Capturing Contentment

The pleasure of using pretty, vintage ric rac to brighten an oven towel.

Happy is the girl who becomes a mommy again on Christmas morning with a new dolly. 

A dolly with history, who belonged to my cousin Kassie long ago.  A dolly who wears real baby clothes and came with a sweet 80s wardrobe, all aqua and pink and poly-blend.

Genevieve named her Bella, and chuckled contentedly for a full 20 minutes.  When we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house in the sunshine, Bella rode flopped over the Christmas gifts.  It was funny - and got several startled glances.

And the real part of this post is that I'm relying on old photos because I've been working so hard at being content.  I'm struggling with acid reflux yet.  It casts a long shadow on my days right now. 

I fight my bad feelings by keeping the sink clean, hanging the laundry in the sun, and going to bed with a good book at a decent time.  It's the tonic and strength of my quotidian work.  And I got a lift from looking at these Christmas photos of Genevieve - she is such a capable little mama and very devoted to her dolly.  Thank you, God, for the sweetness of life that catches me off guard.

Linking up with Leila and Rosie's collection of pretty, happy, funny, real.

Dark Days 7: More Greens (but dessert too!)

If I wasn't documenting a Dark Days meal, I would never post these photos. They're terrible, taken at suppertime in the dead of winter. The meal was good, though, and it was all local food, so I'm posting it.

Menu: organic black eyed peas, cornbread with local cornmeal, eggs, milk, and butter, and collard greens with local organic bacon; dessert was Peach Kuchen (local peaches from the freezer, local organic whole wheat pastry flour, butter, egg, and homemade yogurt from local milk).

The black eyed peas were cooked long and slow, salted, and then thickened at the very end with a little milk and flour batter.  They were plain and creamy.  Then the collards were spicy, meaty, and touched with vinegar.  A lovely counterpoint.

Family's opinions:
Husband:  Great supper.
Ben, age 3:  I liked the cornbread.
Genevieve, age 6:  I liked the beans.

True Grit: the Book, the Movie, the Hotpads

I played a fun little game by myself recently:  I tried to capture the mood of a book/movie in patchwork.

I had read True Grit a few years ago and loved it.  But I hadn't seen the movie yet - I was just guessing. I finally remembered to check it out of the library (I am always years behind in good movies - always).

Then I had a favorite treat:  sewing while my husband and I watched the movie.  Actually, he hates when I sew next to him because he's afraid I will accidentally stab him with the needle.  His fear is not entirely ridiculous - I can be very clumsy.

Anyway, I finished the binding on the set of hotpads while we watched the movie (which I liked a lot).  The movie was much darker than my hotpads, but I had so much fun imagining pioneer calico and frontier homespun.

And the hotpads are in the shop, for your delectation.

It feels right and good to me to brighten up midwinter with a little game like this.  A little sewing therapy, really.

Breakfast Pizza Like You've Never Seen It Before

Pam Anderson has exploded my idea of pizza.  The concept comes from her new book, Cook Without a Book.  Her breakfast pizza is a regular yeasted pizza dough, spread with cream cheese, and topped with fruit and nuts.  Then it's baked at high heat like a pizza.

First I followed Pam's directions and made a blackberry pizza with lemon zest and almonds. So pretty! But it needed a little more cheesy goo, in my opinion. 

I made another pizza with a little more cream cheese, apples, hazelnuts, and a light sprinkling of sharp cheddar cheese.  Cinnamon sugar on top.  It was really good!

I am very excited to try this out in summer when fresh fruits abound. Just think of beautiful tomatoes on this pizza, with some feta, and some flecks of basil. Or peaches with almonds and cheddar. . .I wonder if bananas would get a little caramelized in the 450 degree oven?

New Life for the Houndstooth Shirt

Remember the collar that I turned on my husband's houndstooth shirt?  Well, he loved that shirt and wore it clean out.  The turned collar was fraying again, the cuffs were frayed, and one day, he put his finger right through the old-fragile fabric. I pounced on that shirt for its fabric - soft cotton, black and white houndstooth.

And along came an etsy customer who requested a black, white, and hot pink pencil roll for her little girl.

I couldn't resist buying and adding the cupcake fabric - it's so grown-up cute. A little girl will see delicious cupcakes, an adult will see the clever circus colors and mod design.

I'm keeping the cupcakes secret from my own girl while I ponder what to make her with the delectable remnant I have left.

A School Blouse with Hidden Doggies

The doggies were a happy accident:  I had taken the blouse to Rebecca's house to work on it (we like to sew and gossip together), but I had neglected to cut out a second blue Peter-Pan collar.  So we dug in Rebecca's scraps and produced the little scotty dogs.  Aren't they sweet?

And then there are teddy-bear buttons, although I only had enough for the shirt front, not the cuffs.

Dark Days 6 Brought To You By Cast Iron

No dishes to speak of!  I used a Dutch oven for the collard greens and my skillet and lid for the acorn squash. 

I've made cornbread dressing so often that I just winged it here.  I baked the halved acorn squash, covered, for about 45 minutes.  Then I filled the cavities with cornbread dressing, sprinkled a little raw bacon on top, and baked them about 20 minutes longer.  The extra dressing went in a casserole alongside.

The kids treated the squash like bowls and ate mostly dressing.  I think they were a little perplexed. (Aunt Shana, are you reading?  Ben's wearing a trendy necklace that his sister made him from your Christmas gift!  They played with the beads in such utter absorption that I kept checking on them because usually that quiet means naughty or sleeping.)

But my husband ate the squash right down to the skin.

(Specifically, dark days' ingredients, all local and organic noted:  acorn squash, cornmeal, organic eggs, milk, butter, organic celery, onion, organic bacon, collards, organic garlic)