tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41252589395965320222024-03-13T11:25:52.713-07:00Fabulous Pants - Tales From The ShopTales from the shop is just what it sounds like, a place for me to keep you all up to date on what is going on in the Fabulous Pants studio. I will also talk about my dance and other things related to the creative process that is Fabulous Pants.Fabulous Pantshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092518938396834620noreply@blogger.comBlogger282125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4125258939596532022.post-88827621571842371902012-06-04T11:51:00.001-07:002012-06-04T11:51:48.174-07:00After a Long Hiatus....I am hopefully back to blogging after yet again another long hiatus. Things have been pretty busy around here after returning from Illinois in February. I had to get the garden in for the summer as well as build new structures out there for the new gardening techniques I am trying. There were two major performances, Rakkasah and Tribal Fest, for which I was wrapped up with preparations and rehearsals. I have been working on some special order commissions for the shop as well as gifts for the nieces and nephews. There are sketches for competition dresses for Chaos Wars as well as personal heraldry being done. I am working on restoring a beautiful beaded choli for the event as well as dance performances. There are quilts I have started and the usual canning and baking to be done. Through all of this time and reflection I came to realize a few things. I am not all that pleased with how I spend my time lately. That is change number one I am striving to make, and there will be more posting on that later. The other thing I realized is that I really do miss writing here. So, while this entry is short, realize that good things are coming. I am working on a toy tutorial today as I sew up a VERY late birthday present for a niece and start the birthday present for her brother. There are new things for the shop I am working on and designs for great headdress accessories that will show up on the Fabulous Pants shop page in Etsy, hopefully sooner rather than later. Stay tuned! I hope to have more in store, with pictures, for you in the coming days! I missed being here, and I look forward to connecting with you all through the blog again.Fabulous Pantshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092518938396834620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4125258939596532022.post-62127717896438347472012-03-21T13:03:00.002-07:002012-03-21T13:03:55.190-07:00Wordless Wednesday - Rising Rye<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Fabulous Pantshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092518938396834620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4125258939596532022.post-492774493076674712012-03-15T06:00:00.000-07:002012-03-15T06:00:00.338-07:00Goodbye to Grandma<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I know that I said I would write more often, and I was really on course. In the background of my life, however, there was a family emergency slowly unfolding. My Grandmother had fallen days after Christmas, breaking her hip and beginning the slow departure away from us. I decided to head home early in February to see my Grandma. I had a
sinking feeling it was for the last time, but little did I know that I
would not get to see her at all. I got in rather late on Saturday for a
visit, so I planned on going the next day to spend most of the day with
her at the nursing home. Sadly, she passed in the night before I got to
see her. I was left with the consolation that she knew I was coming.
From there it was the whirlwind of funeral planning, visitors to my parent's house who came bearing the meat of Christian mourning - ham, phone
calls to relatives, and the hardest of all taking care of things at my Grandparent's
home. It truly became real to me the morning after we started alerting family, and the first visit from a relative came early in the morning bearing coffee cake and breakfast supplies. Old traditions die hard I guess, and making sure that you do not have to worry about feeling yourself at times like this seem to be still an honored tradition. <br />
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It has been a rough few months. I have felt rather conflicted about whether or not to address this on the blog, but I felt it was necessary. No one was able to bring themselves to do a eulogy at the funeral, and I feel at this point I am finally ready to do what we could not at that time. I cannot capture the specialness and wonderful character my Grandmother had in words, but I will give it my best try.<br />
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<a href="http://fabulouspants.com/salesimg/mar2012/gma1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://fabulouspants.com/salesimg/mar2012/gma1.jpg" width="150" /></a>My Grandmother was one of the nicest, most caring people you could ever know. A lot of people will say that about someone when they pass, but for her it was very much the truth. My Grandmother was a self sacrificing person. She opened her home to my Great Uncle John and his wife Marge when she was in need of 24 hour a day nursing care. Grandma also often times took care of neighbor's children, so the parents could work to make ends meet. She loved kids. Every year at Halloween she would count the number of trick or treaters that would visit her door. She always had a nice thing to say to each about their costumes. Grandma was always a voice of encouragement to her grandchildren. If you needed guidance and a kind word, she was the one to call. This does not mean that she was a push over though as she was also a truth teller. When I started playing soccer on the boy's team, she would always tell me to not be upset when they treated me like one of their own and to not expect special treatment because I was a girl. It was a lesson that stuck with me and got me through tough times in the male dominated field of athletic training in college. "If you want to play with the boys that is fine, but don't be surprised when they treat you like one and don't complain about it either." It was solid advice.<br />
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Some of the most simple but useful things were taught to me by my Grandmother. When I could not seem to learn to tie a shoe, one of the most traumatic things that happened to me in kindergarten, she was there for me. I figured I would wear slip on or velcro attached shoes my entire life, but she had other ideas. She sat with me on her bed for hours until I got it down. It was a long process, involving the promise of fresh baked peanut butter chocolate chip cookies at the end of it, but by the time I left that day I was tying shoes. Grandma was also the one who taught most of us to throw a baseball and also to bat, making sure you used both hand the whole time. She would stop pitching to you if you did a one handed follow through. It was just deemed too dangerous, which was probably right. My love of athletics, in fact, was passed to me by my Grandma and my Mom.<br />
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<a href="http://fabulouspants.com/salesimg/mar2012/gma2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://fabulouspants.com/salesimg/mar2012/gma2.jpg" width="217" /></a>I am a Cubs fan because of her, and she was so die hard, she would never miss a game. Grandma would stick by that team no matter what, even proudly wearing a Cubs shirt through some of the worst seasons. During the warm summer months, she would watch the team on the television and listen to the radio on the back porch, switching off innings to ensure she was hearing Harry Carry call the game. She would go in and out of the areas of the house as the announcer switches would take place. She was also a basketball fan, watching the Bulls just as religiously as the Cubs. No matter how bad my sports endeavors were, she would be there as well, sitting through soccer matches in pouring rain and snow. She and Grandpa would brave icy roads to see me play basketball and volleyball. They also made every dance recital, school play or musical, art show, Grandparent's Day function, the list goes on. In all of this, other pearls of wisdom came from my Grandma. After particularly bad losses, she would always put things into perspective. "For there to be a winner, there has to be a loser. This time you were on the losing end, hopefully next time you will be on the winning side."<br />
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My Grandmother was a hard worker. She worked in the Elgin Watch Factory when she was younger. She also helped my Grandpa build their house from scratch. Mostly the two of them did all the work with little outside help. The house is a testament to their hard work and determination. They would work full days at a job, and then come back to the house site and work until dark. She would then go on to make their house one of the most welcoming places. The cookie jar was always full, and there was always a toasted cheese sandwich coming you way if you ask. Grandma was also a meticulous record keeper. She kept track of the millage and gas usage of the car every year we went up to Wisconsin for the fishing trip. We found her notebook with all the costs and notes on building the house. She kept every card, letter, or piece of correspondence she ever received.<br />
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<a href="http://fabulouspants.com/salesimg/mar2012/gma3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://fabulouspants.com/salesimg/mar2012/gma3.jpg" width="281" /></a>Grandma also gave me some of my quirky personality traits. People who know me through Belegarth often times think I learned archery out on our battlefields. Little do they know that I actually learned all my archery skills from my Grandma. She had a bow, arrows, and a target for practice in her basement. I spent many hours down there target shooting. Honing my skills at this pursuit was something she felt more than comfortable to allow me to do at a rather early age. It was some of the earliest responsibility and trust placed in me to be safe, responsible, and to do the right thing. I am one of the most respected archers in Belegarth because of Grandma. She was also a Vegas lover. Grandma and Grandpa would go to Vegas every year with the company. My love for the old glitz and glamor come from her stories of the early days of the new strip hotels. <br />
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Gardening was another passion of hers. I hope that someday her awesome skills with plants will rub off on me. She was able to nurse some of the most sick plants back to health and even get plants to bloom again of their own accord. She always kept a hibiscus plant, and it is still there at the house, blooming away. She loved a lot of natural plants rather than showy flowers. She loved bittersweet, Lilly of the Valley, impatiens, and daisies. She grew roses she received from a cereal box give away. Grandma would always discourage the picking of wild flowers or flowers that were not in our yards. "If everyone picks a single flower, there will be none left for people to see. They will all be taken, and sharing them with others is much better than taking one for yourself."<br />
