Pots and Pins

Apple Butter...

When my mom said she was going to make apple butter from applesauce - I asked her how that would work and she said, "Oh you know, a little of this and a little of that - just like we make pumpkin butter!"  And since I'm seasonally challenged these days - like making pumpkin muffins in April because it's so blasted cold outside - I thought, why not continue this trend and make some apple butter too?

Using applesauce is much easier and faster than making apple butter from fresh apples - no peeling, slicing, coring, mashing...just pour and stir - add in some cinnamon and cloves, skim off the foam, and with the magic of Pectin it's good to go!

Once cooled I spread some over a piece of toast - it was thick and gooey - more like jam than butter - and very, very good.  This recipe makes 5 cups and it can be processed in a hot water bath so it will last longer or you can skip that step and just keep it in the refrigerator - it'll be gone long before it goes bad.

I'll eat my share of this apple butter but then I'll give some as gifts with a hot loaf of bread - now who wouldn't like that?!

Apple Butter From Applesauce - Pots and Pins

3 cups sugar

3 cups no-sugar added applesauce

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1 box (1.75 oz.) Pectin

In a large saucepan, combine first 3 ingredients over medium heat; stir constantly until sugar dissolves.  Bring to a rolling boil.  Add pectin; stir until dissolved.  Bring to a rolling boil again and boil 1 minute longer.  Remove from heat, skim off foam.  Pour into hot, sterilized jars.  Store in refrigerator or process for 10 minutes in a hot-water bath.  Let sit on counter until you hear the "pop" letting you know the jars have sealed.  Serve with hot bread or muffins.  Makes five cups.    

"To invite a person into your house is to take charge of his happiness for as long as he is under your roof."  ~  Brillat-Savarin

The Lobster Lamp!!!

I have SUCH a good boy!  He went back to the little antique shop, Found It, and bought me the Lobster Lamp!!!  Personally I was more shocked that it was still there than him buying it!  After my post about it yesterday I just knew one of you would zoom over there and buy it!

It came with the cream colored shade - but I'm liking the black and white shade...what do you think?  It's also handmade!  The lobster is some sort of clay that's been carved and the base looks like something out of a high school shop class - so it's even better than I thought!  Yesterday when I saw this and knowing how much my boy loves lobster - I was thinking that it would look great in HIS room...but today - after seeing it in my kitchen - this baby is ALL MINE!  Oh yeah.....

 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins...

Ha!  I remembered my roaster!  I'm back in business!

I just used this last week but the mister stuck it in the garage - out of sight, out of mind - but now here it is - ready to BAKE for me!!

A few weeks ago I found this recipe on someone's blog - I copy and pasted the recipe into WORD and then printed it out but failed to put who's it was - so if it's YOUR RECIPE please, please tell me.... so sorry!

They just sounded so good and since it still feels like winter outside it seemed like the antidote to my ills.

    

Mix all the dry ingredients first, then add the wet - pour into cupcake papers and bake in your oven at 350 degrees - she left the temperature off the recipe but 350 is a pretty safe bet...of course, if you don't have an oven or you don't want to use it - you can use your roaster - at 350 degrees but it will take longer to bake - they're done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins - From Someone's Blog Who I'll Thank As Soon As I Hear From Her!

3 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3 cups sugar

1 cup water

1 cup oil

2 cups plain canned pumpkin

4 eggs

1 (12 oz.) package chocolate chips

Mix all of the ingredients, dry first, then wet, in a large bowl.  Spray 24 to 30 muffin tins well with cooking spray or use cupcake papers.  Bake in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean....or bake in a roaster oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

The "originator" said you can also add nuts and she adds an additional teaspoon of cinnamon because she likes it so much - I think I would do that next time too.  She also said this can be made into bread by using 2 pans and baking for 1 hour. 

They are great - so whoever you are....THANKS!

"Anybody who believes that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach flunked geography."  -          Robert Byrne

Great Finds...

I don't think I mentioned that I'm on the hook for 250 cupcakes for a wedding reception this Friday evening...not normally something I would stress about, but since I DON'T HAVE A STINKIN' OVEN I'm a little harried!  Anyway, friends are coming to the rescue so I'm sure all will be fine...so I headed off to my favorite kitchen store today - Home Cake Decorating - I just can't sing their praises enough...LA-LA-LA-LAAAAAA!  I love that dump - and I mean that in a very respectful and loving way - but it's still a dump and that just makes it all the more fun.  Anyway, I got what I needed for the cupcakes and a few other necessities so when my oven is resuscitated I'll be ready to go! 

Three or four blocks south of Home Cake I saw this quaint little shop called Found It - it's at 6820 Roosevelt Avenue in Seattle and it was great fun!  Filled with antiques and wonderful junque...as my boy was with me I knew I wouldn't have much time to look around before he started to whine...so I was rushed but I saw the BEST thing and was sure my boy would flip over it - but he didn't want a LOBSTER LAMP!  Which made me wonder if he was truly my boy!  Who wouldn't want a lobster lamp?!?  I didn't buy it but should have - might have to go back tomorrow as I'm sure it won't last!  I did buy this...

This beautiful hand-stitched pillow has all the colors of my family room - it's like it was made just for me!  And notice how the couple in the center of the pillow looks just like me and the mister!  Sweet!  And then I found these two beauties....the painted and carved gourd is the perfect conversation piece - and it's already working as I'm now having a conversation about it....the hand-painted porcelain bowl is made by Nippon, pre World War II....it's just lovely and I have the perfect place for it.   

