Random Musing...

I've decided that I MUST have good taste as everything I bid on on eBay someone else wants also!  ;)

In and Out...

I haven't had much time to put up anything on here.  Bill's Mom is living on borrowed time right now, my granddaughter was involved in an accident that killed her grandparents and 3 other from the car that hit them (she ended up with surgery for a broken ankle) and I'm working on finishing up my Mom's estate paperwork (she passed away in May of this year).  Eventually I'll be back to blogging regularly but right now...first things first.   I hope you all have a wonderful Halloween!  Eats lots of candy!! :D

Dessert!

Yesterday we were planning dinner theater.  Dinner theater as Bill has coined it is watching a movie while eating. ;)  Well I had my bread made already (see blog below this)  Bill's steak was ready to go on the grill...I had decided not to have steak but have chicken wings (one of my favs!).  He was having homemade french fries and I acorn squash.  I had thought about dessert and was just too plain lazy to make it! ;)

I was cleaning up the kitchen a bit as so not to have so many dishes after dinner.  I'm standing at the sink doing dishes watching out my window and up pulls this van.  The side said Mallozzi.  I'm thinking..who's Mallozzi?  Then this man comes out with a box...a rather large white fat square box.  Oh what could it be?!? Knowing it was my birthday the next day (today!) I figured it was for me and I ran outside to meet the gentleman with the big box.   He handed it to me with huge smiles and left.  Ohhh it was a BIRTHDAY CAKE!  Oh yummy!!!!  One look at the top and I knew it was from my baby sis.  What a thoughtful sis I have!  She lives out of state and had ordered me a birthday cake.   I called her to thank her...she says "Everyone deserves a birthday cake!" Awww I just love my baby sis to death.  She even talked them into delivering to me....they don't deliver!  Except for  big occasions, ie weddings, etc - just usually not for the regular stuff.
;)

This is my beautiful slap 5 lbs on each thigh birthday cake!    I'd show top of the cake, but she is a very private person out here and it lists their names on the cake along with mine so I'll just show you my yummy to die, for rich as you'll ever taste birthday cake.  It's a three layer carrot cake with creme cheese filling between the layers frost on the outside with butter creme frosting.  We had our dessert!  

 Aren't these flowers so pretty!  I love the color!

This is the inside.  The filling was the creamiest and the cake the moistest!

 

The cake was made by the Villia Italia Bakery here in Schenectady, New York. (Click on photo to check out their yummy site)

So stop over for coffee and cake  I have plenty!  We barely made a dent in this 10" cake.  

One more big thank you to my sis for making this a very special birthday!!! 

Do you smell that?

Inhale deeply and maybe you'll smell what I am smelling in our home! What's one to do on a chilly Saturday morning?  Bake bread to go along with that grilled steak you'll be having later in the day of course! ;)

My morning started out with getting around to take Fritz, our dog, to the vet for his shots.  Thinking ahead to dinner and steaks on the grill I thought some homemade bread sounded like it would be good with it.  Well since I woke up at 3:30 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep my energy level was low.  So I decided to make "Simple Crusty No Knead Bread".  from the book “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day,” by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François

 

You can view the video below, it will show you how easy it is to make this bread.  It is so SIMPLE.  We love this bread.  I use the recipe to make small buns with also.  YUM!

A simple Google will provide you with the recipe.  I highly recommend buying the book.  There are so many good recipes in it.  I purchased the cookbook “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: the Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking” from Alibris for $16.75 (normally $27.95 new). This was being listed as “Like New” condition. I figured once I got it in my kitchen once it would be ‘used’ anyways ;) I’ve ordered used books before from Alibris and have always received excellent books.  And as always it came in excellent condition.

Our bread.....soon to be part of our dinner. ;) 

I have found that the crust will soften a tad when cooled.  I just pop the loaf back in the oven for a few minutes on low heat to crisp it up.  

I'm ready for dinner! ;)

Sweet Lisa Leonard Giveaway

I am new to blogging and giveaways.  But I am finding them so exciting.  Especially this time of the year...near Christmas!  

Please stop by Savvy Southern Style to enter her giveaway!

She is having a Sweet Lisa Leonard giveaway! 

click pic to enter

$40 to spend on any piece of her jewelry  AND  Kim is going to match this giveaway with a $40 gift card to either Target, Home Goods, or Pottery Barn.   So don't walk....RUN over and enter!  What a fun giveaway!

Getting all comfy cozy....

