Breakfast Baby

How could I have gone 29 years without one of these bad boys!! I was hungry for something substantial but not just scrambled eggs or oatmeal this morning. I turned to a recipe book a friend of ours made and made a Dutch Baby. These are radical!! They do deflate quickly and I will use WAY less butter next time, but they are so super good. I am eating mine with powder sugar and cinnamon, but they can go savory as well.

All you do is preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Melt butter in a pie pan (the original calls for 3 tbs, but next time I'll only do 1)
Meantime mix 3/4 C flour, 3/4 C milk, 2 beaten eggs and 1/2 Tbs sugar
Pour the batter over the melted butter in the pie pan and bake 15-18 minutes.

This is a quick and simple recipe that really tastes great.

Triceratops Adventures!

One of my favorite little people in the world got hurt pretty bad yesterday so we talked and I promised her a triceratops. This is her favorite dinosaur and was mine as a kid also (phonetically my name is in there)!
I went downtown today to shop for one of the little guys, but came up with nothing. There is a real lack of dinosaurs in Olympia. Well, I had an idea to make her a cute card at least and this transformed into me making a great activity book, which really backfired and now it is a weird folder kind of thing. I like how rough it looks, but I know it doesn't really measure up. It contains some coloring pages, a maze and dot to dot as well as a word search- all dinosaur themed of course!
We'll see what she thinks!

The Best Way to Waste Time

Through reading the blog My Black Cardigan, I stumbled upon another blog called Little Cotton Rabbits. I am so addicted! Everything is gorgeous, there are free patterns and just a ton of nice things to look at. The author lives in the UK and raises chickens, has beautiful gardens and knits. She writes about her son with Autism and drinking tea in nice mugs. Seriously, it's adorable and everyone will know what their knitted gifts from me will look like during the next year!

I have no pictures to post, just a serious recommendation!

...oh and she has no ads on her site, just her own stuff and great links to other crafty blogs.

Super Awesome Fun Day!!

I dislike clowns but I LOVE Fremont!

Be afraid...
Look he got me.

I guess you are supposed to poke out his eye... Poke his eye, pick his nose- it's all the same!


Justin doesn't like his face on the internet, so this is the best I could do!

Comrades Unite! Go eat gelato and pizza bagels today!
This guy is on sale for $250,000.00 I want to buy him.
What they should really do is break him up into 6 billion little pieces and disperse it evenly among the masses.

Fremont, WA is crazy. These sculptures and statues abound. It was wicked fun!!

I love this dog!!

Check out these cute pictures of Ulysses! I took them yesterday when we were playing some sort of game with a soccer ball! I don't think it can really be called soccer, but this dog would be a rad goalie!!

Cables

This is driving me nuts! What you are seeing is a sneak peek of a project I am working on for my cousins baby. The whole thing is cable knit- body, sleeves, hood and pockets. It's way cute, but I'm doing the finishing now and it's SO hard. I am really lousy at finishing. It will be done this week and mailed off. I want to make her a project every month.

Not Too Much to Report

As the school year gets closer (two weeks away) it seems like I have less and less to write. I made it through two books on tape and watched a lot of movies. I finished four (it'll be five soon) knitting projects, grew and cooked a ton of food and did my canning for the summer. I don't think I'm going to undertake any new endeavors for the summer. Winter will bring it's own projects.

This passage has brought me a lot of comfort lately with an ill family member:

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are not seen are eternal."
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
NKJV

Good Food and Summer Crops!

So I know it doesn't seem like much- but it is! Daily I've been able to pick one tomato or one squash. Yesterday it was one tomato and one little broccoli head. However today of all days I got three tomatoes, a zucchini and a yellow squash!! Hooray!

Last nights homemade pizza- this one was great (sometimes I make the crust too thick). I love my pizza stone!!

Sisyphus

This adorable sprawled dog is quite crafty and stubborn! Yesterday Justin and I lined 50 feet of our fence that we share with a neighbor with two dogs Ulysses absolutely loves. We lined it with 48" chicken wire and had about 30" on the ground and 18" up. We sealed it with zip ties and covered all of the ground with a heavy layer of dirt. This we assumed, would keep Ulysses from digging under the fence, their dogs from digging under the fence and their five year old from digging under the fence! So we let the dog out and left him unsupervised to see what would happen. The little guy had, with the help of the two dogs- ripped a hole in the chicken wire and pushed his head through! It's completely insane, but we saw that where they had dug deep on the neighbor side, we needed to reinforce with cement blocks. Today is a new day and an improved system. I just hope it holds (who ever heard of a dog digging through chicken wire).This is his buddy he's trying to get to!

