For Pete's Sake If you want to use something from my blog, feel free, just let me know in advance okay? Because really, everything is copyrighted so I'd appreciate a link back to my blog if you use something, it's just common courtesy for Pete's sake! Say, who is Pete anyway?
Being a quilter for over 30 years, I've learned one thing that's for sure (as my good friend Ops - short for Oprah - would say) and that's this: You can't go wrong if you buy too much! You will never be forced to have a "close enough" fabric in a quilt again! I've always said that I make 30-foot quilts - or put another way, quilts that look good from 30 feet away! One day I hope to make "inchers." In the meantime, as I struggle to make points match, I'm happily trying to cover every bed, sofa, and chair in my house with a quilt - that's normal, right?
My quilt books can be ordered on line from Leisure Arts at: www.leisurearts.com My children's books can be ordered directly through me, just send me an email: nans17@hotmail.com
Ahhhh....food....
We may live without poetry, music and art;
We may live without conscience and
live without heart;
We may live without friends;
we may live without books;
But civilized man cannot live without cooks.
He may live without books,
what is knowledge but grieving?
He may live without hope,
What is hope but deceiving?
He may live without love,
What is passion but pining?
But where is the man that can live without dining?
Owen Meredith...or as I like to call him....
The Earl of Sandwich
Dear Rose Grace, my very first friend on my brand new Google Friend Connect Button...THANK YOU! I was totally friendless for about ten minutes - which was torture for someone as insecure as I!!! And then someone friended me...what a glorious feeling! (Having a friend button is like having a popularity button...like being in Jr. High School all over again - with acne and the wrong jeans and having to ride the bus!)
****Update!! I went to bed with 8 friends, woke up with 125! (I'm sure that's what Charlie Sheen says every morning!) So glad to have new friends!!! Thank you all so very much!
You know what they say about meeting people on-line...they're serial killers, or gypsies who will steal you blind or pervs who've appeared on Dateline at least 20 times...well, I have to say that is not always the case...I met someone on-line...she came to my house...we cooked pasta...and now she's my new best friend! Oh, she's not a serial killer, nor a gypsy and she's never been on Dateline...she's just a wonderful, friendly, regular Italian gal who knows her way around the kitchen AND a pasta machine!
Julie arrived with her arms loaded - she brought two freshly baked loaves of the best crusty Italian bread I've ever tasted - plus all the makin's for lunch! She also brought me a treat - an enamel dish with a glass lid filled with Peanut M&M's - my favorite food! And she brought her Kitchenaid Pasta Maker attachment...to say I was ecstatic would be down-playing things! (Dear Santa, please put a Kitchenaid Pasta Maker in my stocking this year!)
Julie and her sister make ravioli every year - the Saturday after Thanksgiving they spend the day in the kitchen and make about 500 ravioli that they freeze and then give as Christmas gifts. So Julie knows her ravs - plus it's in her DNA - her mom is Italian and her dad is Sicilian! I've made ravioli before, and they were good, but a bit thick - Julie gave me tons of tips and now I can pass them along to you!
Ravioli is much easier to make than you would think, all you really need is a pastry wheel to cut it, no fancy ravioli stamps, and of course, it does help tremendously to have a pasta maker but if you have muscles you can roll the dough out by hand - (pasta makers are cheap - well, not the Kitchenaid attachment, but you can get a good pasta maker for under $50). I had three fillings ready to go - roasted butternut squash, spinach and cheese, and a sausage and cheese. After making about a hundred ravioli, Julie prepared a very simple browned butter sauce with sage (Julie told us about Penzey's Spices, which is where she buys her spices - she said they are opening a shop at Pike Place Market so watch for them soon!) to top the butternut squash ravioli - it was incredible...we had quite a feast after our hard work!
Just look at all of those brown-butter bits - one of the best meals I've ever eaten in my house! After lunch we made more ravioli - about 200 or so total - it was a very good day! I don't remember when I've had more fun - it doesn't get any better than good friends and good food.
Julie's Tips for Perfect Pasta ~
1. Start with a good pasta recipe:
2 cups flour
2 eggs
2 to 4 tablespoons water
rice flour for kneading/preventing dough from sticking
Mix ingredients together in a food processor, starting with 2 tablespoons of water and adding one or two more if necessary. Dough should come together in a ball, then pulse a few times to knead the dough. Remove dough and knead gently for 1 to 2 minutes on a very lightly floured surface. Dough should feel like a baby's bottom...that's the official line - a baby's bottom is now a cooking term. Shape dough into a ball and cut the ball into fourths.
