Category : Kitchen

90 posts

201708/11

Interpretive crochet

That’s what I decided to call my near inability to follow a pattern. I’ve decided that I’m ok with that. I crochet mainly for myself making dishcloths. My stemware really doesn’t care if I have too many or too few stitches. Why should I?

Honestly, I can and have followed a pattern…once for sure. The green hexagonal dishcloth proves it. I’m pretty sure the purple one is correct as well. The rest of them..not so much.

I tend to crochet when I’m waiting or watching TV. I think its the TV that screws me up with the whole pattern thing. OH well. They are pretty and will certainly clean dishes so that’s all that matters.

Incidentally…the purple yarn is the last of my cabbage dyed yarn.

Blog | Crafts | Creativity | Kitchen

crochet, kitchen, natural dye, yarn

2 Comments

halleday

201706/22

Back at it…finally

It has been a while girls and boys. Every time I sat down to write a post, I just couldn’t. I was stuck…blocked by emotion. Not sure how to move on with my blog while still dealing with the grief of losing my mom. Somehow it felt wrong. I know that is crazy talk but it took a while to move beyond that thought. So here I am…back at it.

I’ve been busy with a number of things…

such as this wreath. It came together quite nicely from some clearance items. I’m thinking about hanging it under the eaves on our deck. I haven’t actually taken it out there to see if there is enough wall space but I think it would be a lovely addition to the space.

I’ve experimented with some acrylic pours that I’ll share in another post.

The sun is finally out today…we’ve had rain, rain, rain today. I found this cute little nest laying in the yard after a recent storm.

Today was also the first CSA drop off date. They were supposed to start last week but there had been a terrible hail storm that had taken out a lot of the crops. I have to say that I am very pleasantly surprised at the high quality and quantity of produce I got today.

Those carrots are so good!!!!! They taste just like I remember as a kid…only not so gritty. I used to pull them out of the ground, swish them in the rain barrel and eat them.

Around home | Blog | Crafts | Creativity | Kitchen

T Tuesday: rum cake edition

This year for Christmas we changed things up a bit. In the past several years we’ve had a Christmas brunch and it worked out very well since the kiddos weren’t too great at waiting to open presents. In those days I think they would have preferred everyone spend the night and get up at 6am. Since they are older now, we decided moving back to a more traditional time for our family was best. That meant we’d need a dessert.

I decided to make a rum cake. I’d made this one before and it was so yummy. The recipe comes from a cookbook called Booze Cakes that I checked out from the library. The first time I made it I used a standard bundt pan in the classic bundt shape. This time I decided to get a little adventurous and use my fancy bundt pan since it looks a bit like Christmas trees.

As it was baking, I was realizing that the tree pan was smaller than the classic pan…I kept watching it in fear that it would run over as it baked. I was lucky…

Look how beautifully it came out of the pan! I took a lot of time preparing the pan in hopes that it would work. So cute!

Remember I mentioned this was from a cookbook called Booze Cakes…yeah…that bottle was full when I started and I wasn’t sampling. I don’t even like rum in drinks…but I sure do in cake!!!

Just before serving I dusted the entire cake with powdered sugar giving it the appearance of snow. I totally forgot to snap a photo though. You’ll just have to take my word for it. It was yummy and boozy.

The kids head back to school after winter break so I’ll be all by myself for a change…well I’ll still have Marvin to keep me company.

What are you doing today?

Around home | Blog | Kitchen

baking, Christmas, Holidays, kitchen, Marvin, rum cake, T Tuesday

16 Comments

halleday

201612/12

T Tuesday: treat shop edition

I’m not really starting up a treat shop…it just feels like it. Every year I give plates of cookies and sweet treats to the neighbors but the list seems to be growing and therefore the amount of goodies is getting crazy! But still fun. I get to have a little of this and that without having to keep all of it around.

I’ve also made a double batch of spritz, pretzel hugs and Rolo pretzel turtles….unfortunately all the turtles have been eaten or maybe that’s fortunate since I couldn’t seem to leave them alone.

It’s super, duper cold here and will be all week so there is lots and lots of hot tea being consumed.

I just had to share this photo of Marvin….when I tell people he’s a big cat they really don’t have the concept of just how big.

Grocery shopping and ortho appt are on the list for Tuesday…oh and trying to stay warm!!

What are you doing today?

Around home | Blog | Kitchen

Christmas, kitchen, Marvin, T Tuesday

15 Comments

halleday

201611/28

T Tuesday: lefse edition

Trying something new for this edition of T stands for Tuesday. Mini-me helped make the first batch of lefse for the season. I took a series of photos and linked them as a slideshow. Fingers crossed that this works.

