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that's right, look at that buttonhole::
like magic! and with that, the dress is finally complete. and bella is basking in the glow of another birthday gift....this one six weeks out::
i think it goes without saying that she is loving the twirl factor! i may have to make a couple more of these.
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and why not? these are amazing and, if not doubled, won't last longer than a day around here. oatmeal coconut::
the recipe::
1 cup flour?
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup oatmeal
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
sift dry ingredients together. cream butter and sugars. add egg and vanilla. mix in dry ingredients. fold in oatmeal and coconut. bake at 350 for 9-12 minutes.
let me take a moment to explain that question mark by the flour measurement. for some unknown reason, this recipe seems to work well for everyone else but me. i usually need to add about an additional 1/4 cup of flour to the mix. you will know if you need more flour by doing the following; bake only a couple of cookies on the first go. if they melt out too much and come out flat and crispy, you need to add that extra flour. these are meant to be chewy with substance. and are worth any amount of flour tinkering, in my book!
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oh right, the sun::
after what felt like 6 months of rain and clouds and cold, the fog lifted. and we soaked it up all day! sounds like there's more to come too, i'll take that!
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its springtime, and that means that, thanks to my mom, there is a continual stream of yard sale fodder finding its way into my house. most of it is lovingly donated when she has left the building. but, i have to be honest, sometimes there are some real finds; things i've been looking for that she picks up for a nickle, stacks of drawing paper for the kids, etc. here's what she brought me yesterday::
these are old knitting magazines from the sixties. truly entertaining, just look at the ads::
thanks mom! this was like reading through a mad men script. also featured are some extremely dramatic and overly romantic love stories (such as, "the banished nymph", which i'm sure was very titillating in its time). its a wonder there was any room left for the knitting patterns, which seem to be thrown in as a side note. that first wine ad promises to "take the humdrum out of home life" and help you "whisk through daily chores". in the "letters to matron" there is an inquiry entitled "party time" where an expectant mother is wondering if she can drink sherry at the christmas party she will be attending. matron gives her the green light, but cautions her that it "might be better to avoid spirits like whisky and gin". these women must have had very well established tolerances. i don't know about you, but if i spent my day sipping wine, the only housework that would be accomplished would be the unintentional rearranging of furniture. and i'd most likely pass out in a mound of dirty laundry somewhere around the bottom of my second glass.
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last night i dove back into this book, looking for some tips on this recipe::
these are super simple. they just take time. there really isn't much need for a recipe when it comes to caramelized onions. all you need are a bunch of onions and a sprinkle of salt. bittman uses a bit of oil or butter and gives a chart that shows cook time and what you can expect at that point of cooking; which turned out to be pretty accurate. i've seen these prepared with just the water they give off...with additional water added when the moisture really starts cooking out. i probably only used about 1 TBSP of extra virgin olive oil when all was said and done but i think next time i'll try just stewing them in their own juices. remember to start with lots of onion, i used four large ones::
cover them and cook them for about 5-10 minutes to release the juices. add some salt (and some extra virgin olive oil if you want), then cook over medium/lowish heat, uncovered, for as long as you desire (as they cook and things start to stick, add small amounts of extra virgin olive oil, if you went that route, or water if you're being a purist)::
those pictures were taken in 20 minute intervals, roughly. in the end i stopped at this::
just about to the onion jam stage. in fact, we ate a bunch smeared on crackers while preparing this::
caramelized onion pizza. definitely worth all the tears!
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can i still call it a patch if its only one pumpkin plant? o brought this home from school the other day::
so healthy and happy! only trouble is, our garden has limited space. a few seasons ago we planted some watermelon and learned the hard way that we just don't have room for patch vegetables. but then i got to thinking about this space::
its behind our house, on the way to the secret hiding spot, and we mostly just let it go wild back here. but during the summer, when the sun lifts and clears our roof, it does get quite a bit of light. o and i decided that we should put the pumpkin plant here with the wild flowers and see what happens. if it takes off and takes over, so be it. it won't squash any other vegetables (no pun intended) and i'm sure the kids won't mind a bit if they have to jump over some pumpkins to get to their hideout. we only had to sacrifice a few strawberry plants to make room::
and since the chipmunks take care of all of those, it really wasn't too heartbreaking to see them go. we amended the soil a bit and o got to work::
he was so happy to give it a home, and the best part is that he will have an unobstructed view of his pumpkin plant from the kitchen table. he won't miss a minute of its progress!
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i'm doing it....i'm embroidering! well, its a start anyway. i've had my hoops, a few new instructional books and floss and needles at the ready for almost 7 months now. my next holiday project is something for little lu and it requires embroidered facial features. here's the trial run::
make fun of me as you will, but this is the best new craft i've tried. the feel and sound of it is lovely; the pop of the needle and the noise the thread makes moving through the fabric, all very satisfying. and to answer your question, no, i don't get out much.
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after what felt like an incredibly long wait, this special order was finally delivered to our door::
i had good intentions of saving this for my birthday but i just couldn't wait to open it::
250 plus pages of my blogging adventures in 2010! thank you so much to kathy at the highly entertaining blog, while tangerine dreams, for posting about her book. these are done by the company blog 2 print and they really and truly are worth the investment. i was a bit apprehensive about ordering and was anxiously waiting to see what the quality would be, but look::
it is perfect! very sturdy and the pages are a nice heavy weight and almost glossy. i'm very, very, happy with it. this is just such a wonderful idea if you have a blog. its so nice to have a hard copy in your hands to flip through. and tangible evidence that it hasn't all been spit up, dirty diapers, fist fights and sleepless nights!
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this weekend i will be ticking away at a few more trinkets for my etsy shop, which, obviously, needs some updating::
i'm sure you can guess what all these will become! and there is gift crafting to be done as well. it will be a busy few days for sure. hope you all have a wonderful saturday and sunday. see you back here monday morning.
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here is a recipe from martha stewarts most recent valentines day issue (february 2011). you can find it here. a simple mix of milk, cream, coconut milk, white chocolate and rum! sounds good to me::
and the verdict::
yes, very good. how could anything made with that ingredient list not be, right? but, (could you tell that was coming?) the chocolate separated out (see bottom photo - notice the darker line on the bottom of the pop, that would be the white chocolate) and the rum was undetectable. i'm sure if you added too much rum it may not freeze properly but c'mon, 1 TBSP isn't cutting it. the recipe for this pop and the others featured in the february issue, can also be served hot (see background of rum bottle photo). luckily i had a bit left over to sample as a warm beverage. i think i will stick to using this recipe as hot chocolate and tip in a few more splashes of rum. another night cap discovered!
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