A Little Stitchin' and a Little Christmas

 Gentle Friends, I've gotten a little stitching done on MCEV, and here's a snap...

... the picture is a bit wonky as I couldn't get it to lay flat and was quite wrinkled from the q-snaps.  I changed the date and will change the name for my grandmother who was named for her grandmother and 1860 was the year of her birth...  so that would be my great-great-grandmother...

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I also got a pan of baklava made up and parceled it out to my neighbors for Christmas... 

here's a snap of that...

.. I've not made baklava in a few years and really missed it last year, so it was a treat to make some for everyone this year!!

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We also got the Christmas tree up and decided to only use the sterling,  Swarovski, and Wedgwood snowflakes... here's a close-up snaperoo..

... we did this a few years ago and really enjoyed it so it was nice to do it again this year.  I hadn't unpacked the sterling ornaments in a while and they all needed a good polish before going on the tree...

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That's about it for today sports fans.  Thanks for stopping by do stop again.  Stay Safe!

Good Thoughts! Good Words! Good Deeds!

edgar

Quite a Bit of Christmas and a Fruity Finish

Gentle Friends, over the past week I've been baking and mailing out Christmas Treat boxes near and far... this year I made up a few dozen of each of these...

Spicy Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies

Christmas Butter Cookies and Oatmeal/Coconut Cookies

and lots of Pralines...

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On Friday evening we headed downtown to Davis Symphony Hall for a performance of...

Handel's "Messiah" - this was our view of the soloists, musicians, and the Chorus.  It was so nice to go to a live performance and we love this piece of music and really enjoyed the evening!!!

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Yesterday I finished up my year-long SAL from Modern Folk Embroidery... here's the finished piece...

"The Fruits of Plenty" - Modern Folk EMbroidery

40ct Moonglow from PTP

CC - Wavy Navy and GAST Morning Glory

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I also worked a bit on MCEV and got the house filled in with "Red Pear"... here's a snap...

... now I've got to get this sucker finished up for Christmas...  

there's lots of white snow stitching fill on the hill still to do...

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That's about it for today sports fans.  

Thanks for stopping by do stop again.  Stay Safe!

Good Thoughts! Good Words! Good Deeds!

edgar

A Little Vacuuming???

Gentle friends,  I started off this afternoon with the best intentions of vacuuming a little, dusting a lot, and changing out the flowers for the week... instead...

... I made cookies!  They are called "Darn Good Cookies" from the basic recipe I switched up the single chip with three types of chocolate chips, and instead of one nut two types of nuts...  Basically, they are a nice crispy chocolate chip cookie with a slight chew towards the middle... tasty!!  I might just get to some housework tomorrow after Mass...  maybe not!

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There you go sports fans.  Stay safe!

Good Thoughts! Good Words! Good Deeds!

edgar

A Little more Christmas, a Little bit o'framing and a Delicious bit of Fast Food!!

 Gentle Freinds, as you may recall, and if you've been reading my blatherings for any amount of time and especially during the Christmas Season... I do love me some German treats...Lebkuchen, Pffernuse, Stollen, vanillekipferl the list goes on... and for the longest time, I've really wanted to try my hand at making what always hits the top of my list... Lebkuchen.  I've held off making it as there are 100's and I mean 100's variations of what is basically a gingerbread taken up a notch or two!  This year I stumbled on what looked like a recipe I could manage, and turn out a close proximity to what I like and can at Lehrs (a local store that only sells German things and it is totally fabulous at Christmas!!  

So I gathered together everything.  During the day yesterday, I did some preliminary sifting, grinding of nuts and finely chopping all the dried fruit and candied peel... it really pays off to be working from home!!  Then last night I pulled it all together et voila...

... a pretty darn good "bar" Lebkuchen.  Even as I was getting everything together and mixing and beating I was tweaking the recipe here and there.  They turned out nice, spicy, and chewy.  EVEN Rico ate one... he commented on how nice they are... and he really does not care for gingerbread type things... like ever!  Now that I've made this version would I make it again... probably not, the next time I make lebkuchen I'll buy the oblaten wafers and go with a more traditional ground almond flour than white flour version.

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I know I've shown you a completed snap of this but here it is framed up and ready for being gifted yesterday...

I went with a more homey oak frame than I normally would.  I like how it turned out!

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On Tuesday I had to take the Mini-Cooper in for an oil change, and to fix the headlights... and near my mechanic who btw is really a super guy, Robert at Action Auto, there is a McDonalds.... where this is leading ...when I Uber-ed back to pick up the car I ran through the drive-through to get some dinner...

