Another One

Today I was once again informed I was not needed for teen/dog duty.  Of course, I was not given this news until about 8 in the morning again.  So, what to do with another day without a real to do list on it?  Have fun in the kitchen, of course.

First thing I did was make what our family called "Tingalings".  If you google Tingaling recipe you will find variations of it.  We make ours with butterscotch chips, chocolate chips and rice krispie cereal.  Most of the recipes online use chow mein noodles instead of rice krispies and then drop them onto wax paper.  I press mine into a buttered 8X8 pan and then cut them into squares.  I don't know why my mom chose rice krispies over chow mein noodles.  Maybe price?  Who knows and since I can't ask her............................I followed her recipe and it brought back some lovely memories as I smelled them while mixing them.

After the Tingalings, I decided to use up some of that sourdough discard I have been saving for the past week.  Hmmmm.......what to make that doesn't take forever to put together.  PANCAKES!

Here is the batter sitting for the 'required' 30 minutes.  It made 13 pancakes.  Neither hubby or I could really taste much of a sourdough flavor.  What we did notice is how fluffy they were from all that sourdough 'yeast' that was in it.  They are very tasty and extremely filling.  Two pancakes were all either one of us could eat.  They will be a nice change for our breakfasts this weekend.

Yesterday, I told you about the 40 minute buns I made for our dinner.

Here are the 4 that are left after we had our burgers last night.  They are wonderful.  I will be happy to make them anytime we need buns.  I used "everything" spice for the topping. Not sure I will do that next time.  Hubby prefers a plain jane top bun.   We have leftover burgers that will be used tonight for dinner.  This will tell us if they stay as soft as the first day.  The other two we will use for lunch tomorrow.  

There were also 2 loads of laundry completed today.  During my down time I worked on my Reyna shawl.  I am on the last mesh section and that is going to take quite a bit of time.  Come back on Sunday and I will show you what I mean.

Until next time.................................................................

 

Surprise

 

I got a surprise this morning.  Josie sent me a text about 8am to let me know there was no reason for me to come over to her house today!  That meant, I had a 'day off' from my dog/teen duties.  Oh my, what should I do with all that free time?  I had no problem filling my day.

First on my list was to head out to the grocery store to pick up the few items we needed to make the menu I set up on Monday.  Today was 'senior' day at our local Kroger's.  So hubby and I went there along with about 100 of other senior citizens.  Lucky for us, our Kroger is huge so we had no issue with keeping physical distance from others.  We did run into 2 friends while there.  We had not seen either of them for almost a year so it was kind of nice to stand and chat for a few minutes to catch up.

When we got home, we put everything away and had a nice quite lunch.  After lunch, I decided to make hamburger buns for the burgers hubby is going to grill tonight for our dinner.  Here is the recipe I used for the buns.  It is supposed to make 12 slider sized buns but I made 6 burger sized buns with it.  It also, only takes 40 minutes from start to finish!  They look yummy.  Will let you know.  (Sorry no photo of them)  While they were baking I emptied the dishwasher and cleaned all the countertops in the kitchen.  I have no idea how flour gets over all the countertops when I only work in one little area. Sheesh!

Once the buns were done, I headed into my craft room and got it straightened up.  Josie and I will be in there on Friday so she can work on a Christmas gift for her Dad.  While getting that in order, I found 2 Christmas ornaments I needed to fix and hang on my tree.  

All of that is now completed and It is time for me to start making dinner.  It is an easy dinner of burgers and baked beans and HOMEMADE BUNS!  We have cookies for desert tonight.  (Bought those didn't make them)

Once dinner is over, I am going to kick back and work on Reyna.  It is getting very close to the last part of the pattern.  I seem to have quite a bit of yarn so may decided to add more rows to it until I have just enough yarn left to bind off.

How did your day go?

Until next time................................................................

A Sad Tale with a Happy Ending

 

Good day to all of you.  I hope you are ready to hear my tale of woe that ended up with a shout of joy.

It all started yesterday afternoon.  I was over at my Grand Daughter's house spending time with her and her dog, Thor.  I was happily knitting on my Reyna shawl.  It is kind of slow going at the point I was working on as it is a mesh lace and I need to pay attention to it or I will have miss matched mesh rows.

My phone rings and I see it is my DIL from Texas.  I am filled with joy to hear from her.  She is so fun to talk to and we always can make a laugh out of any situation, no matter how unfunny it may be.  

