{Our Fragrant White Paeonia 'Ann Cousins' is Blooming}

Don't we all LOVE Peonies? We have tried over the years so many different varieties, mainly white ones but with the heat we have down south, it proves really hard. Last year no blooms at all...

But this year we got rewarded with a huge white and fragrant flower on our Paeonia 'Ann Cousins'

So I love to share it with you here!

Love this gem! 

Photo is made next morning as it was rather dark in the late afternoon for making any photos.

It is all white, no red specks or whatsoever.

White Flower Farms used to sell these but not any more.

The only place I found this 'Ann Cousins' is at Peony Paradise  ←just click the link.

Too bad Adelman Peony Gardens are located in Salem, OR... Would love to visit them!

Do you grow some peonies as well?

Related posts with peonies:

{6 Gorgeous 'Ann Cousins' Peonies in Baccarat Harcourt Pitcher}

{PEONIES: BRIDAL GOWN & LA TENDRESSE}

{Birthday Dinner at the BEST Restaurant for Healthy & Delicious Food}

Having both worked SO hard for weeks on end, this Dinner the day after husband Pieter's actual Birthday was just PERFECT! 

Me completing the 36 photo albums, before 1999, to make them all digital and Pieter doing garden chores and helping me out with domestic chores as well.
Mega Task done of archiving done!

My upper back was kind of nagging me but fortunately it did not graduate!

So here we are; looking a bit tired but being very happy for many reasons.

Just LOVE this suit, it is more than 35 years old but still perfect and since Pieter never ever gained weight - it FITS!
His Thai silk tie with clovers is just perfect with it.

Yes, aging we all turn gray and maybe bold, skin looks different but important is that our mind is still working and feeling young and positive.

Pieter does have problems with his right knee but the topical (expensive, out of pocket) ointment is soothing his pain. 

So here we are at Dublin Farm "Come Home To The Country" in Lady Chef Maria's Ristorante da Maria

Looking tired... but oh so happy with Mission Accomplished!

Wearing my Escada suit that I could not afford when we saw it at the boutique in Budapest, Hungary but I found it on eBay! 

Meanwhile I did catch up on my sleep and my blood pressure was looking just PERFECT.

First course of five... All made from scratch; using the best and the most healthy ingredients (not the cheapest either!) and therefore it is for our health conditions the BEST.

~

Appetizer:

Oven baked Strudel with Spring vegetables and mozzarella, topped with Parmesan, fresh herbs and olive oil, served over a crème fraîche

Menu is in Italian and in English since Lady Chef Maria is Italian

Also Maître d Heinz speaks fluent Italian - they function as a great couple!

It is hard work together for running this special B & B with restaurant...

First dish:

Pasta 'Mini Penne' tossed with 'Mammarosa' sauce, a tomato based sauce with cream and fresh herbs topped w/basil pesto and Parmesan

~

Note: the reason that I label Ristorante da Maria BEST Restaurant for Healthy & Delicious Food is mainly because she knows how to season with special fresh herbs, instead of over-using the salt! 

YES, that IS an all American SIN...

If I would eat at restaurant chains frequently, my kidneys would go down very fast!

So I'm very, very careful with my sodium intake and never had any problems eating here.

Fish-Entrée:

Pan roasted Steelhead Trout Fillet, served with a lemon/Vermouth/cream sauce

~ 

Both, Pieter being a heart patient himself and me with my 48% functioning kidneys, we ALWAYS select fish!

Chef Maria does not drown her Entrées in a sauce but it is drizzled with it and that makes the taste so pleasant - never overpowering, nor taking away from this quality fish.

Always with vegetables too and I personally love that slice of lemon which is real easy to cut away from its peel and enjoy with the fish.

Lady Chef Maria makes incredible DELICIOUS Sorbets!

This is a Pineapple/Lemon Sorbet

Sorry for having scooped out some before remembering to take a picture...

TADA... Maître d 'Heinz' (seen in the back of the picture) did bring the Birthday guy his special Dessert with candle...

Out of courtesy I did never zoom into other diners' table, only the one table to the left and right of us. One family was arriving late; they could not find the place... 

~

Crema di merano

Meraner Cream with vanilla and mixed berries

Pieter also enjoyed his usual espresso with that, to round off yet another heavenly meal!

Yes, I too did splurge on this delicious dessert; I always eat Lady Chef Maria's desserts! And also I drink one glass of wine along with my meal.

