the candy quest

The second Christmas gift i received this year was from one of my customers, Don. He also gave me an old food processor which is probably a more valuable gift, although he seemed to think he wouldn't be able to sell it on ebay. But it seems to be at least as good as the one we used at work. Of course i haven't turned it on yet.

But truffles! He said that he spent about a year searching for the perfect truffle, and these were the winner. He gets them from some secret place. My somewhat unfounded suspicion is that they come from somewhere in Canada. I have never been on a best-truffle-ever quest, but they are very delicious. And i really like that he spent a year searching for the perfect truffle. What will you spend the year questing for?

watch out

kurisumasu

The first Christmas present i got this year was a pair of earrings from my sister and her husband. The earrings were made by my sister's friend from her time in the Peace Corps. She makes lots of pretty jewelry and sells it on etsy. My earrings look like little pink flowers.

Today is a marshmallow world.

every sunday in the cafe

I've done a lot of noteworthy things the past few days (noteworthy for this blog, at least) but some of them are secretish for now so i'm not going to write them. But, i think i'm pretty much done with buying things for christmas... i have a lot of making to do though. I spent much more money than i thought i would. I'll probably have enough stuff leftover to make next year's gifts too...

Although i'm sorry that Bri ended up grounded partially as a result of it, it was pretty fun to sneak into the church and have "band practice" the other day. We really ought to do it again. And not in six months.

Yesterday at work i made gingersnaps and tahini cookies. My first time for both, and both turned out pretty good. Next time i make the gingersnaps way smaller though, and let the tahini cookies cool completely before i try and move them. Today i just made brownies.

squash bread & lebkuchen

I had a bunch of squash leftover from when my family came over Saturday so i decided to make some bread out of it. Here is the recipe i used:

Squash Bread
1 package active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
2 Tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup cooked squash
3* cups flour

Dissolve yeast in water. Add honey (i used slightly more than 2, just to use up what was left in the bottle), salt, squash (i used butternut and another type i forgot to look at the name of), and 2 cups flour; mix well. Add enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Knead till smooth and elastic, about ten minutes. *(Either i counted my measuring cups wrong, or i had to add quite a lot more than three cups of flour to get the dough anywhere near smooth and elastic. It was still a little sticky when i gave up.) Cover in a greased bowl and let rise till about doubled, for about an hour. Punch down, shape into a loaf and place in greased loaf pan. Cover and let rise till doubled (about 45 minutes). Bake at 400 for 25-30 minutes.

I burnt the crust a little but it turned out pretty good, even with all the "extra" flour. Not especially squashy, just nice and soft and orangey, kind of like an egg bread. A nice light sweetness too.

Meanwhile, i enjoyed a cup of black coffee and some lebkuchen today. Nic and Tim brought Gramma a huge treasure chest full of it. I usually don't drink coffee at home but with all the gingerbread floating around, i felt i needed some. I also had a slight headache.

sunday cafe

simple is best

Here is the cheesecake i bake:

grease and line bottom of 9" springform pan with baking paper.
all filling ingredients should be at room temperature.
preheat oven to 375'.

crust:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs (but i usually use almond biscotti crumbs, sometimes chocolate biscotti crumbs but they tend to be stickier)
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 Tablespoons butter, melted

combine and press into prepared pan and put in fridge to chill.

filling:
14 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Beat cream cheese and sugar just till smooth. Beat in whipping cream till incorporated. Beat in remaining ingredients, enough so that it's not lumpy but being careful not to overmix. Pour into prepared crust.

You can prepare a bain-marie by double-wrapping the springform pan in foil, placing it in a roasting tin and pouring boiling water into the roasting tin so that the cake bakes evenly. I can't be bothered with this so i just set a large pan full of hot water on the bottom level of my oven. It might not have all the benefits of a real bain-marie, but it does have some.

Bake for 25 minutes at 375', then lower oven temperature to 325' and bake for 25 minutes more. Turn off oven and let cake cool inside the oven for at least an hour. Chill for 2-3 hours before serving.

lost it

It's cloudy out but the horizon is yellow where the sun is getting ready to go down. I like the looks of the bare black trees against it.