2. To keep dough fresh/from drying out, turn a bowl upside down and put it over the dough - no need to mess with plastic wrap.
3. As you cut the ravioli, the extra dough that is not used (scraps that are cut away), stick under a bowl to keep for making spaghetti later, Once the dough has been rolled (on top of a bit of rice flour) you can't reroll it - it would be too tough for ravioli but will still make an excellent spaghetti, linguini, fettucine. Stiff pasta can be grated to make little pasta shapes to add to soup!
4. Using 1/4 piece of dough at a time, roll each through the pasta maker, dust dough with a bit of flour, if necessary, to keep it from sticking. Start with pasta maker on the lowest setting (which will yield the widest pasta) and roll on that setting 5 times, folding the pasta into thirds after rolling and dusting with a bit of flour. After 5 rolls, adjust the setting, moving it to the next number, and rolling once per number but not folding - just keep it going - one roll per number as you move to the last number. By this time your dough will be quite long and thing...ready to cut!
5. Lay a sheet of pasta on top of a cutting board that has been very lightly sprinkled with rice flour - space fillings about 1 1/2-inches apart on half of the pasta. Only use a shy teaspoonful of filling per ravioli.
6. Mix an egg-white with 1 tablespoon of water and using a pastry brush, brush the egg white between the fillings and down the edge of the pasta - this will act like glue so the raviolis will seal.
7. Fold the pasta over, on top of the fillings, and using your fingers, press out the air, working in one direction as you go.
8. Use a pastry wheel to cut the ravioli into shapes - squares are easy but you can cut circles, too!
9. Sprinkle a rimmed baking sheet with rice flour and place the cut raviolis on the sheet to dry a bit before cooking and/or freezing.
10. Fresh pasta cooks much faster than store-bought pasta - about 3 to 4 minutes total cooking time when added to boiling water so don't over cook it! You want it to be al dente - firm to the bite!
11. Don't add salt until the water is boiling - and then add more than you would think you should - like a tablespoon or so as salt is not added to the dough. Stir the pasta as you are adding it to boiling water, but then don't stir again.
Making pasta is fun and easy - I hope you'll give it a try - even if you don't have an expert to help you like I did! Thanks Julie - I had such a great time!
Notice that lovely Chocolate and Pear Tart? Recipe coming soon...it'll make your eyes roll back into your head!
My friend Joni, winner of beauty pageants, model, talk show host, radio host, gifted speaker, talented and published writer, gardener, cooking contest winner and super mother of 4...has now added another talent to her long, long list...painter of shoes!
Joni sent me these hand-painted, customized-just-for-me shoes for my birthday - which is 4 months away! They are so great - and comfy, too! Just look at all that detail! Joni recently launched her new custom-painted shoe business...Oh Shoes Anna- you need to go to her website to see the dozens and dozens of different designs she can paint for you! Bird shoes, patriotic shoes, Christmas shoes, Halloween shoes...you name it and she paints it! Works of ART for your FEET!! And, as I can attest, they make the perfect gift! Thanks Joni - I love them!
Speaking of Joni...hopefully today the mailman will deliver HER birthday present (mine came 4 months early, hers is arriving one week late which by my standards is the equivilent of 4 months early!)
I love doing hand-work while watching TV - unless the mister enters the room, picks up the remote and turns off my show in favor of the military channel...then something happens...the relaxed feeling I get from hand-work disappears as my blood-pressure rises resulting in me accidentally pricking my finger with the needle, and before I know it someone is screaming, in a voice that is eerily similar Regan's in The Exorcist, "For the love of all that is holy can I just watch MY SHOW because I don't give a rip about the 10 most popular assault rifles!"
As a drop of blood appeared on my finger I realized that voice came from me! But more importantly, the mister, shocked at my spinning head, immediately turned the channel back to Grey's Anatomy just in time for me to see Dr. Shepherd take a bullet to the chest. And then, wanting to make conversation, to see if I'd returned from the dark side, the mister said, "Looks like he used a .45 - wouldn't be my weapon of choice!" And I think to myself...Oh really? Really? That's all you can say?!?! Dr. Shepherd is blasted to the ground, blood gurgling out of his chest, his thick, dark mane tossled ever so come-hither-ish, and you comment on the GUN?!?