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<a href="http://fabulouspants.com/salesimg/mar2012/gma4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://fabulouspants.com/salesimg/mar2012/gma4.jpg" width="145" /></a>Artistic pursuits were always encouraged at Grandma's house. I painted projects with her on tray tables, tree ornaments, or just on paper. Grandma had a huge picture window in the living room that she would decorate for all the seasons and holidays. Grandma and Grandpa would also hold many of the holidays at their house. There are so many memories of the kids table and sneaking black olives into each other's cola. Santa delivering Christmas presents he happened to forget to deliver on Christmas, sometimes as late as June. Easter egg hunts through the large back yard were always a hit, especially if you found one of the eggs that contained the "big money."<br />
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Grandma was also rather sentimental. She would proudly wear shell or macaroni necklaces out in public and tell everyone who asked that her wonderful grandchildren had made them. She saved all sorts of napkins and pieces of paper from their travels. She was brave enough to travel to both Europe and Venezuela to see the Amazon at a time when world travel was not necessarily a thing that many people did. Grandma is one of my pillars of homemaking. When you stepped into her house, even if you had not been there before, it felt like home to you. I strive to make that same feeling in our house, even though we did not build it ourselves.<br />
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It is in that spirit that I finally had my gut check in this whole experience. Going to the house was somewhat hard, not seeing Grandma at the door was harder still, but seeing a framed piece of writing that I did in the third grade still sitting on her hope chest really made me open up the water works. It was a short paragraph, detailing what a great homemaker my Grandma was, and, after all this time, she still had that little paragraph framed and saved. I am sure she looked at it often, and my mom said it meant so much to her what a wrote. In the end it really is the small things that seem to matter. Of all the things I wanted to take with me were housewares. The cut glass "banana split" bowls she used to use with me on sleep over special occasions. The "malted" glass that she had decorated just for me and served milkshakes in. The metal mold that she used to make gelatin hearts for me the year I missed my first Valentine's Day party with the flu.<br />
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<a href="http://fabulouspants.com/salesimg/mar2012/gma5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://fabulouspants.com/salesimg/mar2012/gma5.jpg" width="240" /></a>On the day of the wake, I wore my Mom's clothes as I oddly did not have any black with me. The night was filled with family meeting and of all things filled with laughter. Many people came, and I am sure she would have been surprised to realize just how many lives she touched in her own special and seemingly small but actually impactful ways. It was a true Irish style wake with plenty of story telling and reminiscing about her and Grandpa - their adventures and time together. I was in a small way glad that she and Grandpa would now finally be together for the Valentine's holiday. I knew that she missed him so much. The next day at the funeral, she got one of the things she wanted for her funeral - snow. The most beautiful snow globe style snow floated and fell softly through the air. It was in its own way beautiful tribute to someone who loved nature and the natural world so much. And as we walked around the plot area looking at all the family that has passed before us, all I could hear in my mind was a lecture I used to use when I taught high school on literary analysis. Snow in stories is a great unifier and a beautiful symbol of this as it falls on both the living and the dead equally.<br />
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I miss my Grandma very much, and while I know it will get better with time, I feel such a deep hole and loss. I love you very much Grandma and you will be so missed.Fabulous Pantshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092518938396834620noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4125258939596532022.post-54408471179850787202012-03-14T10:44:00.001-07:002012-03-14T10:44:29.473-07:00Wordless Wednesday - Happy Pi Day!<div style="text-align: center;">
Happy Pi day to all... here are some celebratory pies!</div>
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<br /></div>Fabulous Pantshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092518938396834620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4125258939596532022.post-3849916253794606402012-01-27T04:30:00.000-08:002012-01-27T04:30:04.259-08:00Follow Up Friday - Cinamon Pears<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I canned these pears at the end of the season in 2010. While I do not recommend keeping canned foods forever, I have just recently gotten to opening up the last of these jars. I decided to get one of the cinnamon stick jars out and open it up. I was quite surprised at the result. Let's just say they are definitely cinnamon pears. I used <a href="http://www.penzeys.com/">Penzeys Spices cinnamon sticks</a> in the jars. One of the things that I love about their spices is their freshness. The spices are always packed with oils and flavor. In this case, however, that was not a great thing. I added one cinnamon stick per pint as recommended in my canning book. This ended up with pears that looked as though they had gone bad, but in reality they were just that filled with cinnamon.<br />
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As you can see from this after picture, the pears are almost the same color as the cinnamon stick. They had a hotness to them, kind of like red hot candies. If that is your thing, by all means please use a full stick of this wonderful cinnamon in your canning. I felt that it over powered the pear flavors and ended up tasting like I was eating the cinnamon stick. In the future, I think I will only use half of a stick in the jars or use powdered cinnamon. I love how the full stick looks in the jars, and perhaps a single stick in a quart would be perfect, but for now I will try to use a half stick in my pints. That does not mean that I am not enjoying these pears for their spicy hotness. I am, but I would like more of the pear to come through. Live and learn, and make notes for next time.Fabulous Pantshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092518938396834620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4125258939596532022.post-54746614078072855392012-01-26T04:30:00.000-08:002012-01-26T04:30:00.618-08:00Chocolate, Orange, and Cranberry Tart<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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With people starting to make Valentine's plans already, I thought I would post this dessert recipe. I came up with this recipe for our date night. It is relatively easy, and it takes just a few minutes to whip together. As impressive as it looks, it is just as simple to make. The hardest part is the wait times. This dessert does need to be chilled so it takes time to make, but it could be made the day before the event and held in the refrigerator until needed.<br />
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<b>Special Equipment:</b><br />
~ 2 mini tart pans (4 inch diameter)<br />
~ fine mesh strainer <br />
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<b>Ingredients:</b><br />
<b> </b><i>Crust:</i><br />
<i> </i>~ 3/4 cup all purpose flour<br />
<b></b> ~ 1 tbsp cocoa powder<br />
~ 1 tbsp powdered sugar<br />
~ 1/4 cup butter<br />
~ a pinch of salt if you are using unsalted butter<br />
~ 1 tsp vanilla extract<br />
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<i>Filling:</i><br />
~ egg<br />
~ 1/2 cup sour cream<br />
~ 3 tbsp sugar<br />
~ 1 tbsp flour <br />
~ 1 tbsp milk<br />
~ 1/2 tsp vanilla<br />
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<i>Sauce:</i><br />
<i> ~ </i>1/2 cup cranberries<br />
~ 1/3 cup sugar<br />
~ 1/4 tsp finely shredded orange peel<br />
~ 1/4 cup orange juice<br />
~ 1 medium orange peeled and segmented<br />
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<b>Directions:</b><br />
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Using some extra butter, grease your two tart pans, making sure to get into all the tight corners. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, powdered sugar, and salt into a mixing bowl. Place the butter in a pan and heat gently until just melted, cool slightly. Add the vanilla extract to the cooled butter. Stir butter into the sifted dry ingredients and mix with a fork until it all comes together. Evenly divide mix between the two pans and press into the bottom and up the sides of the pans. Place in the refrigerator to cool for 20 minutes.<br />
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After the shells cool, make the filling by slightly beating the egg with a fork. Stir in the sour cream, sugar, flour, milk, and vanilla. Pour an equal amount of the filling between the two shells. Place the tarts on a baking sheet and pop them into the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350, and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the centers are set, and an knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool them on a wire rack for 1 hour. Cover and chill 4-24 hours. <br />
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Meanwhile, for the sauce, in a small saucepan combine the cranberries, sugar, and orange juice. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to a gentle boil. Boil until just slightly thickened, around 5 minutes. Transfer sauce to a fine mesh strainer set over a bowl. Push the sauce through the strainer gently to separate out the skin and seeds of the cranberries from the sauce. Add the shredded orange peel to the strained sauce. Cover and chill sauce 4-24 hours until well chilled. If the sauce is too thick to spread easily, gently warm the sauce a bit again and add a little water until it reaches a good spreading consistency.<br />
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To serve, pop the tarts out of their pans. Add a generous layer of the sauce over the top of the tart and arrange the segmented orange slices on top. Enjoy!<br />
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*** If you want to make one large tart for a dinner party of more than two, double the recipe in each section and use a 10 inch tart pan. ***Fabulous Pantshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092518938396834620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4125258939596532022.post-66860360952798400292012-01-25T04:30:00.000-08:002012-01-25T04:30:01.651-08:00Wordless Wednesday - First Winter Garden<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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peas, rutabaga, carrots, chard</div>
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<br /></div>Fabulous Pantshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092518938396834620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4125258939596532022.post-38433156909797306632012-01-24T04:30:00.000-08:002012-01-24T04:30:03.900-08:00New Start, New Year, New Growth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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While the new year holiday has long passed, I am still reveling in the idea of it being a new year. For me, a new year always represents a chance for new growth and a renewed excitement for personal development as well as improvement on the way things have been done from the previous years. This Christmas season was rather successful, with all but my Dad's gifts being sent on time. (And yes, I am going to start working on his gift finally tomorrow!) Once the holiday glow seemed to be finally ready to head back into its storage boxes for the year, I looked around the house to realize it was absolutely filthy. I guess with all the hustle and bustle of the holidays my cleaning, as usual, went by the wayside. So, I decided to make good on a promise that I made to myself around this time last year. We were moving from the old apartment to this new one, and upon finishing a 13 hour cleaning day at the old place, I promised myself to never let a place get that way again. Since one of my goals for the year is to follow through on things as well as finish up old projects, I decided to do a top to bottom cleaning of the house.<br />
