A Few (Little) Things to Share

Last Saturday.

Ready and waiting.

Behold! My first properly soft-boiled eggs. (About time!)

A simple thing, which has multiple times eluded me. Finally a success! I need to do it again before I get too cocky but I am terribly excited!

And another exciting thing to share! It's Pepperkakor time.

Dala Horses! A whole herd!

A few gimpy ones...

I doubled the ginger, added black pepper and rolled them thinner. Quite a success. We have a lot of family cookies Miss Linda whips up every year (peanut butter blossoms, gingersnap gnomes with red iced hats, russian tea cakes/kourabiedes that my Dad calls Swedish Nut Balls etc etc) but these are my first Very Own holiday cookies. Special cookie cutter and everything!

And I bought a toaster! No more sitting on the floor watching bread toast! (or constantly burning it...)

I also bought a fat bottomed pasta pot to match my big stock pot (seen in action awaiting eggs for poaching with sauteed swiss chard on the side)

And the most A-dorable heat pillow which sits on my radiator soaking up heat and making my pillow smell like lavender. Soooo cozy.  I keep cuddling up in my blanket with it hugging my poor work worn neck as I read Jane Eyre.

And I completed my Three Day Band Ring class at Lillstreet Art Center! This was my first, a simple 22 gage sterling silver band that I punched the constellation of Orion onto.

This one was the most challenging, and I was very displeased with it for a bit. I put a sheaf of wheat through a press but the rubber cement I used to hold it in place marred the delicate impression. (I was pissed for a day.) Then I attacked it with my hack saw and punched in lines from my favorite W. Whitman poem:

"...Loafe with me on the grass-loose the stop from your throat; Not words, no music or rhyme I want-not custom or lecture, not even the best; Only the lull I like, the hum of your valved voice..." Song of Myself Pt. 5 from Leaves of Grass

I'm quite pleased with the results now, which serves me right for having an artistic hissy fit!

As that ring took 1.5 classes to complete my last project was a quick wee pinky ring made of 12 gage half-round sterling. I had actually asked for just such a ring for Christmas last year (I have a pinky ring problem.) and now have one I made myself! My camera was having a hard time focusing on something so small though. Sorry!

Not a hand model. At least you can't see my wrist which is sporting a lovely wee bruise from where I whacked it (twice) with the rubber mallet while punching holes in straps last week!

I'm home in Ohio for the Holidays but I have an Epic post coming up you will not want to miss: Gnomeageddon 2011.  Merry Christmas everybody!

"It won't be long before we'll all be there with...SNOW"

Friday morning it's entirely possible that I wrenched open my curtains, beheld the glorious snow, and proceeded to jump up and down yelling "Snoooowww!". Entirely possible. It's also possible that the 'Snow' song from White Christmas has been going through my head on repeat for the last two days. Whatever. 

I made "fancy" cornbread for breakfast to celebrate. I put fruit on top. Fancy!!! I now have a stock of frozen fruits in my freezer, Miss Linda passed on the tip to put them in my morning oatmeal to cool it down and it's brilliant. The blueberries are my favorites, with a bit of maple syrup it's a lovely winter weekday breakfast.

It's been a crazy few weeks at work. After all, once a year Souldier HQ turns into Santa's Rock n'Roll Workshop. Yay? I've been taking lots of hot baths, and lying in bed, and making easy foods.

I have managed to get my wee tinsel tree up and adorned it with ornaments. My straw wreath is hung on the back of my apartment door and there are three little Dala horses hiding around my room.

And the Tree in a Can is being burnt on a daily basis.

But it really wasn't until the snow came that I was feeling that special Holiday feeling. I do love this time of year, all the lights, the songs, it's a sensation overload! On Roku you can get a channel that's a burning Yule log AND classic Christmas songs AT THE SAME TIME.

