Baby Sewing

I haven’t posted about any sewing in quite some time. The reality is I haven’t done a lot of sewing lately (until today – I’ve been sewing all day! But I’m saving that for later). However Jenn and Beth and I threw a baby shower for Amanda a couple of weeks ago. Together we sewed a baby quilt for Amanda and also some fabric flowers for the decorations. I know it’s lazy but I’m not going to write about all this because both Jenn and Beth did such a good job. So enjoy the links to their posts and forgive my laziness.

Mega Meatball Pizza & Zippy Italian Popcorn

I know this sounds weird…I was a little concerned when I chose to make this recipe from my Rachel Ray cookbook, but we actually liked it. The Mega Meatball Pizza was super easy and it kind of reminded me of a mild version of a sloppy joe on a pizza crust. Also the recipe says it serves 4, I’d say it serves more like 6-8! It was simple and tasty, another kid friendly meal.

In my book it had this down as  a tv dinner and suggested serving it with the Zippy Italian Popcorn. Again I was skeptical, but I’m so glad I tried it! Jeremy had some liked it…I ate the entire bowl! It was just the right amount of spice and it was so yummy! I think it might become a regular snack around here or just the way that I eat popcorn (I wasn’t a big popcorn fan to begin with, but this may have changed my mind). Again, so simple and yet very tasty!

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

My friend Allison posted about this book back in April and I had put it on my TBR pile. Then I found out that it is one of Beth’s favorite books! Well we got to read it for November’s bookclub! I was so looking forward to going, but as it turns out I planned way to much for that week and ended up doing homework until 11 PM that night instead of enjoying yummy food and interesting discussion…oh, and I hadn’t finished the book yet. As has been the case lately, I finished the book about a week after the discussion, but hey, at least I was close! I definitely enjoyed this book, but I must say that I think I keep growing to like it more as I’ve talked with people about it. I have used this book and The Zookeeper’s Wife as examples in my current history class. They were both done extraordinarily well. These are both non-fiction books and essentially historical books, yet they really read like a story. I think this is the part of doing history that truly makes it an art. There are a lot of parts of doing history that are rather scientific and methodical, but being able to share history with others in a way that is interesting and still accurate takes a special gifting. The Devil in the White City was one of those artistic books for me.

The book bounces back and forther between the building of the fair and the important architects that were a part of that and the serial killer H.H. Holmes. Honestly, there were times when the architecture part was a little dull for me, but it was never so in depth that it was over my head. Also, the writing about the fair was fascinating – I didn’t know how many things made their debut at the fair! The evil and plotting of Holmes certainly make sit feel like you are reading fiction, sadly it was all true.

Often when writing history, historians take on the job of filling in the gaps of the story for the reader. I love that in both of these books the quotes and thoughts came from primary sources (I know Diane Ackerman stated that in her preface for the Zoopker’s Wife). I thought Larson did a fine job of this too. In his notes he pointed out that in the book he describes two different murder scenes even though there is no evidence to let us know what actually happened there. He stated, “For the two muder scenes I document my reasoning and my approach and cite the facts upon which I relied. The citations that follow consitutue a map. Anyone retracing my steps ougtht to reach the same conclusions as I.” (pg. 396)  This is clearly the nerdy historian in me, but I thought this was an inspiring process!

This was definitely a great book. Now, it’s about a real live serial killer, so that is a bit grusome but the telling of the story is not – Larson mostly hints at the evil without going into too much detail. As far as the building of the fair, I found that very interesting even though it is certainly not something I have been interested in before. Great book – no wonder it is a national bestseller!

Another Pumpkin Coffee Cake

I made this pumpkin coffee cake again last Monday. It turned out even better this time! I didn’t get a chance to take a picture, but this might be my favorite coffee cake recipe!

Puppy-sitting

My parents are out of town this last weekend and we have been dog sitting their puppy, Gracie (also known now as the ’shop dog’ according to this article). We love little Gracie – she is just so sweet! And let’s be honest, it’s probably because of the way she was raised…that’s right, before Gracie permanently became my parents’ little baby, she was mine. When I was very little, before my brother was born, we had a boxer puppy named Spot and when Michael was born my mom decided that it was too much to have a toddler, a newborn, and a puppy, so Spot had to go live somewhere else Needless to say this traumatized me and I wanted another boxer for a long time. So one day several years ago when Jeremy and I were still just dating, we saw a litter of boxer puppies for sale and in a total impulse purchase, I bought little Gracie! They let me take her home at just 5 1/2 weeks and she was so tiny! But she was a wonderful little puppy who slept in my bed and potty trained with little help from me! When Jeremy and I got married and moved into an apartment we knew it wouldn’t be fair for her to be without a yard. And as our family dog had been put sleep just a couple of weeks before our wedding, we left Gracie with my parents to fill the empty space. Now she is their baby and I know they love her very much. Sometimes I still miss her (even though I have my sweet little Turner), but it was nice to have her around the last couple of days. Here are some pictures of us lounging around with the puppies (I don’t think she’s allowed on the couch at home!).