What a Day,aka Why I Should Just Stick to Knitting

So today was insane. This morning started well, I got up early did some chores and walked the dog and left the house. I had to get some final things for canning and some old wool sweaters for the latest craft obsession! I bought a pattern at Canvas Works (my local and wonderful yarn store) for felted wool dogs. I don't know why and I don't know for whom, but it was an obsession. So I set out to three different thrift shops until I found the perfect women's Pendleton sweater made out of 100% virgin wool. It was a beautiful cardigan and I felt a little bad, but this was my new obsession!
I came home and totally not thinking straight, I set to canning my blackberries and blueberries, felting the wool and keeping Ulysses entertained all within two hours (I had to get Justin's lunch together by 2pm)! It was nuts because the dog got under the fence again so I had to rescue him from a German Shepherd biting him, a Rottweiler barking in his ear and a five-year old running around and hanging on my arm! But guess what- I got it done and the kitchen cleaned!! We have 8 jars of blackberry jam and 9 of the blueberry.
Once Justin left for work, I got the felt dog made and kept Ulysses entertained!! I need to sew on the hind legs again, but today I can't even think about the stupid project. I'll fix it up tomorrow and give it to the neighbor girl. Knitting is definitely the only hobby I need!

No Fail Bread Recipe

So yesterday afternoon I realized that I haven't posted my favorite bread recipe on this blog yet. I love making bread. It is really simple and super satisfying. I don't buy bread at all anymore. I make a loaf or two per week and this works just fine. It goes fast because I don't have a slicer so some slices are more generous than others! This recipe can be totally modified based on your tastes. I modified a King Arthur Flour Bag recipe with my own ideas and a friends suggestion (play with the sugars).

Best Bread Recipe Ever
2 tsp yeast
1 1/3 C lukewarm water (never hot)
1 Tbsp. oil
2 Tbsp.s brown sugar, or molasses or honey- each produces a diff't taste, all are great
3 C flour
1 1/4 tsp salt

Place yeast in large mixing bowl and add warm water. I swirl mine to get most of it dissolved by moving the bowl around. Then add oil, sugars and salt- again sort of mix it around in a gentle manner. Finally add the flour and using your hands mix it together in the bowl. If it's sticky add more flour. It should bind together but not be wet or glossy. Once it's been mixed and formed into a ball, cover the bowl and let rise. Bread rises well at 65 degress or higher. In winter here I put the oven on warm and place the bread on the stove. Let rise about 30+ minutes, it should double in size. At this stage I like to melt a tablespoon of butter in the bottom of my glass loaf pan and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. I make sure the melted butter has been used to grease all of the loaf pan. You don't have to, grease your pan with oil for a vegan loaf. Next place your dough in the loaf pan- I sort of roll mine into a cylinder shape and place in the pan flipping it over at least once so all sides have butter on them.
Let the dough rise 1" over the top of the loaf pan. Bake for 35 minutes or until it sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from oven and place loaf pan with bread on a cookie rack- I think that is what it's called (the metal grid that cookies cool on)! When you're feeling brave flip the bread out, place upright and cover with a towel to cool.

Modifications:
Think about adding:
nuts
oats
olives
herbs
various types of flours- but be careful, start with a half cup at a time if changing flours
dried fruits
*cats
*dogs



* just kidding, unless you have mad skills and have turned kids into desserts

Guerilla Berry Hunt

Today I took the dog on a long walk through the neighborhood and into a little nature reserve to pick blackberries. They are everywhere out here (invasive) and no one picks them. We made out with 5 cups. I am going out for a second trip later today to make off with 3 more cups. Then I can make some blackberry jam. Hopefully I'll be able to can tomorrow. If not, Saturday expect some pictures of the good stuff!

The first time I went out I was really embarrassed and I thought everyone was looking at me. I was so ashamed I came back with only ten or so berries. My principal told me she had canned 17 jars of the stuff and that it is a hobby of her family's to drive around and pull over whenever they see them to pick and freeze. This made me bold today and I channeled my great-grandma that my mom said would walk around picking dandelion leaves (arugula) to eat with dinner. Suburban foraging is a lot of fun. I might bring a jar of the stuff to the hermit cat lady at the end of the street. I picked a lot of her berries.

