Townhouse Homestead Tuesday

Happy Holidays!

It's been very quiet and relaxed here at the townhouse. Ya sure, who am I kidding? Well we've been trying to make it that way. It seems like there will always be stress mixed into the plan. 

So, in keeping this post light, there is a lovely young lady who is still gardening here in upstate NY. This past week she gifted me some fresh rosemary and parsley. Two of my favorites. Being a farm girl at heart I took the chance and started to propagate a couple of very healthy sprigs. I'm trying a green house method and sealed it in a plastic bag because my reputation with propagating rosemary has been challenging to say the least. I am drying a bit for future use, and I made this wonderful loaf of rosemary olive oil bread. It is so good. The parsley has been added to some smoothies and of course this lovely white garlic pizza with tomatoes. I love fresh herbs and I always manage to add fresh vegetables.

Remember this fine collection of thrift store bottles? Well, in my search for pour spouts so I could use them to hold creamers for my holiday coffee, I was led to the Dollar Tree store where I purchased packages of them at 2 for $1 keeping them in my budget. It pays to read reviews on line and get the information we need to stay economically stable and still have nice things.

Here they are all decked out with our vintage tray, Mikasa sugar and creamer, and mugs for Christmas morning. The green holly fabric are home made napkins and I'm sure once I bake some breakfast items, or simply take some out of the freezer, we'll have a simple and relaxing holiday. It is well earned and deserved. We are wishing everyone a great holiday season and thank you for stopping by for a visit. 

Simple labors this Labor Day.

Spending a quiet day today. My daughter has her first Labor Day off in seven years. We started with a late morning breakfast.

It included potatoes on the waffle iron. She saw this on Pinterest and just had to try it. We had a few chopped potatoes in the freezer from another cooking project so away she went. We had just enough for one waffle and it worked out to be enough for two. We splurged and had bacon, but I want to state that we did not have bacon on National Bacon Day Saturday. Add some scrambled eggs and fresh hot coffee and we were off to a good Labor Day start.

She has said over and over to me for the past year that we needed to add some green color to the bland brown apartment cupboards, so today I humored her. We took a ride down the street to raid a friends garden for herbs. Thanks to Command Hooks I have sweet basil and lemon basil drying on the bland doors. 

I have two pints of Rosemary infused oil brewing. In a few days it will be ready to strain and put in my fancier oil jars for use through the winter.

Of course not all of the basil is going to be dried. I made some basil garlic compound butter. We will be putting this on some corn on the cob and I will use some on roasted potatoes, but most of it will go in the freezer to use over time. I can't tell you how wonderful our little apartment smells. Days like today let you know that Family and the simple things are the most important. I am grateful to Carter's bountiful gift. Thank you.