Mrs Dragon's Den

Simply Joy Sunday #65

2012-01-22T19:58:00.000-06:00

Things that made me happy this week.

1. I spent most of my day today in the kitchen, baking, cleaning, and reorganizing. All the dishes are done, the bread maker has a home, and we now have a tea nook.

2. Actually, the tea nook is worth a point of it's own. No more tea boxes bonking me on the head!

3. My husband is completely awesome and helped with all kinds of cooking and errand running! : )

4. My pretty flowers are still alive and kicking, looking none worse for the wear after a week.

5. I got all but one of my books finished in time to get them back to the library. : )

Book Update

2012-01-21T17:31:00.000-06:00

I never did post a picture of last weeks books, but rest assured I made it to the library and brought home some new friends. I still had books to finish from the week before, so I tried to keep it reasonable. (It helped that I only had enough time to grab what was already on hold for me.)

Since I finished all but one of my books, I took out a few more this week.

That one on the bottom of the stack is a pretty healthy read. I found it on good reads and added it to my to-read list because it sounded interesting. It wasn't until I started paging through it at home that I realized that this may very well be the book that started the whole "attachement parenting" movement. Some of the things I caught while flipping through were rather cringe worthy (ie: If your child is abused, it's because you as a mother failed to be nurturing enough.). We'll see how it reads in context.

I'm trying to balance fun reads with more "serious" reads. In a way, I find the more "serious" books easier to read because they are easier to put down. It's easy to fall into the fun stuff and reemerge hours later, blinking and wondering what happened to the day.

Rocket City Bloggers Carnival

2012-01-11T20:49:00.002-06:00

Each month the Rocket City Bloggers hosts a carnival...a collection of posts from our various members on a selected topic. This month's theme was "Beginnings" and, as usual, everyone interpreted that differently. Hop on over to Resplendent Beauty where Becky has collected our efforts. The topics range from old friendships to a letter to the new year, vacation plans to what the year may bring. Do stop in and see where this new year will take us.

Simply Joy Sunday #65

2012-01-08T21:54:00.002-06:00

Things that made me happy this week.

1. Cute new clothes and awesome boots.

2. Spending time talking to my hubby, making plans. :)

3. Spending some time quilting while the cats lounged nearby.

4. Unexpectedly warm weather that allowed us to go for a long walk today.

5. Delicious dinners out with my hubby.

Fetch!

2012-01-08T13:02:00.000-06:00

My husband, the cat whisperer, has taught Abby to play fetch. Behold.

She will keep on like that for 9 or 10 tosses before she gets tired. As soon as she's rested a bit though? She wants to be right back at it.

Apologies for the sideway-ness, I can't seem to rotate the video. : /

Library Finds

2012-01-07T23:32:00.000-06:00

In my effort to read more, I thought it might be nice to take myself on a weekly "library date" each Friday. I could swing by the library (about 5 minutes from my office), return the books I've finished, pick up some new ones, and have a leisurely lunch. Since I had finished 2 out of the 3 books I checked out last Friday, I decided to give it a try yesterday.

It...did not go quite according to plan. I found the library with no problem and was excited to see that it was a beautiful two story structure with squishy chairs for reading, open staircases, and lots (and lots) of books. I returned my books quickly, headed to the computers that now act as catalogues and wrote down the Dewey Decimal digits for the books I wanted. All three were supposedly on hand. I say supposedly because none of the three were. After consulting with three different librarians, we eventually found one of them in large print and put holds on the other two. The one I had most wanted to read? The kindly gentleman helping me said it could be up to a month before I would see it. So I headed back to the catalogues, looked up more books and (thankfully) they were all located exactly where they should be. Almost an hour after arriving, I left with a stack of 4 books, two light science and two fluffy fantasy.

The lesson of the day? Pick out the books I would like a few days or the night before and put them on hold. That way, I can quickly come in, drop off the books I have, and pick up the new ones. It eliminates the serendipity of wandering the stacks and spotting something you absolutely *must* read, but it also saves you from running up and down (and up and down) the staircases chasing books that have gone missing. And that time you save not running around? You can spend blissfully browsing the stacks looking for new friends.

In other, related, news, I have added a Books tab at the top of my blog which links to my goodreads account. If you want to see what I am reading, want to read, and what I thought of the books I've read...this is a good place to check. (Or follow me on goodreads directly, if you are on there.) I've signed up for a 52 book challenge at goodreads, meaning my target is to finish at least 1 book a week. At the pace I read, this should be imminently doable. The trick is to fold reading back into my daily life and to remember to pick up new books as I finish the first ones. We'll see how this goes.

Mother's Love: Update

2012-01-01T23:03:00.000-06:00

When I last posted about this quilt, I had the applique about half done. At the time, I was in the middle of working on baby quilt for a friend. I finished that quilt and then went back to work on my Wonky Rainbow Squares Quilt. During my trip to California this November, I was looking for a portable craft project, so I brought this along with me. Between the sewing I got done there and since...I finally put the last stitches into the applique yesterday!

*happy dance*

Sure, it gets a bit wonky in places, like the angel's wings which most definitely do not line up. And her rather polygon-ish head.

Overall, it's not too bad for my first real attempts at applique (and given the years this stretched over.) My stitches are for the most part small and hidden, it's just those pesky curves that gave me heartache.

I had forgotten though, until I went back and looked at my original sketch just how much non-applique work there is to do.

However, now that I am past the hurdle of the (what seemed like) endless applique, I am onto some fun stuff! Buttons! Problem solving! Ribbons! Stuffed hearts! Embroidery! And all in small doses! (One good/bad thing is that I don't remember exactly what the plan was for everything--those double hearts up by the top? No idea if those were supposed to be embroidered or what. Which means I get to have some fun improvising. : )

I'm hoping to have this wrapped up by mother's day this year and in my mom's hands. Because NINE years seems like long enough to wait. And I'd like to move onto other projects without this WIP hanging over my head.

2011 In Review

2012-01-01T15:26:00.000-06:00

Four Plus an Angel is hosting a year-in-review link up. I love looking back and seeing where the year has been so here is my 2011, mostly in pictures.

JANUARY
We had snow. A lot of snow. And temperatures that stayed at or below 20 degrees F all month. Brrrrr.

FEBRUARY
The hubby and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary and 9 years together. Still crazy in love. ♥

MARCH
We celebrated Pi Day and cleaned out and repaired our gutters. I began studying for my PE exam.

APRIL
Spring came and so did a week without power courtesy of some epic tornadoes.

MAY
I completed Project Awesome for my mom's 60th birthday, we started our second CSA, and received some furniture from my Grandmother. We broke out the China for a visit from friends and attended a jazz concert (conclusion: not my thing).

JUNE
The hubby caught a mouse bare-handed, we made pickles, and I turned 29.

JULY
We attended the wedding of some friends and made jam. (By now, pretty much all my free time is going into studying.)

AUGUST
Our custom painting arrives and we take a family vacation with my parents and brother.

SEPTEMBER
We surprise the hubby with a birthday cake at a party he organized. : )

OCTOBER
We fly out to Arizona to watch the hubby's cousin get married. I study on both plane flights and during down time between family events. I finally take the PE exam.

NOVEMBER
We find a scorpion in our kitchen. I leave to spend a week with friends and family in California. I eat lots of fabulous food, laugh myself silly, and ride with my brother on his motorcycle over the bridge into San Francisco. Back at home, the hubby and I have a wonderful Thanksgiving and rake a million leaves.

DECEMBER
We finish the leaf raking, gear up for the holiday, and discover Lake Christmas Tree. I hear back from the board and we do our annual holiday baking. We spend the holidays at home, hanging out with friends, cooking, and watching Breaking Bad. I finally finish the applique for my mom's quilt and read.

Hullo Bread Machine!

2011-12-31T18:45:00.000-06:00

Over the last few years, the hubby and I have gotten more and more interested in making our own food, from scratch. First to go was pre-prepared meals, snacks, and brownie box mixes. Then store bought jams, salsas, spaghetti sauces, and pickles. The next item on our radar was bread. And ya'll, we eat a lot of bread in this house. My hubby is a carb happy snacker. Where I am more likely to reach for chips or nuts or whatever requires absolutely no preparation at all, he snacks on slices of sandwich bread, rolled up tortillas, and leftover rolls. To the point that, with just two adults in the house, we go through 1-2 loaves of bread a week. Plus any incidental tortillas, buns, rolls, etc.

Enter the breadmaker from my grandmother.

PE studying has stopped us from playing before now, but this week, we pulled out the bread maker and made:

Wheat bread
White bread
Breadsticks
Cinnamon Rolls

(For the last two, we let the machine mix and proof the dough and away we went!)

At this point I figure we have no reason to ever buy bread again.

Coming Full Circle

2011-12-30T23:59:00.000-06:00

As a kid I was a reader. You know the type. I always had a book in tow. I read at recess, at lunch, during boring classes (what?). I rocked the summer reading program, gamed my mother's summer "pay you to read" system, and raided my parents' bookshelves. Somewhere along the way though, I lost the library. I don't know exactly when it happened--I have fond memories of perusing the stacks at our local library (and climbing the trees outside). My guess is that I outgrew the kids section and what I wanted to read (science fiction and fantasy) wasn't well represented. It may be that I started having more of an interest in keeping my books. I'm really not sure. I do know that my mother kept me pretty well in books (thankfully fantasy novels are cheap in paperback) straight up through high school.

Landing in college should have been bookish nirvana. Instead I stopped reading almost entirely. The reason? It was too engrossing. When I get in the middle of a good book, I tune out. For hours. I lose myself and all sense of time. And who could afford to do that with papers to write and homework to do? So I just didn't. In the years since, I've developed a taste for business books and other light, readable non-fiction. It's easy to get through, usually teaches me something, and doesn't turn into a giant black hole. Unfortunately, those books are not cheap, so I typically only buy one when I have a long plane trip ahead of me. (Read once or twice a year).

I still read, but not books. The hubby and I have long subscribed to TIME, and other magazines have come and gone. And, of course, I have an rss reader stuffed with blogs--cooking blogs, mommy blogs, photography blogs, quilting blogs, local blogs, feminist blogs, general life blogs. All of which are interesting and often teach me things, but none of which give you the depth of a book.

A friend recommended Think by Lisa Bloom, so I added it to my wish list. My hubby thought it looked interesting, so a copy was waiting for me under the Christmas tree this year. The book details the impact of not thinking and lays out some guidelines for carving out the time and resources to read more. To think more. I finished it yesterday and went this morning and signed up for a library card. I have three shiny new-to-me books sitting next to me as I type this. One that has been on my to read list for ages, one recommended in Think, and one that just looked interesting so I grabbed it. Three books. Free.

How could I have ever forgotten the magic of the library? The sheer possibility of all those books, and any of them can come home with you. I walked out giddy and beaming. And now that I look, I see so much free time in my schedule. Lunch, which I usually spend reading blogs? Why not a read a book? Even a half an hour after dinner would quickly add up into book after book.

I am tired of feeling half informed on the major political issues of our day. I like knowing facts; I crave more than soundbites. Reading supplies that along with alternate points of view, new takes on old subjects. I'm a quick reader, I could easily breeze through 2-3 books in each 2 week lending period, if only I would pick them up and read.

And so I will. I am making a commitment to myself. To make reading a habit again. To make going to the library every two weeks part of my routine. Return the old, take out new, and read them all. I currently have 24 books on my to-read list. By the end of the year, I hope to have gone through all of those and then some, and to have a to-read list even longer.

My plan is to post a picture here each time I come home with new books. I might post reviews. I might not. But I'm going to strive for at least a picture, proof that I am, indeed, making to the library and back.

Orange Cranberry Cookies

2011-12-30T13:37:00.000-06:00

I realize this is not the most inspired cookie picture. You are going to have to trust me that while these are not the world's prettiest cookies they are quite tasty and very well loved. I found the recipe here and it made a happy addition to our holiday baking. Not only did it add some color to the plate but it was one of the most commented on cookies.

Makes: ~36 cookies (we got 38)

Ingredients
1 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp grated orange zest
2 tbsp orange juice
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups chopped cranberries

Directions
SOFTEN butter (either leave out in advance, or use gently microwave it, 5 seconds to each side)
PREHEAT oven to 375

CREAM butter, white and brown sugar together until smooth
BEAT in egg until well blended
MIX in orange zest and juice

ADD flour, baking soda, salt
MIX until well combined

CHOP cranberries finely
ADD cranberries to batter
STIR until evenly distributed

DROP by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheets
BAKE 12-14 minutes

LET COOL

Enjoy!

My Thoughts
1. These had a zippy orange flavor and were best loved by people who enjoy tart and/or fruit flavored treats.

2. The original recipe called for a drizzled glaze but given the soft, sticky nature of the cookies and our own misadventures with frosting (hint: follow the directions) we gave up on it. I actually think the additional orange in the frosting would have been too much. These would have been great dipped in or drizzled with dark/semi-sweet chocolate though.

3. These are not a particularly sturdy cookie, but they package up onto holiday plates just fine.

Woot!

2011-12-18T22:42:00.001-06:00

Ya'll, I received my letter from the board yesterday. Opening it up terrified me. It was a little envelope. But a fat one. So...a letter saying I passed and info on how to formally register? Or a letter saying I failed and the breakdown of my performance?

My husband read it over my shoulder and grasped the meaning before I did. I kept rereading the first line over and over trying to make it make sense. Meanwhile he started cheering and hugging me. : ) Finally it sunk in...

I passed.

All my studying paid off. $25 and a bit more paperwork and I will officially be a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Alabama. I get to have a stamp and everything. I'm vacillating between grinning like an idiot and not quite believing it. : )

Thank you to each of you who has cheered me on along the way. Your support has been greatly appreciated and I promise to get back to blogging about things other than reading very thick books full of equations. ; )

Simply Joy Sunday #64

2011-12-18T22:28:00.003-06:00

Things that made me happy this week. (Aside from the one that had me dancing with joy.)

1. Shipping out Christmas gifts and completing our running around!

2. Christmas lights! On our tree, on the house, on our neighbor's houses...

3. Hanging out with the Rocket City Bloggers crew (more on that soon!)

4. An amazing dinner out with my hubby.

5. Our annual holiday baking and holiday music listening weekend.

Sauteed Chickpeas and Spinach

2011-12-15T22:16:00.000-06:00

I saw recipe over on Perry's Plate that instantly set me to dreaming. Especially because (in the sign of a meant to be recipe) we had everything in the house. A few days later, I threw this together based on my memory of that picture and a quick scan of the recipe.

Makes: 3-4 servings

Ingredients
1 small onion
1 can (15 oz) chickpeas
2 cloves garlic
1-2 tbsp of olive oil
salt to taste
pepper to taste
2 handfuls of baby spinach
2 tbsp oil packed sun dried tomatoes

Directions
DICE onion
DRAIN chickpeas
MINCE garlic or run through garlic press
DRAIN selected sun dried tomatoes

ADD 1 tbsp olive oil to medium frying pan
HEAT oil on medium until it flows easily
ADD onion, chickpeas, garlic, and a dash each of salt and pepper
COOK until onion is translucent

ADD spinach and sun dried tomatoes
COOK until spinach is wilted

Enjoy!

My Thoughts
1. This was REALLY GOOD. Like, I want to eat way more than I should, good.

2. We served it as main dish over pasta, sprinkled with Parmesan cheese, but I could have gone without the pasta entirely and been just fine. It would also work as a side dish.

3. This came together fairly quickly (just a bit longer than it took the pasta to cook) and it was a nice change of pace from the usual boring pasta. This is well on it's way to being a new household staple, and hey! I have another can of chickpeas...

Sewing List 2012

2011-12-09T20:22:00.001-06:00

The sewing projects I want to tackle seem never-ending. Here is the current list, in no particular order.

