August 2011 – Page 2

Lisa, Sarah, and Jeni

32 Comments / August 14, 2011 August 14, 2011 / Books

A few weeks ago, Lisa and Sarah had a super cool giveaway and I was the lucky winner. The prize was that I could pick any book (within reason) that I wanted from the Book Depository. How cool and generous is that? I’d had my eye on the Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream book for a few weeks, so that’s the book I picked.

It’s really a fun book and this morning I finally got a little time to try a few recipes. TheManoftheHouse even helped and we had some fun. The first recipe we tried was the Salted Caramel Ice Cream. The book says it’s their number one best seller. I love caramel, so it sounded like a perfect fit. The ice cream note says “Initial notes of burnt sugar give way to a mouthwatering salty-sweet balance.” It’s really a yummy, smooth ice cream, but holy cow, is it ever salty! I think next time I’ll cut the salt in half. The description was right on target — you taste that burnt sugar taste first. It’s hard to tell from the picture, but our ice cream is a little darker than Jeni’s sample, so our “burnt” might be a little more “burnt” than Jeni’s. We were pretty careful, but I think next time I won’t cook it quite as long. I’d definitely love to try it again. (HERE’s the recipe, if you’d like to give it a go.)

We made a second batch and “The Darkest Chocolate Ice Cream in the World” is currently in the freezer freezing. We’ll try that tomorrow. This book is crammed full of recipes — some are a bit weird (Chamomile Chardonnay anyone?) but there are lots of recipes that we’ll surely attempt. Oooh, and look…if I back the camera up a bit, you can see that the Salted Caramel matches the new kitchen wall paint.

It’s a golden carmel-y tan. Depending on the sun, sometimes it looks gold. And sometimes tan. And sometimes like baby diaper poop. But that’s a topic for another post.

Lisa and Sarah — Thank You SOOO much for the wonderful gift! TheManoftheHouse and I are looking forward to lots more ice cream fun! I would say something like “if you haven’t been to A Spoonful of Sugar blog you’re missing a real gem”, but I’m pretty sure that like me, you have them at the top of your reader!

XOXO,
Anna

Twin 1 and Twin 2

50 Comments / August 11, 2011 August 11, 2011 / Cupcakes

A few months ago, my little friend at work announced that she is expecting twins in October. We’re all very excited for her and, of course, I spent lots of time dreaming of a fun baby shower with one of those beautiful dessert tables that you see all over the internet. I was smacked back into reality when I realized 1) my house would be torn up all summer, and 2) if you want work people to attend any sort of “shower” you need to plan it over a lunch hour.

Even though it would be a quick event (we decided to go to Pizza Hut so that guests could choose the salad/pizza buffet and we wouldn’t have to wait on orders for a group), I decided that we should be able to have a little fun with it. The internet came to my rescue when I saw several references that converted Dr. Suess’s Thing 1 and Thing 2 to Twin 1 and Twin 2. If you’ve been reading along here, you know how crazy I am about The Things. So, we started with an invitation.

Then, we moved on to cupcakes, made in the same style as the rehearsal dinner cupcakes. Twin 1 and Twin 2 cupcakes were definitely not my finest cupcake hour, but the ladies seemed ok with them.

Luckily, Pizza Hut let me decorate a little bit. I covered the tables with white plastic and “created” a table runner by folding my Twin 1 and Twin 2 fabric in on the sides. A few balloon centerpieces, a few sprinkles and the cupcakes and we had a simple, quick table.

There was an awkward moment when they asked me where I got the “twin” fabric. Ummm…I just had it? ‘Cause, you know, everyone has a bunch of Dr. Suess fabric just lying around, don’t they? I’m sure glad I didn’t have to show them my stash. It’s better if your non-quilting coworkers don’t know the depths of your illness.

Anyway, everything went well and we all had a good time. And when we returned to the office, we offered the real twins a cupcake. They had to share.

