Saturday Trivialities

 

 

It's chilly and wet today.  I hope we get more warm and sunny days otherwise Fall will be much too short and it will just morph into winter rain.  It's a good day for baking because the kitchen warms up nicely.

Today it's Carrot cake and a Banana cake.  The Carrot cake will be cut into portions and put in the freezer (well, not all of it. It would be a shame not to sample it). The Banana cake will be going along with DH when he goes to his volunteer 'job' on Monday. He wanted raisins in it. I have put chocolate chips in it other times but this time it's raisins.  I'll ice them once they've cooled.

 

Eldest daughter often comes for lunch on Fridays and often takes home flowers or leaves to sketch. She gave me a lovely watercolour of some Coneflowers that she picked. I hung it in my sunroom.

I hope you are all having a good weekend. Thanks for stopping by.

Teacup # 18

This and That

 Thanksgiving is now history and it was lovely having family over. Today I felt tired so I didn't do much. Just  a bit of housework.  Returned my books to the library and picked up one I had requested. 

 

This is not my house. A local person has pumpkins and gourds for sale and this is the picture they posted of what I assume must be beside their front door.  Isn't it lovely?
 
Have you heard of Taiyaki?  I know I sure hadn't until this weekend. Middle son likes to experiment in the kitchen and he decided to try making fish-shaped waffles filled with sweet bean paste. He had to order the special waffle maker that looks like this:

and you end up with something that looks like this!  Taiyaki.   I would have preferred it to be sweeter but the grands enjoyed them and I think they look cute.

Teacups # 16 and 17

Thanks for visiting today,  GM

Thanksgiving and Pie Failure

 Well, it wasn't exactly a pie failure so much as a crust issue.  I ended up using a third Crisco shortening and two thirds butter. I had no trouble rolling it out but the finished product was firm (hard) and not at all flaky.  I did make the crusts the day before and put them in the fridge well covered with plastic wrap
( still unbaked).  According to the internet that shouldn't have had an effect but something did. My family will no doubt enjoy them.

I also made a crustless pie which is so much less bother. I think I may stick to that kind in the future.  There are many recipes on-line if you're at all interested in trying to make one. For myself I don't need the extra calories which the crust provides so the crustless  is my first choice anyway.

 

Enough about Pumpkin pies and on to teacups.  # 15 is a pale yellow one with sweet flowers and a gold rim.

 

 Thanks for coming by,   GM

Pumpkins and Thanksgiving

 It was my sweet  granddaughter Kate's birthday this past week. She gave ME a gift instead of the other way around.....this set of  three crocheted pumpkins with real sticks for stems. Aren't they cute?  (She ordered a set for herself too) .  I can't decide if I want to put them on the porch table or on the sideboard. They look fine in both spots.

 

 That bedspread that I bought at the thrift store earlier this week is now on the porch swing and I am pleased with how it looks.

It's Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend and I'm going to be baking Pumpkin pies, of course. I have always made my pie dough using Tenderflake lard but I want to try using butter instead. I hope it will be as flaky as with lard. What do you use?

Teacup #14 is quite plain with a fancy border

Thanks for stopping by,  GM

Thrift Store Finds

 

Here are the small treasures that I found at the thrift store.  The cream and sugar set caught my eye. I thought that although the design is roses they look very autumnal to me. In fact at first I thought those were pine cones.

This pretty coral watering can will be put outside in Spring. Maybe I can find spray paint in that exact colour and paint a few flower pots to match.

The minute I saw this bedspread I liked the old fashioned look of the fabric. Also the scalloped edge.
I plan to use it on the porch swing as an alternative to the red/pink one I have there now.  I even like the backing.

 

Last of all is this apron which is hand made and I don't think it has ever been used. I like the colour and I'm fond of rickrack too. Can you believe it was a dollar?

 

teacup # 13 is nothing fancy but the delicate pink flowers make it special.

 Thanks for visiting,  GM

Reading and Baking

I finished reading The Kitchen Front. I thought it was predictable but interesting. It's about 4 very different women in an English village that enter a cooking competition during WWII. They had to create dishes using their rations and the book includes recipes from cookery books from that era.  Not that any sounded like something I'd like to try.

I've just begun the Wendell Berry book but no doubt it will be interesting.  Both these books are from the library.

I baked late yesterday afternoon. I baked the muffins in order to use up the last of  a jar of raspberry jam that had been in the fridge and the last third of a package of cream cheese that had also been waiting to be used up. I took a plain muffin recipe and made indents in the top of the muffins and put teaspoons of the jam and cream cheese in them topping them with a little dollop of the dough before I baked them. They are quite tasty.

 This morning we had some rain and there wasn't much I could do outside. Perfect morning to go to the thrift store. I'll take pictures and show my little treasures next time.

Teacup #12 is Royal Albert  Lavender Rose pattern.

 Cindy ( Creations by Cindy blog) asked how many teacups I have. I'm not sure but probably close to 200 so I have a lot left to feature.

Thanks for coming by,  GM

Morning Walk and Some Ducks

 Cloudy morning. The lake looked a little ominous but a few of the trees in the parking lot have turned a lovely colour.

Also in the parking lot were these ducks looking for a hand-out. Can you spot the oddball? We haven't noticed it before but it's definitely different from the rest.

I did a silly thing this morning. Middle son was drying some of his abundant crop of Habeneros in the air fryer. Being of the curious sort I went to see if they were dry yet. I poked one ( it was far from dry) and never thought any more about it.  Later, however, I rubbed my eye and felt such a burning sensation. Couldn't think what was wrong then the penny dropped. I hope I won't do that again!!
Incidentally, DH dried some sage leaves yesterday and that worked perfectly. No more bought sage for Thanksgiving stuffing.

Teacup # 11    Pattern is  Marilyn by Queen Anne

Thanks for coming by today,   GM