Thimbleanna – Page 150 – My little online diary.

Airplanes and Aebleskivers

39 Comments / February 2, 2008 February 18, 2011 / Recipes, Travel

It’s been another exciting day on the travel front, and well, I’m going to bore you with my little story because 1) it’s my blog, and 2) your reward will be the second part of this post. I started my day with pretty low expectations of getting home tonight because of all the storms in the midwest and on the east coast. Things went pretty well and we were only 1 1/2 hours behind schedule when they boarded the plane (not bad considering all the cancellations and delays on the schedule.) AFTER the FULL plane got all settled in, the stewardess flight attendant announced that oh, gee, one of the crew was over the maximum hour limit for working that day. Oh. Come. On. Could they have told us about that BEFORE we went through that big loading hassle? We sat on the plane another 20 minutes while they talked to “operations” to get another crew and then they finally just canceled the flight. Personally, I think it was planned all along and they just didn’t want so many passengers milling about in the terminal. Hey. Here’s a plane over here. Let’s just put all those people in there for an hour and clean up the terminal congestion a little! Ah well, I’m safe, warm, and dry and I’ll be going home tomorrow, so it could be a whole lot worse.

So, now for the aebleskivers part of this post. When I was a little girl, we went to my aunt’s house one year and she served us aebleskivers, or danish pancakes. (Or could they be swedish? Maybe norwegian? Our ancestors were danish, so I’ve always assumed they’re danish.) We loved them and we’ve been making them ever since. A few years ago we made an interesting discovery though. My side of the family remembers having them with butter and syrup. My aunt and my cousins all insist that they’ve never had them with butter and syrup, but ALWAYS with butter and jam. Our side has never had them with jam. But we ate them all together at least once, and maybe twice. So, which side of the family has alzheimer’s, hmmmm???? (Since this is my blog and my story, I’m sure you know the correct answer to that question.) All I know is butter and syrup are THE only way to go! You’ll need an aebleskiver pan for this recipe.

Aunt Annie’s Aebleskivers

3 eggs
3 Tbsp. butter, melted
1/2 tsp. salt
2 c. milk
2 c. flour
3 tsp. baking powder

Separate eggs and beat egg whites until stiff. In separate bowl, mix all other ingredients. Fold egg whites in very lightly.

Put just a bit of crisco or vegetable oil in each pocket of the aebleskiver pan. Then fill each pocket about 2/3 full of batter. Keep heat on low as they burn easily. When dough bubbles, gently turn each aebleskiver over with a fork, or, to keep this post crafty related, a knitting needle has always worked well.

The uncooked dough will pour out as you turn the aebleskiver and it will make a ball of dough. Cook until the bottom is browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Serve your aebleskivers with butter and SYRUP if you want to have them the way we had them at my aunt’s house when I was a little girl!

So. What’s on YOUR aebleskiver???

XOXO,
Anna

Books and More

27 Comments / January 31, 2008 February 18, 2011 / Books

I finally got around to ordering books from my annual Amazon Christmas Gift Certificate and they arrived last week. I’m thinking I made out like a bandit this year — apparently I’ve had a gift raise, as I managed to score six books this year, which is two more than last year.

I saw four of the books in real life before I ordered them. I knew when I saw Warm Fuzzies, Pretty Little Pincushions, and Sew Pretty Homestyle that I had to have them. They’re all chock full of fun projects. My quilty peep Jewels showed me her copy of Simple Knits for Cherished Babies (in fact, I think that’s where the pattern for the cute hat and booties from the last post can be found.) It’s a beautiful book and I love it.

I ordered the other two books sight unseen. Joyce talked about Quilts of Provence one day on her blog. I’ve recently been interested in whole cloth quilts and this book did not disappoint. It’s full of beautiful pictures, text and even a few projects in the back. I’m anxious for time to sit down and really read it. Thanks so much Joyce, for mentioning this book — I think it’s my favorite of the six. That leaves Simple Gifts to Stitch. Hmmm. I just can’t get excited about this book and I’ll say I’m pretty disappointed in it. I think you probably need to have a lot more imagination than I have for it to work (so if you love this book, take that as a compliment.) Oh well…five out of six and I’m a happy camper!