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When I say top to bottom I don't just mean the whole house, I mean every nook and cranny of the whole house. Furniture was moved to ensure vacuuming could be done under every surface and not just around it as usual. This meant taking up the mattresses on the bed and going all under there, moving couches to make sure that was all cleaned. Shower stalls were scrubbed and then scrubbed again. Entire shelves were emptied, items sorted, dusted, and then either shelved again or placed in the donation pile. Floors were vacuumed, dust mopped, and then wet mopped. Papers were organized and either filed or shredded. Cabinets in the kitchen were scrubbed down thoroughly, and the top venting of the microwave was completely degreased. It has been a down right marathon of cleaning that I have not ever performed in a place that I was still going to live in, and I am so happy that I have done this. There was nothing more demoralizing to me than cleaning an old place top to bottom after moving out and realizing that I would not get to enjoy the squeaky clean that I had just created. I am currently enjoying the clean and organized house way more than I ever thought I would. I hope to keep up with the cleaning more in the new year.<br />
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Other goals I have for this year are also personal improvement aspirations. I hope to do more fancy cooking and to serve that cooking on the wedding china. So far, I have done it once this past weekend with an in home date night. It was fun, and I am looking forward to another one of them soon. Another food goal is to cook some ingredient that I have never worked with every other week. I worked on cooking a squash type that is new to me, and I still have quite a bit of that to work through. I also want to add some more things to my cooking schedule to remove more store bought items off the list. Yogurt is one of them, and I think that I may have it down to the point where i can share with you all. I also want to nail down that winning English Muffin recipe... it is getting close. I can feel that one being knocked out soon. The hardest thing for me on the goals list is the harp. I really want to be able to play that thing, and I want to commit to it more this year. I have gone through spurts and false starts with it since my husband finished it for me. I hope this year to move past lesson one on the DVD lessons I have. The last, but not least of the goals for the year is to keep in contact with friends better, including the writing of actual letters that you send in the mail. Unsolicited cards and mail from friends showing up out of the blue always makes my day. I hope to do the same for friends and family this year as I try to write more handwritten letters to people. This includes Thank You notes... yes I am bringing them back into my realm of being. I hope you all have not abandoned your goals for the year yet, and if you have perhaps now is the time to recommit to them. The year has just started after all. Forgive your lapses and try to move forward and commit to changing things you would like to see improved in your life.Fabulous Pantshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092518938396834620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4125258939596532022.post-7297133458702789732011-11-04T04:00:00.000-07:002011-11-04T04:00:03.094-07:00Finished Friday - Nyan Cat!<a href="http://fabulouspants.com/salesimg/nov2011/nyan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="174" src="http://fabulouspants.com/salesimg/nov2011/nyan.jpg" width="320" /></a>For the greater part of two days in October, I was madly cross stitching up this bookmark for my husband's birthday. It was a marathon session to make sure that I got it all done. I was quite happy with how it all turned out. I stitched it up on a blue canvas and used whatever colors I had in my collection to fill in for the colors needed. I think it came out quite well. I would like to thank m00nshine on deviant art for the awesome <a href="http://m00nshine.deviantart.com/art/Nyan-stitch-x-stitch-patterns-213154888?q=boost%3Apopular%20in%3Aartisan%20nyan%20cat&qo=121">free cross stitch pattern</a>. I did modify it a bit. I moved the rainbow up a bit on the poptart. I also made the background look more like the actual background in the video. This of course required me watching the video on the internet more than I would like to admit, but hey it does bring me quite a bit of joy to see the poptart covered cat meow its way across the universe. For those of your scratching your heads because you are not well versed in internet memes, I give you video of the Nyan Cat:<br />
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I hope you enjoy your weekend! I am looking forward to getting some crafting done as well as planning for the holiday craft onslaught! Look here over the next few weeks for pattern reviews for kid's toys. I hope it helps your crafting plans and eases you into the homemade gift world.Fabulous Pantshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092518938396834620noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4125258939596532022.post-60287230870041458362011-11-03T04:00:00.000-07:002011-11-03T04:00:02.733-07:00Recipe Review - Pumpkin Streusel Muffins<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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One of the few catalogs I love to see in our mail box has got to be the spice catalog from <a href="http://www.penzeys.com/">Penzey's Spices</a>. We received a gift box from them as a wedding gift, and I have become an addict ever since. One of the things that I love about the catalog is the recipes they include. The recipes are from fellow Penzey fans and illustrate how to use their spices in the dishes. This last issue was all devoted to Fall and Thanksgiving. I am a fall fiend, and I love all the flavors of fall. Pumpkin is decidedly one of my favorites, so when I spied their recipe for <a href="http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/recipes/r-penzeysPumpkinStreuselMuffins.html">Pumpkin Streusel Muffins</a> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">from Kathy Ness, I had to make them. They looked too good to pass up. The recipe is quite easy to make. The hardest part is remembering to take out the butter to soften! The big advantage to this recipe for me this particular week is that it does not need paper cups! I somehow ran out of them, so this was a perfect morning muffin for both flavor and no need for anything other than ingredients. In fact, after eating them this morning, I would say that the paper cups would take away from the wonderful texture of the crust on the bottom half of the muffin. It is very similar to making a pumpkin pie as it needs both pumpkin as well as evaporated milk, and this is where I have the smallest of dislikes for the recipe.</span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The recipe calls for only a 1/4 cup of evaporated milk. This is such a small amount that it makes me wonder what to do with the rest of the can of milk. I am planning on making a mini pumpkin pie with the left overs of the pumpkin and the milk, but there will still be too much milk, plus it would be great to be able to make this with out opening up a can of milk if I wanted to as I can freeze the pumpkin for later or use it in a pumpkin spice coffee. So to the internet I turned, and I found out that you can in fact substitute out evaporated milk for powdered milk and water. I will test the recipe some day soon and let you know how it all turns out in a Follow Up Friday. For now though, I highly recommend these super tasty muffins! If you try making them with the substitution, I would love to hear what your results were. Until then, happy baking, and I hope you are enjoying fall.</span>Fabulous Pantshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092518938396834620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4125258939596532022.post-47089937398430598122011-11-02T04:00:00.000-07:002011-11-02T04:00:13.367-07:00Wordless Wednesday - Baked Goods<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Apple Crisp Before</div>
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Apple Crisp After</div>Fabulous Pantshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092518938396834620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4125258939596532022.post-7170034078748077632011-11-01T13:14:00.000-07:002011-11-01T13:14:45.476-07:00Apple Pie Filling<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I hope everyone had a great Halloween and Samhain holiday. This year I made my first attempt at a more detailed jack o'lantern. I am pretty pleased, but I know for next year to simplify the design quite a bit. Too many fine lines results in me having to break out the toothpicks to hold all the pieces together. Luckily I have a super crafty husband who was great at hiding the toothpicks, so they are not super obvious in holding things together. I am sure glad that we made an attempt. Posting pictures of the Halloween pumpkin always start to set some fear into my soul though, and not for the usual reasons. My mind immediately turns to... yes Christmas. I start to think about all the things that I need to start work on to make sure that the holidays are homemade and happy. <br />
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But this is about apple pie filling.... so all those panic filled thoughts of crafting are out of sight and out of mind until I stop writing up this posting. Pie filling! It is a wonderful thing. There is nothing that I find more versatile than having this in my canning arsenal. I can use pie fillings for homemade danishes, pies, turnovers, crisps, cake fillings, pancakes, and cobblers to name a few. Canning pie filling can be a pretty easy and instantly rewarding activity. For doing apples the set up is a bit more complicated. I have a station setup with the washed apples on one side, cutting board in the middle. Once I peel the apples and take out the blossom ends, they get a quick dunk in the lemon juice and water bowl at the top of the cutting board. This helps keep the apples from turning brown and is mostly cosmetic. Once I have the apples cored and sliced, they go into the lemon juice mix again for a little while as I peel the next apple. From there the slices go into the big four cup measuring cup. After I fill the measuring cup generously, I dump any accumulated lemon water back into the first bowl and transfer the slices into the final big bowl. I know that it sounds overly complicated, but it works well for me and ensures that my pie filling looks great.<br />
