Coastal Charm

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Beachy White Wednesday

It has been sooooo Cold over most of the country this year (2010), so I thought I would share with everyone some WARM WHITE SAND from our beautiful GULF COAST beaches! I have lived my entire life (minus college years) here on the GULF COAST and can say that I feel we have some of prettiest beaches you can find in this country. Take a look for yourself and let me know what you think...I hope it warms you up!

Be sure to go by and visit Kathleen@Faded Charm and all the other ladies for a FUN WHITE WEDNESDAY!

Miles of beautiful "SUGAR WHITE SAND"...come on down and enjoy it for yourself!

A little bit of WHITE from inside my beach condo...I hung this "OLD WHITE" window and hot glued starfish to the wall...it has been up there for over six years...I guess I like it!

Hope you had a WARM visit here at the beach...please come again!

Sunday, January 10, 2010

French Toast from Coastal Living

Every month when my COASTAL LIVING magazine arrives in the mail...I grab a glass of tea or lemonade...take off to my screened porch (or this month it would be inside by a cozy fire)...and read it like a book...just have a hard time putting it down. I found a recipe in the December/January issue for "Baked French Toast with Pecan Streusel"...doesn't that sound yummy?

I had been thinking about doing something different for Christmas morning...I knew when I found this recipe...it was what we were going to have here at COASTAL CHARM come Christmas morning! After we had opened up all our gifts...we headed into the kitchen to try it out...one word describes this dish...SCRUMPTIOUS! I'm a huge fan of French Toast and this is now my favorite...try it out...I'm sure you will LOVE it too!

Baked French Toast with Pecan Streusel

Prep: 14 minutes
Chill: 8 hours
Cook: 45 minutes

1 (16 oz.) loaf French bread, cut into 1/2 inch slices
8 large eggs
3 cups half and half
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoons salt
Pecan Streusel (recipe below)
Maple syrup

1. Arrange bread slices in a greased 13x9 inch baking dish.

2. Combine eggs and next 5 ingredients in a large bowl, whisking until well blended. Pour egg mixture over bread. Cover and chill 8 hours or overnight.

3. Preheat oven to 350. Sprinkle Pecan Streusel over bread slices. Bake at 350 foe 45 minutes or until slightly puffed and golden. Serve with maple syrup. Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Pecan Streusel
Prep: 10 minutes

1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup chopped pecans
Combine first 4 ingredients in a small bowl; stir in pecans. Makes 3 cups

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Hyde Park

Last week while I was in Tampa for the Outback Bowl I found a wonderful historic neighborhood...Hyde Park...needless to say I fell in LOVE with it! It's located on the bay in South Tampa... the streets are lined with HUGE old oaks trees drooping with spanish moss and gorgeous palm trees. I really loved looking at all the different types of palm trees and tropical plants...tropical plants and HUGE old oaks drooping with spanish moss...it was screaming OLD FLORIDA! The homes were all soooo unique in style and size...I was truly in HEAVEN! I told the hubs that I had found the neighborhood of my dreams...I was ready to move right in! The area had "Father of the Bride" written all over it...I LOVE that movie and the HOUSE in it...the movie could have been filmed right here in HYDE PARK. We drove around for a couple of hours looking during the day and then came back at night to see how it looked with all the Christmas lights...boy I'm sure glad we did...it was BEAUTIFUL!!! My pics are not the best...I think I was way to busy taking it all in and soaking up the beauty...believe me it looks sooooo much better than my pics show. There was a quaint little shopping area that we went to...did some shopping and had our NEW YEARS EVE lunch at a wonderful upscale restaurant...I will do another post on this area next. Take a look for yourself...I don't think you will be disappointed.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Recap 2009

How about a recap of what transpired here at COASTAL CHARM in 2009? Since I just started my blog in late August...I'm very low on before pics...so I'm just going to show you a couple of things from 2009. We started our kitchen re-model in November and we still have some woodwork and window treatments to finish. I'm very pleased with my new granite countertops...sink/faucet...beadboard...light fixtures and the shade of chocolate paint that I went with...it all turned out just like I wanted:) Looks like I will be sewing some window treatments this month...wish me luck on finding just the right fabric! When I finish getting all my Christmas decor down, I will post more pics of my NEW kitchen (please remember...I was out of town all of last week...hope to get a lot of it down by Friday).
Here is a list of things that will be going on at COASTAL CHARM in 2010!
*Make window treatments for my kitchen.
*Paint all the brass that is still in my house.
*Re-model and organize my study.
*Make curtain panels for the screen porch.
*Make a headboard for my bedroom.
*Have some FUN with chalkboard paint.
*Open up the entry to my dining room from the foyer.
*Paint the dining room.
*Install a new front door.
*Install wood floors in family room...hall and dining room.

If my hubby is lucky...I will stop with this! Something tells me that his luck just ran out...I'm soooo happy that he LOVES me soooo much! Now it's time for me to get busy on some of these new projects for 2010...I promise I will do better this year with before and after pics. Thanks Kendall for hosting your first party...2009 Best of Your Nest Party and also thanks to Rhoda for hosting...Top Projects of 2009 Party.