Baking Extravaganza

Mister e and I were at the farm all last week. My plan was to pick and process some fruit, but all I managed to get was a bucket of Italian prunes- half of which I dried...



I had two sheets like this and it only made one zip-lock back of prunes. They are very, very good and much sweeter than the dried prunes you get in the store.

I was having a discussion with a British friend of mine as to what, exactly, is a crumpet. I was told that it is not a scone, not an English muffin, sort of like a fat pancake but savory... and, oh yeah, it has dimples on top. So that led to making crumpets two of the mornings that I was there. You have to cook them in these rings so they keep their shape.

Yummy!


Then Mom was going through some really old cooking magazines from the early 70's and found a recipe for Fairy Cakes that was so unusual we had to try it. Like we needed any more baked goods after the crumpets. This recipe had you mix up the dough/batter, put it on the cookie sheet, and put it in the fridge overnight.

.. and then bake it the next morning. Mom sent most of these home with us, since Mister e was consuming them at an alarming rate. He has eaten most of them.

I think I will need to add this recipe to my recipe drawer.

That time of year again....

Halloween is approaching and I'm getting a head start on costumes. I made it perfectly clear back in August that our princess/witch/Minnie Mouse had to choose a costume on Oct 1 and could not change her mind after that date. She thought long and hard and decided upon Snow White.... so last Thursday we trekked to JoAnn fabrics for assorted inexpensive taffetas to complete this costume transformation. Miss E is working on the background on another sewing project. Again with the attention span of a dust mite. She could hardly make it through the cutting of the 4 pieces. We only have one seam sewn.



Mister e will be Dopey since that is the only dwarf that does not wear a beard. I can't imagine getting a 2-year-old to wear a fake beard. So far so good... just the zipper and the cape to go.



Since I was sewing up a storm today, I tackled the pile of clothing repairs as well. I was fixing the frogs on this Asian dress when I noticed a copper wire poking out. The wire gives the frogs their elaborate shape, but there are no tips protecting the ends of the wires and they eventually work their way through. I wound up removing the wire and stitching the whole frog in place... which is the way they are traditionally attached, but it requires much more labor and is therefore more expensive.



So my point is... if the dress is less than $20 there is probably wire in the frogs... you get what you pay for... just be careful. I washed this in a net bag on gentle and hung it to dry, and the wire still poked through. We will not be purchasing these types of dresses as super cheap prices points anymore. I would rather pay the extra money and have the beautiful dress sans wire.

Both the kid's birthdays are at the end of summer... one on Aug 30 and the other on Sept 21. So there was a lot of cake baking and frosting licking happening in the last month. Some highlights from this time honored tradition that has been passed from generation to generation....



always made better by the addition of chocolate.



My tomato plants produced a fair amount this year.



I was so mad at the tomato prices during the early summer after the salmonella scare, that I went out and bought 4 more plants. Then we had a cool summer, so I still have tons of green tomatoes. This pile is now resting comfortably in pint jars in the cellar... courtesy of my handy spouse's canning abilities.



We finally moved our 5 year old apples trees out of their too small pots and into the ground. We did this while they were blooming. They managed to hold onto enough blossom to produce a good amount of apples...



which are destined for pie over the weekend...



They are a really pretty apple with the green and red. They are fairly sweet with a crisp crunch so they should be good for a lot of things. Maybe next year we will have enough for pies and butter! Maybe I should water them more next year.

Nightmare Before Christmas Coolness

In celebration of the 15th anniversary of Tim Burton's incredible Nightmare Before Christmas, Disney is re-releasing the movie as well as offering a site filled with nightmare-ish goodies such as this avatar builder.

You can never have enough Tim Burton. The Jack delivering presents game is cool too.

Las Vegas Girly Trip

My dear friend, Ilena, and I try to take a girly trip every 2 years or so.  This time we went back to Las Vegas.  We've been there twice already together and liked it... so we went again.  Here are some of the highlights.

This is an extremely large (as in bigger than my head) Rueben Sandwich from The Carnegie Deli in the Mirage.  We had to pace ourselves because we shared a piece of their cheesecake the night before and wanted to come back for a sandwich.  We shared this one, but really it could feed a family of four.  The pastrami was excellent! Check Ilena's blog for a picture of me with the Reuben for scale.