[KGVID]http://www.halleshobbies.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/lefseday.mp4[/KGVID]

It’s been a busy, weird week that has included but not limited to:

~an overnight dog visit that went reasonably well with Marvin the dog hater cat

~two turkey dinners

~precipitation of all kinds and in all directions: rain, snow, sleet and hail

~one panicky ER visit which turned out very benign

~one partially dislocated jaw (unrelated to the above)

~all four of us on vacation for 5 overlapping days plus extras on both ends

~late night scratch made brownies

~4 teen boys Black Friday shopping (for themselves)

~one Christmas tree set up and was still standing in the morning (amazing!)

I’m absolutely positive there was more but that is all I am able to wrap my mind around at the moment.

Kids go back to school after a 6 day break…and a mountain of laundry awaits. Living the dream boys and girls. Actually, that is serious! Yes, we all love to complain about the pesky chores of life but I am so thankful for every day that I am able to be home caring for my family.

What are you doing today?

Blog | Kitchen

day in the life, kitchen, lefse, T Tuesday

14 Comments

halleday

201609/20

T Tuesday: apple days edition

Happy Tuesday everyone! This past weekend is one I both love and hate each year. It’s the weekend we help pick apples at our neighbors house. They have 5 trees that are HUGE!! As in you need an extension ladder huge.

(This is just a 6 foot ladder…)

Some of their family comes over as well as several of us neighbors. We spend the morning picking then bring our bags of apples home and usually the afternoon or next day processing.

This year we didn’t make time for processing over the weekend. Everyone was going here and there it seemed. Sleepover, Manhattan choir fundraiser, fabricating and 3D printing in the garage and of course, leaving time to watch our Vikings play the Packers (the big border battle) in the inaugural game in the new stadium…SKOL Vikings! Our Vikings won-BTW!!!

On to Monday…this was my morning view complete with coffee as fuel for the day ahead….

Normally I process in the garage for more room but since I was doing it solo I brought the garage can inside.

After hours of peeling I had every extra large container I own full of sliced apples.

As well as a stock pot full cooking down to sauce. And the dehydrator with 6 trays loaded.

I ended up with 7 quarts that I canned…

The rest went into gallon freezer bags to be made into sauce at a later date.

As you can see by this photo it was now after 3pm and I was exhausted,

I also managed to get two loads of laundry washed during that time.

So my grand total for the day was: 7 quarts apple sauce canned, 2 quarts in fridge, 4 gallon bags of prepped apples in freezer, and a quart bag of dehydrated slices.

So like I said when I started…apple days…I have a love/hate relationship with them.

Today I’m going to have coffee with some friends then likely come home and can a few pints of diced tomatoes…or else pull up the garden and do the tomatoes tomorrow before the next round of rain.

What are you doing today?

Around home | Blog | Kitchen

apples, canning, kitchen, not art at all, T Tuesday

15 Comments

halleday

201608/09

T Tuesday: domestically inclined edition

Hello there…you came back for yet another edition of T stands for Tuesday! Thank you! For those of you who are new to my blog, WELCOME and let me tell you a little about T stands for Tuesday. Elizabeth aka alteredbooklover hosts a weekly link up or virtual tea party, if you will, where we share what ever the heck we want for the week as long as we can somehow tie a beverage or beverage related item into the mix. Pretty simple huh? So lets get on with it, shall we…

This week I’ve been a mix of artsy and domestic. I’ve previously posted a couple of artsy things so now you get to see some of my domesticity. Last week…no, two weeks ago (geez where does the time go) I shared our “new” hutch for T stands for Tuesday. I mentioned that I need to make a curtain to cover the wine rack shelf. I went searching through a box of vintage linens and found the perfect solution.

Simple beauty. These were my Grandma’s as well. Or perhaps her sisters…a cousin of mine just told me a story that my grandma talked her sister out of a bunch of linens saying that she needed them more in the parsonage than her sister did on the farm. Hmmm…

I’m guessing these were purchased by my grandparents in Minneapolis if the stickers are to be believed. Dayton’s became a upscale department store here in the midwest and started the discount chain Target.

After ironically running to Target to pick up a tension rod, I realized that I wouldn’t even have to cut these linens. I folded them in half and ran a straight line of stitching an inch from the fold.

This gave me a double layer of fabric providing more light blocking which was exactly what I was going for with this project.

The linen curtain makes this piece feel more Scandinavian. Marvin still loves his spot by the door and really could care less about the curtain.

I did a bit of canning and baking as well when the weather cooled down.

I made spicy beans, zucchini bread and pumpkin bread. I like having a little bit of baked goods in the freezer just in case we are suddenly having company and I was completely out.

I also have to share a day that Mini-me and I had about a month ago. I keep meaning to share but it just hasn’t worked out. She’s been wanting to dye her hair…not all of it but some. A streak or some underneath. She just couldn’t decided so we waited. She finally decided, so we did it.