Although it felt a little sacrilegious, I finally took some of my "picture books" off of Nice Grandma's--a.k.a. "the Keeper of the Pictures"--hands. I was flipping through them tonight at home when I found this picture, taken of me and my mom near one of my first Mother's Days.
Aren't we a good looking pair?
Happy Mother's Day Mommy!
Today was the parade for the basketball team...or, as I guess I should properly say, for the University of Kansas National Champion Jayhawk Basketball Team.
But before we get to the parade, I have to talk about these cutie banners. I'm trying to get some practice with my sewing machine, and I wanted to have some sort of flag to wave for the parade, so voila! I made the little ones for practice (and to give away) and the big one to keep. I was going for a well-used, battle-worn look, and I think succeeded.
As for the parade, I can't even begin to guess how many people were there, but I think 100,000 would not be a crazy guess. (Looks like that was a good guess!) The three or four blocks I could see were absolutely packed and the total parade route was about four times that. As the players came down the street (in convertibles) the crowd just kind of converged on both sides of them, they were literally getting high fives from everyone on the street. (Mouse over the pictures for captions.)
Mad, heart-stopping insanity!
And that was just the game.
The paper today said there were 40,000 people downtown last night celebrating, and I, of course, was one. I didn't really think it could get any more wild and crazy than it was on Saturday, but I was wrong. And it was the very best kind of wild and crazy--everyone was just happy, happy, happy--even the police officers were good naturedly posing for pictures.
Here are a few bits and pieces from our trip down Massachusetts Street. I apologize in advance if you get seasick easily; for future National Championships I will try to remember to either dance or take video, not both! (Here's a little more professional video, although I don't think it's as fun!)
And today, a little welcome home party (of something like 25,000 according to the paper). It was freezing out, but it was fun! (Mouse over the pictures and it will tell you what's going on--here's a little more video too.)
Last but not least, before I forget, mucho congrats to Erin, who came in third (after Sweet Husband and I) in the MBE bracket pool. Sweet Husband will bring your prize--a pretty, pretty pair of earrings--to work tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who played along with me--it was fun!
...is currently Lawrence, Kansas. Don't believe me? Well see for yourself....
We watched the game with friends, then went down to Mass Street for the party afterward. It was so insane! Like, a solid six blocks (at least), of screaming, happy, people; impromptu bands; old friends meeting each other in the middle of the street; even one naked guy on a pole!
WOW!
For those of you still keeping track this means those of us that picked KU are now at the top of the MBE bracket pool (that would be Chris, Sweet Husband, Me)--Rock Chalk Jayhawks!
There was eating. There was drinking. There was merriment. Cupcakes were had, and (despite prior assurances otherwise) there was even just a little bit of dancing in the streets. And at the end of it all, Sweet Husband was another year older....and maybe a little wiser too! ;)
Thanks for coming out with us everyone--pictures are here!
For his birthday this year, I had Sweet Husband pick a cupcake recipe from what has to be the most gorgeous cupcake blog ever--Cupcake Bakeshop by Chockylit. He chose these Chocolate Chai Spice Cupcakes.
I have to begin by saying, I think these are the best cupcakes I've ever tasted. Truly. They're sweet (but in an "adult-sort-of-sweet" way) cinnamon-y, chocolaty, moist--I really don't know how the taste could be improved upon.
And despite the fact that some of Ms. Chockylit's recipes are, well, just a tich above my baking comfort level, this one wasn't too bad. If you're comfortable melting chocolate, it's not a hard recipe.
My only issues? The recipe says it makes 24 cupcakes. I used the regular sized baking cups (just as she uses) and even ended up with several of them overflowing a bit more than I would have liked. I ended up with almost 40 cupcakes! In-and-of-itself, that wouldn't have been a problem, but the frosting recipe really did only make enough for 24, so I actually ended up throwing some of the cupcakes away. (I didn't have enough butter on hand to just double the recipe, and they weren't pretty enough to serve frosting-less.)
Also, while I think the baking cups Chockylit uses look very simple and classy when she uses them, mine ended up just looking a little sloppy. It's back to the foil muffin cups for me next time.
But aside from those two problems, these guys were incredible! Can't wait to gobble a few up at Sweet Husband's party tomorrow night!
