Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real -31 March 2016

Well, March came in like a lion and went out like a very soggy lamb.  At least it's not snow.

A couple surprises under the snow and ice.

These were starting before the last snow/ice fall and I wasn't sure they would survive.

It's starting to look like spring inside too.  Look at all the glorious tomatoes!!!

Tuesday I visited a lovely tea room.

I had a delicious cup of 'ice tea'.  It's a very limited time offer these days.

Daisy wanted to join the tea party too.

The Easter bunny out-did himself hiding eggs this year.  We are still finding eggs (ignore the Christmas runner).

Yarn Along -30 March 2016

Yarn Along this week, but not too much knitting to share.

Working on the second sock for Grandma.  I really dislike doing them one at a time.  Though I'm glad I did these ones toe-up.  Is Kroy making their balls smaller?  There doesn't seem to be as much yardage in these balls and I'm glad Grandma has small feet like mine.

Last Thursday my body was trying to catch a cold, but somehow I fought it off.  But Thursday I felt like I'd been run over by a large truck.  Sore, tired, and feverish -not conducive to knitting.  Didn't feel much better on Friday.  So I did some 'new' cookbook reading.

First up is The Cook Not Mad: Or, Rational Cookery (American Antiquarian Cookbook Collection).  Pretty cool.  It's a reprint from 1831 and calls itself "Canada's First Cookbook".  I'm not going to keep this one though.  It's so very similar to my Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management: The 1861 Classic with Advice on Cooking, Cleaning, Childrearing, Entertaining, and More there's no point keeping it (I have limited book space).

Next was a surprise.  "Casseroles from Amish and Mennonite Kitchens" by Phyllis Pellman Good.  This is just a little booklet (32 pages) but has enough yummy sounding dishes that I'll keep it.

The Attic Cookbook by Wilkinson, Gertrude (1972) Hardcover has some interesting recipes.  I'll hang onto it for now and give them a try.  Not sure if this one is a 'keeper' though.

Lastly, The old Ontario cookbook: Over 420 delicious and authentic recipes from Ontario country kitchens I'll keep.  I love actual ONTARIO cookbooks and lots of the recipes are actual old family recipes from the author.  Also has lots of yummy things to try.

All in all, not a bad way to spend a couple of crummy feeling days.

Menu Plan Monday -28 March 2016

Busy Monday, seems like I was running all day and nothing got done.  Tonight Ella decided to 'clean-up' her room which means a pile of clothes and toys to be dealt with 'tomorrow'.  She didn't know what to do with her winter duvet so she put it on my bed.  I appreciate her being helpful, but I wish she wouldn't do it when I'm tired.  I don't always respond like I should and that makes me feel bad.

Monday:

??

steak on a bun

Tuesday:

pizza

chicken Parmesan

Wednesday:

pizza

leftover beef

Thursday:

lunch meat sandwiches

Bavarian beef pie

Friday:

tuna sandwiches

??

Saturday:

BBQ chicken

Sunday:

sausages

What's cooking at I'm an Organizing Junkie?

Catching Up

For starters, here's my outfit all finished and on a real person and not the hanger.  It was crazy sunny.  I'm not happy with the skirt.  The material is too soft (like a gaberdine), but it was all that our Fabricland had the day I was there.  The blouse is too big and the sleeves too long.  To be honest, I knew about the sleeve issue but thought it would just make them more puffy.  It didn't, it made the cuffs slide down my hands all day.   I can actually take off the blouse without unbuttoning it, so I need to fix that too.  I may actually make short sleeves, I'll get more wear out of it that way.  It was so warm in Scarborough last weekend.  I didn't wear a coat the entire time (keep that in mind for the end of the post).

Look what Uncle Stefan did!  He shaved his beard and his head so he could be King Pin to go with Ella's Black Cat!!  

And who was the first person we saw?  Black Cat!  She loved it when Ella told her she was 'Black Cat as a tween'.

Ghostbuster's car, unfortunately we missed meeting 'Winston'.  We did get to meet Karen Allen at the meet & greet section.  She may have been 'Marion' in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" but I wasn't forking out $40 for a signature.

Lots of Star Wars folks wandering around.  Including R2D2 and his entourage of Storm Troupers.

Uncle Stefan was such a hit.  So many people stopped him to take pictures.  Even the Green Arrow needed one.

Ella found a really friendly Thor.

We even found a Spiderman (Black Cat's on again-off again boyfriend).

I couldn't get a good picture of this guy, but boy did he ever look like Obi Wan Kenobi (Sir Alex Guinness).

Great time at Comic-Con but we're ready to head home.  Definitely a smart idea to go in the morning.  The crowd got really big after lunch and it was getting overwhelming for Ella.

I love this picture of Ella.

Sunday morning we hit the Science Centre.  Again, morning is the best time to go.  Seems Toronto people don't 'do' mornings.  I think this is Ella's favourite exhibit.  Every time we go to the Science Centre she has to play in the interactive koi pond.

The main reason we went was to see the Mammoth exhibit.  Wow, look how big that thing is!!  Uncle Stefan isn't a short guy and he's dwarfed by it.

Wouldn't want to run into this guy either!

This time Ella had the perfect hair for the static ball.  She also answered most of the 'scientist's' questions too.

And of course, it wouldn't be a trip to Scarborough without a stop in to visit with Great Grandma.

Oh yeah, remember all that nice weather last weekend?

It rained ice balls all day long on Thursday.  They really piled up outside the door (just the way the roofs meet).  Daisy was less than pleased.

