I'm bored, let's make cookies!

Bianca's coping mechanism for boredom is baking a lot of yummy goodness. I think she bakes just so she can lick the bowl.

Oh Texas, you look so delicious!

Girl Scout Cookies

We have 'em if you want'em!

Family Recipe

Darling Daughter decided to test one of our family recipes that was in our family cookbook. This recipe came from Dave's grandmother and is made by many of the family members. It's absolutely delicious and well worth the effort. I don't have a sweet tooth but even I couldn't keep my hands off. If you are interested in this cookbook, you can find it here:



Grandma Hacking's Caramel Corn

As Dave's younger sister states "I remember having this every time we went to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Tooele when we lived in Santaquin for several years. We loved it and looked forward to it." Enjoy!

2 Cups brown sugar

½ Cup Karo syrup

1 tsp salt

2 sticks butter

1 t baking soda

6 quarts of popcorn

Mix first four ingredients in heavy sauce pan.

Boil 5 minutes, then add 1 tsp baking soda and stir. Pour over 6 quarts popcorn. Bake 1 hour at 200, stirring every 15 minutes.

Nostepinne Goodness.....

I haven't talked about Nosteppines for a while. It's actually one of David's best selling items in the winter. A nosteppine is a yarn winding tool that makes a center-pull yarn ball. It's portable, handmade and nostalgic. Noreen Crone-Findlay has an excellent tutorial on how to use one.This yarn is a yummy Malabrigo hand dyed yarn. This yarn is a pleasure to knit with on bamboo knitting needles. They were made for each other. I acquired this yarn while visiting The Knitting Nest last year. That was a very memorable, geeky-knitty thing to do.
I have a chair that seems to be the perfect size for using with a nosteppine. I stretch out the skein and start winding. My yarn cakes aren't as pretty as the one in the video tutorial by Noreen. I work pretty fast so they are kinda rough but work well too.

Dad's Potato Soup Recipe Revamped

Dad used to make this wonderful potato soup when we were kids. It only had 6 ingredients; potatoes, smokey bacon, water, milk, salt, pepper. Some of the best dishes are so simple. Today I made Dad's potato soup with two more ingredients added. It's just as good as the original recipe, just different.
Peel, roughly chop, boil potatoes until tender.

Chop mushrooms and green onions in uniform size.
Cook and drain your smokey bacon of choice. I like to cook a whole pound and use some for BLT sandwiches to go with the potato soup.
Broil your mushroom and onions until roasted nicely.
Now pour off excess water in the potatoes, mash potatoes in boiling pot, add milk, veges, s & p. Bring to simmer, stirring frequently, serve.
I used 2% milk but for a more creamier soup you may use whole milk or add some half & half. There are no measurements in this recipe because Dad never used any. Add each ingredient to your liking. Make your own variation, it's easy! This soup, like all, freezes well so don't be afraid to make a big batch and 'Put some by'.

David Crafts A Cane For His Dad*

David crafts an eagle-head cane for his dad.

Crafting Spaces and Organization

There is darling daughter in her music crafting space. She received a rather uber cool key board for Christmas that she can grow into. It has more bells and whistles that she will be able to use for a while. Fortunately it came with an easy to follow manual that she is willing to read and a CD. This led us to a trip to Alpha Music. Alpha Music is super cool for three reasons. It is a Local Austin business (yea!), it has a ginormous selection of music in the store and even more they can print out for you on demand, and they will help you find anything you are looking for too. They are also only 2 miles from my house, big plusaroo! I overheard the proprietor sadly relate that it's hard to get musicians into his shop because they do so much ordering online, sad for local mom and pops.
I often get asked, how do you get so much done? I actually don't get that much done myself but what I do is DELEGATE. My husband had to teach me to do this so that I could have more time for my crafts, such as blogging. This is my chore list. I print it out every week and leave empty spaces so that I can add during the week. Everybody checks it and stuff gets done. It's magic! I highly recommend it;)
This is my Franklin Covey.It's well worn and loved much. I can plan a giant task down into mini steps, the tao way. 'A journey of a million miles begins with a single step'. It's the strategy I used to get through college as a 'non-traditional' student. It worked for me so I keep buying the refills every year. I tried to use my blackberry for the same tasks and I just couldn't get the hang of it. I think, even tho it weighs two pounds, it's superior to the blackberry for my needs.
This is my largest crafting space, yes there's more than one. We are a crafty family, David is the most prolific. I am taking a picture of this because this is the cleanest it will ever be! Every new year brings on a slurry of organizing on my part. It has to do with buying the refills for my planner. The yearly tasks of tracking down a store that carries refills inspires me to organize my life, it's crazy but so relaxing to have stuff organized.
This is my sewing/metal crafting area. It's actually suppose to be a bureau area between the bathroom and walk-in closet. Notice the lovely 1969 wall paper motif that is a time capsule for our house. It's been up there since the house was built. I have grown quite fond of it actually. That's my lucky Kenmore sewing machine that my parents bought me when I was in the 8th grade for Christmas.
The knitting area is always well loved and a bit messy, never too organized. It doubles as a reading area.
This is a beautifull 'fern-like' blank for a pen David is making. This is his crafting area now, the garage. It's cold outside so the doors are closed. He dreams of a pole barn type studio with fancy filtering and controlled climate, I don't blame him. Lottery dreams.
He has a menagerie of exotic wood blanks and wood working tools. I occasionally use them for house projects like building raised beds.

This is where he is the happiest.
For anyone that knows Dave, that really is a smile;)

My Kohlrabi

A while back I explored a recipe for Kohlrabi which was very good and blogged about it.
Well, my babies are maturing and I started harvesting them one by one. I have sliced them for salads so far and I plan to make those Kohlrabi Rostis I wrote about earlier. The hole in the side is a part of sharing your organic produce with nature. It's superficial and doesn't effect the plant, so far, but I've got my eye on you mister insect. There's always BT ya'll know.