That does not cause any problems with my blood sugar levels.

European desserts use FAR less sugar anyway, instead we often use Vanilla, the real thing; not artificial vanilla.

~

May there be many, many more Birthdays to come; God willing.

Pieter's left eye is also causing him problems as the eye surgeon at the time when he had his retina detached, first wanted to complete his Tuesday cycling... thus waiting too long before doing surgery on Pieter. 

Result was that it was not very well after surgery, mixed up sight with half being far- and the other half of that eye being near sighted.

Hence the enlarged eye due to a very thick lens on that side...

Tomorrow morning he has another eye doctor's appointment but there really isn't much that can be done...

Thanks for your loyal visits and wishing you all a happy week and enjoy each day and all the little things!

{Husband Pieter's Selfie from the Mid Sixties}

Yay; I'm almost DONE scanning!!!

Only some remnants left and the feeling is GREAT.

So many treasures unearthed and relived!

Everyone should do this... archiving their family treasures.

Guess our digital era began with the Millennium year.

But before that, there were fun photos as well.

This Selfie (in a big mirror obviously) by my husband Pieter made me laugh!

Guess this photo has been made at the Open Lucht Museum in Arnhem, The Netherlands or Open Air Museum.

Happy that Pieter did quit his smoking when he turned 50!

This is one of the pipes, his Big Ben Pipo, that we still keep on our pipe rack.

Here, my Pieter is almost 22... A very handsome man, this was at one of his graduations.

Looking at him, he might as well have become a 'Dressman' (male model) with his always impeccable style.

I'm still very proud of him and very much in love as well.

Yes, yesterday my handsome husband turned 87!

Much to be grateful for and we hope and pray that God grants us many more years together.

At least, Pieter too is very happy with all the organized photos now to view as a slideshow on a big screen and reliving many fond moments.

Yes, due to his age also I was in a hurry doing and accomplishing this.

First I've done all his family photos and all of his thousands of slides.

In order to pass them on to his adopted daughter who's also related by blood to his ex, so there is lots of sentimental value in those early photos.

Pieter is the only surviving member of his family and now his Goddaughter and other niece do have that part of history preserved and explained by text.

That was a lot of work; hell it was a MEGA TASK!

LAST I've done our photos and it is amazing what we lived through with our job as International Consultants.

For sure I could no longer do that... not in the health condition I'm in right now, neither Pieter with his heart condition and knee problems. Both of us also do have occasional back problems.

Thanks for your patience and soon I will be catching up!

Happy Easter to my friends in Greece and all others I wish you a Happy Weekend.

Related link:

{Our 6 Vintage Tobacco Pipes and Cheroot Holder} | showing you Pieter's collection
{Royal Wedding invitation + PIETER's Birthday!} | showing a happy husband
 {Dutch King's Birthday Celebration in Atlanta, Georgia} | showing Pieter the day after his Birthday in 2015
{BIRTHDAY} | post from 2013 showing Pieter

{Healthy Vegan Pancakes Recipe}

For a healthy and very easy pancake recipe, this one will do the job!

Again I did substitute the whole wheat with whole wheat pastry flour from Whole Foods Market and it works just perfect.

Instead of berries I used the first time just fruits I had available... kiwi, cantaloupe melon and seedless grapes.

Dusted off with desiccated coconut (unsweetened!) that is available at Trader Joe's also, together with the coconut sugar.

Of course I also use the real Maple Syrup, grade A that we usually buy at Costco Wholesale 

This is how the batter looks like...

You can find the recipe under Vegan Fluffy Pancakes  by clicking it. 

Using my large 32 cm (12.5") cast aluminum Select Cuisine pan from Europe that we found at a Hanos.nl wholesale in The Netherlands, where I went with my best friend Ellie.

It came home with me in the suitcase!

Mine did not turn out that Fluffy though, so I omitted it in my title.

Yes, you can be very generous in using this healthy Coconut Oil, also from Costco.

Pieter and I both loved them very much and I like to make a larger batch. Easy for having something on hand when you have no time.

Just add fresh fruits and flaked coconut with maple syrup and you are eating!

Hope this helped some of you that look for healthy recipes for diabetes type 2 or other health reason!

Thanks for stopping by! Ⓜ

{Life is Paradise, and we ALL are IN Paradise, but REFUSE to SEE it}

Hope you all are enjoying spring, even for those Europeans that are facing snow...