... I knew they had the McRib back and I had to have one, I actually got two.  The second one I had for lunch yesterday.  I have loved this dang sandwich since it first came out when I was in High School.  It hasn't been here in SF for quite a few years and I wasn't going to miss my chance... Rico won't eat one so I got him a Big Mac...  I know it's fake meat covered it too sweet bar-b-que sauce but it brings back all sorts of memories for me and over the years I have become a nut waiting for them.  I actually, check out the "McRib Locator" website, yes there is a website of sightings, every now and then just to see who is able to get this little bit of ambrosia of the gods!!!!!  

Everything was great with the car but he told me that my tires are needing to be changed as they are on the downside of their lives... that's looking at $600 + dollars.... which will have to wait until after Christmas for sure!

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There you go sports fans a wacky kind of week and edgar's posting quite a bit!!  

Thanks for stopping by do stop again!

Good Thoughts! Good Words! Good Deeds!

edgar

A Little Stitchin and a Little Christmas

Gentle Friends,  here's a snaperoo of Christmastide ...

... I popped it out of the Q-snaps so it's really very wonky!!  Now it's really just fill stitching and bouncing around with "Mudpie" so that I get an even mix of the shades of brown for the stonework.

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Over the last few days, we've been putting up Christmas around the house.,  Even though we're in Lockdown once again I just refuse to let it spoil Christmas.  So, we got the tree up, put the cedar garland up inside and around the Front Door and down the front hall... or I should say Rico got the garland up!!  He does a much better job than I could.  Over the weekend I got busy in the kitchen.  Again, I am refusing to let things drop!!  So like in years past I created some treats to send out to friends and family...  this year I made...

Pecan Pralines, one of my favorite old fashioned candies...

...  I chose to make something I've not made in the past... 7 Layer or Magic Cookies.  I've seen them called by both names... they are pretty tasty!!

... and I wrapped up the goodies with Vanilla Nut Fudge dipped in white chocolate!  

It was a bit of a job to get it all done, but I've got all the Priority Mail boxes packed up and ready to take to the USPS this afternoon when I turn off my computer!

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There you go sports fans.  Thanks for stopping by.  Stay Safe!!

Good Thoughts! Good Words! Good Deeds!

edgar

A Little Stitchin', Cookin' and Blue Skies!

Gentle Friends, I think I'll post today instead of tomorrow with some snaps...  first up is CTA...

... as you can see I've gone back and made some stitching changes... one of the things that had been bothering me about this piece was the seagulls.  I've live my whole life near the sea and I can't remember ever seeing all-white seagulls.  I didn't care for them as charted but I was stitching away on them and so left them alone.  Then I got reading over on the Facebook SAL and how other stitchers have dealt with them and I loved the different solutions... so I went back with my trusty seam ripper and ripped out all the original stitching... now the seagulls as I have stitched them are... "WDW - Grits" for the body, wings tipped and the eye is "WDW - Gunmetal", the beaks are "WDW - Daylily" the feet are "DMC 640".  I am so happy I went back and did this.  In redoing this stitching I'm a bit behind but this is, as with all my stitching, for fun a relaxation, and not a race!

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It's Fall and I was reading on Natasha's Kitchen blog about Apple Pie and got a wild hair and had to make one... I couldn't find my pie pan, lord only knows where that has gotten too... so I hauled out the 9" springform and it worked fine...you can go HERE and read her recipe, it's very delicious and so simple!!

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... we've gotten back some clear skies the last few days, I think I took this on Friday... 

looking west to Twin Peaks.  

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Thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Good Thoughts! Good Words! Good Deeds!

edgar

Some Christms Snaps...

Gentle Friends, since I've been off the grid so to speak for the last two weeks I thought I'd fill in some of our Holiday with a few snaperoos.....

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Let's start off the Friday before Christmas...  we headed downtown to see The Nutcracker...

... I had gotten our tickets months ago, and since it was the 75th Anniversary year I knew they would be selling out the prime nights fast!!

Our SF City Hall was all aglow for the season...

... the Ballet shares the space in the Opera House...

...with its lovely ceiling and the lobby all decorated...

... there was a shop with all sorts of fun stuff ... 

... I made sure we had better seats than last year...

... this is the trailer they released so you can get a taste of how really lovely this performance was...

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Then starting on Sunday I began my tamales adventure.  I've already posted a snap of the carnitas/pork cooking.... then on Monday, I made the chili sauce...

... you have to clean the dried chilies... pop the stems off and clean out the seeds and veins


....and then cook them down a bit...  then you take them and grind them for a while in the processor...


....  you take the processed chilies and strain out any bits that didn't pulverize so that...


... you end up with a smooth delicious chili sauce to add to your cooked meat.
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So, Monday evening I took the dried corn husks and pour some hot water over them to sit in overnight...they have to be weighed down so they stay covered with the water... you can see two pounds of sausage I turned into Pinwheels for Christmas morning and some bacon I turned into some hors-d'oeuvre before Christmas Dinner...


