Five Years

Happy fifth birthday to a wonderful little boy that has faced some incredible challenges in the past year. Through it all he has remained cooperative, happy, enthusiastic and an inspiration to me and our family. 

I hope the year to come is a gentle one, my bestest friend!

If You Buy Only ONE Cookbook...

...It should be the Complete  America's  Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook 2001-2014.

No one is paying me to say that. I am a fan of the show, and I am a big, big fan of their recipes. So are my family members, the biggest critics of all.

If you are familiar with the show, you know that the Test Kitchen chooses traditional and favorite recipes and works diligently to improve the recipe results while also making the recipe easier for the home cook to use. While the recipes might end up being somewhat fussier than the "gramma" recipes that I usually use, the quality of the food makes it well worth the effort. Each recipe explains the process undertaken to achieve the best result, from fluffiest omelet to Buffalo Style Wings, with a "Why This Recipe Works" section that teaches in simple terms.

I bought my copy of the HUGE cookbook in the spring of 2014. It has virtually replaced my other cookbooks, although I will keep them for sentimental reasons (most of them came from my granny). My stir-fries, cakes, cookies and bread have gone to a whole new level. I've especially enjoyed experimenting with thin-crust pizza and my interest in bread-making just grows and grows.

We make Multigrain Bread (p 558) at least twice a week. I now bake all our own bread and my kids will no longer eat "town bread"!

 I talk about this recipe book with all my friends, and I thought I would pass word on to anyone who reads this blog. If you are looking for a cookbook with recipes from breakfast and brunch to desserts and BBQs, this one is money well spent. The Test Kitchen tests the recipes dozens, sometimes hundreds, of times to ensure that the method is of highest standards. The food that results is delicious, the cooking experience is a pleasure, and your guests and family will definitely notice the difference.

Rustic Country Bread, p 552

Our new birthday cupcake favorite: Ultimate Chocolate Cupcakes p 622

Have you found any new favorite recipes lately?

Bits and Bobs

I love thrifting. I wouldn't say that I am a shopper, most of the time, but I do love to find old treasures and bring them back to life. You can read more here, here and here.

On one of our trips to either the kids' specialist or my mom's eye doctor, I found a gem at the little thrift store in North Battleford, SK.

Old cupboard window: $10

It's been almost a year of checking other thrift stores, antique and collectible shops, hardware stores and the like, looking for the perfect hooks to complete what I have planned for the old cupboard door.

The other day I was able to use an old gift card to purchase the perfect hooks for the job.

I plan to space 3 hooks across the bottom of the old cupboard door, for hanging keys or hats. 

I think I will wait until Husband can help me drill the holes for the hooks and hanging the door, but I do believe this old $10 find would fetch me a good bit more if I sold it at next year's Christmas Craft Sale. I haven't decided yet, it will depend how it looks, but there is also a spot for it next to the front door if I decide to keep it.

Have you waited patiently to find just the right element to complete a project? Or do you use whatever is available to get the job done?

Committing to Commit

Last year I began a new quilt. As spring approached I knew I wouldn't complete the project before it was nice enough to get outside and begin work on my as-yet-unfinished fish pond. The sewing machine was packed away, as was the material and the blocks that I had completed, with the uneasy feeling that it would be difficult to pick up again after a year. 

Yup. Turns out that is the case.

Today I'm attempting to pick up where I left off--not with much enthusiasm, more of a determination to complete the job. I find that loose ends leave me feeling dissatisfied and, left undone, this quilt will steal some of the pleasure from beginning a new pattern with new material (already purchased and waiting). I am committing to myself that I will finish the quilt top in the next few weeks, and learn to hand-quilt and bind the thing before winter's end. 

How about you? Have you finished any projects lately that you are proud of?

Flour Bag Follies

Yesterday we had a family day out. We took our recycling to a bottle depot about an hour away so that I could try to use a gift certificate that I've had for a few years. Knowing how tired the kids would be on the drive home, I grabbed my few groceries in that town so we wouldn't have to stop at our local supermarket on our way home. I have a lot of baking to do today (an excited boy has his fifth birthday party tomorrow), so all purpose flour was on my list. 

Generally I buy Robinhood flour when it is on sale, or yellow no name because it is cheaper. I've been making all of our own bread for months and really burn through a bag of flour nowadays. At the small discount grocer we went to yesterday, Robinhood flour was about $13 for a 10 lb bag. I try to buy it for under $10, so I bought the Safeway brand for $9.99/10 lb. I double-checked the bag for holes because it's becoming a real pet peeve to get home with food that has been slashed open by stock boys and their box cutters. The bag had no holes when we left the store. This is how it looked when we got it home:

No, we didn't drop it or drag it. A simple truck ride on the floor had several holes in the bag. As I attempted to pour the flour into my bin it tore down the side and I lost more flour all over my kitchen floor. 

In all, there were 5 or 6 holes in the flour bag and it split open trying to pour it. I was very annoyed that the company has sacrificed a usable package in order to make more money. The actual product does not cost less than other brands (it was cheaper than brand name in that store but right on par with most flour in this area). Putting their flour in a flimsy bag didn't save the consumer any money, it only taught me not to buy that brand of flour again. 

Have you had any annoying packaging to deal with lately?

Let There Be Peace on Earth (and let it begin with me)

Yesterday we passed a church billboard that read "Lord, let there be peace on earth. And let it begin with me". It resonated to the tips of my toes. 

In the year ahead I want to remember that each person I meet may be facing incredible hardship. They may be missing someone, losing someone or may never have had someone to begin with. I want to take a step back from my own worries and see that we are all in this together. I want to be more understanding, more empathetic, gentler. If we could all do that, if everyone everywhere could do that, what a world it would be. 

I hope you have peace in your heart. Merry Christmas. 

The Road to Home

A beautiful day of hoar-frost here in Saskatchewan. 

The kids and I made a quick but thorough dash through the grocery store this morning. We are mostly ready for Christmas, at least as ready as we will ever be. I'm nowhere near as organized as most years but I'm not going to let it bother me. I have provisions in, one gift yet to buy, and if I get the rugs vacuumed I will call it good. 

We have run into some bumps with our son's health. Nothing I'm ready to blog about, although I've tried. Suffice it to say we are realizing the gravity of Childhood Nephrotic Syndrome. We are hanging in there, though, and learning and growing as a family. My challenge as a mother is to do as well at this important job as I have always tried to do at any job. Luckily our boy is a trooper--uncomplaining and oblivious. 

That brings me to Christmas. A hard time for so many, remembering and missing lost loved ones or, worse, realizing a last Christmas together. It is hard, this year, to become entangled in the nonsense of consumer-driven fads and commercial pressure. We haven't got all the outdoor lights put up and we likely won't get it done. But the colourful strands of bulbs outside the door are wonderful and inspire our awe every night as my boys race to the tub for their evening bath. 

I've done most of my baking and now will only do more to fill our afternoons waiting for the big day. I look forward most to a Christmas Eve spent sleigh riding with family before a potluck feast of appetizers and drinks, then home to hang stockings and read 'Twas The Night Before Christmas. 

I don't know what the new year will bring. I think now only of today, of this moment that we have together. I am appreciating small moments more. This Christmas, I hope that you do too.