SUNDAYS WITH CELIA VOL 84

Greetings! Thanks very much for stopping in for Sundays With Celia Vol 84. It’s always so nice to share a little bit of our Sundays together.

Looking Back On Sunday

This week on the blog I took a look back at my son’s wedding because I wanted to share with you how to make the beautiful DIY table number holders that I made for the wedding. If you missed the post click here to view it. For the wedding reception I used these easy-to-make wine cork holders to hold table numbers. However, I think they would make equally nice place-card holders, and look great on a beautiful spring tablescape.

Baking On Sunday Morning

This week we returned from our European vacation to find that Spring had finally sprung here in our Lake Arrowhead garden.

And one of the first things to appear in my vegetable garden every Spring are my ever-faithful, perennial rhubarb plants. Did you know that rhubarb is a perennial? YEP! Plant it once and it keeps on coming back year-after-year. Plus rhubarb is one of the least demanding of all plants. Once established, there’s little work required. And a happy plant will produce for decades. My 2 rhubarb plants have been going strong for about 8 years now and every spring I can’t wait to start cooking with them. So I’m always on the lookout for new rhubarb recipes.

So, when the latest issue of Martha Stewart Living Magazine featured a recipe for Buckwheat-Rhubarb Scones I got all over that. Because what’s better than the smell of something fresh from the oven on a Sunday morning? And something made with rhubarb no less! 

The thing is, when I bought my rhubarb plants at a Farmer’s Market in San Diego, I didn’t realize that the plants I was purchasing were actually Green Rhubarb. Turns out green rhubarb is just a variety, and the color doesn’t have any impact on the flavor, although I must admit it’s not as pretty as the typical red rhubarb. But it is unusual looking.

I’m always surprised to learn that many people don’t like rhubarb, my husband included. I fell in love with it as a child. I first had it at the Knott’s Berry Farm Chicken Dinner restaurant, a favorite childhood haunt that remains a favorite of mine to this day.

So as a result of using my green rhubarb instead of the traditional red rhubarb, my Buckwheat-Rhubarb Scones might not look quite as pretty as they would have had I used the traditional red rhubarb. But let me tell you, they were yummy!  Using buckwheat flour was also new to me, and I wasn’t sure how that would affect the taste. As it turns out I didn’t notice any particular flavor from it at all. But I think the buckwheat may have given the scones some extra tenderness in texture. It’s also interesting to note that buckwheat flour is highly nutritious, high in fiber, protein, vital nutrients such as B vitamins and essential amino acids and it’s gluten free.

And the accompanying Strawberry Butter, made with dehydrated strawberries, made them extra scrumptious. For the recipe visit Martha Stewart here.

Reviewing Books On Sunday

This coming Tuesday, May 7th is a very BIG day for 2 very special and talented women friends of mine. Both of them have brand new books being released! I am delighted to say that both of these women honored me by sending me advance copies of their books. I’m excited to say that I devoured both books from cover to cover within days of receiving them, and am so excited to be able to highly recommend both of them to you, each for very different reasons.

The Southern Side of Paradise | By Kristy Woodson Harvey

Many of you may already know Kristy from the fabulous interior design blog she writes with her adorable mom, Beth, called Design Chic.

But you may well also know her from her already long list of New York Times best-selling books of fiction, all beautifully written, all about women living in the south.

My Collection of Kristy’s Books Have A Special Place in my Office

Kristy hails from Beaufort, North Carolina, an utterly charming southern town located on the outer banks of North Carolina. It is her own hometown that was the inspirational setting for her latest novel, The Southern Side of Paradise, which is the 3rd and final book in a wonderful, can’t-put-down series.

While inspired by Beaufort, NC, Kristy aptly names her fictional town, and setting for the book series, Peachtree Bluff. Peachtree Bluff, the quintessential southern beach town, is the place one thinks of when one dreams of the perfect small town. Kristy weaves such a beautiful portrait of this perfectly perfect place that it makes one want to go in search of this nirvana.  It’s here in this idyllic setting that the 3 Murphy sisters, each with entirely different yet shared lives, live alongside their strong mother Ansley, the matriarch of this intriguing, female-centric family.