I've also begun the watching of the Ridiculous Holiday Movies. It's a sickness really. Miss Linda and I are obsessed. "Borrowed Hearts is on Netflix!!!" "Oh man have you seen the one with the soldier and the Christmas card yet?! That's so the best!!" Next up in my Queue is The Christmas Bunny. THE CHRISTMAS BUNNY. And of course there are the legitimately good holiday movies: While You Were Sleeping, Home for the Holidays, The Ref, Shop Around the Corner, Family Stone, White Christmas etc etc. I may try to see Meet Me in St. Louis this year, I've never seen the whole thing! Judy Garland singing 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas' makes me cry without fail. And when they use it in Family Stone I flat out weep!

What are your favorite Holiday movies??

"Home, let me come home, home is wherever I'm with you" E. Sharpe & The Mag. Zeros

I've been whistling that song ever since i heard it all weekend.  It sounds like home to me. Goofy yet completely sincere. But I'm never really sure which home I'm referring to...I call my apartment home. I call my parent's house home. Ohio is home. Chicago is home. Hell, the mountains of the Blue Ridge feel like home since I've loved them my whole life. And lucky me I travelled to all three homes this week!

First in a bus, then a car, then another car, then back in a car, then finally a bus to a train to my apartment door.

This is my home in Virginia. My Grandaddys' house. It's been the same since I can remember.

Familiar faces, young and old.

I love turning off the highway into the tiny town, onto a rougher road, then a gravel road and finally bumping up the steeeeeep driveway to the house. And the smell!! Oh Lordie! Red dirt and wet loam. Very crisp. If there was a candle that could replicate it I'd burn it every day.

Of course this visit was too short.
Saying goodbye to Grandaddy's mountain, until next time.

And this is my dearest home. The quiet hills and fields of Ohio. 

Miss Linda and I went on a long walk in the Arboretum. Some things are just the same, but there's lots of new things to see and explore too. Sadly, it was too late in the year to say hello to the frogs who live under this dock. But we checked anyways. Just in case. 

Then we came home and made these.

Two days earlier a bunch of Sandins had trooped into my Great Uncle's house for Thanksgiving dinner, arms loaded with food. He set to work in the kitchen putting it all together (whenever someone asked what they could do to help he would hand them a box and say "read what it says, then do it."). Meanwhile, my Grandaddy quietly puttered around for a few minutes, sat down at the dining room table, arranged things to his liking and proceeded to make up a plateful of sandwiches.  Y'know, in case someone was hungry and couldn't wait an hour for dinner. I ate two.

Grandaddy's Thanksgiving Sandwiches:

A soft roll with butter spread on one side and Durkee's Famous Sauce (Famous Sauce!!!) on the other.

Ok, he was a purist and just used country ham but I added lettuce this time (shhh!).  If you're lucky a nice slice or two of brisket also tastes divine.

I washed these down with beer. I urge you to do the same. 

And these aren't my Aunt Evy's pickles but they'll have to do.

Ahh, home, let me come home, home is wherever I'm with you!

One is Silver and the Other's Gold

I had two special visitors last weekend, Miss Lizbeth and Miss Amy drove up to these northern lands to spend the weekend with me! It was a truly delightful time, the three of us chattering away, walking through Chicago and generally being our ridiculous selves.  Some highlights include: multiple trips to Amy's Candy Bar (see the chocolate covered orange peel above); our own Amy flying down the sidewalk on top of a rolling cart (for a few feet until she went face first into the sidewalk!); and waiting in line for 20 minutes to ride an elevator 96 floors to just use the restroom (to be fair, it is the second best view in the whole city! and free!). And of course the scones Lizbeth made us for breakfast! 

She also gave me one of the best hostess gifts ever: A Taste of Ohio.  Homegrown salsa, homemade apple butter and Branstool peaches. 

It was an amazing weekend, and I'll treasure it for a long while. It's strange how these two dear girls, who I've known since I was little, fit so well into my life here.  I guess I haven't changed much! And it has been rather funny to explain to people how Lizbeth's parents were best friends to my friend W's parents and we became friends while running track. And how Amy was Lizbeth's neighbor who I met at the graduation party of her brother and his best friend who happened to be my neighbor and we became friends in art class...yay for small towns. 