Dr. Shepherd lives. The mister takes control of the remote in time to see the two top assault rifles in the world. I make pear butter. It's all good.
The clouds have rolled back in and we're set for rain for a week - that's what the weather talking heads say - but this is how I'll get my sun fix - I'll think back to my day on Lake Washington, floating along in the nicest-best-most-reliable-dependable boat EVER (thank you for starting each and every time dear boat!) with good friends and good food and one handy little book of info:
Lake Washington 130 Homes by David Dykstra is available here and might be at your local Seattle Barnes and Noble or Borders, which is where I found my copy. This book is fascinating, if you're into stalking, voyeurism, peeping, playing papparazzi or like my friends and me - just into beautiful homes and yards. We floated under the I-90 bridge up the Gold Coast past them all - the huge and the huger, including the Windows 2000 House (owned by the guy who created Windows and according to the book his house is valued at $12 million...I spit on that!), Bill Gates house (where he is having a bit of work done on his dock and again, according to the book, he has 8 bedrooms and 25 bathrooms...they must have very small bladders in that family - can't go ten feet without needing to go potty! Oh, it's valued at $150 million...that I can't spit on!), and we picked out our favorite house - the one we'll buy if we win the lottery - a really, really big lottery!
The book points out the 130 most magnificent mansions, impressive in some manner or another, like the house that has a Statue of Liberty on the balcony and the house that put up a sign that says: "Only an egotistical JACKASS would build a house like the one next door!" Hilarious! Most of the homes listed in the book are owned by the movers and shakers of Seattle (Microsoft, Costco, Nordstrom, Starbucks, Seahawks, Amazon, etc.) - people who laugh all the way to the bank - not hysterical laughter as in "PLEASE LET ME GET THIS DEPOSIT IN BEFORE ANOTHER CHECK GOES THROUGH!" No, no, no...laughter as in, "I'm just going to withdraw some pocket change, I'd like a hundred grand in small bills, my Gucci purse is stretchable!" I begrudged them nothing - after all, this is America, the land of opportunity...so like the old joke where the lady is begging to win the lottery each week, over and over she prays to win and finally God says, "Do me a favor, meet me half way and buy a ticket!"
If she wasn't such a saint...such a happy, sweet person...such a kind and caring woman...she wouldn't deserve all the love and adoration she receives from everyone who knows her. But she is all that and more. My neighbor and friend, Venna, turned 86 last week (I don't think she wants me to broadcast her age so keep that under your hat!) and so we had a little celebration with balloons, cake and ice cream - even though Venna doesn't eat cake and ice cream...which is why she's the ball of fire that she is! Here's some pics of the party - it was great fun and Venna was showered with gifts and goodies and as she left she thanked me and said, "Let's do this again in TEN years!"
The Coconut Cake with Lemon Curd seemed to be the favorite - I'll have that recipe up soon. Everyone also loved the Key Lime Cake...it was quite lovely - and that recipe will be up soon, too.
In the meantime you can find the Chocolate Pound Cake recipe here (I added a chocolate ganache glaze and chocolate candy bar pieces to the top...more IS more!) And you can find the Summer Berry Cake recipe here. The cheesecake with blueberries was a sugar-free cheesecake...yes, I know, sick and wrong, but I do have to say it was very good. Nancy brought it (thanks Nancy!) as she wanted me to taste it to see just how good it was...she purchased it from Top Foods in Woodinville.
The birthday girl.
Of course we sang Happy Birthday to her and then we lit some candles...as everyone was waiting for her to bend down and blow out the candles she quickly grabbed each candle, one at a time, pulled it out of the cake and brought it up to her face, THEN she blew them out! As she explained, this way no spit would get on the cake! Who knew?!?
I'm already at work planning Venna's 96th birthday party...just hope I'M ALIVE TO DO IT - I have no doubt Venna will be!
Feast your eyes on my newest Halloween decoration...given to me by Lori. Isn't he wonderful? And how about that Lori?!? She brought me this great little spook because I was having a bad day and she wanted to cheer me up...and let me tell you, I was definitely cheered! He lights up and doesn't he have the most delightful grin? I will love having him around for Halloween! Thanks Lori - I just love him and you too!
