double your pleasure, double your fun

in which our plucky heroine bakes a cake...

because I knew it was her birthday! Today Ursel came over to have a porch visit as part of her birthday festivity. And before she showed up, she asked if it was okay if Leah also came by to visit! I got to see two of my friends this afternoon, today was good!! We had a tea party outside, with a small lemon poppyseed cake and a pot of hibiscus tea.

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~ 25% complete~

The six fruits books are completed, and five of them will be part of the distribution in the Summer Solstice Swap. It occurs to me that my advent calendar shadowbox drawers would be a great place to store the treats for the upcoming swap in June.

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One Egg Poundcake (aka twelve22 cakespell) which fills the cakelet pan, or a 6" round cake pan or similar size jello mold:

4T butter
5T caster sugar (aka baking sugar)
1 egg
2T lemon juice
½ c flour
½ t baking powder
½ t lemon extract
2T poppy seeds
zest of 1 lemon

Mix as for any cake, ie cream butter, mix in sugar, mix in egg, then add flour/baking powder and liquid alternately, mix in extract, poppyseeds and lemon zest. put batter into a greased and floured pan and bake till done, when a toothpick comes out clean. bake @350F for 20 minutes (or more, depending on your oven). I like to put a syrup over the cake, mixing and heating about a quarter cup of suitable liquid with some sugar, then brushing it over the still warm cake or cakelets. Or, if you want something a bit more like a glaze, you can mix some confectioner sugar with just a bit of liquid, and brush that on for a slightly harder surface texture

You can make this a mocha cake by using coffee instead of lemon juice, vanilla instead of lemon extract, and cocoa instead of poppyseeds. Or any other variation is possible on this general plan. Sometimes all you want is a small cake, not cake for multitudes, and this one is really good for that. It makes a good plain pound cake as well, with milk for a liquid, and vanilla or almond extract

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did a bit more "wire bristle broom" moss removal from the driveway... it is slow going, but will eventually do what needs doing. I am not pushing myself to complete it in a day, or in a week, but however long it takes will be okay, as long as I continue. And I am more likely to continue if I don't do myself harm in the process...

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March SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	red enamel samples	bathroom undersink access	some driveway moss
2	turn buttons	-	recycle bin
3	6 tiny books	-	yard waste bin
4	-	-	recycle bin
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. I am really glad I snagged and wrote down the recipe for proportional poundcake from the twelve22 blog back in 2007. That chunk of ephemera has disappeared from the pixel world, even from the Internet Archive of the Wayback Machine. It is a very good recipe indeed, one that I've used innumerable times.
2. friends that have not forgotten me. It was lovely to sit on the porch and chat. And that the weather was darn near perfect, being clear and not too cold.
3. the Microplane rasp is a kitchen tool that does one thing, but does it very very well. I use it mostly for citrus zest, but it also turns Parmesan cheese into a fluffy cloud of dairy goodness.

Time of Isolation - Day 1343

the sky so blue

in which our plucky heroine enjoys the day...

In dreamland last night, apparently the activity of the evening was a creme bruleé cook-off between various friends. I was just getting to taste test the Earl Grey flavored one that Marya had created when I woke up. Sadly, it was only a dream...

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~ out and about in my neighborhood ~

My neighbor Carla built this artistic sitting spot in her front yard garden a few years ago, between the sidewalk and this impressive edgeworthia. A bit behind and closer to her front door is a wonderfully fragrant daphne, and on a sunny day the scent is just delightful. The seat is embossed with the words "be the kind of person your dog things you are...", and the border between the seat and the sidewalk with the words "be the change you wish to see - practice patience - tolerance - kindness - love -  ☮ " which tells you a bit about my good neighbor Carla...

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Tomorrow I will start on the Stromgard enamels, but first I want to give my enamel workbench a really good clear out. It always astonishes me how quickly the tops of workbenches gather random frelch, detritus, and bits of former projects. Also, I found another lazy susan hidden atop the filing cabinet, and want to make space under the benchtop shelf for it; they are just the right thing when using multiple colors of enamel, as each of the little dishes can be accessed as needed.

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~ C is for creative ~

I've been making six tiny books for the Countdown to Summer Solstice miniature swap and I needed a way to press them while the glue dried (books are about 1" x 1⅛" x 3/16")

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March SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	red enamel samples	bathroom undersink access	recycle bin
2	turn buttons	-	yard waste bin
3	6 tiny books	-	recycle bin
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. The light coming back on in the kitchen meant I could confirm which fusebox switch controlled that circut, so eventually I can deal with replacing the light. Once I figure out how to remove the fixture from the ceiling.