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When I can my pie filling, I like a consistency of store bought. I know that many people do not like the extra thick goop that is in canned pie filling, but I quite enjoy that texture. In order to make sure that you safely can a goop filled pie filling, you need to use Clear Jel. Clear Jel is a specially manufactured corn starch that is safe for canning at high temperatures. If you use flower or arrow root, it will not hold up and from what I understand will separate out and create weird chunks in the filling. I follow the recipe from <i>The Complete Book of Home Preserving</i> from Ball. The recipe from the book has you use a base of apple juice for the filling around the apples. I find that cider gives the best flavor rather than straight up filtered juice. This year I used a combination of a gravenstein cider I found at Trader Joe's as well as the cider we bought on our apple picking trip. The cider is cooked with sugar, spices, and the Clear Jel. A quick tip on working with the Clear Jel is that it works best when mixed with the sugar before adding in the liquid. It makes it less clumpy and easier to stir with less clumps to break up. As the base liquid starts to reach boiling, the Clear Jel will activate, and small clumps of what appear to be burned filling will dot the pan. Don't panic! This is totally normal. Keep stirring constantly, and suddenly, the entire pan will be jelled up pretty solid. Add the lemon juice and then the poached apple slices. Bring it all up to heat and then can following proper procedures.<br />
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Now there is one thing I will say about doing this kind of filling... it is super thick! This viscous texture creates all kinds of interesting canning issues. It is virtually impossible to get out all the air bubbles. Try your absolute best. It is also more difficult to get all the filling up to a hot enough temperature to can with out siphoning issues. If the filling gets too hot it will scorch and not taste as great. Make sure you provide a generous inch of head space. Any less and it will be a complete mess. Every time I have done these recipes, for both apple and cherry, I have horrible siphoning issues. It is imperative that you have towels down when they come out of the water bath. There is typically some of the filling that runs out of each jar and all over the place. I don't seem to have the problem as much with peach, and apple is by far the worst for some reason. Once the jars have sealed and cooled, I take the rings off and scrub down the jars and rings with lots of water and elbow grease. I also make sure to not use hot water as I do not want the seals compromised. Yeah it all sounds like a pain, but it is great to be able to crack open a jar when there is short notice and whip up something that seems rather impressive to last minute guests. The only other suggestion I have for the recipe is halving the amount of nutmeg. I am not sure if it is because we grind our own or if we just do not like a super nutmeg filled pie, but I feel the Ball recipe has too much. This year I halved the amount and am much more happy with the results. Happy canning! Hopefully you can give pie filling a whirl!Fabulous Pantshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092518938396834620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4125258939596532022.post-60054633884828427972011-10-26T10:41:00.000-07:002011-10-26T10:41:05.114-07:00Wordless Wednesday - Cut Out Cookies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Fabulous Pantshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092518938396834620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4125258939596532022.post-14615039878185024072011-10-25T04:00:00.000-07:002011-10-25T04:00:02.469-07:00Fall Favorite - Apples<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Fall is one of my favorite seasons. I really do enjoy this time of year mostly for the foods that are in season. Root vegetables, hard winter squashes, brussels's sprouts, and most of all apples. I love all kinds of apples, and I think that there is not a variety that I have tried that I have not liked in some way. Usually, every fall, my husband and I head up to Sebastopol, CA for their annual Gravenstein festival. It is a great little fest, and I highly recommend it for anyone who loves apples and that small town feeling of a county fair. This year, however, we decided to try something different. This year we went all the way to Camino, CA for the <a href="http://www.applehill.com/">Apple Hill Growers Association harvest weekends.</a> We drove the two and a half hours from the San Francisco Bay area out to Eldorado county and the foothills of the Sierra mountains. Once there, it was a beautiful drive around the winding hills of the Apple Hill area. There were many different farms that had different kinds of activities and events. You can most likely find a farm out there that will fit the kind of day you wish to have.<br />
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Many of the farms had large tents with crafts for sale, pony rides for children, corn or hay mazes, and lots of food venders. We wanted a quiet day picking our own apples instead of prepacked boxes and jostling crowds. It took us a bit, but I figured out which farms I wanted to see. The first farm we wanted to visit was Sun Mountain Farms. We finally
found this very small and picturesque farm after winding our way around
the larger farms that had more for family type entertainment. Sadly, once we started up the driveway, we saw the dreaded sign: Sold Out. I quickly looked back at the map and picked Pine-O-Mine. We raced back down the road and found this farm. They luckily still had apples left to pick. They were a select grower and nestled amongst their tall towering pines were Granny Smith and Fuji trees; two of our favorite varieties for canning. We intended on only getting a few pounds to can as I am running out of empty jars, but we ended up with a half bushel from off of the trees there. Next we ventured to O'Halloran's Apple Trail Ranch. This was another cute farm that had apples pre-picked and sorted into large bins from cold storage. We got another half bushel from these growers. They had all sorts of varieties such as winesap, Rome, and golden delicious among others. They also had pears there, so we picked some of them up too. This particular farm also had pumpkins for ridiculously low prices. Our jack 'o lantern pumpkin was found amongst the sunflowers that dotted their pumpkin patch.<br />
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Yesterday was the start of working through the bushel of apples that we bought over the weekend. I love the delicate smell of fresh picked apples, and it was a delightful thing to wake up to that smell in our house. I decided to make sauce today with any of the marginal apples that could cause our good apples to spoil. Applesauce is a very easy thing to make, and it is a great way to use up windfall apples or those with some soft or bad parts to them. Just make sure to completely cut out the damaged parts and compost those pieces. If you are in good with your local grower, this is a great way to save money on your canning as sometimes you can get bruised and windfall apples for a much lower price than pristine apples. Just be sure to ask someone in the know as often times they keep these apples out of sight.<br />
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This year I chose to do the sauce in the slow cooker as I wanted to run a
bunch of errands. Cooking it this way would free up my time for
other things rather than attending a pot of bubbling apple goodness. I made a full recipe from my book; twelve whole pounds of apples were counted out. I made this sauce with a combination of Fuji, for softness and sweetness, and Granny Smith for a firm structure, sour under notes, and lower juice content. I peeled, cored, and rough cut up all the apples. Now I did not get rid of all the cuttings. Those go into a plastic bag in the freezer for later use making <a href="http://fabulouspants.blogspot.com/2010/09/end-of-apples.html">pectin for your canning next year</a> or into <a href="http://fabulouspants.blogspot.com/2010/08/apple-syrup-and-pancakes.html">apple syrup for pancakes.</a> Don't let these things go to waste! Now many people like a totally smooth applesauce, in that case, do not worry about peeling or coring the apples. Just remove the blossom end of the apple and compost that. The blossom end has enzymes that can weaken the natural pectin in the apples. You can then just run the cooked down apples through a food mill right before canning.<br />
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The hubby and I personally like chunky applesauce, so the extra peeling and coring are necessary as a food mill is not an option. Once I had the slow cooker as packed to capacity as possible, I added a tiny bit of water to aid the cooking and a very scant cup of sugar. You can feel free to omit the sugar if you want an unsweetened sauce. I also added four tablespoons of lemon juice to help retain the color as well as for added acidity. This is one of those wonderful "set it and forget it" kind of things. I went about my day running errands and picking up around the house. When I would breeze through the kitchen, I would lift up the lid, stir, and chop up the apples in the sauce a bit. After quite some time, the sauce started to finally get saucy and cook down.<br />
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After seven or so hours on high, this is what I have. There are distinct areas of sauce and also quite a few big clumps. I could have let this cook longer and continued chopping up the chunks until they were the size I wanted, but dinner needed to be made and these jars needed to get into the water bath. Enter the immersion blender. If you do not have one of these things, I would highly recommend getting one. I never thought I would use one of these as much as I have, but it is a great way of doing many things that would otherwise be a total mess. I am looking at you soup recipes that say to blend them up in a food processor. Now the whole point of not running this through a food mill is that I want some chunkiness, so when I used the blender I only blended up certain areas. I made sure that, even though the immersion blender is a blast to use, I only pulsed it around a few areas.<br />
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From here you should taste your sauce. Add sugar if you need to make it sweeter. You can also add spices such as cinnamon, cloves, mace, or nutmeg. I typically choose to not add spices to my canned sauce because I can add it later if needed for a certain recipe. You cannot take it away once it is in the jar after all. Make sure that you leave a generous inch of head space for the jars. I did that this year and still had more siphoning out of the jars than I would like. Perhaps the slow cooker does not keep the sauce hot enough to avoid this problem, or it could be the chunks releasing more of their fluid during the processing. Some day I will figure this out. Twelve pounds made three full quarts and two pints. I also had a little left over for dessert that night. Hopefully this will be enough to get us through to next year... somehow I doubt it!Fabulous Pantshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092518938396834620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4125258939596532022.post-56849660459498065562011-10-24T10:25:00.000-07:002011-10-24T10:26:02.667-07:00Canning Week!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Despite my lack of blog posts, this has not been an idle year for canning. I have done quite a bit, although, I have not done nearly as much quantity as last year. I have tried many different kinds of things in small quantities. I am hoping that by doing some small batch canning I can learn what I like to make and perfect things with out having to eat many, many jars of it. It was very nice when I had my canning partner living out here. I could do full batches of a recipe and split it. It was a good thing to try things at their full recipe to ensure that they had the flavor they were meant to have. Sometimes when recipes are cut, even though the proportions are kept the same, the flavors just don't seem to be quite as vibrant to me. It most likely is just be a personal "perception," not the true reality of the situation. So, in the spirit of trying new things and attempting to get over my want for large quantities of jars bumping around in the water bath, I tried several new recipes this year when the peaches were in season.<br />
