yum, yum

The power of suggestion can be very strong at times.  I was going
along through the day, minding my own business, sort of, when I sat
down to read a good friend's blog.  She was making pita bread.  I think they
love bread in that house...they must, they must.   Well of course you can guess what happened next.   All it took was a little post inspiration and the course of the day was set.  Pita bread anyone?  Make sure you visit her blog for a link to the recipe.  

Pita making is pretty simple which surprised me, though I'm not totally
sure why.  Must be one of those "bread" things where you think it is
harder than it actually is.  There are only a handful of ingredients and once the dough is prepared you just have to sit back relax.  Unless of course you get the idea craving for fresh hummus to go along with the pitas.   It helps after consulting the said hummus recipe to have tahini paste in your fridge (don't we all??) and sesame oil.   Staple ingredients right?  Oh and while I was kicking around my fridge crisper looking for that darn lemon, I stumbled upon a long english on the verge of extinction so you probably know what happened next.  Yup, washed, peeled, and then with a bit of olive oil, red wine vinegar and a touch of s & p (salt and pepper) we were ready to sit back.

So where were we?  Oh yeah, got distracted by the accompanying crowd.  Once the pitas have done their thing (rise) and you have done your thing (roll into balls, rest dough again, then flatten) you are almost there.  Pop them in the oven, cooking time took 5 minutes with a few extra to cool until we were enjoying warm
pitas with fresh hummus & cucumbers.  Yum.  The kids loved them.  I loved them.  Can't say I'll be doing store bought again.  It's a shoe-in for a repeat. 

kjr

The small pleasures of life after a weekend of working have to include a bit of one on one time with kjr fabric. That's Katie-Jump-Rope fabric for those of you who don't already know. You may remember I mentioned it once before.



I planned, I cut, I pinned, I sewed.  Into the wee hours until things got fuzzy.



The next day I un-did what I worked on to revamp a part of the project that didn't seem quite right, if you know what I mean?



When I wasn't completely satisfied with that idea, I ripped it all out again so I could make it the way I saw it my head...I think the third time's a charm.

stuck

I had this great idea to make waffles in the morning so I pulled out the ingredients only to find I had no eggs.  Oops, change of plans, will that be toast and cereal again kids? 

It must have totally slipped my mind that I had no eggs in the afternoon because I announced that I was making cookies, trying to drum up help support for the event.  Until I remembered that I was back to the no egg situation and stuck at home without the car to boot.  No problem, we would just walk to the nearest grocery store for a dozen oval shapes, er...one problem, it was raining and I still have no idea where the rain coats are or if they even fit. 

I didn't want to go down without a fight so I racked my brain trying to figure out a sweet treat that I could make that I actually had ingredients for.  It dawned on me, the blessed shortbread.  God bless the Brits and their endless need for tea and shortbread and thank you dad, for giving me your sweet tooth. 

I found my recipe and went right at it.  Not much in that recipe I tell you, but taste buds get ready for a real buttery, sugary fix, especially with that extra sprinkle of sugar on the top.  This mumma does not disappoint I tell ya (you can roll your eyes here). 

Here's the fat:

Shortbread

2 cups   flour
1 cup     butter, softened
1/2 cup  confectioners (icing) sugar
1/4 tsp   salt
1/4 tsp   baking powder
1 tsp      vanilla
2 tsp      sugar

Preheat oven to 350 F.  In a large bowl with medium speed beat the first 6 ingredients until well mixed, occasionally scraping the bowl.  Pat dough into two 9-inch round cake pan and with fork, prick well.  With spoon, sprinkle sugar over dough.  Bake 30 to 35 minutes.  Cut into wedges while warm.  cool on wire rack; separate cookies.  Enjoy. 

disclaimer: I can not be held accountable for the numerous inches that will accumulate on the waist line if one decides to be a regular consumer of this product. 

good things come to those that wait

The current state of my linen scrappy wip.



We got the call last week from our reno guy that he had a few days to come and work on a project if we were ready for him.  It was one of those, agree to take him on now or wait until June, things.  The project entailed lots of new drywalling (damaged walls) and a flooring install, enough to keep him busy for a few days or us for a month. Umm, I don't think so, not-waiting-one-more-day, no thank you... The room will be a bedroom when it is finally completed and believe me, we don't have enough of those right now.  "That future bedroom" needed to be put out of it's misery and fast.   We started by emptying it of all it's items and believe me there was a lot!  It became a sort of dumping zone to say it mildly since we moved here last summer.  But before we could do this we had to put the finishing touches on the everything room so we could move the office furniture, music equipment and toys into place.  We had to unpack about 20 boxes filled with books, glorious books, that we haven't seen in over a year.  That was the best part and I had tons of help from eager hands who were itching for a good read. Next on the  list was taking down some really awful wallpaper in "that future bedroom", the kind of wallpaper that makes the case against ever putting up wallpaper - 1980's show-home gray and peach.  Add what was once white carpet into the picture and the ick factor just keeps doubling. I don't "ick" easily but old carpet really does me in.



Now that our part is done I'd like to squeeze some time in for more linen and patchwork goodness and maybe even some photos of the finished everything room when the sun decides to shine.  We're ready for you mr. aldo, come fix.  Happy Monday, xoxo.