One of the resolutions I made this year (along with A Picture a Day) is to celebrate each month specifically. One way I have decided to do that is to follow the recommendations of a monthly publication.
This month I chose Popular Mechanics. I am making up my own rules so I am deciding I don’t have to do everything they suggest- maybe 3 or 4 things. We’ll see.
I can’t wait to get started!
I am most likely to do the Feb 28th suggestion!
A different take on the usual “WELCOME” mat or “Beware of DOG” sign.
I drove by this mailbox a couple of weeks ago and thought how beautiful it was with the starkness of the heavily twigged tree above it. It looked like a nest to me, and the mailbox was camouflaged. I never noticed how it looked when the tree was in bloom but I will definitely keep an eye out in the future.
The change of seasons affords the opportunity to take notice of the now because it is fleeting. It got me thinking about the old adage- to everything a season. Time waits for no one. Turn, turn, turn- you get the idea!
This was re-enforced when I walked past my “Most Beautiful Mailbox” recently. It isn’t the season for it. Some things have a short window of time to be at its peak. It is special when we are there to enjoy it!
The “Most Beautiful Mailbox” out of season…
…and in season!
My fascination with mailboxes began with this mailbox. I have walked past this mailbox for years now, and today it is my picture of the day since I haven’t seen it celebrating the Christmas season before. Maybe I don’t walk as often during the holidays because it gets busy but I am so glad I saw it today before it got changed into its Russian hat!
Technically I guess I took 2 pictures today!
This is a bench!
Many years ago I read an article about Carly Simon that I have thought about over the years but have never been able to see it through. In it she shared an activity that she incorporated into her daily routine. Every day she was sure to snap a picture using her polaroid camera. The pictures she took that were chosen for the article were candid family photos. I haven’t been able to recover my original article, but I remember her describing the daily picture taken over time became a photo essay of her life and the people in her life. What a lovely idea.
I just haven’t been able to make it a daily habit until now. So far this year… all 12 days of it!
I haven’t decided what to do with the picture a day but for now I am enjoying taking it!
My picture taken today!
I’m not sure when I started wrapping Christmas presents in Brown Paper but it became a tradition in our home. I probably ran out of Christmas paper on Christmas Eve!
The white ribboned present is for our dog, Katie!
It makes identifying presents easy since our daughter’s presents are tied with red ribbon and our son’s are green, a “Family” present is ribboned with green, red, and white and presents that are shared have the colors of the ribbons of the joint recipients. I never had to worry about running out of Christmas paper again!
Happy Thanksgiving!
I was ready to try to make the Buttermilk Oat Bread independently. I went to Chillymink.com to print out the recipe and discovered it didn’t work!
The problem is fixed now – the recipe printed out and bread is in the oven. I hope this hasn’t inconvenienced anyone. Please give it a go!
A hearty bread that's great for toasting.
Large cakes and color are becoming a new theme! Last month I found the Wilton Performance Color System for baking and made a pumpkin cake for Halloween that was fun to make!
Now Thanksgiving has provided an opportunity to use the color chart again! Once again I went back to my old recipes and found a Turkey Cake recipe that I had made years ago. This cake, like the Pumpkin Cake, was the actual size of a roasted turkey.
I remembered that the last time I made it, I was disappointed with the final color of the turkey. It looked raw. Now that I had my color chart, I was hoping it would look more realistic this time. The recipe is from a back issue of Family Fun, which was my favorite magazine when my children were young.
You bake 2 vanilla cakes in round bowls. They take longer than when they are baked in 9 inch round pans.
Then bake 1 spice cake in a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan. Similarly it takes longer in the loaf pan than a round pan. I kept checking for doneness but I think they took about 40 minutes. The round bowls were closer to an hour. I just kept checking with a cake tester.
Once the cakes were finished I let them cool on a rack for 10 minutes and then popped them out to finish cooling.
This cake takes a lot of frosting. I used close to 4 cans of store bought buttercream frosting.
Before assembling the pieces I put the cake in the freezer for 15 minutes.
Basically you make a very large Whoopee Pie!
This is an important step- secure the “Whoopee Pie” with a dollop of frosting on the platter.
Trimming the legs out of the spice cake is tricky. Just keep trimming until it looks like a leg! Frosting hides a lot.
I used coffee stirrers (wooden ones) to attach the legs to the body (it is no longer a very large Whoopee Pie!)
It’s starting to look like a turkey. I also think it looks like a Harry Potter Snitch or Captain America’s mask.
Now to the color- I used “Sand” for the base layer of frosting.
Mixing 4 cans of frosting required my large mixer.
Once I frosted the cake with the base “Sand” color I added more brown and black to the remaining frosting until it turns a few shades darker. I added the darker color to the parts of the “turkey” that would darken as it cooks.
Adding the oranges and paper caps added a touch of authenticity!
It was fun to carve it like a turkey!
Happy Thanksgiving!
I was going to title this Favorite Things: Homemade Bread, but who am I kidding– I like store-bought bread too.
Baking bread has been a long tradition in my family. My grandmother Mimi was known for her rye bread. It was delicious. My mother is known for her rolls- dinner rolls and sweet rolls. They are delicious.
My daughter is carrying on the tradition. She has been making bread for a couple of years now, to the point where we hardly buy store bought bread anymore. I decided it was time that I learned how to make it myself since she is planning on moving soon.
She makes a delicious buttermilk bread. Here are pictures of my first attempt. The full recipe is at the end of the post!
Yeast is proofing and oats are soaking
Ready for the oven
It turned out!
A hearty bread that's great for toasting.
chillymink.com 