Table

Here is the new table! The chairs are next to be upgraded! Our dining room/nook area is really small so we don't have any of the leaves in. The solid color makes the space look better, it's cute.

Dining Room Table Up-Do

We decided to finally sand and finish a table we bought four years ago. The intent originally was to stain it, but we wanted some more color in the dining room. I wanted an antique red, but the color we chose was a little lighter. It turned out really nice.

We put the last coat of paint on yesterday, so it'll be reassembled and back in the house today- yeah!! I read a NY Times article about a couple with a small space, but the best part was what they did with their dining room chairs. Instead of spending a ton of money on chairs (they're like $100 and up apiece) they bought all mismatched chairs and painted them the same color. So that's what we're going to do, it'll be cheap and add a fun look.

Oh yeah, we used a Behr high-gloss paint. Hopefully it won't be sticky, but whatever. If it backfires we can just sand and change the color on a monthly basis!!

The Coming Fall

So I know it's way too late for planting a lot of things in my garden at this point. I think it just feels autumnal right now and I'm trying to get the last hoorah in. The pumpkins failed, so I'll go another year without pumpkins. I think I transplant them too soon, my friend Jacquie says they need a lot of warmth to get going.

However, today I planted some lettuce, radishes and kohlrabi which I know will do well. I also took a chance and planted some buttercup winter squash and a few hubbards as well as a few onion seed. They won't take and I just used some cheap seeds from the co-op and Home Depot so it won't be a huge loss. I just dread the idea of winter coming and not having my own squash for soups. Last year I bought a bunch at the grocery store at the end of October and they kept into January, so I'm sure I'll have to do that again.

I also cleaned off the kitchen window sill to place a container for more lettuce and radishes. I'm going to try an onion- just to see what'll happen. I completely overlooked onions when getting my seed together this year.

Wow, stream of consciousness eh?! I'll post pictures later today or tomorrow. I need to get some potting soil.

Zucchini Cookies and Summer Prospects

My kitchen table was a mess yesterday with all of the produce I bought. I also see that one of my puny garlics made it in the shot!

This week is blueberry picking and preserving time. I really enjoy canning and have only done the cherry sauce and spiced honey. I still want to make apple butter this fall. I think that will be good.
Yesterday, however I got taken off guard by a Yakima fruit stand near my house. He has 26lbs of tomatoes for $18.oo. This isn't bad for our prices and I could make 12 pints of tomato sauce for the winter. I also bought 5lbs of peaches and tomatoes for $4.50 each. I've never canned tomatoes and I'll have to invest in a food mill, but it seems like a lot of fun. I know it would be cheaper to just buy cans of tomato sauce from the grocery store at these prices, but it's nowhere close to as satisfying and tasty! It's difficult for me now to focus on the just producing some blueberry jam and apple butter for the year. I am starting to think some ketchup, pizza sauce and spaghetti sauce would be fun. We'll see how my budgeting this week goes before I take the plunge.
Last night I made zucchini chocolate chip cookies from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. It's a great recipe using no white sugar. I doubled the batch and added more flour as the dough was kind of thin. Next time I'll add less flour, I think it was thin because I was using whole wheat pastry flour. I also used my flat stoneware dish to bake them. They turned out great and the stone was awesome.

Krazy-Eyez Killah, aka Ulysses

Look at this guy. He seems so innocent, so nice, like the kind of guy you'd want to play fetch with. Yet he holds a dark secret- he EATS SQUIRRELS! Well, he tries to eat squirrels. Today was a close call- he actually got his mouth on one. I was screaming and threw everything in my hands down and ran around like a mad woman. I saw the squirrel jump and make a beep sound at which point I ran in the house and woke up Justin. When we went back out there was no blood, no dead squirrel and a really worn out dog. Still it was close.

Be warned...

Urban Craft Uprising

So here is my cute picture with my new cute yarn! The Urban Craft Uprising event in Seattle this weekend was alright. I was a little disappointed that it was on the small side and that all of the vendors are already well established. They all already have items for sale in stores downtown. I think I envisioned more of an arts and crafts style swap meet. It was pricey and run like a home and garden show- no haggling! However, at the Seattle Center there was also an Arab festival that was great. So we ate falafel and Zalebia (the best ever) and enjoyed good live music.

Oh yeah, the dog and I were rough housing the night before so I got a radical scratch on my face. It was a nice juxtaposition with the pastels and all the bird crafts!!