Funny Magic

Rhubarb Bread :: A Recipe

Last year I planted a little rhubarb on the side of my house, and I'm so glad I did because it makes me happy; I've re-discovered my love of all things rhubarb, like bread and rhubarb compote: think, rhubarb + strawberries, rhubarb + raspberries, rhubarb + plums + ginger atop vanilla yogurt, shortcakes, ice-cream, you name it.

Anyhoo, here's my recipe for the rhubarb bread I made a couple weeks ago. I found the original recipe here, but tweaked it because I didn't have any vegetable oil in-house, and also because when I cook or bake, I have a hard time just leaving well enough alone. Trust me, though - this bread is super yummy!

Ingredients:

1 cup milk

1 tbsp. lemon juice

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 c. brown sugar

1 c. applesauce

2 eggs

3 1/2 cups all-purp. flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 c. chopped rhubarb

1/2 c. chopped walnuts

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease and flour two 9x5 inch loaf pans. In a small bowl, stir together milk, lemon juice, and vanilla. Let stand 10 minutes.

2. In a large bowl, mix together brown sugar, applesauce, and eggs. Combine the flour, salt, and baking soda. Stir into the applesauce mixture alternately with the milk mixture until just combined. Fold in rhubarb and nuts. Pour batter into prepared loaf pans.

3. Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a loaf comes out clean.

4. Slather with butter and enjoy!

Birdie Sling and Powder Room Scarf :: Finished!

Well, kiss my grits and call me Flo! It's my second post in two days, but I just had to share a couple FO's.

Last week I finished-up the Birdie Sling from Amy Butler. This is the second Amy Butler purse/bag I've sewn, and I must say that I just love love love her patterns. They are so easy to follow, and the instructions are really clear - my seam ripper was only employed on light duty, and that's always a good thing!

This bag is big, sturdy, and comfortable to lug around all my junk carry, and I've been using it everyday. (I'm just not the kind of person who can get away with a small purse - I've tried, but I always end up nearly losing it or leaving it behind someplace. The bigger the better for me!) Anyhoo, I'm planning to make another one of these bags for my sweet mom - she picked out the fabric from my stash already, now I just gotta get to work. 

While I was up north I finished my "Powder Room Scarf," named as such because it was my go-to work-in-progress while hanging out with Juliet in the "powder room" during her very long and leisurely bathtimes. I used Misti Alpaca worsted and just did a knit 3, purl 3 rib until all the yarn was gone. Very soft and squishy, super warm, and just in time for summer! heehee.

Toodles for now!

Getaway '09

Oh, and what a getaway it was! Each year Miss Stephanie and I go up north for a long weekend away together, and to me, this is a most sacred event. You see, once upon a time we lived together during the bulk of our college years and when we didn't, we either talked on the phone or saw each other most every day. Fast forward to now, where we live more than an hour away from each other, and although our lives are altogether more busy and complicated, our appreciation of (and love for) each other hasn't changed. What follows is how we honor our bond:

We put on our prettiest faces and smile for the camera,

while hauling ass to Minnesota's North Shore!

Here's the cabin where we stayed, on the shore of Lake Superior.

Inside, there were many shenanigans going on, like wine-drinking and card-playing, which we take very seriously.

So serious, in fact that I ~~ahem~~ wet my pants from laughing so hard. Yes, you read me right, and I ain't too proud to admit it! Because I'll gladly suffer nearly any embarrasing physical consequence as long as it was a result of blinding, hysterical laughter. (Note to self: Start doing Kegel exercises now! Must be better prepared for next year's getaway.)  Moving on...

The next day we headed out for a little shopping:

I may have bought a skein of yarn, and some needles, and some buttons for my FLS at this nice little yarn shop. I can't say, but somehow I found myself casting on for a new pair of socks by nightfall.

After a bit of browsing and coney island eating in downtown Duluth, it was back to the cabin and into our jammies for dinner, a fire in the fireplace, and more extremely high-brow conversation and refined laughter. This time, though, I'm happy to report that a fit of laughter only resulted in my blowing pop all over my face as I was trying to drink a Diet Coke and practice my Kegels in a moment of peace...

Thank you, Miss Stephanie, for the memories, be they old, new, and forthcoming.

(Is it May 2010 yet?? No? Damn.)

I'm Baaaack....

..I just haven't gotten my act together enough to put up a post with pics of my weekend away yet, much less anything else, although I have been a busy little bee here at Thompson Acres:

* I made a new bag and at long last taught myself how to sew things with zippers. Consequently, I am now officially obsessed with small, zippered pouches. (I feel a giveaway coming on!)
* I finished knitting a scarf and casted-on for a new pair of socks. Now I have two pairs of socks-in-progress, one being an easy-peasy-round-n-round-stockinette that I can knit-on without thinking. Love that. 
* Gardening is going full-force - my Nasturtium seeds are starting to sprout, and I just finished putting some Gladiolus bulbs in the ground. Next up: Zinnias and Sunflowers. 
* Freaking out (in a good way) every time I hear this song:

Toodles for now!

Prom Night :: Enchanted Evening

Why, hello! And welcome to my "Enchanted Evening!"

(Why can't I remember much about it? Could it be because it was, oh, 22 YEARS AGO?? Egads.)

