Teapot used by the Dali Llama?

I have two pewter teapots which I bought at the Tibetan Monastery's garage sale years ago.  I know that the serving of tea is an important part of the Tibetan Monks' daily life.  So it is possible, I suppose, that one of these teapots could have been used to serve tea to the Dali Llama. He has visited our town more than once.  Anyway I like to think so. It seems to make the tea very soothing!  One had the knob broken and Bill fixed it and added a lovely Mother of Pearl insert.  I am drinking my favorite tea, Lapsang Souchong along with my low carbohydrate lunch.  I have had so much trouble with this low carb diet that I am planning to go to a dietician.  More about that later.

I will say that I've begun to enjoy having my favorite low carb foods whenever I want to!  Look at this breakfast!

That is a hamburger next to the omelet.  Bill has a mini-bagel and I have avocado!  Yum!


I have been playing with my doll rooms more and more.  Now, as the rejects pile up, visitors laugh and view that pile as another display!

This is the Big Bad Wolf with a cup and a clock and a table and rug, all just set over here in favor of other clocks and other tables.  He is reclining against a magnifying glass in a fabric pouch, a gift from dear friends.  He looks very comfortable doesn't he?  Notice the toothy grin!

I have had to set my new budget at $70 a week and it's starting to work out.  I had to get it out of my head that many treats had to be stocked every week.  I feared not having something good to eat.  Perhaps I am a carbohydrate addict, a term I've found in my research.  I have had some lucky sales too, to help the budget.  Aldi's had a vegetable sale this week and for $15 I was able to buy enough veggies to last for about six weeks.  Broccoli, cauliflower, and red and yellow peppers  were all frozen as soon as we got home from the store.  I blanched the cauliflower and the broccoli, but not the peppers.  You know, boiled them a couple of minutes, then plunged them in cold water, shoved them in bags and froze them immediately.  The peppers were just sliced, put on a cookie sheet and frozen and then slid into a big bag to take out however many I need.  Even for on a fresh salad.  They thaw out by the time you've got the rest of the dinner fixed.

Then when I went to Kroger's, they had pork loin roasts on sale for $1.98 a pound, I think.  I got two roasts and cut them in half to freeze.  The first one I roasted that same day and it was so good I went back and bought two more today.  And still I haven't quite spent the $70.

Viewing the Royal Wedding

 The Royal Wedding has come and gone.  I got up at a quarter to 4 and got dressed in my big hat and long dress.  I had printed out the program the day before.
 I wasn't sleepy at all, I was so excited to see the crowds, the hats, the cars, many of them rather exotic.  We settled on Katie Couric, with Harry Smith back in the states for the weather disaster in the South.  Bill dressed up and put on his new cashmere sweater to look very British.

 Here I am putting clotted cream on my home-made crumpet.  I will admit to eating several crumpets, they turned out to be quite good.  The clotted cream is really a "mock clotted cream" recipe off the internet, but it was very delicious with home canned strawberry jam.

 Here are the scones with rosewater flavored icing and candied violets under the cake dome.  They were just right, not too sweet.

Teapots and coffeepots are lined up on the counter in the kitchen.  It was all set up the night before so all I had to do was push some buttons.  Later I scrambled some eggs and baked some thick-cut bacon from the butcher's and we ate breakfast just as the ceremony was beginning, on tv trays in the living room.
After breakfast, when the ceremony was over, I began to feel sleepy.  In fact, after our first lone visitor had left to begin the duties of her day, I might have dozed off a bit.  Later another visitor came and I found I needed another scone and a cup of real coffee to wake up
     All in all it was just as fun as I had expected and hoped it would be.  It was a very sentimental moment and Bill and I held hands, sitting on the love seat.  Our best wishes to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge!