Joy of Country Living » Irish Cream Coffee

Snow . . . Rare as ‘Hen’s Teeth’

janmon — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 20:24:51 +0000

While snow in our part of Texas might not be quite as rare as hen’s teeth – we don’t see it very often – so when we do it’s a pretty big deal. For those of us who are ‘snow challenged’ – any amount of snow is something we’re not used to dealing with – but that doesn’t keep us all from hitting the roads to take pictures. And, that’s exactly what David and I did last Friday. Of course, the fact that we were without power probably had something to do with it. It usually takes about 2 hours for the power to come back on – so we figured that was just about long enough to jump into the Jeep and see how everything looked covered in a blanket of white.

David is a real photo-hound and must have taken about 20 or so pictures before we’d even gotten off the property. And while he does enjoy taking pictures – I have to admit he is very good at it and has taken some beautiful pictures over the years. The pics here are either of our property or the surrounding area. My two favorites are the ones of the mother cow and her calf – looks so typically Texas, and the pond with the ‘square’ cloud.

If you click once on the each picture it will enlarge, click twice to return it to smaller size.

By the time we got back home the power was back on so we sat down in front of the fireplace to steaming mugs of our version of Irish Cream Coffee. It’s a favorite and we enjoy it at night as well – but with decaff! If you’d like to try it here’s our recipe:

1 Cup brewed coffee (in over-sized cup)
Sweeten to taste
2 teaspoons of chocolate syrup
3 teaspoons of Bailey’s Irish Cream Liqueur
Enough whipped cream to fill to top
Stir and enjoy!

They say each snowflake is unique – hard to imagine when you see so many of them – but I saw some photos the other day taken of snowflakes and will try to get those posted a little later this week – depending on when we do grocery shopping. The pictures are absolutely amazing!

SNOW !!!????

janmon — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:55:18 +0000

Winter is apparently here as they are forecasting snow for tomorrow. If you have any knowledge of Texas you already know that snow – particularly in the lower part of the state – is almost non-existent. Maybe in January or February . . . but December. Not a chance. So guess we’ll see if what they say is true and if we all wake up tomorrow to a pretty snow-covered world. BTW – they are forecasting snow over a pretty broad area – from East Texas over to Austin and down to Houston. Guess I better get out my winter boots and winterize a few things outside before night.

Right now the only plants I plan to cover are my Christmas cactus. There are two of them – one red, one white. They belonged to my mom and have to be at least 30 years old and are huge. I have to admit, even though they have gorgeous blooms every year – I’ve yet to have them blooming on Christmas. I’ll also cover my herb boxes on the back porch. Wouldn’t want to loose my garlic chives. The rosemary bush in the garden is on it’s own. It has made it through several winters so I’m pretty confident it’ll be ok.

David has covered the faucets, exposed pipes and taken care of the deck kitchen. The goldfish pond has a biological filter that re-circulates the water into the pond down a water fall so it runs continuously. No chance of that freezing. The goldfish – we call them our ‘baby whales’ as they are BIG – are pretty quiet right now. Then tend to get lazy when it gets cold. Think we’ll be following their example tomorrow and be spending the next day or so in front of the fireplace sipping hot chocolate or a cup of Irish Cream coffee. For the Irish Cream coffee we like to add in a dash of chocolate syrup and a swirl of whipped cream. Really yummy!

Sure hope we don’t loose our power – but just in case we do, think I’ll cook up a pot of soup this afternoon so we’ll have something ready to eat. AND, if by some miracle we actually get snow – I’ll put up some pictures for you to see.