A baby blanket for Jack

I started crocheting a year ago and after many trials and tribulations, to say nothing of yarn calculation errors (not entirely my fault) I finished a blanket for Annie's baby, Jack.

I'm now on a roll and working on two more projects. By the way, in this picture you can see a quilted pillow that Rosie made for me when she was 10.

Getting ready for Thanksgiving

I was so excited to get ready to post and find a post from Deirdre! How fun! Of course, she is sort of the reason I dread Halloween.
Just kidding. Well, it is tiring to have creative people all around you, sort of upping the ante all the time. But it's fun!
Anyway, I thought I would try to counteract my summer-y post below with a more seasonal one. So I will leave you with these thoughts from a few weeks back, when I was doing a good job at getting started on Thanksgiving preparations, as opposed to now, when I am sort of paralyzed by how much I have to do.
Well, I did caulk the downstairs bathroom shower. And I did a lot of laundry. And I have been making a lot of lists.
But that is all. Other than that, just stress, blogging, and checking on blogs. It's what I do!

Here we have squash. Just a little. This represents about a fourth of what I have already processed, and about a twentieth of what is out in my "cold cellar" (a box in my mudroom).

I don't know what happened out there in my garden. Tomatoes, not many. Lettuce, some. Cucumbers, a bust. But butternut squash...oh my! This year we are having squash pie, not pumpkin. And squash everything else for that matter.
Got to make those crusts...and pop them in the freezer. Another couple of batches should do it.

I really love these enamel pans. They are perfect for rising the most dough you can make in the 6 qt. Kitchenaid mixer. And -- they stack! So you can make two big batches and set them to rise in the refrigerator with little waste of space. Genius.
These freeze perfectly. Then, when you need a loaf, there it is! Now I have to go make more, because, as I said, this was a couple of weeks ago...I have to say I don't think it's fair that people insist on eating during the time leading up to a holiday. Here you are, trying to get things ready and squirreled away for the big day, and there they are, eating it all up!
Please go comment on Deirdre's post! So she knows we appreciate her taking the time to show us her costume! I love it!

Practically Perfect - Halloween Photos as Requested

This year like every year, I was conflicted over the decision to produce a costume for Halloween. On the one hand, I love costumes, and would probably dress up all the time if it were socially acceptable. On the other hand, I kinda just wanted to go to the Vigil at the Dominican House. Plus I didn't really have any fun clothes with me to make into anything funky or hilarious.

Finally I decided I would do something if I could have a joint costume with a friend. I've realized that I just enjoy Halloween a lot more if I'm in on a costume along with someone else. For instance, I really wanted to go as Kate from LOST, but that wasn't going to be fun unless I could rally an entire LOST cast (which was a little unrealistic, especially that late in the game).

So when the opportunity came up to go with my friend Bobby as Mary Poppins and Bert, I figured I'd go for it. Luckily, Mary's costume consists largely of elements I could imitate straight out of my closet. Here's the Mary (I modeled myself after the photo above):

I happened to have a red ribbon handy and a shirt with just the right collar. I threw some masking tape onto a regular cardigan and skirt, which, paired with the stockings, looked fairly nanny-ish. The hat was the kicker: I probably spent an hour coming up with that, based on a paper plate and put together with construction paper, glue, tape, and staples (yay RA supply closet!) I borrowed the umbrella from a resident.

Here I am with two of my girlfriends. Lauren (left) was Bonnie (Clyde not pictured). Colleen (middle) was Snow White, with the other 7 members of her student minister group making up the 7 dwarves (too bad I don't have a picture of the bunch of them; it was very cute).
See! Everyone loves joint costumes.

Here I am with Bobby, who, you may notice, is certainly not Bert. At the last minute, when he was trying to come up with chimney sweep clothes, he came upon a penguin costume. And who can pass up a penguin costume, particularly when that fits well enough into the Mary Poppins theme?

I never knew until I dressed up as her how much everyone LOVES Mary Poppins! A simple enough costume and not too special -- but I'll tell ya, I got a LOT of love that night. Probably the best part was walking across campus, getting the same affectionate response from everyone from the provocative "nurses" on the their way to frat parties to the loitering smokers: "Look! It's Mary Poppins! Awww!"
Who knew? It cracked me up.

So there ya go. Halloween pics up before Thanksgiving!

A quilt for my goddaughter Anne

I don't know if you are going to be in the mood for these sunny pictures! They are not in the Thanksgiving mode at all...but I couldn't post about this quilt until I had given it to my goddaughter, and that took a while.

Collective Memory Dept.

