Family Cabin

We just returned from a trip to see the family cabin. I've been a part of this family officially for a little more than a year and half... but on an unofficial part for just about 7 years. This is my first time to the cabin. We've been invited before, but some people don't like other people's driving... *sigh*.

It's a rustic, hand cut and built shelter up in the mountains south-east of Chico, (closer to a little town called La Porte) an area known as Strawberry Valley... but even still a ways up the hill from there.

It's wired for a generator - but if you don't bring one with you can have batteries or gas light.

The first floor has a table, a small futon and the kitchen. It's roughly 12' x 10' or so.

Second floor is really just a narrow set of ladder/stairs climbing through the rafters to a place for laying out a bed or sleeping bags.

There was a smallish amount of snow on the ground still, in a pocket mounds

And a creek running just behind. Super cold water so don't fall in.

Best part, while Sacramento was experiences temps in the 90's... we were chillin' out in the 50's. Looking forward to our next trip, this time hopefully with lots of family in attendance for Labor Day weekend.

Family Recipe

There is this old family memory of Empanada's in Scott's family. Nobody has made them since his Great Grandmother Nettie passed away. We weren't even sure if anyone had the recipe, but we were able to get a copy of at least a part of it. However, this "part" was very vague, and wasn't even much more then an ingredients list... with comments like "3 cans sauce" and "1/2 dozen hard boiled eggs".

The list itself doesn't sound very cohesive, but after picking the brains of all who remember helping out in the kitchen, or even eating them, we THINK we got it pretty well worked out.

This past weekend, off to the store for some stew meat, and the few ingredients we didn't already have. Food scale, measuring cups, pen & paper in hand as we worked... we have come to a pretty good set of instructions.

As the first ones were coming out of the oven, his parents were able to stop by on their way home from a visit elsewhere, and after a minor bit of tweaking, believed we had it right.

So now, the only things we await... a picture of Gma Nettie if one exists, and a family event at which to share them with everyone else.

I'm so happy to have been able to make this family memory come to life again.

KnitPicks Community

Visit Knitting Community

I discovered another knitters community, check it out.

Homespun Heart

So I plied up my first skein of spinning wheel wool.

It yielded about 30 yards, of "super bulky" which isn't

useful for very much, but I still wanted SOMETHING

to turn it into.

With the help of SimpleKnits I found this great little

pattern for felted (really fulled) heart that I had more than

enough yarn for.

The pattern is free one called Heartfelt on Berroco's website

And worked up pretty quickly. Used

about half of my mini skein and now

I've got this cute little heart.

Stuffed it with some non-spinnable

wool and threw it in the laundry.

I'm thinking it's destined for a pincushion more than anything else.

New Hobby

Look what my folks sent for Christmas. An Ashford Traditional - Double Drive wheel, there are 2 width orifices and 4 bobbins to go with each and a lazy kate. 2 sets of carding combs, a giant niddy-noddy and a whole bunch of fiber. (They said 7 pounds, but the fiber content is an unlabeled mystery). Some of its natural creams to browns, others are dyed in blue, green & yellow. And a couple of books. I've got my work cut out for me in this new hobby, but I'm so excited to get started.

2010

Yeah, I'm not so good at the blogging. I think really I'm not very good at creating lasting habits, but that's not to say I'm not staying entertained.

Matt Smith brings some new energy into Doctor Who. Then there are Haven, Warehouse 13, Eureka , Psych & Stargate Universe (which has apparently been cancelled) staying on our must watch list whenever possible.

Knitting, of course always knitting, gaming: Minecraft, World of Warcraft and a variety of casual games from BigFish Games)

Or maybe reading. I've just finished listening to the audio-book versions of the Terry Pratchett Discworld series, caught up on the most recent installment of Wheel of Time (a series I discovered by way of my favorite audio-book narrator Kate Reading) carried on by its second author in a nicely written way. I've read 2 1/2 of the 3 Mayfair witches books... so addicted to books lately. Oh, don't forget Thursday Next & Dresden Files are in there too.

Need help building up your print or audio book libraries? Check out Paperback Swap, and Audible . For access to some free classics, you may like LibriVox & Project Gutenberg

This year's we spent a little more time in the theater than usual too. In person watching my old highschool friend Phil Putnam sing. The movies: Despicable Me (oh how I wish I could spend more time with Eunice and the Minions), Harry Potter 7, Rifftrax, Tron (at IMAX 3D) and even Captain EO at Disneyland once again, the theater has been a lot of fun, you tube as well. Have you seen Up and Over It, they're amazing.

This year has also brought some new cooking experiments with new ingredients; playing with dairy alternatives, gluten free and new spices. Aarti Sequeira gave me the inspiration to use cardamom with her Huggy Buggy Bread Pudding & I Ain't Chicken Chicken, that spice is itching for more experiments. Then there was my Thanksgiving truffle experiments... yumm Vegan Truffles, Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Truffles, Chocolate Orange Truffles & my favorite, Sesame Truffles. Oh, and I almost forgot, carrot cake Cake Pops (those were frustrating to make, but still really fun), or my first Challah bread loaves.

I'm hoping for 2011 to bring me just as many new things, continuation of old favorite things,and maybe even some more time with my adorable nieces & nephew who I have spent entirely too little time with in their lives so far.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year to all of my friends and family

See you soon.

Challah

(3 strand & 4 strand)

So Saturday I really wanted to make something, and I decided it would be bread. Asked Scott what sort of bread he'd like and he said "Challah"; all because he found this:

Best Turkey Sandwich Ever

So I set out to find a recipe which I'll share later. Once I had, discovered we didnt have enough honey, I needed "bread flour" (which is quite the opposite of all the gluten free flours i bought last week) and most importantly, my yeast packets expired 2 years ago. So he offered to go buy them for me (and even changed the oil in my car while he was out, such a nice husband) He was going to buy a loaf while he was out, but the baker at the grocery store he chose had no idea what he was talking about or that a word could be spelled in any way like this one is.

So yesterday I did the baking bit. Most recipes I found called for honey instead of sugar, but then this recipe seemed the "easiest" to give it a try. There were a few that were really complicated and I'm sure delicious but we pretty much used the one linked up.
Only differences - sub honey for sugar (1 to 1). 6 c of flour was perfect. egg yolk went into batter, egg white was mixed with tsp honey for a wash before baking. I wasn't completely clear on the instructions as to how much it makes, but it turned out 2 loaves.

I also realized I had no idea how to shape my bread (thinking I remembered it was braided, so I had to learn how that is done).

I found these videos from Expert Village on You Tube
3 Stranded
4 Stranded
6 stranded

I chose a 3 strand & a 4 strand for my two loaves (though this morning I found another video that looks fun - a 1 strand braid.

So, after all that. The recipe says 375. My oven seems to think that is entirely too hot... so 10 minutes in, after a bit of burning started, we dropped it to 350 and cooked a total of 40 minutes.

Hooray for my very first, slightly dark but totally delicious Challah loaves.