Remedy

tub toys

Winter is beginning to wear on me. Still, I'm not ready for the busyness of spring & summer yet.

I'm thinking maybe the remedy is a new craft project?


1 year ago:

Music to my ears

Iowa Food Coop, February

Snowy lane

The shopping cart is open at the Iowa Food Coop for February! It will be open until February 13, with delivery on Thursday, February 18.

This thing just keeps growing, and we're so excited to be a part of it!

Getting promoted

Rafe turns 8 next month, and in anticipation has entered into negotiations for a raise in his allowance. After explaining that a raise would have to be precipitated by a corresponding raise in responsibilities, he hand-washed the dishes, pots & pans that wouldn't fit in the dishwasher after supper. Prior to this his duties have included loading & unloading the dishwasher, so I guess this is a promotion of sorts. His sisters are certainly glad to see him moving up the ranks.

This was the scene when I came in the kitchen later.



I guess it's good that he's also learning to make work fun.

And to his future wife...you're welcome! A husband that does the dishes is a good catch indeed :)

Win some, lose some

I made a discovery the past couple of weeks. Forget fall cleaning, or spring cleaning (which I always forget anyway in lieu of gardening.) Winter cleaning is where it's at! I now declare January the annual Deep Clean as a Family Month. All 5 of us have been scrubbing from ceiling to floor and everything in between, and with minimal grumbling even.

Something about a squeaky clean kitchen makes me want to cook up a storm, which is what I did this weekend. Some things were a whopping success, others (unfortunately) were epic fails. Here's the rundown.

Friday night was my standby pizza. I browned up some "little sizzlers" pork sausage (a new product we'll have for sale in the spring!) for one pizza topping. A success, but that's a recipe I can do in my sleep so it doesn't really count as a whopping success.

On to Saturday. First I baked up the rye bread I'd started the night before.



Whopping success #1! It was really good with some mayo & turkey. It was really good with some provolone cheese. It was really good with butter & sprinkled with some kosher salt.

Can you tell I ate a lot of rye bread Saturday?

Next up was Pioneer Woman's Baked Beans. I've had some beans from our garden sitting in the freezer, so they went on the Cooking from the Deep list.



Unfortunately they became epic fail #1. Not sure what went wrong. I baked and baked and baked them - 8 hours on Saturday in a 250 degree oven, and maybe 6 more hours in the crockpot on Sunday. They ended up sort of cooked, but still slightly crunchy. Fortunately Matt likes them well enough & says he'll eat them for lunch this week.

Next up was movie night on Saturday night, so I made hot chocolate and Orangette's Caramel Corn.



I made mine with cashews instead of peanuts. Matt declared it a new Saturday night tradition. It really was that amazing. Whopping success #2!

Today my family came over to celebrate January & February birthdays. I made Aunt Sandy's Oven Crispy Chicken. It was crispy all right, and dry. Not at all the way it had turned out the first time. Again, not sure what happened this time around. Epic fail #2.

For the birthday cake I made Pioneer Woman's Tres Leches Cake. Matt had requested a not-chocolate cake with not-chocolate frosting. This seemed like it would fit the bill, and I loved it! Matt loved it, too. So whopping success #3! (Even though my mother liked the Ice Cream Pie with Caramel Sauce I made for Bunco earlier in the week better.)

So all-in-all, not bad for the weekend overall. I always tell my kids that that's the way you learn. Just give it your best shot. You'll win some, and you'll lose some.


1 year ago:

Attend the INCA conference!

Hankering

I've got me a hankering to make bread. It's been a while since I've done anything other than my simple go-to French bread. I've got some rye dough proofing in the refrigerator, and plans to put together a rye sourdough starter yet tonight. (Can you tell I found 2 bags of rye flour in the deep dark recesses of my freezer?) Stay tuned...


1 year ago:

Sporadic

Jan 22

Rafe's first win...



It was one of those times when third place feels just like first.


1 year ago:

There's nothing like hoarfrost

Bringing hay home

I mentioned that last weekend I helped Matt get some hay home that he'd purchased.

First he had me pull the empty rack to the bales while he drove his tractor out there. Pulling an empty rack is not really a big deal. The only part that made me nervous was that I had to pull it through the middle of town. I was watching my mirrors closely so I didn't swipe any parked cars!


Matt pumping up the tires for me

I waited in the truck while he loaded up the rack with bales, then I slid over to the passenger seat and let him pull the loaded rack home. I didn't want to have all the fun myself...