If you go to this post on Simply Recipes, you will find a link to this post, and you will be in a good place, Kitchenaid-wise.



If that first link doesn't work, it's because she took down the shopping alert -- but the other one, David Lebovitz -- should still be there with the information on the Kitchenaid factory and how to get a bargain!

Drawer organization -- more useful than beautiful

You know that quote that you see on some people's blogs -- the one from William Morris: "Have nothing in your houses that you do know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”

Well, I can see why so many quote him thus. There are some things that are just beautiful and not particularly useful, and vice versa; both have a place in the home. I try to do both; aesthetically pleasing useful objects can often be almost as satisfying as actual straight-up art. I'm a philistine that way.

Sometimes useful things are just useful. But order brings its own sense of peace, doesn't it? Here are my kitchen drawers -- I don't have too many, because this kitchen was put together back when people didn't have a ton of stuff, and that's probably a good thing.

First I will show you these drawers:
Starting from the left:

Here I keep my foils and wraps, and also, rubber bands, a sharpie (for marking ziploc bags), and twist ties in an old sandwich bag box. If you have a place to pop the rubber bands that come on veggies and other goodies, you will never buy another rubber band. But please don't store your rubber bands on doorknobs. It's not attractive.

Long ago, the Chief reworked this knife holder to fit in a narrow drawer (I don't have enough counter space for a knife block). Neither of us can remember what it was originally. I think it was meant to go the other (perpendicular) way, but it didn't work for me. Please don't jumble your knives in a drawer. It's dangerous and you will never have a sharp knife. Get a few good knives and store them properly and safely. This drawer is for anything "knifey" including butter knives, spreaders, can opener, etc.

This drawer is for miscellaneous spoons and "non-knifey" things. As I'm cooking I'm grabbing for a small spoon, a fork, a baster...here they all are. I bought these white organizers real cheap somewhere and they are really useful and flexible, as they come apart and sort of hook together.

These drawers aren't lovely, the way Regina's are here. They're not my dresser drawers, right? But they are useful.

Now these:
On top is the one with the "non-knifey" things, of course. The middle one:

Bread.

The bottom drawer: at the moment a lot of my containers are in the refrigerator, containing things. Usually this drawer is packed, and I keep bigger containers in the pantry.

Over on the far right (the really dumb part of my kitchen, I might add), we have the catch-all drawer. I wish I had a "before" of this one. It wasn't a good thing. But now, not only is it organized, it makes use of those random little containers that have lost their tops.

This one merits two pictures, I believe. See that container to the right of the hammer handle, holding the miscellaneous electrical things? If you move it, you will see:

Ta-da! Batteries.
And lastly, when you turn around to the island, you may open those drawers and see:


Silverware on the right (including serving pieces) and more silverware (soup spoons, extra knives, rarely used utensils that should be somewhere when the urge to make pot-stickers or such strikes, etc), and, of course, what every household simply must have, a supply of corks. (Wow, someone needs to somehow clean off the crud on the sides, leftover from evil loose cutting-board days.)

And that is truly all the drawers I have in my kitchen!

Now, please, girls, post something about your latest quilt, or hairdo, or something, so I can take a break from posting (note I don't say stop) about the kitchen. Please.

How to feed your kids fruit

I am all astonishment when I see moms handing their young children a whole apple, peach, or other fruit.

And then I am further mystified when I read "tips" on how to rescue half-eaten apples to be made into something in the name of frugality. Even the venerable Amy Dacyczyn, a person who would rather make a diaper cover out of old bread bags than throw them away, actually advises her readers to save chewed-on apples to make a dessert with later. Yuck and also, a waste of sugar, flour, and other expensive ingredients. Priced butter lately?

People, you are throwing money in the trash! And I don't know about you, but my time for making extra desserts is limited -- certainly, it doesn't keep up with the demand for fresh fruit in a busy family.

Now, I am going to tell you just what to do, but I realize that it will go against a strong American trait, which is an aversion to cutting up fruit. Perhaps this is because in America fruit is actually plentiful, or perhaps Americans don't have a love-affair with our food the way other people do, but for some reason, I find that most Americans laugh at the idea of cutting fruit up into bite-sized pieces.

However, your typical European or, say, Egyptian (and I get this trait from my Egyptian side, which yes, I have one), is shocked at the offhand treatment of comestibles and makes a ritual of even the smallest snack. It takes less than a minute to cut up an apple and put it on a plate or cutting board. It's also something an older child could do for a younger one.