Another thing: when I was looking in the shoebox of photos my mom gave me the only pics I found were ones she'd taken before I left the house. Did I take pictures during and after? Don't remember, but if I did they belong to the Great Unknown now. But enough with all that, let's get on with the details, shall we?

Long pink dress? Check. Princess gloves? Check. Fake pearls? Check. Heavily-hairsprayed-hair-poof? Double-check!

Ahh, pinning a corsage on Dave, my date. We'd been dating a long time six months prior to this "Enchanted Evening" and what I remember most about him is that he was really, really funny. And he had this awesome car, too, a little white Triumph two-seater. Sadly, his car and I he and I broke up that summer and went to the hell that is teenage dating our separate ways. 

And here we have the entire Prom party, minus my friend Angie who we would pick up on our way to the dinner and dance. I remember that we skipped the dance, though, and went to the hotel room that was reserved for, yes, all six of us. We stayed there for only a couple hours and soon left (after paying, of course!)...something about booking the room and lying about the number of occupants combined with the possible underage posession of alcohol combined with the law and big trouble and yadda-yadda-yadda, all of which drove the six of us and our stash of party-time beverages right outta there and into Angie's basement rec-room where we watched movies, laughed a whole lot and, of course, stayed up all night. And that, folks, is it!

Be sure to visit Natalie's place for more "Enchanted Evenings," and thanks for the a-long, Natalie!

And now I'm off for an annual weekend away with a very dear friend 'o mine, where we don't do much more than stay indoors and talk, read, knit, eat, laugh, and sleep. I'll be back with pics of Lake Superior and a report of our North Shore excursion next week....have a great weekend!

On Cookies, Butter, and Prom

Not long ago we finally got around to making these cookies:

They were very scrumptious, although someday I wish I would stop overbaking my baked goods; for the love of pete I just cannot bake my cookies properly; between getting distracted and forgetting to turn on the timer I guess I'm doomed until the kids fly the coop and my ability to concentrate on one thing at one time from start to finish returns. Oh well - crispy cookies are always good for dunkin' in coffee and/or milk, right?? 

Which turns my attention to thrifty matters: my mom was visiting while baking the aforementioned cookies and at one point she asked, "Don't you save your butter wrappers like Grandma used to do?" Well, I didn't, but now I do:

Apparently, my grandma used to save her butter wrappers in a little ziploc bag in the fridge, and when she needed to grease a pan she'd take out one of the chilled wrappers and just schmear the leftover butter all around the pan. Neat'o, I say! I tried it this past weekend while making some rhubarb bread and it's a pretty slick little trick.

(This is me, circa' 1978 or so, with my Grandma. She passed away over 15 years ago, but goshdarnit, I still miss her...)

In other news, did you know that Natalie will be hosting a Prom this Friday the 15th? Yes, that's right, and you know wanna go! Here's the invite:

The Class of 2009

Interwebs High School

requests the honor of your presence

at

the Senior Prom

"Enchanted Evening"

on

Friday the 15th of May

Two thousand and nine

Go here for complete details, and perhaps I'll see you there - I'll be the one in the long pink dress drinking a two liter of Sun Country Wine Cooler in the parking lot - good times for sure!

Hi!

I'm happy to report that I'm knee-deep in Spring over here! Digging and transplanting, planning and scheming, planting seeds and volunteering at the annual school Plant Sale...to me it's all good, although my bones and tired feet may have an entirely different opinion. (To them I say, 'Oh, hush-up already! Can't y'all see I'm busy?? I've got flowers on the brain; I'm a woman obsessed; I plug my ears to your complaints.')

Do you have dirt under your nails yet?!?

In knitting news, February Lady continues to consume me...

I don't think I've enjoyed a knit as much as this one in a long time. What is it about this sweater?? I love it with my whole heart.

In the spirit of "Spring Cleaning" I went through my stash of yarn and sold a bit of stuff that was boring me to tears on Ebay. A little extra cash is always good, right?

But then, is it really "cash" when it's sitting in a Paypal account? 

"Enabler Mouse" says it's not and wins the auction on Ebay for me.

Hooray, Enabler Mouse!

Nothing Comes Between Me and My FLS

...except for a little embroidery. I've been feeling flossy as of late, and have been working on some ATC cards for a swap organized by Heather.

(This one I'm keeping for meself - you can't see it in the photo, but the glue discolored the fabric a bit when I adhered it to the backing. Ah well, live and learn.)

This has been a blast - although I was a bit apprehensive at first, I found that thinking about and making these little cards was really inspiring, especially since I'm the type of person who likes (and needs!) to follow a pattern, or template, or embroidery transfer. With this project, however, I just flew by the seat of my pants and found out that it.was.actually.lotsafun.

Oh, and here's my beloved FLS (aka February Lady Sweater) in progress:

Sorry the pic's a little blurry, but at least I finally captured the true color of the yarn. See those flecks of bling in there? I'm using Plymouth Alpaca Worsted Glow - so soft and really, really pretty. I purchased it for a song and I am just in love with this yarn, so much so that I've been fantasizing about buying more so that I can make another FLS when this one is finished. Nothing like getting ahead of myself, huh?!

I hope your weekend's off to a good start!  By the end of next week I'll be planting flowers in my pots and tomatoes in the ground; I don't know about you, but I cannot wait to get some dirt under my nails and some color in my yard!