I lay my knitting in my lap and talk with my DIL for almost an hour.  We laughed quite a bit, talked about my grand kids that live there, and also did some research for some issues she was having and came up with babkas for answers.  But it was just so nice to spend some time with her since we can not be together for a while yet.  (It has been over 18 months since we have been with each other in person).

After we were done talking, I picked up my knitting only to discover I had dropped about 5 stitches,  Normally, this is not an issue but, on mesh, it is not a simple 'grab the stitch and work it back up to where it belongs.  I grabbed the solid parts of the mesh and got them on the needle but trying to figure out the YO (yarn over) stitches was impossible for this knitter.

You know what this means, right?  Yup, time to tink back until I get to the row where I was able to save the solid stitches.  This is not a fun thing as there are a lot of knit 2 together and slip slip knit  stitches that help make the mesh, mesh.  (If you are not a knitter, I apologize for totally confusing you at this point)  I estimated I would be tinking back 2-3 rows to be able to repair the problem.  The first thing I did was gather the shawl and throw it into the project bag.  Then Josie, Thor and I headed upstairs to look at the Christmas decorating she had done in her room and also in the loft.  After we had exhausted that endeavor, we headed back downstairs and decided it was time for a mid afternoon snack.  By this time I only had about 45 minutes before I needed to head back home.

Being the reasonable and brave person I am, I grabbed the project bag, pulled out the shawl and decided I would start tinking back, stitch by stitch.  This should not be too big of an issue, right?  There are only about 150 stitches on each row.  I was lucky that I was only halfway through a row when the stitches fell off.  The partial row got tinked back and by then it was time for me to head home.

After dinner, hubby and I settled in to watch a Christmas movie.  (Jingle Jangle on Netflix)  I picked up the shawl and continued on the tinking adventure.  (Side note*  The difference between tinking and frogging is; tinking is done stitch by stitch with needles still in the project and frogging is taking your needle(s) out and grabbing the yarn and ripping rows out and then putting your needle(s) back into the stitches that are left.)  Needless to say, tinking is not something that is quick. Tinking on llama/silk light fingering weight (Verging on lace) yarn is even slower!   But I persevered and by the end of the movie, I had tinked back 6! rows of mesh and knit 2 rows back onto the shawl.

The joyful ending of the story is...................With patience and fortitude, even the ugliest task can be accomplished.  Once that task is accomplished, it gives you pride in doing something you thought would be insurmountable.  My shawl will continue to receive all my attention this week.  My hope is to have it completed by Christmas so I can wear it to Christmas Eve Mass.  And yes, I am quite proud of the fact I did not give up and just throw the shawl into a bin to "work on later".

Until next time.......................................Chin up!

PS:  I finished putting up the inside Christmas Decorations yesterday!  Another item off my to do list for the week!

WEEK 22 OF YOP 10

 

Hello again.  I hope your week was a good one.  For those of you in the US, I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving day.  Ours was very nice.  We spent it with our son and his family.  There were only 5 of us for dinner.  Kind of felt strange not having upwards of 12 people there this year.

There has not been much progress made on my projects.  Out of 7 days I only picked up my knitting/crocheting 3 times.  I will show you what I mean.

Our temps finally got chilly enough for me to pick up the Havana again.  As you can see from the green arrow, I only managed to get 3 rows completed on it.

Reyna only received 4 rows of love this week also.  I feel bad for not being able to do more on either of these.  

So what did I do all week? 

There was laundry to do, bread to bake, sweet treats to make, a Christmas Tree to put up, some visiting to be done, Thanksgiving to be enjoyed and 2 days of not feeling well.  

I did do something this week that made me very happy.

I made a loaf of sourdough bread.  This is the first time I had tried it in a loaf pan.  It took 16 hours from start to finish.  I now know why sourdough is a more expensive bread at the stores.  It is labor intensive..............but oh so worth it.

And this is what it looked like when hubby and I had it for lunch.

It was very tasty with the right amount of sourdough flavor in it.  Now, I am collecting recipes to use the discarded starter so as not to keep throwing that away everyday.

Do any of you like eggnog?  For most, it is either love it or hate it.  Hubby and I love it as does our son who hosted Thanksgiving.

This is our absolute favorite eggnog.  Trust me, we have tried many eggnogs over the years and this wins hands down.  It already has the alcohol in it too, which makes it so convenient. I have made eggnog from scratch and this is the closest I can find that tastes like it.  It is our tradition to drink a glass of this while decorating the Christmas tree.  We also enjoy this in the quiet of the evening when watching a Christmas movie.  It may seem funny, but once Christmas and New Years are over, I no longer care about having a glass of this.

