Treats for a cold winter's day

I learned a very long time ago how to make pie crust like my Grandma used to make.  It probably isn't very different than so many other recipes, but I almost always know that even if my pie doesn't turn out the way I hope... my pie crust is a winner every time.  My Grandma gave me the recipe when I was maybe 13 or 14.  I did not tell my Mom where I got the recipe for a very long time... it was my secret between me and my Father's Mom.  The secret to the recipe is essentially buttermilk... but my Grandma used whole milk with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in it.  I have tweaked the original recipe a little over the years, but the vinegar in the milk remains a constant.

For a while I used Crisco only, then I wanted to take it up a notch and made it half Crisco and half butter... not to be confused with margarine.  That worked fine until I started questioning exactly what Crisco was.  A couple years ago I threw away my last can of Crisco. I now use lard in place of anything I would have used Crisco for.  In reality, it is in the same category as margarine and I swore off margarine years ago.

My recipe typically makes enough dough for 2 two crust pies.  If they aren't very large pies I have enough dough left after the last crust to make some roll-up treats with the remaining dough. No dough goes to waste.  Those roll-up treats usually have butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and sometimes nuts.  Yesterday I took it to a new level, I added some dried cranberries with the nuts.  Made a really yummy treat.

Should you be interested in the recipe, I have no issues with sharing.  Leave me a note in the comments and I will post it.

Learn something new every day...

The last few days I have acquired a new understanding of how to make bread.  I figure I have made bread for at least 50 years, and for the most part I have done a pretty good job of it. So my thought was, I probably knew all that I would ever need to know about making bread.  Somehow I stumbled on an online recipe that I wanted to try and I scrolled down to read a couple reviews on it.  In the review there was reference to a book that this lady just loved.  I went to Amazon to see if I could find the book with the hopes of the link "look inside" being next to the book... and it was there.  I was able to read several pages that inspired me to order the book... there was no digital version.  In the review the lady also noted that she has not bought bread in the store since she retired 10 years ago, which got me thinking on Ron's comment recently about the bread we have been buying at the store... how it was so dry and we needed to try another brand or something.

Yesterday I used some of my new knowledge regarding the art of making bread, and made a loaf of Oatmeal bread... we typically buy our oatmeal in large quantity boxes at Sam's.  Somehow I thought we were out when we went on one of our Sam's runs and bought another box of oatmeal, then when we got home I found a box already there.  So Oatmeal bread seemed like a good idea to use up some of the abundance of oatmeal we had on hand.

In the excerpts of the book I read, there was also reference to kneading the bread using a stand mixer.  It seems there is really a significance on how long you knead your bread dough, and how long you let your bread rise, and the temperature of the water, and oh yes... very big new info for me... weighing instead of measuring your dry ingredients.  I measured first and then put it on my scale and had to take out a tablespoon or two.  All of these... and so much more, has such an impact on the end result.  I had no idea. 

This morning Ron asked if it was okay to use some of my Oatmeal bread to make French toast... he saw Garth make French toast glazed with cinnamon for Trisha last night on her cooking show on FoodNetwork.  Ron did an awesome job on making the French toast, but I have to tell you that the Oatmeal bread definitely made a big difference... best French toast I can remember in a very long time.  I am not a syrupy kind of person anyhow, but the French toast he made really needed nothing added to make them perfect.

I used to think that air pockets were a given and the more air in the bread, the lighter and fluffier it would be.  Well I made this loaf using some of what I learned and my air pockets were much smaller and the bread was so light.  A truly remarkable difference.

Hairpin Lace

A couple days ago I grabbed a couple bags off the shelf in the basement to see if there was anything inside that was worth hanging onto.  My sewing/quilting room here is much larger than my previous one, but I had three different areas in Texas to store crafty things I wasn't using... unfinished projects, etc. What I lack here is extra room for storage. I had seen this old vintage tapestry bag that I knew was not mine, and pretty sure it was not my mother's either.  Inside I found a project that I knew looked like a familiar crochet type project, but I could not remember what it was called.  I knew I had done the technique before... but it was likely close to 40 years ago.  I did a little poking around and was able to identify the technique, and a YouTube video to review how to do Hairpin Lace.

Hairpin Lace requires the use of a loom and a crochet hook and a basic knowledge of how to crochet.  It turns out that this project, bag and loom belonged to Ron's grandmother.  There probably is enough yarn in the bag to finish a baby afghan.  The yarn still seems to be in pretty good condition, but then it has been closed up in a tapestry bag for a very long time, so no real exposure to the elements.  There were probably 4 strips done and woven together.  The 5th strip was about half done and I really thought it would be worth finishing, so I went back to the video to help refresh my memory on how to get the strip done. It seems that lots of new variations have been created since I last did any Hairpin Lace, but it did not take long to finish the one strip that had been started on the loom using a basic stitch.  When I took it off the loom and wove it onto the others, it looked like a good option for a scarf for a little girl.  Not sure that our 6 year old grand-daughter will even want it, but I finished it as a scarf, complete with tassels.
The significance of the scarf... even though I am sure that was not the initial intent, is that it was started by our Grand-daughter's Great Great Grandmother.

Fun Quilts

January has already been a busy one. These two quilts have been pieced for quite some time, but before I could send them to their new home, they needed a little brother quilt to accompany them. If not for Ben I might have never known who this Dragon was.  Minecraft has a multitude of characters to choose from, but the Ender Dragon I thought was the most impressive.

Snow

Weather guy on TV noted that it was 1,057 days since there was this much snow in a storm. Although snow was not on our list of things we missed from the north while we were in Texas, if you don't have to get out to go somewhere, it really is pretty. 













 With our short driveway and minimal sidewalk, getting a small electric snowblower appears to have been a good choice.  What I am really pleased about is we were able to give my daughter a tip on how she could get her snowblower started.  Earlier this winter she acquired her large, gas powered snowblower thanks to her Dad, and she was not able to get it started.  It would not have been a good morning for her without a snowblower, as her driveway is way longer than ours.

I didn't give my quilting friends much notice for the exact date of my departure, so it was an especially big surprise when they presented me with my memory quilt. Their first names were embroidered on each block, and most of the fabric they used was from my stash.  They did a fabulous job, and I wanted to be sure that a few years down the road that I would remember each one of these beautiful ladies... and their full names. Every good quilt deserves a good label, complete with date.

Greetings from Ohio

In June when my grand daughter came to visit me in Texas, I had no idea what was to follow.  Her wish was to learn how to quilt, and she was very hopeful that she could complete a queen size quilt to return home with.  She was a very good student, and we used pre-cut fabric... mostly, and Grandma kept the momentum going to make sure the mission was accomplished.  She did an awesome job of piecing the strips and squares together, and got a little quilting on the longarm done before she turned it over to Grandma to finish.  She did do the binding.  So having never quilted before she came to Texas, she went home after 10 days with a quilt that was completed.  She had lots of help, but she had a full spectrum experience with quilting her first quilt.

Fast forward a few months, and here I am in Ohio in my new house, just minutes away from a few members of my family.  As I reflect back on how my grand-daughter's visit got me thinking about all the family time I was missing, I am now reminded of all the memories I acquired in Texas.  This is a group with some of my dear friends in Texas, and in the background is the quilt they presented to me as a reminder of all those precious memories.

I have not been very good about keeping my page updated, but I will make an attempt to post some of what is going on in my new life experience back here in Ohio. I won't make any promises though cause "things" have a way of getting busy sometimes, and before you know it months can go by.