Welcome to the Weekend coffee share! Can I get you a cup of coffee? Tea? Or perhaps some hot chocolate? There’s also the option of a refreshing orange/pomegranate smoothie available. How are you doing?
If we were having coffee I would tell you that I’m doing good. I celebrated my 43rd birthday on Friday, and I feel very blessed. I feel blessed to live to experience another birthday, I am grateful for my health, my children, my family, my friends, my home, good food, work, to be surrounded by amazing nature, and all the peace in my life. I am in a good place right now, and I am very grateful.
Yesterday we decorated our Christmas tree. My ten year old daughter is in charge of that, and I’d say it turned out nicely.
As promised I’m sharing photos of the new varieties of sprouts that I wrote about last week. The Adiago mix was rich in taste and a nice side dish to all the vegetarian dishes I made this week. I also tried it on top of avocado sandwiches, and I really liked that combination, with some herbal salt and black pepper on top. The Fenugreek has a lovely aroma, that made me think of an Indian restaurant. They also have a slight taste of curry, which may have contributed to my association to being at an Indian restaurant. I am most definitely going to introduce both the Adiago mix and the Fenugreek to our regular diet. The first container in the photos is alfalfa (a permanent resident in my fridge,) the second container is the Adiago mix (new to me variety,) the third is Fenugreek (new to me variety).
How is your weekend so far? I have some errands to run today, and I’m also going to prepare a presentation that I’m having in school next Tuesday. Have a wonderful rest of your weekend! Thank you Natalie for hosting the Weekend Coffee Share.
Love,
Maria
GreenDreams 
Hi Maria, that’s exciting to try new foods, and reading about how happy you are with your life is lovely. I feel the same right now, after settling down post-exams, I feel I’ve come to a good place in life. How nice to get the Christmas tree up, we had decided not to have one this year, but then changed our minds. May I ask what you do with it after Christmas? I’ve been wondering what’s the most sustainable way to get rid of it. Since we moved here, I’ve tried planting them in the garden (we always get small trees) but they never survive.
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Thank you for your sweet comment. I am happy that you share the feeling of contentment after finishing your exams. it’s a wonderful feeling 🙂
We actually have a synthetic tree that I inherited from a former colleague that was going to throw it out, and replace it with a bigger one. That was three christmases ago. We are perfectly happy with this one. If I had a real tree I would put it at the bottom of a new Hugelkultur bed.
Thanks for the visit! Enjoy your new week 🙂
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Happy birthday 🙂 The tree looks good, your daughter did a great job. We put ours up yesterday evening. The sprouts also look good. I’m sure delicious.
Hope you are having a great weekend!
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Thank you Trent, and my apologise for there late reply.
Do you have a special tradition for decorating the tree. Those things are very important to my daughter. In fact she loves that we have a “fake” tree that looks the exact same every year. It’s a procedure to put it together and unbox the decorations. So much fun!
I hope your new week started out great!
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The main tradition would be an alcohol containing beverage (we drink very little so…), Christmas music and cats going wild 😉 I do have a specific esthetic I aim for, but it doesn’t look exactly the same every year.
The week has started well. I drove to Cape Cod last night and will be here the rest of the week (telework is great). Hope you are having a great week.
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Sounds like fun! It’s a great week so far! Happy Friday 🙂
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Happy Friday!
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Happy birthday and weekend, Maria! Did you have any cake? The tree and the three sprouts all look good. Thank you for your weekend coffee share.
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Thank you Natalie! Yes, I did have what we call a “Princess cake”. It’s a soft angel cake in three layers with cream, vanilla curd, and strawberry jam at the base layer, with pink marzipan on top of the cake. I hope you have a wonderful week!
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Happy Birthday Maria! Wishing you a wonderful year ahead 💜🙏💜
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Thank you so very much Dinah!
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Happy birthday, again, Maria! Were are exactly 20 years apart–guess who’s older, LOL? Your daughter did a great job on the tree–I miss my daughters at that age trimming the tree–now I have to do it! Those sprouts look yummy and I have had them on sandwiches–better than lettuce IMO! Enjoy your week!
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Thank you Terri! I hope your birthday was wonderful and best wishes for the year ahead 🙂 I do remember that we are exactly 20 years apart 🙂 Have a great week! Your snow photos looks inviting!
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Thank you, Maria! You have a great week as well!
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Thank you! Happy Friday!
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Happy belated birthday, Maria! I am so glad that you are doing so well, you deserve it. 🙂 H. did a fine job on the tree… I can’t believe how fast she is growing up, time sure flies.