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I love peaches, and since I missed apricot season this year due to all the traveling, I decided to make extra peach recipes to fill in for the missing favorite of my husband's. I am hoping this stop gap helps me stretch the few jars of apricot that I have left. Often times I can make a one to one substitution for peach jam. This especially works in cases of glazes made for roasted meats. Peach or apricot jam with some soy sauce and freshly graded ginger makes an especially tasty glaze for pork roast or pork chops. A quick filling for crepes, cakes, and jelly rolls, apricot is my go to gal! Peach, however is one of my favorite fruits, so I hope that I can see it into rotation in place of the old family favorite.<br />
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Aside from making several jars of plain peach jam, I added some new flavors. One flavor combination I have always enjoyed is peach and ginger. I particularly like peach ginger iced tea. It seemed only natural to try out this combination in jam format. I added candied ginger to a regular peach jam recipe. I mixed up the sugar and peaches, and I cooked the mix until just before the jellying point. At the last most minute, I added finely diced candied ginger. I hoped it would add some nice bite both literally and figuratively to the jam. I have yet to try it, but I will post a Follow Up Friday as soon as I do.<br />
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I also made spiced peach jam. I added cinnamon, cloves, and allspice to the jam for this one. I have to say that there is nothing quite like spiced peach jam on a freshly toasted English muffin for a cold morning's breakfast. The warmth of the spice profile on this reminds me of the spiced peach slices I would get in Amish country in Illinois. I tried this one right away as I thought it did not set up correctly. While the set is a bit soft compared to most of my other fruit jams, this is nothing out of the ordinary. My peach always sets a bit loose compared to other fruits. I guess the pectin of the over ripe peaches you get in California farmer's markets must contribute to this, but I would not trade the flavor of the fully ripe peaches for the pectin of less ripe ones.<br />
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A new addition to the canning recipes this year was one I found in a Martha Stewart Living magazine. I decided to try out her recipe for <a href="http://www.marthastewart.com/357209/bourbon-poached-peaches">bourbon poached peaches.</a> It smelled delicious, and the combination of vanilla and my personal favorite, Jack Daniel's whiskey, made for a good combination. I have not tried any of these yet, but I am looking forward to some peach pancakes. The excess syrup for this recipe tasted wonderful, and I wanted to try to cook it down into a pancake syrup. This turned out to be somewhat disastrous. With the high sugar content, and my patience wearing thing, I tried to cook it down way too fast. I ended up making essentially a hard candy that I then canned into jars. I did not realize the error of my ways until the next day. I tried tipping the jars over to see their wonderful syrup ready for pancakes, but it was solidified in the glass. It almost took a jack hammer to get my jars back, but with enough hot water and elbow grease, I was back to having usable jars.<br />
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In the end, I had four jars of wonderfully poached peaches and no jars of pancake syrup. I made sure to cut up the vanilla bean into enough pieces so each jar got one. I hope that this does more than look pretty; I hope it creates an intense flavor of vanilla. I could see this recipe being a great accompaniment to vanilla ice cream or any number of cakes whether they be chiffon, pound, or angel food. As soon as I get a jar open and a good opinion on the recipe, I will also post back with a Follow Up Friday.<br />
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I also canned some straight up peach slices and spiced slices. It is a nice change of pace for me to crack open a jar of these summer fruits when in the dead of winter. Having a slight allergy to citrus fruits means that eating seasonally can sometimes be an itchy affair. While I love citrus fruit and do eat it quite often, I can only indulge so much. I have a feeling these will as usual come in handy, especially with that margarita made from peach canning liquid recipe floating around the internet lately.<br />
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While peach canning season is most likely over for you all, I thought I would just show off what I was doing all those days when nothing was getting posted up on the blog. I have my work cut out for me this week. I, like everyone else I am reading lately, am headed into a week of apple canning. There is sauce and pie filling to be made. Someday, this will include fresh pressed ciders, but until we have a house this will only be a canning dream. I am also excited to try out a new jelly recipe that is apple based. If it turns out how I am envisioning it will, I will have another thing to reside in the half pints. <br />
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There is so much to do, and with holiday crafting on the horizon, I am trying to get as much into every day as I can. Things on the agenda today include weeding the garden plot, hopefully some personal sewing, as well as some holiday crafting... yes I really am going to start in October this year! Then there is the matter of preserving the bushel of apples sitting in the kitchen... For now though, I am off to the garden to make sure all is in order there. As usual, so much to do and seemingly no time to do it in.<br />
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People thought I was crazy for trying, but here is the first cucumber growing on my indoor cucumber plant. Not the right conditions for it to grow, but the resiliency of plants is amazing.Fabulous Pantshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092518938396834620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4125258939596532022.post-88499796112939101802011-10-17T10:51:00.000-07:002011-10-17T10:51:17.762-07:00Sighs of ContentmentI know that I keep promising to post to the blog in a regular fashion as well as roll out some new content, but things have just been so crazy. I feel like things are finally starting to get to a point where I can post here more regularly again. I think Juila of <a href="http://www.whatjuliaate.blogspot.com/">What Julia Ate</a> sums up perfectly what I am feeling lately <a href="http://whatjuliaate.blogspot.com/2011/08/bacon-smoked-ham-ham-hocks-liver-pate.html">in this blog posting.</a> I feel like I have so many plates spinning that something has to eventually be cut out or the whole delicate balancing act will fall to the ground. Lately it has been the blog that has crashed to the ground. Yet in amongst the crazy spinning, I have wanted to add more things and have been doing so. I have picked back up my cross stitch work and added working on a needle turn applique that I tried to learn at Chaos Wars this year. It was a great class taught by a dear friend, and it made me feel so guilty that the beautiful class piece was sitting there unfinished. There are gifts to be made for tomorrow's birthday celebration, and the up coming holiday crafting season as well. It all starts to feel overwhelming. The garden is humming along, but it is a new thing on the routine that needs constant care and looking after. Then there is the growing list of things to read and knowledge to obtain, dance lessons and being in shape for those strenuous classes. I hate to sound like a complainer, but it seems like there is so much to learn in this lifetime and just so little time to complete it all. I guess fall always turns my thoughts to this as the days become shorter and things begin to die off and go into winter modes. I am striving harder to get organized and make it all work, and I think I am making headway. I mean... here is a blog posting after all! I was also inspired this weekend after the mini Maker Faire to get back to creating and stop worrying so much about the small details... yes read that as house cleaning. I hope to have a canning update for you tomorrow, and I am adding to the schedule a wordless Wednesday. There are always too many pictures and, forgive me fellow 826'ers, but sometimes too little time to write as I would like. Look for Follow Up Friday's as well. I will go back to old projects and give reviews on how things turned out or updates on progress. I am hoping this will also help me stay on top of completing things. Thanks for sticking with me through the inconsistent writing and promises for things that don't ever seem to materialize. I thank you for checking back and reading.Fabulous Pantshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092518938396834620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4125258939596532022.post-2887972619387668302011-09-19T07:00:00.000-07:002011-09-19T07:00:13.829-07:00Life is Peachy!<a href="http://fabulouspants.com/salesimg/sept2011/peach1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://fabulouspants.com/salesimg/sept2011/peach1.jpg" /></a>Life is peachy lately. Things seem to be humming along at a fast pace, and my days are filled with all sorts of urban homesteading activities. Aside from the canning, I now have the garden to tend. Let me tell you, I am loving getting my hands dirty and weeding away. I am also staring Christmas crafting in the face. I hope to get an early start this year... just like every year. For now, though, I am thoroughly busy with canning. As you can see by my lack of posting, most of my time has been occupied with things like canning. At the end of August, it was all about peaches. I bought a 25 pound box of peaches as well as a couple of other pounds along the way for canning projects. The first thing I do when I take home a large box of any produce is to sort it right away looking for any bruised fruit. The bruised fruit gets quarantined from the rest of the lot to ensure that no further spoilage is encouraged. This box had just enough fruit with bruises and spoilage for an early peach cobbler.<br />
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This time around, I decided to try out the recipe from <a href="http://cooksillustrated.com/">Cook's Illustrated</a>. If you do not have a subscription to the website, I highly recommend it. The amount of recipes at your fingertips as well as knowledgeable equipment reviews are well worth the subscription fee in my opinion. I have to say that the recipe was rather fussy, but I felt like it was worth it, at least for the topping. One thing that I do recognize now is that I will no longer be using the boiling water technique in these pictures for peeling peaches ever again. I find that this method does not work very well for my favorite type of peach, the O'Henry. While this is a super freestone peach, it does not want to be skinned for some reason. I have, therefore, decided to only peel them from now on with my awesome <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Messermeister-Touch-Serrated-Swivel-Peeler/dp/B00020H30S/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1316413262&sr=8-3">Messermeister serrated peeler</a>. Yes the peeler is a bit expensive, but I have to say it is well worth the price. I will, however, miss the beautiful color that the boiling water turns when scalding the peaches. It is the most wonderful purple hue!<br />
