Sunday baking with a side of rain

This morning I chose another recipe from The Southern Cookie Book to try out, molasses-spice crinkle cookies. With a lot of trial and error between the batches, I finally found the right temperature and time for these cookies. My mistake was trying to use a cookie scoop instead of using my hands to roll the dough into 1 inch balls. My cookie scoop was giving me slightly larger cookies, which meant a guessing game between the temperature and time.

Note to self, don't use the cookie scoop when it calls for you to roll the dough!

This afternoon I made some Ceylon tea that my friend Amanda had brought back with her from Canada. It was a perfect pairing for the cookies. I sipped my tea while watching a gully washer outside.

Until next time >___< 

Saturday Crafting

I spent Saturday finishing up details on various amigurumis. I had ordered some nice keyring clasps from Amazon and used those to make some of my smaller amigurumis into keychains.

The top image of amigurumis are my finishes so far this month. I am especially proud of the sushi roll. It is crocheted using joined rounds.

I know it doesn't seem like a big deal, but the majority of amigurumi patterns are stitched using continuous rounds and I could never seem to get the hang of crocheting with joined rounds, but YouTube is always your best friend when you need crochet tutorials. I found this great video by Hookabee. It explains how to crochet in joined rounds and the best part is the fact that you can clearly see what she is doing.

I have two more amigurumis to finish this month. The finish line is in sight!!!

Until next time >___<

Cross stitch stash!!!

The cross stitch patterns I ordered from Down Sunshine Lane came in earlier in this week.

I picked several patterns from JBW Designs: the French Country air balloon, owl, and pineapple patterns and her Rabbit Alphabet pattern.

Who is surprised that I bought the Country Cottage Needleworks Aftternoon in London pattern? Show of hands....none, good because no one should be surprised...if you are, shame on you!

Browsing their foreign designers section, I found a lovely pattern called Sweet Christmas by an Italian company called Cuore e Batticuore. It features, you guessed it, desserts and cookies. It looks beautiful :)

Now I just need some fabric....perhaps in August I'll have some time to search for some lovely linen colors for the Afternoon in London and Sweet Christmas patterns.

Decisions, decisions!!

Until next time >___<

Saltine Cracker Candy

I found a book called The Southern Cookie Book by Southern Living while at the library. I found an interesting recipe in the candy section for saltine cracker candy.

Now I LOVE saltine crackers. My sister and I would eat them by the packfuls when my grandmother brought them home from the store when we were kids. Plain, with peanut butter, or cheese. How can a plain salty cracker be so good? I have no idea, but I thank the gods for inspiring someone in the past to invent crackers.

I got myself sidetracked....I need to stop drooling....darn saltine crackers!

Anywho, I decided to try this recipe and while it came out okay, I think I'll change some things the next time I make them.

1. Don't line the entire pan with crackers. Leave some space between them otherwise when you add the toffee mixture, the crackers will float to the top.

2. Do not use the microwave to melt the butter and brown sugar. My microwave separated the butter and brown sugar, which surprisingly still made a toffee, but I think it might have been better if I melted them in a saucepan on the stove.

3. Leave the chocolate to melt a bit longer on the top before adding the walnuts because they didn't adhere to the chocolate very much.

Otherwise, this was delicious recipe that I will definitely try again in the future. The chocolate/toffee flavor is perfect for the fall or winter!!

If you see this book, please pick it up and try some recipes!!

Until next time >___<

Mug Cakes 101

Hi, everyone! While at the library recently, I found a book on mug cakes. I have always been skeptical of mug cakes because microwaves can be devilish.

I put the book in my bag and once I got home, I flicked through the pages until I found a recipe that I actually had all the ingredients for in the cabinets.

With brown sugar on hand, I decided to try the brown sugar cake. I was surprised that my mug cake came out baked on the lowest time setting in the instructions. I mean really, when does that ever happen? Never!!!

The recipe makes enough for two mug cakes. I took some granulated sugar and cinnamon and mixed them together for the topping on the cakes.

Giving one to my mom, she swears it is even better with milk. I've mentioned she's a dingy bird sometimes, right? I can't feed her anything without an addition. Lol

Thoughts: mug cakes actually work and will do when you need a sugar fix without breaking out your baking supplies and preheating the oven. But truth be told, nothing beats traditional baking.

Until next time >___<

June Recap

Recap:

Read:
1. I Am Princess X by Cherie Priest
2. Clementine by Cherie Priest
3. Cold Blooded by Amanda Carlson
4. Hot Blooded by Amanda Carlson
5. Below Stairs by Margaret Powell
6. Hellbent by Cherie Priest
7. Servants' Hall by Margaret Powell
8. Dreadnought by Cherie Priest
9. Paris Letters by Janice MacLeod
10. Poison or Protect by Gail Carriger
11. Daughters of the Samurai by Janice Nimura

Crafts:
Amigurumis as per usual. Not as many as the months before. Mostly just finishing up details on earlier creations.