I thought, "I am going to write about this," and now i've completely forgotten what it was i was going to write. I just thought it, over there by the sink.

tea house

My new gmail theme inspires me to live such a lovely life of playing flutes for little birds, cooking noodles, tending bonsais, having tea, and catching a giant goldfish in the evening.

gray gray day

Who thinks what about this?

Had nice pancakes with Julie this morning, then went shopping but didn't quite find what i was looking for. It was so snowy rainy cold that it wasn't much fun to be running errands. Then i came home, read, had a bath, made chili, wrote a letter, made hot cocoa and read a book.

lemon and honey bath

It's laundry day. I'm enjoying my new clothes drying rack..
I just got an interesting phone call from Lanka.....


to my sister Bethany!

So i went thrift shopping today! (We can still go next week if you like, Hannah.) Yesterday i hated my whole wardrobe so i thought it was time i add something to it. So i got four dresses, a sweater, and a coat. A lot of red, gray, and wool. Then i took a bath with lemon juice, honey, and tea tree oil. Like a giant cup of tea.

every day is baking day!

Yesterday i went over to Hannah's and we made bath bombs (i wonder how they turned out??) and snickerdoodles (which i know turned out yummy). We also started another book, this one about nothing in particular. Actually so far it's about nothing at all. Actually it's about pomanders. Because once i made one and my roommate made fun of it and her boyfriend avoided the issue and instead chose to focus on the apple-scented candle, and my other roommate was for some reason afraid of it (with the sort of fear appropriate to food items) and made sure to show it to all the Japanese people who came into the house. The first roommate later read a book with some reference to oranges with cloves stuck in them and admitted that i was not crazy, but i still feel somewhat justified or vindicated every time i see evidence that making them really is a customary thing to do and not just something my mom made up. And yesterday this happened when i saw instructions for how to make them in a magazine. I began to tell Hannah this as we were making snickerdoodles, saying "you know those oranges with cloves stuck in them?" when her mom jumped in and said "Are you going to make some? Because i bought so many cloves last year from my food co-op and never did it, so you can have some if you like." And then she disappeared and came back a few minutes later with a giant container of cloves for me. But i forgot them.

A certain customer of ours who calls quite frequently just called and told me why she wouldn't be here tomorrow. I didn't really need to know the exact medical procedure she was taking her brother to have tomorrow.

Right now i am making mini souffle cheesecakes! They're cooling in the oven now, but i peeked in when i turned it off. Some of them had cracked rather severely. :( I'll have to eat those i guess. I wonder if that could be prevented with a more proper bain-marie? The only pan i have big enough to fit the muffin pan into is so big and shallow that it's pretty awkward to use that way, so i usually just stick a pan of water on the bottom of the oven and figure it will do some good, at least.

the first snow of the year is today

So far i've got one scarf done from all that yarn i bought a little while back. I used both colors at the same time for this one, so it's a little bulky. For the one i'm working on now, i'm only using the darker gray. I like the texture better of the single yarn so i'll probably keep doing them that way. I'm not sure it takes that much longer either, because i don't have to contend with making sure i've got both yarns all the time. I'll wait till a few more done before i wash them. It still smells kind of funny.

blog theme mug

Hannah and Julie presented us youth leaders each with very unique coffee cups last sunday. Mine says my name on the other side, and on this side says "whatever is lovely...think on these things"

And my teabag tag said "practice kindness, mercy, and forgiveness."

swedishish

It's been raining and raining. It was a good day to stay in, but i stayed in all day yesterday so i decided to go shopping at ikea. I got lots of things actually, but the ones i'm most excited about are my clothes drying rack, a plant, and some little tiny lights. They're like tealight candles but not candles. I came home and made dinner for gramma and i (ikea meatballs and potato salad) and then i had to go to work for a couple hours. I made lemon raspberry cake, morning glory bread, oat bread, and cheesecake

After my bath i'm gonna sit in my room and knit and look at my lights and listen to the rain

