Thimbleanna – Page 129 – My little online diary.

Soup Swap: January

40 Comments / January 13, 2009 February 18, 2011 / Recipes

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I love this time of year when everything is quiet after the holidays. I holed up all weekend and played in the dungeon. I got some good sewing done, but it’s for a birthday present, so it will be another week before I can show you. I also made a big fat pot of soup which was perfect timing for Jessica’s Soup Swap: January.

Ever since we lived in Germany years ago, we’ve been fans of Goulash Soup. I’m sure a German blogger (or Canadian living in Germany, um, Christina, maybe???) could give you a more authentic recipe, but for now, this recipe which I found in Mimi Sheraton’s The German Cookbook (with several changes made by me) could suffice. We sure like it. A. Lot. In fact, I had planned on leftovers tonight for dinner and since I wasn’t going to be home for dinner, I took some soup to work to heat up for my dinner. At noon, TheManoftheHouse mistakenly thought it was his lunch and he ate it! I was disappointed that I didn’t get to have this soup for dinner, but I took it as an endorsement — this soup has TheManoftheHouse Seal of Approval.

Goulash Soup

1 1/2 lb. beef (chuck, round, etc.)
2 tablespoons bacon fat
1 large onion, diced
2 heaping tablespoons Hungarian sweet paprika*
Salt and Pepper
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 tablespoons tomato past
1 1/2 tablespoons caraway seeds
1/2 teaspoon marjoram
1 clove garlic, diced
1 14-oz. can beef broth
1 quart water
4 – 6 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and diced

Cut beef into 3/4″ to 1″ cubes. Heat bacon fat in soup pot and saute onion until golden. Sprinkle with paprika and saute a minute or two, stirring constantly over very low heat. Add beef and stir around well in paprika and onion mixture. Let meat sear and brown very slightly. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and vinegar and stir in tomato paste. Simmer 3 or 4 minutes, then add caraway seeds, marjoram, garlic, beef broth and water. Bring to boiling point, cover and simmer gently 45 minutes, or until meat is almost done. Add diced potatoes and cook slowly 15 to 20 minutes longer, or until meat and potatoes are thoroughly cooked. If you like your soup a little thicker, scoop out a little broth, whisk it with a tablespoon or two of flour until smooth and return to soup pot. Simmer 5 or 10 minutes longer for broth to thicken. Check seasoning and serve in deep bowls.

Now, open wide, and don’t forget the nice crusty bread for soaking up the yummy broth. Guaranteed to keep you warm on frosty nights! And for dessert, you might want to try one of these:

I just want all of my Australian friends to know how excited I was to find Tim Tams! I’ve read about them on so many of your blogs and someone told me they’re now available here in the states at Target stores. They’re just as good as everyone says they are! I got the caramel version because it seems to me that any great cookie can only be made better by the addition of caramel. The Pepperidge Farms website says that these cookies are for a limited time only. Uh-huh. They’re just going to get us all hooked and then pull our supply. I have the shakes already. Sorry for all of those of you who are currently dieting, but if you’re not, here’s a coupon to help you get hooked too.

Oh, and I’m sure you’ve all noticed the adorable BOM that Anne Sutton is offering. There are tons of really cute blocks popping up all over, but have you seen The Happy Zombie’s version? (In the words of Mrs. Doubtfire, “Brace Yourself, Effie!”) I almost fell off of my chair when it popped up on the screen. What Crazy Mom is to quilts, The Happy Zombie is to color and design. There IS a reason for their wacked out blog names!!!

And thus endeth my link-fest. Go forth and eat, sew, and be merry!

XOXO,
Anna

*If your paprika is old, throw it out! I never realized the difference fresh paprika makes. I was to the point of adding 4 Tbsp. of paprika to this recipe and it still didn’t have any flavor. I switched to new paprika and voila! It does get old and flat!

Do You Feel Lucky?

47 Comments / January 9, 2009 February 18, 2011 / Bunnies

Well, do you? I’m sorry, but I’ve had Clint Eastwood’s voice ringing in my head all day. Time for the bunny giveaway! As I mentioned on my last post, I was so excited by your blog and bunny love (you guys are THE BEST readers and blog friends anywhere!) that I decided to give away two bunny pincushions.

The bunnies gathered around the giveaway bowl, as they were most anxious to see where they will be living.

And then the trouble started. Mr. Stick Me! Bunny just couldn’t stand himself and he started jumping around until it totally got out-of-hand.

He landed upside down in the contestant bowl.

So, I did what any responsible bunny maker would do…I tied him up with leftover quilt binding. (What? Don’t tell me you’ve never wanted to tie some rowdy child up with quilt binding. You know you have!)

There. That’s better. It kept him quiet too. Now for Mr. Cupcake Bunny.

Can you see it? I know it’s hard…I printed in in little print so I didn’t kill too many trees. (Yeah, yeah, I know I could have just done a random number generator, but I’m an old fashioned gal.) Anyway….it’s Cassie! You Go Girl!!! (Hahaha, love saying that!) I was so excited — Cassie has a great blog and she’s HYSTERICAL. As is evidenced by her comment (click to enlarge.) Cassie, it’s ok to stick pins in Mr. Cupcake Bunny. He likes it.

Now for Mr. Stick Me! Bunny. (He REALLY likes pins. And quilt binding.)

It’s Ms. Rohanknitter! How exciting! I’ve known Ms. Rohanknitter almost since the beginning of my blog life. I’m her #2 goat fan. The only reason I’m not #1 is because some goat fan hog beat me to it! I just know Mr. Stick Me! Bunny is going to be very happy on the farm.

And, because I was having so much fun and couldn’t stop myself, I decided to throw in one of those Vera Bradley passport holders that I got at the big Vera Bradley sale last spring. So, I drew another name.

It’s the Queen. Vallen. Yipee! Vallen is one of the most generous bloggers I know. I love her blog and all of her projects and escapades.

So, Congratulations Ladies (and we’ll be in touch)! I’m so sorry that I couldn’t give every one of you a bunny. Thank You, Thank You, all of you for playing. You’re all so wonderful and inspiring to me. There will be more bunnies and if we do this for enough years, you’ll all soon have one — or you’ll all be sick of them LOL!

Have a great weekend and stay warm (or cool for those of you having summer!)

XOXO,
Anna

The Christmas Quilts

76 Comments / January 6, 2009 February 18, 2011 / Holidays, Quilting

Wow — little cupcake bunny is sure feeling the love — Thank You! I’m thinking maybe there will have to be a two-bunny giveaway. Don’t forget, if you want a chance to win a bunny, leave a comment on my blogaversary post by tomorrow (Wednesday) night, midnight eastern standard time and I’ll throw your name in the hat.

I didn’t make very many Christmas gifts this year, but I did manage to make some Christmas quilts.

I’d been thinking about making Christmas quilts for my family for several years, so last year, when CrazyMom posted her Christmas quilt for a friend, I knew it was just the ticket. I filed that idea away and this fall, I shamelessly copied her. I made four quilt tops: 1) MeMum and BigDaddy, 2) MyDadLovesMeBestSister and CrazyBIL, 3) TheFirstChild and SweetiePie, and 4) one for us. I only got three of them quilted and bound, so I’ll finish the one for us soon. (Ha! I’m getting quite a stack of UFOs from when I make a gift and make one for me at the same time — somehow I never have time to finish mine LOL!)

The pattern is the Happy Hour pattern from Atkinson Designs. It’s a fairly quick pattern — especially if you’re only making one. I’m kind of surprised that I like this pattern, as I’m a fairly traditional quilter. But, I do love it — maybe my tastes are changing a little?

I don’t know if my giftees have noticed yet, but I sloppily quilted “Merry Christmas 2008” into the quilting. Have I ever told you that I really don’t like stippling? Yeah, I really don’t like stippling. Someday, maybe Santa will bring me a fancy longarm to put an end to my suffering. In the meantime, I can’t really think of any quilting method that’s as quick as stippling when you need a bevy of gifts.