Hoowah! My 'hawks are in the final four, and Lawrence is a crazy town. Sweet Husband went downtown to meet a friend for a drink and just called to say that there is partying in the streets. We're in the final four! Rock Chalk Jayhawk!
Meanwhile the MBE pool is going as follows:
Chris is in first place with 97 points, Angela follows with 77, Sweet Husband is third with 74, Lghtngfan is next with 71, I'm in fourth with 70, and Bells for Cinderella and erose are bringing up the rear with 68 and 58 points respectively.
Next weekend should be exciting, exciting, exciting!
Our little March Madness pool is puttering along nicely with Chris in the lead by one point, and the rest of the pack not far behind. I'm not fairing so well--I'm in last place at the moment--but as long as my Jayhawks stay in it I predict I will rally!
I was playing with some yarn the other day, and it somehow turned into a few of these bitsy Easter baskets for my girlies.
I couldn't tell you exactly how it happened, except that I started crocheting in a spiral (increasing by a few here and there each time around) until I had something that looked like this. Then I continued going round and round--with less increasing, maybe one extra stitch for every five--to make the sides. To help it hold its shape, I put the basket over the bottom side of a glass, wet it down, and let it sit there until it was dry. Then I added the handle, which is just about a three stitch wide strip that I attached at either end.
The entire basket is only about four inches tall--not very practical I s'pose, but, hey, it's that time of year when things don't really have to be!
As for the goodies to go inside the basket, the girlies had each requested a felted bead necklace, but I was afraid a full string of felt beads might be a little itchy for them to wear. (I don't think we learn to suffer for fashion until later in life--at least 13 or 14, at any rate.) So, I attached one bead each to a ball chain (from the hardware store, look for lamp pull chain) to get a similar idea without the wool having to be worn right up against the neck. The wire that attaches the bead to the chain is a type of jewelry finding that can be found at a craft store (think long, blunt straight pin).
Then I ordered a pair of lovely "story girl" buttons from Lily Moon's etsy shop. I've been quietly adoring the characters in her artwork for some time now. She describes them as, "Thousands of bits and pieces of imaginary stories....I get an idea for a story and then it slips away, back to wherever it came from....and then another story comes to mind....maybe you can fill in the gaps and tell me how they end...! :)" Now how much fun is that?
As you will recall, Nice Mom, Sweet Sister, and I made a trip to the Titanic Museum in Branson last weekend for Sweet Sister's birthday. So, here we are standing in front of a blue screen with the deck of the Titanic digitally patched in on the deck of the Titanic.
All joking aside, however, it wasn't as cheesy as I expected it to be. I actually enjoyed the way they really focused on the people who were on board through the things they left behind (letters, jewelry, clothing). It helped me to envision myself in their places, and see them as individuals. There was also a lot of attention paid to making the overall environment consistent with what the ship might have been like. For example, in the third class parts of the museum it was hot and loud, in the first class parts it was quiet with classical music, in the part of the museum that focused on the ship's sinking it was dark and cold. And the reproduction of the staircase was very beautiful!
Maybe not worth a long trip, but certainly worth it if you're in the area and interested in that sort of thing. More pictures here.
This morning I had a fun idea. Why not make a little basketball bracket pool-thingy-ma-bob-group for everyone who stops by the blog? A sort of "don't-know-crap-about-basketball-but-at-the-same-time-not-shunning-those-who-do" kind of thing. And--just to make it a little more exciting--why not offer a prize for the winner?
Why not, indeed!
So, here's what I've come up with: Before the start of the first game on Thursday, March 20th, sign up here and follow the steps to make a bracket. Then go to "groups", click "join existing group", and search for and join "March Madness at MBE". (The password is "tulip", after the little ones just starting to poke up in my garden.)
As long as at least three people besides Sweet Husband and I sign up, I'll offer a prize--a yet-to-be selected piece of jewelry generously volunteered by Sweet Husband.
It's so very hard to believe he used to be this tiny and cute. And--as we said often at the time--he was very lucky to be so. There are days being adorable was all that saved him from being sold to gypsies!
Several pairs of underwear, five pairs of shoes, at least four electronic gadgets, various and sundry pieces of woodwork, and three years later....Happy Birthday Moe!
