Victoriana at Its Best

Mrs. Sharp's Traditions: Reviving Victorian Family Celebrations of Comfort & Joy

by Sarah Ban Breathnach

One of my favorite books!  It has lovely Victorian pictures in a month-by-month treatment of various holidays and seasonal celebrations with great recipes and ideas on how to observe these special days.  In the process, "Mrs. Sharp" manages to put forth a gentle, family-centered philosophy of life.

This is the first Sarah Ban Breathnach book I came across several years ago.  I loved it so much that I went out and got her Simple Abundance books.  Personally I prefer Mrs. Sharp over her widely popular series.


This post is part of Orange Week on the blog.  Check out the other posts:
Orangey Jar Cozy
In Love with Mandarin Oranges
Avocado & Orange Salad

Orangey Jar Cozy

This is the prototype for my new free Ruffle Cuffs pattern--a crocheted pair of wristwarmers. I'm showing it here on a jar of orange marmalade.  Yum.

As a jar cozy, I made this one out of 100% cotton baby-weight yarn in the pattern's Small size. X-Small fits a 1/2-pint canning jar, and Large fits a pint canning jar--both large mouth and regular. For a custom jar cozy, you might want to vary the sleeve length somewhat, but it can be squished up or stretched down a bit as needed.

If you use cotton yarn for a jar cozy, it will shrink when you machine wash and dry it. So if you plan to do that, you might want to make the cozy a size larger. It will still fit the jar before it has shrunk, just not as snugly. To make it bigger than size Large in the pattern, just add a multiple of 10 chains to the base chain when you start.

This post is part of Orange Week on the blog.  Check out the other posts:
Victoriana at Its Best
In Love with Mandarin Oranges
Avocado & Orange Salad

Avocado & Orange Salad

This salad makes a yummy meal, which we eat about once a week at our house.  Here in South Texas, avocados are available year-round and we have a mandarin orange tree in our yard.  Heaven!

You can easily use a regular orange or a grapefruit instead of a mandarin.  Just add extra dressing to sweeten it up, according to the fruit you're using.  A small batch of my golden poppyseed dressing can be made using the recipe below.  You can get the full recipe here.

AVOCADO & ORANGE SALAD

serves 2
1 medium  mandarin orange or tangerine
1 medium avocado
salt
poppyseed dressing*
fresh spinach leaves

Peel and separate the orange segments.  Cut into bite-sized pieces and remove the seeds.  Place in a bowl and stir in 3-4 tsp. poppyseed dressing, depending upon how sweet or sour the orange is.

Cut the avocado into bite-sized pieces and sprinkle with salt.

Assemble the salad in individual large bowls.  Start with a bed of lettuce, add half the orange mixture, then half the avocado pieces.  Drizzle more poppyseed dressing over the avocado.


*Golden Poppyseed Dressing
 1 Tbsp. honey or vegan sweetener
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. ground mustard
pinch onion powder
1 Tbsp. cider vinegar
1/4 tsp. poppyseeds
2 Tbsp. olive oil

Place all ingredients in a jar and shake well.


This post is part of Orange Week on the blog.  Check out the other posts:
 In Love with Mandarin Oranges
Orangey Jar Cozy
Victoriana at Its Best