Thursday, June 21, 2012

Thursday Contentment


I love digging through my scrap bag and seeing what looks good together.  And the spiral quilting on these hotpads was fun.

I also wrapped a pair of hotpads for a friend - and wrote "brown paper packages. . . " all over the brown paper.  Fun, and rather pretty, I think.


The children are very happy to be building a clubhouse in the backyard with their daddy.  It's almost done- pictures soon!


These last two are both a combination of funny and real.  I bought too much garlic for storage, so now it is shriveling up and rotting.  The basement has an odd garlic smell.  From each bulb, I can extract only 1 or 2 cloves that are useful.  Lesson learned - like manna - don't be greedy and think it's never coming again!



I used some of the garlic when I made oven risotto.  I'm always looking for a shortcut or an easy way, but I should not have used brown rice in the time I allotted for the risotto.  It was not creamy and tender, but it was still flavorful.  However, I'm not going to be having the oven on for over an hour until cool weather hits again.  It's supposed to approach 100 here today.


Linking up with Leila and Rosie's collection today.

8 comments:

  1. I just read that garlic can be frozen! The article I read said they can be peeled & frozen or just pop the whole thing into a freezer bag. It said the texture will be softer, but the taste still fresh.

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  2. Thank you! That's good to know for next time.

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  3. Brown paper packages, indeed! So much to love there!!

    Can't wait to see the clubhouse!

    And the garlic - your manna comparison made me laugh. So funny!

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  4. We used to let our garlic go bad too because we would buy a lot at one time. Then about 5 years ago I started peeling them and popping them in ziploc bags. I love microplaning garlic and when they're frozen, it's sooooo much easier! We also freeze our ginger...same thing, peel, freeze and microplane when needed. This way we can keep TONS on hand with no worries of anything going bad (: Yum! (TIP: microplane a couple tablespoons of ginger into a cup of hot water, add lemon or honey and it makes an awesome tea!)

    Take care and have a lovely weekend!
    Michele xoxo

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  5. Michele, thank you for all the useful tips! I've been meaning to get a microplane grater anyway, so this is added incentive.

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  6. our cabinet smells like garlic, too. i think it's time to liberate the cloves to the compost pile...

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  7. Brown bag packages..how nice. I love your hot pads..so pretty and such nice gifts.
    The kids will love their new play house.such fun..
    We are having 100 degree weather too.. Hot and humid!!!! And the oven is really making it hotter.lol

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  8. I love your brown paper package. When I was a little girl my mother made me a ceramic music box that sang that tune. Thus, its always been so dear to my heart.

    100+ here today as well. Woooo....and I thought it was hot on my vacation to the mountain last week! Its so much hotter down here!

    And its hard not to get garlic greed I think. Its just that good!

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