Weekend getaway

First of all, big thanks go to my SIL and her husband: Melinda & Jon.  THANK YOU for keeping my kids from lighting anything on fire, or selling each other on ebay.  I am sure they were exciting to watch, and I thank you for returning them in pretty much the same shape in which they came to you.  That is not easy to achieve, and I appreciate it!

Secondly, Jared and I were lucky enough to spend the entire weekend (Friday afternoon through Sunday afternoon) at a marriage seminar put on by the National Guard in Salt Lake City.  This is the only picture I have to document this weekend (sorry), because I was too busy enjoying my one-on-one time with my honey.

But, if you're interested, here's a brief recap of the weekend:
* I ate sushi for the first time.  Yes, that means I ate raw fish.  Mostly it was delicious.  Ooooh, and our personal sushi chef made us a dessert roll which was aMAZEing.  mmmmmmmmmm.
* We laughed a LOT in the marriage seminar.  It was a recorded event, so we weren't able to meet Mark Gungor in person.  He was excellent at using humour to teach important things, and I laughed so hard my face is still sore.
* Jared has a "nothing" box.  So when he's sitting there, and I ask him, "What are you thinking?" and he answers "Nothing," he is telling the truth.  :)
* I remember details because they are emotionally important to me.
* Jared and I both value peace a LOT, which explains both why we get along so well (we can understand each other because we speak the same "peace" language), and why we rarely fight (same priorities).
* Jared also values control, which is why he gets to drive whenever we're in the car together.  unless he's headed to the ER with a kidneystone, then I get to drive.
* I also value perfection, which is why I'm the one who organizes the linen closet, and supervises the kids' packing list whenever we travel.
* the Italian food we had for dinner Friday night was pretty good.  I do not, however, like tiramisu, probably because I don't care for the coffee flavor at all.
* the Chinese food we had for lunch on Sunday was not really Chinese.  It was a bad American interpretation of Chinese food.  And no fortune cookies :(
* I do not miss cable TV as much as I thought I did.  Amish Mafia, really?!?  I did like Duck Dynasty, but not enough to pay for cable.
* I really liked the bathroom cupboard in our suite.  It was similar to the Ikea Expedit shelving unit- dark black/brown color, 2x2 open squares on either side of the sink area, flat panel over the sink area, and a good way to store things without any doors to get in the way.
* We walked around SLC a few times.  We had a break before dinner Saturday, and also went after dinner.  There are some interesting panhandlers on the street.
* There is at least one real, live trout in the creek inside the City Center Mall.
* I love the stationary store Papyrus.  Also the chocolate from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory is excellent.  mmmmmmmm.
* An occasional weekend getaway with my husband is an excellent marriage enhancer.  :)

Welcome, HPKCHC!

if you don't understand the header, it's okay. it's a knitting thing!  enjoy the recipes:

Krum Cakes - Special Hogsmeade Weekend Edition*

by Romilda Vane

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (45 g) rolled oats
• 1/4 cup (45 g) packed light-brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons (30 mL) finely chopped candied ginger
• 2 tablespoons (15 g) all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons (30 mL) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cups (180 g) all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons (25 g) sugar
• 2 teaspoons (10 mL) baking powder
• 1 teaspoon (5 mL) baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon (1 mL) ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon (1 mL) ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon (1 mL) salt
• 1/2 cup (120 mL) nonfat buttermilk
• 1/2 cup (120 mL) unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 cup (60 mL) vegetable oil
• 2 large egg whites, lightly beaten
• Vegetable-oil cooking spray

Directions

1.       In a medium bowl, combine oats, brown sugar, ginger, flour, and melted butter, and stir until thoroughly combined. Set aside.

2.       Heat the oven to 350° F (175° C). Coat the muffin tins with cooking spray, and set aside. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ground ginger, and salt in a large mixing bowl, and stir to combine. Place buttermilk, applesauce, and vegetable oil in a medium bowl, and whisk to combine. Stir into flour mixture until well combined. Fold in egg whites.

3.       Place 2 heaping tablespoons (10-12 mL) batter in each muffin tin. Sprinkle with a generous tablespoon (5-8 mL) of reserved topping; press gently to adhere topping to cake. Bake until a cake tester comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool in pan for 15 minutes before serving.