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<a href="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/sept2011/peach3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="188" src="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/sept2011/peach3.jpg" width="250" /></a>The other big advantage of the O'Henry peach is that it remains firm even through cooking. I like that the flesh does not all go to mush when processing it or turning it into a cobbler or pie. The slices still have integrity and a wonderful texture. Here is where the recipe gets a bit fussy, and while the step is totally necessary for a good result, I wished there was another way. The recipe has you macerate and strain off the extra juice from the peaches so that the cobbler does not become a soupy mess. The topping was another story. It was as simple as most recipes, and it resulted in a very tender biscuit due to the addition of yogurt.<br />
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I do want to make one more of these before all the fresh peaches have left the market. I especially love the extra crunch on the top of the biscuits that the sugar crusting creates. I do think that I will add a bit more cinnamon to it next time as I am a cinnamon fan. I highly recommend this recipe and have saved it as a favorite. I do have to say, though, that this did not dethrone the Dutch oven cobbler that we made when camping. That was so good, and I am not sure if it was the long hike before dinner, or that it was just really that good that made it taste so delicious. Perhaps some day I will make both at once and taste them side by side. Until then, try out this recipe and for an added touch of awesome, serve it hot with a little scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream! Fabulous Pantshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092518938396834620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4125258939596532022.post-87584745605931027312011-08-24T11:20:00.000-07:002011-08-24T11:30:46.505-07:00Grandma Was RightGrandparents can be a wealth of information. Mine are no exception. They always have little pearls of wisdom. Sometimes at the time I was not ready or old enough to understand what they were saying, but then I find myself in one of the situations they were talking about, and it all makes sense. When I was really young, I would tell my Grandma that when I got my license to drive I would take us out shopping. (My Grandmother does not drive you see.) She would always smile and tell me that by the time I was able to drive I would be too busy for things like that with her. It seemed kind of hurtful at the time, but she was right. I grew up and was too "busy" with things I thought were important, and I totally forgot about the shopping trip once I got that coveted license.
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<br />This situation returned to me in college when I became overwhelmingly busy. I remembered the talk and the missed shopping trip and always regretted it. When I talked to my Grandmother about it, she simply said that life was going to get busier and busier. She related that it was all part of becoming a grown-up and gaining more and more responsibilities. Your free time starts to evaporate. I am feeling that lately. I am not sure where it was that I got so busy, but lately it seems like there are not enough hours in the day to get all that I want done finished. The to do lists stretch out longer and longer, and the check offs become fewer and fewer. I have been wondering what I can do to make things run more smoothly. I have tried using an egg timer to make sure I am on task and not taking too long of breaks for lunch. I have tried to get on a schedule like a school day. I have tried electronic to do lists. I have yet to find my rhythm to successfully getting everything done. Add on this that I don't have kids yet, and it makes me feel even less accomplished.
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<br />Somewhere in here I need to find a good way of getting it all done. When I figure it out I will let you all know, and if you are the golden one who has been given this knowledge, please pass it on. Until then, I am off to bake bread for lunch, can peach jelly, make a run to the post office, water the garden, make dinner, and a bunt cake, and hopefully get to that sewing project I cannot seem to get to ever! There is more on the list, but well... I guess I should start that egg timer and get to it!Fabulous Pantshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092518938396834620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4125258939596532022.post-77300255250816687342011-08-23T10:21:00.000-07:002011-08-23T10:25:11.586-07:00To Do List:Things I HAVE to Do Today:
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<br />- Water the garden and look to see if there are seedlings or only weedlings.
<br />- Grocery shop for staples. Need to get sugar and flour especially.
<br />- Can those peaches. Once sugar is obtained, 22 pounds of peaches from Friday await!
<br />- Do some bill paying.
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<br />Things I Would Really Like to Do Today as Well:
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<br />- Work on some sewing.
<br />- Write my Grandmother... it has been far to long. (This one may move up into the other column).
<br />- Bake bread for the rest of the week's lunches.
<br />- Write a real blog posting. Fabulous Pantshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092518938396834620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4125258939596532022.post-4884600619693983282011-08-10T07:00:00.000-07:002011-08-10T00:49:28.435-07:00Golden Gate Garden... Finally a Plot of My Own!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/aug2011/garden1.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 188px;" src="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/aug2011/garden1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>One of the things I have wanted most for myself lately is a garden. When we lived in Illinois before moving out to the bay in 2007, we lived in a condo. It was a great place, and while we could redecorate the inside however we liked, there was no gardening space. Sure I had some pots of tomatoes on the driveway, but that is not like digging into the ground and being able to plant just about anything you would want. My container gardening continued as an herb garden when we moved into our first place in Oakland. Once we moved into the second place, I had a balcony that I started up container gardening in again. While I did not get too great of results, it helped me to feel like I was still gardening in some capacity. Once we had to move for the third time, I lost my outdoor space to garden. It was something that I was determined to remedy as quickly as possible. While hunting for the current address, I saw the community garden for Emeryville. It was a very well organized garden all in raised beds. The plants in that garden are beautiful and well kept. I called to see if there was anyway that I could get in to the garden. There was of course a long waiting list. I placed my name on the list and was also directed to the Oakland Park District for their community gardening program. I contacted the head of the Golden Gate Community Garden. There was a waiting list there as well, but I was told to not panic as there may be a plot opening soon.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/aug2011/garden2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 188px;" src="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/aug2011/garden2.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>While on our trip across the country for the shuttle launch, I got the e-mail that informed me I would finally have a plot of my own! I was so excited to see where I was going to garden and meet all my new gardening mates. I had dreams of taking over a plot from someone that had a lot of great plants already established. I mean I am sure that whomever I was taking over from had to move or got to old to be able to take care of their space... right? I walked past great plots like this one that is next to mine. I saw beautiful flowers, vines of summer squashes, tomatoes ready to ripen in our late Bay Area summer of fall, and beans ready to be picked. Corn was a surprise to me in the garden, and all of it looked so good! I could not wait! Then.... I was taken to my plot and this is what I found:
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/aug2011/garden3.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 267px;" src="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/aug2011/garden3.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>Yikes! I was not quite sure what to make of it. If I pulled on one of the sections of the plot, the whole thing moved. I was not ungrateful by any means, but I know it was now going to be a lot of work to take over the plot from the neglect of the previous user. It was covered with lamb's quarters, which I have come to learn are edible and tasty to many people. To me, they were just a super invasive weed that had gone to seed all over the land. I wanted to get to work right away, but I was not ready that first day to start. It just seemed to daunting. I went back on Monday to start working on the plot. I pulled out the biggest of the lamb's quarters and the other plants that I could I worked for two hours on that first day. It seemed like it would never end. For every weed I chopped down with the machete or pulled out by the root, there seemed to be twenty more to come down. Once I got all the biggest stuff taken out, then there was all the grass that had taken root as well as some plants from the person who had the plot before.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/aug2011/garden4.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 188px;" src="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/aug2011/garden4.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>I would take frequent breaks to inspire myself to keep going. One of the garden plots that I kept looking to for a boost was the plot directly in front of mine. The cosmos in this garden are a great shade of purple and would brighten my outlook. I would also go to the front of the garden and scope out a few ripe raspberries off of the community raspberry bushes. I would also just take a break in the shade and listen to all the hummingbirds zip and call through the trees and plants.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/aug2011/garden5.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 188px;" src="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/aug2011/garden5.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>After two hours of work, this was the result... not quite where I had hoped but at least a good start. The biggest stuff was either cut down to the ground to get it out and prevent more seeds reaching the ground or it was taken out roots and all. There was still quite a bit of green matter all over the plot that needed to be raked out, and the most stubborn of the lamb's quarters needed to be dug out with a shovel. I decided to let it go for the day. Besides, I needed to get somethings done around the house, like making dinner! So, I put all the tools away, and I decided to tackle the rest of the job the next day.