I backed all the quilts in flannel ’cause I love the weight and comfy factor that flannel adds to a quilt. SweetiePie got the polka dot background ’cause she’s a polkie girl. The other two got flannel with Christmas wishes on them. Our quilt will be a combo of the two backings, and since I’m short on both of them, I’ll probably have to take the flannel shirt off of TheManoftheHouse’s back and throw that in too, ala Fons and Porter.

I would say, if you don’t know CrazyMom, you should run over and visit her. But who am I kidding? EVERYone knows CrazyMom! She’s Crazy. Her quilt output is A-MAZING!

And to you, dear CrazyMom (do you like how I talk about you as if you’re not in the room LOL?) — Thank you SO much for your daily inspiration! You might have days when you wonder if all this quilting and blogging is worth it, but all you have to do is look around blogland and see your footprint. Everybody loves you, CrazyMom…especially Me!

XOXO,
Anna

A New Year…

39 Comments / January 5, 2009 February 18, 2011 / Chat, Holidays

I’ve been having fun slowly catching up with all of your New Year’s posts. Lots of inspiring stuff out there with lots of resolution-making! I gave up making New Year’s Resolutions a few years ago when I realized at the end of the year that I’d accomplished very little of what I’d set out to do. So, this year, I just hope to get a few UFOs done. Everything else is what I say every year, so I’ll say it to myself this year and save myself the embarrassment of failure.

I can’t believe the new year is here already, and sadly, the end of my two week break. Boy, that sure went by fast. The good: Lots of fun family gatherings with games and goofing off. (The cousins got a Wii Fit — what a hoot!) The bad: Too much cleaning and cooking. The good about cleaning: The dungeon disaster from all the Christmas sewing has been conquered. The bad about cleaning: There’s a hefty pile of UFOs waiting for me on my tidy work table. And just so that good cleaning can outweigh bad: I did the yearly thimble polishing which resulted in a new winter blog banner. Yay!

One of the New Year’s posts that caught my eye is Nanette’s post to remember Christmas ideas for Christmas 2009. She and Cheryl are making lists of their ideas and plan to start in September to execute those ideas in order to be better prepared for Christmas next year. I think that’s a great idea — I never get everything done that I’d like to do for Christmas. One of the things that I did this year, that I’d like to remember for next year was to wrap presents with the receiver’s picture on the package.

It started out as an attempt to avoid having curling ribbon on the packages as TheEmptyNestChild eats curling ribbon (which, you may remember, results in very expensive surgeries to remove those ribbons). I printed everyone’s picture and ran them through my little sticker machine. I really wish I’d done this when the kids were little — we used to have the kids pass out the gifts when we opened them and having pictures there would have made it so much easier. Anyway, go check out Nanette’s post — she’s listed some great ideas for next Christmas!

Do you remember the hats that I knit(ted?) before Christmas to send to Jean for donation to the homeless in NYC? Well, Jean gave away a ton of prizes to those who participated and I won this beautiful shawl that she made! It arrived during the mayhem of the holidays so I didn’t manage to get any pictures of it until today. It’s absolutely beautiful! I’ve never knit anything with such a fine yarn.

When SweetiePie was here this afternoon, she very kindly agreed to model the shawl so I could get some pictures. You really should click on the second picture to see the beautiful detail and precision of the stitches. Thank you SO much Jean — I just love it. It’s just perfect — it will go with everything and while I would normally reserve it for something very dressy, just look how pretty that gray looks with the denim of SweetiePie’s jeans! If you haven’t visited Jean’s blog, you should, especially if you’re a knitter or love beautiful pictures (she recently posted some gorgeous sheepy pics.) Jean was one of the first blogs I found a few years ago and she’s still one of my favorites!