Apparently, with Valentine’s day looming, cupcakes are on my mind ’cause I’ve noticed a few worth mention if you like cupcakes:

Joni’s made this cute little Valentine.
An adorable cupcake bag from Rosehip via That Silly Lil’ Doe.
And when the quilty peeps and I were in NYC last fall, I was fascinated with the frosting technique used at Billy’s and Magnolia. Here’s a video that shows you the Magnolia technique. The cupcake in the video isn’t quite as pretty as the real thing, but perhaps practice makes perfect!

Bring on Valentine’s Day — I need a cupcake! Oh, and if you’re in the midwest or Canada, I hope you’re staying warm. I’m happily in NJ this week, so I’m missing the bitter cold weather!

XOXO,
Anna

A New Baby

29 Comments / January 28, 2008 February 18, 2011 / Family, Quilting

Hi Grandma!
How YOU Doin’?

Betcha didn’t think you’d see me here, did ya?

Pssssst, Come closer.

Thimbleanna wanted to show her friends the pretty new quilt you made me.

And the fun matching tag you embroidered for the back.

They made me lie on my tummy to show off the hat you made me.

But, that made me tired, so I’m off to bed now.

I Love You, Grandma!

Congratulations to my sweet quilty peep Jewels (and her darling daughter) on the birth of her 5th grandson!!!!
XOXO,
Anna

A Blurb Book

25 Comments / January 26, 2008 February 18, 2011 / Books, Chat

Wow, thanks for all the wonderful wishes for TheFirstChild. You are all so sweet! It’s been an exciting time here and TheFirstChild has been touched by all the e-mails, messages, and, as he says, heartfelt “lectures” (LOL!) he has received.

Anyway, on to some news you can use, as they say. Or hopefully something you can use, if you’re ever thinking about ordering a blurb book. You can have books made about most anything these days, so before Christmas I spent some time with MyDadLovesMeBestSister and we took pictures of all the beautiful quilts that MeMum has made for our family. Then I used the free software available at Blurb.com and created a book for MeMum.

It was really interesting because, at the same time (and unbeknownst to me), MyDadLovesMeBestSister made a similar book of family pictures for MyCrazyBIL using the services at Shutterfly. It was fun to compare the two books. The Shutterfly book is a hardback, 8 inches x 8 inches, and has no dust jacket. The pictures on the cover of the book are part of the hardback cover. MyDadLovesMeBestSister paid roughly $100 for about 80 pages. The Blurb book is also hardback, 7 inches x 7 inches, and has a dust jacket with front and back flaps that can be customized with text and/or pictures. The cover pictures for the book are on the dust jacket and there are no pictures on the hardback portion of the book. I paid about $35 for 30 pages. So, given the difference in book size, the price difference isn’t much.

I chose to create my book with no words except for those on the dust jacket flaps and a letter to MeMum at the beginning of the book. MyDadLovesMeBestSister scattered words among the pictures in her book. We were both pretty happy with our books. I think the actual binding and the paper/cloth used on the inside covers of the hardback is a better quality on the Shutterfly book. But, I really love having the ability to customize the flaps on the dust jacket of the Blurb book. It makes it seem more like a “real book”. Blurb also has a copyright page, which I could do without, but since it’s there, you can customize it and have a little fun with it.

MyDadLovesMeBestSister and I were hoping to be able to compare the two services (service was great with both companies, btw) and choose just one company for the next book we decide to make. But it wasn’t that easy as they came out pretty even. I think you just have to make your decision based on book size and dust jacket or not.

One conclusion we did draw, however, is that making these books was really fun! They make great gifts and fun conversation pieces.

I hope you’re all having a great weekend!

XOXO,
Anna

WooHoo!

41 Comments / January 25, 2008 February 18, 2011 / Family

I had a completely different post planned for tonight and then this came in the mail today:

TheFirstChild has been accepted to Medical School. It’s been such a long wait. He’s worked so hard. And worried so much. We’re all delirious with joy and we’ve spoiled our pre-wedding diets with a celebratory dinner. It was worth every single calorie-laden bite!

Congratulations Big Boy! We’re all so very proud of you!!!

XOXO,
Anna