Spirit of Love

Photo source: petitevanou

Let the spirit of love gently fill our

hearts and homes.

Lemon Cream Cheese Cookies

'Tis the season for baking cookies, from an old worn out cookbook of my grandmother's. I decided to dig out my grandma's cookbooks and search for the beloved cookie recipe she used to make year after year, Lemon Cream Cheese Cookies. My 18 year old daughter never experienced them as a child, and for that I was sad but prepared to introduce her to these delectable little lemon biscuits from my childhood.

Once I found the cookbook it was not hard to locate the recipe, obviously the most "turned-to" page in the book. I found myself touching the pages with splatters of vanilla, bits of batter, gritty flour and remembering my grandma baking away in our kitchen. How long ago were these traces of her baking left on these pages?

As I carefully looked for the publishing date I came across where my grandma wrote her name in the front of the book and I excitedly showed my daughter as my eyes began to well up with the memories. I quickly recovered myself, not wanting my daughter to see me getting misty (she gets all freaked-out when I get sentimental). We were here to bake some cookies and so we did...

These cookies can either be rolled and cut out with cookie cutters OR rolled into little balls. Once baked and cooled, I frost them with a simple lemon icing (recipe below) and sprinkle a bit of colored sugar on top. The texture of these cookies are very similar to shortbread but very moist from the cream cheese. The icing gives them a burst of tart lemon, my goodness they're heavenly!

My grandma loved to cook and the few cookbooks she owned were well used and very worn. I have even attempted to hold them together with tape but should really invest in having them rebound. Her two-volume "Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking" by Meta Givens was first published in 1947, mine is the 1955 edition. These cookbooks are quite the collectors item I discovered after a little on-line investigating. True cookbooks of the 40'sand 50's, so simple and straightforward.

Volume II features recipes for raccoon, squirrel, woodchuck and turtle, everything you need to know to kill, bleed, eviscerate, remove feathers and fur, clean and prepare for cooking, canning or preserving, it's some good reading, I tell ya!

Lemon Icing

2 c. powdered sugar

1 Tbsp. softened butter

1/2 tsp vanilla

fresh lemon juice

Combine all ingredients together with just enough lemon juice to make a very smooth icing to desired consistency. Sprinkle cookies with colored sugar before icing hardens.

Happy baking!

Cool Chick Spotlight: Imelda May

Ok, let me just say this: Imelda May is one captivating dish of quirky cool and striking style. She absolutely rocks her two toned "quiff" and Betty page pin up looks along with her chic retro stylings. Her sultry vocals are accented with smokey growls as she backs herself up with the bodhran and tambourine. The fusion of blues, jazz and rockabilly sets the senses a'tingling. Full of sass and sizzle, I dare ya to sit still while listening to her music.

Oh, and did I mention that she just toured with Jeff Beck...how cool is that?

Inspiration - Crochet

Just look at these colors: gold, green, fuchsia, ivory! I must remember this color combo AND hopefully remember where this image came from. The diamond pattern is unusual but looks fairly do-able. Once I'm finished with the 5, (yes, five!) afghans I'm currently working for Christmas gifts I will concentrate on figuring this one out.

Oh, the Bounty

I stopped by The National Heirloom Exposition the other day to check things out. It was a quick visit, right down the street from my house, so how could I NOT go? The event was a swift kick in the pants that Summer is over and Autumn is here. The bounty of the season was literally piled in huge mountains, it was quite impressive!

"In the garden, Autumn is, indeed the crowning glory of the year, bringing us the fruition of months of thought and care and toil. And at no season, safe perhaps in Daffodil time, do we get such superb colour effects as from August to November."
 ~Rose G. Kingsley, The Autumn Garden, 1905

"Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting 
and autumn a mosaic of them all."
 ~Stanley Horowitz

By all these lovely tokens September days are here, With summer’s best of weather And autumn’s best of cheer.
 ~Helen Hunt Jackson

“O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stained


With the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit


Beneath my shady roof; there thou may’st rest,


And tune thy jolly voice to my fresh pipe;


And all the daughters of the year shall dance!


Sing now the lusty song of fruit and flowers.


~ William Blake

I wrote about the upcoming season 2 years ago, in this blog post. It pretty much sums up how I feel this time of year. O, Autumn, bring on the bounty!

Friday Inspiration...

No time to chat...just a pretty picture to enjoy!

all the beautiful things by Loreta

Happy Friday.

A Little Urban Inspiration

I love looking through online catalogs of those house ware stores such as Pottery Barn, Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters, just to name a few of my favorites. Being the uber-frugal lass that I am I have never purchased anything from these stores, but I certainly acquire mucho inspiration from them, which is totally free, free, free! While exploring the pages of Urban Outfitters recently I took away some awe-inspiring ideas for some future Mama Roux creations! Feast your eyes on these dreamy images...

Definitely food for creative thought!

Inspiration....

A gloomy day here in this neck of the woods. Time for a little sunshine via the lovely blog Pretty Inspirations.

Happy Sunday.

Holiday Inspirations...

All Things Beautiful

Saidos da Concha

Saidos da Concha

Inspiration...

I'm having a relaxing day today. I hope you are, too.

Inspiration...

I'm a little under the weather this week so until I'm back to my chipper, bloggy self I will leave ya'll with a cozy photo...I'm all about being cozy! Talk soon....

Inspiration...

Inspiration...

Inspiration...

This Land was Made for You and Me

Wishing you all a very joyful Fourth of July!

Cool Chick Spotlight: Alice Russell

Alice Russell, a recent discovery of mine, is a British soul singer whose single High Up On a Hook roused me to learn more about this blond-haired blue-eyed lass.

One listen to Alice's voice will send shivers down your spine and leave goosebumps on your neck. Alice's lavishly soulful voice is both timeless and up to the minute modern. She always performs with her trademark self assurance and sass. Although her style is predominately bluesy and soul lament it also encompasses everything from funk to gospel to jazz and beyond. (from her website)

"It hits you in the right place and you think 'Yeah, baby, I like it like that!' That gospel is wicked, isn't it?"

- Alice Russell

Yes it is, sister!