Breakfast with Royal Doulton Canton...

...because I can. I spent money on these dishes and I'm going to enjoy them!

 

 Can you tell I LOVE soft-boiled eggs in egg cups? And to make it all even better, this entire breakfast of eggs, bacon, tea, toast (with butter and jam) and coconut custard was SIX grams of net carbs. Since tea and toast with jam are like, my favorite things ever, and they are NOT keto friendly, you have to find ways to get around it. Sami's Bakery, is just that. Their bread is TWO carbs per slice. 

And when you toast it, you cannot tell it's not really "bread." Color me one happy Keto mama! 

And yes, I bust these dishes out once in a while. Why not? 

Life is short. 

Everyone Needs a Nook

Most homes these days are designed with a "breakfast room." Mine is not an exception. I love having breakfast here in the mornings. The light is always ideal, and it's the brightest spot in the house. 

I call it the "Breakfast Nook." I think everyone would benefit from a room like this. Lots of windows, and lots of light. I chose to decorate mine simply, with neutral colors like the rest of my home. This room is warmer than my gray tones, with brown and cream. The pedestal table is Canadel; one I've wanted for a while. I just can't get into square tables lately. Round is more pleasing for me. 

I've been through a lot of decorating phases. Red and dark brown leather, blue and cream and brown, and now, it's gray and white and cream. But simple. Everything is about simplicity for me, lately. Except for my china, of course. Transferware is NEVER simple or clean. It's farmhouse-ey and stuffy and I LOVE it. That part of me will never change. ;-)

Breakfast with Burleigh

I've loved Burleigh Pottery for a long time. But it's hard to get in the States, and shipping to the US is hideously expensive. And let's be honest, Burleigh isn't exactly cheap, either. I found a wonderful site, Ann Marie's, which is based out of my former home state of Wisconsin, and they are AMAZING. They pack everything so well and their customer service is prompt and pleasant. And if you spend over a certain amount, shipping is free. So, I went a little nuts. I got a breakfast set in Mulberry Felicity:

And you have to admit, it's super cute. (The egg cup is my own; the calico mulberry egg tot was not available.)

Not one to stop there, I fell instantly in love with Calico and Felicity in "Dove Grey." 

The lighting in these pics isn't that great, but you get the idea. What I love about Burleigh's Dove Grey lines is that you can mix and match them and they go perfectly together!

I can't believe its already August. This year is flying CRAZY fast! And of course all the Halloween and Christmas are up in the craft stores. Is it bad I'm already planning my Halloween setup? ;-)

Bring On Spring!

It's mid-February. And it's kind of cold. I am ready for warm weather! 

One thing I haven't done much of, is eat/play with my beautiful dishes since the move. This is a pic from my old house, where I had such great light. My new house has light in only the breakfast room, but the rest of the house doesn't have a lot of direct sunlight. Not optimal, but it is what it is. I love my green ironstone. Green transferware in general is just...fun.

And here is a CRAZY pic I took of just my transferware right before the movers boxed it up for the move. Like seriously...I have a disease.

Look at all that transferware. Too much going on at once. I had to laugh when I saw it all in one place, because I had it "hidden" all over the house in secret places to hide the sheer volume of it from my hubby. Don't worry, I still have most of it hidden. ;-) Luckily I have lots of really up-high storage cabinets in my kitchen. Unless I suddenly die, he will never know. Here is another angle:

Yep. Total disease.

A Texas Christmas

Moving from Wisconsin definitely changed things. Winters are more mild in Texas, but I will say when it does get cold, it's a DAMP cold, and it's just as bone-chilling as freezing temps, in my opinion. But the lack of snow is a definite bonus!

I got my last tree up yesterday, and this one is our traditional/Victorian tree:

Burgundy, gold, crystal, and of course, my favorite: my old fashioned paper-mache balls:

I love old fashioned Christmas ornaments! I bought these at Dillards two decades ago. My kids love these decorations, and it wouldn't be Christmas without them. They are starting to crack and peel, but I still put them up every year. 

It's cold outside, so I'm making my Coconut Custards. They are just sweet enough and satisfying enough, and one carb per serving. They SAVE me during the winter months! 

I have exactly two weeks and all my kids are descending--I have so many fun and festive things planned. Christmas time is the BEST!

Thanksgiving Accomplished

I had my parents over for the Thanksgiving Holiday. It was such a nice visit. We made all the traditional stuff, Turkey, Stuffing (I have an AMAZING out-of-the-bird stuffing recipe), Mashed potatoes and Gravy, Fruit Salad, Sweet Potato Casserole, which is a recipe I have to share with everyone because whenever they taste it they want it, and rolls and veggies, etc. etc. 

I just dropped them off at the airport (their flight was at 7am which meant waking up at 4am), and now I'm playing my Bing Crosby Christmas music and getting ready for the day. 

Peaceful, but the house feels...empty. I think one of the highlights of their visit included a trip to Magnolia, in Waco TX. 

To say that we were underwhelmed was more true to the mark...it's a nice little shop and bakery, but Waco really was put on the map by Chip and Joanna Gaines (who, sadly, until my HGTV-watching dad filled me in I didn't know who they were), and there isn't a ton there. So, my parents picked up a couple of (**way overpriced coughcough**) souvenirs and Mom and I hit the Spice Market Village and I saw a wall of Funky Socks that my older son would die over:

This is the women's side. The men's is on the left. But you get the idea. My favorite? Socks with buffalo wings and celery with ranch. Yes, seriously. 