Then, of course, we had to see the conservatory at the Bellagio.

Scale model of the Bellagio complete with miniature working fountains...

This low mossy flower bed had water shooting in arcs that was timed to music.  I took about 30 pictures before I was able to really catch what the water was doing.

Gratuitous flower shot....

This is the biggest chocolate fountain that I have ever seen! It has milk, white, and dark chocolate flowing down in three separate waterfalls.

The glass was really thick... so no chance of sampling.

Acres of pastries....

We had a wonderful time and spent a half a day at the spa at Paris getting scrubbed, massaged, and our toes and fingers painted... then it was off to the pool for some R&R, reading, and general laying about.

We went to The Beatles Love. Which was amazing! The stage and the costumes and the music... it was all just beautiful. We were on the edge of our seats! We wanted to see Criss Angel's Believe but they pushed out the preview date... so it will have to wait.... but the costumes are amazing...






Definitely a must see next time I'm down there.

End of Summer

I need to get creative again. Things have been so busy lately that I have completely lost sight of why I started this blog.  My freelance work has remained steady rather than having breaks between seasons, my clients have been rolling them back to back.  I miss the 6 week break between projects.  Things should settle down mid-October though and then I can do other things... maybe I'll finally finish that sweater I've been knitting... since last year.

So here's a recap of some of the summer creativity...
Miss Elsie wanted to learn how to sew. Note to self: almost 6 years old is not old enough to learn to use a sewing machine.


She practiced on paper following lines but really had trouble sewing her little purse. So I had her sew some of the big seams... and then I finished it.


Her attention span barely made it past the fabric selection phase.



It turned out really, really cute. A nice jumble of fabrics, but very rich in color. She picked out the big brass button herself.


... and of course did not want her picture to be taken with her creation.

Then there was the giant flea market that we go to every July for my birthday.

Eye balls, anyone?


Endless supply of seed beads... a river of color sparkling in the sun...


This great display of old bottles....

... and this window vignette...

And this lovely western ensemble with all it's flat chenille embroidery....



My flowers have really been lacking this summer... it has been so cold. But we seem to be having some last minute warm weather so my dahlias are starting to put on a show...

So as you see not many sewing, home, knitting, crafting projects.  With cooler weather coming and the outside work ending, my interests should shift inside.  I also have a bunch of beads that need strung together into a necklace.. but I don't think I'll post that until I'm closer to actually finishing.

Loss

We had to tell our beloved cat, Newman, good-bye today.  His kidney's started to fail last fall.  We were able to keep him feeling good with medicine and fluids until a couple of weeks ago, but couldn't do any more.

We will miss him greatly.

How Cool is This!?!?!?

Look at what these guys from The Steampunk Workshop are making!



It's the perfect fusion of old Victorian/H.G. Well-ian aesthetic and modern technology.

This was was a wedding gift for the designer's wife....

I think I'm in love....

Family Road Trip

A couple of weeks ago we drove to Boise, ID to visit my sister and her family. Instead of taking I-84 (for the millionth time) we cut across central Oregon and visited the Painted Hills on our way over. Something to break up the usual 7 hour trip.

The hills are striped with different colors of clay making the entire landscape look like a water color painting.

It was hot, hot, hot... but the sky was intensely blue which made the red clay seem even more vibrant.  Our little explorers found the whole thing very interesting.

There is a short 1/4 mile trail that goes around one of the small red hills.  Easy walking and matches the attention span of Mister e.

The colors were amazing!  One minute you are driving through dried grass and scrub and the next hills swirling with color come into view.

The hills were very dry so the surface was all pebbly and cracked.  The sign said that when it rains the hills become smooth with the cracks sealed.  That would be worth the drive to see!  It's about 4 hours from our house in Portland, so that trip will have to wait for a bit.

Anybody need some Freshcut fabric?

My sister and I are selling some excess fabric on Ebay. Have a look:

Heather Baily Freshcut Fabric

I've been interviewed!

Here is my first interview by a publication!
The Mom Beat called me earlier this week for some of my thoughts on children's clothing sizing. They also put in a link to Mister Judy!

Don't worry... I won't let this new found fame go to my head.