Tag : kitchen

80 posts

I guess I should actually say an eventful week and a half, both good and bad. I’ll start my tale at the bad beginning…

Two Friday’s ago we awoke to a flooded basement. Completely soaked carpet and over half the basement wet. It could have been much worse…it was our water softener that caused the mess so relatively clean water. I didn’t mention my mess on the blog last Tuesday as we were celebrating the 3rd anniversary of T stands for Tuesday!

On Tuesday I mentioned that we’d be out and about like usual for our Tuesday. We were heading to my inlaws (where incidentally we were planning to go to flood Friday) when something hit my drivers side window and it exploded in on me. I was in the inner lane driving 50mph in traffic.  This is where my school bus driving days had me at an advantage with sheer experience on the road. I was able to pull over and figure out what I was going to do. I ended up driving back home after stopping at a hardware store to get something to at least clean the glass off me and my seat.

T Tuesday eventful week edition

I had some small cuts on my arm and embedded glass under my leg that I must have ground in as I drove. Adrenaline…never felt it until later although Mini-me did get out the first aid kit and cleaned up the blood a bit as I scooped glass from the van. Mini-me had a couple tiny pieces in her leg as well…small enough that we used duct tape to remove them. J was spared as he was in the passenger seat of the minivan. Again…things could have been much worse! I could have lost control and gotten into a wreck.

This is were my tale turns for the better… My neighbor decided last minute to have a garage sale so I was going through the house trying to dig up some things to sell.  We did ok but ended up spending most of our profits on a new hutch…well, new to us. Our neighbors just remodeled their kitchen. We took it home thinking we could use it for storage in our game area.

T Tuesday eventful week edition

Looked pretty good there…

T Tuesday eventful week edition

and Marvin also approved. Then overnight Mr. G had a bout of insomnia and realized that perhaps the hutch would be better served in our dining room. So we moved it again….back up the stairs it had come down….

T Tuesday eventful week edition

This way we are able to actually see the beautiful set of dishes from my paternal Grandma.

hulda

As I age I am looking more and more like her, at least in my opinion.

T Tuesday eventful week edition

I feel as if I’m at Downton Abbey when I open these doors. I think it’s the big soup tureen that gives me that feeling. Love, love, love these dishes! Notice all the tea cups… full set of 12. Anyone want to join me for tea? As a kid my mom had them out only on holidays or when we had “fancy” company. These are certainly not my everyday dishes but we do try to use them occasionally because otherwise…what’s the point?!

T Tuesday eventful week edition

We decided to take the door off the one side and just use open shelving.  It’s amazing how much more open it feels with that simple subtraction of the door. Marvin went back to his favorite spot next to the door…that way he can keep track of everyone’s comings and goings.

T Tuesday eventful week edition

He’s just so dang cute! I’m planning to put a little curtain across the wine rack area to keep them in the dark. I was thinking it might be fun to use a vintage table cloth  as my fabric. Perhaps I’ll make a matching mixer cover at the same time.

Our new hutch took the place of our old buffet. The buffet now resides in the game area.

T Tuesday eventful week edition

It really looks nice there and holds a ton of games. So after all the heavy lifting and switching things around we sat down and played a family game and got thoroughly trounced by Mini-me.

Thanks for sticking with me through my long post.  I have no idea what Tuesday has in store for me…other than I feel as if perhaps I should just stay home.

What are you doing today?

Since school has been out I feel as if I’m busier than before. Not sure how that happened. Yesterday we went to my in-laws house to plant in their garden. I had 3 tomato plants yet to plant from the ones I started back in March. I also planted summer squash, green beans and snow peas.

So where does the harvest come in, you ask. They have a huge strawberry patch and wanted us to pick. Mini-me and I picked nearly three 5 quart ice cream pails full.

I also harvested some rhubarb so I could make a batch of muffins. Mini-me and I are the only ones who will eat rhubarb, so I’m cautious on how much I pick. I baked these muffins in the afternoon.

rhubarb muffins

I’m really not much of a baker. In fact I don’t like to do it at all. Too much measuring. Rules to follow. Not my thing. But this recipe, which I slightly adapted from the original on allrecipes.com, turned out perfect in looks, texture and taste.

Rhubarb muffins

  • 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 cups diced rhubarb

sugar crumb topping

  • 1 Tbsp melted butter
  • 1/3 cup organic cane sugar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon

Using an electric mixer, combine first 5 ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Then add the dry ingredients.  Again mix until thoroughly incorporated. Lastly toss in the rhubarb. This may be easier done by hand unless you have a large paddle on your mixer.

Place muffin liners in pan and fill each nearly to the top. Next melt the butter and add the sugar and cinnamon. (next time I think I’ll add some rolled oats for more texture) scoop a bit on topping on each muffin.

Bake at 350°F for 25 mins and enjoy.

rhubarb muffins

Today will be spent painting mini-me’s room. She’s picked out a very sophisticated grey. I’ll share some before and after photos when we’re done…hopefully next week for T stands for Tuesday!

What are you doing today?

board3Look at this fantastic cutting board Big J made in school! He gave it to me for an early Mother’s Day gift.

It started as two planks of wood. One hickory and one oak. The mix of woods gives interest to the board.

board2

It’s nice and thick…more of a butcher block. It’s beautiful.

board

I can’t wait to see what he makes next in the metals portion of this class.

HAPPY EARTH DAY!

Remember to be good to our planet today and everyday,

PS…stop by my friend Elizabeth’s blog today and wish her a Happy Birthday!

Welcome to T stands for Tuesday. Hope you had a lovely Easter.