It was a beautiful day, and the trip wasn't too long, but I don't need to go again. 

I found out my dad is in love with taking"artsy" pics and I let him. This one was my favorite:

Gotta love Moonlight Rose by Royal Albert. I just love the simple things, but I love the not-so-simple things too. ;-) 

The Table, ready for our Thanksgiving Feast:

 This is our wedding china. It's "Greenbrier" by Noritake. Hubby and I fell in love with it in the mid 90's, but now, he hates it. (Too "stuffy," I imagine.) Hubby is With The Times. And sadly, transferware and old-fashioned china are OUT. But I persisted and he gave in. It sure makes a pretty table. (Dad took this pic too.)

Making my Sweet Potato Casserole. No marshmallows! 

 I went pretty neutral with most of my decor. It makes the house look more like a "Winter Wonderland."

*Sigh* I love Christmas time!

 

Merry Merry!

I so loooove Christmastime. Top holiday, EVER. Halloween is a close second, but Halloween is skulls and spiderwebs and grimoires and eerie bone-shaped candles--CHRISTMAS is festive lights, beautiful trees and presents and happy bright love and goodwill towards other humans. :-)

I usually go a bit nuts decorating for Christmas, and this year, so far, I've held back a bit. I currently have five trees, and I normally have seven. ;-)

 My new home is not the warm palette of my last home, this one is more Modern Farmhouse with lots of cool gray and white. So I did a sort of "Winter Wonderland" look for my front foyer. Down to the wrapped presents. I think white and silver trees may be my new favorite look:

And I found a SUPER glitzy wreath for the front door!

The Living Room I kept gold and cream and brown, and a little kitschy. 

 Then there's the Blue Monster:

Twelve feet tall, but I love it with my soaring beamed ceilings. And there's just something about blue and silver...

This was my Thanksgiving table; my dad decided to try an "artsy" angle. Nice, Dad!

The breakfast nook was simple, gold and cream. Color just didn't look right in this room:

And the kitchen was cool and minimalist:

Amazing to me how simple things can be so pretty. You should see it at night with tea lights...

Then there's the office tree, which I kept VERY traditional. 

 That's it so far! We added red and white lights to our home yesterday, and I'm loving it. I think I am almost ready for Christmas! I'll post more decor soon!

The Looooooong Hallway...and Biscuits

This was a first for me. I've never had a long (loooonnnngggg) front hallway before. So I had to fill it. And honestly, I'm not coming up with much. Sometimes, you just go with what you have. And if it doesn't fit, you change it. For instance, I had these two oil rubbed bronze metal panels, HUGE things that I got on clearance at Hobby Lobby. In my last house, they fit pretty well:

This was taken during Halloween last year--you can see my Witches' trunk. But you see how big they are. Well, I'm totally married to them. But the inside of my house now is...well...very gray and white. Not much oil rubbed bronze. It's a phase, I know, but I didn't want to get rid of them. So, I consulted King Krylon: (*wink*)

And with some spraying and a stint outside in the hot sun to dry, voila! I had new panels!

I put them up in my loooonng hallway, and I think they broke it up very nicely:

And I went a little "nuts" at At Home, and I bought two hallway credenzas that weren't big enough and I put them TOGETHER and made one long big credenza. I'm pretty pleased with the result:

 

Then Overstock.com provided the long hallway table in antiqued cream, and I knick-knacked it up:

Right now I'm still trying to figure out the setup of the stairs alcove:

I have the fun bench, the coat rack and a little table, but not sure what to put on the wall. A clock looks weird. A whitewashed wreath looks weird. A square/rectangle picture looks weird. So what do I put there?? To be continued...

Oh, and about the Biscuits--I don't mean biscuits in the British sense (which are technically cookies), I mean good old fashioned American-as-apple-pie BISCUITS. I am IN LOVE with a new Keto recipe I discovered. It's a recipe (that uses Carbquik of course) for BAKING POWDER BISCUITS. And they are so SO good:

I had mine with a TB of sugar free jam. They are buttery enough you don't need butter, which is great. One biscuit is 2 net carbs. Add the jam and my whole breakfast (with Keto Cocoa) was five net carbs!! 

THE RECIPE:

The Hopeless Anglophile's Keto Baking Powder Biscuits:

Servings: 8

Ingredients:

-2 Cups Carbquik

-4 Tb cold butter, chopped up

-1 heaping TB Baking Powder

-1/2 to 3/4 cups heavy cream

-2 Tb egg white (optional) 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Mix the chunks of cold butter with the Carbquik and baking powder by hand or with a food processor. Add egg whites and then add cream slowly, and combine to form a sticky dough. Don't roll, just knead the dough with your hands and pat into a biscuit, or form and cut with a biscuit cutter. Don't overwork them, or they won't be light and fluffy. 

Set biscuits onto a baking sheet (I use one lined with a Silpat) and stick them in the freezer for about 3-5 minutes. You can skip this step, but they will be lighter and fluffier the colder the butter is when it goes into the oven. 

Bake for 8-12 minutes or until the biscuits are set and golden brown on the top. Remove from oven and let them cool almost completely.

Note: These are very "crumbly" biscuits (especially if you omit the egg whites) so be patient. They taste AMAZING. And they freeze super well. I just freeze them individually and pop one out onto the counter to defrost while I make breakfast. Don't reheat them, they will fall apart. But you will love them. They taste like old fashioned Baking Powder biscuits and that's all I care about. 

2 net carbs per biscuit. YES PLEASE.