2. the paddy cake cats always lift my spirits at least a little bit. It was a rough day yesterday, like most Wednesdays are these days, and I really needed a grin and a giggle...

3. my friend Ursel is coming for a porch visit on Friday afternoon. I am going to bake her a Very Small birthday cake first thing tomorrow. Which will be a nice way to start the day.

4. the rotary blade paper cutter I ordered online Wednesday night arrived on my doorstep this morning. Granted it only needed to travel from the next town on the other side of the West Hills, but UPS can be peculiar, so I am glad. It is indeed just about brand new, and came with some fancy cutters in addition to the basic one.

5. There was enough black cotton velour on the resource shelf for me to cut out 3 sport-style bras, and enough non-roll elastic to make up two of them. I think I bought that velour at least fifteen years ago, maybe more. Over the years it has made leggings, knit tops, and assorted lingerie. It will be hard to find fabric of an equal quality, to eventually replace it as a staple

6. I was able to get outside and do a bit of pruning and cutting back today in the yard. There are a bit less watersprouts on the apple tree, I trimmed some of the overgrowth on the japanese maple that keeps trying to invade the porch, I removed the rest of the nandina berries, and started to cut away the large fern that is far too close to the heat pump. I even managed a bit of progress on removing the moss from the driveway, which is a very very slow process with the metal push broom.

7. I am feeling somewhat less dreadful than I did yesterday. I put in specific effort to pay attention to what is good. And it was amusing to me when I was all focused on pruning the rosemary in the front yard; I heard a gentle thump and looked down to see that The Baby Down The Street had toddled onto the lawn and fallen over into the prunings in my burden cloth. The baby's granny was right behind, and picked them up and dusted them off. We both agreed that the weather today was just about perfect.

Time of Isolation - Day 1342

tinybook Tuesday

in which our plucky heroine is feeling baffled...

so, random house weirdness, this morning the overhead light in the kitchen is on again, after not working at all yesterday. I am tempted to just not turn it off.... at least until I can arrange for replacing the fixture. Which would entail figuring out just how the current fixture is attached to the ceiling. Usually I can suss out how to remove lights, in order to replace them with something more aesthetic and more functional, and have done so almost everywhere else in Acorn Cottage. Ah well, that is a task for some other time, someday in the future, as I have enamel samples to focus on today.

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~ well begun ~

about halfway done with the current tinybook project. The paper strips have been folded and glued into book pages, the end papers cut, folded and added to the blocks, and a gauze reinforcement strip has been glued to the spines. In the back is a single almost completed book, that also has the covers added, the title on the spine, and the decorative stamps on the recto side of the pages. All it needs is whatever "text" I decide to add on the verso side of the pages...

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I very much enjoyed being able to borrow the rotary paper cutter from the Aunties this last weekend. It made cutting the pages for my tiny book project eversomuch easier, compared to laying out all the strips by hand and cutting them with scissors. So... I've ordered one on the FB Market Place, "used" but actually new in box, and it should arrive here sometime next week. My "tool girl" heart is tickled!

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~ more than half done ~

The undersink access panel in the bathroom is completed. I have added two painted wooden turn buttons, to hold the panel securely in place. If access is needed, they can be loosened with a phillips head screwdriver and turned sideways. The hinged panel next to the tub surround can be folded out of the way, and then the handle near the bottom allows the whole panel assembly to be tilted and removed. With luck, I will never again need to do so, but Just In Case, it will be both simple and obvious how to access the undersink plumbing in the wall. Why houses are not built to allow this sort of access in the first place will never not baffle me.

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Month SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	red enamel samples	bathroom undersink access	-
2	turn buttons	-	-
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. Had online video chats with three different folks today. This technology is one of my favorite things about living in the future, something that I never imagined would become anything other than a scifi trope.
2. The sun was shining today, and I went out for a good long walk in the middle of the afternoon
3. I cleverly saved some of the paint when I painted the bathroom walls (back in 2012), and continue to use it when either touching up wall dings, or as was the case earlier today, when I needed to improve my original less than ideal cutting in of the paint along the baseboard trim. Assorted very minor improvements yield a surprisingly strong effect on appearance.

Time of Isolation - Day 1341