Because I'm still scanning my final albums, no time for posting, nor visiting blogs. 

Sorry for my absence but I have to complete this!

For that I share with you our beautiful Lilac Clematis 'Silver Moon' and a great quote:

 "Life is paradise, and we are all in paradise, but we refuse to see it." −Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Yes indeed, Life is in many ways PARADISE!

Look at all those precious blossoms in spring.

ENJOY them and wishing you a lovely week.

Holy Week for my blogger friends in Greece.

Happy Spring! Ⓜ

Related post by me:
{Our Lilac Clematis 'Silver Moon'}

{Our Golden Live Oak 'Quercus Virginiana Grand View Gold' in April}

Just have to share with you our biggest garden treasure and that is the very rare, I do believe it's perhaps the ONLY one within the USA... Golden Live Oak 'Quercus Virginiana Grand View Gold.

We had tea on the balcony and I took this photo just this afternoon.

To the right you see the brown foliage of our sick Italian Cypress...

But this Golden Live Oak ' Quercus Virginiana Grand View Gold' looks stunning every spring! 
We have it now for 20 years and it is not a tall tree, like the Quercus behind it.

This  Golden Live Oak ' Quercus Virginiana Grand View Gold' has been a big influencer for selecting our Benjamin Moore Golden Mist color for the exterior of the house.
Don't you love this sight?!
Photo is from April 16 in the morning.

This huge 'Magnolia Namnetensis Flore Pleno' is framing our home nicely, as does the semi evergreen oak on the other side of the house.
All the Pot Plants on the Patio dwarf in comparison...

Turning around makes you see the Golden Live Oak as well as the huge Magnolia Namnetensis Flore Pleno with in the back another huge oak tree... 
We got many different oak trees on our property!

Looking past the Magnolia, the Golden Live Oak comes into full view behind the retainer wall, with our Acer Negundo Kelly's Gold Yellow Box Elder.
Stepping back now... To the right you can see the road.

View from our driveway where the two (one already died) Italian Cypress struggle for life and our Windmill Palm.
Against a backdrop from the Quercus Virginiana Live Oak, a green form.

The Acer Rubrum, or Red Maple, gives its best red and the Acer Negundo Kelly's Gold Yellow Box Elder, to the left is also a show stopper!
The above photo is taken this afternoon, from the balcony.

Also our Canary Island Palm (in a pot) is visible here.

This last photo is from April 14, less sunny and thus looking less golden...
Hope you enjoyed our Garden Treasure!
Wishing you a lovely new week ahead and always thanks for stopping by.
In one week I also will find time again to visit you... SORRY!

🌴

Related links to our Quercus Virginiana Grand View Gold:

Adam Black (who tried several times to propagate this tree!), together with Jason A. Smith from the School of Forest Resources and Conservation University of Florida/IFAS did show one of my photos towards the bottom of their Pdf: Presentation University of Florida
{Golden Live Oak 'Quercus Virginiana Grand View Gold' in Sunshine at its BEST} | my previous post with more links below

{Wearing my Escada Sheath Dress with Jacket}

On January 5, blogger friend Marie-Thérèse from The French Touch wrote about: Something Old, Something New and Something Essential and in the commenting she asked me how many Sheaths I have in my wardrobe...

Okay Marie-Thérèse, here is one of them!

On April 9, it was a rather cool day for Georgia standards so I loved wearing my Cashmere Wool Escada Sheath with Silk Leopard trim + Jacket!

Also wearing my thick Majorica pearls with this outfit.

Here you can see the comments about the very subject and some funny language details as well.

A Classic Sheath Dress in Dutch we call: 'Nauw Aansluitend Jurkje' or Tight Fitting Dress if translated. But if you search for 'Sheath' in Dutch it also will show a condom... only emphasizing the tight fit! 

But let's go back to Fashion...

Just love to wear this soft and warm Cashmere Wool with Silk Escada outfit. It is lined too.

Together with my Wolford tights and Escada suede pumps it works fine.

I also got to wear my Majorica pearls...

Come to think about it, since we both retired, we don't attend Congresses anymore so the need for dressing up is a lot less. 

Frankly, I'm more of a jeans and shorts wearing girl...

What do you like to wear mostly?

This was on April 9, with our Rose Arbor and soon our two white Eden roses will be blooming!

