Tag Archives: Photography

Forget Me Not Cookies

Posted on by Laurie

Yesterday I was looking at a post by Big Hungry Gnomes about a tempting-looking dessert, called Eaton Mess. That dessert is made with little meringues which reminded me of one of my favorite little cookies. Forget Me Nots are wonderful to make in warm weather because you just preheat the oven in the morning, pop the cookies in, turn the oven off and then the cookies are ready for a late afternoon snack … all cool, crisp, and sweet.  These chocolate and nut filled meringues are the first cookies that I learned to make …  thanks, Mom! … and I still make them.

Forget Me Nots

Makes about 32 cookies

2 lg. egg whites

1/2 t. vanilla extract

1/8 t. salt

1/2 c. granulated white sugar

1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips or 5 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped

1 c. finely chopped walnuts

Note: Sometimes I get carried away and add a whole bunch of butterscotch chips too, which makes the cookies really chunky.

  1. Place egg whites in a large bowl. Let sit for 30 minutes or until they have come up to room temperature.
  2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
  3. Add vanilla and salt to egg whites. Beat until stiff but not dry peaks form. Very gradually beat in sugar until shiny, stiff peaks form. (Peaks are shiny and tips stand up straight.)
  4. Fold in chocolate and walnuts.
  5. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto baking sheets spacing cookies at least 2” apart. Place baking sheets in oven. Close the door and turn the oven off.  Without opening the door, let the cookies sit in the oven for 6 to 8 hours.
  6. Remove baking sheets from oven. Use a thin metal spatula to lift cookies off parchment paper.

Apricot Rhubarb Squares: A Seasonal Treat

Posted on by Laurie

Alas, I have no new stories … but I do have a yummy recipe to share. Serve these treats for breakfast or dessert.

Apricot Rhubarb Squares

2 c. diced rhubarb

1 c. granulated white sugar

1 cinnamon stick

4 whole cloves

2 whole allspice

2 T. water

1/2 c. dried apricots, diced

1 c. rolled oats

1 c. dark brown sugar, firmly packed

1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1/3 c. unsalted butter

1/2 c. finely chopped pecans

1 T. cinnamon sugar

  1. Place rhubarb, white sugar, cinnamon, cloves, allspice and water in a medium size non-stick pot over medium heat. Bring to a low simmer and continue to simmer for about 10 minutes or until the rhubarb is soft and the mixture resembles melted jam. When done cooking, the mixture should measure about 1 to 1 1/4 cups. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Remove the cinnamon stick, cloves and allspice. (Count to make sure that you have them all.) Stir in apricots.
  2. While the mixture is cooling, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Generously butter an 8” square baking pan.
  3. In medium bowl whisk together oats, brown sugar, and flour.  Using your hands, cut in butter until the mixture forms pea-size crumbs. Mix in pecans. Evenly press 1 1/3 c. of the mixture into the bottom of the buttered baking pan. Spread the apricot rhubarb mixture over the oatmeal base. Top with the remaining crumb mixture. Sprinkle top evenly with cinnamon sugar.
  4. Bake for approximately 43 to 47 minutes or until the top is golden and the filling is bubbly. Cool on a wire rack before cutting into squares. If desired, chill before serving. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Apricot Rhubarb Squares

You Can’t Give Away Kindness

Posted on by Laurie

Kindness is difficult to give away because it always keeps coming back

In recent weeks we have hosted a potpourri of events at the Bed & Breakfast. Afterward, several of our guests sent us flowers to thank us. We, of course, did not expect flowers; but it did make us feel appreciated and that’s a nice feeling. Moreover, it was a reminder of why we do our best to do more than just what is expected of us. It is rewarding to see that our work makes people happy. How lucky we are to have such gracious guests and so many guests that we can call friends!

Memorial Day Rose

Posted on by Laurie

Memorial Day will soon be here. Appropriately, we -meaning my helper Benjamin, with me looking over his shoulder, giving instructions, and taking photos – planted an eponymously named rose today. Originally called Decoration Day, a day to honor Union soldiers fallen during the Civil War, in the 20th century Memorial Day became a holiday to honor all American soldiers killed in war. Often, however, people use the day to pay respects to any loved ones who have passed away.