In Process

Future Plans

Wall hangings for the bedroom
Sleep sack for Jack
Crinkle mouse for Abby
A cheerful holiday table runner
A holiday garland
Quilt for our bed
Try paper piecing

Bacon Green Beans

2011-12-09T00:01:00.000-06:00

For Thanksgiving, we decided to make use of the green beans that the hubby canned this summer. (I was studying, so he got to have all the fun. : P ) A bit of searching brought up this recipe which sounded tasty. I know it looks like a weird mush in the picture but the flavor was really good!

Makes: 4-6 servings

Ingredients
2 pints canned green beans
1/4 cup onion
1/4 cup bacon
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup low sodium chicken broth
1 garlic clove
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2-3 tsp flour

Directions
COOK bacon

DICE onion and bacon
MINCE garlic or PRESS in garlic press

ADD all ingredients except the green beans to a medium saucepan
COOK until onions are translucent (about 10 minutes)
ADD flour, 1/2 tsp at a time, while STIRRING to thicken
ADD green beans
HEAT until green beans are warm (1-2 minutes)

Enjoy!

My Thoughts
1. Having never cooked with canned green beans before (not even store bought) I didn't think about the fact that they would already be soft and squishy. Which is why I threw them in the saucepan with everything else, at the beginning of the cooking. And ended up with green bean mush. The recipe above has been modified to reflect this.

2. Having 1/4 cup of broth meant that the green beans were pretty liquidy, since we already had butter, I added some flour to thicken it and ended up with a creamy sauce. If you prefer not having a creamy sauce, cut down the broth to 1-2 tbsp and remove the flour.

3. The original recipe called for fresh green beans, this would be FANTASTIC with fresh green beans. The reason we chose canned was because we had some on hand. In the summer though? We'll be back to this with fresh ones!

4. The flavor was great, the texture (as noted above) was a bit mushy, but still edible.

Corn Bread Muffins

2011-12-08T21:35:00.001-06:00

What's this? A recipe? Why yes! Now that my exam is over, I've been getting back into the kitchen a bit. I made these for the express purpose of leaving them out to be stale so I could use them in our Thanksgiving stuffing, but since the recipe yielded more than expected, we had extras for noming. I found the recipe at Food Network's site.

Makes: 12-18 muffins

Ingredients
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup nonfat milk
2 eggs
1/2 stick butter, melted
1/4 cup honey

Directions
PREHEAT oven to 400F
GREASE or LINE muffin tin

MIX cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt together in a large bowl.
WISK eggs in small bowl
ADD milk, eggs, melted butter, and honey
STIR until just mixed

SCOOP batter into muffin tins

BAKE 15 mins, until golden.

My Thoughts
1. The honey makes the muffins sticky so these are not the best finger food.

2. However, the honey also makes these wonderfully sweet and if you like sweet cornbread (or honey on your cornbread) you will love these.

3. The texture of these was perfect. Wonderfully springy and moist. : )

Post Exam Vacation (Day 4)

2011-11-26T23:01:00.001-06:00

The continuing adventures of my vacation to the Bay Area. Use these links to catch up on Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3 if you missed them.

We woke up bright(ish) and early(ish) and made fairly short work of cycling four women through one bathroom. My hostess had the brilliant idea to stop in our old college town on the way back to the Bay Area and visit one of our old haunts.

Cafe Italia was a restaurant that pushed my college student budget so it wasn't a frequent destination but it was our restaurant of choice for bribery, rewards, and celebrations. As such, it's filled with happy memories of doodling on the paper tablecloths, laughing until our sides ached, and real cream sauce. This is where we ate when the hubby and one of my good friends (the blonde one in the blue jacket below) spent an entire evening helping me hang hoops from the ceiling for my installation in a sculpture class. There is where we ate after the move that nearly killed us all.

It was good to return and make more memories under the same roof. And it was good to see that some things never change.

After we ate, I said my goodbyes to one of my dear friends and piled back in the car with the remaining two.

We stopped by a farmer's market on the way back to Alameda and my friends stocked up on permissions and other produce.

Once we arrived back at Alameda, we decided to take a walk. Since Alameda is an island, the shore was not far at all.

We walked past a used book store where I found a book on introductory circuits sitting on the cart outside...

...and down to the docks.

I didn't notice that we could see both the ships and the city until it my hostess pointed it out to me.

We had some passersby take our photo at the same spot, though we block the city.

After our walk, my hostess and I said goodbye to our friend and puttered around town, picking up a few things. We still had come time to kill afterwards so we chatted and I borrowed her nailpolish collection to paint my nails for the first time in years.

Mission completed, we piled back in the car and she drove me into Berkeley and delivered me to my brother's apartment. We said our farewells and I went upstairs where I (briefly) met a current love interest of my brother's (it's more complicated than my dating life ever was) and was presented with chocolate and truffles.

I have an awesome brother. : )

My brother's girlfriend had left and we were in the process of figuring out dinner when a friend of my brother's called. An entire weekend's worth of work had disappeared off her computer and her thumbdrive simultaneously. Could he help? Of course he could. So she came over with the rebellious laptop and thumbdrive and he poked and prodded them for a bit while she and I chatted away. Eventually, he was letting some software install so we walked down the road to a local bar-b-que joint for dinner. At my brother's suggestion, I ordered a Frito Pie. Essentially, pulled pork over Fritos, topped with cheddar cheese, sour cream, and jalapenos. Pretty good although the Fritos were rather awkward to eat.

We continued our talking through dinner (which my brother's friend thoughtfully paid for as an apology for interrupting our visit), on the walk back to the apartment, and late enough that I barely managed to drag myself into bed before collapsing. At that point, the computer situation was looking hopeful, but was still unresolved, so I fell asleep to quiet conversations about file statuses and backups and timestamps.

To be continued...

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T19:07:00.001-06:00

Here in the states, today is Thanksgiving. For the husband and I, this is a day to ensconce ourselves in the kitchen, make ridiculous amounts of food, feed the cats (a very tiny bit of) turkey, listen to music, call family, and use the fancy china.

I can safety say check, check, and check to all of the above items. We even had quite a bit of downtime in the kitchen this year (what a concept!).

As I've done in the past, I'd like to take a minute to talk about the things I'm grateful for.

For the recharging and renewal provided by a long vacation
For my maturing understanding of myself
For my amazing husband, my partner in crime
For internet communities which broaden my worldview and teach me new pespectives
For our cuddly, warm, social cats
For hobbies and the time and means to enjoy them
For a job which allows me to continually grow, learn, and challenge myself
For an adult relationship with my brother
For friendships with intelligent, diverse women who both teach and understand

Post Exam Vacation (Day 3)

2011-11-22T21:23:00.001-06:00

The continuing adventures of my vacation to the Bay Area. You can read Day 1 here and Day 2 here.

The third day of my visit, we had a very important engagement. A dear friend from college has been battling cancer since just after graduation. She had just completed her 10th (?) run of chemo at a hospital in Texas and was coming home for some rest. To celebrate her return home, and her November birthday, she was hosting a tea party and had requested we all arrive in our dressed up best. The party was in Roseville (near Sacramento), scheduled for after dinner, so one of my friends had reserved us a hotel room nearby for the night.

Before we got to that though, there was shopping to be done. My hostess was in need of something to wear with her new, decidedly lovely Victorian-eqsue boots so we hit up TJ Max. It's been a long time since I was in one as I had found the racks and racks of clothes to be completely overwhelming. So while she shopped for an outfit, I had fun roaming the aisles. They had some seriously cute stuff. Case in point?

Post shopping we headed home where we painted our nails (me toes, her fingers) before meeting up with another of our party and piling in the car. We stopped in Sacramento to meet up with some long time friends of my hostess over a dinner of fried chicken at Sandra Dees. The fried chicken was amazing and the corn bread perfect, so I was quite a happy camper. I'm not sure where they are finding the giant chickens these wings must have come from, but I sent our fellow dinners home with extra leftovers as I couldn't finish everything on my plate.

After dinner, we meet up with the final member of our group at the hotel where we all changed and headed over to the tea shop. I wore my teal dress and sparkly shoes with my newly painted toenails.

The tea was lovely. There was laughing and talking and catching up. Apparently, just as I stepped to the restroom, there was also a memorable moment of the entire room mimicking the dog from Up in saying "Squirrel? Squirrel?" Of course, the best part was seeing my friend. Unfortunately, our group pictures turned out rather blurry, but here is one of the birthday girl herself.

After the tea, we headed back to the hotel where most of us crashed rather quickly. Our knitter, a bookworm amoung bookworms, stayed up to read.

To be continued...

Post Exam Vacation (Day 2)

2011-11-20T14:34:00.001-06:00

The continuing adventures of my vacation to the Bay Area. You can read Part I here.

Day two of my trip began with sunlight filtering through the windows of my hostess's living room. We got off to a leisurely start, but by 10 am we had all assembled for a day of crafts and food.

I had brought pumpkin bread and my friend made us all eggs, bacon, and coffee cake.

After breakfast, we settled in with our respective crafts. There was knitting and reading.

Followed by winding.

And rug making.

The cats kept us company.

While our hostess outdid herself by making roasted chicken, potatoes, and green beans, in between sorting through pictures.

I continued work on the applique project that might never end

Later that day another old friend joined us and we went to Fentons for ice cream. You could call it dinner I suppose, but we all knew what we were there for. : )

There was a lot of sugar, talking, and laughing until our sides hurt. How I miss these girls.

After our ~~ice cream~~ dinner, we headed back home where we talked and laughed some more before calling it a night.

To be continued...

Post Exam Vacation (Day 1)

2011-11-19T22:12:00.001-06:00

In my group of friends, it has become a bit of a tradition to travel after sitting for the PE exam. So when my friends suggested that my trip be out to visit them and work on craft projects, like we used to do regularly back in college, I agreed wholeheartedly. Since they are located about 20 minutes from my brother, I made it a week long vacation and added some time visiting with my "baby" brother. Hence begins the travelogue:

I flew out on Thursday and spent the morning on planes and in airports. Thankfully, the time change worked for me flying west, so it was only 1:30 when I landed. Plenty of time to squeeze in some fun. : )

I bought a ticket for BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit, it's a train that runs through the Bay Area) and boarded. About a half an hour later, I found myself in downtown San Francisco to meet up with one of my friends who works downtown. I loved the juxtaposition of the escalator with the trees at ground level. I'm sure it's not nearly so fun when it's rainy.

I gave my friend a call and we figured out my location based on the fact that I was across the street from the Occupy San Francisco Protesters. She came out to meet me and we stowed my luggage in her cube. She had a few more hours before her day ended so I left to grab a cup of tea and wander the City.

I checked out the street cars...

...the sculpture...

...and the Ferry Building.

The Ferry Building was especially awesome. It held shops dedicated to pork (slogan: Tasty Salted Pig Parts), mushrooms, vegan baked goods, and, in a serendipitous twist, a Sur La Table.

It was a lovely way to kill some time and I was finally able to check out the plates I had been ogling online.

I loved the color (a warm white) and the edging, but channeling my inner golidlocks, the 8.5 salad plate seemed too small...

...and the 10.5" dinner plate too large.

.

I snapped pictures all the way back to my friend's office where we grabbed my luggage and hopped on a bus to another friend's apartment in Alameda where I would be staying.

We meet up with my hostess, another friend, and a new suitor and headed out to a local restaurant for food.

Trust me when I say the photo does not do this meal justice.

After dinner, we wandered around, popping into a random bookstore, before heading back to my hostess's apartment, where we finally snagged some group shots:

The group shot didn't turn out so well...

...but the one of my friend with her new fellow was much better.

At this point, it was getting late, so we dispersed for the night and rejoined the next morning.

To be continued...

Nice and Toasty

2011-11-05T23:31:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we bought a space heater. One downside to a lightly furnished, two story, drafty house is that the downstairs is perpetually cold. As in, last winter when we had our month of nothing over 20 degrees outside, our downstairs was hovering at about 52 degrees. WAY TOO COLD. We would layer on jackets to cook dinner. Ridiculous.

Enter the space heater! Everything began well. Nice toasty heat, lovely oscillating motion. For about 3 days we enjoyed our heater, carting it up and downstairs to switch between kitchen, rec room, and bed room as desired. Blissful. It gave me hope that I might not forget that my toes exist this winter.

Then came the funny burning smell. Sigh. Back into the box, back to the store, switch for a new one.

Get home, set it up, realize...the display is broken on this one. *headdesk*

So, the plan is to take this one back too. Any recommendations? Honeywell (which this one is) was fairly well regarded on Amazon.

Purple and Brown?

2011-11-04T22:52:00.001-05:00

You may remember our quest for a color scheme for the rec room. It's still going strong (apparently I have no idea how to decorate around large patterned objects, lesson learned) but I think we may have turned a corner. I was recently turned on to a color palette generator tool which is absolutely brilliant and helped me realize that the couch is actually a very brown-y purple. And it's starting to pull together for me. I'm thinking more along the lines of the "dull" palette above. Maybe do a chair rail around the room with the lightest of the browns above, the second to darkest below, with plum on the accent wall. With sage green accents and tiny pops of oranges like the ones shown in the "vibrant" scheme.

This feels more "right" than anything we've dreamed up so far. : ) AND it answers the question of what to do for throw pillows on the couch--sage green!

So naturally, I've been poking around Etsy to see what sort of art would work with this scheme.

I love the rich brown tones in this one and the green would tie in with the plan for sage green accents.

This one plays up the oranges perhaps a bit more than planned but does the purple and browns nicely.

This one is wonderfully laid back and even comes pre-framed.

This is a small piece, but has all the right colors.

This one is bit pink but I love the composition.

What do you think? Would you pick any of those paintings? Do totally different colors all-together?

I Couldn't Make This Stuff Up If I Tried

2011-11-03T21:37:00.001-05:00

Sometime last year, the cats started poking at something in the kitchen. I asked my hubby what they had and he said "A scorpion". I about flipped my lid. I grabbed the cats and he got the job of dealing with the scorpion. Unfortunately, nowhere in there did I have a chance to grab my camera and no one believed me when I said there had been a scorpion in my kitchen! It had been pretty good sized, about 3" long, so when the hubby was so calm about it, and everyone else insisted they weren't indigenous to the area, I began to half wonder if my husband was pulling some sort of prank.

Tonight I came home from work and began my usual routine--pet the cats, raid the pantry. Except when I opened the pantry, I noticed something rather large for a bug moving on the floor. This time I DID manage to grab my camera and took pictures with one hand while holding back Jack The Fierce Hunter with the other. As I was doing this the hubby arrived home, thus ensuring that he once again got to deal with the scorpion while I corralled cats.

This one was much smaller, about 1.5 inches long, so not quite as impressive as the last one. But at least I got pictures!

Simply Joy Sunday #63

2011-10-31T22:24:00.000-05:00

Things that made me happy this week.

1. Good luck flowers from my friends.

2. The truly awesome complimentary hotel breakfast.

3. Having the PE exam be OVER!

4. Getting back into the kitchen, making chili and biscuits and more!

5. Reading a romantic love story with nary an equation in sight!

Simply Joy Sunday #62

2011-09-18T22:54:00.000-05:00

Things that made me happy this week.

1. Talking a walk down the greenbelt with the hubby. I still can't believe we live here.

2. A sweet nurse who took "I have an aversion to needles" very seriously and made something awful a little bit better.

3. Discovering the Perfect Tortilla Chips at a local restaurant.

4. While having a lovely lunch with the hubby. : )

5. Snoozey cats cuddling with me.

Sunny Days

2011-09-14T19:01:00.000-05:00

It seems like everytime I post pictures of our sunroom I get at least one comment along the following lines:

If I had a room like that I would live in it.

When we put in the offer on the house we knew we loved it. We loved the kitchen. The trees. The gorgeous sun room. The "rural" feel of an undeveloped woods behind us and the suburban convenience of a grocery store just 2 miles up the road. The brick exterior. The lots and lots of windows. The whirpool tub in the master bath. But we also knew something else--the house was lots bigger than what we really needed (or truth be told had wanted).