It was like picking up a handful of sugar.  Really, really, cold sugar

Bread Baking Tutorial

I've had a few friends ask about making bread.  So, I thought maybe I'd do a tutorial for you.  This method will work with any of my bread recipes.  I'm going to share my new favourite recipe out of my new favourite cookbook -Secrets of a Jewish Baker: Recipes for 125 Breads from Around the World.

Step One: make the sponge

If you are using another recipe, put all the water, the yeast and half the flour in a bowl.  Once stirred it will basically look like pancake batter.  Cover with a tea towel and sit in a warm place about 30 minutes.

Milk Bread: 2 cups warm water, 1 1/2 Tbsp yeast (2 packages yeast), and 3 cups flour

After 30 minutes your sponge will look like this:

Step Two:

Add all the remaining ingredients in your recipe.  Mix well.  Add only enough flour to make a soft dough.  Too much flour will make your break dry and yucky.

Add to sponge: 4 tsp sugar, 2 Tbsp soft butter, 2/3 cup skim milk powder, 2-3 cup flour (start with 2 and work up to 3 if you need), and 2 tsp salt.

Step Three:

Knead the dough until smooth, about 10 minutes.  USE AS LITTLE FLOUR ON YOUR TABLE AS POSSIBLE!  I tend to use the old trick of oiling my table instead.  This is very important because you want your dough fairly soft (but not sticky).

Step Three:

Cut the dough into as many loaves as you are making.  If you are making the Milk Bread, cut the dough into two.  Cover with a tea towel and let rest 10 minutes.

Step Four:

Now for the fun part!  Shape the loaves into your desired shape (oil table if needed, do not use more flour).  I love to do a round braid (like challah for Rosh Hashana).  Here's the video that taught me.  If you want more of a loaf shape, try the 8 strand braid.  Of course, you can always do a regular loaf.

Press dough out into a rectangle.

Fold the top half to the middle and press together.  Then fold the bottom half up to the middle and press.  Now fold the top to the bottom (forgot to take a picture) and pinch the two folded edges together.  You may need to gently roll the dough to make it long enough for your greased bread pans.

Now you need to find a warm place for your bread to rise.  If you've got central heating that will be just about any where in your home.  Since we heat with the corn stove in the basement (up until this year), I turn my oven on very low, just enough to warm it to about 80F.  Then I TURN OFF the oven.  It's now a good spot to proof/rise my loaves.   Cover again with a tea towel and let rise again, usually about 45 min.  Sometimes I use an egg wash on the bread.  Just break up an egg with a fork and brush on the dough, don't use too much or it will taste eggy.  Do this just before putting in the oven to bake.

Preheat your oven (take the bread out first if you are using it to proof your dough) to 350F.  Bake for about 30 minutes.  When you think it's done, tip the bread over (out of pan) and knock on the bottom.  Listen closely, it will sound hollow when it's done.  Be sure to take out of the pans and put on cooling racks.  Try not to cut into the loaves until they have cooled at least 20 minutes.

Yarn Along -23 March 2016

It's officially spring so of course we got a couple of centimeters of snow last night and are waiting for a bigger storm on Thursday.

Went to Toronto so of course for Yarn Along I've got yarn and knitting to share.

Since I was being someone from 1918 for Comic-Con, I did my knitting the old-fashioned way -one at a time on a set of double-pointed needles.  These are for Grandma for Christmas.  The cable didn't real show up as much as I hoped. 

Of course I stopped at Soper Creek Yarn to see what Tina had in store.  I picked up some stripy sock yarn for me (I love Jawoll because they include the heel reinforcing thread).  Some dish cloth yarn that was on sale.  And look what I found in the sale basket!  Ella loves this yarn so it's socks for her too.  I think they would look amazing if she wore them next time we're at Laser Quest.

Did you notice the pile of cookbooks?  Well, that's only 1 of the 2 piles of books I was sent home with this weekend.  My best friend's husband is cleaning out his mom and dad's house.  Basically any wall in the house was covered with shelves of books stacked 2-3 deep!  I got one box of cookbooks and one full of history books.  Most of the history books are too old for Ella right now, but will be great in a couple of years.  They did have some nice pictures of Henry VIII and his wives and kids so we looked at those.

Menu Plan Monday -22 March 2016

Home again!  I'll post more later (or tomorrow)  :)

Tuesday:

something in town because I have naturopath appointment

steak sandwiches (WM sells perfect thin cut pieces of steak that work well)

Wednesday:

pizza

supper out for the girls because of extra skating practice

Thursday:

pizza

chicken and dumplings

Friday: Good Friday

??

pork chops

Saturday:

leftover chicken

Sunday:  Easter!!

prime rib -going to try this recipe because it will be the easiest for Colin to start if we aren't home from church

What's cooking at I'm an Organizing Junkie?

A Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real Yarn Along -17 March 2016

Absolutely no knitting to share for Yarn Along this week.  I've been busy with our costumes for Comic-Con.

I've been told it's OK to not be a comic book type person. so I'm going as a lady from 1918.  I made an Armistice blouse and walking skirt.  Both are from Folkwear and are really nice, though the walking skirt isn't as full as I would have wished.   I just noticed that I forgot to fold back the French cuffs before taking the pictures.  Today is sewing on a million buttons (not quite but there ARE 20).  Grandma is coming this afternoon to help with hemming the skirt.

My other Christmas money book arrived this week. Gertie's Ultimate Dress Book: A Modern Guide to Sewing Fabulous Vintage Styles.  Lots of interesting dresses but some rather low necklines, but that's easily fixed.  A good place to start.

And here's my Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real for this week: