Fresh Bread for Breakfast

When I went with my dad to Costco to shop for the MYF meal, I was round-eyed at the sheer bigness of everything.  In some crazy nostalgia for Germany, I bought two oversized jars of Nutella. 

Then I made Italian bread and baked it hot for breakfast.  It's only 30 minutes of standing and baking in the morning - easy easy easy, and then the house smells wonderful.

It was delightful to recall my German breakfast of great bread, Nutella, banana, Parmalat milk, and fragrant black coffee.

And here's a little kitchen tip:  if I make an eggwash for a baking project and don't use it all, I freeze it and then just thaw it out next time I need an eggwash.  That's my eggwash in the little glass jar.

Freshening the Late Winter Wardrobe with Collars

The end of a season is a dangerous time to go shopping for clothes - it's like grocery shopping while hungry.  I am so sick of my winter clothes, but I try to ignore it.  Soon I will open my boxes and dig into my storage closet to get my warm weather clothes,  and it will be as good as shopping because I forget my off-season clothes.

Nice pose on top of the sandbox, eh?

But here is a little fix, a little happy for your clothes: a detachable collar.  I saw the idea first on Amy's blog, which linked to a helpful tutorial on Casey's blog.

Think of these collars as necklaces and don't worry if they don't look like a whole blouse. I've seen them worn over tee shirts!

The one I'm wearing here is actually reversible to the navy gingham. The gingham ties are too fat, but I wore the collar anyway because I was so thirsting for a little twist in my wardrobe.  I want to use some of my pretty orphan buttons to fasten these too.

Then I couldn't help myself and I made an unabashedly spring collar. 

Most of the time, all I need is a little sewing therapy.

Everyday Life

A stack of pretty hankies and napkins, folded, fresh from the line.  Ben adores his "Jack be nimble" hanky.

My happy boy, absorbed in a new book about cars from Marilou.

And also happy with the "people price."  This is a vintage Fisher Price set from ebay, not from my childhood.  I had to watch and patiently for a long time to get a set at a reasonable price - and that because the A-frame house door is a little broken.

I had some funny cooking trials recently.  Pictured here are "buckeyes" - supposed to be a fried egg in a middle of a pancake.  They were tasty, yes, but difficult to flip and unattractive.  I think my batter should have been thinner so I could have controlled it more when I poured it around the egg.

And one morning I forgot to put baking powder in the Cinnamon Flop.  A true flop.  The children didn't mind, but my husband and I realized we do really prefer a good chemical leavening agent.

The real part of this sewing project was wondering if it was worth it.  My husband had a broken separating zipper in his biking jacket and both of us, confident in my zipper prowess, thought I could fix it.

Ha. It was not easy. 

There was a wind flap behind the zipper.  There were 5 seams holding in each side of the zipper (meaning I had to rip out 10 seams to get the zipper out).  The zipper I got was not as long and also opened on the other side - but I didn't realize that it opened on the other side until I had already put one side in backwards.  (Are you confused?  I was - and disgruntled).

The zipper did get done.  And it does work and look fine.  But I still begrudge all my time in that project - makes me remember my old life where I just threw things away when they broke!

Joining Leila and Rosie's collection of everyday contentment.  An excellent way to look at my days.

Sunday Dinner and Dark Days 14: Sauerkraut and Sausage

I have a lot of homemade sauerkraut in the freezer!  And it's time to eat down the freezer.

Menu:
sauerkraut and sausage
garlic mashed potatoes
glazed carrots (honey, butter & marjoram)
applesauce

We needed the carrots for the color, or else the plate would have been very brown.  Not the color we hunger for in late winter!

Saturday:thaw sauerkraut and sausage in fridge

Sunday morning:slice carrots into coins - place in saucepan on stove
chop potatoes - set in oven on timed bake
combine sauerkraut and sausages - set in oven

Sunday noon:
set table
steam carrots, glaze them
put applesauce in glass bowl

Dark Days ingredients:  organic sausage, homemade sauerkraut, organic potatoes, organic garlic, butter, organic carrots, honey, homemade applesauce

Genevieve Plans Her Summer Wardrobe

When I mentioned making her some sundresses to play in this summer, she immediately grabbed a quarter-sheet and went to work on her design.

She is her father's daughter:  they must draw it to explain it.

I am teetering on the brink of cutting out a sundress for myself.  I say brink, because I have to take some tedious measurements and do some math to be sure the thing will fit me the way I want it to.

Cranberry Applesauce for 150

Rebecca and I agreed to be in charge of a fundraising meal our MYF (Mennonite Youth Fellowship) planned to raise money for a work-and-learn trip this summer.  It was, frankly, a lot of work, but the rush of community spirit and pride at the event itself was deeply gratifying.  Plus, the MYFers worked so willingly and purposefully that I quite believe in teenagers again.

Cooking for crowds is quite a different skill set from other cooking skills:  family meals, company meals, picnics, packed lunches, holiday dinners, parties (did I miss any?).  Following are my notes on quantities and things I want to remember when I have a go at crowd cooking again.

10 9x13 pans of chicken church casserole
1 9x13 pan vegetarian church casserole
mixed green salad with 1 quart vinaigrette - 2 big boxes, plus a few cups spinach
cranberry applesauce from 1 bushel apples and 8 bags of cranberries (with 1 bucket left over)
135 whole wheat dinner rolls, 3 sticks butter, 1 quart strawberry jam
8 9x13 pans Hot Fudge Sundae Cake
2 5-quart pails vanilla ice cream
10 cups toasted walnuts
100 cups decaf coffee
sugar
1 quart half-and-half

I don't have the exact number of people that we served.  We planned 150 servings and what I listed here is what we actually used. 

Observations:
1. We had way more dessert than we needed - 4 cakes and a 5-quart pail of ice cream left over.  Did we serve skimpily or is our church really healthy?

2. The plate was very, very pretty:  shiny greens, garnet-colored sauce, and the casserole with flecks of green (bell pepper) and red (pimento).
3. The coffee took an hour to brew (we had planned for 45 minutes).
4. The served-buffet is so ideal for sticking to planned portions without needing to plate and deliver food to tables.

5.  We forgot to plan for the workers' supper - it's important to have well-fed workers!  Rebecca hurried the casseroles and we served dessert to the workers first while the casseroles finished up.

Blue Progress in the Office

Every week, the office is a little closer to done.  The walls are deep grey-blue, with black furniture and cool lights.

I'm learning another side of my husband by seeing what he chooses for his space. I think I could have predicted most of it, but it's still a side of him that I haven't seen since we started sharing living space eons ago.

This blog helps me focus on progress in our home life. I take photos to illustrate posts and I realize, hey, the walls are painted now. Actually, the shelves went up, too, since I uploaded these photos. I don't dwell on the undone, which is my pessimistic nature.