Stitching:
Started the 'This is How I Roll' cross stitch pattern - only half a day stitching.

Any favorites last month? Not particularly as everything I read was good. Same goes for crocheting and stitching.

I was hoping to put the crochet hook down this month, but I made the mistake of asking sister whether I should add anything else to the amigurumi lineup for the convention later this month. So back to the grindstone, not that I'm too disappointed. Any crafting is a good time.

In other news, Down Sunshine Lane was having a sale on their website. You may remember that I got a gift card from my aunt for my birthday last month. I was patiently waiting (ha!) for a sale on DSL before purchasing more cross stitch stash.

My goodies should be here tomorrow! Future stitching bliss!

I hope you have a great 4th!

Until next time >___<

Saturday Antiques!

Hi, everyone! Today I decided to go antiquing, something that I haven't done in quite a while since I've been trying to be 'good' about expenses. But since it was a nice day today and I finished paying my bills off for the month, I decided to treat myself to window shopping in the antique world and came away with a few things.

My first stop was Antiques at the Loop on S. Florida Street. They used to be on Airport Blvd, but they moved locations a while ago and I hadn't been to the new location until today. I'm not a fan of the new location one: because Florida Street is a bit tricky....it has a wonky island median thing when you are trying to get back to Airport Blvd......who constructed that thing?!?!?! Ugh....thank goodness for Google Maps. I just needed to get down the street to Airport, LOL, you think it wouldn't be a challenge except for that random median thing.......totally threw me for a loop....thanks to the random British voice on Google Maps I was able to get back where I needed to be.

The other reason I'm not a fan of the new location is the lighting in the building. It's quite dim in some parts, which is a hindrance when you are trying to look at antiques. You can't really gauge the quality of something that way.

Besides all that, there were some GORGEOUS antiques in the store. First picture up top is an antique sampler. They wanted $650 for it. No, you read that correctly......it's beautiful, but my goodness, so very expensive!

Victorian period sailor's anchor made of shells.

A lovely display of vintage handkerchiefs.

An adorable oil painting of a girl with quite a plethora of bunnies!!!

A porcelain doll with a pincushion dress.

A 1960s dress. I showed the picture to my mom and she said 'Yep, that's the 60s alright.'

For my friend Angela on Thoughtful Ramblings, I took a picture of this fun display of hats :)

After browsing through Antiques at the Loop and I drove over to Cotton City Antiques. I think their store is more reasonable priced. They do have some expensive antiques, especially the furniture, but usually the rest of the store's selection is doable when you are on a budget.

They had this lovely crewel work picture of a windmill scene (pictured above).

A whole selection of sewing supplies with antique scissors, pincushions, needle books, and lots and lots of buttons!

I wanted this sampler so much!!!! But it was $175 so sadly it couldn't come home with me. It's a Victorian motto sampler from 1876. I want to say it is done on a perforated paper type material, but I couldn't get close enough to tell.

A gorgeous pie safe for $1200. Our local museum in town has one of these types of cabinets, but it is not nearly as large as the one I saw today. I am amazed to see one in the 'wild'.

Another beautiful Victorian motto sampler.

Yet another one! It's motto sampler day! LOL

A classic sampler, which wasn't finished by its owner.

Now on to my haul! Mwahahaha. Don't worry, it isn't too much.

Part of my antique expedition today was to search for a nice plate for my baked confections. I've been taking photos on random plates at home and I really wanted something nicer.

I saw this milk glass 'snack set' when I first walked in the door of the antique store. I decided to walk around the store before committing myself to buying it.

It was a steal for $7. Nothing fancy, just lovely in white with a lovely grape motif.

And you know me, part of my haul if at all possible will be books of some sort. I came away with some lovely fairy tale picture books from the 1960s and 70s along with an Asian tales book.

I also got a Christmas gift, but I can't show it to you until December because my sneaky friends look at my blog from time to time. Don't want to ruin the surprise!!!

All in all, it was a great day for antiquing. I wish I could do it more often, but I don't have that much room to buy whatever I want willy nilly which is a darn shame!

Until next time ^____^

Sunday Baking - Blonde Brownies and a Birthday

Good evening everyone! This morning I whipped up a batch of blonde brownies. And yes, they weren't normal brownies. I ended up adding a bag of crispy s'mores M&Ms to the batter.