Enjoying Fall and beginning of my settling in for the winter. My new addiction....tablecloths.  Well not exactly new...but renewed?  I just love this new to me huge doily. I would never have the patience to make a doily this large...but it was easy paying for one. ;)  My first attempt at creating a doily ended up the size of a coaster.   Seems I've been on a mission lately buying up all the cotton vintage tablecloths I take a fancy to.  *grin*   I'll have to take some photos of them another time.   

I've not been on a whole lot in the past few days.  Between my wifi acting up and my youngest granddaughter being involved in a horrific car accident (5 deaths) this past weekend.  I haven't thought much about updating out here.  She's coming home today from the hospital hopefully.  So that is good news.  :)

I'll be trying to catch up on your many many blogs that I have missed this weekend.  That is if leaf raking doesn't take priority. *sigh*  Can't they just all fall at once..so I can rake just once? ;)

Our last diversion...

Well we were on our way to go get groceries.  As we were almost to the store we saw an Estate sale sign.  Being me.....I whip onto the road just KNOWING I NEEDED something there.  Of course, being me, I found things I could not live without. *grin*

Here are most of the things I came home with.  Now....just to find a place for them! LOL

 

I think there was 16 qt jars and a couple small pint jars.  I just love the old jars.  I won't be using them to can but I do love storing my kitchen dry goods in them.  I'm thinking the $5 for all was a good price.

 

I've put one to use already.  It's storing my candy corn this holiday season!

 

An old shaving cup and brush.  I've always wanted one of these...why? Not sure..but it sure is cute and now resides in my bathroom.

A couple old wooden boxes.  I just love these. :)  I'm still tossing up ideas with these.  They may hang in my kitchen with some of my collectables living in them.

A tall old oil lamp.  I fell in love with this.  I had purchased all my treasures.  Looked at this and left to get in my truck....and ran back in to get this.  I knew that if I didn't get it I'd lay in bed and wish I had gotten it. ;)

An old milk can...perfect for holding my mums in out on the porch.  I just got some pumpkins to sit with it.  I'm not sure what else...but it needs to have company.   I'm not sure what we are going to do with this.  The top has been painted black the bottom is just rusty.  I love the rust, Bill would like to paint it.  We'll see.

 

 

 I love picking up old books.  I have a small collection of books.  Okay...I confess...we have enough to fill a small library. ;)  But we both love books and reading.  Bill found this 1st edition book and knew I'd just love it.  He was right.

We love to decorate for Christmas.  We had to have this.  I thought this was the cutest little planter.  It's made by Inarco.

I guess I'll have no excuse for not making cutouts this year. ;) A whole variety of copper cookie cutters.

Quite a variety of kitchen utensils, etc.  I just love 'old' kitchen things. I am always collecting kitchen gadgets.  Now just to figure out how to display what I've collected!

And finally...This is a Triomphe 3L jar made in France.  That was destined to hold my popcorn kernels.  That was changed once I got home and our rice went in it.  It was perfect for our rice. :)

We then left to go shopping.  I kept thinking of the blue dinnerware that I had spied in one of the rooms.  Sooooooo on the way home we stopped.  I told Bill if it was still there it was meant to be mine...if not oh well.  Sounded good...hahaha....it was still there. ;)

Blue Willow, Churchhill Dinnerware, Made in England.   I just love it and plan on finding more pieces to go with it on my travels. :)  It's service for twelve.  Between the plates there was an Open Stock Order form with the web address (Heritage Mint) for ordering.  Nice...now I could go out and check the prices.  I went out there....I'm thinking I got a really good deal. ;)

If you've gotten this far I thank you for sifting through all my treasures.   There's nothing like the feel of a good deal! :)

A quick in and out...

I have been having some troubles with my wifi internet connection and I'm in and out right now until I get it figured out.  Hopefully when I get home from shopping it will have resolved itself.....wishful thinking...lol

I did want to thank everyone who has stopped by my new blog and welcomed me.  I think bloggers are some of the nicest people on the internet! :)   Y'all have just welcomed me with open arms.  I so appreciate all the kind words you've all  posted.

Should my wifi get worse I may just have to steal time on Bill's computer.   ;)  Have a wonderful day!  :)

Found Treasures

I love finding things I love for free.

I found this along side the road during Spring cleanup.  I know it's Fall now so this isn't new...but...it's a new blog. ;)  I still need to work on putting the cover back on (you can see it sitting to the left of it on the floor) and I would like to find a belt for it. The broken one was in one of the drawers. The pedal moves like cutting butter.  It's not in perfect condition, but then I'm not one that needs perfection...if I love it...it's 'perfect' for me.  My grandmother had one of these and I always loved it and wished I had one. I was overjoyed to see this sitting waiting for me along side the road. Especially that it was free....as free is good!  Now I need to just quit moving it around the house and work on getting it fixed up. ;)

I think I CAN... I think I CAN!