Still, we bought the house. Our furniture which had almost filled our 1100 sq foot rental was swallowed whole by the 4000 sq feet of our new house. Entire rooms sat empty. Heck, with the exception of the kitchen, the entire downstairs was unfurnished. People who came over would look around, confused "You just move in?" Yea, about a year ago.

We furnished the rooms, making the most of what we had. Our master bedroom, the rec room, my craft room, the kitchen. Everything else has been patiently waiting. And given our insistence on a) buying quality furniture and b) paying cash for it it's going to take us a long time to furnish the house.

We decided to start with the sunroom for a couple of reasons:

1)We had a vision. This was the one room where we actually knew what we wanted.
2)All the windows meant the space could be furnished with considerably less "stuff" than would be needed in the other rooms. Which made it much more affordable.

We finally bought our sunroom set last fall. Unfortunately, by the time it was delivered we were barreling into winter. One little secret of a 4000 sq ft, two story, mostly empty house with lots of windows? It is impossible to keep the downstairs warm in the winter. No matter how high we crank the heat, it refuses to budge much above 58 degrees or so. When you are putting on jackets to cook dinner, you don't want to go hang out in the (uninsulated) sunroom where it is even colder. You just don't. So this spring was the first time we've really been able to enjoy our sunroom and you know what? I kept forgetting to! Having spent most of our nearly 2 years in the house exclusively upstairs, I just didn't occur to me to go downstairs and sit in our lovely sunroom.

One upside to our 4.5 days without power earlier this year was that we "discovered" the sunroom. I marveled at how wonderful it was to sit and study in the natural light with the cats lounging nearby. And so, on weekends, I've been making it a point to drag my study materials downstairs and camp in the sunroom for the day. As fall sets in, I know it is just a matter of time before the chill in the air drives me upstairs.And so, I am already looking forward to next summer, when I can enjoy it with a just-for-fun book or a bit of sewing in hand instead of a hefty text book and reams of paper.

Happy Birthday Hubby

2011-09-10T23:59:00.000-05:00

Today we celebrated my hubby's birthday. It was a laid back sort of day. One that started with sleeping in late and ended with quiet reading/laptoping. It was a day with some mundane tasks (picking up a prescription, putting gas in the car), some fun outings (we went to see Captain America and tried a new BBQ place for dinner) and lots of great conversation. It was also interspersed with presents every time he turned around. (I love being sneaky!) : D

And so in honor of his 29th birthday, 29 things I love about my hubby:

1. He is the most selfless person I know. It never ceases to amaze me how generous he is both to me and others.
2. He gives the worlds best hugs. Period. End story.
3. He is whip smart and interested in *everything*. Truly a Renaissance man.
4. He squishes spiders and catches mice barehanded.
5. He loves to cook and we love to cook together.
6. He still maintains hope, after nearly 10 years of trying, that he will be able to teach me to find the beat in a piece of music.
7. He is a dedicated kitty trainer, teacher, feeder, groomer, and litter changer.
8. He has an amazing eye for color and home decor. He cares how our home looks and I value his opinions.
9. He is a deep thinker who often predicts global trends before they happen (hello housing bubble).
10. He is compassionate.
11. He understands that chocolate is a staple. And, occasionally, a food group.
12. He gets my need for quiet time alone to recharge.
13. He maintains a level head and approaches things logically.
14. He appreciates handmade things.
15. He shares my love of food--trying new restaurants, canning our own food, testing new recipes.
16. He is amazingly and unfailingly supportive of my endeavors.
17. He has a strong work ethic and works hard to help support our family.
18. He adores animals and is constitutionally unable to pass by a baby bunny or lake of ducklings without stopping by to say hello.
19. He has a great sense of humor and can make me laugh until my sides ache.
20. He is gentle.
21. He is great at talking to people and I love introducing him to my friends/bringing him to parties.
22. He has the most amazing blue eyes.
23. He takes pride in maintaining our house and yard.
24. He does a large portion of the cleaning because most cleaners make me unable to breathe.
25. He tucks me in every night.
26. He encourages my habit of taking photos of everything (and blogging it!).
27. He has a sense of wonder about the world and isn't too serious to be playful.
28. He likes long walks on the greenbelt and hiking in the parks.
29. He holds my hand.

I count myself lucky indeed to be married to him and I hope to celebrate many more birthdays with him. : )

Huntsville Favorites

2011-09-07T11:38:00.000-05:00

Heather over at Heather's Hints is hosting this month's Rocket City Blogger's Blog Carnival on Huntsville Favorites. I found myself nodding in agreement as I read odes to our friendly people, great restaurants, thriving art community, amazing library system, and even an awesome grocery store.

Whether you want a bit more of a glimpse into my adopted hometown or if you already live here and want to see what other locals think, check out the posts by the group. (Which is quickly becoming one of my new favorite things about Huntsville.)

Surprise

2011-09-06T22:02:00.002-05:00

The hubby's birthday is coming up next week. So when he told me that he wanted to have some friends over for a Labor Day BBQ, it didn't take me too long to connect the dots and start hatching a plan. I went through several potential ideas, each time realizing that they were (a)very time consuming and (b)might make his friends think I was a little half baked. So I kept stepping it back. Eventually, I messaged the guy he knows best of the bunch (they work together), and told him that the hubby's birthday was coming up so I was planning on surprising him with a cake. I figured at least that way no one would be taken by surprise (other than the hubby, of course).

Well, the hubby's friend went one better--he got the guys to chip in and buy Rob a present (a copy of Super Mario Smashbrothers, which they play when they all get together). One of his other friends found a wonderfully corny card. AND we managed to keep it all secret.

I told the hubby I had to run into work the morning of the party and instead went and picked up the cake. It was a huge box, so even though I tried to bury it in the back of the fridge, I knew that if it caught his eye, he would realize it didn't belong. And he did get into the fridge once or twice but since he was focused on other things, the giant cake box went unnoticed. *whew*

After we had eaten (it was a BBQ after all!), one of the guys went upstairs with Rob so Rob could show him our TV and my co-plotter ran out to his car to grab the gift. I arranged the cake and present before joining everyone upstairs. We headed downstairs shortly thereafter on the premise that one of the guys needed to leave and surprised Rob with cake.

Sadly there was no singing as I don't do well with singing in front of people I don't know well. BUT, the hubby was happily surprised and he LOVED the game! Rob has found himself a really great group of friends and the fact that their first reaction to finding out it was his birthday was to come bearing cards and gifts only cements that for me. Not because of the stuff, but because they (especially his work buddy) knew that he would enjoy owning the game and being able to practice before their matches. And because knowing that, they made it happen.

My Favorite Thing

2011-08-30T22:51:00.000-05:00

This is my entry for this month's Rocket City Blogger's Blog Carnival. The topic is "Huntsville Favorites"

Green. That's all I could see as I surveyed Huntsville for the first time. I had flown out for an interview, to this town I'd never heard of until I saw the job posting. Citydata.com had assured me it was a decent sized city with lots of tech-y people, and weather that didn't involve feet of snow. I had seen pictures of rockets, read the sales pitches on why Huntsville was a great place to live. But it was the green that awed me. Even the patchy, scraggly March grass was more green than I had grown up with in the wilds of Southern California, all rocks and scrubby bushes. It was more green than even my time in Northern California, spent in a small college town where the greenery was carefully regulated and controlled. And it was certainly more green than the concrete and asphalt of downtown Los Angeles where I had been living for a year and a half, pursuing a graduate degree.

My husband, who moved 2300 miles on the strength of a job offer and a handful of photos, was equally taken. And as the spring turned to summer we drank up the lushness, the freedom, the wild abandon of the plant life. Towering trees running alongside the freeway. Thick grass carpeting lawns. Leafy bushes reaching for the sky. We hiked in the National Forest, just 10 minutes from our rented house and watched the lawn grow overnight.

It's been almost 5 years since we moved. 5 springs of renewal and growth. 5 summers watching the hills fill with uncountable shades of plush green treetops. And it never gets old. I still wonder at the trees, the grass, the lushness, the life that surrounds me.

Simply Joy Sunday # 61

2011-08-28T23:37:00.000-05:00

Things that made me happy this week.

1. Cooking with my husband, mom, and brother as part of a family vacation.

2. Hanging out with my brother on same said vacation, talking about his educational plans.

3. Spending time listening to the lake.

4. Playing lots and lots of Rummykub

5. The awesome light display at the Denver airport.

6. Seeing "work" shoes in a new light and wearing them with a casual outfit.

Simply Joy Sunday # 60

2011-08-14T22:12:00.000-05:00

Things that made me happy this week.

1. Our lovely CSA veggies. Colorful and tasty. : )

2. The hubby and I capped off an insanely productive Saturday with a ridiculously relaxing dinner.

3. Part of that ridiculously productive Saturday was a haircut for me! I've been growing my hair out since last December, so I've switched to 8 week intervals between cuts. I have a lot of hair and it gets bushy (esp in this humidity), so my favorite part of getting a haircut is that my stylist razors out about half my hair. I feel light! And free!

4. I found a book full of dragon stories on the discount shelf at the bookstore. Some of my favorite authors have contributed too! : D

5. The cats have been hanging out with me all weekend. Following me from room to room, wanting to cuddle and generally be lovey.

Simply Joy Sunday #59

2011-08-07T22:16:00.000-05:00

Things that made me happy this week.

1. Our painting arrived! It's amazing. I'm over the moon. And as soon as I can scrape together a few more minutes, it's going to have it's own post.

2. The hubby caulked in a gap in the floor over by our bedroom. He's been talking about this since we moved in and now it's done! And he's right, it looks a million times better.

3. When we moved into the house (*cough*overtwoyearsago*cough*) there were a ton of chemicals. Everywhere. But, as you might expect the garage was particularly bad. Paint. Pesticides. More paint. Bondo. Ugh. Last fall, we finally sorted though them and made a pile to take in on the next Household Hazardous Waste drop off day. Yea, that took a while. This weekend though, we finally did it! Goodbye useless clutter!

4. The hubby and I have a tradition of Friday night date nights where we go out to dinner and decompress from the week. It's one of my favorite rituals. This week, we closed out our dinner with the most fabulous coconut cake ever. Heaven on a plate.

5. I've taken to doing my weekend studying in the sunroom, soaking up summer without boiling to death. The cats think this is brilliant and love to keep me company, Jack even spent a good hour curled up on my lap yesterday. Bliss.

Hello New Friend!

2011-07-25T18:32:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago we found the cats glued to the window staring at...another cat. Oddly enough, Abby was not growling and hissing which she used to do to the stray cat who tried to adopt us at the old house. But that doesn't mean she wasn't keeping a very close eye on the stranger.

The stranger was clearly well loved because he spent most of his visit rubbing up on the window frame and showing us his belly and generally begging for pets and loves.

Eventually, he wandered on and the cats lost interest. We haven't seen him again and he had no tags, so I'm hoping he found his way back home. He sure was a cutie.

Rocket City Bloggers

2011-07-24T21:18:00.000-05:00

Photo courtesy of Jennifer Breuer of Rocket City Mom
This week, a new Huntsville Blogging group launched. The Rocket City Bloggers plan to meet every third Wednesday at 7pm. This month's meeting was a brainstorming session where talked about what we would like to get out of the group, topics to cover, and got to know each other a bit. I had the pleasure of meeting the bloggers behind:

Rocket City Mom A local resource for Huntsville parents
Aunt Gee Bakes You may remember this awesome lady from the Tornado Relief Bake Sale, her blog focuses on baking and cooking.
Seeking in a Crazy World A blog about one woman's spiritual journey.
Carol MarksThe personal blog of our fearless leader, a writer by trade.
Not Your Typical Southern BelleThe personal blog of an avid thrifter/repurposer.
Entirely AdequateThe personal blog of a one-time copy-editer, now master's student.

Also joining us were Christi and Ray who are currently in the process of creating/revamping their blogs. Next month's meeting will be held at Panera Bread on Whitesburg and Airport, on August 17th at 7pm.

We are currently voting on the topic on in our facebook group which is serving as a de-facto headquarters.

If you are a local blogger, come join us!

Simply Joy Sunday # 58

2011-07-10T21:47:00.000-05:00

Things that made me happy this week

1. Some friends got married this weekend. Not only were they adorable, but their wedding made me all gushy about my own honey. : )

2. At said wedding, I was introduced to some of my hubby's friends for the first time, as well as their wives. Seriously sweet people. : )

3. The hubby and I practiced our yearly fourth of july tradition of going to the movies.

4. I went jean shopping and found a pair that fit! Huzzah!

5. I was also finally able to come up with an outfit where I could wear a necklace that my mother in law gave to me years ago. : ) See, isn't it pretty?

Spinach Dip

2011-07-07T12:37:00.001-05:00

Catching up on recipe posts again (or trying to!). We made this for our Anti-Superbowl Party way back in February using this recipe as the inspiration.

Makes: A 6"x6" dish

Ingredients
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach
1 cup sour cream
1 cup light mayonnaise
3/4 cup chopped green onions
2 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt

Directions
COMBINE all ingredients
MIX until well blended
CHILL until serving

My Thoughts
1. This was a tasty, creamy dip that went well with french bread (yum), but you could also serve with crackers.

2. The recipe said to thaw the spinach first, we added ours still frozen and everything worked out fine. If you opt to do that, just make sure it will have enough time to chill so that your guests don't get frozen chunks.

Nut Free Arugula Pesto

2011-07-06T21:30:00.002-05:00

One night the hubby and I were determined to make pesto (which it turns out is just a fancy way of saying grind up your favorite nuts and weeds). However, we had pine nuts and arugula which, according to "teh internets" was not a good match. So we switched our focus to using the arugula and found this recipe which substituted chick peas/garbanzo beans for the nuts. Crazy delicious. Crazy easy. And way less expensive than pine nuts or walnuts.

Makes: ~2 1/4 cups pesto

Ingredients
3-4 cups arugula
1 clove garlic
1 1/4 cup garbonzo beans
1 cup parmesan
1/3 & 1/8 cup olive oil

Directions
ADD arugula, parmesan, garbanzo beans and garlic to the bowl of a food processor.

PROCESS until smooth
SLOWLY DRIZZLE in olive oil WHILE continuing to process (We added the 1/3 cup here)

ADD salt and additional oil to taste (We used about another 1/8 cup oil here to get to the consistency we liked.)

My Thoughts
1. This was so easy and inexpensive that we will be doing it more often!

2. You control the viscosity of the pesto with how much oil you add. Want a thinner sauce? More oil. Thicker sauce? Less oil. You have the power.

3. Using garbanzo beans instead of nuts means this pesto is nut allergy friendly! Hurrah!

4. According to the original recipe, this will last about a week in the fridge. It makes a ton though, so we kept a small amount out and frozen the reminder in ice cube trays from the dollar store. Now we have pesto hearts and stars. : )

Just Call Him Mr.Mouse

2011-06-28T11:27:00.000-05:00

One night, not long after we received our new to us furniture my hubby and I were happily ensconsed on the couch catching up on the Sarah Connor Chronicles. I got up for a quick bathroom run, opting not to hit the lights. So it was that just as I was settling in I saw *something* move across the room. Just as my subconscious decided this had to be the BIGGEST cockroach I'd ever seen I found the light switch. And found a mouse staring back at me.

A. Mouse.

I yelled for the hubby who shut the bathroom door to try to corner him. (If you've ever had mice you know where this is going...) The little guy wiggled out under the door into our bedroom. After much running around the room, he manage to find himself a hidey hole, but we couldn't figure out where. So we stuffed a towel under the door, shut off the lights, and headed back to the couch to give him time to creep back out.

It worked brilliantly, except for the part where when we came back in, he found the same hidey hole. Only now it was nearly midnight and we had a loose mouse in our bedroom. Eventually, we located him, hiding up inside the recliner. A good twenty minutes of "poke the mouse with various objects to try to flush him out" finally resulted in him making a mad dash right into the shoebox we had prepared! Aaaaaaand then leaping right back out of it and dashing for the door.

