Thing-a-day.com

I was in the card shop recently perusing the Valentines, wondering, “who designs this stuff.” Cards wiggle and make noise and play music and are mushy and tear-jerky and silly and even off-color and offensive. I still think there is no better Valentine than one that is hand-made by little fingers with innocence and unabashed emotion. These are the keepers…

Construction paper,

Red, pink—and paper doilies,

White glue and glitter.

Cut out a heart shape

Write a message in crayon.

Capture mama’s heart.

 HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY ALL!!!!

At my parents house, you can always count on there being jars of my dad’s dark chunky marmalade in the cabinet and a loaf of soda bread on the countertop. I must be homesick, since I spent today making those two things. The marmalade turned out nice…dark and caramelized. The soda bread I had some problems with–I think I must have lost count while measuring flour and not put enough in, because although it had a beautiful crust, the inside was doughy and uncooked. I just kept it in there at a low temp until finally it was done. It’s edible, but not great. (though with a heap of marmalade on it, you can’t tell)

so, this is the wedding cake I made yesterday for the wedding of a good friend today!

(shield your eyes if your allergic to kitsch!)

considering my expertice in these matters I’m so happy and relived that it looked like that and not like some cake-saster… well the marzipan roses were great to breed agression and let’s not talk about that sugar frosting… let us just say that carrot cake and orange marmelade works great together

And todays thing is, because I was at the wedding and took a lot of photos, this photo which I like a lot (oh! it’s a slice of the cake, not that I’m obsessed with it.. hehe..)

so, i moved and was without internet for three whole days…. Now that I’m settled and all, I’ll try to get back to the schedule! Today I’ll gonna bake a wedding-cake, see how that works!

yesterday I made a sketch of the cake, be aware that this is as kitschy as it gets, as it’s for someone elses wedding who likes such things (I HOPE!)

As I will not have internet in the evening I’ll post a photography of it tomorrow!

Today I’m traveling so I brought something small to work on - I made a pair of earrings. I only had a cell phone with which to photograph them with… all kinds of lack of focus! I’ll take a better shot tomorrow, and update. They are made of silver wire and glass beads. It’s great because I’ve wanted to make these for a while now.

Mmm…fresh granola:

Made it up as I went…something like this:

4 cups of rolled oats (but my measuring cup wasn’t clean, so I just dumped it into a bowl..)
1/3 cup veg. oil
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup honey (from my friends)
1 cup raisins
1 cup Peanut Butter
handful of dark chocolate chips

Mix it all together in a big bowl, spread over baking sheet (lined with foil for easier cleanup!). Bake at 350 (F) for 10 minutes, stir, and bake until crispy (but not burnt!)

Haiku Instructions

First: Five syllables

Next: You have until seven

Lastly: Back to five