Buds

Forsythia and Lilac sprigs from the yard.

Fresh Cranberry Muffins with Oats and Chocolate Chips

Once upon a time ago I baked these muffins. I took pictures to share, but then never posted them.

If your mouth is watering and you want to bake your own batch of these gems,

I used my favorite Michigan Chocolate Cherry muffin recipe as the base, swapping cranberries for cherries. These cranberry muffins would be great with the addition of orange zest (I didn't have an orange when I made them or I would have added some).

craziness

There was a real live dressed up dinosaur who welcomed us to the youth event in Oklahoma last month!

Spring

It's spring here in Pennsylvania, and the Forsythia had already budded into yellow when we received fourteen inches of snow in a recent storm.

Fourteen inches of loveliness covering everything outside. Fourteen inches of cold, wet fluff deterring road travel and closing the office. {bliss!}

Working remotely is an extra special treat to me. These two days of snow reminded me how much I loved having my own office in our house at Nahumba. These two days also allowed me many focused hours of concentration on current office items-- specifically catching up on some necessary email communication.

I was amused, and thought my Michigan friends and family would be as well, to hear that days after the storm, the local grocery store was still sold out of normal milk!


(oh, and yes, I did help with the shoveling too-- just in case you thought I stayed inside to watch and take pictures!)

Irish

I observed St. Patrick's Day by baking some Irish soda bread.

 

just right

a just-right cuppa made with loose-leaf tea from Malawi

Not too long ago Sharon and I opened a fresh box of Malawian tea...

only to discover

it was odd tasting.

This was a serious disappointment.

Something went wrong in the quality control on that box...

It definitely tasted like Malawi.

While Malawi has many great qualities,

um...

its tea should not actually taste like it.

[it being the country]

{My siblings used to insist I could not tell what something inedible tasted like, but I still believe I can. And when I told Uncle Keith about our sibling dispute, he believed me.}

I mean, I think Sharon and I can be considered semi-experts when it comes to knowing the flavor of Malawian Rab's tea.

And this box wasn't it.

[it being the proper taste of Rab's Malawian tea]

anyway.

After experimenting with other available black tea options within our kitchen stash-- 

too old [sort of had a rancid taste]

too flat [how does tea even go "flat"? ...but this stuff is...]

too fruity [a very nice tea, but, just not that classic, smooth taste of Rab's]

too "American" [or Irish or... :(  ]

--I stopped drinking black tea, because it was just too disappointing.

Then, last Thursday, I decided to re-enter the test-tasting world by scrounging up two more available options from our pantry.

I started with a small bag of loose-leaf Rab's which was past its best-by date. I didn't have high hopes...

but, friends,

let me tell you:

Thursday morning's cuppa was the best one I've had in weeks!

Rab's scores again.

 And I'm oh so happy to be back in business with my Malawian tea drinking.

:)

learning

Once a month on Sunday afternoons I get to spend some time learning about Jesus with this great group of kids.