Next door to the Found It shop is the ACS Discovery Shop - a consignment shop with great "old lady" clothes and bags - and some knick-knacks .  A block or so down from them is Cloud 9 - another consignment shop - but by this time my boy was complaining of hunger pangs so I couldn't stop - maybe tomorrow!ll   All in all - a very successful shopping trip!

Hair, Depression and My Oven...

Years ago my fashionista friend remarked that the higher a woman's hair, the greater her depression.  So, so true.  As proof I give you Marge Simpson.... take a look at that hair!  Obviously she is in serious need of an intervention - both follically and mentally...with hair that high she probably needs a VAT of lithium...and yet, she seems normal  - but of course, she is not...not with THAT HAIR!

Well, today....18 hours into what is sure to be a 192 hour depressive event, my hair is the size of Marge Simpson's.  Maybe higher.  My depression is that great....

As you know, my oven died last week.  I've been ONE FULL WEEK without an oven.  Yesterday the repairman, aka Tony-Soprano-Meets-George-Carlin, came to perform, and I use that word loosely, a miracle on my oven.  With his quick one-liners and his bada-bing zings, he pronounced that my oven was NOT dead....just comatose.  This guy was something else - he spit out jokes faster than Rodney Dangerfield - talked about everything from his bad investment in SOIL FUTURES to his 2nd divorce - barely mentioning my oven.  I tried to bring him around to it but was hardly able to get in a single word.  After an hour that seemed like a ride on the root canal express he said it needed a new motherboard...to the tune of $480...handed me a bill for the service call - another $70 and then, with one more feeble attempt at witticism, something about his 1989 Dodge Shadow...which on ANY stage would not be funny...he FINALLY left!  I took a comb to my hair immediately.  The new motherboard won't be in until May 7th...8 more days without baking....8 more days of pining for cinnamon rolls, hummingbird cake, Dutch apple pie...8 more days of teasing and ratting my hair to new heights, running the risk of HHDA....Hair Height Depression Alopecia. 

Tim Tam Slam...

My new best friend in Australia, Katy, has been educating me on the Aussie-lingo - and she sent me this link about the infamous Tim Tam Slam - check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHzMfZ1FaqA

In case you didn't take copious notes - here's what you do....first, you get yourself some of these:

Arnott's Original Chocolate Coated Biscuits - available to the masses at World Market...my new best Australian friend in America, bless you Kareena, dropped off this lovely treat to me this afternoon.  She advised me to try the Tim Tam Slam with hot cocoa - so that's what I did - but like the video said, you can use tea or coffee, but Kareena thinks tea would be horrid!  

   

Now, here's what you do....bite off a corner of the biscuit - turn it over and bite off the opposite corner.  Then stick an end in the cocoa or tea or coffee and suck through the biscuit with the other end...but be quick about it!  The minute you taste liquid the entire biscuit will be a short nano-second from disintegrating!  So immediately turn it over and pop it into your mouth.....YUM!  Now, repeat with the remaining biscuits....kidding!

A word of caution for any diabetics out there who are stupid enough to try this...immediately after eating the biscuit, position yourself near a sofa or a bed, so when you fall to the ground from the inevitable coma that will ensue, you will land on something soft.  For you non-diabetics...over-indulging in Tim Tam Slams will surely make you diabetic! 

Kareena also brought me another "lovely" treat....Spotted Dick.  Really, what can I say but...thanks? 

Haven't tried it yet - I'm saving that honor for the mister - afterall, he would know more about this than I.

Kung Fu Fighter...

He's finally crying!  That's a good thing - especially when he lives 800 miles away!  I made the little hat he has on - which is probably why he's screaming - it's a WINTER hat and I'm sure, being a mini fashionisto in the making that he was aware of this and wanted it removed from his head!

Everybody

was

Kung-fu

fighting!

Those

Kicks

were

fast as

lightning!

In fact

it

was a

little bit

frightening!

But he

fought

with

expert timing!

Swingin' Max...

Can you spot the baby in this picture? 

Seattle Art Museum...SAM...

We went to see the Roman exhibit at the SAM - it's been here for a while and leaves May 11th - so if you're in Seattle and you haven't seen it yet - go. We know nothing about art - when the mister pointed out that we stood in a room with a sculpture of Caligula, Nero and Augustus - probably as close to the sculptures as they themselves once stood....well, I was underwhelmed.  Yes, they are beautiful, but so is the Play-doh sculpture my son made in 6th grade.  Yes they've survived thousands of years, but so have cockroaches.  I'm giving away my IQ, I realize, but for $40 I expected oohs and aahs to spew forth from my lips - and they did - but just not for the Romans...no, they were for the Taurus'...as in the Ford Taurus!

I didn't count how many Ford's were hanging from the entry to the SAM - 4 or 5 maybe?  Each one dangling in a different way - each one harpooned with spears of flashing lights - it was hysterical!

You've got to love the Ford Taurus as ART!!!  After seeing these cars we were really excited to continue into the museum to see the exhibit and the rest of the SAM's offerings - but for me - the Fords stole the Roman's thunder!  We were in and out of the Roman's exhibit in 10 minutes - didn't bother with the free headsets that explained everything - we just breezed through...we came, we saw, we left...vidi, vini, vaamoose!  By the time we were exiting the SAM - we passed by a giant screen with a movie running - it showed a Ford Taurus filled with fireworks/explosives in Times Square - then all of them began exploding!  Rockets shooting up and out and everywhere!  We only paused for a second so I don't know anything more about these cars - by this time we were both on culture overload.  This was the last car in the exhibit and the one that held the fireworks: 

Seriously - the Ford Taurus as art - now THAT'S funny!