UPDATE: Moe spent his birthday at home, got to take a shower (which is his favorite thing, but a special treat in the winter when it's cold out), and took a long nap on Mom's tummy. (Thank you MLK day and lovely government jobs!) Dad (a.k.a. Sweet Husband) brought home ice cream for both dogs, which--once we blew out the candles and took it out of it's plastic cup--Moe ate in one huge gulp. I don't know if dogs get ice cream headaches--and he didn't act like it bothered him if it did--but my head almost hurt just watching it!
Porterhouse (pictured here up way past her bedtime) and the rest of us wish you all a happy, healthy, satisfying 2008!
We rang in the new year with some Wii bowling with Cutie Niece, and later some midnight noodles and non-alcoholic champagne with Nice Sister. It was the first time I'd been up that late in months, but we had a great time!
Pictures of New Year's are here, and pictures of all our Christmas and New Year's fun are here.
This month's Daring Bakers challenge was to make a yule log cake (also known as a Buche de Noel). Having once won third place in the "Buche contest" at my high school French Club's holiday soiree (yup, I'm still proud), I thought I'd have this one down.
Eh, sort of. The cake part actually worked out quite well. I flavored it with rum and orange, and it only cracked ever so slightly when I rolled it--very nice on the whole.
I had some temperature issues with the buttercream, though. When I first mixed it together, it looked grainy. After consulting with some of my co-Daring Bakers, I discovered this meant the buttercream was too cold, and the solution was to microwave a quarter of it and then mix it back in. It worked well, and made the part of the icing I used for the filling nice and smooth. Then I put the cake and icing in the refrigerator over night, per the recipe. When I pulled it all out in the morning, however, I couldn't seem to get the icing back to the right temperature again. As a result the icing on the outside of the log was a little grainy, but it still tasted good. (I also added about 1/4 cup of melted chocolate chips to make the icing dark brown.)
The part I probably had the most fun with however, was the mushrooms! We had the option to make them with either meringue or marzipan--I choose marzipan. After making the mushrooms--which were incredibly easy--I dyed my leftover marzipan different colors and used it to make some pretty little marzipan fruits. It was like playing with play-dough, only really yummy tasting!
Thanks to Ivonne and Lis for coming up with this challenge. Read on if you'd like the recipe.
Although I'm usually all about tasteful and understated, I confess a certain weakness when it comes to over-the-top, embracing-the-tacky Christmas light displays. Be it a blow-up Santa in a pontoon boat or a polar bear in a stock car (you know who you are!), I love the dedication and effusion of Christmas spirit that such displays suggest.
And gosh darn it, it's fun!
So for this week's Wednesday poll:
What's the craziest, tackiest, most all-out Christmas lights display you've seen? Be specific! Bonus points for pictures (which can be sent to blackbird13ATgmailDOTcom, and will be posted!)
Comment and discuss.
I don't know about you, but lately it seems like I'm living in darkness. When I wake up in the morning it's dark; the sky just lightens to gray most days, but even when the sun comes out it's pale and weak; then by the time I come home it's dark again.
Which is possibly why I love reading and learning about winter holidays that celebrate light. One such holiday is Saint Lucia's Day. Celebrated largely in Scandinavian countries, on Lucia Day morning,
"Traditionally, the oldest daughter in the family portrays Saint Lucia, the Queen of Light, and she serves the elder members of the family coffee and pastries in bed. The pageant goes something like this. While the parents snuggle under comforters and feign sleep, the children are in the kitchen bustling about. Coffee must be brewed, and saffron-flavored Saint Lucia coffeecake or buns must be warmed. The daughter, dressed in a long white gown with red sash, lights a ring of candles and carefully lifts it up to rest securely on her head as a crown. . . . When everything is ready, the coffee is poured, the Lucia buns are placed on a tray and the breakfast procession slowly begins toward the parents' bedroom. The children sing a traditional song: 'Now the light is carried forth, proud on its crown, in every house, and every home, the song shall ring.'"
For Saint Lucia Day this year (and for my own entry in Joyous Jumble), I decided to try my hand at some Saint Lucia Buns. Here is the recipe I used. The saffron is a bit expensive, but as it's basically the whole point it can't be omitted. The dough was absolutely amazing to work with, but it really does make 4 dozen buns so either halve the recipe or plan to share. I compromised by making a few dozen buns and then doing a braided loaf and wreath. The buns themselves are not sweet in the way I think most Americans would think "sweet", but at the same time they're not truly savory either. It's hard to describe, but if you're one of those people (and I am) who thinks cinnamon rolls are often sickly sweet you'll love these. And with that beautiful, saffron-y yellow color, they're like little buns of sunshine.