We’ve had a bit of rain this week and the stream looks ‘normal’ (not super full), but I am pleased to see it. More coming this week while we are gone to CA, leaving tomorrow night– whee!
Good luck on Tues!
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Thank you so much Eliza! I hope you are having a blast on your trip! Say hi to Cali from me 🙂 ❤
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Will do! Just had 2 days in PHX, mid-60s nice, tomorrow to Reno and then Truckee…and snow!
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Just wonderful!!
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Hi Maria,
Before I forget I wanted to mention I absolutely love your Swedish mug, I meant to tell you on FB. Happy Birthday, you look beautiful and it’s so fun to help celebrate from afar. Gosh, we need to get Christmas decorations up this year soon. We are late doing this for us, and I’m thinking of working on some Christmas cards to send out this week today. I love all the sprouts and thank you for sharing photos of the differences. Do you store them in the fridge? Or room temp? I’m thinking fridge, they would last longer so I’m curious so I store them correctly once I start growing them. I’m determined to grow some soon! I hope you have a wonderful week ahead! ❤️🎄🤩❄️❤️
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Thank you so much Diana! The mug is from the store Dalarna Design of Sweden https://www.dalarnadesign.se/en/. When people think of Sweden and Swedish design, art, patterns etc they often think of Dalarna, the region where I live. Many of the curbits patterns and the Dala-Horse origins from Dalarna.
I think Christmas cards is a sweet tradition even though I will admit I do not send any Christmas cards..I do make some with the children, and sometimes I give cards to my own children, and perhaps my sister, but I do not send them by mail. It is so much fun to get a real card or letter by mail though 🙂 So rare these days. I remember growing up I had penpals in many different countries. It made learning new languages more interesting for sure.
I hope you are enjoying a wonderful new week! ❤
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Sorry I forgot to answer your question about how I store the sprouts. When they are ready to eat I store them in the fridge, they last up to a week there.
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Aww, thank you so much Maria!! Thank you for the link and I didn’t realize the Dala-horse origins is from Dalama! The perfect mug for you to have and I may need one myself. 🤠
The Christmas cards I do enjoy giving and receiving even though it’s not popular as it once was and I only get a handful at best. It’s hit or miss if I send any at all, and I didn’t get to them yet so we will see. The penpals in the day I bet was wonderful!! Thanks for how to store the sprouts!! ❤️
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Hope you had a great birthday! Your daughter did a great job on the tree! The sprouts look great – do they grow pretty fast? I remember having an orange clove around Christmas when I was growing up. Smelled heavenly. Have a wonderful week!
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Thank you Kathleen ! I did, I worked and then enjoyed the evening with my children 🙂 Just perfect!
The sprouts I’ve tried so far have taken 2-6 days to mature, depending on variety, and climate (it is much faster during the armer months.) At the moment (December) it takes three days to sprout alfalfa (my favourite) in my kitchen.
Happy Friday!
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Hi Maria. I’m late again this week. Lots of distractions again and I didn’t get most of my normal weekend. Like you I’m being thankful for health and family and relative peace. Our home is nearly drama-free and I so love it that way, But the holidays and family caused distractions, but they’re all good ones. Rain has finally arrived to Sonoma County and our hillsides are green again.
Your post did make me miss the days when I had a 10 year old daughter running around. Today, we got a call from her (from her medical school apartment). It was great to hear her voice but they are making her earn this doctorate. Shocking right?
Sounds like all is well with you.
May the holidays leave you only when you’re full of great memories.
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No worries Gary, looks like I am pretty late myself 🙂 It’s time for another Happy Friday and a fabulous weekend already. It is so intense at work and school for another ten days (work) ….(and another year with my school. LOL. )
I am happy to hear you got some rain, and were able to at least talk to your daughter. I can imagine her school being very demanding. Have a wonderful weekend and a magical holiday season.
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Happy belated birthday, Maria. Our pastor also has your same birthday only about 21 years before yours. Hope this is the start of your best year ever! Enjoy your Christmas preparations. 🙂
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Thank you so much Marsha! I appreciate your kind wishes. Have a wonderful weekend and Holiday season to come.
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Have a wonderful holiday, yourself, Maria.
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Happy birthday, Maria!
I’ve made saag paneer one time but something was missing from the dish but I was not sure what. Later I found out it was fenugreek. It does make the dish otherwise saag paneer is just spinach, cream, spices, and cheese!
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Thank you Julie! I can’t say that I have ever made any dish with fenugreek…yet. I’ve only used it for toppings on soups and stews so far. I imagine it will taste different if heated? Looking forward to doing some experimenting in the kitchen this weekend. Happy Friday!
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