Thankfully for me, my husband apparently has crazy mice catching skills because it was at this point that he reached out and caught it. By the tail.

Epiloque: Our mousey friend was plopped back into the shoebox and escorted outside, away from the house. The hubby, understanding the import of this post, patiently stood outside at midnight snapping pictures of le mouse. The next day we bought some traps and since then have caught several more mice in the attic. Thankfully, none of them have been venturing into the bathroom.

Simply Joy Sunday #57

2011-06-19T21:45:00.000-05:00

It's been a long while since I posted one of these, but it's a habit I'd like to get back into. Without further ado, things that made me happy this week.

This week was my birthday and it's been absolutely perfect. I have more joys than I could cram into a post, so I'll just pick five that I have pictures for.

1. My hubby spoiling me absolutely rotten. He's always a sweetheart but he really went out of his way to make sure I had a special birthday. ♥

2. The hubby put up some homemade pickles and we've got a pressure cooker on order so we can start canning veggies in earnest. : )

3. Sitting out on the deck, enjoying the weather, as the hubby grilled me an awesome birthday dinner.

4. A new necklace and a new pair of earrings made by a local artist that I picked up as the hubby and I strolled around an outdoor fair.

5. Breaking in Donkey Kong Country (one of my birthday gifts from the hubby) with my hubby. : )

Fresh Pea Soup

2011-06-19T01:02:00.000-05:00

Faced with two weeks worth of CSA peas, the hubby and I were brainstorming what to do with them when he had a brilliant idea. "We should make pea soup! With ham!" I adore split pea soup so I went digging for recipes. Most of the ones I found called for dried peas, but I did find one using fresh peas. We adapted it to what we had on hand and are so very glad that we did. : )

Makes: About 4 servings

Ingredients
4 tbsp butter
4 medium to large green onions
5 cups fresh shelled peas
4 cups water
6 tbsp whipping/heavy cream
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1/2 cup thick cut ham

Directions
DICE onions
MELT butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat
ADD onions
COOK until translucent

ADD peas and water
INCREASE heat to medium-high
BRING to a boil
REDUCE heat to low
COVER
SIMMER until peas are tender, 15-20 minutes

DICE ham into small pieces

PUREE pea mixture in a food processor
STRAIN back into saucepan
ADD HAM
HEAT over medium-low heat
ADD whipping/heavy cream
ADD salt and pepper to taste

My Thoughts
1. This was really good. The super smooth consistency makes it feel extra fancy. This is the first dish I've ever made that I could imagine being served at a fancy restaurant.

2. This is pretty much "essence of pea", so if you like peas, you'll love it. If not, move along.

3. If you wanted more of a stew consistency, it could be thickened with potatoes and sauted onions, carrots, peas could be added after it was strained.

4. The straining is really and truly necessary. Not doing so will leave you with a wonderfully flavored, slightly gritty concoction. Don't skip the straining step.

California Raisins

2011-06-10T11:46:00.000-05:00

I figured that going through the boxes sent form my Grandmother's house would turn up a few surprises. I was prepared for antiques and old tins and the accouterments of elderly life. I was not prepared to find two California raisin Halloween costumes. I thought the raisins were freaky enough back when they were popular, it never occurred to me that people would dress up like them. However, there there are.

The costumes look like they could be handmade from pre-printed panels (they are simply straight stitched with the edges left raw), but if so it must have been part of a kit because there is a plastic piece to give the face area some structure. Speaking of which, wasn't it nice of them to add not only eye holes but air holes?

I'm guessing that one of my Aunts made these for her daughters but why they were saved is beyond me. They certainly don't look the 20+ years old that they are, even the plastic is in good shape.

Do you remember the California raisins? Did you think they were awesome or creepy?

Summer Salsa

2011-06-07T11:55:00.000-05:00

After discovering that our turnips were really radishes (oops), I went looking for good radish recipes. And stumbled upon mango radish salsa. Upon seeing that I couldn't resist. I like sweet salsas and I love mango, we were off to the races.

Makes: 4-6 servings

Ingredients
~3 cups diced mango, (I used two)
1/4 cup chopped green onions
~1 cup diced radishes
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions
DICE the mango, onion and radish
PLACE in a medium bowl
ADD lime juice and salt
STIR

LET CHILL for 20 minutes

Enjoy!

My Thoughts
1. The sweet mango and peppery radish was a nice balance--especially with salty tortilla chips--but I think I will save this for parties and things where there are lots of people to help me eat it--it's not something I want to eat gallons of.

2. We used our pink lady CSA radishes which are pink cylinders rather than your standard red spheres. The pink ladies are a bit more mild, but I think regular radishes would be fine.

3. I peeled our radishes, mostly because I still thought they were turnips and was going to boil and mash them. (The peppery scent cued me in). You certainly don't need to, just wash well before dicing. : )

Furniture Arranging

2011-06-05T22:01:00.001-05:00

The hubby and I took advantage of the long weekend last weekend to rearrange our new furniture. We started in the living room. The picture above shows the view from the "study", looking into the living room. You can see the sunroom in the back.

The one below is looking back into the study, from about 2/3 of the way through the room and shows the very pink couch that was once at a sorority house. It needs covering. Badly. That pink squarish thing in the corner between the two couches is an ottoman.

We figure it acts as rolling seating or a spot for magazines. It needs some recovering, but is otherwise in good shape.

In the center of the room, looking towards the sunroom again.

It might seem a little odd to float the couches so much, but it makes for a nice conversational grouping and if is visually appealing as viewed from the kitchen. See?

That lamp is one of two matching lamps. We decided to forgo the baby blue lampshades they came with and will pick up new ones instead. I'm thinking we'll also spray paint them with a nice oil rubbed bronze. The shape is great, the shiny brass not so much.

The other lamp is on an end table, next to the pink couch. The right side of this picture shows the open passageway to the kitchen. In the foreground, you see our much beloved thrifted coffee table. We've had that thing for years and LOVE it. It fits the space nicely here. : )

Over by the fireplace we created a little reading area with the two captains chairs. There are another two matching chairs (without the armrests) which will find homes elsewhere in the house.

Between the chairs and the sofa area is a sofa table. I think it works perfectly to make the transition feel "finished".

All of the tables are of a set with that sofa table and we had more than we needed for the living room. So we pulled a couple into the sunroom.

The coffee table and side table just gleam in the sunlight. I never would have picked these out but I love them in here. : )

Another new addition to the sunroom is a cedar chest from my father's side of the family.

The latch is purely decorative, the top just lifts up. It was full of stuff when it got here but after some sorting (keep, goodwill, trash), we have a nice empty spot for blankets, board games, whatever. : )

The stuff:

The chest:

We still need to arrange the upstairs furniture, but that's less pressing. Since it's (mostly) behind closed doors it doesn't cause my "clutter alarm" to go off. I'm also slowly but surely getting through the boxes of stuff. I've found some really interesting stuff--some awesome, some bizarre--which I want to share with you. Unfortunately, my time is cramped by the whole studying for the exam of doom thing, so I will have to be more turtle, less hare than I might like.

CSA--Year 2--Week 3

2011-06-02T12:29:00.001-05:00

Since we are picking up this week's box today, perhaps I should share what we got last week. The box included:

1 bunch of asparagus
1 bunch of green onions
1 large head of broccoli
1 HUGE head of cauliflower
1 small head of romaine lettuce
1 bundle of unidentified greens
1 head of bok choi
4 ~~turnips~~ radishes
a whole mess of peas

The asparagus we sauted and added to a hash (potatoes, asparagus, green onions, and left over sausage). The broccoli, cauliflower, and bok choi were flash frozen to add to our stash. About half of the head of cauliflower was left out for roasting and snacking. Which reminds me, we should do that. Maybe for dinner tonight.

The romaine lettuce has been going in salads, the unidentified greens are still unidentified and, as of yet, unused. (Bad!)

I was intending to make mashed turnips with dinner but when I started peeling them the peppery scent clued me into my mistake. What I had thought were turnips were radishes. So instead, the radishes went into a delightful salsa (recipe coming soon).

The peas are destined for fried rice based on a brilliant idea left in the comment last week by one of my dear friends. So we'll be making that this weekend. : )

We also used up the head of cabbage from week two by making coleslaw for a friend's bonfire over the Memorial Day weekend.

And in case you think that the hubby and I are having all the CSA related fun, look what I found drug upstairs and left in our bedroom.

Our fierce hunters brought us a present! A dead pea!

It's Begun!

2011-05-25T12:26:00.000-05:00

A few months ago, I told you about my grandmother's decision to sell her house and the plans for some of the furniture to come our way. Well the sale of her house closed last week and the furniture arrived here on Monday. It's a quite the hodge-podge because, as these things are wont to do, it grew. First it expanded to include additional furniture that no one else wanted/needed. Then, because some of my grandma's furniture was moving to my parents' house, they decided to add a few of their older items.

Long story short, the hubby and I feel like bandits. Furniture bandits with furry accomplices. (The cats, for the record, DID NOT LIKE the movers to the tune of opening a bathroom cabinet and staying in there shaking until they left. They did, however, like the new furniture and all the flies that came in with the furniture.)

Right now, things are just strewn here and there, roughly in the right rooms. We plan to spend some time this weekend to start unpacking, rearranging, and taking stock of which items need to be repaired. (There was pre-move damage to some things). So, let's start with some before pictures.

Couches and tables in the living room.

Couch. The loveseat matches.

Boxes, a chair, and a chest. The desk is still sitting there from when we moved in. Two years ago. Ooops.

Chairs. We will probably recover these and scatter them throughout various rooms.

Wingback chair.

The brownish one is the chair for the sewing cabinet, the skirted one is a vanity chair that needs it's caster's replaced.

Tall skinny bookcase.

Rocking chair and curio cabinet. (I LOVE this curio cabinet! ♥)

Armoire. (In need of some TLC).

Detail of carving on armoire.

Dresser and mirror. (Also in need of some TLC).

Recliner! The start of our bedroom reading nook.

More bookcases. : )

Sewing cabinet. More detailed pictures and discussion to follow. This thing is fabulous.

Boxes of fabric and sewing supplies. : D

It will likely be a long project to unpack, situate, and update the pieces, just because of everything else going on right now. The good news is...furniture is really good a siting and waiting patiently!

CSA--Year 2--Week 2

2011-05-21T14:54:00.000-05:00

This week's box included:
*1 overfull basket of strawberries
*5 stalks of asparagus
*4 turnips (those long pink things are a variety of turnip)
*1 bunch of green onions
*1 small head romaine lettuce
*1 small head of broccoli
*1 head of cabbage
*A handful of green peas
*LOTS of beets

The beets and peas were from the "take some, leave some" box. I was one of the last to arrive so I was piled high with beets.

We have less direction this week than last. We're planning on using the strawberries to make some awesome lemonade. The asparagus I think we will saute and I found an interesting looking recipe for turnip green soup. The green onions will go into omlets, the cabbage might make it's way into coleslaw as we have a food processor this year and it should be a snap. The broccoli and beets will be salads and snacks with the romaine going into the salads as well. The peas will be...well, how exactly DO you cook regular peas? I suppose I shall have to do some googling. And then there are the turnips...I'm not really sure what we will do with those either. Any brilliant recipes I should know about?

CSA--Year 2--Week 1

2011-05-13T12:26:00.000-05:00

After months of waiting (and waiting and waiting...) our CSA has started back up for the summer! I am excited to get back to the astonishingly fresh produce and playful cooking of last summer.

This week's box included:

1 box of fresh strawberries--the kind of ripe they can't sell in grocery stores because they would have rotted before they got to you. Fragrant, ruby red, and absolutely mouthwatering.
1 bunch of green onions
3 small heads of broccoli
1 small head of cauliflower
1 small head of romaine lettuce
1 cabbage
1 head (is that the right term?) of bok choi
1 bunch of unidentified greens

The hubby and I took one look at our haul and knew exactly what to do with it--stir fry! Our plan is to prep the stir fry friendly veggies this weekend, flash freeze them, and put together stir fry "kits" for those lazy, hungry weeknights. That will use the green onions, broccoli, cabbage, and bok choi.

The greens we will try to identify and then either have in salads or wilt and eat in pasta. (Love wilted greens!) The cauliflower I'll eat as snacks and the romaine will go in salads. As for the delicious strawberries? Strawberry pancakes for dinner tonight, with a strawberry sauce on top. ♥

We will probably modify these recipes .

Meatballs (Take 2)

2011-05-10T22:33:00.000-05:00

We've made meatballs before. It was our first try and while they were brimming with potential they were also a bit big, a bit bready, and a bit crumbly. So we tried again, this time winging it based on what we remembered. I say we. The credit for this one goes entirely to the hubby. Yay hubby! : )

Makes: A dozen or so meatballs (I didn't count it up at the time, sorry!)

Ingredients
6/10 lbs ground turkey (or other ground meat)
1tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
1 slice of whole wheat bread
1 jar marinara sauce

Directions
TEAR bread into small pieces (1/16s or so)
ADD ground meat, seasoning, parmesan cheese, and bread pieces to bowl of food processor
PROCESS for 45 seconds

ROLL mixture into 1" balls

POUR sauce into saucepan
HEAT over medium heat
ADD meatballs (making sure they are fully submerged in the sauce)
COOK for 30 minutes
FLIP occasionally

Enjoy!

My Thoughts
1. These were delicious! The smaller size meant it was easier to keep them submerged in the sauce and the ratio of bread to meat to seasoning was well balanced.

2. You could also bake these rather than cook them on the stove top if you would rather not babysit. Just put the meatballs in an oven safe dish, cover with sauce and bake for 20-30 minutes.

Celebrating 60

2011-05-06T00:01:00.000-05:00

On Wednesday, my mom turned 60. This is one of those BIG numbers. The kind where you really should rent a hall, invite everyone you know, and throw a knock out surprise party. Except the 2300 miles between us makes that difficult. And expensive. And while I know there is nothing my mom would love more than a surprise visit from the hubby and I, I also know that we had already made plans to have a family vacation in August. So the visit was out.

But I still wanted my mom to know how loved she is. So I thought. And I thought. And I thought. And I realized. The perfect way for her to know how loved she is, is for people to tell her. So I convinced my father to rifle through her address book and I conscripted the hubby for a late night Kinkos run. Where we found the perfect paper and made copy after copy of The Plan for Project Awesome. Each copy was a letter requesting that the receiver write my mom a letter telling her why she was special to them.

On each I wrote a little note and in every envelope I tucked a pre-addressed stamped envelope for them to return their contribution. In every one, I asked them to tag any others who might be interested. And then I waited.

I sent out 35 requests and received about 25 responses, though there were more letters than that as one enterprising friend managed to sneakily get letters from a whole group and ship them back to me.

These people rock. Every single one of them. For taking time out to sit and write a letter. To take the opportunity to tell my mom what she means to them NOW, while she is still kicking and awesome and not waiting for her (hopefully very far in the future) eulogy.

Quilter that I am, I couldn't stand to stuff all these precious letters in just any old envelope. They, and my mom, deserved better than that. So I made a...er, well, I'm not sure what exactly. A letter holding thingy to hold the letters.

I had a vague plan when I started shopping. I found the blue fabric on Etsy. The natural and red fabrics, and the heart buttons, at my local quilt shop. The leather cording and thread at Hancock's.

Little by little, as I found the various pieces, the final project came more into focus. When I got home I sketched and finally picked one method.

I loved the more envelop-ey looking ones but binding corners always gives me issues. So I opted for the all round one (#4) and hoped it wouldn't get to bulky.

I guesstimated the size of my pieces based on my envelopes and cut three circles (using the first as the pattern for the others)--one from my batting, and one each from the red and blue fabrics.

Then I cut a thick strip from the natural fabric, set some pins to show the area I wanted to stay with in and added some hand embroidery.

I sliced my circle down the center, took off the excess material (leaving seam allowances) and pieced in my embroidered strip.

Then I sandwiched the red circle with the blue and embroidered circle and began quilting. This is when everything started going south. First, I spent about an hour wrangling thread and tension settings before realizing that, for whatever reason, the quilting thread I had bought, specifically for this project, REFUSED to stitch properly on my machine. Gah! Giving up, I switched to an old standby that was close enough and decided to try some nice loopy hearts.

Yea...not so much. That little bit of quilting took me 4 hours to pull out. Instead I went for a nice diamond pattern. I still had a few annoying instances of the thread breaking, but overall the end result was much better.

This was my first time using bias binding and since it was such a small amount, I just cut strips on a 45 degree angle and pieced them together. It worked beautifully, the fabric just flowed around the curves. SO MUCH simpler than square corners. It makes me want to generously round the corners of all my quilts.

It did take a lot of pinning though, and I realized, after my first go that it was much easier to sew if the edge was to the right of the needle--meaning the bulk of the project was shoved through the throat of the machine. Not an issue on something this small, but potentially a real pain on something bigger. I did use a double fold binding method, if I had done single fold and then ladder stitched the back, it wouldn't have been an issue. Instead, I just ended up doing two rounds to ensure that the back side wasn't "flappy".

At this point, I took a small piece of leftover binding, trimmed it down and used it to capture the straps. Which I apparently only took a picture of the back of.

Once I got the straps done, I went back for the finishing touch...the buttons. I took very small stitches on the back so they aren't really noticeable and hid the knots behind the buttons. I could have added them before the sandwiching, but didn't want to worry about quilting around them.

Of course, on the very last stitch of the very last button...the darn thing broke in two.

After a bit of ranting, it was decided that that button wasn't strictly necessary after all.

These give you some idea of how it works:

Step 1: Place the letters in the center

Step 2: Fold in the sides and then fold up the bottom:

Step 3: Fold down the top and tie

Step 4: Flip over and admire!

My dad presented it to her at a surprise birthday lunch so it's almost as good as a surprise party. : )

Giving Back

2011-05-05T16:21:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned in my last couple of posts, the hubby and I have been lucky enough not to feel the after-effects of these recent tornadoes. However, there are plenty of other people in our city, our county, our state, who are suffering tremendously. Homes lost, pets lost, people lost.

Times like these I never quite know what to do. I want to give but some dry goods or a bit of cash never seem like enough. I find myself wanting to DO something. But I also know my limits. I have a 9-5 job, am fairly out of shape, and have only the most rudimentary construction skills. In other words, I'm not the sort of person you want cutting up fallen trees or rebuilding houses. Add in our lack of communication access, and I kept finding out about volunteer activities after they were over.

However, thanks to the magic of social networking, Mrs. Zoot linked me to a cause where I know that my skills will be well used. I can help and so can you!

This weekend from 12-2 there will be an old fashioned bake sale in Five Points, just across from Star Market. If you plan to donate, baked goods should be dropped off earlier. Otherwise, come when you can to purchase something made by the community for the community. All proceeds will be donated to the Red Cross.

Pick something up for your Mother's Day celebrations, something to share with coworkers and friends, or something just because.

And a BIG thanks to Aunt Gee Bakes for dreaming this up and coordinating. You can get more information from this post or by emailing auntgee@auntgeebakes.com with any questions/concerns or just to sign up!

A Simplier Time

2011-05-05T15:06:00.000-05:00

I've long since realized that I would be very happy with a simpler, but still modern way of life. Can our own food, but have running water. Make our own bread, with a stand mixer to knead. Use local, fresh veggies, but with internet access.

The great irony of the low tech/high tech dichotomy is that it is only through the high tech (the internet, blogs, etc) that I have begun to learn the low tech (canning, more than just the basics of cookings, finding good cookbooks).

So it was an interesting study, being without power for 4.5 days to examine the "simple" side of that equation.

The number one thing I did was bury my nose in a book. Mostly my PE exam prep book. I had gotten a bit behind on studying and I very nearly had my one week buffer back in place by the end of the four days. Thank goodness we had decided to furnish the sunroom first as it was both bright enough to read in and somewhat climate controlled (ie: it had a roof and we could open the windows for a cross breeze.)

We cooked on our little grill, even baking cookies so the dough balls we had in the freezer wouldn't go bad.

We went for walks and bike rides along our green belt where we marveled at how high the water level in the river was (it flooded the greenbelt)...

...and spotted some downed branches.

There was lots of wildlife out, enjoying the spring weather.

We took a morning off from the quiet to head to the Verizon Store

where they had brought in a generator and set up "charging stations" and were letting the public charge phones, laptops, etc.

Then it was back to our tranquil land of kitty naps.

In the evenings we played Scrabble...

...and Gin Rummy by candlelight.

And read by flashlight.

Not a bad way to spend a few days. Even if it did mean cold sponge baths (brrrr) and handwashing our clothes.

Grateful

2011-05-03T12:09:00.001-05:00

As some of you have undoubtedly heard, last week Northern Alabama (aka: where I live) was hit hard with tornadoes. Something like over 200 tornadoes tore through the state just on the first day. Two were F5s.

I was at work when the power went out and since it was near the end of the day, I headed home. Blackouts are not uncommon here, when you get as many thunderstorms as we do, it's easy for a line or local area to get knocked out. But I was a bit surprised to find that our house, 25 minutes away from my office and on another section of the grid, was also down.

At that point, we knew there had been tornadoes, we knew it had been worse elsewhere, and we knew the power was out. We didn't know much else and it was only slowly, over the course of the next few days, that our local radio station would break bits and pieces of news.

The power was out due to the lines out of a local nuclear reactor being down. 5 counties were dark and it was expected to be 2-3 days. 5-7 days. Up to two weeks. Before power would be restored.

We got by just fine. I had recently filled up my car and had a full tank of gas, the hubby had over half a tank. We had bought batteries for our emergency flashlights a month or two ago and we were able to scrape together enough AAs to power the weather radio. We had a decent stock of dry goods and a little propane grill and a bottle and a half of propane. But more than anything, we had each other.

No matter how inconvenient not having power was, that's all it was, an inconvenience. My husband is safe, my cats are safe, my home is safe. Our "storm damage" was laughable--a large branch knocked down in the back yard. A few thick sticks driven jarringly into the soft ground. We never lost water and while cold showers are not fun, they beat no shower at all.

Instead of feeling miserable and cranky, I just felt profoundly grateful. We grilled, took bike rides, and went for walks. I took advantage of the daylight hours to study in the sunroom while my hubby read next to me and the cats sunned themselves. At night, we lit a candle, set up our homemade reflector and played Gin Rummy or read books. We bought a few extra things at the stores, which were running off generator power. Cat food. Macaroni and cheese. Lots and lots of bread.

We even stumbled across our local Verizon store, one of the first stores with a generator, which had set up "charging stations" consisting of surge protectors and card tables. Their generosity allowed us to charge our cell phones and reach out to the world again. To return the anxious texts of friends and family. Check emails. Touch base with the office.

Our power came back on in the wee hours of Monday morning. My office is up and running though my husband's is not. Yesterday, most of the traffic lights on my commute were up. Today, they all were. We are making slow and steady progress. We are warned that some areas will be without power for up to another week. Clean up has begun. Various volunteer groups are collecting supplies and organizing crews. City officials hope to lift the dusk to dawn curfew tonight.

This is the beginning of a very long road for some, a road of recovery and rebuilding. For us it was but a brief pause in the everyday hustle and bustle. And so I am left feeling grateful for our safety, aware of our privilege, and awed by the fierce generosity of my community.

Spring Sprucing

2011-04-25T22:00:00.000-05:00

I love our house this time of year. From March to the end of April we have Things That Bloom. Though certainly not due to our efforts, I still love to enjoy them. Angles like the one above make me feel like we live in some secluded garden.

And for a brief bit of time, even the side of the house gets it's turn in the spotlight.

Of course, it's looking especially beautiful this week since the hubby pressure washed the driveway...

...and trimmed the bushes in anticipation of the anniversary photos we are having taken on Friday.

We're shooting at two locations, one of which will be our house, so it's got to look extra good.

And it does. : )

The Overdue Cargo Net

2011-04-13T00:01:00.002-05:00

A few years ago we purchased a car. A shiny blue little Corolla that was to be all mine. And over the last 3 years, oh how I've loved my little car. There was just one tiny little issue. The cargo net.

I had seen how useful my mom's net was so when I bought my car, I opted to have one too. Only the dealer was out and had to order it. Rather than hold up my going home with the car, they offered to ship it to me. I asked how to install it and they said "Oh, it just screws in." Awesome, I can totally handle that.

And true to their word, the net arrived about a week later. All was going swimmingly until I tried to actually install the thing. There was nowhere to screw it in. There were these little plastic things, but there was no way to hook the net to them.

I googled and asked around and eventually gave up. So for the past three years, I've been driving around with the net and it's hardware neatly folded in my trunk.

The other day my husband tells me "I looked up a tutorial on how to install your net, you want to get that in?" Uh, yea!

And so we did. Turns out you have to actually remove the little plastic things and pull back the carpet to install the clips you need to screw into. Of course.

But the most important part is that we prevailed and now our reusable bags have a home!

Hurrah for the hubby!

WRS--Green Centers

2011-04-12T00:01:00.002-05:00

You might remember that I'm working on a quilt. Or you might not, since I quilt approximately at the pace of a snail. Going the wrong direction. Over speed bumps.

Regardless, I am working on this quilt. (Going on 1.5 years now...) and yesterday I was able to finish up the green centered blocks. I had started adding the yellow layer to these some undocumented amount of time ago. And then other stuff happened. But yesterday! I added the two remaining yellow sides and wonk-ied them up. Hurrah! One color down.

This means I have 2/5 colors pretty much wrapped up.

When I first started this, in October of 2009, my plan was to float the blocks on a black background. After reading modern quilting blogs though, I was really loving the idea of floating them on white. And when the size of the finished blocks became evident, I starting thinking of back layouts as well. So then I was thinking--float on white on the front, float on black on the back. Now I'm thinking, pick my favorite one of each color, float those on white in a "random" layout on the front and then chop up the balance of the blocks (quarters? crazy quilt style?) and put them back together and make the back without any sashing at all. One side would be serene and reflecting, the other absolutely chaotic. By the time I actually get to that point, who knows what I'll go with? : )

Mah Kittehs

2011-04-11T15:30:00.001-05:00

There has been a real dearth of kitty pictures on here lately. That's a sad thing because these cats are just about the cutest cats you ever will find. I submit the evidence:

1. Little kitty feet. High up in the air.

2. Snoozey nap time cat.

3. Hard at work cat.

4. Stubborn cat.

5. Snuggling together cats

See? Clearly, the cutest cats ever.

Plop

2011-04-10T00:00:00.000-05:00

I was pulling into our garage today when I heard a "plop" and saw something largeish land on the windshield.

Startled, I braked and took a closer look.

Heaven help us, it's raining frogs.

After I parked, I stopped to get a closer look at the little guy. He seemed a little freaked out.

A few hours later, he had disappeared off the windshield so here's hoping he gathered his wits and hopped back outside.

My Own Special Brand of Insanity

2011-04-03T22:18:00.000-05:00

Things will probably be a little quiet on the blog for the next few months. Not because I have any intention of stopping blogging (good heavens no!) but because I will be spending much less time on the computer than usual. And, truth be told, much less time doing just about everything than I have been. Less baking, less sewing, less internet browsing, and less blogging.

Because I will be doing more studying. For the Professional Engineering exam this October. Think of it like the Bar exam for engineers, only optional. The way that the law works, not every single engineer needs to be licensed. However, in order to own a business, run a department, advertise yourself as an Engineer...you have to be. And since the test covers lots of concepts last seen in my school days, I figure it is best to get it over and done with as soon as possible.

This month I will officially have the 4 years experience required to make me eligible for the exam. So I have started studying (oh hello math, how I haven't missed you) for the eight hour exam of doom. I fully expect that my brain will be total and complete mush afterwards, but right after recovering I fully intend to jump back into, well everything! With gusto. I already have 2012 slated as a year of purging/cleaning/organizing the house. So far I've managed to sneak in a little baking and some wardrobe updates. Hopefully, I can keep up a bit of a balance.

But in the meantime, please forgive me if posts get a bit more sporadic. I'll try to hit the highlights. : )

Pi Day Winners!

2011-03-28T00:01:00.001-05:00

I apologize for the delay in reporting back. You know how some weeks things just seem to ker-splode? Yea, I'm there. But now, I'm also here! With winners!

First up, the winner of the random drawing: Lady_Bird with her delicious sounding deepdish pizza and sugar free apple raisin pies.

And the winner for sake of sheer awesome? Measuring Spoons with her Peach Blueberry Granola Crumb Pie. Check out those star cutouts! And the peach, blueberry, granola combo? Sounds amazing.

Thanks to everyone who participated! I hope you all enjoyed Pi Day as much as we do. : )

Winners, I'll be contacting you to get mailing address. The first one to respond will have their choice of the apple or pumpkin shape.

Homeowners 1 : Inclement Weather 0

2011-03-27T22:48:00.001-05:00

Last weekend the hubby and I took a somewhat impromptu three day weekend. It was scheduled to be spring (oh 80 degree weather, how I've missed you) and we were needing to give the house some love. You see, back in February, we had a really awe inspiring snow storm. It may or may not have been thunder snow, but it most certainly tried to invade our territory.

We poked around in the attic, but could find no evidence of the leak. Then, in early March we had another BIG storm. And the leak grew.

More poking in the attic. Some ground to air calculations of just where exactly that spot on the ceiling corresponded to in the attic. Still no evidence of water.

So we did what every sensible homeowner does when there is something amiss. We bought a ladder. A 24' extension ladder.

We actually had to rent a truck to get it home. (Thank god for Lowes and their rental service).

Ladder procured, we began the great gutter clean out. Or rather, the hubby cleaned out the gutters while I held the ladder, dodged bugs, and pointed out what looked like cracks on the underside of the gutter. This last bit was especially important since as he cleaned, the hubby was also sealing the cracks and leaks. The hubby's running theory was that the water leak was coming in due to an overfull/leaking gutter.

Jack supervised from the window.

I boggled at spring's arrival.

And had gutter guck dropped on my head. It was lovely.

We went all the way around the house, giving the hubby the chance to wander the roof.

Yesterday, another BIG storm hit. Thunder, lightening and lots and lots of rain. Which stayed outside.

*happydance*

Fabric Postcard Swap

2011-03-21T00:01:00.001-05:00

In February, I participated in a fabric post card swap. The swap was a no stress swap which means you complete your cards before you sign up. That way should your experiment be an epic fail or life conspire to ambush you, you can bow out without feeling guilty. Since that is usually my big hang up with swaps, I was excited to participate. I'd never made fabric postcards before, but since the moderator suggested that this was a good way to experiment with things you had been wanting to try, I decided to test out a few ideas that had been on a slow burn in my brain for far too long.

I began with this technique, which essentially lets you create your own fabric.

This picture shows one of the pieces prior to trimming it down to size and washing out the stabilizer.

One I had my fabric created, I cut squares of a fleece blanket to use as batting and quilted the two together. For the quilting, my inspiration was a post on sketchy quilting I had seen once. To punch up the shapes (and because I can't resist text) I added words to each piece and then trimmed them down to size.

Deciding they still needed a little something, I opted to bind them in a great dark grey on black tonal print.

I also chose to glue the binding to my cardstock backing. Not such a bright idea. Not only was it more difficult to work with because of the short working time of the glue but binding such a small piece when paper has such sharp corners...let's just say my binding was far from perfect.

Of course, the best part was watching the cards come rolling into my mailbox!

The one on the bottom right suffered a broken bead, but otherwise everything went through the mail fine. I've heard back from several of the people who received my cards and they all arrived intact, hurrah!

I love the variety and have an ingenious plan all devised to display them in my craft room. Now I just need to implement it. : )

Mini Sweet Potato Pies

2011-03-20T10:56:00.000-05:00

With four forlorn sweet potatoes staring at me from the pantry, I knew that our Pi Day had to include sweet potato pie. Of course, being from California, I'd never made sweet potato pie before. Heck, I'd never eaten sweet potato pie before. Thankfully, in this era of the internet, that was no problem at all, as a wonderful recipe was only a few clicks away.

Makes: Filling for a 9" pie or 60+ mini pies.

Ingredients
2 sweet potatoes
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter
2- 5oz cans (1 1/4 cup) evaporated milk
3 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
Prepared mini pie shells (See below for more info)

Directions
BOIL medium pot of water
WASH and PEEL sweet potatoes
ADD sweet potatoes
BOIL until fork tender all the way through
REMOVE from water
MASH throughly to remove lumps
MEASURE out 2 cups and refrigerate the remainder for another use

DISCARD water
ADD mashed sweet potatoes back to the pot
CUT butter into small pieces
ADD brown sugar, coriander, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, butter, and one can of evaporated milk
TURN heat to low
WHISK mixture over low heat until well blended, smooth, and starting to bubble
REMOVE from heat and let cool

BEAT 3 eggs in a medium bowl
ADD second can of evaporated milk, sugar, and vanilla
BEAT until creamy

ADD cooled sweet potato mixture
WHISK until throughly incorporated

POUR into prepared mini pie shells

BAKE at 350 for 12-15 minutes or until filling is set

LET COOL

Enjoy!

My Thoughts
1. We used this recipe for the crust and pressed it into mini muffin pans. The trick with this is keeping the crust thin so that you get a good balance of filling to crust. You could also use a rolled pie crust and use a cookie cutter to cut out circles and lay them into the pan like Bakerella does here.

2. I really enjoyed these. The flavor was a bit more mild than the pumpkin pies I grew up with but overall, very tasty.

3. Of course, the mini presentation didn't hurt. SO CUTE! And an easy way to share Pi Day with coworkers or take pie to a potluck/on a picnic etc since no silverware is required to eat it. : )

Chocolate Cream Pie

2011-03-17T12:41:00.001-05:00

As part of our Pi Day Celebration, the hubby wanted something chocolatey. So I suggested Chocolate Cream Pie and starting looking for recipes. I figured this one might be onto something when the contributor described it as "fudgy". They were right, and so was I.

Makes: Filling for 1 9" pie

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups sugar (+ ~6tbsp sugar for the meringue, if desired)
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups milk
4 eggs
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 prepared pie shell

Directions
CHOP butter and chocolate into small pieces
COMBINE in a small bowl

COMBINE sugar, flour, cornstarch, and salt in a medium saucepan

COMBINE eggs yolks and milk in a measuring cup
BEAT until smooth
REFRIGERATE egg whites to use for meringue

SLOWLY STIR egg and milk mixture into the dry ingredients

PLACE saucepan over medium heat
STIR mixture until mixture thickens and comes to a boil
BOIL for 1 minute

REMOVE from heat

ADD chocolate, butter, and vanilla

POUR into prepared pie shell
COVER with plastic wrap
REFRIGERATE for 2+ hours, until firm

TURN oven to broil

ADD saved egg whites to bowl of stand mixer
WHIP until foamy
GRADUALLY ADD sugar (1tbsp at a time) and continue to whip until stiff peaks form

SPREAD meringue over the chocolate custard
ENSURE edges are sealed

BROIL pie for 5 min to brown creases in meringue

CHILL until serving

Enjoy!

My Thoughts
1. The custard comes together deceptively fast. One minute you are stirring soup, then BOOM! custard. Keep stirring and keep a close eye on it.

2. Also make sure not to forget that you are browning your meringue in the oven. Doing so would lead to blackened meringue. Which you can just peel off and then pop the pie back in for round two, but your meringue will look a little flat and crumbly. Not that I would know from experience or anything. ; )

3. This pie is divine. Fudgy, rich, creamy, amazing. It doesn't need the meringue for flavor, though it does up the presentation factor.

4. We used the delicious No Roll Pie Crust with this filling. It was a perfect pair.

No Roll Pie Crust

2011-03-16T23:59:00.000-05:00

This no roll pie crust has been on my "must bake" list for, oh, forever. But since we don't make pies very frequently, I hadn't quite gotten around to it yet. And so it was that for this year's Pi Day Celebration we made this for not one, but two types of pie. And it was amazing. And easy.

Makes: One 9" pie crust

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
1/8 tsp baking powder
4 tbsp butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tbsp cream cheese, at room temperature
2 Tbsp cold milk

Directions
COMBINE flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar in a medium bowl
GRATE cold butter
ADD butter and cream cheese to dry ingredients
BLEND butter and cream cheese into dry ingredients with a pastry blender, fork, or your fingers

COMBINE milk and oil in a small bowl or measuring cup
WHISK

ADD to flour and butter mixture
BLEND with pastry blender or fork until all of the flour has been wetted
DUMP into pie plate (or tins of mini muffin pan)
USE your fingers to press dough against baking pan

For a prebaked crust...line the crust with foil, fill with beans or pie weights and bake at 350F for 10 minutes. Remove foil and beans and bake for another 5 minutes to brown.

Otherwise, bake according to your filling's instructions.

Enjoy!

My Thoughts
1. This crust is on the thicker side but still flaky and delicious.

2. The cream cheese gives it a nice sweetly tart flavor and serves as that "extra something" that elevates this beyond typical. (That and the amazing texture).

3. We used this for both Chocolate Cream Pie and Sweet Potato Pie. The flavor worked equally well with both. This is a clear winner for quick, easy, and awesome.

4. Like all press in crusts, this is only good for pies that do not require a top crust.

Chicken Pot Pie Filling Take Two

2011-03-15T12:25:00.000-05:00

I couldn't convince the hubby that mincemeat pie would be a nice savory addition to our Pi Day plans (darn!), so we decided to go with chicken pot pie. We made Chicken Pot Pie for last year's Pi Day Celebration as well. However, while that recipe was tasty, it was a little fussy and not quite *perfect*. So this year we decided to try another recipe.

Makes: Filling for one 9" pie or about twenty pocket pies

Ingredients

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 cup carrots
1 cup frozen green peas
1/2 cup celery
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup onion
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp celery seed
1 3/4 cups low sodium chicken broth
2/3 cup milk

Directions
CUT chicken, carrots, celery and onion into small cubes

ADD chicken, carrots, peas, and celery to a medium saucepan
ADD water to cover
BOIL for 15 minutes
DRAIN
SET ASIDE

ADD onions and butter to saucepan
SAUTE until onions are translucent
STIR in flour, salt, pepper, and celery seed
SLOWLY stir in milk and chicken broth
SIMMER until thickened, STIRRING often

REMOVE from heat
MIX in chicken mixture until well distributed

USE per crust instructions

My Thoughts
1. I vastly prefer small chicken pot pies. I like a high crust to filling ratio and large pies cut into slices just don't hold up well. However, you can totally make this in a larger 9" pie pan. Just lay down your bottom crust, add the chicken mixture, pour the liquid over the top, add your top crust, and bake. Voila! A full sized pot pie.

2. This filling was tasty and much more "classic" than the one we made last year. This is a solid, dependable recipe that I'll use again. : )

3. We made this with the Perfectly Flaky Pie Crust, omitting the sugar from the crust to make it just right for a savory filling.

4. To see the molds we used and how they work, check out The Pocket Pie Mold Tutorial

Pi Day Celebration

2011-03-14T20:47:00.003-05:00

Today is Pi Day. An official day to celebrate pi. And pie. And heck, it's March. March needs a good holiday. One full of sugar and friends and baking.

This week I'll be posting the recipies from our own celebration and linking them up here.

Delicious No Roll Crust
Mini Sweet Potato Pies
Incredible Chocolate Cream Pie
Chicken Pot Pie Filling (Take II)
Perfectly Flaky Pie Crust

But what I really want to see is what YOU made. How did you celebrate Pi Day? What is your most awesome pie? Link up below for a chance to win one of two pocket pie molds.

One winner will be chosen by random drawing. The other prize will be awarded for most awesome entry where awesome is based on creativity, tastiness, and presentation. The linky will close one week from today, on the 21st and the winners will be announced later that week. (Please be sure that I have some way to contact you if you win, either through your blog or by dropping me a comment or an email with you email address.)

Pi Day Planning

2011-03-05T21:07:00.001-06:00

Thinking about participating in the Pi Day festivities but not sure where to start? You still have plenty of time before the actual day (3/14!) so here are some links and suggestions to get you started:

Crusts
Perfectly Flaky Pie Crust--Omit the sugar for savory pies, leave as it for sweet pies, and enjoy!
Easy No Roll Pie Crust--This one has been on my "to-make" list forever.

Filling Ideas
Fruit pies (apple pie, berry pie, pear pie)
Root veggies (pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie)
Sugar (chess pie, buttermilk pie)
Cream (banana cream pie, chocolate cream pie)
Flavor combinations (chocolate + mint, peanut butter + banana)

General Resources
Joy the Baker--Here recipes are magical. They always have that extra "something" that makes baked goods really stand out.
The Tasty Kitchen--an offshoot of The Pioneer Woman's site, this is a recipe archive with surprising versatility.
All Recipes--A huge site with lots of recipes, I look for ones with lots of ratings which were rated highly. Then I scan the ingredients list and toss out the ones full of preprocessed quasi-food. The remainder are hit and miss but can be very inspiring when you just don't know what to make.

Thinking this all sounds like fun but there's only one or two people in your household and you can only eat so much pie before you explode?

Check out Dessert for Two where all the recipes are scaled to serve two people in reasonable amounts. She has a fairly expansive selection of pies.

PS. Even Congress has recognized the awesomeness of Pi Day.

Garlic Chicken and Orzo

2011-02-27T18:40:00.000-06:00

Looking for a quick recipe using only what we had in the house, the hubby and I decided to tweak this recipe. Real food in under 30 minutes. Absolutely awesome.

Makes: 3-4 servings

Ingredients
1 cup uncooked orzo
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1/4 tsp chile powder
1 boneless skinless chicken breast
1 tbsp dried parsely
2 cups fresh spinach leaves
1/4 cup grape tomatoes
1/8 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
BOIL a pot of water
ADD orzo
COOK 8-10 minutes
DRAIN

CHOP chicken into bite sized pieces
WASH spinach and tomatoes
SLICE tomatoes into small rounds
GRATE parmesan cheese

ADD oil to skillet
TURN to medium-high heat
ADD garlic
COOK for 1 minute
ADD chicken
COOK until chicken is cooked through, 3-4 minutes
REDUCE heat to medium
MIX in parsley and cooked orzo
ADD spinach and tomatoes
COOK until spinach is wilted, 2-3 minutes

TOP with Parmesan cheese

Enjoy!

My Thoughts
1. These are the sort of meals that make me feel like real cooking is totally doable, even on busy weeknights when everyone is crabby and hungry.

2. This is the second or third time I've tried the whole "add garlic to hot oil for seasoning" and every time the garlic has burned and clumped. I just fished it out, but in the future I'll just add the oil, garlic, and chicken all together.

3. The chile powder was not the best choice...it wasn't bad, but had we added more it would have been an odd note. Next time, I think we'll try Italian seasoning.

4. The oil coated the orzo and gave it a bit of a "sauce", which was nice. This would also go brilliantly with a pesto sauce.

Pumpkin Bread

2011-02-24T00:01:00.000-06:00

After the last Pumpkin Bread Adventure, I was on the lookout for a better recipe. You know, one with flavor and spices and stuff. Which is why the very day that Miss Zoot posted her Pumpkin Bread recipe I was in the kitchen making some.

Makes: 1 10" bunt pan

Ingredients
4 eggs
3 cup sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
15 oz can of pumpkin (just plain pumpkin, not pie filling)
3 1/3 cup flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
2/3 cup water

Directions
PREHEAT oven to 350F
BUTTER and FLOUR bunt pan

BEAT eggs and sugar
ADD oil
MIX until combined
ADD pumpkin
MIX until combined
ADD cinnamon and nutmeg
MIX until well incorporated
ADD water
MIX until combined

POUR into prepared bunt pan
BAKE 60-65 minutes, until tester comes out clean

Enjoy!

My Thoughts
1. The texture of this bread was perfect. A nice moist crumb.

2. The flavor was a nice mellow pumpkin. I'd like to try adding some additional spices to kick it up a bit or maybe a nice glaze. The husband however, loved it exactly as it was. (Which is why the entire bunt pan--usually far too much for the two of us to eat--disappeared in less than a week.)

3. The bunt shape makes for a pretty presentation and easy slicing. It's not something I had previously considered for quick breads, being afraid they would be too dense to cook through, but this one is light enough that it works brilliantly.

Puffy Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-02-23T11:48:00.000-06:00

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Another recipe from the depths of my draft folder...Puffy Chocolate Chip Recipes. These were part of our holiday cookie baking extravaganza this year as a way to incorporate an old favorite but amp it up a bit.

Makes: 24 cookies

Ingredients
8 tbsp cold butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, cold
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions
PREHEAT oven to 350F
LINE baking sheet with parchment paper

CUT butter into small cubes (or just slice along the tsp markers)
BEAT butter and sugar until barely combined (NOT fluffy)
ADD egg and vanilla
BEAT until combined
ADD flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt
MIX until well combined
ADD chocolate chips
MIX until well combined

DROP by rounded tablespoon onto the prepared cookie sheet
CHILL for 5-10 minutes before baking

BAKE 11-13 minutes until lightly browned

Enjoy!

My Thoughts
1. I loved how these pillowy cookies kept their shape--this is combination of the stiff dough and the chilling before baking step. If the dough is not cold enough, they will spread in the oven.

2. And when I say stiff, I mean difficult to mix in the chocolate chips by hand.

3. We used white sugar, which is how I've written the recipe here, though the original called for brown sugar. It worked and was quite tasty, but I think brown sugar would have given it a nicer depth of flavor.

Sweet Potato Pie (Sort of)

2011-02-17T00:01:00.002-06:00

As I mentioned yesterday, I have a few out of date recipes to post. This one is from Thanksgiving. Nearly 3 months ago. But let's not look at it that way. Instead, let's consider this an early jump on next year. Nine months early. I found this recipe on The Pioneer Woman's site. I figured that of all people she would know her way around sweet potatoes. Which was important because, while I would make them a standalone food group, my husband is not really a fan.

Makes: 1 pie

Ingredients
4 whole sweet potatoes
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup pecans
1/2 cup flour
6 tsp butter

Directions
PREHEAT oven to 375F
WASH and DRY sweet potatoes
BAKE 30-35 minutes, until fork tender

INCREASE oven temp to 400F

SLICE open sweet potatoes
SCRAPE potato flesh into a large bowl
ADD sugar, milk, eggs, vanilla, and salt
MASH with potato masher
SPREAD into a pie plate

CHOP pecans finely
COMBINE brown sugar , pecans, flour, and butter
BLEND with pastry cutter or fork
SPRINKLE sugar mixture over the top of the sweet potatoes

BAKE for 30 minutes

Enjoy!

My Thoughts
1. These were dreamy. Sweet and creamy with just a touch of crunch from the nutty, crumby topping. *contented sigh*

2. This dish was so sweet that my husband dubbed it sweet potato pie. It's not. At all. But that's okay because it's that good. You could serve it for dessert.

3. These are excellent as leftovers.

Recipe Failures

2011-02-16T00:01:00.000-06:00

I have a collection of posts growing in my drafts folder. Recipes that we made that were just...not that great. Or downright bad. Sometimes our fault. Sometimes the recipe's. I can't quite bear to delete them...because I don't want to make them or similar recipes again. But neither am I inspired to post them because, well, they just weren't that great. And other, shinier objects have distracted me. So in the interest of clearing out my draft folder, here are those recipes that just didn't quite work out the way they should have.

1. Cheesy Squash Soup

We used yellow squash and a homemade cheese sauce instead of the processed cheese. The flavor was completely forgettable. (I really need to learn how to properly spice dishes!) We also made this back when we had only our mini food processor and we were unable to get it completely smooth. Strangely gritty soup = no good. We made this back in September and still have most of it in the freezer. Oops.

2. Banana Oat Muffins

I thought the oats sounded like an amazing addition, but was too lazy to use Joy the Baker's recipe because it essentially required making a meringue. Bad call.

I used 3/4 the amount of bananas called for an substituted applesauce for half the oil. All that was fine. What was not fine was the gross, gummy texture of the oats. The recipe called for rolled oats, not instant, so I'm not sure what happened there. But still? Ew. I think we still have some of these in the freezer too.

I was so un-enthused about them that this is the only picture I have of them. See them shoved there in the corner? Yea...

3. Pumpkin Bars

I somehow managed to miss the fact that these used cream cheese for the filling. I had been envisioning something closer to pumpkin pie. The crust was AMAZING and everyone else loved them but I just wasn't feeling it.

The photo shows a cooked pan on the left and an uncooked pan on the right.

4. Cheesy Turnips and Pasta

We added leftover cooked pasta at the end. This dish was edible. And completely forgettable. Lost in a sea of bland.

I still have some ridiculously tardy recipes to post (Thanksgiving? Hullo!), but they are, I promise, delicious and totally worth making. Now that I have these out of the way, perhaps I shall quit avoiding my drafts folder. : )

Bacon Wrapped Smokies (Aka "Meat Candy")

2011-02-15T00:01:00.000-06:00

When serving a meal of all appetizers, I like to make sure we have a few heartier things on the menu. Veggies and dip are amazing, but they do not a meal make. I found this recipe on All Recipes and was won over by the short ingredient list, simple prep, and rave reviews. We weren't disappointed.

Makes: ~2 dozen pieces

Ingredients
1 pound sliced bacon
14 oz package beef cocktail wieners
3/4 cup brown sugar

Directions
PREHEAT oven to 325F
LINE baking sheet with foil

SLICE bacon into thirds
WRAP a bacon pieces around a cocktail wiener
SECURE with a toothpick

REPEAT until all wieners are wrapped
ARRANGE on baking sheet
SPRINKLE with brown sugar

BAKE for 50 minutes
BROIL for 5 minutes

Enjoy!

My Thoughts
1. Line your pan with lots and lots and lots of foil. I did one layer and the drippings/sugar combination got under it and...completely defeated the "easy cleanup" purpose of the foil. Oops. I would suggest at least two layers, one running lengthwise and one running widthwise.

2. These things are DELICIOUS. Healthy? Probably not. Tasty? Definitely. Anyone who like honeybaked hams will love these things.

3. Because you sprinkle the sugar on afterwards, the toothpicks get a bit sticky. You could dredge the bacon in the sugar first, but you will likely not end up with enough sugar on the bacon that way. If you come up with something brilliant, please come back and share!

4. One of the reviewers on All Recipes called these "meat candy". They were totally right.

One Month to Pi Day

2011-02-14T21:48:00.001-06:00

Today marks exactly one month until one of my favorite unconventional holidays...Pi Day! The essence of the holiday is this. You eat pie. To celebrate pi. Or, in our house, you bake pie to eat pie to celebrate pi.

Clearly this is nothing short of awesome. In years past the hubby and I have made both savory and sweet pies. We've made big pies and pocket pies. For this year's pi day, I challenge you all to make a pie too. Anytime between now and 3/14. Any sort of pie you like.

Then, on the big day I'll post about our Pi Day Shenanigans and we'll have a linkup party. I have two Williams Sonoma pocket pie molds (one pumpkin, one apple) to give to winners. The first will be drawn at random from all the participants. The other will go to the most awesome entry. Where awesome is based on creativity, tastiness, and presentation. So get thinking (and baking!). I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with. : D

Chile Cheddar Biscuits

2011-02-14T00:01:00.001-06:00

The hubby and I decided to make biscuits for dinner the other night. I've been on a quest, to find an AMAZING biscuit recipe. One that stacks up to the pillow-y, soft, amazing biscuits of the best down home diners. We tried a couple of different recipes, none of which have caught my fancy. This time we tweaked this recipe from Joy the Baker.

Makes: 12 biscuits

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups flour + a bit to flour the pan
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp chile powder
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces + a bit to grease the pan
1 generous cup cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Directions
PREHEAT oven to 375F
RUB baking sheet with butter then flour

WHISK together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, and chile powder
CUT butter in with a pastry blender (or a fork)
ADD cream
STIR just until the dough comes together

SCOOP dough onto prepared baking sheet using a 1/4 cup scoop
BAKE 15-20 minutes

Enjoy!

My Thoughts
1. These biscuits were AMAZING. Light with a perfect crumb, everything a drop biscuit should be. I could happily make infinite variations on these forever.

2. The cheese did not add much flavor-wise (in my experience cheese never does in bread) but it did enhance the texture, giving a creamier feel and a bit of the gooey-pulling-apart of melted cheese.

3. The chile flavor was undetectable, though we could see the small dark flecks.

Mini Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

2011-02-13T00:01:00.004-06:00

As part of our Anti-SuperBowl party, I knew I wanted to serve something sweet, small, and cute. I figured miniature cupcakes would be just the thing and, this being the south, settled on Red Velvet Cupcakes.

My mother once described red velvet cake as "chocolate cake with a bottle of red food coloring!". These cupcakes put the lie to that description with a flavor all their own and only a few tablespoons of red food coloring. They are complex and nuanced and absolutely delicious.

This post has been linked up to Sweets for a Saturday over at Sweet as Sugar Cookies.

Makes: 44 mini cupcakes or ~2 dozen regular cupcakes

Cupcake Ingredients
8 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
6 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
3 1/2 Tbsp red food coloring
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups plus 4 Tbsp flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
3 tsp distilled white vinegar

Frosting Ingredients
4 2/3 cups powdered sugar
6 tbsp butter
scant 1/2 tsp cinnamon
8 oz cream cheese

Cupcake Directions
PREHEAT oven to 350F
LINE or GREASE muffin tins

CREAM butter and sugar with mixer for about 3 minutes or until light and fluffy
ADD eggs
MIX on high
ADD cocoa, vanilla, and food coloring
MIX throughly, ensure that the food coloring gets distributed through all the batter

MIX on low while adding 1/2 cup buttermilk
ADD 1 cup and 2 tbsp of flour
MIX until combined
MIX on low, add remaining 1/2 cup of buttermilk
ADD remaining 1 cup and 2 tbsp of flour
MIX until combined
BEAT on high until smooth

SWITCH mixer to low
ADD baking soda and vinegar (this may foam)

SWITCH mixer to high
BEAT 2-3 minutes

SCOOP 1 tbsp of batter into each prepared mini muffin cup
BAKE 12-15 minutes

LET COOL

Enjoy! (Or frost : )

Frosting Directions
BEAT powdered sugar, butter, and cinnamon together until well blended
ADD cream cheese
BEAT on medium-high until incorporated
CONTINUE BEATING another 5 minutes or until frosting becomes light and fluffy (Do not overbeat!)

My Thoughts
1. I let my cupcakes cool overnight and frosted the next morning using a rubber spatula, a swirling motion, and a lot of patience. I then sprinkled with a 50/50 cinnamon/sugar blend.

2. These are sophisticated and delicious, the cinnamon cream cheese is the perfect finishing touch.

3. For only containing 3.5 tbsps of food coloring, these were vividly red. Not day-glo bright, but a nice deep, rich red.

4. For regularly sized cupcakes, bake at 325F for 20-25 minutes.

5. Since the frosting has cream cheese in it, these are not something you want to leave out for hours and hours. Chill until serving.

Miter Saw!

2011-02-12T23:47:00.000-06:00

I don't know that I ever mentioned this here, but back in November we picked up a miter saw on a Black Friday deal. Ana White has inspired me to BUILD and I am dead set on making a set of shelves for the dining room. Picking up the miter saw was the first step.

The second step was bolting it down and that's where things got tricky.

You see, in my mind, the perfect place to bolt the miter saw down was the workbench left behind by the previous owner.

It's a wondrous creation of wood and metal and has served us well. But, as the husband pointed out, the top is not actually secured to anything. Ooops.

On a whim we checked out our local home improvement store and discovered that they actually sell miter saw stands! (Hooray!) For no less than $100. (Cry!) I came home, hopped online and discovered that, yea, that was just how much they cost. Not wanting to spent $100, we waited.

I've been stalking craigslist, looking for an odd table or *something* we could use. Last night I noticed the "tools" category and searched for "miter saw stand". Just my luck, one popped up! Discounted over 50% from retail and with great online reviews. I emailed the fellow, set up a time to come by and this afternoon the hubby and I made our way out to take a look at the stand. It worked as promised so this beauty came home with us.

It folds down for moving/storage which meant it fit in my little blue Corolla.

We didn't even have to put the seats down. : D

It's currently resting in its new home, waiting for us to drill the necessary holes to bolt down our saw.

Once that happens? I can build to my heart's content! I'm planning on starting with some simple planter boxes or a little bench to get my feet wet and start relearning the nuances of working with wood.

I am SO EXCITED! : D

Deviled Eggs

2011-02-09T20:33:00.000-06:00

The hubby and I hosted an UnSuperBowl party for all the football avoiding fans among our friends. We made lots (and lots and lots) of tasty food for our company, so I'll be getting these recipes up in the next couple of weeks. : )

Deviled eggs are something I've come to love as an adult that I hated as a kid, so I figured it was time I tried my hand at them. Plus they were a dish that I could make ahead which would require no use of the stove or oven the day of the party! Hurrah! I used this recipe as my starting point.

Makes: 24 deviled eggs

Ingredients
1 dozen large eggs
4 tbsp low fat mayonnaise
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp white vinegar
2 tsp spicy brown mustard
1/2 tsp salt
paprika for garnish

Directions
FILL a large pot with water
PLACE the eggs into the pot, arranging them so that they all rest on the bottom
BRING the pot to a boil
REMOVE from heat
LET STAND for 15-18 minutes

REMOVE eggs from water
RUN under cold water to cool

PEEL eggs, being careful not to split or tear the eggs
SLICE eggs in half
REMOVE yolks

MASH yolks in a medium bowl
ADD mayonnaise, sugar, vinegar, mustard, and salt
MIX until well blended

SPOON mixture back into the egg whites
CHILL

SPRINKLE with paprkia just before serving

My Thoughts
1. I have always had issues hard boiling eggs, this explains why! You don't actively boil them. They should be called "Sat in hot water eggs" instead. I had no problems with any of my eggs being under cooked.

2. I actually started with 15 eggs. That made up for the ones I broke while peeling. : ( And I had an extra for snacks. : )

3. These were really tasty and super easy. You could hard boil the eggs a couple of days in advance to spread out the party prep even more.

4. I have read that if you lay the eggs on their side for a day or two before boiling them, that the yolk will center up and you will have "perfect" deviled eggs. I didn't have enough fridge space to be laying a dozen eggs on their side, nor was I really too overly concerned with how centered the yolks were. Should you have the desire to go all Martha Stewart at your next gathering though, you are now armed.

Italian Soup

2011-02-01T11:42:00.000-06:00

I bought a pound of sweet sausage intending to make biscuits and gravy. Only then it dawned on me that there are only two of us. And a POUND of sausage gravy was, perhaps, a bit much. Especially since my husband does not really understand the whole biscuits and gravy phenomenon. Which is why I was very happy to run across this recipe. I tweaked it to suit what we had in the house, and came up with a wonderful winter meal.

Makes: About 6 servings

Ingredients
1 lb. sweet Italian sausage
1 small white onion
3 cloves of garlic
4 small/medium tomatoes
7 tiny sweet bell peppers (about 1 regular bell pepper)
1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
2.5 cups low sodium chicken broth
1.5 cups water
1 cup uncooked pasta
1 14-oz. can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained
2 cups fresh spinach, washed
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
HEAT a stockpot over medium heat
ADD sausage
COOK through

While the sausage is cooking:
MINCE onion
DICE tomatoes and peppers

ADD minced onion to cooked sausage
COOK until onion is transparent

MINCE garlic (or use a garlic press)
ADD to sausage and onion
COOK an additional 2 minutes

ADD broth, water, tomatoes, peppers, pasta, chickpeas and seasoning
BRING to a BOIL
COVER and REDUCE HEAT to a simmer

COOK until pasta is done
STIR in spinach, let it wilt
STIR in Parmesan cheese

REMOVE from heat and serve.

Enjoy!

My Thoughts
1. Soup is another of those things that I grew up thinking of as "hard" to cook. This recipe puts the lie to that idea. This is a 30-45 minute dinner depending on how quick you are at prep work.

2. It is also absolutely delicious. I tend to prefer stews to soups, but all the chunky vegetables, pasta, and sausage make this a very satisfying soup.

3. My husband salted his to taste at the table, but I thought it was just right.

4. We served this with beer bread. Yum!

Beer Bread

2011-01-30T22:35:00.001-06:00

In an attempt to make more of our own bread, I'm experimenting with the recipes in the Bread cookbook that the hubby bought me for Christmas. (Best husband ever, y/y?) This one caught my eye because it required no yeast and no buttermilk (the book has a strange affinity for buttermilk). It also turned out to be ridiculously easy. Homemade bread in less than an hour? Sign me up.

Makes: 1 9" X 5" loaf

Ingredients
3 cups flour
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
12 oz bottle room temperature beer
4 tbsp unsalted butter

Directions
PREHEAT oven to 375F
GREASE 9" x 5" loaf pan with a little bit of the butter

COMBINE dry ingredients in a medium bowl
POUR in beer
STIR until just combined (it will be crazy lumpy)
POUR into prepared pan

PLACE butter in a small microwave safe bowl
MELT in the microwave
POUR over the top of the dough

BAKE for 35-40 minutes until a tester comes out clean

LET COOL

Enjoy!

My Thoughts
1. This was easy, easy, easy. My husband could not stop eating this and it was a perfect accompaniment to soup. We will be making a LOT of this.

2. The type of beer you use will change the flavor. We had Corona Light on hand, so that's what we used. The bread had a faintly Corona-y smell, but a very light, non-beer-y flavor. The flavor does get more pronounced with time though, I find that Corona in breads will tend to give the bread almost a dusty taste by the day after. So bake, eat, enjoy! Just don't plan for lots of leftovers. : )

3. The butter seeped into the bread and gave it a buttery flavor, though the hubby still preferred it with butter. The texture was lovely, dense and soft. See?

Hand-me-Down Decor

2011-01-29T20:10:00.000-06:00

My grandma and my famiy
We've had a bit of sudden news in the dragon household. My grandmother, who was staying at my parent's while recovering from surgery (and two sprained ankles, long story) has decided that the time has come for her to move out of her house.

The plan is for her to move in with my parents. Which, since she is already staying with them, is pretty simple. She will give away her furniture to family members and sell the house. She has already signed the paperwork with a Realtor!

Even though this has been discussed for years, it was never discussed seriously, so it's a bit of a surprise (to me) to hear one day that Grandma was thinking about this and the next that she'd signed papers!

The side effect of this is that, for the price of shipping it out here, the hubby and I are inheriting some furniture! A sofa, a loveseat, a coffee table, and a sewing machine in a cabinet, to be exact. I need to work out the details with my mom, but for now here are some cell-phone pictures she sent me of the furniture in question.

Sofa. This pulls out into a sofa bed with an inflatable mattress. I'd never heard of such a thing before, but it sounds interesting (and lighter to lug around!). It's fairly plain, but I do like the curved arms. Recovering is going to be a must though. Florals are not our thing.