About my bad day...I really do live a fabulous life...well, except for a few small annoyances, (the mister...kidding!) I am usually a happy person and not much gets me down. Then out of the blue I'll be hit with something smack dab in the middle of my face - not literally, of course, and it will give me pause - usually I can shake it off...but sometimes I like a good wallow in self-pity...and believe me, I can throw a pity party like nobody's business! A friend passed away over the weekend - not a close friend but someone I knew a while back. I was very sad about her passing, of course, but also sad that I lost track of her over the years. And I should not have lost track of her. I should have stayed in touch, as much for her sake as mine. These flowers were for her memorial...where her daughters reminded everyone how much fun their mom was and told us all that she never complained, not once, about the cancer that ravaged her body. Phyllis woke up each morning and made a decision to be happy...isn't that a great way to live? Phyllis raised two beautiful, strong, independent daughters and was a great example to them of living a life with joy. Heidi, her youngest daughter told us that the next time we see/feel the sun to think of Phyllis - shining her warmth our way.
Phyllis' passing was the something that smacked me in the face - a little wake-up call that life is way too short. Too short to waste on ridiculous things and people...and no, the Halloween guy is NOT ridiculous and neither is Halloween for that matter...but people who suck the life out of a room, people who use and abuse, people who trample with no regard for who's underfoot...those people will no longer be on my Hit Parade. And ridiculous things...well, those are another matter entirely, as my definition of ridiculous varies with each passing day. But I'm going to do better. As my good friend Ops likes to say, "Now that you know better, you'll do better."
She came from the land down under - home of Crocodile Dundee and The Crocodile Hunter...although I never saw her wear croc, eat it, capture one and none of her children have that name. She also never said "shrimp on the barbie" and there isn't a beach in all of America that can compete with Bondi Beach, so I have learned. She (as her mum would say, "She? A Female Cat?" Which means one is not ever to say "she" but to call the person by their name) so...The Aussie came via Singapore - which, as it turned out, was just a speed-bump in her life, but it led her to us...as in the U.S.
She rode in like a hungry Dingo in pursuit of a baby - made quite an impression, too! She introduced us to Vegemite, Pavlovas, Lamingtons, Passion Fruit Syrup, Lime Cordials, Date Pudding, Tim-Tam-slams and Anzac Biscuits...along with assorted words and phrases that have now worked their way into our vocabulary...knackered (tired) ...rocking up (coming over)...tarted up (with full-makeup on)...good value (a good person) and many more. She also instructed us on the beauty of freshly ironed sheets(!)...influenced the reorganization of my entire house and taught me that a junk drawer was not a necessary item...along with the junk! (Alas, that one didn't stick!) The Aussie made me a better person...and now, after 4 short years she is gone - like the wind - to China!
Her kids are already enrolled in school in Beijing and will no doubt be fluent in Mandarin by Christmas! I fully expect the Aussie herself to be fluent in fake handbags, wallets, coats, boots and other sundry items by the time the mister and I arrive...yes, we're planning to go and visit, as you know we are quite good at IMAGINARY trips...and on my imaginary trip to China I plan to buy imaginary fake handbags - (just in case my friends at Customs are reading this)... I like to think of China as being one big Archie McPhee's...wall to wall or should I say, border to border(?) of crappola...that thought makes me so happy!-
The Aussie, is now in China, landed this morning. She pronounces it Chiner, seems to be unable to say her "A's"...a forgiveable offense. We'll miss the Aussie...and her family. They are all good value.
We woke to lakefront property yesterday and the sound of ducks quacking and swimming happily on their new pond - it just poured down rain during the night! The mister called me on his way to work to report that 5 miles down the road there was snow everywhere...weird weather! But the weather didn't stop me from having a great day...Helen, Stephanie and I had great plans...first stop Quiltworks Northwest (which USED to be a fabulous store and now it's just huge with NO personality)...they do have wonderful fabrics though and of course I bought some...it would have been rude not to! I also met the most fascinating lady. She was sitting in the back in the classroom and her garb caught my eye...and then I saw her dolls - they were fascinating and incredible and intricate and unlike anything I'd ever seen before! Her name is Elinor Peace Bailey and when she told me I knew I was in the presence of someone special...I knew her name and knew she was "famous" in the quilting/sewing world but that's about it...but NOW I know who she is and she is amazing!