Have a great weekend!
XOXO,
Anna

Weekend ChitChat

23 Comments / August 7, 2011 August 7, 2011 / Chat, Cupcakes

Did you all have a wonderful weekend? We got rain! Woohoo! It’s been so dry here — I finally mowed for the first time in 5 weeks. Fortunately the rain held off during the two hour drive to visit TheFirstChild. He bought some furniture when he was here for BigDaddy’s birthday and we delivered it yesterday — strapped to the top of the car.

Today, I decided to try a new cupcake recipe. When MyDadLovesMeBestSister called, I told her about the new recipe and she said something like “Why would you try a new recipe when you have that recipe that everyone loves?” I love the Magnolia Cupcake Recipe, but sometimes the cake part seems too dense and dry. I found this new recipe via Pinterest (it’s an addiction!) and it was billed as the perfect cupcake recipe.

It was pretty darn good, and I liked the texture, but it was lacking that rich perfect vanilla flavor in the Magnolia recipe. So, I think it’s back to the Magnolia recipe next time.

There was also a little internet surfing this weekend. I don’t know how it happened, but I stumbled upon this video:

Just another reason to make me really want an iPad. I’ve always loved children’s books and it’s amazing to me how they’re changing for new generations of children. I hope nothing will ever replace a child sitting on his parent’s lap while being read a story. But those animated, interactive illustrations. Wow! I think it’s pretty exciting!

While I was hopping around on the internet, I also read that William Joyce has a new series of books coming out, starting next month. The series is called the Guardians of Childhood. In an interview, William Joyce said “We have a mythology for superman and batman, but we don’t have a mythology for the guys we actually believed in.” In these new books, he’ll create a “mythology” for The Man in the Moon, the Sandman, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, Mother Goose and Santa Claus. I love that he calls them “The Guardians of Childhood” — it does feel like they kept our childhood safe, doesn’t it?

I’m not really sure how I feel about someone else defining “my” childhood characters though. I’ve always thought that the beauty of these characters is that we all have our own visions for them, and based on what I’ve read about The Man in the Moon, “my” characters won’t really line up with the ones that William Joyce is creating. So, I might just be enjoying his beautiful illustrations.

Ok. Enough ChitChat for now. Have a good week!
XOXO,
Anna

A Ghastlie Night

38 Comments / August 3, 2011 August 7, 2011 / Holidays, Quilting

Wow — thanks so much for all of your wonderful comments about Dad. It was really fun to read them all. Dad was pretty excited that people on the other side of the world know that he had a birthday. Isn’t the internet an amazing thing?

After Dad’s birthday this weekend, the stars all aligned and I managed to sew. WooHoo! It felt SO good — I’d been having major Hester withdrawal. I HAD to sew — the new Ghastlies arrived and I was beside myself with excitement.

I mean — LOOK! It’s the long awaited knitting witches. I LOOOOVE them! I made the ghastlie quilts before the knitting witches were available. If I’d known there were going to be knitting witches, I would have waited to make the quilts. The only thing better would be quilting witches. (Hmmm, maybe that will be on the next line?)

Anyway, since the knitting witches aren’t in the quilts, I decided I’ll make some pillows to coordinate with the quilts. Well, ok, just one pillow for now. I did an envelope back with orange buttons and put a little ghastlie cat on the back. PaulKitty decided to pose for a picture with his new kitty buddy. Do you think they look alike?

I occasionally get questions about how I made the ghastlie quilts, so I made a page with some ghastlie quilt info. It’s not even close to step by step instructions, but hopefully the info will be helpful to anyone who would like to make their own ghastlie quilt.

I also had a lot of requests for the original ghastlie fabric but I didn’t have any. So, this time, I put some of the new ghastlie fabric, “a ghastlie night”, on my fun fabric page in the Thimbleanna store. (Update: The Ghastlies are all sold out — Thank you so much for your orders!) There are three main scenes in “a ghastlie night”, as shown below (the knitters, the Dr. and a big dinner table scene). I think I love this new print even more than the original one for quilt backs – the ghastlies are much more social this time around.

Now I can’t wait for Halloween to decorate — it’s just around the corner you know! ;-)

XOXO,
Anna

Month: August 2011