Photo fun . . . and a recipe.

Told you I finished something!  I have had this rolling around my UFO pile for the last two years. I am so happy it's finished. I've always really liked this design, and decided the Crazy January challenge 2011 was the perfect time to commit to it.  After the designer for Primitive Needle passed away so tragically that same year, I dedicated it to her--I still feel so awful about the way she was taken. But then life took over, and this, along with the rest of the Crazy January starts, fell along the wayside.   But now it's done, and really, when it comes down to it, this is a pretty good message for the way my life has been going lately--we just gotta keep going and hope for the best.

This is my problem child. This was kitted up by my LNS, and I don't have enough floss to finish it. I can pull the DMC from my stash, but the hand-dyed floss is another question. Even if I were to go back to the LNS and complain, the kit is from 2008, and matching the floss would be a problem. I'm just adapting the design as I can. And I am annoyed. This was not a cheap little kit. It's very cute though, so I am hoping I can finish it and not make it look too bad.  Wish me luck.

I don't know if I've posted this before, but I wanted to share a recipe that is part of my family's Easter celebrating . . . glorified rice. My gramma learned this recipe from her grandmother, and I've been trying to research where it came from, because so many of my gramma's recipes were, "til it taste me good", and it's hard to quantify how to make them. It's the one recipe that does not seem to be on the Internet, though, because I can find recipes that are close, but none that are exactly the same. It's not ambrosia, it's not rice pudding, it's glorified rice . . . and it's heavenly. So I wanted to share.

The ingredients: (yes, I use store brand for the most part. I do use name-brand vanilla, Penzey's to be precise. To me, it's the Ferrari of vanillas, but if you don't have it, use your favorite)

4 cups of instant rice, prepared per package instructions.

1 medium can of crushed pineapple, drained

1/2 C of sugar

1/2 t vanilla

medium container of heavy whipping cream

Combine the rice, sugar, and pineapple while the rice is still warm. It melds together a lot better that way.

I have seen recipes that use pineapple juice, not pineapple, and lemon jello, but I can't imagine how that would taste, plus it always makes me amazed that, in the early 1900s, in the hollers of Western Pennsylvania, my great-great-grandmother had access to and money for crushed pineapple. This was truly a special dish if she had that for her family.

When mixed, pour the cream over it and add the vanilla. You can use a little more or a little less depending on your preference. I have adapted it to be less sweet than my gramma's way because Left-brain won't eat it when it's too sweet, and you get enough calories from the cream. It's going to look soupy, but it goes in the fridge to "draw through" and thickens up.

This was a photo I took of the finished product. I love to eat that first bowl while it's still warm and yummy. It just doesn't photograph well. But it tastes, well, divine.



Katie "helped" me make it; she sat on the floor, banging pan lids while the water boiled for the rice. It's not fancy food, not to a modern palate, but it's good, and it's home food to me.

So that's all i have for tonight. I hope your weekend is going well. They are calling for snow on Monday here. Not sure if they're going to be right--the forecasters are started to laugh at their own ineptitude at this point. But Easter means spring is here and it has to warm up sometime.

Yummy . . .

Edited to fix the link for the recipe

These are the cookies I made yesterday. So good, so easy. I don't always have success with cookie baking, and I'm trying to get better without wasting ingredients. I feel like I should be a better baker, since I was just gifted with very nice kitchen supplies, but it's still a learning process to change over from cooking with gas to cooking with electricity. But these came out very nicely and looked pretty much like the picture, which is always a good thing in my baking world. Even Left-brain, who does not like lemon, and who, when told I am baking cookies, automatically assumes them to be chocolate chip, said these were good. He's not a fan of my more exotic cookies, so I know they're good. They're a little bit of color and light in the bleak mid-winter.

It was a fruitful weekend stitching wise. Here is the finished Patriotic Summer by Midsummer Night Designs. I'm not sure if I want to make it a framed finish or an easel finish, but if I can find a square frame, it will probably end up on the wall.




I also pulled out an older UFO, Frost is on the Pumpkin, by Cricket Collection and worked on that on Saturday.

