I’m sorry to say I fell down on the job and didn’t invite anyone to be our guest today, or last week even. But look! I’ve got some good stuff for your contemplating pleasure. 
First up is this very cool site I found called Bottled Up Designs. Beautiful jewelry made from old glass such as blue mason jars, depression glass, blue or pink willow dishware, cobalt or amber glass, etc. The
artist, Laura Bergman, scours the countryside of Pennsylvania picking up the broken pieces she finds, thereby saving unsuspecting wildlife from injury and turning her finds into fabulous bits of “historical” jewelry. Read her story here. Perfect for gift giving or indulge yourself!
Second, I stumbled upon two amazing recipe sites that are a feast for your food gawking eye…foodgawker and Punchfork. Literally
thousands of beautiful images of food gleaned from across the WWW. You simply click on the picture and it takes you straight to the original recipe post. Love them!
Third, I cooked every day last week, but I’ll just share this one easy recipe for homemade brown gravy with onions and mushrooms. You don’t have to use the onions and mushrooms, but the secret ingredient, Kitchen Bouquet, is a must. I made approximately 3 cups, but this was just enough to cover 12 decent
sized seasoned hamburgers. Brown the hamburger patties in a frying pan, but don’t cook through. Place on a jelly roll pan, cover with the gravy, and bake in a 375 degree oven for about 30 minutes.
Brown Gravy
1-2 tsps. oil (your choice)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 small or 1 large can sliced mushrooms, drained
3 cubes Knorr Beef bouillon cubes (or whatever beef bouillon you have on hand)
3 cups water
3 heaping tbsps. corn starch
3/4 cup water (to dissolve the cornstarch in)
1 tbsp. Kitchen Bouquet
Salt & pepper to taste
Saute the chopped onions in the oil in a 2-quart saucepan over medium-high heat until they start to brown and caramelize a bit then add the drained mushrooms. Saute for a bit longer (5 minutes or so) then add the 3 cups of water and bouillon. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Mix the 3/4 cup of water and 3 heaping tablespoons of cornstarch in a separate dish. Add this mixture to your simmering broth, cooking and stirring until thickened. Add the Kitchen Bouquet and stir well. Add salt and pepper to taste, but don’t burn your tongue while tasting it!
Enjoy! 
What’s a kitchen bouquet?
I don’t know what’s in it, but it makes brown gravy taste richer and gives it the dark brown coloring typical of gravy. Click on the picture to see the bottle somewhat better, although it’s blurry.
Yeah… I have a small bottle of kitchen bouquet as well. It keeps forever, it seems, and does exactly what you need for a good looking gravy.
One thing my mom always complains about is meals that are all brown. Bringing the colour of gravy to a darker shade like this actually helps in her opinion, because at least then everything isn’t that same shade of light brown….
Now that you say it, it does seem to keep forever. And last forever. I don’t know what’s in it, but I think it enhances the flavor of the gravy, too.
I like that way your mom thinks! Food needs to look good so we’ll want to eat it.