Giant Apricot-Walnut Scones

Lately I had been making muffins out of a box mix for my Monday morning staff breakfast treats, but I saw this recipe in December’s Bon Appetit and really wanted to try it. I made it the night before so I wouldn’t have to mess with it in the morning. These were so good! I think these would be could with dried cranberries as well!

I normally just provide a link to the recipe, but this one was not on the Bon Appetit website and I think it’s because it was in the section R.S.V.P. (readers’ favorite restaurant recipes) and therefore comes from Chestnut Cottage Restaurant, Port Angeles, WA.

Giant Apricot-Walnut Scones
Bon Appetit, December 2009 (pg. 20)
Makes 6 (very big scones)

2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 T baking powder
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 1/3 cups heavy whipping cream
Powdered Sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Whisk first 3 ingredients in large bowl. Stir in walnuts, apricots, and raisins. Add cream; stir with fork just to blend. Transfer dough to work surface sprinkled with powdered sugar. Knead dough until smooth, about 10 turns. Form dough into 1-ink thick round. Cut into 60 wedbes. Sift powdered sugar over. Transfer to baking sheet.

Bake scones until golden brown and toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 18 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. DO AHEAD Can be made 8 hours ahead. Cool completely, cover, and let stand at room temperature.

Turkey Noodle Casserole

I made this casserole earlier this week from my Rachel Ray cookbook. I thought it was ok but Jeremy didn’t like it very much. One thing I would definitely do differently is take half the cheese and mix it up rwith the noodles and turkey to help hold all that together – there would still be plenty of cheese on the top. Also I think it needed a little more flavor…

Falls Garage

I don’t talk about them much, but my parents are pretty much awesome. When I think of people that are ready to do whatever God asks them and be radical about what they believe in, I think of them. It amazes me that as a young couple they decided to take their two little kids and move to a country where they didn’t speak the language or understand the culture! Several years ago, they felt God was calling them to plant a church in Marble Falls. Again, they sold their house and moved this time to another city and started planting a church. I guess it didn’t surprise me at the time, but Jeremy brought to light how ‘crazy’ it is to just sell your house, uproot yourself, and go somewhere to do something that could be a potential failure! But they did it anyway! There is now a church in Marble Falls and its doing great. As my dad was working in the community during the initial phases of the church plant, he began working with the school system by helping with an automotive program. This ministry continued to grow and now he has moved to doing that full time! His work is based out of Falls Garage in Marble Falls and he teaches teenagers how to work on cars so they can get good jobs. I bring all this up because there was an article recently in the Highland Lakes Business Journal about Falls Garage and I wanted to share it with you! You can read it here. You can also check out the Falls Garage blog here.  Mom and Dad, I think you’re the best!

Mac-n-Cheddar with Broccoli

No picture for this recipe…too bad because I think it would have photographed well! On Tuesday night I made Rachel Ray’s Mac-n-Cheddar with Broccoli. It was pretty good but I don’t think it was quite as good as I was picturing in my head – don’t know why. My aunt used to make homemade mac and cheese when I was younger and I remember it being really good, but she used a white cheese and I think it was baked – this one wasn’t baked. It says it makes 4 servings, but those must be huge servings! Of course we didn’t eat it alone, I also cooked some small porkchops to go with it (Jeremy loves mac and cheese with pork chops…). Once again, I am convinced this recipe book will be a kid-pleaser! Right now it pleases me that dinner can get finished so quickly!

Martha Washington: An American Life by Patricia Brady

I am writing my senior thesis on Martha Washington. It wasn’t something that was actually planned, but I had to switch topics at the last minute and in trying to figure out what to do, I saw that I had this biography on my bookshelf. It became part of my inspiration for my research into the life of this incredible woman. We know very little about Martha Washington. Some of this is due to the fact that she destroyed the correspondence between herself and George before she died. She wanted to keep their private life private. There has been relatively little written about her and in my research this has been the best biography I have read. Brady did an excellent job in her research and it is an enjoyable read. It’s not very long as biographies go and gives a great glimpse at Martha’s life. She was such a great wife! She was very supportive even when it was difficult for her. She did not want her husband to become president and even more so didn’t want him to take on the 2nd term, but she always rose to the challenge just to be at his side. I’m sure there’s more I could write, but I’ll contain myself. if you are looking for a biography on Martha Washington, this is definitely the one I would recommend.