Things are always growing and time is going fast.

Proud for having scanned now 25 of my 33 photo albums; so there is light at the end of the tunnel. 

What looked like a mega task is diminishing now.

With perseverance and will power.

BUT, in tackling this job, I'm a bit too sedentary for my health...

In a week that too will change and we get back to walking and biking together and hope that will improve my health.

Went to see my Nephrologist on Wednesday and learned that both of my kidneys are functioning for 48%.

That hit me real hard; thinking about my Mom who died last year, after almost 8 years of kidney dialysis.

This means that my stage CKD (Chronic Kidney Disease) went from 2 to 3A.

Let's hope I will be able to reverse it somewhat! 

At least keeping it steady and not progressing...

Related link to previous post by me showing a Sheath Dress:

{My Lace Crocheted Gloves}

{My HEALTHY Breakfast with Home Baked Whole Wheat Bread}

Just LOVE to bake my own bread and yes, with all my photo scanning work, I still managed to do this. Using my favorite French Silform round bread form duo this works great.

 My actual Breakfast Plate!

Half an avocado, and a mandarin partly shown below left, rye bread with vegan cheese on top of my Home Baked Whole Wheat Bread.

For the rye bread with whole wheat I use Fleischmann's Soft Margarine made with Olive Oil.

At the top you can see the slice of my Home Baked Whole Wheat Bread, before I smeared Almond Butter on top!

That's what I eat every day for breakfast with a small coffee with cocoa added for health benefit and some coconut oil, and a mug of Trader Joe's Soy Milk because of its very low sugar.

The recipe I adapted a bit from this: Easy Whole Wheat Artisan Bread. 

For Whole Wheat Flour I used Whole Wheat Pastry Flour from Whole Foods.

For Dark Brown Cane Sugar I used Coconut Palm Sugar and that's it.

Best is to mix these dry ingredients very well, before adding the whole wheat flour and I did use a flour sifter!

The water should not be cold, rather luke warm.

In the recipe the warning is for not to overwork the dough so I used my Rosle Round Handle Turner for Non Stick Pans again, just click.

After blending I did minimal kneading and let it rise over night.

Here are the two batches, inside my Silform Moule Rond for Pain (bread)

Mine measure 7" diameter and are perfect.

Next morning, gently kneading it through again, I also did make slits in the dough, letting it rest one more hour, covered by a cotton tea towel.

My adaptation also is in the way of baking as I do not cover my bread and let it inside the oven for 65 minutes on 370°F instead. 

Voilà

The end result is also seen in the first picture.

Bon appétit!

Related links with previous posts by me:
{My 6th Blog Award & Secret for my Size and Weight}
{Flat Belly Diet Foods - Meet the MUFAs!}

{Our Free Award Night at Grand Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead}

Yes, Hyatt Hotels do have lots of perks. From the beginning, when my husband Pieter was still Vice President Training & Development for Campbell Soup, he often stayed at the Hyatt Cherry Hill, NJ. 

That hotel is no longer under their label but from 1984, Pieter had his Hyatt Gold Card which came with great perks. Not only did they offer free nights but also a free airline ticket and cruise. All that has stopped, yes the luxury and glamour as we know it from the 80s and 90s, is no more.

BUT Hyatt still offers many perks and high courtesy. So we are happy that we've stayed with them for several decades now, as a loyal customer and we even use their Hyatt Credit Card (Visa), together with the Platinum Hyatt card, for which we even earn faster points for free nights.

Grand Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead, like all their Hyatt hotels, has the highest comfort level bedding... almost like at home!

Down pillows on this King-Sized Hyatt Grand Bed™with down duvet blanket.

Well, being a many decades loyal customer at Hyatt, does pay off!

Look what they did bring up to our room; out of courtesy.

That makes one very happy!

So we comfortably did nestle ourselves and yes we did indulge!

Even a personal Welcome like this on the screen...

A rather healthy treat with fresh fruits, almonds, cranberries and delicious cheeses.

Prepared with love!

For breakfast I did have waffles with fresh berries and I forgot to take a picture...

As a matter-of-fact, I hate to show a half eaten piece...

So I only can show you husband Pieter's Roasted Spring Vegetable Frittata, made from Egg beaters, squash, mushrooms, arugula, red onions, bell peppers.

We always look forward to staying there again!

🌹