Hoping to get a shot of her with her dolls, I asked her to stand by them but she ended up standing right in front of them and I didn't notice you couldn't see the dolls until later - although you can see the feet of one just to the right. Pink hair, technicolor coat and an attitude to match - she is wonderful! Elinor was there teaching a class (it hadn't started yet) and the women who were there setting up for the class were very excited to be with her - she's all personality so I'm sure it was a very fun class!
Our next stop was the Bellevue Arts Museum to see the Bresler Collection of American Quilt Classics. The picture above and before are the only pictures I took before a very nice museum guard told me no pictures were allowed...this is not part of the Bresler Collection but it's what greeted us right inside the door - it's totally made from fabric - and it's all pieced - the details on it are incredible! It's a Meter Maid Mobile - hilarious, no?
After the quilts we popped into a very small exhibit of books...disturbing in a way...old encyclopedia's that had been sculpted into faces, etc., the desecrating of books is not something I'm a fan of, even though all of the books used were found in trash bins...still...
Pictured above are the fabrics I purchased...I have something special in mind for both of these "sets" of fabrics...and I can't wait to get going on them - but first I'm still trying to finish up the halloween quilts! I'd much rather start something new than finish what I've already started! We had lunch at Cheesecake Factory where I had my usual - Thai Lettuce Wraps. My sister always orders these and then picks through the lettuce until she finds a bug - which she always does - and then she points out the bug to the waiter, and he calls the manager, and she usually ends up with a slice of FREE cheesecake...it's quite fascinating to watch. No bugs yesterday. And just when I thought my day couldn't get any better, I came home to find a package on my front porch...I do so love that! I opened it up and this is what fell out...
My first thought was, "I don't remember ordering a Donut book!" But then, I have no memory. I quickly sat down and started to thumb through it - still trying to remember why I ordered it...and then I picked up the packaging and a card fell out...duh. My friend Joyce and her sister, who never met a donut they didn't like, sent me the book - they found it in a shop in Philadelphia and it's great...no make that GREAT! I read it last night while the mister watched back to back episodes of House -at every commercial - when I'm allowed to talk - I would read him bits from the book about donuts - and we both wished we'd had some to EAT!!! Thanks Joyce...there are MANY recipes to try...I'll have the best narrowed down by the time you get home...another Donut-Off is in our future!
Today is the Marine Corps birthday - for 233 years the United States Marine Corps has defended our country and our allies...and still do so today. The mister was a Marine...although, once a Marine, always a Marine...the corps taught him a lot of life lessons...and made him the man he is today. He's been called a Jarhead, Devil Dog, and a Grunt...and much worse (usually by me) but today, no names. I'm proud of him and his service to our country, during two tours of duty to Vietnam. I'm also proud of my father's service in the Army during the Korean Conflict. Tomorrow is Veteran's Day...if you know a Veteran, thank him or her...it's the least we can do. So thanks to Dear Old Dad, thanks to the mister and thanks so Gunny Brown...3 of the finest military men on the planet. Semper Fi. Ooorah!
My oh my...I'm blushing! Little Pots and Pins is featured today on one of the most fun and informative blogs in all of blogland!Today's Creative Blogdoes just what the name implies...it features a creative blog just about every day. I can't tell you how many times I've gone to Today's Creative Blogto see who's the latest and greatest in crafts, sewing, cooking, etc. And I'm never disappointed...so I was shocked to discover Pots and Pins made the grade!! Shocked and surprised and tickled PINK!
You'll want to save Today's Creative Blog to your favorites so you can check in to see who's making what ...it's a GREAT resource!
It looks like Pirate Booty! I came home from an afternoon out and about with the mister...(he said he was sick of working and came home in the middle of the day...highly suspect! The mister LIVES to work and he rarely comes home early let alone while the sun is still shining! Something is afoot, of that I'm certain, so my attenae are already on the case...he is a man of routine and this is SO NOT routine!)
