Thursday, November 22, 2012

~Happy Thanksgiving!~

I'm reposting this poem, that I posted in November, 2008. It's just a silly poem, but it reminds me of my grandma, who has been in heaven these past two Thanksgivings. After I posted this to my blog in 2008, my mom read it to my grandma. She thought it was a "hoot" (I'm pretty sure that was her description! :) ) and asked my mom to print it for her so she could read it to her Sunday school class. She read it to her Sunday school class and shared a laugh with her friends. Remembering my grandma this morning, and ever so thankful for her!

How not to roast a turkey...

The Turkey Shot out of the Oven

Jack Prelutsky

The turkey shot out of the oven
and rocketed into the air,
it knocked every plate off the table
and partly demolished a chair.

It ricocheted into a corner
and burst with deafening boom,
then splattered all over the kitchen,
completely obscuring the room.

It stuck to the walls and the windows,
it totally coated the floor,
there was turkey attached to the ceiling,
where there'd never been turkey before.

It blanketed every appliance,
it smeared every saucer and bowl,
there wasn't a way I could stop it,
that turkey was out of control.

I scraped and I scrubbed with displeasure,
and thought with chagrin as I mopped,
that I'd never again stuff a turkey
with popcorn that hadn't been popped.

Friday, November 16, 2012

~Scarf~

Checking in from sick-land to say "hello" and hope that my readers are keeping healthy! I myself have been sick almost the entire month of November. So not fun. I am slowly getting better but any time I do anything "normal" like run to the store for something essential like more cough drops (not literally run...you know: drive, get out, walk into the store...that kind of "run") I end up coughing and wheezing all evening long. *sigh* I will get better soon...

In the mean time, I finished up a little project for my daughter:



a scarf! She's been wanting one and while I don't think it is very practical for a three year old, I just couldn't say no! :) This project was so simple, just double crochet back and forth till I felt it was long enough. I love the yarn - it is so soft! My mother-in-law gave it to me a while back. I started a sweater for my daughter, frogged that, made several ear warmers (one for me and two which I sold), and then had bits and bobs of it all throughout my yarn bin. So it felt good to dig all those out and finish up the yarn with a project for my daughter. I have a little bit leftover, just enough to redo fringe (just in case she discovers how fun it is to undo!).

Sunday, November 04, 2012

~Cake~

I wouldn't be such a great food blogger, because:
1) my house doesn't have any great natural light
2) and it always seems like it is dark outside when I make Awesome Food That Would Make a Good Blog Post
3) and I don't like to wait to eat - must.eat.food.now.
4) and I'm not going to make something specifically for a blog post
5) and also, see #3, I'd probably make something specifically for a blog post and then have to eat it stat. Oopsie, that's a do-over!
6) oh yeah, and I don't have 50-gazillion cool dishes (where do people keep all their odd-shaped dishes? I feel like my kitchen is a nice size but I don't have storage for so many random dishes)
7) and there's already a lot of food bloggers, so....what's really the point?

BUT I want to tell you all about this awesome cake I made!

For my birthday, Kevin got me a KitchenAid slicer/shredder attachment for my mixer. I had been contemplating buying it for myself with my Swagbucks Amazon gift cards, and I had no idea that Kevin had gotten it for me. Total suprise on my birthday!

So of course I had to make something with my new attachment! Let's see...what can I slice or shred? Carrots! What can I do with carrots? Carrot cake! Yeah!

So I made CHOCOLATE CARROT CAKE.

AWESOME!

Yes, I'm yelling. ;-) It was so good and moist, and it didn't even need 3/4"-thick sickly-sweet cream cheese frosting. LOL

I followed this recipe, subbing in carrots for the zucchini. I've made it before, with the zucchini. Both versions are seriously yum. This time around I used 1 cup coconut oil in place of the margarine and oil. And it took about 20 minutes longer than the recipe stated to bake. Not sure why!

Thursday, November 01, 2012

~Today~

Happy November! I can't believe how fast this year has gone. November already?

Things I'm contemplating this morning:

Should I get my fall decorations out? I've been busy with canning projects and it just dawned on me that fall is almost over. I'm thinking I'll get a few things out. Maybe. Hmmm.

Searching for a good kimchi recipe. I found this one but I don't know. Have you ever made kimchi? Or eaten it? I had it for the first time at a potluck. First taste: this is the grossest thing I've ever eaten. Second taste: well, it's not so bad. Third taste: hmmm, this might be good after all. Fourth taste: let me dish up some more!

Should I get more apples? Due to unseasonably warm weather last March, most of the apple crop in western Michigan was ruined. There are still apples to be had - just more expensive than usual. So far I have made 17 pints of applesauce. That's slightly less than last year's applesauce making adventure of 46 pints....

And, lastly: books I want to read or reread: Hidden Art, by Edith Schaeffer. I need a new copy - my thrift store copy is falling apart. Loving the Little Years: Motherhood in the Trenches by Rachel Jankovic (great book - I should do a review of it sometime!), Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, and The Bridesmaid by Beverly Lewis (she sucked me into a series again! Gah!). (Please note: links are through my Amazon affilitate account.)

Playtime: my daughter is anxiously waiting for me to play with her. I just heard that a tea party has been set up! So...off to sip pretend tea and eat plastic food! :D Have a lovely fall day!