Gift Books

Yak! Where is the week going? We’ve been swamped at work this week, and it’s flying by! Tomorrow will be the third day of being stuck in and all day meeting. I can’t say it’s particularly fun, either — I’m sure everyone thinks I’m sleeping ’cause I close my eyes to try to soothe the head.ache. Ouch!

Not much new to report here. I spent ALL weekend working on the wedding quilt. I made great progress until I put the borders on and then decided that I don’t like the inner border.  TheManoftheHouse is watching tv and unpicking it as we speak. I decided re-doing it would be a lot easier than complaining about how I hate that border until the day I die.  It’s a little set-back, but well worth it.

So, in lieu of anything exciting sewing-wise, I’ll show you the books I bought with my annual Amazon Christmas gift certificate that my in-laws gave me this year.

Beyond the Square Crochet Motifs, Itty-Bitty Toys, Giada’s Family Dinners, Chic Knits for Stylish Babies, Felt Wee Folk and A Passion for Ice Cream. It’s a great pile of books this time, and I’ve had fun reading through them in the last few weeks.

I’m particularly excited about two of them. Chic Knits for Stylish Babies, for one. Look at these cute little pants with zippers in them!

And this little dress! They’ll make really fun baby gifts.

And A Passion for Ice Cream. Oh My. My, Oh My, Oh My! I gained 5 pounds just looking at this book. How on earth could I resist this book, with recipes like Brown Sugar Ice Cream Chocolate Roulade,

Chocolate Banana Baked Alaskas,

or Warm Blueberry Filo Stacks?

Some of the criticism of this book says that the recipes are too detailed. No pain, no gain! They all look fantastic to me!

So, a few book recommendations in case you have some money burning a hole in your pocket and you’re looking for a little crafty inspiration.  I’m off to make some Poppyseed Bread to take to work tomorrow in hopes of taming the headaches.  I hope you’re having a good week!

XOXO,
Anna

October Book Group

Last night was my turn for our monthly book group, which means it’s been a busy week in ThimbleannaLand. Our book discussion was The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold. Definitely not a fan favorite. As I heard one member put it, “That’s a few wasted hours of my life that I wish I had back.”  I think the general consensus was that her writing was beautiful, but the story was awful.

My table setting was pretty simple. On Barefoot Contessa this week, I heard Ina say that when people start talking about tablescapes it makes her crazy. My sentiments exactly! A pretty centerpiece and nice linens and I’m happy. And for book group, as in previous years, I like to have a little takeaway. This year I gave the ladies some easy-to-make book labels found on this really cool site (spend some time snooping around there — they offer some really nice downloads).

I saw a centerpiece very similar to mine somewhere on the internet, so I asked BigDaddy if he could cut me a board to set the pumpkins on. Isn’t it pretty? I just love it and I’m sure I’ll use it for other centerpieces too. Thanks BigDaddy, the ladies loved your board and there was lots of oohhing and aahhing!

On the menu we had:

Crab Dip
Tossed Salad
White Chicken Chili
Sibley Station Swedish Apple Pie

Years ago, when we lived in Minnesota, the family all came to visit.  We went to Pequot Lakes and ate at a restaurant that had wonderful food.  They were giving away a few recipes and MyDadLovesMeBestSister wisely kept this Swedish Apple Pie recipe — it’s become a family favorite over the years.  (We love it so much, it’s even in MyDadLovesMeBestSister’s section of our family cookbook.)  I thought you might like the recipe too (and btw, it’s more like a cake than a pie, imho).

Sibley Station Swedish Apple Pie

1 1/2 cups peeled diced apples
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, mix apples and nuts. Set aside. In a separate bowl mix flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add to the apple mixture. In a small bowl, beat egg and vanilla, then mix well with the apple mixture. Spread mixture evenly in a well oiled 8-inch springform pan. Bake for approximately 30 minutes. Serve with vanilla ice cream and top with carmel sauce. Makes 6 servings.

This recipe came with instructions for a carmel sauce, but I’ve never been able to get it to work. It failed again last night, but I just happened to have a jar of carmel ice cream sauce, so I heated it up and no one was the wiser. Just in case you don’t have a favorite carmel sauce, here’s a family favorite sauce that would work well too.

Gorgeous Sauce

1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. butter
1/2 c. whipping cream

Cook over boiling water for 5 minutes. Serve hot.

Oh, and big news! I heard on the radio that in the next 4 to 5 years, US book manufacturers are going to start printing all US cookbooks with measurements by weight. That should help with the recipe language conversion problems we have in blogland. ;-)

Have a great weekend!
XOXO,
Anna

Distracted

Well, I’m a little late with a weekend report, but I have a good excuse.  I’ve had my nose buried in The Help.  I completely avoided the computer last night and sat out on the patio reading until dark, enjoying the last of my peonies and savoring every word.

I couldn’t help myself.  I loved this book and haven’t been as excited about a book group book in a long time.  I finally finished it today on my lunch break.  Fortunately, no one came into my cube to see the tears in my eyes.  Yvette commented on my last post about how sad she was to see the book end and I couldn’t have said it better.  Except maybe to use PKM’s favorite phrase – it was super delicious.  More than super delicious!

Not much else to report from the weekend.  Just a teeny little bit of sewing happened, but mostly yard and housework.  And we had a Father’s Day cookout on Sunday.  The weather was beautiful.

We even had blueberry ice cream using this recipe.  Yum Yum!  When TheSecondChild was 11 or 12, he wanted an ice cream maker for his birthday, so we gave him one.  We’ve hardly ever used it, but making this ice cream was so easy and fast, it won’t be another 10 years before we use it again.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m way behind on blog reading.  Hope you’re having a good week!

