SUNDAYS WITH CELIA VOL 11

Greetings! I hope you are enjoying a long, relaxing and festive Labor Day holiday weekend. Thanks so much for stopping in for Sundays with Celia Vol 11.

Getting Sentimental on Sunday

As I sat at my desk deciding what to share with you this Sunday the phone rang and it was my DC dwelling son calling me on his way home from work. I’m happy that he often uses this drive time to check in with his mom who lives 3,000 miles away. We got caught up on what’s happening in his life and talked about my grandbabies who are, of course, also 3,000 miles away. That means I miss most of the special things they are involved in: back to school night, preschool graduations…

getting to babysit when their parents have date nights, having sleepovers with Grandma, and this week, missing my Grandaughter’s Ballet recital. SO SAD. But I loved the photo they shared with me and thought I’d share this little bit of girly cuteness with you too. My ballerina is the little princess seated on the far lower right. I think she looks like the Good Witch in the Wizard of Oz. But wait a minute, this is from Frozen.

And, I also missed their recent visit to the Smithsonian National Zoo where kids can cool off near the seal exhibit.

But I’m happy that not only does my son call home, he also braves the airport with kids & dog in tow to visit regularly. So, this will have to do for now.

What to do on Sunday

Last month my book club read the novel The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman. We all loved it!!

It was one of those books I just couldn’t put down about a lighthouse keeper on a tiny, isolated island off of the coast of Australia who is a devoted husband to a woman who can’t bear his child. When a small boat washes up on their island shore with a baby aboard, the couple is faced with a moral quandary. Do they keep the baby and raise it as their own, or do they do what is right and turn the baby over to the authorities on the mainland. You won’t believe what happens next in this gripping novel which has now been made into a film that arrived in theaters on Friday. Sadly, it’s not playing at our local theater so I think I’ll have to wait and see it next week when I visit my middle son in Chicago. But I bet it’s playing in your local theater. Have you seen it yet?? Did you love it?? If not have a look at the movie trailer below…

My Week In Review on Sunday

Did you catch my post earlier this week entitled “How To Host an Amazing Backyard Luau”? With summer coming quickly to a close I felt it was now or never to give you my Luau “How To’s.”

But what I didn’t show you in that post was how to prepare one of Hawaii’s favorite Pupus: Cream Cheese Filled Lychees with Macadamia Nuts.

In my 8 years living on the island of Oahu I would often bring this well loved Hawaiian appetizer to parties. And it’s the perfect appetizer (Pupu) to serve at a Luau. Here’s how you make them.

Start with a can or two of Lychee. This is an exotic Asian fruit that can sometimes be found in your local supermarket or get them online here. Lychees are high in vitamin C and have great antioxidant properties so they are not only delicious but healthy. They taste a bit like a grape.

Using a small spoon, fill the cavity of each Lychee with cream cheese and top it with a toasted & salted macadamia nut. It’s that simple to make this impressive appetizer for your next party.

Celia’s Sunday Suggestion

Frame Dish Towels as Wall Art

As I mentioned in a previous post, we are in escrow on the sale of our Fawnskin Vacation Rental Home, Stone Hill Cottage. We offered it for sale fully furnished with all of the decor items, including the framed art on the walls. I try never to get too attached to the things I use to decorate my income properties because I must assume that at some point they will no longer belong to me. That’s because 2nd homes in our mountain community are almost always sold turnkey, fully furnished and outfitted so the new buyers can arrive with little more than their toothbrushes. So, as I bid farewell to Stone Hill Cottage I thought I’d share my little trick for creating great, inexpensive wall art. I frame dishtowels! YES, DISH TOWELS! They actually make really great pieces of art. They may be printed simply with words of wisdom or have pretty pictures printed on textured fabric, but unless I reveal my design secret, nobody guesses that they are actually framed dish towels, which are far cheaper than prints or posters.

But I’m finding myself getting a bit nostalgic about the dish towels I’ll be leaving behind with Stone Hill Cottage. They were inexpensive but they all held special sentiments that touched me. I also used inexpensive frames from IKEA but still, it will a bit difficult to part with the Santorini/Nice one because it reminds me of two of my favorite places to visit in Europe.

Then there’s the one I purchased at the old lighthouse giftshop on the island of Bermuda last summer.

And the cute Boulangerie dish towel reminds me of our trip to Paris last November.

This one has a sweet sentiment that makes me feel good.

Oh well, hopefully my dish towel art will also be loved by the new owners. In any case I think it’s a good suggestion on this Sunday for something you too might want to incorporate in your home decor.

What I’m Cooking on Sunday

Do you guys follow Heather over on her great baking blog, Sprinkle Bakes? This week she shared a recipe for Pimento Cheese Quick Bread that simply called my name. One of my most favorite recipes on my blog is this one for Pimento Goat Cheese Dip. In fact, you should make this classic southern dip with a twist (goat cheese) tomorrow for Labor Day! Click here for the recipe.

I love the old southern favorite, Pimento Cheese, which is a spread that’s normally slathered on bread. In Heather’s recipe she combined the two and created a savory quick bread that I thought would be divine with some vegetable soup I was preparing. The recipe uses mayonnaise, butter & buttermilk. I’ve never used mayo in a quick bread before and I was looking to use up some buttermilk that I had on hand, so voila, I made it and loved it. You can get the recipe here. Doesn’t it look moist, cheesy and yummy? The only thing I would do differently when I make it again is use regular paprika, not the smoked paprika that the recipe calls for.

Celia’s Sunday Sentiment

A while back I wrote a blog post entitled “Why I Live in Lake Arrowhead.”  In it I expressed my joy in the fact that living in Lake Arrowhead means that I live in an area with very distinct seasons.  So, as we celebrate this Labor Day weekend I am reminded that like clockwork every single Labor Day, fall begins to make her appearance with the promise of winter just behind. While it’s always sad to bid farewell to summer and our time spent on the lake, I enjoy change and I’m always ready for everything that fall brings with it. So bring her on!

So there you have it: SUNDAYS WITH CELIA VOL 11

Thanks so much for dropping in! 

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All opinions expressed in this post are my own. 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 that help to make this blog possible.