*Source: Martha Stewart

Mother’s Love Muffins

by Romilda Vane

2 cups flour (199 grams)

1 teaspoon(tsp) (8.6 g) baking soda

¼ tsp salt (1.3 g)

1 cup brown sugar (192 g)

1 egg

1 cup milk (237 millilitres)

½ cup melted butter (118 ml)

1 tsp vanilla extract (5 ml)

muffin papers (or cooking spray to grease the muffin tin)

instructions:

Blend together the flour, baking soda, salt, and sugar with a fork.  Add the egg, milk, melted butter, and vanilla.  Stir until everything is moist, but not completely dissolved into the liquid.  Grease the muffin tins or put in papers, then scoop batter into tin.  Sprinkle streusel topping onto batter.  Bake at 400° F (204° C) for 10-12 minutes.  Makes about 14 muffins.

streusel topping:

¼ cup flour (25 g)

¼ cup sugar (brown or white) (50 g)

1 tsp ground cinnamon (2.5 g)

¼ cup butter, cut into little pieces (57 g)

½ cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts) (58 g)

Using a fork (or a food processor) mix together everything but the nuts until it looks like flour-covered peas.  Add the nuts and stir 3 or 4 times.

Today is Awesome

I have this excellent and rather disgusting bruise:

Also, it is snowing :) which is good.

biting the dust

Well, I am posting more frequently than I did last year. Even if I'm not posting my daily picture daily, I am taking pictures.

I've been spinning:

Rather a lot, actually:

Those two bobbins contain 4 oz of fiber, give or take an ounce.  And now that it is spun, I'll be plying those together to make a 2-ply (get it?) yarn.  o_O (that is my excited face)

I also made, or assisted in making, arrows for the bow & arrow sets that Hyrum sold at his 4th grade rendezvous.  Don't worry- the bows are plastic sprinkler pipes (PVC), the bowstring is string, and the arrows are dowels tipped with pencil erasers, and fletched with feathers from one of the successful pheasant hunts last fall.  And Jared did the hard stuff.  I split the feathers, helped glue on the tips, and held the arrows steady while he glued on the fletching.  

In other exciting news, there are STICKS in my refrigerator and freezer!!!  Well, to be fair, they were only there for a few days.  And it was for science!

Hyrum's science fair project (prompted by his dad) was to take some cuttings and start them in sand or potting soil, with and without watering them daily (put the non-water-daily ones in plastic bags to retain moisture), either adding root hormone or not.
Currently the sticks are all in either sand or soil, sitting on top of some shelves on the dog kennel in my kitchen.

Fun fact: I have now driven all of my family (including myself) to the emergency room.  Not as fun as you'd think.

edited:  sorry em! here's the details you requested:

* the bows sold for 50 beaver bucks, and if you'd like to buy one, i'll tell jared when he gets home.
* yes, i'll share science fair results, once they're in.
* ER details: friday, i drove jared to the ER.  long story short: he passed a kidneystone there, and was fine.  i went in 2006 for stitches in my chin; W went in 2008 for stitches in his thumb; M went in 2012 for stitches in her arm; H went twice in 2006 for stitches in his forehead, then his chin; and myles (i guess i didn't drive him to the ER) went straight from the delivery room to intensive care.

I made this

Well, not the cup part.  But the cozy part- spun the yarn, plied it, crocheted it into this little cozy.  It looks much better now that I've washed it- softer and more even.

catch-up from the weekend

In which I leave the house for 2 days, to see my  newest nephew blessed (similar to a christening but without the baptism part):

the fog on my way home from a school drop-off

Thorin Oakenshield (the Hobbit) in yarn form.

Dinner out with some of my family on Saturday night.  You can see parts of all my kids: W is wearing the grey shirt in the top left corner- no face, just chest; H is hiding his face behind the menu, accidentally- he had no idea I was snapping photos; and M is at the end of the table, with the cute short haircut and the bright blue shirt.

Oh, and this is what I did on the drive there and back:

Well, this, and I read a book or two...

Neckwarmer

The details are a bit fuzzy, but this is keeping me warm and cozy :)

I made it myself!

This is yarn. The part you can see is what I spun myself (there's some Kit-spun yarn underneath), after a lot of struggling and some very pertinent advice from another spinner.

*it's Polworth roving from Greenwood Fiberworks. it is soft and lovely and i'm just so impressed that i made YARN out of WOOL. this is MAGIC.

2 inches in an hour

And I got to drive home in this.  Hooray?

also (from yesterday):

These will be added to an afghan I'm crocheting.  It's my "sit by the fire because it's too cold outside" project, which should be getting a lot of work this week!

Snowflake

I bet this one lasts a bit longer than the snowflakes in my yard.  

(received in a swap)