I also acquired a new addition to my kitchen with the help of those charming ladies! They spotted it out front of one of the antique stores down the street, I fell in love, we haggled, and then hauled the thing three blocks to my building! (Pardon the mess, I'm usually very tidy I swear!!)

It needs a little bit of love, I already thwacked the top off and re-set it and intend to cover the top in oilcloth and wrap the insides in liner paper. I've taken to calling it The Cabinet. Though I'm not planning on keeping any somnambulists in it. Just pots.

I has already proven its worth when I made pepparkakor this week. That slide out surface is perfect for holding cookie sheets! They were delicious and I'm bummed I hadn't had time to buy this little guy:

Next time: Dala Horse Pepparkakor! GET READY!

 As if that wasn't Swede enough I also bought this: a "coffee is the best of all earthly drinks" mug. The irony being that I drink it so rarely my guests are forced to walk a block to get some since I keep none in the house! Tea is my favorite of the earthly drinks. And I have plenty.

I'm bussing out tomorrow for an epic Thanksgiving break, no idea when I'll be posting again. But don't worry. I'll be eating.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday to you, Mumbles

Well, next weekend is the one year Birthday of this little Blog. Happy Birthday to the Mumbles!
I've got house guests coming next weekend so I'm celebrating a bit early! I made Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese frosting, the same from last November (but only half the frosting this time...), for dessert.

Then a truly spectacular Donna Hay dish for dinner.  Miss Linda had gone on for a full five minutes about this dish during a phone call a few weeks ago, so I fancied I'd give it a go. It's one of Miss Hay's One Dish Dinners from the 51st issue of her magazine. The gorgeousness is in it's simplicity, which as a lazy person I really appreciate.

All you do is heat your oven to 400 degrees. Peel and chop two sweet potatoes, toss them and four chicken thighs in olive oil with S&P, arrange on a cookie sheet (one with sides!) and roast in the oven for 15 minutes.  Then add two slices of rustic bread torn into bite sized pieces, some halved cherry tomatoes, and 1/3 c pine nuts. Roast for another 10-15 minutes until chicken is fully cooked. Then toss with spinach leaves and 1 tbs red wine vinegar to serve.

Another version is to use carrots and parsnips instead of sweet potatoes, covering them in a sauce of 2 tbs honey, 2 tbs olive oil, S&P, and two crushed cloves of garlic. Roast for 15 minutes. Then add four pork chops and top with 2/3 c parmesan cheese.  Roast for 10-12 more minutes.

Of course, being ornery I decided to mix the two recipes and use carrots, parsnips and chicken, adding the bread and rosemary sprigs.  The rosemary smelled simply divine and the bread sops up the pan juices.  Awesome. I really like this method of preparation for roasts, so many possibilities! Sweet potato and red onion? Acorn squash? And the dark meat of the chicken is so good, but I will be trying the chops for sure.

Other than roasting things in my oven, it's been a lovely quiet weekend. I watched the most recent Jane Eyre, and oh my goodness is it perfect! Watched it twice. Might run off to the moors to wander about in a cape. I forgot how creepy that story can be, and there's so much going on! Ghosts! Madness! All the religious thoughts people were thinking at that time! The role of women! Good heavens. It's about time I re-read that book...

I have to finish Pirate King first though. And a book of Walt Whitman poetry. And the Design Sponge book. And I just put Carl Larsson's Home on hold at the library.  So i'll get around to Jane eventually.

It's been interesting to read over the past year of Mumbles, overall I'm pretty happy with it. I've managed to update pretty regularly, but it's mostly just listing off the things I did that weekend with some photos.  It takes time to make a full proper post! Hmmm. I would like to work on my photos more. Perhaps some with people in them?! And roast a whole chicken. And make doughnuts (I have figured out how to use yeast after all!). And many other little tasties. Which I can then share with you, either in person if you're lucky or though the interwebs.

So here's to another good year, thank you for reading!