Looks like this could be fun-

I started thinking that it might be fun to work my way through a cookbook next year, something simple-ish, like a baking book where even the worst outcome may still be edible. Then again, maybe I should work my way through a book I already have, like one for quick dinners from Southern Living. Anyhow, looking at Amazon I found Cakes, Cupcakes, and Cheesecakes from the Williams-Sonoma collection and now I'm thinking that might be fun too.

Hm.

Oh, and crepe paper poinsettias look like a great way to get the look without worrying about the poisonous side effects.

Another quick photo-

of course, an outtake, but doesn't she look like an angel before you realize what her hand is doing?

One picture to post

before snuggling on the couch and watching the Dallas Stars game with my husband.

Our daughter in the tub tonight. Canon XTI, 50mm 1.4 lens. SCP Lighten Up action

Apples and Pears, oh my!

A little bit of Alexander Henry's Brown Apple and Pear Fabric from Sew Mama Sew and the tutorial for a peasant top from Just Tutes and I have a fashionable little two year old in my house. Pictures to come.

I will make time for this-

Martha makes my heart all aflutter when I find things like this on her site. Oh, I think I will have to make these this Christmas and every Christmas thereafter. I'm wondering if I could make a herb bread and cut it into cubes and forgo the icing and use cream cheese instead (of course mixed with Paula Deen's house seasoning*). Oh, and a little pecan half for a door.

*House Seasoning:
1 cup salt
1/4 cup black pepper
1/4 cup garlic powder
Mix ingredients together and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.


It's the best thing in our house. James mixes it up in large batches and then we store it in little glass spice jars I picked up from World Market. It won't last 6 months, you'll use it far too often.

Not such a grand cold front

The "cold front" was more of a two-day cool down and then right back up to the 80s. I did not make the bread by hand yet, although I did make some in our mysterious breadmaker. It's mysterious because my sister brought it over under the impression that it was my old breadmaker from college that I had left with my mother when I moved to Arizona. But, the machine she brought is not my old machine with the dings of love and moving catastrophes. But, I can say this machine makes good bread. Real good bread.

There is a cold-front a comin'

I want to make this bread this week in anticipation for the cold front the Austin-area is supposed to get. I cannot begin to say how upset I will be if the cold front does not come- it's November for goodness sake. I am willing the weather to change for the cooler if only for the selfish fact that I want to sit by a fire. I think I'm owed cooler weather with the time change that funks up my afternoons and makes me crave a nap.

I think the bread, though looking quite bulbous in that photo, would be great as a foundation for one of James' panini experiments. Last night's version was delicious and I made up a double batch of cream of green chili soup to accompany his toasted masterpiece. We enjoyed it with some chardonnay. Perfect Sunday dinner.

In anticipation of a new year

I'm setting my resolution early- do one crafty thing each day for one year and post about it here. The title comes from my and my husband's first dance song "My One and Only Love". We chose the Louis Armstrong version, "the blush on your cheek whenever I speak tells me that you are my own". Just as the song marked our first dance together in wedded bliss it's going to mark another big undertaking in my life.

So, the rest of the year I will be collecting fun projects and posting them here for future reference. I will include culinary attempts in the crafty category because, well, it is crafting something (hopefully delicious something).

I hope I don't give up on January 12.