But I'm off track...when I walked in the door I found all of this great stuff!!! A friend used to have an on-line cake business...she no longer does so the photography equipment she purchased to take pictures of her cakes and all of her cake pans and racks she donated to her favorite charity...ME! This is almost as good as Christmas! I do believe a few bundt cakes will be in my future!
That gallon jug is full of wonderful vanilla - that should last me a few weeks! She also gave me some big white things to bounce light or block light...really I have no idea what they're for but I'm loving them! Jennifer has obviously seen the pitiful pictures that I post on here and thinks that some professional equipment and lighting will help me take better shots...she's an optimist...and doesn't know that I only know what I know and am incapable of knowing more....But thanks anyway Jennifer - I'll have fun TRYING to take better pics!!!
It sounded like such a good idea...a friend's son was getting married and a group of us decided we would go to the reception...that's what friends do, right? Except the reception was in Rexburg, Idaho - a no-man's land when it comes to getting there...but we were up for a little adventure. We flew into Salt Lake, rented a van which seemed so luxurious and spacious...and made the uneventful trip to Rexburg, 4 hours due North, arriving just in time to quickly change out of our sweats into our soiree clothes - w walked in 5 minutes before dinner was served...
It was quite lovely - the bride and groom were happy and so were both sets of parents...the bride wanted a cupcake cake - which some people thought looked Smurf-like - but like I said, the bride was happy!
Here's the happy couple...not a great shot of Mitch, the groom, he was hamming it up a bit, but Jessie, his bride, took it all in stride...Mitch's grandma made the bride's dress...flying in from Australia and toting silk from Singapore to do so...she made it from a picture out of a magazine - no pattern - she's quite the miracle worker and her workmanship was beautiful!
When it was time for the first dance for the married couple, they stood in the middle of the room and held each other and rocked back and forth...we all thought how sad it was that they didn't really know how to dance! And just as we did they broke into a little routine that was hilarious and charming and they proved us all wrong!
The next day the plan was to drive back to SLC and do a little shopping - two of my van-mates were to fly back to Seattle...but I had this brilliant idea of driving to Jackson Hole - which the dimwit hotel person said was only a hour away! Well....we drove and we drove and it was a beautiful drive but it was HOURS away! Only in Wyoming can you see this...
A REAL cattle drive with REAL cattle and REAL cowboys! There were hundreds of cows so it took us a while to navigate around them...and the smell was indescribable! We continued up the steep and winding mountains into Jackson...2 1/2 hours later, on fumes, we pulled into a Jackson gas station where we asked the gas-station attendant's advice and headed to Bubba's for lunch...it was MOST excellent!
The manager of Bubba's told us it would take about 4 1/2 hours to drive from Jackson to SLC...giving us plenty of time to shop - and except for the weather we would have...what this picture doesn't show is the POURING rain...cats and dogs! We drove into town, stopped in ONE gift shop where we again asked about how long it would take us to drive back to SLC...this time the clerk said it was at LEAST 5 1/2 hours or longer!!! Since they don't hold planes for peons we got back in the van - which wasn't as "fresh" as it had been the day before...and after all of an hour and a half we were headed out of town!
The square in Jackson Hole - famous for it's elk-horn arches...just think how many elks gave their lives for ART! Oh - we did see plenty of wild animals on our trek...
On our way to SLC we drove through Star Valley, Wyoming - one of the most beautiful places on the planet if you ask me...SOME people I know like to claim they're from there even though they're not...it's THAT beautiful...
Check out the name of this store...only in Wyoming! It's good to know that Smoker's have a place to call their own!
From Star Valley we headed straight to Paris...Paris, Idaho...and let me tell you...there is NOTHING like Paris, Idaho! Or should I say there is nothing IN Paris, Idaho?! We drove through torrential rains and even snow - briefly stopping to take a picture of a friend's summer home - where she and her family spend every 4th of July...waving firecrackers outside while the sheep mow their lawn out back.
Paris is known for it's proximity to Bear Lake - an absolutely beautiful spot on the Idaho-Utah border - the water of the lake is the color of Cancun water - azure blue but colder than the polar ice cap before global warming...
I had some great times at Bear Lake while I was still a young lass...nothing I can talk about though because my mom reads this..After 36 hours, from Washington to Utah to Idaho to Wyoming, we made it back to SLC...my friends caught their flight home and I won the lottery...at least that's how I felt when I got to see my Baby Max...
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