That is all for today.  This coming week is kind of up in the air.  Josie is back to virtual school until after Christmas.  Her dad is on a business trip this next week and I am not sure what my schedule will be with her.  Normally I head over there around lunch time and eat with her and then hang around until her mom comes home from work.  That way, if she needs help with any homework, I am available for her.................unless it is math.  Then we call my hubby for his expertise.  I will know my schedule later today after they work it all out.  Other than that, I still have the inside of the house to decorate for Christmas, one load of laundry to do and menus to make for the next week to 10 days.

Until Next Time................................Happy Crafting & Stay Well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not Happening

 

I had really hoped I would find a few extra minutes this week to get to declutter a bit of the house.  That is not going to happen.  Instead, life is going to happen and I am going to let it.

Sunday, I received a rolling cart to hold my stand mixer, Ninja Foodi and bread machine.  I had all three of those 'small' appliances sitting on my kitchen counters.  That left me a very small amount of space for food prep.  It was making me crazy!  When I am working in the kitchen, I want to be able to move from space to space without restrictions.  This cart has made my kitchen so much easier to work in.

Here is a photo of the cart.  I did not put a handle on the left side of it as that butts up to my countertop.  My stand mixer and Foodi sit on top and the bread machine is behind the doors.  The bread machine is super light and easy to move.  The mixer and foodi, not so much.  In fact, I moved the mixer about 5 days ago and totally messed up my shoulder doing it.  Those big Kitchen Aid mixers are HEAVY.  

Now that my counter tops are open again, I am having a blast in the kitchen.  Yesterday I made apple peanut butter snack bars.  My sour dough is out of the fridge and on the counter getting regular feedings so I can make a lovely loaf on Friday.  There will be 2 loaves of my favorite bread made tomorrow for Thanksgiving dinner.  There is also a good possibility I will be making an apple pie tomorrow for Thanksgiving dinner too.  (Waiting to see if the Pie Guy, my cousin, is going to make it to our dinner or not)

That is part of the reason there will be no decluttering this week.  The other reason is, Friday, hubby and I will be decorating the inside and outside of our home for Christmas.  This normally takes us 2-3 days to complete. This will be the first year ever, we will not have any visitors in our home during the holidays.  That seems so surreal to me.  Yet, I refuse to cut down on the amount of decorating we normally due. That is ok, cause the hubs and I will enjoy our decor.  

Next week, I have dog and teen duty so decluttering will not be part of my life then either.  Actually, looking at my calendar, I do not see a lot of decluttering time before the first of the year.  Hmmmmm, for being on restrictions, we seem to be awfully busy over the next 6 weeks.  Lots of baking and candy making are on the to do list.  That does not involve being around people.....well other than to deliver said baked goods and candy.

So, if I am absent from blogging other than on Sundays, you will be able to find me in my kitchen having so much fun and making lots of yummy goodies for others.

Until next time.................................................. 

YOP 10 WEEK 21

 

Welcome!  Nice to have you stop by to read about my week.  It was a very satisfying week to be sure.  There is a finished object that I am quite proud of.

Percussion is completed and given to her owner.  This is made with the 100% alpaca yarn Josie picked out after our alpaca farm visit.  It was marked as sport weight but once I started working with it realized it was actually sock weight.  This required me finding a pattern to match the yarn.  This pattern was fun to do since it used knits and purls to make the textures in the different sections.  It also introduced me into the world of jogless stripes.  Did you know there are multiple ways to do jogless stripes?  Thanks to google I found a method that worked quite well for me that did not make me move my stitch marker or mess with my stitch count.  The other great thing about this pattern is, it did not have you cut your yarn at the end of each section.  It was just carried up like you would in colorwork.  That meant there were only 4 ends to weave in at the end of the pattern.  Would I make this pattern again?  You betcha!

With Percussion completed, I turned my attention to Reyna.

The green progress keeper is where I was last time I worked on this.  The silver cat stitch marker is where I am now.  It is a very nice pattern to knit and actually is easy to do while enjoying some TV time.  The pattern recommends using variegated yarn.  I can understand why too.  I think the texture and the lace sections would show up better with a variegated yarn.  However, I am going to do something at the end of this pattern that should make it a bit more interesting to look at.  The yarn I am using it Cascade Sorata.  It is a blend of 70% llama and 30% silk.  I find it quite splitty but soooo soft.  

