She has been a very big source of light and love to us after this really bad spell we have been through this past year. Mitzie makes my heart and soul sing with joy, in a very big way.



Feeding the Missionaries this week made me smile. I just love to have the Missionaries over for any reason and getting to feed them always brings me such pleasure. They bring such a lovely spirit into our home and are always more than happy to share a meal with us. I just love having them in our home. One of them, Elder Holloway from Idaho, (on the left in this photo) was leaving the day after we had them over, so we were really thankful that we had this extra special time to say farewell to him and thank him for all that he had done while he was in Chester. Such a lovely young man. I don't think he has much longer to go on his mission actually, so all you young women in Idaho listen up! He will be a great catch, however . . . in the meantime, he is a fantastic Missionary, and a wonderful credit to the Church and to his parents who brought him up and to His Heavenly Father. I wish I could tell you the other Elder's name. He is a super young man as well, from Spain! I can only tell you his name starts with two L's and is pronounced with a Y sound.



Meet Me in St Louis always makes me smile, no matter how many times I see it. We felt like watching a musical last evening and so we dug this old much treasured video out. I just adore it. Margaret O Brien is a real little charmer in it . . . in fact all of the characters are quite charming and I just love singing along to the music! It has to be one of my all time favourite films! Clang, clang, clang went the trolly!



Our Vegetable Garden makes me smile. We are really enjoying a great harvest now . . . cabbages, zucchini, beans, beetroot, lettuces, tomatoes, rhubarb . . . there is no end to the goodness that we are enjoying at the moment! Can anything on earth taste better than vegetables and fruits that you have grown yourself??? I think not!!




Our garden is also filled to the brim at the moment with beautifully blooming hydrangea. I just love these pretty blooms. They fill my heart with joy. We have white and pink and blue ones, in a variety . . . for some reason though a few of them are not blooming at all this year, but they do have beautiful leaves. I wonder why that is. Perhaps one of you could enlighten me?? In any case they do make me smile . . . blooms and leaves and all!



He will probably want to kill me for putting this on here, but this picture of my son Doug with my two grandsons Jon and Josh makes me smile in a very big way! I just love my son and his two little boys. (I love all of my children and grandchildren!) Doug and his wife struggle so much financially, much like we all did when our children were young and we were not long married I guess! The struggles do not take their joy away though, and they are such a sweet little family. This picture made me smile in a very big way. The sight of my son being such a good dad and his two happy little boys just makes me feel so very good in my heart. I think this was the biggest smile maker of all!

And there you have it, my Sunday Smile makers for this almost last week in August! (This month has surely flown!) I hope that they made you smile too!

Here is a really tasty sandwich which makes a lovely light supper when you serve it along with some soup. Ham, fruit and cheese are like the holy trinity of sandwichdom!! Enjoy!





*Grilled Ham, Cheese and Chutney Toastie*
Serves 1
Printable Recipe

This is one very tasty sandwich. I have given quantities for one, but it is very easily multiplied to feed more! Your family will love these!

two thick slices of square white sandwich bread
1 TBS softened butter
2 slices of baked ham
1 TBS good quality mango chutney (I use Sharwoods)
1 1/2 ounces of really good quality, mild to medium strength cheddar cheese, cut into thin slices


Take your slices of breadand butter them on one side of each slice. Take a non stick skillet and heat it over medium heat. Place one slice of the bread into the pan buttered side down. Cover with the chutney, spreading it on as best as you can. Top this with the slices of ham and finally the slices of cheese. Top with the other slice of bread, buttered side up.

Toast the sandwich in the heated pan until completely brown on the underside, then very carefully flip over and toast the other side until that is brown as well, and the cheese is ooozingly melted inside. Remove from the pan, cut in half and serve.



And over in The English Kitchen this morning, there is a delicious Lemon Pound Cake with Blueberry Sauce baking! Scrummy yummy!!


10 comments:

  1. Love the baking ..and reading about all that is happening with you , and yes i have to agree time does seem to be going faster and faster ... Enjoy your day today .. hugs Melita xx

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  2. It made me smile that Meet Me in St. Louis is on your list. . . that's my hometown & the movie is delightful. I'd love to waltz around a Christmas tree someday.

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  3. Hello Marie,

    It's been a while since I last left a comment. I'm glad to have lingered a bit here in your lovely site.

    What a special moment to finally met a friend you made through blogging! What beautiful son and grandchildren you have!

    Thanks for sharing another lovely post that warms my heart.

    Blessings!

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  4. Such perfect smile makers, my friend! I love making dinner for the missionaries, too--it's so fun when they always devour it all & appreciate it so much!

    Your sweet Mitzie is just adorable--I can see why she warms your heart so much!

    Love that photo of your son & his kids, too...and that sandwich??? YUM! I really have to try that!

    We're off to my mother-in-law's today (just over an hour from here) to spend the day with her & go to her ward. I hope you're having a wonderful Sunday!

    So much love and hugs sent to you today, Marie!

    Julie

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  5. Oooh this sarnie will do for lunch tomorrow, I don't need an oven for this do I? At last our outdoor tomatoes are ripening so a few of them might make some nice soup as well to go with it.

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  6. Little Mitzie is as smart as she is sweet! I love Meet Me in St. Louis too! I bet the missionaries enjoy visiting you and getting fed just as much as you enjoy having them at your home!

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  7. how fun to get to meet an internet friend in person-i hope we can meet someday too!!!! meeting lura was so wonderful. i truly look forward to the day i get to meet my sweet friend marie!

    and thats a cute pic of your son and grandsons-they look so happy :)

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  8. I ma smiling too. Loved all your smile makers, dog and his little boys, Mitzie, the Elders, church, meeting Internet friends, your lovely garden...I ma feeling the joy and a great turn around from months past. Yay for you you have truly found your light at the end of the tunnel!

    Love you, sweet friend!

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  9. Hello Dear,
    What a lot a lovely smiles you have had. How nice that you could meet Carolyn and Dave.It is my dream that John and I can come one day to visit too. That will really make me smile.
    Mitzie is so cute. I am so glad that she is filling your days with smiles.
    Wow...your garden looks beautiful. No...nothing is better than home grown veggies. Yum.
    I love feeding the missionaries as well. I hope that kind people will feed our Justin when he gets to Guatemala.
    What darling little grandsons you have. No wonder you couldn't resist showing them to us.
    I am having a great time in Utah. I am sending you love and hugs, Lura

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  10. Always cheers me up your Sunday six..I have been wanting to ask you if they are running the "I'M a mormon" adverts over there? the ones where someone describes themselves and then at the end say "my name is---- and I'm a Mormon"? I am waiting to hear you!! they so should have picked you because you are the best testimony to that faith i have ever heard!! Just wanted to tell you that! xx

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