Do you can?  I have over the past couple years started trying my hand at canning surpluses from our garden or from great values picked up at the local farmer's markets.

I've been trying my hand at breadmaking and wanted to try bagels.  We went out to pick up some malt so I could try my hand at bagel making.  Many, many dollars later with NO malt in hand I had these beautiful red sweet peppers that I now needed to do something with.  Isn't that how it always goes?  You go out for one thing and end up with a cartload of things you weren't intending to get but discover you cannot live without! ;)

I'm thinking I needed to clean the freezers out to make room for my new acquisition.   Forty six of them to be exact and most of them were HUGE!  If you put your thumbs together  and then pointer fingers together and form a circle that is how large these peppers were.  (yep..I see you forming your fingers in a circle! haha)  We picked up this bushel for $21 at the local farm market.  I didn't think this was a bad deal at all, they will make many fine meals.

I thought I would slice up and freeze the majority of them and maybe dehydrate a bunch also and maybe can some too!  I was so full of energy at just the thought of all the yummy meals I'd get from these peppers.   I love nothing better than caramelized onions and peppers atop any meat.  I was such a happy camper!

Aren't these just gorgeous!

 

I had started out the day with high hopes of getting all of my red peppers that I purchased taken care of.  Whether frozen, roasted or dehydrated I was set to accomplish everything .  I managed to get the roasted ones done.  We ended up with a clogged drain which unfortunately involved the drain my kitchen goes to.  So it was NO fun cooking with not using my sink.

Here is my first ever adventure in roasting red peppers and canning them.  My house smelled like roasted peppers...which smells delicious!

I decided to roast my peppers on our grill as I have an electric stove and figured it would be much easier to get the char I wanted.  Here they are all lined up pretty.

 As they began to char I thought I'd stick on the few jalapenos that I had.  Maybe giving a couple of the jars a zing to them. 

I guessed they were done.  I had never cooked anything that wasn't done until I burnt it. *grin*

Into the bucket they went and got covered waiting for the steam to loosen the skins making them simple to take off.

Here I am taking off the skins and removing the seeds, membranes and cutting them up into the size pieces I wanted.

Boiling my lids and rings: (I love the steam in the photo)

I sterilized my jars and now I'm going to fill them.

 

Into my pressure canner and waiting 35 minutes for them to process.  Check out the reflections of my kitchen in the top of my pressure canner...cool eh? ;)

I ended up from all those red peppers that I had on the grill into 6 pints of roasted peppers.  In two of the pints I also added the jalapenos.

I think they turned out pretty well for a first ever attempt at canning peppers.  The next day I sliced up and dehyrated up the rest of my pepper treasure.

I hope I haven't bored you with my little book here of canning...but I thought some of you that have never tried canning would see how easy this is.

Onto my next adventure in canning.....maybe spaghetti sauce next summer if my tomatoes from my garden do super well!

Cooler Weather = Homemade Bread!

I love that there is a cool breeze in the air.  I can practice baking breads again!  I am fairly new to baking homemade bread.  And still finding myself making mistakes.  So far though most have been edible! ;)

Here is a couple photos and a recipe for a toasted oatmeal bread I made.  This was so good and will definitely be on my list to make time and time again.   And can I tell you how good my home smelled with this baking!

Toasted Oatmeal Bread

1  1/3 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
3/4 c buttermilk
1/2 cup lukewarm water
2 TBSP softened butter
3 1/3 cups bread flour
1/4 c packed brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 egg beaten with 1 tsp water
veg oil for coating bowl

1.  Coat bowl with veg oil. Set aside.

2.  Spread oats in a shallow backing pan.  Bake in a 350°  for 15 -20 minutes or until light brown, stirring occasionally.  Cool.

3.  Dissolve yeast into lukewarm water.  Set aside to bloom.

4.  Sift together flour, salt.  Mix in sugar and butter.  Add in oats.  Stir to mix.

5.  Add milk and water/yeast. Stirring until dough pulls away from the edge of the bowl.

6.  Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until elastic and smooth.

7.  Put in the bowl coated in veg. oil.  Cover and place somewhere warm to rise until doubled.

8.  Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and punch down with fist.  Shape into a ball or whatever shape you want.  Place on parchment paper or cookie sheet and cover and place somewhere warm til doubled in size.