I really thought it was just me, but after reading this article and this one, I realized other people have gone through it too. One year the holidays were just...different. Still wonderful and happy, to be sure, but no longer truly magical. It didn't have anything to do with presents, and I had stopped believing in Santa over a decade before, but something was just missing.
For a few years after, I tried so hard to get it back, but whatever "it" was it was gone for good. And although I'm now very much at peace with this new, grown-up version of Christmas, I sometimes still can't help but wonder about the transformation....
So, for this week's Wednesday poll:
As you got older, was there a year that Christmas changed for you? Why do you think it was? Is there a cut-off age for "the magic of Christmas"?
Comment and discuss.
"The festive season approaches. Whether it’s Christmas, Eid al Adha, Hannukkah, Mahayana, the birthday of Guru Gobind Singh Ji or New Year’s Eve, there are feasts to be had and food to be cooked."
Hence, Anna of "Morels and Musings" decided to host a recipe carousel featuring "festive foods". My entry is as follows....
When I was little we had a fabulously illustrated copy of "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. In the picture where the Ghost of Christmas Present appeared, amid all sorts of cheese and meats and the like, his feast included what looked like hundreds of sparkling candied fruit shimmering in the firelight. I remember thinking that was really what a proper magical Christmas feast should look like.
So, this year I decided to make my own candied orange peels. For the recipe, read on. (And here's the round-up.)
Continue reading "Festive Food Fair: Candied Orange Peels" »
I watched from my office window as big, fat flakes fell this morning and afternoon, and by the time I got home I was so ready to play. After bundling up (with some protest from the dogs), we took a lovely family walk. It's warm enough that the snow is a bit slushy, but, as I discovered, much too cold to make a proper snowman without digging out my mittens!
We just got maybe an inch or so, but we're due for more this weekend!
"The next couple of weeks is going to be full of feasts, fests, food, friends and family. Many cultures and religions will be celebrating in some form or the other. At the end of this week the Indians will be celebrating Diwali - Festival of Lights, Hanuka for the Jewish or Thanksgiving and Christmas for many others and not to mention New Year's at the end of it all. It's simply a great time of year. I love spending warm, cosy evenings surrounded by friends and family, digging into a luxurious or traditional meal. The room alight with chatter, laughter and full of warmth."
Hence, Meeta of "What's For Lunch Honey?" chose the theme "Traditional Feasts" for her December "Monthly Mingle" food blogging fun.
Although I'm not sure if many other people would consider it a traditional holiday food, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas for me without some of my Grandma Mary's peanut butter balls.
I don't ever remember making them with her--I probably wasn't patient enough as a child--but somehow, even though everyone else loved them too, there was always a special container of them tucked away just for me. For the recipe, read on. Check out the round up of all the "Monthly Mingle" entries here.
Continue reading "Monthly Mingle "Traditional Feasts": Grandma Mary's Peanut Butter Balls" »
Today's Christmas fun was the 13th Annual Gingerbread Festival and Auction. It works pretty much the same way the Festival of Trees did--people give a small donation to get in to see the houses, then eventually the houses are auctioned off with proceeds going to Big Brothers/Big Sisters.
There were graham cracker houses made by little kids, log cabins made of pretzels, some very pretty sugar stained glass, and even a few Lawrence landmarks. It totally inspired me to make a gingerbread house this year. More pictures (including a few of Sweet Husband's booth at the Holiday Art Fair) are here.
Apparently, there's some sort of holiday fun going on in Lawrence just about every day from now 'till Christmas. Apparently, I've lived here four holiday seasons and have been missing out on all kinds of festivities.
No more! This year I've got my handy-dandy "Holiday Happenings" book and I'm ready to be holly and jolly!
This evening I got off to a good start at the "Festival of Trees". I think this kind of thing is done in other places, but it's pretty cool nonetheless. Businesses, scout troops, and etc. all decorate trees and auction them off to the highest bidder. The proceeds of both the auction and the small charge to get in and see the trees all go to charity.
There was some of what you would expect, of course--a "Big 12" themed tree, an "Around the World" tree--but some were darned creative:
A few more pictures are here.
Continuing with my Christmas food challenges, "Grow Your Own" is a monthly food blogging event hatched by Andrea of "Andrea's Recipes", that "celebrates the foods that we grow ourselves and the dishes we make using our homegrown products."
