What a Life!

Exactly how I feel right about now.

May the weekend be long and relaxing!

[Go here to see the entire set. It’s a hoot!]

When I saw this project featured over at Knit Picks, I fell in love. Not only did I love the shape of the bag and how they used entrelac to do it, I absolutely loved the colors.

Except for one. Fern. An ugly green. I’m not much for green, much less ugly green. So I subbed Maple Syrup for the ugly green [the brown in the picture].

I got the yarn, and then I had my doubts. I even held off on knitting the project, worrying that maybe I would have liked the ugly green better.

This morning I finished working the entrelac squares around the middle of the bag. And I am absolutely in love with the colors I chose and how they look together. What can I say?

I can hardly wait to finish this and start carrying my knitting around in it. That’s what you call a good knitting project – great yarn in great colors, interesting to knit and fun to use when it’s done.

Now if only I had more time to knit…

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Fudge Brownies

A few weeks ago at our Wednesday night knitting get-together, someone mentioned King Arthur flour – that even though it was twice as expensive as other brands, it was really good, and once you used it, you would never go back.

Consider me a convert.

I tried their bread flour first. On the package was a recipe for Oatmeal Bread. I use a Bosch to make my bread. You add flour until the dough is the right consistency and then let the machine knead the bread. I added everything in the order they said, got it to the right consistency, and let it roll. Then the dough got heavier and heavier and heavier. I thought it was a disaster, but it turned out to be some of the nicest bread I ever made. [I think the oatmeal was a little slow on the uptake for absorbing the liquid, making it seem like I’d added too much flour long after I quit adding it.]

Cheese Rolls – read to go in the oven

I checked out the King Arthur’s Baking Companion from the library and have been trying recipes galore.

• I made No-Knead Deep-Dish Pizza for Ben’s birthday while Mom and Dad were here. It’s the closest I’ve come to making Chicago-style pizza crust at home. I love Chicago-style pizza.
• I made Beautiful Burger Buns for our hamburgers on the 4th of July and Barbeques that Saturday night. The nicest over-sized onion burger buns I’ve ever eaten.
• Right next to the Beautiful Burger Buns is a recipe for Cheese Rolls. My Horn Rolls are incredibly light and delicious – these rolls made their glory fade in comparison.
• The Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies were okay and went quickly at the potluck I took them to, but I still think no chocolate chip cookies measure up to Butter Crisco’s Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies.
• The Devil’s Food Cake recipe I used for Ben’s Thomas the Train Cake was nothing to write home about.
• I had almost decided that their flour was good for bread but not sweets when I decided to try the recipe for Fudge Brownies on the side of their unbleached flour bag. I’m a sucker for brownies – fudgy brownies. Those brownies were better than any brownies I’ve ever eaten. In the cookbook, they have a recipe that is very similar – Raspberry Truffle Brownie Bars. We’ll just say I’ve already started my grocery list for next weekend (I usually shop on Thursday or Friday), and the ingredients for these are at the top of the list.

Beautiful Burger Buns

My mom always made homemade bread when I was a kid, and I must confess, I always thought it a treat when we got to eat store-bought bread. I’ve had the Bosch for ten years, but I’ve only made bread occasionally. I make good rolls and such, but every day bread just wasn’t worth the time or the trouble.

Until now.

I have a feeling my boys are going to grow up thinking store-bought bread is a treat, too. Just because it’s something different. Poor things!

No, I have not been taking cake decorating classes.

My only expertise is the hours I spent watching my mom practice and decorate cakes when I was a little girl. She’d do all these practice roses on wax paper, and then scrape them into a bowl and use the icing to practice with it some more, which was always disappointing to me because I love the taste of buttercream icing and wanted to eat them.

I can’t do a rose or any of the pretty flowers she made, but I can do simple stuff like stars. And fins on a fish. Steve was pretty impressed with the fins.

I did call my mom more than once about the consistency of the icing. At first I am sure it was too thick. But in the end, I think it was a little too thin. It held its shape, but it was sloppy. Next time.

Yes, next time. Now the precedent has been sent. What will I do for Joey’s birthday?

Click on the photo to see more pictures over on Flickr, if you wish.

The best birthday gift ever…a bag with a window in it.