Loveseat. The fabric matches the sofa (recovering we go!), as does the style (yay curved arms!).

Coffee Table. If you look carefully, you can see that there are two "wings" which fold down. Meaning this can be either rectangular or oval. We may refinish this depending on where we decide to put it.

Which brings up the big question. Where are we going to put them? The living room downstairs currently has NO furniture in it, so these could go there. The sofa might make a nice multifunctional guest room. The coffee table might go in the sunroom, depending on how it looks. Who knows?! Once we get it here, we'll be able to get a better feel for it. : )

Salted Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

2011-01-25T00:01:00.001-06:00

Craving something chocolatey, I started going through my saved recipes. And found these. Given how amazing the Salted Caramel Thumbprint cookies were, I decided to give these a try. Slightly adapted.

Makes: About 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup natural chunky peanut butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup natural cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
coarse sea salt for sprinkling

Directions
PREHEAT oven to 350F

BEAT peanut butter, butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until fluffy
ADD eggs
BEAT until incorporated
ADD vanilla
MIX thoroughly
ADD flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt
MIX until combined
ADD chocolate chips
STIR until evenly distributed

DROP by rounded tablespoon onto a cookie sheet
SPRINKLE with coarse sea salt

BAKE for 12 minutes
LET COOL

Enjoy!

My Thoughts
1. These are my new most favorite cookie in the whole entire world. The peanut butter gives them a thick, creamy texture and the salty-sweet blends give them an extraordinary depth of flavor.

2. Because of this, these aren't the most kid-friendly cookies. They aren't super sweet, they are just ridiculously delicious.

3. Because these are drop cookies, they freeze easily. Which is exactly what I did with everything after the first dozen. I'm already looking forward to being able to pull these out of the freezer any time I want.

Making Progress

2011-01-24T07:23:00.000-06:00

I spent some time yesterday working on my rainbow wonky squares quilt. In an attempt to make things a little more systematic, I had previously decided to work on blocks in groups of center colors. I had already finished all the yellow centered squares (save one as I am short one yellow fabric) so this time around I tackled the green and blue centers.

The green is nearly done. They just need the yellow "layer".

The blue need both a yellow and a green "layer" and then they too will be wrapped up.

I'm feeling pretty motivated to keep going. Especially because at this current stage I feel like I am drowning in reds and purples.

You can see what I mean in this shot of all of the unfinished blocks on my design wall.

It's a red-and-purple-palozza.

5 Cheese Macaroni

2011-01-20T13:39:00.000-06:00

For Christmas dinner, the hubby wanted to do a "fancy" version of macaroni and cheese. So fancy we went! (Although after seeing the price tags on some of these cheeses...yikes!) We adapted this recipe to our taste.

Makes: A 9" x 13" pan of macaroni and cheese

Ingredients
16 oz package penne pasta
1/3 pound bacon
1 medium onion
6 tbsp unsalted butter
6 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 1/2 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups grated fontina
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
3/4 cup grated Gruyere
3/4 cup grated Cheddar
3/4 cup grated Parmesan

Directions
PREHEAT oven to 450F
BUTTER 9" X 13" baking dish

BRING to a BOIL a medium pot of water
ADD pasta
COOK until al dente (soft enough to chew, but not mushy)
DRAIN pasta

While the pasta is boiling away....

DICE onion
SAUTE bacon in a large pot or skillet with high sides
REMOVE bacon
DICE cooked bacon

SAUTE onion in bacon grease until translucent
ADD 5 tbsp butter to the onions and grease

MEASURE out milk and cream
MICROWAVE milk and cream briefly to warm

ADD flour
WHISK constantly and briskly until well mixed with fat
WHISK in mustard
SLOWLY add milk and cream
WHISK constantly and briskly

ADD thyme and salt

BRING to a SIMMER
LET SIMMER for 15 minutes

(Now is a good time to grate your cheese if you haven't already)

STRAIN the sauce into a large bowl to remove all solids
MIX in all of the blue cheese, 1/2 cup each of Gruyère, cheddar and Parmesan, and 1 cup of fontina until melted
STIR in bacon

ADD noodles to cheese sauce
STIR to coat

TRANSFER to prepared baking dish
TOP with remaining cheese

BAKE for 15-20 minutes until bubbly and golden brown

Enjoy!

My Thoughts
1. This meal got pricey in a hurry--I about fainted at $30 worth of cheese. BUT, it was very rich and satisfying and a 9" X 13" pan is quite a bit of food so we got many meals out of it. The problem is that the cost doesn't scale down since you have to buy a block of cheese of a minimum size.

2. The sauce was thick and creamy and everything I love about really good macaroni and cheese in restaurants. The bacon was a nice touch and I probably would have been perfectly happy leaving the onions in.

3. This would be fantastic with vegetables in it. Yum!

Snowmageddon 2011

2011-01-17T00:01:00.000-06:00

The weather reports called for 4"-6" of snow. We thought that would be astounding. Then we got 7"-12" of thunder snow---and my first ever snow day!

The snow was 5" near the door, and deeper away from the shelter of the house. We spent the morning inside, safe and warm watching season six of LOST and playing the new Super Mario Brothers game for the Wii, but we ventured out in the afternoon.The house looked beautiful in the snow.

And the driveway needed shoveling.

All million miles of it.

The hubby finished just as it was getting dark, so we headed back inside for more LOST, Mario Brothers, and a delicious dinner.

Basket Warmer

2011-01-16T16:20:00.000-06:00

The other day as I was baking some bread, I heard a rustling. I looked over and saw Abby nestled next to the basket that holds our kitchen towels. I had just enough time to grab my camera and take this shot before she jumped down (the kitty guilt!).

Curvy, Green, and All Mine

2011-01-11T12:01:00.000-06:00

The holidays being what they are, I was gifted some cash. I was pondering what to do with it when I ran across this post at Joy the Baker's site and the first thought I had was "OMG I LOVE THAT DISH!". So imagine my joy when someone else had already had that thought and she had divulged where she found this beauty. It took about .4672 seconds (okay, a couple of hours) for me to make up my mind and place my order.

And this week, guess what was sitting by my front door? A box! With another box inside! Which held dishes!

Aside from the fact that these dishes are

a) gorgeous
b) green
c) curvy

there is another reason I was so very happy to meet them. You see, this has been my 8"x8" pan for years.

Actually, that's not entirely the truth. This 8"x8" pan has been my husband's for years. Since before we met. That's looking at 9 years people.

And while it's certainly done the job, it's scratched, abused, and, oh yea, can't be put in the dishwasher because water gets in under the rolled edge and rusts it from the inside out.

So, I'd been pondering buying a glass or ceramic 8"x8" pan for awhile now. Something dishwasher safe. Something practical. I didn't expect to find something beautiful.

But I did. And better yet?

It came with a friend.

Anyone have any good recipes for a 6"X6" pan? Because otherwise it will primarily be a serving dish. A really pretty serving dish, so I'm okay with that, but you gotta ask. : )

It's The Little Things

2011-01-10T20:41:00.000-06:00

I believe this is the first time in my life I have ever finished a jar of spices before it expired.

Zuchinni Sweet Potato Bread

2011-01-03T00:01:00.000-06:00

I made this bread before I headed out to a conference in November. Between the packing and the traveling and the running around like a crazy person, this is the only picture I appear to have of this glorious bread. The recipe was from Joy the Baker and made use of both zucchini and the sweet potatoes I needed a purpose for.

Makes: One HUGE loaf

Ingredients
2 cups flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup apple sauce
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup grated zucchini
1 1/2 cup peeled and grated sweet potato
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Directions
PREHEAT oven to 350F
BUTTER and FLOUR a 9"x5"x3" loaf pan

BLEND flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl

BEAT sugar, oil, applesauce, eggs and vanilla until well combined
MIX in grated zucchini and sweet potato
ADD flour mixture
STIR until just combined
FOLD in walnuts and cranberries

POUR batter into prepared pan
BAKE until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. About 1 hour 20 minutes.

LET COOL

Enjoy!

My Thoughts
1. I decided to double the recipe to make two loaves and my mixer could barely handle the thick and voluminous dough. I would suggest making one loaf at a time.

2. However, the loaves themselves were HUGE, so take that into consideration as well.

3. The bread was delicious. Rich and sweet, but not too sugary for breakfast. Certainly not a health food, but very tasty.

4. The applesauce in the recipe is to cut the fat a bit. If you prefer to leave it out, just up the oil to 3/4 cup. The original recipe offers other substitutions as well (all white sugar, add cloves, leave out the cranberries). This is a fairly forgiving bread. : )

Punk Rawk Snowman

2011-01-02T17:41:00.000-06:00

Last weekend, the hubby and I took advantage of the snow to get outside and build our first snowman ever.

Wasn't he a cutie? Unfortunately, the warmer weather that followed this week took its toll and he's now just a happy memory.

Salted Caramel Thumbprint Cookies

2011-01-02T01:17:00.001-06:00

In searching for cookies to whip up during our annual holiday baking madness, I came across these. And knowing that a couple of my coworkers liked caramel combined with the fact that salted caramel has been an IT thing for a couple of years, I figured we had to make them. Not being a big caramel fan myself, I wasn't planning on falling in love with them, but the salty sweet combo did me in.

Makes: A least 14 cookies

Ingredients
14.5 tsp unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup flour
1/8 tsp kosher salt + more for topping the caramel
2 tbsp water
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions
PREHEAT oven to 350F

CREAM together 12 tsp butter and 1/2 cup sugar until just combined
ADD vanilla
MIX the sugar blend on low speed as you add the flour and salt
CONTINUE until dough begins to come together

REMOVE dough to a floured board
ROLL into a flat square
WRAP in plastic wrap
REFRIGERATE for 30 minutes

REMOVE from plastic wrap
CUT into 1 1/4" squares
ROLL each square into a ball

PLACE balls on an ungreased cookie sheet
USE thumb or a spoon to make wells in each ball
PLACE cookie sheet back in the fridge for 5-10 minutes

BAKE 10-15 minutes, until the edges begin to brown

LET COOL

COMBINE remaining 1/2 cup sugar and water in a medium saucepan
DO NOT STIR
COOK over medium high heat until sugar begins to darken
SWIRL as it begins to brown

MICROWAVE cream to warm

REMOVE saucepan from heat
ADD 2.5 tsp room temperature butter
WHISK vigorously
ADD cream
WHISK vigorously

SPOON caramel into wells of cooled cookies
SPRINKLE with sea salt

LET harden

Enjoy!

My Thoughts
1. Since we were doing holiday baking, we made a quadruple batch and ended up with 55 cookies (about 14 per batch), though some were a bit large. The original recipe says you should get 16 per batch. I say better to up the recipe if you aren't sure, since these make for delicious extras.

2. The dough was a bit crumbly, which made it hard to work with.

3. The cookies did not hold the thumbprints well. We found that ~50% held their shape, ~25% kind of held a hint of a well, and ~25% went totally flat. Chilling the cookies again after shaping the wells helped a little, but did not solve the problem completely. I did not have luck pressing the wells back in just after removing them from the oven. Some other bakers suggested doing so part way through the baking time, and I may try that the next time we make them.

4. The caramel was Amazing. Hands down the best caramel I've ever had (major props to the hubby who made the caramel). There was also a LOT of it. Since we quadrupled the cookie recipe, we also quadrupled the caramel recipe. Even after very generous amounts were given to the cookies, we still ended up with about a pint of caramel left over (think two jelly jars). Based on that, I would suggest halving the amounts given above. Or, do what we did and jar it. This site indicates that it should last 1-3 months depending on how you store it.

5. The flavor combination was Amazing. The crumbly shortbready cookie, the soft sweet caramel, the touch of salt sprinkled on top...poetry in cookie form.

White Christmas

2010-12-31T18:18:00.000-06:00

I don't know that I have ever dreamt of a white Christmas, but one way or another, that's what we got this year. We woke up Christmas morning to soft flakes falling and the yard blanketed in white.

It afforded us an absolutely classic photo op though:

We spent the morning helping Jack feel festive (don't worry, he was repaid in tuna)

opening gifts

being festive ourselves

and having a light breakfast.

By the time we headed back upstairs, the snow had stopped.

We hung out upstairs, calling family, and enjoying our gifts until dinner o'clock when we made an awesome 5 cheese macaroni.

Afterwards, we called more family and broke in the hubby's new game--Super Mario Bros which was a nostalgic trip (so much from the original games!) and insanely fun. : )

All in all, it was a wonderful holiday.

Twelve Days of Ornaments--Day Twelve

2010-12-24T23:59:00.014-06:00

To get the full scoop on my family's traditions surrounding ornaments, see Day One

For the last day, let's look at the ornament that started this all. Pink, saccharine sweet and everything I would steadfastly avoid were I buying it today, nonetheless, it holds a special place in my heart. We didn't hang it this year, since the hook is pulling out and needs to be repaired, and we didn't quite make it that far.

Twelve Days of Ornaments--Day Eleven

2010-12-23T23:59:00.022-06:00

To get the full scoop on my family's traditions surrounding ornaments, see Day One

The first year my husband and I were dating, we bought a tree and set it up in his aparment. Five or six feet tall, it wasn't a little tree and it wasn't until we had it set up that I realized all my ornaments were back at home. Between the barren tree and a bit of over zealousness for the holiday, our intent to purchase an ornament each turned into a rather impressive collection. Ooops.

One of my favorite purchases that year was a set of six small spikey glass ornaments with colored spikes. The next quarter, I used them and a piece of pine printed fabric as the basis for a project in one of my painting classes. I cut six 3"X3" squares of Masonite, and painted the ornaments on the pine fabric at varying scales. I glued strands of silver cording to create hanging loops, the length indicating how zoomed in the pieces were. I hung the whole thing in a roughly Christmas tree shaped display for our critique. I don't remember how the project went over, but I do still have the paintings. : )

Twelve Days of Ornaments--Day Ten

2010-12-22T22:01:00.002-06:00

To get the full scoop on my family's traditions surrounding ornaments, see Day One

This ornament was a gift from my mom a couple of years ago. But it's so much more awesome than that, you see, this ornament was also handmade by my mom. She's an amazing toll painter. With the exception of the button, wisp of thread, and the ribbon at the top, all those details you see are painted on. The edging on the wood. The "fabric" heart in the middle and it's stitching. The cream ribbon. All paint and wizardry. You can see some of her other work here (what I've managed to snap pictures of anyway) but it's all brilliant and I am so proud to own some of her pieces. : D

Twelve Days of Ornaments--Day Nine

2010-12-21T21:05:00.000-06:00

To get the full scoop on my family's traditions surrounding ornaments, see Day One

Growing up there was a little gift shop in a shopping center we often went to. Named Whimsical Wares it was stuffed full of all sorts of tiny little collectibles and cute trinkets. I loved that shop and could spend hours browsing through everything they had. It was a favorite spot for shopping for gifts and a number one stop near the holidays. As soon as I saw these cute little ornaments, I knew where they had come from. You see, not only were there matching his/her ornaments (which my mother bravely bought us before we were even engaged) with our names, they came in an adorable miniature gift bag which matched the ornaments. (We still have that and each year, they return safely to their nest.

Twelve Days of Ornaments--Day Eight

2010-12-20T21:44:00.000-06:00

To get the full scoop on my family's traditions surrounding ornaments, see Day One

I don't know if anyone else remembers these, but back in the late eighties/ early nineties Carl's Jr would do a holiday promotion where they put ornaments in their kids meals. It played off their star mascot, but dressed up in various holiday costumers--I most strongly remember the reindeer, mouse, and a snowboarder. Since Carl's Jr was my mom's go to fast food place (at the time they had a salad bar!), my brother and I would try to collect them all. I don't have tons of them now (not sure what happened to them all) but this little guy makes me smile every time I see him on the tree.