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Then Tuesday morning I started in making the masa... I whipped my lard for about 15 minutes to get it nice and fluffy


... then added the tamale flour, pork stock I had saved, some of the chili sauce and then just let this beat scraping down the bowl every now and then for about 20+ minutes.... when I thought it had gotten to the right consistency I did the test...




... the test was to take a little bit and drop into cold water to see if it floated, and first time out I hit it and my little blob floated!!


... then it was on to making the tamales.  I made a 100 or so and it took a little more than an hour to do.  I also steamed them Christmas eve to have one less thing to do Christmas Day. Tamales reheat well!!


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I made a key Lime Pound Cake for the Baby Jesus' Birthday cake this year.


... we ended up doing a buffet type of dinner for everyone that came over... Rico made Spanish Rice, beans and some guacamole and chips. We also had a green salad to round things out.  It was a very different Christmas Dinner than I've ever had or made, but we all enjoyed it and it was a real learning experience!!



....... and here's the cake all cut up after dinner we served with really delicious pink champagne a friend brought over.  It's from Korbel and is only available at the winery, it was a superb ending to our tasty meal!!
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That's about it for today sports fans thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Good Thoughts! Good Words! Good Deeds!
edgar

A Little Baking

Gentle Friends, since it's Fall - Yea!! - my mind always turns to pumpkins..... and this past weekend was no different.  I got busy looking for something to make and landed on a recipe for "Coffee Shop Pumpkin Scones."  I found one at allrecipes and it turned out to be really easy and quite tasty!!  Here's a snaperoo...

... you can also tell its Fall around our house since Oogie Boogie is on the counter along with my Hallowe'en mug!!  As with most recipes, I made a couple of changes.  Instead of the 4 spices called for, I used my own Pumpkin Pie Spice blend of 6 spices - the recipe for that can be found HERE.  I also double the glaze and again only used my PPS blend.  These treats came together quickly and were really good - so easy and good work for me - it's a keeper!!

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There you go sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Bakin'

Gentle friends,  over the weekend the City was enrobed with heavy fog and the temps hovered in the high 50's all day Sunday which put me in a really fun Fall mood..... so I wanted to bake something Fall-ish!!  I dug around and found a magazine I bought last year that is full of Pumpkin recipes.... I found a winner...

... a Pumpkin cake/loaf with and chocolate, espresso/spice laced icing.... home run folks!!!  Now I am really excited for Fall and all that this time of the year brings.... my favorite time of year!!!

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That's about it for today sports fans, thanks for stopping y do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Baking

Gentle Friends, over the weekend I got the hankering to bake a cake.... and since pound cake always hits the top of my list I went looking for a recipe and found a "Sour Cream Pecan Pound Cake" that fit the bill..... I read through the comments and tweaked the recipe a bit and come up with this winner!!!  Here's a snap of the finished product...

... I turned it out of the pan a bit too soon and the cooling rack left some odd divets in the top, but it didn't make it taste any less delicious!!  It is a nice dense cake with a super orange/nutty flavor and the glaze is simple and also enhances the overall orange flavor.....  here's the recipe...

Sour Cream Pecan Pound Cake

2 1/2 C AP Flour

1/2 C Ground Pecans
1/2 C Chopped Pecans

1/2 Teas salt
1/4 teas Baking Soda

1C Butter - room temperature

2 1/2 C Sugar

1C Sour Cream

6 Eggs - room temperature

1 Teas Vanilla

1 Tbl Orange Zest

2C Icing Sugar

6 Tbls Orange Juice

1 Teas Vanilla

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Preheat the oven to 300 degrees - butter and flour a 10-inch tube pan and sprinkle a 1/2 chopped pecans in the bottom

Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add each egg separately, beating well after each addition
Sift together the dry ingredients.
Into the butter mixture add alternately the sour cream and flour a little at a time
(I did it by the spoon full)
Then add the ground pecans, orange zest and vanilla
(I used a bourbon vanilla and next time I'll just use straight bourbon).
After everything is well-incorporated spoon the batter over the pecans into the prepared pan.
Bake for between 70 and 90 minutes.
I started to check doneness at 75 minutes and it was well done at about 80 minutes.

Let the cake sit in the pan for about 20 minutes then turn out and spoon the glaze over the warm cake.  To make glaze mix the icing sugar, juice and vanilla together and slowly spoon over warm cake.
 I had the cake sitting on a cooling rack on a low bowl so that the glaze as it dripped off the cake gathered into the bowl.  I then reglazed the cake a couple of times with glaze runoff.

It's a super cake an can be tweaked to your taste - I tweaked it from the recipe I found - and will tweak it, even more, the next time I make it!!

