Thursday, May 31, 2012

What a weekend!

It was a rough memorial day weekend for us. I've been working on a keyhole garden to grow veggies in. We had to move a pile of dirt from the pile (which is still humongous) to the garden itself. It (the garden) is 6 foot diameter and three feet deep. The bottom is full of grass clippings and other compostables. Now there is a deep layer of good top soil in it too. I'm a bit late getting to the planting, in between building it and filling it, I have had to rest my back, I just can't do the kind of work I used to. A long rest is required in between these little chores so my back doesn't hurt all the time. I have a tomato plant ready to go in, but I'll need help lifting it, I started it in February, now it is nearly 5 foot high, its one of those indeterminate height plants. really I should put it in there, It is made more for squash lettuce and herbs and other things. Will get it planted this weekend for sure, it will be late, but I can make a plastic cover for it to extend the growing season. Next year I will get it started earlier and have longer to grow things.

At this moment I am learning to type with a bandaid on my finger, I cut myself doing dishes. I forgot that I had used a knife earlier in the day, it reminded me,  ouch!

I made a chocolate cake on Sunday, chocolate cookie sheet cake (the best chocolate cake ever), I'd lost the recipe for years and found it in my antique sewing machine. I got the machine out to clean it and oil it and start looking for accessories for it. I want to start using it. It is generally the back up for my Pfaff. I'm cleaning my sewing room again too, it gets emptier and emptier and I can almost walk around it like I should be able to. I really want to start sewing again, I have a couple of things cut out to make, I just have no room to work yet. It will change, I am determined to get it done.

As for the cake, it is delicious and I may get around to posting the recipe on here. I have no idea where it came from, someone else gave it to me and didn't say where they got it. I've become increasingly eager to collect a few good recipes that I can rely on for special things.

Next post, I'll try for some pictures, I did this time, and they didn't turn out, I haven't taken any for a long time, now I have to learn to use the camera again.

Tuesday, May 01, 2012

Here is a start on my posts here, I hope the blog doesn't go defunked anyway. I made this during the winter, I wanted a heavy afghan to use when I crochet. Sometimes I pick a place to sit because of the lighting so it's not always warm where I'm sitting. Here is the result.

I did a lot of crocheting, even though I was kind of sick during the whole month of February and the first of March. Much of what I made was small, and I can't remember what, a lot of it was. I did some felt work as well, not making felt, but sewing with it. I am trying to branch out and make things in different mediums. I am learning calligraphy as well, I am practicing by writing out my favorite recipes to put in a notebook with page protectors so I can use them in the kitchen without ruining the old cookbooks. I learned a lot about the old cookbooks too. I have wondered for years why my baked goods and cooking is flat sometimes. I compared many recipes from the old and new cookbooks and discovered that the problem is they no longer add adequate amounts of salt or other seasonings to bring out the flavor of food. I find that it makes a lot of difference in how much I eat when the food is well seasoned. I eat more of the flat tasting food than of the flavorful food. I guess it a sub conscious attempt to find the flavor.  I have started using the old recipes and find we eat less and enjoy it more, so maybe cutting back on salt does more harm than good. Maybe it would help people eat less and more healthy if the food was good and not just tasteless mush or cardboard. Anyway, I will try to publish more often for those few that actually still read my blog.