Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving dear friends and family!  May your day be filled with special times, good food, and most of all, thankfulness to God who has so richly blessed us all. 

O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; 

For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

I Ch 16:34

Bread Day

I got up this morning and decided to start a loaf of bread in the bread machine.  Oops!  The little mixing lever was frozen again.  Hmm, amazingly (I'm not a morning person), I decided I could just as easily mix up a batch in the Kitchenaid.  So I did!

I do love my bread machine, but I'd forgotten how much fun it is to "make it myself".  There I was, barefooted in my checked flannel nightshirt, happily dumping and mixing.  I used my Polish Bread recipe, the one I use to make rolls, and added several cups of King Arthur White Whole Wheat, which gave the dough a lovely caramel color.

One of the neatest finds I've stumbled onto lately is my dough rising bucket.  I originally got it for mixing and storing the artisan bread in five minutes a day dough, but one day I grabbed it to let my roll dough rise.  I'm telling you, there's something magical about this bucket.  I think the lid helps the rising dough generate some heat of its own, and even on a cold, dark day like today my dough will rise fairly quickly.  In the past, especially if there's whole wheat in it, it could take up to four hours for my dough to double in our cool house.  Not any more!

I ordered it from King Arthur Flour and would definitely recommend it.  If you don't already get their catalog, I'll recommend it, too.  It's wonderful and when a new one arrives, I love to sit down with a new cup of something hot and enjoy myself for a while.

And here's a picture of today's final product:

Mmmm....

P.S.  Dan was able to fix the bread machine again.

Thanks Dad and Dan

I'm blessed to be the daughter and wife of veterans.  My dad was a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne Division during WWII, jumped at D Day, and was wounded at Bastogne (Battle of the Bulge) and during the invasion of Holland.  I'm so thankful he survived to come home, marry Mom, and have Bruder Bear and me.  The picture below, taken "somewhere in Europe", is cropped from a larger group photo and is not the best.  Dad is the one standing.

My sweetie, Dan, served at Cam Rahn Bay, Vietnam, from December 1968 to December 1969,  While he wasn't on the front lines, he dodged rocket attacks and stood guard duty many long and lonely nights while working on airplanes by day.  I'm thankful he came home, found me, and made all my dreams come true.

Thinking of all those who have served over our country's history.  We are blessed beyond belief.  Give your veterans a hug or a call and say thank you.

A Finish!

Waaayy back last summer I mentioned I was working on a project for the shop that was out of my comfort zone. Then Moby decided to have his nervous breakdown and I confess, I lost my sewing mojo.  After weeks and weeks of hoping Moby would recover, I finally decided it was time to get on with my sewing life and get some projects finished.

Enter that shop project.  Last week I valiantly revved up my gumption and got with the program.  It's a Christmas table topper using Nancy Halvorson's Jingle All the Way fabric collection.  They're bright and non-traditional colors.  The blocks are made of disappearing nine patches using 5" squares.  The pattern called for charm squares, but I used nine fat quarters and cut them into 5" squares.  It's 50" square, which is big.

I think my favorite part is the red binding, which is a plaid cut on the bias.  I'm actually pleased with how the whole thing turned out; it's not my style, but it's very cute.

Here's a closer version on my table:

It's a little big for the table without it's big "have everyone over top" on it, but you get a better view of the fabrics and colors.  I'll take it over to the shop later today or tomorrow so it can go on display, and hopefully help sell some fabric!

Snow! And Cake!

We had our first snowflakes of the season today. For a while the ground was sprinkled with white, but then it disappeared even though the snow continued to fall as the temperatures rose. Why is it that sometimes it will snow at 36 degrees, even up to 40, and rain at 30? Well, I'm no scientist so that question will remain unanswered. For now, anyway.

This was the view to the southeast just a few minutes ago:

I've resisted playing any Christmas music today, but it's coming!

And the cake part of today's title? We're having a ladies soup and bread night at church this evening and I made an old recipe entitled Dutch Apple Cake to have as dessert. I got the recipe from Goldie Adams, a neighbor of my family's when I was in high school. I haven't made it in years, but I had some apples that needed using, and it's a cozy recipe for a cozy day.

Here's the recipe:

Dutch Apple Cake

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp orange rind (optional--or used dried)
• 1 cup canned milk
• 2 cups chopped apple
• 1/2 cup nuts (optional)

Instructions:

Mix sugars and shortening well.  Add eggs.  Mix dry ingredients and add to sugar mixture, alternating a third at a time with the milk.  Fold in apples and nuts (if using). Spread in a greased 9x13 pan, sprinkle the top with sugar, and bake for 40-45 minutes at 350.  

This is good both warm and cold, topped with whipped topping or not.  It's also nice as a coffee type cake in the morning!

Hope your day has been warm and cozy.  It's beginning to look a lot like...

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Pumpkin Day!

The last day of October is here, Pumpkin Day!  When I was teaching school, we always called it that, and our party a Pumpkin Party, to alleviate any problems with people who didn't celebrate Halloween.  I still like to call it that.  I love pumpkins!!

So what's new here at the resort?  Well, Dan's downstairs doing some plumbing in preparation for a new water softener system.  He hates plumbing; it's always fraught with peril--so many places for leaks.  And how long can we go with the water turned off?  I'm praying it goes well.  We really need a new system, so it has to be done.  He's also going to put a reverse osmosis faucet in the kitchen which will give us good drinking water.  I'm so blessed to have such a handy hubby!

We made a trip to Costco Friday and a new little toy for me came home with us.  I've had a TV in the kitchen for years, and even though it was a small one, it took up loads of space on the counter, space I could have used in other ways.  I spotted a small flat screen for a very reasonable price and Dan tossed one in our cart.  I can't believe how it opened up the kitchen!!

 
Now there's space beside the sink, which is oh so fabulous!    It's taken me a couple of days to get used the blackness of it (the other TV was white and kind of disappeared) and seeing the cords (who says I don't have OCD??), but I'm thinking it's okay.

Meanwhile, the sun is shining and it's a gorgeous day. There's a carpet of gold leaves covering the backyard, Buddy is laying in the sunshine on the living room floor, and I'm heading down to do some stitching.  Happy Pumpkin Day!