Memorial Day Rose, a 2004 Weeks Rose introduction and AARS winner, is a hybrid tea rose with a strong damask rose fragrance. It’s just heavenly. When I was looking for a rose to bring home to plant, I sniffed every single variety at the garden center. While there were several others – Mr. Lincoln and Fragrant Cloud –  to which my nose gave equally high scores, I thought that Memorial Day would look best in the spot that I had picked out. And as I thought about it, I realized that this rose was an excellent selection for more than aesthetic reasons.

My father-in-law, a highly decorated war veteran, recently passed away. So, I think that as members of our family pass by this rose in the garden, the sweet fragrance of Memorial Day may occasion pleasant memories of time spent with Bob.

Memorial Day Rose

Benjamin planting Memorial Day Rose

The James W. Berry Memorial Rose Garden, Manhattan City Park

Posted on by Laurie

Manhattan City Park is only a few blocks from the Bed & Breakfast and I’ve been wanting to get over there to see the Rose Garden for a few weeks now. With yesterday morning’s breakfast starting late, I was able to dash over to the park for some pictures about 45 minutes after sunrise. It’s hard to believe, but I actually got there too early as the sun was blocked by trees and I had to wait for it to get a little higher in the sky before any of the flowers were in the sun. I did get some nice pictures of the roses and the fountain, but was not able to stay for as long as I would have liked.

The Rose Garden was started in the 1920’s by Mr. Berry, an 1883 graduate of what was then Kansas State Agricultural College (now Kansas State University). He was a member of the Kiwanis Club which was instrumental in tending to and funding the garden in the early years. The garden served in part as a demonstration plot to show that roses could be grown in Kansas. Boy can they!

The fountain was originally put in City Park in 1895 and was moved to the Rose Garden in 1986. Whenever I study the fountain, I am delighted by the detailed workmanship and wonder if there is still anyone around who does such work.

Paul Scarlett Rose on Arbor

Tropicana Rose

Olympiad Rose

Bella Roma Rose

Fountain Detail

A Revelation at Seven Dolors Church

Posted on by Laurie

For the twelve years that we have lived behind Seven Dolors, I’ve been trying to get the perfect picture of this historic church. Last evening, I waited until the sun was low and then I ran out and got in position with my camera. And after all these years, I finally had a revelation … well make that two: (1) I needed to stop trying to get a picture of the church because the pictures in which I tried to fit in as much as possible were all boring and (2)  I needed to stop trying to get the perfect picture because I should consider any picture that says what I want it to say as a perfect picture. So I tried to photograph those features that draw my eye to Seven Dolors over and over. I tried to capture a bit of what is beautiful and moving about this church. Here are a few of my results from last night. Something tells me that I’ll be photographing Seven Dolors for years to come.

Happy Mother’s Day

Posted on by Laurie

It has been a joy-filled few days here at The Morning Star with several large families staying with us to celebrate graduation at K-State. Also, it has been a lot of work – fun, but work. Today is Mother’s Day, which means another happy occasion, though a slower paced one.

My mother taught me to garden when I was a little girl. To this day, we still share a passion for pretty flowers and foliage. One of our favorite things to do together is to admire a well-tended garden. So for my Mother’s Day blog, I decided to take some photographs of the “Apple Blossom” Double Impatiens that I have blooming in pots along the front porch. To my mother, and all of the wonderful mothers out there, Happy Mother’s Day!

Putting on the Purple: Life in a College Town

Posted on by Laurie

Manhattan, Kansas is a college town of about 50,000 residents. If anything can be said of Manhattanites it is that they believe in the adage “be true to your school.” Around The Little Apple this is demonstrated by wearing and displaying the colors of Kansas State University: royal purple and white. With a house full of graduation-goers this weekend, I’ve been finding ways to play on the purple and white theme. To all the graduates out there, we at The Morning Star congratulate you and wish you happiness and success!

For the Love of Old Houses

Posted on by Laurie

Our house was built in 1902. Its architectural style is Queen Anne transitional and it has many lovely features that one doesn’t often see in modern homes. One of the comments that we frequently hear around the B & B is “Boy with an old house like this, you sure must have a lot of work to do.”  We do have quite a list of work that we’ve done, or had done, to the house in the years that we have owned it. But the list isn’t long just because the house is old. A number of the repairs are ones that a anything except a brand new house could potentially require. (See my post “Basements and Butterflies.”)  All houses require maintenance and ours happens to be a big house with interesting architectural details which we would like to preserve.  So in a way, I guess, that does come back around to the age of the house.

Our contractor, Russ, employs a euphemism which we dread hearing  … “deferred maintenance.” That is when a home owner doesn’t stay on top of repairs and something that could have been a smaller job turns into a bigger and hence more expensive one. So when my husband recently discovered water coming through the porch roof between two of the columns, I got on the phone to Russ. Russ sent brother Tim over who told me that they were going to have to prop up the porch roof and pull several columns so that they could remove and replace the damaged boards. I didn’t like the image that conjured up. I had visions of broken columns and  layers of rotten wood. The wrap around porch with its columns and its varnished wood ceiling is one of our favorite features of our house and I didn’t want anything bad happening to it. Russ and Tim and the guys have always done good work for us, though, so I did my best to put my worries aside.

We chose a sunny day when there weren’t any guests around the house as the best time to have the work done. Once the guys to started, they had the roof secured and the columns pulled  out in almost no time. And violà the house was still standing. Thanks to Bill’s observant eyes, and to our trusty contractor, we caught the damage before it had gone very far; and everything has been fixed. They were able to do all of the repairs yesterday and today painting is all that needs to be done.

 The culprit in all of this  — improper gutter installation. The gutters didn’t have the appropriate backing where they wrapped around some of the porch’s corners. They looked fine from the front. We just had no idea what was behind them. So you can guess what is next on our list. But if you own an old home like ours, you’ve got to love it and that means giving it some t.l.c.

Pulling Out Columns

Getting Ready to Paint

Arroz Con Leche: Morning Comfort

Posted on by Laurie

The air felt cool and crisp when I got up this morning and the sky looked grey while I was thinking about making breakfast. It was a late breakfast this morning. Usually even in May I start cooking before or right around sunrise, so it was a luxury to be able to step outside to take a peek at the weather.  Feeling in the mood for some comfort food, I decided to make a pot of Arroz Con Leche. Arroz Con Leche – a sweet and creamy rice dish – is a dish that I love, but don’t make often enough in part because I often feel too pressed for time in the morning and in part because I know that if my guests don’t eat it all, I will finish off every last bite myself.  This morning, though, I decided that I could deal with both of those things and just when I was done cooking the rice, I noticed that the cloud cover had broken and the sky turned to sunshine.

Arroz Con Leche

(makes 8 side dish or 4 main dish servings)

1 3/4 c. to 2 1/4 c. water

1 stick good quality cinnamon

2 wide strips of orange zest about 2″ long

1/2 t. salt

1 c. long grain rice

4 c. whole milk

3/4 c. granulated white sugar

1/2 t. vanilla extract

1/2 c. mixed dried berries or currants

Cinnamon Sugar

(1) Place 1 3/4 c. water, cinnamon stick, orange zest and salt in a medium sauce pan. (It is good to use a pan with a glass lid so that you can keep an eye on the rice once it gets added.) Cover pan and bring water to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes.

(2) Add rice to the pot and simmer, covered, until rice is tender and water has been absorbed, about 10 to 20 minutes. (The time will depend upon the heat of your stove and the type of rice you are using.) If the water is absorbed before the rice is tender, add a little more water as necessary.

(3) Once the rice is tender, stir in milk, sugar and vanilla extract. Cook rice and milk over medium to medium low heat, stirring frequently, until the milk has thickened just slightly, about 20 minutes. Do not let the milk boil.

(4) Once the milk has thickened slightly, remove the cinnamon stick and orange zest. Stir in dried fruit. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar before serving. Serve warm.

Note: I tried many rice pudding recipes before I settled upon this one –  based on Rick Bayless’ recipe from Mexico One Plate at a Time (Scribner, New York, 2000) – as my favorite for breakfast. It goes nicely with fruits such as sliced bananas or diced mangoes.