My favourite things . . .

 

These are a few of my favourite things. Maybe some of them are your favourites too . . .

 

Avocado.  I adore ripe avocado . . .  creamy and rich and so tasty.  The problem is when you order anything with avocado in it while eating out and I have done, its never ripe.  There is an easy way to tell when you avocado is ripe. 

  

Its all in the colour of the skin.  There is nothing tastier than a ripe avocado and nothing more yuck than an unripe one. You would think people working in the food industry would know the difference. Ain't nobody going to enjoy a hard as a rock avocado.

 

I love mango.  Ripe and cubed, sliced etc.  I love it dried as well.  There was dried mango dipped in dark chocolate at Costco the other day that I was sorely tempted to buy, but I didn't.  I first got turned onto dry mango when my son brought me some from the Philippines. It was so good.  I fell in love right then and there.  With the dried mango, I was already in love with my son. 

The needle arts.  Be it crochet, knitting, embroidery, sewing by machine or by hand, etc. I love doing needlework, and working with fabrics and yarns.  I was so excited the other week.  I found a book that I had had many years ago, but given away when I moved over here for a very cheap price on Amazon.  Well, it was a penny, and I only paid £2.50 for the postage, and it was brand new. I couldn't lose.

  

I was so excited when it fell through my letterbox.  It was like an old friend and myself had just rediscovered each other.  Everything I know about most of the needleworks I learned from this book over the years.  It is very indepth about most things with brilliant pictures.  There are a bazillion embroidery stitches in it, stitches you never see anywhere else.  I love this book, and am so happy I found another one in such good condition. I have always regretted giving my old one away.

Brownie Brittle. It is gorgeous.  Crisp and chocolatey. As moreish as potato chips.  This stuff is dangerous.  I love that it is so tasty.  I hate that it is so tasty. Its a love/hate thing. Very hard to resist and put down once you start on it.

  

I also adore salad.  A good salad, with nice fresh ingredients and a tasty dressing.  Maybe that is the secret to a well balanced diet.  A salad in one hand and a piece of brownie brittle in the other?  

A gal can dream can't she?

 

I love meeting new people and making new friends.  I tend to be a bit shy really.  I have a hard time approaching people, but once I am there, I really, truly enjoy the experience. This probably made me the ideal Military wife because I never minded having to meet new people, or see new places, experience new environments etc.  I guess I am very adaptable.

  

I am a great listener and I love to hear other people's stories.  Everyone has one.  A story that is.  A background.  A history.  I love to hear them.  I love to read them. I wish there were more hours in the day.  I love blog hopping and reading other people's stories.  I just find my days seem to slip away from me more often than not. I need to set myself a time.  I will often read but then not have the time to comment.  I need to make more time than I do for just that purpose. My problem is that I take too much time responding to comments, and I don't think it is wrong for me to want to respond to comments.  Not so much here on the blog, I only get a few of those and I LOVE LOVE responding to those.  I don't get many on the food blog either, which makes it quite manageable for me.  But on my facebook foodblog page, I must get about 50 or 60 comments a day and I spend at least an hour every morning reading and responding to each one.  If people can take the time to comment, I must take the time to respond.  I need to be  more proactive in reading and commenting on others pages. Please forgive me if I have been remiss as of late! 

 

I need to do this and just stop talking about it.  I love this hair colour.  It is one of my favourite things.  Time to embrace the grey totally. I don't dye my hair at present and I have a lot of grey hair, but I think it is time to make it all grey. 

Spending time with God.  I love my time spent in prayer and communication with my Heavenly Father.  I love reading and pondering the scriptures.  I love to be in the Temple.  I love being still and listening for my Heavenly Father's voice, promptings, answers.  I just love spending time with God, full stop. Out of all the things I do it is my favourite thing to do.  And I love sharing that time with my husband also. I think sharing a faith and belief with the man I love most is the most beautiful thing. 

 

 I love our Electric fire.  I wish it was a real fire, but alas . . .  we don't have a real one. If it was my own home I would put in a real one, but in a rented home, you can't spend that kind of money. I love that the evenings are getting a bit cooler and we are getting to turn it on every now and then.  The flames flickering just make me feel all cosy. 

 When I was married before we had a real wood stove and we burnt logs and one of my favourite things was always laying on the sofa late at night in the dark watching the logs burn.  It was very calming and restful . . . there is something really cosy and heart warming about a real fire in a wood stove or fireplace.  The smells, the sight, the sound  . . .  just lovely  . . . 

Reruns of Downton Abbey.  They never get old.  Watching it again now for the bazillionth time.  I guess that there is just so much garbage on real time telly these days, we tend to rewatch what we know we like on DVD. We hardly ever watch real time.  What is on real time, we record, and then watch later.  We are also early to bed people.  We like to read in bed, so about the time when other people are going out and gadding about, we are nestling in with good books.  That's why we record everything. 9:00 to 9:30 pm is our limit.  We can then watch whatever at our own leisure.

  

Cantuccini Toscani with almonds.  They are my favourite biscuits.  They are like biscotti, except smaller.  I love them.  Hard and crunchy and stogged full of lovely almonds. 

 

Nuts, I am crazy about nuts.  I just wish they weren't so high in calories.  Cashews and macadamias are my favourites. Followed by pecans and almonds and pistacios.  I can take or leave the rest.  I like them roasted.  They don't have to be salted, just roasted will do. When I worked at the Manor my boss Mrs used to eat a handful of nuts every morning.  I had to make up a nut mix for her.  She was very particular about what was in it.  I remember she used to like hazel nuts in it, but then she changed her mind.  I used to make it up by a gallon bag full. When she decided she didn't want hazel nuts in it anymore, I had to pick them all out. It took quite a while.  

Being inside all cosy on a rainy day.  It is raining today.  I am inside all cosy.  I am happy.  

 

Puppy snuggles . . .  no matter the time of day.  Her paws that smell like popcorn.  Her soft ears.  The way she snuggles into me.  I love every inch of them.  Puppy snuggles are the best.

And those are my favourite things for this week!  

A thought to carry with you  . . . 

.° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
 *.˛.°"Every leaf speaks bliss to me, 
fluttering from the autumn tree."
~ Emily Bronte  •。★★ 。* 。 

Happy first day of Autumn!

Spiritual Enlightenment 

  

In the kitchen today    . . .  a Classic Cobb Salad.   Todd was away most of yesterday getting the tires done so he had lunch out.  I stayed home and had a delicious salad. 

 Have a beautiful Thursday!  Don't forget!

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And I do too!