I've been sleeping so much lately. It might be because it's always so dark, but it's only November. I should be awake for more of November. January is for sleeping

cars and slippers

What was lovely today? I got my car back. It's kind of nice to have it gone for a few days so that i can miss having one. It's fairly easy for me to get used to not having one, but the freedom to go anywhere, no matter how frivolous, is always a nice feeling when it's new again. So i went shopping and used a coupon i've been saving since August. $10 off underwear. And i got Gramma a pair of new slippers which she seemed to enjoy. The fluffy, blingy, pink ones were tempting, but i didn't think she'd get as much wear out of them so i just got some simple soft slip-ons.

fall days and bicycle moments

Yesterday was a bright and clear fall day, wasn't it? Gramma was sweeping leaves off the porch, that seemed like a good fall thing to do.

Today was the other kind of fall day, the rainy, gray cloud kind. I like these too. It cleared up in the evening though, and there was a bright moon and clouds were going past it. I had to ride my bike tonight and it was so dark... especially once i turned into the neighborhood. It's strange, riding my bike at night, when it's a little chilly -- when i smell the tortilla chip smell of the Mexican restaurant on the corner, i always suddenly feel like Japan. The riding my bike at night part makes sense, but i'm not sure about the Mexican restaurant.

Tonight on the way home, i looked up once as i was going down the darkest street. There was a space between houses. And i could see the moon and stars and sky, and the trees getting empty, and it felt just like a picture i might draw. It wouldn't look the same, but it felt the same.

Mason Jars

Last night i brought a couple mason jars home from a work meeting. This sounds silly but when i got out of the car with one of them in my hand and looked up at the sky, which was very dark with stars and a moon, it seemed quite logical that i could put stars in the jar. Something like this, i suppose.

Obviously i could not do that but i found a lot of other things to fill the jars. I was surprised at how delightful it was to fill jars with various items. I like to look at them. There's something kind of witch-like about it... but cute-witch, since the jars are full of candy and ribbons and perfume rather than creatures and poisonous plants.

over fattoush and on the way up north

Rather more eloquent, but this is something like what i was trying to say.

Civic Duty

shh

I'm tired today. I feel very lazy; i just spent the last few hours laying in bed, eating candy and listening to The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. But actually i was a little productive before that: i did laundry, ironed, went to the post office, made jello, made a sweet dumpling squash and veggies and rice, and roasted the seeds from the squash. And i knit a little.

It's so dark out, and still early. It feels like winter... it is November, i guess. There should be fireplaces and coffee and coziness. And things made with cranberries and pumpkin.

scraps

i love notebooks

I have saved a lot of paper scraps, mostly since 2002 or so when i brought a stack of magazines home from Japan. One day i went out and bought a couple composition notebooks and decided to use all my little magazine cutouts to re-cover the notebooks. These are the finished products. I have sooo many notebooks though that it might be a long time before i actually get to write in them...

seasonal eating

Look... all we can eat for the next three months are Christmas trees :(

the dearest pumpkin

happy hallowen

dozens of lotions

So i don't use body lotion on a regular basis. There's a certain time during the winter where i want to bathe in it, but for most of the year it just sits there. I have a good five or six years of accumulation in my room... i'm sure some of it's past its "best by" date. And most of it probably doesn't meet my latest standards. I've grown rather pickier about which chemicals i want my skin to absorb.

But i don't really want to throw it all out either... i'd like to use it up (what is still use-able, that is) and start fresh. Which brings me back to the beginning: i don't use lotion on a regular basis.

And then today, i had the bright idea to use it for shaving my legs. It's better than soap, better than Jungle conditioner from LUSH (which is moisturizing but doesn't lather up much), and i don't bother buying shaving cream anyway.

Most of those scented lotions are, ironically, not terribly moisturizing when i use them as lotion, but they're nice for shaving. And the scent really stuck even though i rinsed the lotion off... i still smell like vanilla whipped cream.

the paparazzi caught up with us

natural oil, pure oil

Better luck with the chocolate biscotti today, though i'm still not thrilled. Probably because i used 4 egg yolks instead of 3 eggs. But it was all i had...i can't believe how fast i go through eggs these days, at work. I hate the idea of eggs but ....i love the idea of omelets. That might be dinner.