It's pretty slow going, though, but I feel no shame in admitting I worked with the area that needed DMC 922 because I need that floss for another project I'm working on, and wanted it out of that envelope into the next. So I worked on that a little, because any progress is progress, right? I started this in 2005, but didn't have all the floss, and then it got separated, and I lost interest, so it's been a long term UFO. I might as well finish it. I think it will make a pretty fall wall hanging.

I was on a roll, so I pulled "It Snowed Last Night" out into the rotation to work on on as my Superbowl project. I made a little bit of progress on it. It's a fun project to work on with really pretty colors, and, since I didn't have a vested interest in the game, other than being against the Steelers because they knocked my Ravens out, I needed something to focus on.


As for the game, it was OK. I liked the half-time show, but I love the Black-eyed Peas (I wanted to use "I Gotta Feeling" for our reception entrance music, but Left-brain didn't like that idea, probably for the best). I didn't really like a lot of the commercials, but I did like the Motor City Chrysler commercial A LOT. I kept asking Left-brain what Eminem was driving, because it was a hot car. After we found out, I told him I WANT it. He just looked at me. It was a fantastic commercial; I thought they were talking a bit about America. Maybe Detroit's struggles are really just a smaller version of our struggle. But they're not dead, we're not dead. Did anyone else like it?

Since I've finished 5 projects so far in 6 weeks and started my fair entry, which puts me MONTHS ahead of my usual schedule, I felt like it was OK to start something new. This morning I've started "Feels Like Fall," a freebie by Plum Pudding. I had all the threads in stash, and am using a scrap of fiddler's lite, which is my go-to for fall ornaments. I'm going to finish it into a small banner ornament in a rustic style. I think it will be cute. It should be a super-quick finish for me, something to break up working on larger projects. I won't post a photo til I make some real progress on it--right now it's just a few lines of black.

So that's pretty much it for my weekend. Hopefully, we can get through the week without a major snowstorm. Spring is a lot closer than not!

2 down, 3 to get finished

Two exchanges are out the door as of today.

My schoolbox exchange was sent priority mail at lunchtime. Beth in Kentucky should have it in 2 days. I am proud that I managed to get it out on time. And it's nice. I hope she likes it.

All I have to do for SS is send my reveal card. I ordered her silks on Friday. I haven't gotten the confirmation that the floss shipped out, but Vikki is great about that, so it will go out in the next few days. So I am doing good.

I forgot to mention what little chart I was stitching for the quilt square. It's Sanman's Snow Peas, only I took out the snowmen and changed the colors to be a little brighter. I think it works pretty as just the little peas. I spent all weekend stitching on it trying to get it done quickly. It's almost finished, I just have to finish the backstitch. I really hope she likes it, there is just something so endearing about peas!

Not much else is going on. With my shopping moratorium on, no new S.E.X. for me, and that really is OK. I mean, it took me all weekend to stitch two little peapods. As long as I get to keep my magazines, I am set for a while. I finally managed to watch one of my all-time favorite movies, "The War," with Kevin Costner and Elijah Wood, which I bought on DVD six months ago, and can't watch at home because our DVD player broke. (I just realized, stuff breaks a lot in our house . . . hmmm). It was as good as I remember it being, and it's sad that that movie is NEVER on TV. Elijah Wood was super-good in it. And that was probably the last really good Kevin Costner movie. It was funny and sad, and the music was good. Good movie to stitch to!

SO grilled out yesterday--this is his new football game day tradition. He's made this chicken for me before, and it's so good. If you like North Carolina barbecue, this is wonderful! This is the style from the Eastern Shore of Maryland, very flavorful and kicky. And, if you want a really yummy dip for it, mix a little bit of yellow mustard into some mayonnaise and dip bits of chicken in it. Oh MAN is that good.

BTW, this isn't his family's exact recipe--I'm not sharing that, I know what side my bread is buttered on, LOL--but it's close enough that you won't be disappointed. I am starting to collect Maryland recipes and this is worth adding!



EASTERN SHORE BARBECUE MARINADE

2 beaten eggs
5 tsp. poultry seasoning
1 tsp. black pepper
2 tsp. salt
2 c. vinegar
1 c. vegetable oil

Mix together. Marinate chicken pieces. Baste with marinade while grilling.