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/aug2011/garden6.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 267px;" src="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/aug2011/garden6.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>I headed out for the plot with renewed vigor yesterday. I brought with me all sorts of seed packets, fertilizers, and bright eyed bushy tailed enthusiasm. I could see and end point in sight. I could see getting seeds into the ground! I was so excited. It should come as no surprise that when I get this excited about things, there is going to be something to put me back to Earth from my proverbial cloud nine. It was then that I met one of the other gardeners. She was a wealth of information and a great person to talk with and bounce off ideas. It was then that I came to the conclusion that I would not be planting anything today except weeds. Yes you heard that right, planting the weeds. My new gardening mentor explained that since the lamb's quarters had gone to seed and had seeded itself into the plot it would be better off to put my seeds for a week. I should turn over the plot, rake it, and then water it as though I had planted. As she told me she once heard from a gardening mentor: One year's seeds is seven years weeds. I am sure she is right on this one.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/aug2011/garden7.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 188px;" src="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/aug2011/garden7.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>So while it seemed kind of disheartening to put off my planting for another week, it is a much better overall plan to let these seeds come to germination and then weed all the plot at once. That way I do not have to make sure I am only taking out weeds and not my seedlings. I set to turning over the plot. It was rather difficult as the grass and weeds had made quite the mat of roots to bust. Once I got all the dirt turned over and broken up, I raked it out to a even bed, and then raked one more time to remove any little clumps of root balls or more of the lamb's quarters stumps. I did find a few carrots, beets, and radishes that were left over from the previous plot user. Once it was all said and done, I soaked the plot well and crossed my fingers that I can get quite a few of these seeds out using this technique. I left for home feeling sore and ready for lunch... also rather sunburned. Next time I will remember the sunscreen and a shirt that actually covers my back fully rather than one that I <i>think</i> covers my back. You would think I would have learned this lesson by now! Look for more updates from the garden as I learn about four season growing, something new to this former Midwesterner. Till then, happy growing if you have a garden to tend or happy dreaming if you are still awaiting a plot of your own.Fabulous Pantshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092518938396834620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4125258939596532022.post-66689626862308210362011-08-09T07:00:00.000-07:002011-08-09T10:18:17.986-07:00Month of Vacation<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/aug2011/saturn5.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 188px;" src="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/aug2011/saturn5.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>So for the month of June, I kept alluding to the upcoming vacation that the hubby and I were taking. We finally took off for our vacation at the beginning of July. We headed out on a cross country road trip to see the last shuttle launch of <i>Atlantis</i>. It was a long road trip from California to Florida. I called it our coast to coast to coast trip. Since we have decided to no longer fly due to currently TSA policies, we have had to make some decisions on how we are traveling. This time we chose to drive, and it was overall a very eye opening, but fun trip. We would drive at least twelve hours a day in order to make it in time to see the launch. The days were long, but we would break up the monotony with my afternoon news reports reading the news aloud as well as reading about different topics that we would wonder about. I read about everything from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armadillo">armadillos</a> to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saltair,_Utah">Saltair</a> to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing%3F">The Thing?</a>. Don't click on that last one if you love roadside attractions and don't want the I-10 The Thing ruined for you. The biggest stand out of the trip out was the great food at <a href="http://www.pecksseafood.com/">Peck's Seafood</a> in Slidell, Louisiana. We tried our best to support as many local and small businesses on this trip as possible. Many of our meals were at small mom and pop type places or out of our cooler rather than going the usual fast food route. The food at Peck's was amazing and huge. The staff there was super friendly and attentive. My big favorites there was the crab and corn chowder as well as the oyster po boy. The shrimp platter had more food than you could shake a stick at. It was a great place, a little ways off the interstate but well worth the side trip for some good fried seafood.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/aug2011/control.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 188px;" src="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/aug2011/control.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>Finally we ended up in Titusville the day before the launch, and we had to go to bed early. The wake up call for us on launch day was 2:30 in the morning. We needed to be at Kennedy Space Center at 4:00 am, so we made our lunches and headed out for the day. The trip out took only 50 minutes. Once we got to the center and headed through security, our next stop was to get on a bus tour. We got on one of the last bus tours for the day. It was neat to see the buildings in the dark all lit up with flood lights for the launch. The vehicle assembly building definitely gave me shivers as we drove past it. We went out to the Saturn V center to see the rocket (pictured above) and the control center. I have to say that aside from the launch and watching the sun rise over the launch vehicle from the Saturn V center, this was my favorite thing at Kennedy. It was a well done recreation of the launch sequences that used to take place out of the control room. The windows rattle, the room rumbles, and the screens on the desks show the views that each person would have seen.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/aug2011/launch.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 188px;" src="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/aug2011/launch.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>We decided to just watch and experience the launch when it happened rather than try to take pictures or watch it with binoculars.I am glad that we did this. It was spectacular to watch, and I am so glad we got to be there to experience it. The light from the shuttle was so intense, and it was the best example of the difference between the speed of light vs. the speed of sound. We did not hear the sound of the launch until after the shuttle was out of sight through the clouds, around 22 seconds after the launch started. We did take pictures of ourselves in front of the exhaust trail before heading to our bus for the trip back from Banana Creek Causeway to the visitors center. I don't look too bad for having only a few hours of sleep before the early pre-dawn arrival time. It was on the bus that we realized we made the right choice to watch rather than try to capture the fleeting moment of the launch. Many people were lamenting that they saw nothing and had no pictures to show for it either. I was so glad that I saw it and love the memory of that moment.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/aug2011/bryants.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 139px;" src="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/aug2011/bryants.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>After the launch we headed back across the country. We went to St. Petersburg, Flordia next. A quick stop was made at <a href="http://thedali.org/"> The Dali Museum</a>. It was well worth the side trip. The museum has some very neat pieces, and while I wished we had a bit more time than we did, it was a nice diversion from the usual days of driving. We then went out to dinner at a great local restaurant in Maderia Beach called Walt'z Fish Shak. The staff can be kind of brisk, and the place is populated by locals, but once they realize you are there for their true seafood versus one of the many chain places, all that melts away. Make sure you arrive well before 6 pm as items from the small menu disappear soon after that time. All the fish is fresh caught that day and prepared very well. We had a great time there and headed off for the next destination. We stopped in Paducah, Kentucky for a quick quilt shop browse, and I left with some great fabrics for a few aprons before the main event, Kansas City Barbeque. This time through, we stopped at the original Arthur Bryant's. It was great, and I totally recommend that you visit the one in the industrial part of town. Looking at their smoke box was amazing. The crew there is fast and efficient, and we ate ourselves silly.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/aug2011/rocky2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 267px;" src="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/aug2011/rocky2.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>From there we headed toward <a href="http://www.nps.gov/romo/index.htm">Rocky Mountain National Park</a>. That was a great camping trip. We spent three days at the park camping and hiking around the mountains. We took the Alberta Falls trail up to Lock Vale. It was a moderate hike, and it only became difficult once we hit the snow pack. We had no poles with us, so it was all sorts of hands and knees scrambling to get up to certain places. The waterfalls were spectacular as the snow was very heavy this year and the rainstorms in the area have also been plentiful. We packed in our lunch and took a leisurely six mile round trip hike. The weather was perfect, and despite my thoughts that we were going to get poured on from the rain in the afternoon, a drop never fell on us. It fell on the campsite, but not on us.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/aug2011/rocky3.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 188px;" src="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/aug2011/rocky3.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>The Loch was worth the extra trip up. We originally planned a shorter hike, but we wanted to make it up to Thompson Falls. Once we learned from other hikers that the upper falls was obstructed from view by ice and snow, we decided the loch was far enough. The water was super clear, and you could see all the fish swimming by. The local YMCA camp was doing some sort of initiation rite by having the campers jump into the glacier fed water. It was cold for sure, and while I am sure the kids enjoyed it from their triumphant yells, there was no way I was going into that cold water. We made our way down for a night of star gazing back at the campsite and got to see some wildlife up and personal that night. Deer were feeding on the grass just behind our tent, and a huge male elk was also feeding at the front of the campground.