But what's growing in frosty Kansas in November, you ask? Well, truthfully, in my garden there isn't much. However, my trusty little rosemary bush is trooping along still--and, if anything, has improved in flavor with the cold--so I decided I wanted to work it into my Christmas candy making somehow.
I love rosemary and I love chocolate, but I only learned that I like them together about a year ago when I had my first Christopher Elbow Rosemary Caramel. It's an odd sounding flavor combination, I know, but somehow it works.
After doing a little research, I ended up mixing a little bit of this recipe with a little bit of this one to get these:
Although I was basically working by trial and error, the flavoring ended up just right. You can just taste the perfect hint of rosemary on the front end and then you get a nice dose of orange. I put the little pieces of candied orange on top for pretty, but I don't know if I would do it again as it kind of messes with the texture when it's all in your mouth. For the recipe, read on. For the round-up of all the recipes that were submitted, click here.
Continue reading "Grow Your Own: Rosemary Orange Truffles" »
As I was setting everything together, getting ready to head to my Auntie's for Thanksgiving, I had to stop and admire my own handiwork. Maybe it's just the pretty spots of pink provided by the cranberries, but gosh I made some good looking food!
After another recipe failed, the rolls were made using my beloved pizza dough recipe (just make balls instead of flat bread); the super simple cranberry-orange sauce came from here; and the Brussels sprouts were the roasted lemon-Parmesan ones I made here. The only really new fun was the cranberry cocktail in the upper, right corner; it came from my Nice Friend, who calls it "Cranberry Tea". For the recipe, click onward. For more pictures of our Thanksgiving fun, click here.
As I mapped out my Christmas baking, I noticed that four of the items I was planning to make fit neatly into several blog parties/carousels/challenges I've seen posted here and there. (To wit: Grow Your Own, Monthly Mingle, Festive Food Fair, and Retro Recipe Challenge.) As they're a good way to make new blog-friends, and since I've been baking my little heart out anyway, I decided it would be fun to participate. You can look forward to a little bit of holiday sweetness from me for each challenge in the following month.
But there was a small problem. Although I found four challenges that worked perfectly, I was planning to make five holiday recipes. My poor, lonely fifth recipe was going to be left out in the cold.
I just couldn't have that; after all no one should be out in the cold at Christmas-time! So, I've decided I'm going to host my own little food bloggin' party/challenge, custom made for recipe number five. Here's the plan:
The Joyous Jumble Holiday Food Challenge
December is a month of holidays--from World Aids Day to New Year's Eve, from Night of the Radishes to Boxing Day it seems like there's something to commemorate or celebrate almost every day. For this "Joyous Jumble", pick a December holiday that you would not typically celebrate and make a food associated with it. It can be sweet or savory, difficult or super simple, traditional or with your own special twist--have fun!
If you have a blog of your own, post your creation with a link back to this post (feel free to steal my little logo). Then, using the subject line "Joyous Jumble", email me at blackbird13ATgmailDOTcom with the following information:
If you don't have a blog of your own, just email me your name, a link to the recipe you used, and a picture of your holiday food.
All submissions need to be to me by December 20th. I'll post all of your marvelous creations shortly thereafter!
It's not that I don't like Thanksgiving. I'm actually very fond of Thanksgiving. Really--stuffing, chicken and noodles, pies, parades on TV, a four-day weekend--what's not to love?
It's just that, being rather young-ish still, I always celebrate at someone else's house. Which, even if I volunteer to bring a few things, leaves me without much to do in the time leading up to Thanksgiving. And without stuff to do, I get into trouble.
Because, you see, although I'm trying my darnedest to hold out until next weekend, I'm beginning to feel my fingers prickling to go dig through our big red box of decorations for that other holiday--you know, the one in December? Every year it seems that particular box starts calling me just a little bit earlier, because, after all, I don't have Thanksgiving to get ready for, so why not?
In an effort to make Thanksgiving a bit more interesting and stem the December holiday spread, for this week's poll:
What is something unique that you are thankful for? Canned answers like "family and friends" are not allowed (because we're all grateful for those if we've got 'em). Go outside the box a little--maybe something that might seem silly to everyone else, but makes you happy nonetheless? Maybe something with a little story behind it?
Comment and discuss.
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