My sister had me pick up a bag of the M&Ms when we saw them a couple of weeks ago. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them and then I thought to add them to a brownie recipe.

I went with a blonde brownie recipe I found in our copy of Betty Crocker's Cookbook because I thought the taste of the candies wouldn't get lost in a blonde brownie compared to your normal chocolate brownie batter.

My aunt and uncle liked them. My mom wasn't a fan. She told me I had to stop adding strange things to my batters. Lol She's such a traditionalist. It's not like I was adding squid ink to the cookies or anything!!!

After making the brownies, I took a trip across the bay to the World Market. Bought some chai filled chocolate and some Kinder chocolate. Wandered over to Michael's in search of Issac Mizrahi yarn. They didn't have any of his sparkly yarn left, but I was able to buy a lovely new color of Caron Simply Soft yarn called neon coral.

No trip across the bay is complete without stopping at Barnes and Noble. I ended up buying an issue of Simply Crochet, which had some lovely Oriental themed patterns, and a sci-fi book that caught my eye.

Coming back across the bay and through downtown Government Street, I noticed someone had bought the house I have been eyeballing for a while. It is a dilapidated Victorian house with a tower. I think it was a foreclosure. I was worried that the city would tear it down, but much to my surprise someone bought it and started to renovate it!!! Seeing people giving older homes a new life always makes me happy. Especially with a city as old as ours :)

Later this afternoon my family got together to celebrate my birthday with presents and cupcakes.

I got a bunch of books (bookworm, remember?!), DVDs, Starbucks mug, gift cards for craft stores (woohoo for yarn and cross stitch addiction) and Starbucks ( yum!). My aunt got me a gift card for Down Sunshine Lane's website. I can't wait to buy new cross stitch patterns! Now I have to sit down and figure out which ones I really want.....there are so many!!

My mom got me two new brooches, a spring hat with flowers and an adorable fox.

She also got me a Kitchen-Aid handmixer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YES!!! Not that I hate the Sunbeam handmixer I have been using, but it is slowly giving up the ghost. This morning I had to hold the plug to the outlet for a few seconds to keep it mixing.

So I am very happy to get a new mixer. I can put the Sunbeam handmixer in retirement. Who knows, I might actually see if someone can fix it as a backup for the Kitchen-Aid handmixer because the Sunbeam is a trooper from the 1980s. That's a lot of baking!!!

Hmm.....I can't decide what to make first with my new handmixer......to be traditional or non-traditional, that is the question.

Until next time >___<

Sunday Baking - Pecan Cookies

This morning I tried a British cookie recipe from another semi-finalist from The Great British Bake Off, Ruby Tandoh. She published a book last year called Crumb. My sister and I refer to Ruby as the Eeyore of her season. She was always doubting herself and apologizing for her recipes.

I tried her recipe for pecan cookies, which turned out great. The only change I made to the recipe was the toasting time for the pecans. It called for 8-10 minutes, but the pecans were just beginning to start to taste burnt at the 8 minute mark. I ended up toasting the pecans for 5 minutes.

The recipe yields 25 delicious cookies that remind me of Keebler's pecan sandies, but that taste 200% better because they are homemade.

I will be honest. These cookies did not last long. We have been eating them all day. We are down to five cookies, which I am determined not to eat because I want the guys in my department to try them.

If you see Ruby's book at the bookstore or library, it is worth picking up!!!

Until next time >___<

Saturday Fun - Geeky Cross Stitch Find

Yesterday I ran by Michael's to see if they had any more skeins of Issac Mizrahi's premier line of yarn. I was able to find one skein of black....the only other colors they had were a bunch of brown and grey and one lonely skein of purple. I might have to run to the Michael's store across the bay next weekend and see if they have the other colors in the line. Their website was no help at all...grrr....

Buyers remorse! I should have bought more of the Barrymore color when we were there last weekend, I just didn't think I would like it so much (°_°)

Afterwards I ran by Hobby Lobby to see what felt I could find in sparkly colors. Stopping by the cross stitch section, I saw this geeky cross stitch pattern for a sushi kitty. I almost didn't get it, but it was on sale which made it the same price it would be if I ordered it online so into my basket it went.

It's amazing that nothing else made it into my basket because they have quite a lot of new patterns in that section.......temptation!!!!

I told my friend Kristina about the sushi kitty and she wanted it too. Since I'm not going to use the kit's Aida or threads, I will be passing it along to her after I'm done with it in July.

I am using 32ct cream Belfast linen by Wichelt with normal DMC threads from my stash. The only thing I'll have to buy for Kristina is more seed beads if the kit doesn't come with extras.