9.  Use a serated knife and make small slits on top of loaf.

10.  Brush top of dough gently with beaten egg/water mixture.

11.  Sprinkle with a light topping of quick oats.

12.  Bake in 450F oven until the bottom sounds hollow when tapped. Approx. 30 minutes.  Should your loaf darken too much cover with foil til done.  I covered mine and reduced the oven temp to 350° for the last 10 minutes.

13.  Cool on wire rack.

I left for a while after I took the initial photo to run to the store.  I came home and half the loaf was gone.  I guess it was good! ;)   Actually it is...I had a sandwich made with this bread for my dinner and it was delicious. :)

I'm not sure why it looks to have that yellow hue in the inside must have been the lighting.  It's more just a creamy white.

 Enjoy!

Mom remembered...

These were a few of the items I brought home from my Mother's after her passing.  I have them displayed on an old wooden tray.  I love walking by them and stopping just to browse and imagine a time when they were being used. :)

I actually have a photo of her and my Uncle where I believe she has the shoes on that I brought home.  What a treasure!

Using pans of yesterday.....

Here's my collection of iron skillets and pans.  I picked these up at auctions, garage sales, tagit sales and anywhere I see them.  I love cooking in them.  Fried potatoes and onions just AREN'T the same in any other pan! ;)  I had one more deep sided skillet but my daughter borrowed it before I moved to NY and I forgot to get it back.  So it now resides in Ohio being loved. ;)

When we first moved to this house my pans didn't make it up from the basement right away.  When I finally found them in the boxes I had thought they were ruined.  They were covered in rust.  I had to use a sos pad to clean them up.  I oiled them several times and heated them through.  They came out just fine.

I know most people do not believe in washing their pans ever.  I always have washed mine.  I have never relished in the thought that I left food residue in my pans.  So I wash them and rinse in hot water and then either set on a warm stove burner just to warm the pan through...or set in a warm oven until completely dry.  I then give them a very light coat of vegetable oil.  I put a paper towel between each pan and the next.  I keep a paper towel inside each saucepan too.  This helps keep any moisture away from your pans.  I learned that tip from my Mom.  I store most my pans in the bottom drawer of my stove and some on top of the stove, thus every time the oven heats up my pans will get some of that heat and dry up any moisture that might have gotten on them.

How do you treat yours....and why?  What is your favorite piece?  Do you see something I NEED and am missing out using? I'm always up for adding to my collection of ironware. :)

Up and out to an Estate sale we went!

The lady that lived right behind us had passed away before we even moved to this house.  That has been about 6 years that we've been here.   Her granddaughter has been keeping the place up.  But no one has lived there in all the time we've been here.  It's been years and years since anyone lived there.  They are now going to rent out the house.  They needed to sell what was in there due to it being rented unfurnished.  I've been waiting for something to happen there since I knew it must be filled with old furniture. (I love old!)  Had she still been living she would now probably be well into her 100's.  She was already in her 100's when she died.   This morning I awoke to cars lining the street.  Oh no...I've missed it being in the paper!  And there were NO signs in the yard to show what was going to be going on there.  Up I flew and got dressed...and dragged Bill out of bed to go with me.

We've been wanting something to store our china...crystal etc in.  Well they had a china cabinet (which I had been spying through the window when we would take Fritz (our rescue dog) on a walk.)  They also had a side board.  I was thinking maybe the side board...soooo I asked how much for it.  They didn't want to split it up they wanted to sell the side board, china cabinet and the matching table and chairs (6) as a set.  Well thinking it would be well above what I had in my pocket I asked how much for all.  She said $300 for all.  I thought the side board alone would be more than that.  Soooooo I bought me the set!  I just love it.   Here are the pictures I took of it after we got it situated in the dining room.  I need to locate all my goodies to put into it as I have a lot packed away in the basement.  I am pleased as punch with it. :)

I just stuck some glasses in for now until I can locate all my purdies. ;)

I  love the hardware on everything...this is the hardware:

We also picked up other things that we wanted there.  When I asked how much for what we had loaded into boxes she just said the price of the other for the table etc was enough for all of it. YAY!

Here are the extra goodies:

I also got a few other things...and a large handful of probably 10 handmade doilies.


I also decided to get two rockers they had.  She had me name a price for them..  I gave her $20 each for them.  These are soooo comfy.  Here is a pic of one of them.  They are identical rockers.  Now just to find a place for them!

Well this is how we spent that morning and afternoon and early evening.  Cleaning up and trying to find a place for everything.  Mind you our dining room was full of things prior to buying any of this! :)