(Oh, and pardon SweetiePie’s goofy pose in that third picture. She gave that pose some fancy European modeling name that I’ve forgotten — it looks more like an Arnold Schwartzenegger Girly Man pose to me!)

I hope you all have a good week! I’m not looking forward to going back to work, but returning to the routine will probably be good. (Yeah, if you believe that…) And don’t forget, if you’re interested in a chance at a bunny, leave a comment on my blogaversary post!

XOXO,
Anna

A Busy Blogaversary

112 Comments / December 31, 2008 February 18, 2011 / Bunnies, Chat, Recipes

WooHoo! It’s my Blogaversary! Well, it was actually yesterday….hmm, since it’s past midnight, I guess it was actually two days ago on the 29th. I meant to post yesterday, but there’s been lots of busywork around here. It’s nice to have time off of work to be able to catch up on some of the things that need to be done around the house. We were lucky this morning and managed to check off a big to-do without even trying. Some young men from Colorado knocked on the door and offered to trim our poor broken paper bark birch tree that was damaged in the ice storm last week. Here’s the before and during shots:

I didn’t think that poor tree would look normal again, as two big branches had been snapped off. I think the tree trimmers did a great job. They have a company in Denver but they said, in the wintertime, business dries up in Denver so they spend the season chasing ice storms. We’d been talking about having that tree trimmed for the last year or two, so we felt like we got a two-for-one job.

After the tree-trimming, I spent the afternoon with TheManoftheHouse helping him to clean his office at work. It was FIL-thy! I think his paper hoarding could rival the fabric hoarding in my sewing room. All the dust gave me a headache, but I’m glad that nasty job is over too.

When we returned from work, we tried a new recipe that TheManoftheHouse picked up a few weeks ago from a sample table at Sam’s Club. Cranberry Turkey Crescent Pinwheels.

They’re a great way to use up Thanksgiving/Christmas leftovers and we really liked them. Just take a can of Pillsbury Refrigerated Crescent Rolls, unroll the dough, and separate into rectangles (two triangles together). Press the seam together to make a uniform rectangle. You’ll have four rectangles. Spread about 2 tbsp. of cream cheese on each rectangle. Cover cream cheese with some thinly sliced turkey and then spread some cranberry sauce on top of the turkey. (The original recipe called for dried cranberries, so if you don’t have leftover fresh cranberry sauce, you could use those.) Roll up the rectangle from a short side and press the seam to seal. Cut each roll into 5 or 6 slices and place cut side down on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 14 to 16 minutes or until light golden brown. Serve Warm. TheManoftheHouse gets tired of all of our usual leftover suspects, but he really enjoyed these!

Now for the blogaversary. Can you believe it’s been TWO years??? I can hardly believe it! This last year has been really amazing for me blog-wise, and it goes without saying that the absolute highlight was making the trip to Scotland and cat-sitting for Isabelle. Meeting the fabulous Life family was so exciting and it would never have happened without our blogs. Like I mentioned to Isabelle the other day, every time I read her blog it’s like a gift that reminds me of our wonderful trip.

I’ve also had the fun of meeting Cami, Melly, Lucy, Gail, Abi, Sharon and Carol. (And I certainly hope I didn’t forget anyone!) All such clever, creative women. And then there are all of you, my imaginary friends. I’m terribly addicted to all of your blogs and everything that I learn from them. There’s so much inspiration out there it’s just mind-boggling.

Thank you, thank you for all the time you take to visit my little blog and leave me such nice and thoughtful comments. I can’t imagine blogging without the two-way conversation that comments provide. Now, if you’ve been here for at least a year, you know that a blogaversary means a bunny giveaway. If you’re interested in a chance to win Mr. Cupcake Bunny Pincushion, just leave a comment by, oh, let’s say, midnight (ThimbleannaLand time), Wednesday, January 7th and I’ll draw a winner on Thursday, January 8th.

In the meantime, my very best wishes to you for a Very Happy, Safe, and Healthy New Year!!!

XOXO,
Anna