XOXO,
Anna

Grocery Shopping

Last weekend, TheManoftheHouse came home from his weekly shopping trip (he does the grocery shopping, which works for us — I’d rather be outdoors and, although he wouldn’t admit it, there’s great sightseeing to be had in a grocery store) and told me about this conversation he had with a woman in the checkout line.

She was meticulously placing her groceries in piles on the conveyor belt and he said “Wow, you’re organized.”  She explained her system to him and proceeded to show him her shopping list on a sheet of paper torn out of a notebook.  So, TheManoftheHouse showed her his shopping book list.  He said the lady loved our shopping list, so I thought you might be interested too.

Each January, I buy one of those calendar books that tracks each week in a two-page spread.  They’re usually available half-price.  Then toward the end of each work week, I plan the meals for the following week.  I write the menu  for that day right under the day of the week. The groceries are written below the menu, organized by areas of the grocery store (dairy, vegetables, meat, etc.) It’s also a great place to keep notes about recipes, etc.

The book has little tear-corners on each page, so we can always open it up to the correct week.  TheManoftheHouse takes the book to the grocery store each week.  He keeps a red pen in the spiral spine of the book and he crosses the items off as he puts them in the cart.  Then he brings the book home and I use it all week to remember what we’re having for dinner.

It’s been a good system for us for several years now.  No lost grocery lists and (in theory) no lost recipes.  No standing in front of the pantry after a day at work wondering what we’re going to eat.  And when I’m in a menu rut, I can go back to previous years and get some ideas for things we’ve eaten in the past and liked.  TheManoftheHouse is an excellent shopper and he’s great at sticking to the list.

How do you handle your menu/shopping?  Have any secrets you’d like to share?  And while I’m asking questions, do you have any big plans for the weekend?  I’m hoping to get a little sewing done and then this sty will need some cleaning as my family is coming over for a Father’s Day cookout.  I’m also hoping I don’t get sidetracked — for you readers out there, I’ve just started a new book and I Love it so far — if there’s even a hint of rain, I’m thinking there will be no yardwork and lots of reading.  ;-)

Have a great weekend!

XOXO,
Anna

Fun Times

Ok, was that hysterical laughter I heard out of all you Siggy Swappers when I wondered out loud whether I could finish all of my siggy blocks in one day?  So. Not. Funny!  Boy, what was I smoking?  Those little suckers are taking forever.  For one thing, whose bright idea was it to put a thimble on my blocks?

‘Cause once you start, you can’t quit, right?  These thimbles are really taking some time, even though they’re machine stitched.  All that thread changing takes time.  {Sigh}  I will say though, that I’m really enjoying making these little blocks.  You have to love a block that gets cut to size after it’s pieced.  I love that technique — it hides a multitude of sins.  Anyway, I only got 20 blocks done on Saturday.  I have almost another 20 ready to go, and hopefully, I’ll have the rest of them done by the weekend.

In addition to the siggy swap, I’m participating in a scrap fabric swap with a small group of ladies.  This should be a fun swap — we’re exchanging fabrics and then the challenge will be to make a quilt with the fabrics before October 1st.  Or I should say a quilt top, in my case.  There’s no way I’d have a whole quilt done by then.  These are the packs of scraps that I sent out yesterday.

That will conclude my swapping for awhile.  And that’s enough LOL!

In non-quilt related news, I met a few of my book group members last night to hear Geraldine Brooks speak.  I can’t even tell you how cool it was — what an interesting woman!  As you know, her Year of  Wonders is one of my favorite books.  And now I’m more excited to read People of the Book.  Her presentation was fairly short, lasting only about 30 minutes.  Then she had about 15 minutes of questions, and then a book signing.  I was in and out in just an hour, as I didn’t have to wait to buy a book for the signing — I brought mine along with me.  Here she is speaking.  Isn’t she cute?

We discovered a fun fact about her last night — she got engaged right here in Ft. Wayne! Apparently, she was a journalist in Cleveland and her now husband worked at one of our newspapers. On one of her visits here to see him, he popped the question. There were a lot of gasps when she revealed that little tidbit — I think we collectively, suddenly felt a little more important LOL. I mean, she grew up in Sydney, has traveled the world as a journalist, and she’s a “Pulitizer Surprise” (as her young son called it) winner. Don’t you think that makes us a little more worthy???

What a charming woman!  While she was signing my book I asked her if she had a relative in Australia that likes to quilt.  (Because some time ago when I mentioned on my blog how much I loved Year of Wonders, someone commented that they were related to her and I couldn’t quite remember who it was.  We figured it out though.)  She thought for a minute and said, “Well, I like to quilt.”  Ha!  I knew I liked her!  I wish I’d had the presence of mind to ask her more about that, but we went on to figuring out the link and then I needed to move on so she could get to the next signature.

Oh, and for you book lovers out there, someone asked her who she likes to read.  She said her current “crush” is Marilyn Robinson.  She loved Gilead and is currently reading Home.  Which is so funny, because MeMum and I had just had dinner together and MeMum told me how much she loves Gilead and that she was now reading Home too. {Insert Twilight Zone music here.}

So, if you ever have the chance to hear Ms. Brooks speak, go do it!  It was really enjoyable.  And if you ever have the chance to embroider 60 thimbles on exchange blocks, that’s really enjoyable too, but you might want to pass.  ;-)

XOXO,
Anna