And i actually left work sort of close to the time i was supposed to leave. I don't think i've done that all week.

It's much warmer today, and sunny and bright and leaves are falling, but i was too sleepy this morning to get up and walk. I had to fill my gas tank anyway. I was very empty... so i gave the attendant $40, and guess what? After filling up, i had to go back in and get $9 change! $2.09 a gallon. So i got a Perrier too.


I got my order yesterday from Mountain Rose Herbs. Today Gramma was thinking i had got a dress in the mail yesterday. That'd be even more fun, wouldn't it? But alas, herbs. Mostly oils, actually. With some of the things i got, i made a new facial toner, some mouthwash, and a hair rinse. I had been planning on getting a neroli or lemon balm ("Melissa") hydrosol, but chamomile was on sale so i got that instead. Generally i like chamomile, but unfortunately it doesn't small very nice as a hydrosol.

So here's the toner i made:

• 4 oz bottle of chamomile hydrosol (i poured some out so the other ingredients would fit in the bottle)
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon witch hazel
• 1 teaspoon warm honey
• 4 drops tea tree oil
• 2 drops lavender oil
• 1 drop geranium oil

....i think. I'm not totally sure how much of which oils i added, but it was close to that.

It smells bad. Normally i like the smell of vinegar, but vinegar + chamomile water + witch hazel just doesn't work. When it's gone, maybe i'll try a similar recipe with a different flower water.

The mouthwash is yummy, but the recipe called for honey. Is honey okay to use in mouthwash? It seems strange. I like honey because it's so natural and good for you, and yummy, but it seems like a strange thing to rinse your mouth with. If it's just for the taste, maybe stevia would be better?

a special prize

I walked to work today. It was very cold and gray but i really should be walking to work. Walking is important. And so are mittens.

I made lemon raspberry coffee cake today. I made it yesterday too, for a special order for a customer who thought she didn't want almonds in it. So today i made one with almonds, as usual. You don't really notice the almond, because it's ground up so small, but it adds such yummy flavor and texture.

I also attempted to make chocolate biscotti. I tried two different recipes, because i wasn't completely happy with the last batch.... but both were disastrous. I think i know why -- an ingredient substitution that just didn't work -- but it's too bad. They didn't rise...they just spread out like huge brownie-like cookies. It won't be a waste though, because the crumbles were delicious, and tomorrow i'll use them for cheesecake crust. Yum!!

Shortly after i got home, the sun came out and soon the sky was bright blue! That was cheering. It was still very cold though.

Got coffee with Hannah, and to honor the Halloween Festival (day 5 is it?) i got a pumpkin latte. THENNNN we walked down the street to look closer at something i had spotted on our way to coffee.... something that turned out to be everything i had hoped for! Or at least as far as i can tell a week before they're even open. But here is what we saw:

• gazebo
• porchswing
• cute little umbrella tables
• a menu including "heart-shaped waffles"...
• ...and "high tea"!

It's the most exciting thing to come to Farmington as far as i'm concerned.

phillippians 4:8

"whatsoever things are lovely... think on these things."

Some days it's so easy and delightful to notice all the lovely things. When the weather is sparkling and bright, or thrillingly spooky, or some other kind of seasonal wonderful. Or if the day featured some kind of fabulous cake or cafe moment, or any of the other millions of lovely things there could be.

It's a little harder when there are no tea breaks or walks for noticing that it is mystery weather and not just cold and overcast. When work is kind of frustrating and you go home but not really there and forget why you're there at all until you find yourself getting the silent treatment.

So how to think on the lovely things? Maybe there are deeper ways to do this, ways that can eventually become part of a mostly un-lovely day to keep it from continuing to be that way. But for now i'll just make a list of the bright points that were there:

• i made spongecake soaked in brown sugar syrup, layered with whipped cream and raspberries
• leaving the Halloween Party feeling better than i did when i got there
• love/hate cookies and tea
• cute pumpkins
• not being held a grudge against
• ending the day with a Scottish novel and sleepy tea
  

lovely halloween day 3

old fashioned chocolate, tea with leaves and lake


pumpkin pancakes at the haunted Big Boy!!