I’ve gotten to know and fall in love with each character over the course of each of the three books in the series. It started with Slightly South of Simple where we meet the mother Ansley who is the glue that holds the family together, but at the same time is struggling to find her own happiness while dealing with long-held, deep family secrets.

In the second book in the series, The Secret to Southern Charm, we learn more about daughter Caroline, the headstrong New York socialite whose husband betrays her. That betrayal sends her back to Peachtree Bluff to find solace in the comfort of family. Middle daughter Sloan, the quiet, soft spoken mother of two also returns to hometown roots when her husband goes missing in action in Iraq.

In the final book in the Peachtree Bluff Series we get to know more about Emerson, the youngest of the 3 daughters who is an up-and-coming actress with ambitions in Hollywood, but also with conflicts that are holding her to her hometown roots. In this final book, The Southern Side of Paradise, secrets are finally revealed, conflicts are resolved, and long-lost-love is found. I simply loved this wonderful series of books and can’t recommend them enough. They are feel-good books that celebrate women, family, love and of course the south. I hope you’ll use the links provided to buy and enjoy these wonderful books.

Camp Grandma | By Marianne Waggoner Day

My friend and fellow resident of Lake Arrowhead, Marianne Waggoner Day, is no ordinary woman. Before her retirement she was the President of retail services for Coldwell Banker Real Estate, where she led the largest commercial retail real estate practice in the world. Upon her retirement she found herself spending a lot of time caring for her four grandchildren. And in doing so she became acutely aware of the diminished and undervalued role grand-parenting has in our society today.

While she wanted to spend time with her grandchildren, she was not content with the idea of being simply a “babysitter” or “caregiver”. She knew that she had a lifetime of experience to offer them as a role model, teacher, historian, storyteller, confidant and mentor.

And since Marianne was a business woman with a tendency to go all-in in everything she undertook, she also went all-in when it came to her role as Grandparent. Mining skills learned in the corporate world, she developed lessons and activities from what she knew best, the world of business, and it evolved into what could be called a child’s version of a corporate retreat. Through what she termed, Camp Grandma, Marianne taught her grandchildren valuable life skills such as goal setting, public speaking and communication skills, résumé writing, team building and organizational skill, relationship building, etc. And she even taught them how to give a good, firm handshake.

In teaching her Grandchildren these valuable skills she was helping them to build confidence in themselves. She was adding value to their lives, she was not just being a “babysitter”. In an effort to help foster and promote the notion that grandparents can significantly improve their grandchildren’s chances for a good life by more consciously mentoring them, Marianne wrote her wonderful book, Camp Grandma. Though baking cookies and singing lullabies are still valuable traditions, her book encourages readers to expand on the many, many ways they can relate and interact with grandchildren. She gives examples of how Grandparents can integrate their own work-life experiences with fun activities and lessons for their Grandchildren, and in doing so help prepare them for a fuller future.

I believe every Grandparent owes it to themselves to read Camp Grandma. And in fact, I think it can be equally valuable to parents as well. As a Grandmother myself I took a hard look at my own Grandparenting efforts and realized I could do much better. My copy of Camp Grandma is highlighted and dog-eared and scribbled on and is just waiting to help guide me to being a better Grandmother. I can’t wait to put into practice many of Marianne’s valuable lessons. We all know a Grandparent that would enjoy this book, and certainly know Grandchildren that would benefit from it. Why not purchase a copy for Mother’s Day for the Grandparents in your life. You’ll be glad you did. Click here for your copy of Camp Grandma | Next Generation Grandparenting – Beyond Babysitting.

So there you have it: SUNDAYS WITH CELIA VOL 84

Thanks so much for dropping in!

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All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Unless otherwise noted, all photos are the original property of Celia Becker @ www.AfterOrangeCounty.com and may not be reproduced without specific permission. This post contains affiliate links. If you click on a link and make a purchase I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.  It’s what helps to make this blog possible. Thanks very much for your support.