That is all I have done with fiber this week.  I have been in the kitchen a bit more this week though. Wednesday, I cleaned out our pantry and found lots of items to donate to our church's food bank.  But sadly, I found even more items to donate to our trash bin.  Friday, I made banana bread for hubby and I.  I do not have a photo of it as y'all know what banana bread looks like LOL.  I do have a photo of the hamburger buns I made on Thursday.

These were made with some of the discard of my sour dough.  I have never tried my hand at rolls or buns before so this was a bit of a learning experience for me.  They were quite yummy.  We had them for sloppy joes on Thursday night and then on Friday, made sandwiches with them.  We discovered they were a bit dry on Friday, so I am glad I only made 4 of them.  I am not quite sure why they dried out so much overnight.  I had them in my normal plastic bread bag and closed up tight.  My loaves of bread stay very fresh in these bags and will last up to a week in them.  Something to ponder.

I also made a loaf of bread yesterday (Saturday).  I am loving my pullman pan bread.  I make the dough in the bread machine.  Once the dough is made, I take it and do one more knead and rise and then bake it in the oven.  I am using the same recipe I did when I made it 100% in the bread machine.  The pullman loaf is the perfect sandwich bread.

I have discovered a new to me, tea.  It is by Good Earth and is called, Sweet and Spicy.

Oh my goodness!  It is so good.  I saw it at Costco and decided to give it a try,  It is actually an Herbal tea so it is caffeine free!  You can also get it where there is black tea in it which means that one has caffeine.  I am allergic to caffeine so guess which one I drink LOL.  It has so much flavor in it and the name of it speaks volumes.  Me thinks I will send hubby back to Costco this week to pick up another pack of it.  I am thinking this would even make a grand ice tea.

That pretty much covers my week.  This coming week is Thanksgiving in the US.  We are having our dinner at our Son's house.  There will be a total of 6 of us for dinner. (3 of them, 2 of us and a cousin)  Normally, we have up to 12 people but because of the virus, we are just doing it with the family we have been with through this whole pandemic. No visitors this year. Better safe than sorry, right? 

What are your plans for the coming week?

Until Next Time.......................................Happy Crafting & Stay Well!!!! 

Making Space for Real

 

Okay, today I have a real making space post.  Not that the other post on Monday did not make space.  It did and it made me very happy as well as the recipients of the Chex Mix I made.  

So here is the back story.  Every year, about this time, I find myself in my kitchen more and more.  This year, I seem to be in there even more because of the pandemic.  I have a very hard time working in a space that is not organized.  It makes me just a little crazy.  OK, it makes me a lot crazy!  During the 31 day declutter I went through all my kitchen drawers and cupboards and did a good clean out.  So, my cooking utensils are all where they should be and easy for me to find and use.  What got ignored was my food storage space.

We do not have a pantry like many people do.  We bought a Rubbermaid pantry and have it hidden neatly away in a nook that had no use what so ever.  That is where all our food stock and baking supplies are stored.  Today was the day I decided to totally empty that pantry and reorganize it.  This was prompted by the fact I bought some canned goods last week because I did not have what I needed for a meal.  Upon putting them away, I discovered I had PLENTY of the canned goods I bought.  They were hiding behind another item.

Have any of you seen the commercial where the Aunts all descend upon a young couple that had just purchased a house?  As one Aunt is going through the refrigerator she keeps announcing, "expired, expired, expired".  That was me today too.  It was shameful the amount of food that was past the expiration date by almost a year!  I know some people do not worry about expiration dates on items but, having had cans blow up on me before, as well as seeing cans bulging, I no longer ignore that.  Especially if they are tomato based.

Items that were not going to be used or we had multiples of and were still not expired were gathered and will be heading to our church's food bank.

All of this will be leaving my house this Saturday.  (That is when we deliver to the food bank)  There are 15 items there.  As for what got thrown away...............I stopped counting after 30.  My pantry is now very organized, I know exactly what I have in there.  It feels so good to have that cleaned out and ready for me to commence with my kitchen baking.

Case in point...............................In my freezer,I have multiple bags of vaccumed sealed, frozen cranberries I purchased about 3 years ago.  Today, I made cranberry sauce with one of the bags.  Next up on my list is to make sour dough hamburger buns.  (Arthur is doing great!)  There is also going to be pumpkin doughnuts, cranberry orange bread, cherry pie, banana bread and possibly a cheesecake.  No, this is not all for hubby and I to consume.  We share these goodies with people we know who do not bake or have time to bake.  During this strange time, homemade goodies are being welcomed with huge smiles.  It does my heart good to bring a little sunshine to others.

It is time for me to kick back and do a little knitting.\

Until next time............................................................................