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A wonderful blend of flavors using basic ingredients to make this delicious and creamy soup for springtime { Potato, Fennel and Leek Soup with Asparagus}. The anise flavor from the fennel adds just the right amount of sweetness. To top it off, I decided to garnish the soup with cooked asparagus for color, texture and because it’s in season.
This recipe is a slight variation of Lynn Morris’ Potato, Fennel and Leek Soup. To see her other recipe for Potato Salad, click here.
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Spring is officially here and in a few weeks we will be celebrating Easter.
Finding the Easter basket on Easter morning is a tradition my kids look forward to-even now as teenagers. In each of their baskets {similar to the one in the picture above} there will be sweets, chocolates and a little something special. To personalize their baskets this year, I’ve created tags with this adorable French rabbit from The Graphic Fairy.
Oscar de la Renta {above}, in a moment backstage before he made an appearance to the audience after his Spring 2015 show. This photo was taken by Miguel Yatco. It was the last show before Oscar de la Renta passed away on October 20, 2014. He was the man who dressed women in beautiful clothes for decades. I will be sharing more about Oscar de la Renta and his influence in the fashion industry for the past 5 decades in my “part 2”. But for now, enjoy his beautiful collect for spring.
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Oscar de la Renta spring 2015 collection is simply beautiful and visually pleasing. The look is youthful, fresh and as always elegant and classic.
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Easter will soon be upon us along with coloring and dying Easters eggs. But for now to welcome Spring, I like to simply use and display eggs without any {or very little} adornments and in their natural pure form. Here I have filled a large white platter with an assortment of eggs with a sprinkle of feathers from my chickens as a center piece for a gathering or other entertainment.
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Placing eggs in a small ceramic crate egg holder is another simple and easy display to do. Having a few eggs on the kitchen counter is a pretty sight. I love seeing the many beautiful shades of cream, brown, and green eggshells. It’s always handy to have some nearby for cooking and baking too.
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To show off a particular egg {in a subtle manner}, I placed it on a white plate with a bed of green moss, a paper nest, and covered it with a glass dome. This little light brown egg with tiny dark speckles came from one my chickens. I kept the eggshell along with a few others as an inspiration for possible paint colors and for other uses. A great way to display and protect a fragile egg.
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Over the years I’ve collected quite a few antique egg prints and one of the ways I like to display the collection is to group them together. This will bring attention and cohesiveness to the display wall.
Interested in collecting vintage prints, a good place to start your search is at the website, Panteek. They have a wide variety of egg prints and many other vintage prints to choose from.
{print vintage egg print 1 Here, print vintage egg print 2 Here}
Another source for egg prints and many other vintage prints is the website, Vintage Printable. All are free for you to print/dowload till your heart’s content. The two vintage egg prints above came from there. I changed the background and made it lighter and sharpened the images slightly. Feel free to use these egg prints however you like.
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For an Easter table centerpiece, my friend Lynn put this together using a variety of baby lettuce plants, pansies and moss. Tuck a few eggs randomly in the centerpiece to add a touch of playfulness. After Easter, it can go outside to be enjoyed a little longer and the lettuce leaves will be a wonderful addition to a mixed green salad or a sandwich.
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To add a personal touch, personalize each place setting and/or gift with an Easter tag.
Free printable Easter gift tags, Here.
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I hope you enjoy decorating with eggs this Spring!
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posted by: Kay
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Welcome Spring!
The urge to tidy up and put things away has been on my mind for the past few months. Finally, I had some time available last week to really sit down and sift through the piles of stuff growing in every part of our house. All the cleaning, organizing and removing of unneeded things felt really good, but so much more still to get done.
This Spring Inspiration Board is my little distraction from the cleaning and dusting… lovely and pretty things to look forward to this spring season.
{images & sources starting from the Top then left to right}
✽ Sweet little egg planters from Better Homes and Gardens. My inspiration for simple decorating with eggs…. I will be posting about it in the near future.
✽ A wonderful addition to our house is this simple watercolor painting of flowers by my daughter Hannah. {print, Here}
✽ A fun idea from fête to color code latte/coffee cups with fun tapes.
✽ Pretty display of macarons from Style Me Pretty, my inspiration to make these cookies soon!
✽ It’s time to start collecting variety of seed packets for the garden. {image, fête}
✽ Simple and rustic terra cotta pots from Olive Manna.
✽ French linen towels for the kitchen from French Larkspur.
✽ A new canvas tote bag from Fossil for spring and into the summer will be very handy to have.
✽ Fresh white tulips in the house are always a welcome sight. {image, Scrapbook}
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printable “SPRING” {print, Here}
{all printables are for personal use only}
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What are you looking forward to this Spring Season?
bird images/sources: black & white ⎜ swallow
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posted by: Kay