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/aug2011/rocky1.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 188px;" src="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/aug2011/rocky1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>The sunsets up in Rocky Mountain were spectacular. This was the view from our picnic table one night. It was just a beautiful tapestry of clouds and color every night. From there we headed home after a two week journey. It was great. I then had five days to recover and get packed before heading off to Chaos Wars in Idaho for eleven days. That was also very fun. It is always good to get to see old friends and get some combat archery under my belt for the year. I danced at the bonfires, and was delighted to make some new friends as well as reconnect with some old ones. Now I am getting back into the swing of homemaking, and there is a lot to do. While it is a well oiled machine, starting back up from an almost month long absence is difficult to say the least. There are piles of laundry to do, rooms to clean, and equipment to store. Costumes need repair, and I need sleep to get over my usual "Chaos Cough." A lot has gone on, and new plans are in the works. Check back for more updates and a new feature to the blog hopefully starting this Friday! It is good to be back, and I cannot wait to start in on all that my mind wants to do!Fabulous Pantshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092518938396834620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4125258939596532022.post-76107525474018998312011-06-29T11:20:00.000-07:002011-06-29T11:35:10.320-07:00Pickle Relish<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/june2011/relish1.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 275px; height: 222px;" src="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/june2011/relish1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>I often make up my canning plans for the week when I am at the Farmer's Market. You never know what you are going to find at a steal of a deal. These cucumbers for instance were one of those fun surprises. I was headed out of the market after arriving rather late in the day when I spotted a stall with these wonderful cucumbers bagged up together. Sometimes at the end of the day, the stall owners will bag up produce that has not sold yet and offer it at rock bottom prices. I asked how much for the bag, and I was told one dollar. Sold! I am totally in for figuring out what to do with some extra cucumbers. I decided to try my hand a sweet pickle relish as we were almost out of our store bought jar.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/june2011/relish2.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 275px; height: 206px;" src="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/june2011/relish2.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>One of the things I forget about pickles in general is to take into account the soak time. I made several false starts on this project, getting all the ingredients out and washing up my jars, then reading the instructions and seeing a four hour soak time. I think next year I will take a page from Ashley English and do my soak over night rather than having to wait around for it. The other thing I will consider is trying the cutting part in the blender. I did this all by hand, and I agree with my husband that the pieces may be too big. Lesson learned. I have read about successful relish being made in a blender, but I was rather leery at trying it the first time out of the gate. I cut up all my ingredients into as small as pieces as I could manage. It took a LONG time. Then, they went into the brine for a nice long soak. Finally the pickling brine was made up in the pot and the now drained and rinsed vegetables were added to the hot brine.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/june2011/relish3.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 275px; height: 163px;" src="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/june2011/relish3.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>I got the recipe I followed out of my Mom's old Ball Blue Book from the 1960's. They refer to this as "cucumber relish" not sweet pickle relish. I did tweak the recipe in a minor way, cutting the turmeric way back because we are just not big fans of a super turmeric flavor in our pickles. I ended up with four nice jars of relish. I cannot wait to see what this stuff tastes like. It is as though we have bough the endless jar of relish since we still have not finished it, and it has been several weeks since I made the relish. I guess I will just have to take a jar with us on the camping trip and "field" test it on hotdogs fresh off the fire. Follow up on the flavor and things I would change or not change will be posted as soon as I get a good opinion on the results.Fabulous Pantshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092518938396834620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4125258939596532022.post-70693210470960369182011-06-28T10:22:00.001-07:002011-06-28T10:49:37.361-07:00Summer is Here?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/june2011/mat1.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 275px; height: 206px;" src="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/june2011/mat1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>It has hardly felt like summer around here this year. The temperatures have been cooler than normal, and the rain has been around later than the last few years we have been here. It is in fact raining again today! Very odd for the bay area from what I understand. Under this odd set of weather, I have had a hard time getting it through my head that it is summer. One of the ways that I have tried to get myself into believing it is summer is by burying my head in camping plans. Thinking of being out in the woods in a tent makes my mind turn to thoughts of summer instantly. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/june2011/mat2.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 275px; height: 206px;" src="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/june2011/mat2.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>I wanted to decorate a bit for the Independence Day holiday this year. Nothing big, but I wanted some little touch to further remind me that yes, in fact, it is summer. I decided to make some simple place mats for the table. We have been eating in front of the table more and more since it is no longer situated so close to the television. With the television being a floor below, it is quite a hassle to bring everything down to eat, so meals at the table have been adopted. This means that we go through table linens at a much faster rate. I thought some Independence Day themed ones would be a welcomed addition to the collection. I made these with fabrics I purchased off of <a href="http://fabric.com">Fabric.com</a>. I have found them to be a really great company. They are helpful, and the free shipping after hitting the $35 threshold is also a nice touch. They often run sales, and the discount corner is a great place to pick up some nice deals. Overall, I find their prices to be competitive with retail giants. This does not mean that I am abandoning my locally owned shops, but they are a nice alternative to other places and carry some different things from my local shops.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/june2011/mat3.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 275px; height: 206px;" src="http://www.fabulouspants.com/salesimg/june2011/mat3.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>I decided to go with double sided as it is the easiest option now with the serger. I did not want to work on mitering corners as this was supposed to be a super fast and fun project. If you did not have a serger, you could put the pieces right sides facing, sew them together leaving a small opening, and then tun the fabric right sides out, press, and sew your opening closed. I liked the added touch the red rolled hem added to the linens. I picked a less overtly Americana for the backside so they can be used off season as well. <br /><br />Well I think I am going to take advantage of the rainy day seeing as those are my most productive. There is a birthday present that needs to be sewn up as well as some costume items for my impending Chaos Wars trip. Hopefully I get all these things done before I have to leave! There is always so much to do lately... I love it!Fabulous Pantshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092518938396834620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4125258939596532022.post-39737830160814755872011-06-27T11:28:00.000-07:002011-06-27T11:58:44.248-07:00Refresh, Restart, ReorganizeShort but sweet posting up for you today. I am currently looking forward with great anticipation both my vacation with the husband as well as my attendance at Chaos Wars. I am in dire need of some refreshment from the daily grind. It is going to be nice to break out of my usual routines and get out of the city. There are times when the city seems too closed in, and I long for some open space and a large canopy of trees overhead rather than buildings. <br /><br />There is so much to do, and it seems like so little time. I am currently redoubling my efforts to get in shape for the event so that the 5000 foot altitude does not wipe me out quite as fast as it usually does. That takes a big chunk out of my day, not that I am complaining, just explaining. I am glad to be restarting on that part of my life again. Running went by the wayside during the winter due to the rain, and it kept off my plate due to the extended rain that we had this year. I am back at it now and enjoying myself very much. I just hope I can keep up the training while we are traveling.<br /><br />Last but not the least by any means is the big kitchen reorganization project. The kitchen is the one place I need to get working immediately once we move into a new place. It truly is the engine room of our house, so when we moved this winter, I went about making it functional as fast as possible. Just because it was functional does not mean it is efficient. That is where the great reorganization comes into being. The pantry of this particular place is very unfriendly to anyone who cooks a great deal. We have one of those long thing pantries, with a small set of double doors, not enough shelves, and no pull out drawers. Essentially, if you want something toward the back of a shelf, you have to take everything out and put it on the counter until you can get back to the thing you need. Then, you need to take everything and put it back into the cabinet to regain the counter space to be able to cook. Forget an ingredient? Start the frustrating process all over again. Add on top of this design issue my massive amounts of canning, well not massive by most canner's standards, but massive by non-canners, and you have a recipe for disaster. So, for the past few weeks, I have been thinking and plotting and planning with my husband for how to redo this mess. I think we are in the beginning stages of a breakthrough, but it is hard to say as there is stuff all over the kitchen. Jars of jelly, pots and pans, live currently side by side with baskets of dried fruit. The chaos is maddening, and I feel like I cannot get anything done in the house with the kitchen all ripped up like this, but the end is near. The only way to get done is to go through, and that is what I am in the midst of doing. On that note, I guess I should try to tackle another shelf!Fabulous Pantshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092518938396834620noreply@blogger.com0