Last week I decided to try a new technique with my natural onion skin dye. I’ve done natural dying in the past and always amazed how different the results can be.

onion skin dye | Halle's Hobbies

The only leaf or flower I had on hand was cilantro, so I made do with that.

onion skin dye | Halle's Hobbies

I didn’t have a ton of onion skins so I decided on 4 eggs.  I tucked the eggs into the onion skins and filled the pan with water. I also gave a generous splash of white vinegar to the mix.  I cooked the eggs like I would for hard boiled eggs. Bring to a boil uncovered, boil 1 minute, cover and turn off burner. Let sit for at least 20 mins. Perfect eggs every time.  These eggs I let sit much longer…until they were lukewarm since I wanted the dye to have as much time to work it’s magic as possible.

onion skin dye | Halle's Hobbies

Oh yeah magic. Look at how dark that color came out.

onion skin dye | Halle's Hobbies

They are so interesting to look at.  I want to try this again but with other leaves and flowers.

onion skin dye | Halle's Hobbies

I was so mad at myself after I dumped the dye water down the sink. What was I thinking!!! I could have thrown some bits and pieces of fabric and lace in there.  My mind was preoccupied. Good old Murphy of Murphy’s law had paid us a visit. While boiling the eggs I notice the digital display for the oven wasn’t on. Obviously the cook top worked since I was using it. Yep the control board was shot. On the bright side, I hated my old stove. And this lovely news came the day after finding out I have to get a root canal. Nothing like waking up with a swollen cheek and painful mouth.

There are a few more things that Murphy contributed to over the past week as well but I’m done complaining.

coffee

Time for a decadent cup of coffee before moving on with my day.

What are you doing today?

So whats a girl to do when she’s hosting some friends for brunch and suddenly the love seat decides it needs a bit of ventilation.

T Tuesday make do edition | Halle's Hobbies

Frantically, search through her totes of fabric to find a slipcover of course.

T Tuesday make do edition | Halle's Hobbies

Not too shabby if I say so myself. I’m so happy I grabbed this piece of rich upholstery fabric from a garage sale a couple years back. The girls are nearly here so this will be short and sweet.

I do have to show you my new pint glass though.T Tuesday make do edition | Halle's Hobbies

I just couldn’t pass it up. I knew it would be perfect for the Japanese beer I drink with sushi.

T Tuesday make do edition | Halle's Hobbies

It had been a while since I made sushi. It was so yummy!!!!!!

What are you doing today?

Today for T stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing a bit of my Norwegian heritage.

t tuesday: lefse edition | Halles Hobbies

LEFSE

Lefse is made from potatoes, evaporated milk, butter, flour and a touch of sugar and salt.

It’s a two day process. The first day you boil the potatoes and add everything but the flour. The potatoes then have to sit overnight to cool. I make my mashed potatoes as if I’m going to to be making lefse…that way if there are leftovers and I’m so inclined they are ready to go.

I use my Kitchen Aid mixer to stir in the flour. That mixer was our very first major purchase as a married couple even though we really couldn’t afford it at the time.  I told Mr. G that I was going to need one to be as good of cook as my mom.  I use it all the time!  We’ve definitely gotten our money’s worth out of that machine.

t tuesday: lefse edition | Halles Hobbies

The trick to good lefse is rolling them very thin without using a ton of flour.  Its a balancing act between having the potatoes to wet and sticky and having a dry flavorless lefse.

t tuesday: lefse edition | Halles Hobbies

The thin lefse is rolled onto the turning stick (to the right in the photo) then placed on the grill. I got this grill at an auction almost 20 years ago for $7 and it was brand new still in the box! They retail for well over $100.

The lefse is cooked on each side for 1-2 minutes.

There is nothing low cal, low carb about this treat. I like just butter on mine before rolling and inhaling eating. Many use butter and sugar, some cinnamon sugar. It’s really a personal preference and usually a family traditional way to serve them.

Big J drove me to deliver some to a few special Norwegians around here yesterday afternoon. It’s always nice to see those smiling faces when I hand over this decadent treat. Makes the work totally worth it!

We’ve got freezing drizzle coming down today so I’m likely sticking close to home.

What are you doing today?

Here I am, once again, at dark thirty writing my T stands for Tuesday post in between getting kids up and making lunches. Perhaps of these days…weeks…years…I’ll get the habit of preplanning these things. I think it’s my personality though to wait and see where life takes me.

T Tuesday waste not edition | Halle's hobbies

Today I wanted to share a couple of things I did this week to repurpose items that would have been thrown away or in this first case, composted.

I’ve been wanting to try my hand at making apple cider vinegar. I’ve read numerous posts on this old fashion technique. Usually this time of year we have apples coming out of our ears from our neighbor’s trees. This year happened to be a poor production year with their trees.

Homemade apple cider vinegar t tuesday waste not edition | Halle's hobbies

I did have a couple organic store bought apples that we’re definitely past their prime. Not wanting to completely waste expensive apples, I decided to experiment. The recipes or tutorials I read used peels and cores but I’m certain that using the whole apple will work just fine. I sterilized my quart mason jar in the dishwasher then filled it with the chopped apples. I used spring water to completely cover the apples. A scrap of cloth was placed under the ring to allow it to breath. I placed it in our basement storage room while it does its magic. Hopefully by Christmas, I’ll have some homemade apple cider vinegar.

The second waste not piece of this post was using a paper scrap in an unexpected way.

t tuesday waste not edition | Halle's hobbies

The scrap started as a misprinted Christmas letter from last year. Then it protected my journal from paint and sprays, glues and inks.

t tuesday waste not edition | Halle's hobbies

Now it’s the base of a new art journal page. Who know where this page will take me.

Do you use any “throw away” items in unexpected ways? I’d love to hear about them…

 

 

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