Lunch - Old Friends/New Place

 Girlfriend Lunch

Old Friends...New Spot!

Lancaster, PA is a great place to live.  There is so much history here...as well as great entertainment, fabulous restaurants, and lots of surrounding natural beauty.

The most recent new spot to visit is Lancaster Southern Market.  Built as a farmer's market in 1888, it has been revived into a food hub and shared office space, it's the newest place to grab some good food.

My college friends met to sample some of the offerings and enjoy the refurbished building...

One of the first things you see when you enter the building is this green, living work of art.  Plants and moss make a great focal point.

The front of the market has a great coffee shop that is open more hours than the rest of the market...open early for a coffee lovers.

There are various food vendors all around the perimeter of the market...

Lots of comfortable seating...

In the center is a large bar...serving all kinds of drinks.

I enjoyed the shrimp spring rolls from Pho Life, North-style Vietnamese cuisine.

My friends enjoyed a wonderful salad from Made by Lolo...

and a wonderful bowl with pork and egg roll.

We have been friends since meeting in college in 1973!

And still having fun together...selfie time!

Of course, we had to check out the Lady's Room...very neat, modern with a twist...

and I just loved the floor tile.

If you are anywhere near Lancaster, PA...be sure to make a stop at Southern Market. Here is some info about this neat, new spot - 

https://www.southernmarketlancaster.com/

You can check out the dates and times that Southern Market is open at the website above.

Have you found any new place to eat ?  Please leave a comment and share your tips...always up for a road trip to find new places to explore.  Thanks so much for stopping by Our New Vista...have a Marvelous March!

 

Never Too Much Paris!

Paris !  One of our favorite places to visit - the photo above was taken in November of 2018 on our last trip to that wonderful city.  I love having a little bit of Paris in our home.  You can see our Paris themed guest bath in this post We'll Always Have Paris  While there are little touches of Paris all over our home, I have been looking for new bedding for the guest room that is attached to the Paris bath. Did not really NEED new bedding, but we have had this quilt set for several years - 

I like this quilt set...the colors go well in this room and it is a cozy look.  And since Covid we have not had many overnight visitors, so I was just waiting for something to peak my interest. 

A few weeks ago I saw an advertisement on television for a sale on bedding at Macy's.  We don't live near a Macy's with the nearest one being about an hour drive away. I visited Macy's website and found this - 

An 8 piece set at a really good price!  The question was what size to order.  The bed in the guest room is a double bed.  I usually buy a queen comforter or quilt because I like the way it drapes.  But, since this set came with a bed skirt and sheets I decided to go for the double size.  I briefly thought about purchasing two sets as we plan to upgrade this bed to a queen whenever we get around to getting a new mattress for our bedroom.  Still looking at options ( Sleep Number ?  Temperpedic? ) so I decided to just go with the double for now.

This is the first time I ordered anything from Macy's and I was pleasantly surprised with the ease of ordering, the sale prices, the FREE shipping, and the speedy delivery.  

Here is the finished look...and I love it!  I had to wait to get the bed together as my husband could not lift anything for a week after his eye surgery.  I was going to lift the mattress myself - saying I did that before - when he said "yes, that was 25 years ago!"   

When we got the project finished I was thrilled.

I added the animal print pillow I had in the living room because I thought it tied all the colors together.

I already had the Eiffel Tower sheets on the bed and kept them on until I can wash the sheet set that came with the purchase.

I love the way it looks...and the print we have above the bed 

(The Fairy Tale by Walter Firle) looks like little girls in Paris.  We have had that print for many years.  While in college studying to be a librarian one of the courses was Folk Tales and Story Telling.   The professor invited us to her home one evening to tell stories and this print was hanging over her fireplace.  I fell in love with it and my dear husband purchased it for me when we had a home and a place to hang it.

Speaking of hanging prints...I mentioned the card I framed in the Paris bathroom post.  Recently a dear friend sent a note on a lovely Eiffel Tower card.   Sitting on the counter was a framed card we purchased in Nice from a sidewalk artist.  I thought it would be good to clear up some counter space and hang three little pictures together.  Now...I would just eyeball it and hang them.  But my dear husband measures and makes it just right -

Here are his calculations on how far apart the pictures should be, where to put the nails....too much math for me !

But his diligence paid off and I think the arrangement looks great!

So, now the bathroom and bedroom are PARIS!  I love the way it looks and keep peeking into the guest room to look at the change. I do think a larger comforter would look better, but I still really love the way this ties the room together.  

Do you have any themed room in your home?

Do you order oversized comforters or stick with the size of your bed?

Any suggestions on what kind of mattress is best ?

I would love to hear from - please leave a comment below.  

Thank you so much for stopping by Our New Vista - have a fabulous week!

Chili No Carne

Happy Valentine's Day ! A big thank you to everyone who sent good wishes last week.  My husband had eye surgery and thankfully everything went well.  Two follow up visits and more this week, but things look good!  Thanks so much!

 It has been a cold and snowy few days so yesterday seemed like the perfect day for Chili. We are no longer eating much beef, but even before we got on a no beef kick I made chili without the beef.