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Thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Bakin'

Gentle Friends, again not much out there to report on from the world of thrifting and consignment....  so I'll mention something sweet and tasty I made up Sunday afternoon... I got a hankering for some scones and to the interent  I headed... at the Food.com site I found an easy peasy recipe that looked and sounded good..... Mini Vanilla Scones (Like Starbucks) and I do enjoy those treats, so I thought why not give it a try....

...  it came together quite quickly and from thing's I already had in the cupboard.  The only changes I made to the recipe were to use the whole stick of butter in the batter and sprinkle the top with a bit of sugar before baking.  It turned out terrific!!  The scones had a very tender crumb, and really, so much more tasty than those from Starbucks, I guess warm from the oven never hurt a baked good!!  Give it a try, you won't regret it at all!!

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That's about it for today sports fans, thanks again for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

So Freakin' Easy!!

Gentle Friends, towards the end of last week I was bopping around to different Blogs looking for some goodie inspiration to make.  I landed on "South Your Mouth" a great Blog by Mandy Rivers.  I wanted a recipe that was made from stuff that I already had in the house and ended up making "Fluffernutter Squares."  I knew I had the three ingredients already and in reading the recipe knew it would be easy peasy and couldn't miss.  They use three ingredients, butter, peanut butter chips and marshmallows!!  Staples in any ones cupboard!  Melt, mix and pour, let it set up et voila......

.....popped out of the 9x13 pan and ready for cutting......

... cut up and ready for munching!!!  You can click HERE for the recipe.  Thank you so much Mandy for this super recipe!!

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That's about it for today sports fans.  Thanks for stopping by, do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

Some treats

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends only a couple of things today - the mail brought me two little treats...

... and they are totally cute!!  I loved the "Warm, Winter Woolens " since I first saw it a few weeks ago and knew I would have a copy at some point and when I need to get the 1st in the new Country Cottages Series I knew it was time.  I joined up over on sweet Vonna's SAL Blog - "The Cottages Stitch -a-Long."  This will be a year long SAL and I will start it on the 1st of January.  They a smallish at 77 x 77 square so they will work up quickly.  I have the floss already from my stash and I am planning on pulling a piece of linen from there also, but which piece has me stumped...  something at a 36ct I would think!!

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I also posted "Granny Kat's Pumpkin Roll" over at Blacksheep Bakes - click HERE to go there.

It comes together quickly and is really tasty!!

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  Did you catch the 1938 "A Christmas Carol" on TCM last night??

 

They were celebrating the Bicentennial of Charles Dickens birth and it was a night of book to film fun fest!!! It is a bit early as he was born February 7, 2012.  This film is out on DVD and is worth a look!!

There you go sports fans!!  Thanks for stopping by and for your super comments!!

Take care,

edgar

A Delicious Buttered Rum Pound Cake

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends so sorry to have missed a post yesterday, but after I had gotten to all my emails and things I just run out of time.  I did want to get this recipe up this week, better late than never!!  So, if you click HERE you will be taken to Blakcsheep Bakes and the recipe for this super cake...

On the stitching front I am working at getting an Exchange piece completed - so there are no snaperoos today of any stitching.  :(

That's about it for the week - the weekend is supposed to by stormy and wet - so we will stay indoors and keep at the Holiday cleaning schedule.  Last night we did the carpets and the stair carpet - what joy!!  I am amazed every time we shampoo things at the dirt and filth that comes out .... yuckeroonie!!  Although I must say I do enjoy opening up the refrigerator or the freezer and seeing it sparkly clean!!

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There you go sports fans!  Thanks again for stopping by, do come again!

Take care,

edgar

Hornbook Update

Gentle readers and Dear Friends today I am posting one of the worst snaps ever - of a piece of needlework. This piece is not only large, but the linen is impossible to get a decent picture of - and this one is also way crooked, what was I doing -  falling over or something when I took it!!!  Oh well, it's what I have of the Hornbork progress so here it is....

The stitching moves along pretty quickly and with the little breaks every three lines it keeps it interesting and fun to do.  I will have to put this away for a few days while I work on an exchange piece that is coming due next week.  But, as soon as I finish up that -  I will get back to this piece and finish it up..

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I have posted both the "Jewish Coffee Cake" and the "Apricot Nectar Cake" on Blacksheep bakes - you can click HERE to get to them.  I cannot find the chocolate chip mini muffin recipe, but will keep looking and when I find it I will get that one posted also.  I had a request for a red Velvet Cake for next Monday so that will probably be what gets baked this weekend.

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There you go sports fans - a short one today.  Thanks for stopping by and for your kind comments!!!!  I do appreciate them.

Take care,

edgar