I'm afraid that, other than while actually apple picking, or maybe with the smallest fruits, it's not going to happen that your average four-year-old is going to a) have the appetite for a whole apple and/or b) stay interested long enough to finish it. Most children seem to take delight in abandoning a half-eaten apple (it sort of does get gross, you know?), whereas few can resist just one more crisp untouched slice...

My way (and the way of most of the world) has the advantage of not only saving on fruit and expensive ingredients to rectify its waste -- and is more aesthetic -- but also relieves you of ever again finding a mushy-yet-also-dusty brown substance behind your sofa.

How I got a butcher block island...concerning beeswax, mineral oil, and making do

Here is my island "before". Or rather, during, because we painted the base black when we did the kitchen. Rosie had seen an island on Craigslist that looked pretty much like ours (only painted) for a couple of hundred dollars. Why not just go with what we have for now? I admit I'd prefer something more antique looking as a base, but honestly, the storage in this is so very handy.
Here's a true "before" picture.
(While you are here take a good look at that floor. Now who in their right mind would go out and purposely choose dirt-colored linoleum? Who? Answer me. Sometime soon I'll show you the new utterly fabulous floor.)

This island has that odious rounded edged white Formica thing going on, but it also has a serious hidden vice that you know nothing about.


That cutting board? It fits into a cutout in the Formica. It's removable. And when you cut something on it, as sometimes you will -- something with crumbs, like, say, bread; or something with juices, like, say, meat -- those little bits of food fall down into that cutout and land in the drawers beneath. So your silverware drawer gets...gross. All the time. We had all had it with that island. To me it screamed 70s and whispered "bad housekeeper".

Now, I could go for this, I suppose:


But I want you to know that they don't even put the price on this baby. Since the islands that look like they are made in a rickety factory in China with poor workers who understandably do not have a clear idea of what an island really is cost $2445, we don't even want to ask what this one costs. We don't want to know.

Use what you have if you can, right?

Well, in the long-ago 80s, when the butcher block aesthetic was at its height and I wasn't very good at being thrifty, we foolish newlyweds purchased for the Chief a desk of sorts. It had a maple butcher block top and file cabinets for sides.

It seemed practical and sort of refreshingly form-follows-function at the time, but let me tell you, I developed an animosity towards that thing. In a way I wish I had a "before" picture to show you, but in another way I couldn't bear it.

First, it had the same wretched rounded corners as the island. Second, it got...grubby...and the file drawers sort of bent...and the top was hard to keep ungrimy. And while it might have had a certain kind of urban apartment-living funky feel to it at the time, it was so out of place here in the country in the Chief's office with its built-in bookcases, high ceilings, and wood stove.

But I when we got Grandpa's beautiful oak table desk for the office, I realized that the butcher block top could be -- a butcher block! We have the technology to cut off those rounded edges and sand it down, and the wonderful Brian (who installed the floor and many other things in our house) had the idea of putting an edge on it to make it wide enough to go on the island base.

The amazing Chief got to work, actually enjoying making those joints just so and getting the whole thing ready for me! The trim pieces are poplar, the only wood they had at Home Depot with the right dimensions.

Now I'm going to tell you what I found out about finishing a butcher block that you plan to use as butcher block. You get your mineral oil at CVS in the laxative department (this is deep, I know) and you wipe that on really well, rubbing it in, letting it soak, and rubbing it off. (That link to the expensive island up above has some good information, actually.)

Then heat up the mineral oil in a jar with some real beeswax, in a ratio of about 4 parts oil to 1 part wax. This sounds precise but is actually guesswork. Do the mysteriously knowledgeable people on the internet mean parts by weight? Volume? I did volume.

I bought my beeswax here at what seems like a good price, and it came quickly and is lovely.
Someday we will have our own beeswax!

But for now, I bought some.

I heated up water in a small slow cooker and put the jar of oil in that. Then I cut up small pieces of wax and plopped them in there. I stirred with a wooden skewer until they melted and the whole thing became as one. I tell you these details in case you are like me and would really like to know (see weight/volume issue above).



This is the hot mixture. Then I let it cool a bit (it gets to be a thick paste) but while it was still somewhat warm I applied it to the top and sides, let it sit, and then buffed it. These processes (oil, oil-and-wax) may be repeated at will.

And here it is with a "tea" on it, and a little peek of the floor! I admit I'm a little afraid of putting food on it! (The island, not the floor.)

Picnic in jars!

I was inspired to have a picnic in jars by Rosie's post.


































We made it a lot simpler than the recipe but we still had lots of fun.















We had it in early September and it was a really nice warm beautiful day. Mama, Papa, and I did have it the day Rosie posted after all!






























And we had a really good time doing it too!