Super easy and very good for these cold days...Don't really have a recipe, but here is how I make our chili - 

I start with these Morning Star crumbles...veggie crumbles that look like ground beef.  You can see they have a lot less fat than meat.

I spray the crock pot with olive oil.

Then add the crumbles...they look just like ground beef.

Next I add some onions and peppers...having frozen ones on hand makes this such and easy meal.

I use a mix of dark and light kidney beans, and I only used two cans the tomatoes ( I mix sauce, puree, and crushed) because...

I remembered that stuck in the back of the freezer was a container of  garden tomatoes a friend gave us this summer.  We don't have a garden patch, but reap the rewards when people pick the produce.  They have so much and share...I had way too many tomatoes to use this summer, so I chopped them up and froze them.   I used these instead of the can of crushed tomatoes.

I opened the cans with this handy battery operated can opener.  I don't use it all the time, but when I am opening a lot of cans and have other things to do in the kitchen it really helps!

Rinse the beans...lots of extra salt in the liquid that we don't need...

The garden tomatoes look so fresh!

I add the beans, peppers, onions and tomatoes to the crock...

along with the beans...

Then pour in two large cans of tomato sauce or puree.

I also rinse the cans out and add a little water...we like our chili not too thick.

Then the spices....once again, I don't measure - just add chili and garlic powder, a little crushed pepper, and I put turmeric in most of my soups.   It adds a little flavor and is so good for you!

Sprinkle the spices on top...add a little bit of salt and pepper and stir well.

Cover and cook on low for about 8-10 hours.  You really don't need to cook this very long since everything is already cooked...but simmering it all day makes the flavors blend so well and makes the house smell delicious.

Before I serve the chili I give it a good stir...

Ladle it into bowls and top with cheddar cheese and a dollop of sour cream...

And serve for a cozy Valentine dinner for two - with some warm corn bread and Yuengling beer!

This makes enough chili to put 6 more servings in the freezer for the next cold day!

Hope you are having a cozy Valentine's Day.  Please leave a comment below - do you make chili ?  Do you use a recipe.  I love hearing from you !

Thanks for stopping by Our New Vista!

 Little Bits of Love

Just a few little touches of love to make our home ready for Valentine's Day.

The wreath on our door is several years old.  Over the years I added the cupid and heart - and will be looking to get better, more colorful ribbon for next year.

I took the title for this blog from the name of the building we moved into over 4 years ago...and because I thought it was a good name for this next phase of our life.   Retired for 5 years now ( we retired one day apart) and really loving this life and being together all the time.   We recently watched Barefoot In The Park - 

From 1967, it is a great Neil Simon movie.  We love it because it reminds us of us when first married.  When the couple moves into their first apartment Jane Fonda, as Corey, writes LOVERS by their name on the mailboxes in the apartment foyer. Now that we are in an apartment I just got the idea to do that here!  

Blast from the past...first time I saw this film was in 1967/68 with my sister when she and her friend took me to Radio City Music Hall in NYC.  That was back when they showed movies in Radio City.  I was 12 years old and fell in love with this story and New York City! If you have never seen this film it is on Amazon Prime.  So much fun...and seeing a young Jane Fonda and Robert Redford is also great.  Lots of laughs in this movie!

Once in the front door I put my red lantern out and changed the holiday greens to a heart ribbon and ornament.  The Je T'aime is a printable from a few years ago, thanks to Ann of On Sutton Place.  I used some fillers and a heart pick from Dollar Tree to round out the scene.

This plate from Ross sits in the dining room hutch...along with some other red accents that I keep in there year round.

Dining table gets some more filler from Dollar Tree, another heart ornament ( also Dollar Tree ) with ribbon, and a pot of silk roses I have had for years.

The server in our dining room acts as a table behind our sofa, so I always have something on it that is easy to move to the side in case I need to set up dessert or candy for a dinner.   Just another bunch of Dollar Tree filler and another heart.

The corner of the kitsch gets a Valentine tin, a heart cookie cutter, and of course, the Eiffel Tower cookie cutter  - because what is more romantic than Paris ???

Another heart pick and a romantic snowman couple for the kitchen sink...

Coffee table gets a Dollar Tree treat...the tray and filler I had from last year.  This year I found the heart glass vase/candle holder.  The heart garland is from years ago...Martha Stewart for K-Mart.   When our

K-Mart closed I picked up quite a few things for pennies. The store is just a mile from our home and as of yet, nothing has taken it's place.  I miss K-Mart...it was great to have it close by when you needed something/anything.

Another heart pick and a romantic bird house...

The little love plate was a favor at a luncheon hosted by a dear friend, the votive holder from Yankee Candles ( there is an outlet near me and I always come home with something I find...) and an ornament marking the place in this old book.  

In November I turn the pages to The Raven...but at Valentine's Day I always flip to Annabel Lee by Poe.  A very romantic poem.

How about you - do you decorate for Valentine's Day ? How do you celebrate - dinner out?  Stay at home?  We usually do not go out as it is always crowded...sometimes we go for a lunch out.  This year we are staying home and I will make something special. Some medical procedures coming up this week so planning on being homebodies in case we are in recovery mode.

Thanks so much for stopping by Our New Vista today - hope you have a wonderful, romantic Valentine's Week.  Please leave a comment below - I love hearing from you !