Food that Flopped - and how we laughed about it later

I have not always been a good cook. I flinch writing that just now, but it is unfortunately true. I've always liked to cook, I just wasn't as skilled as I should have been starting out.

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There were many kitchen mishaps in the beginning. Strawberry jam that somehow missed the jell stage and went straight for a crystallized mass melded with the bottom of the pan. Endless meals involving hot dogs (cringe) and packaged macaroni and cheese (blech). But I would have to say that Thanksgiving 1996 was my not so finest moment.

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My ambition has never overshot my ability as much as it did that day.

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It was my first turkey. The instructions seemed easy enough. Never mind the fact that I had never even cooked a whole chicken let alone it's much larger counterpart - details were unimportant. I followed all of the instructions, save those that admonished that the turkey should be well thawed. The bird had been in the refrigerator for 2 whole days, and being a Thanksgiving novice, I though that would be enough.

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At the appointed time, I pulled the pasty poultry from the oven, a bit perplexed that it did not have the same healthy glow as the turkeys did in the advertisements. All the same, I shrugged and put the platter on the table. To this day, I'm surprised the bird didn't hop right off the table and make a run for it when my husband valiantly tried to carve it.

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There have been many other Thanksgiving turkeys since that fateful day in November. But that is the one that everyone remembers.

Recipe for Insanity

Last evening would have been the perfect evening for that whole human cloning thing to have worked out.

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I'm not pro-cloning, mind you, but last night it seemed like a good idea.

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Meetings, sewing projects, cake baking and food boothing do not, and should not mix. Mix in a son who needs his hunting pants hemmed NOW and a daughter who needs picked up from babysitting and it becomes a recipe for insanity.

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Fortunately for me, my husband took on the baseball food booth and the daughter pick up. Leaving me with, well, the rest.

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The meeting was easy breezy, the cake mixed up in a jiff, which left the sewing project. What should have been an easy little project turned into a frustrating mess. I purchased a pattern and the fabric to make it with, but apparently this pattern was from the new sewing line Vague (get it? Like Vogue, but, well, vague). The detailed instructions were lost on me, causing me to deviate from the step by step pictures and just make it up as I went along. Fun. Lots of fun. My heart ceased to be in it when the clock struck 11:00.

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My son would like me to point out that his hunting pants are still not hemmed. Apparently there is a gobbler out there who has a date with destiny tomorrow morning. Also, I was informed that hunting is impossible with rolled up pants. Methinks the boy needs to learn to sew.

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So, as I sit here the next morning, the required cake is in the refrigerator, the sewing project is all but completed, my kitchen looks like it has been bombed, and I am bone tired. It's Friday, though and that has to count for something!

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Happy Friday, everyone!

Mish Mash

Four day weekends rock! I've managed to get a lot done so far, and I've had so much fun doing it.

Yesterday, I discovered another wonderful homemade household cleaner that was easy and worked great. It is kind of like soft scrub, and it is an excellent degreaser to boot. Just mix 1/4 cup baking soda, 1 tablespoon dish soap and enough white vinegar to make a creamy paste. This stuff worked wonders on my stove top and I just used a bit of vinegar and water spray to shine it up afterwards.

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Last evening we hosted our new Dinner 8's group for this year and served The Pioneer Woman's Lasagne recipe:

with tutorial : http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/the_best_lasagn/

printable pdf recipe: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/recipes/best-lasagna-ever.pdf

It just such an easy recipe to put together and consistantly turns out good - and makes terrific leftovers.

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This morning the patterns that I ordered from Make It Perfect (located in Australia) came in the mail - only a little over a week after I ordered them.

I have one skirt completed already! Gotta love easy sewing projects, especially since my dining room curtains were a dismal failure. Hopefully I'll post some finished project pictures tomorrow.

Frugal Friday

Today, for lack of having something better to post, I thought I'd post a tutorial and recipe for something that I've found to be very helpful around here lately:

Laundry Detergent :)

While I realize that this seems like it might be more trouble than it is worth, consider the fact that you can do 110 full size loads of laundry for $1.11 with the homemade stuff. We've bounced between store-bought and homemade since summer, and quite honestly, I really can't see the difference as far how clean the clothes get. So here goes:

First, use a grate about 1/2 of a bar of soap into a medium size saucepan (I'd recommend Ivory, I'm using some of the soap my parents and I made in the fall)

Add 3 pints of hot water to the soap shavings and simmer on low - medium heat until the soap is dissolved. Don't let the water boil, or you will have suds everywhere. I'm not going to elaborate on how I know that. Ha Ha!

Then, add 1/2 cup of washing soda to the liquid. Washing soda is available in the aisle with laundry detergent at most grocery stores and cost around $2.00 per box. This size box is good for many batches of detergent. (Please excuse the peeling paint on the back of my stove, it works well, but isn't going to win any beauty contests.)
Pour in 1/2 cup of borax powder too. This is also found in the laundry aisle and costs around $2.00 as well.

Stir the washing soda and borax into the soapy water until everything is dissolved and the mixture is slightly thickened.

Pour one quart hot water into a 2 gallon plastic bucket and pour the soap mixture in as well. Fill the bucket with more water and mix well. Allow the detergent to sit for around 24 hours until it has gelled. Use 1/2 cup per laundry load (I sometimes use a bit more if the load is extra large or really dirty).

Laundry Detergent Recipe:
Here is the recipe that I use:

3 Pints Water

1/3 Bar Fels Naptha Soap Grated (I substitute 1/2 bar of Ivory or something similar)

1/2 Cup Washing Soda

1/2 Cup Borax

2 Gallon Bucket

1 Quart Hot Water Water

Mix Fels Naptha soap in a saucepan with 3 pints of water, and heat on low until dissolved. Stir in Washing Soda and Borax. Stir until thickened, and remove from heat. Add 1 Quart Hot Water to 2 Gallon Bucket. Add soap mixture, and mix well. Fill bucket with hot water, and mix well. Set aside for 24 hours, or until mixture thickens. Use 1/2 cup of mixture per load.

Decorating and Doggie 911

It all started so innocently.

We set out for Walmart after the basketball game to look for something to hang on either side of a picture in our newly painted dining room.

Sure enough, we found them. They were simple and perfect.

As soon as we got home, I hung them up. They looked just like I thought they would. (This space is still under construction, I have something special on order to put above the picture, too - much better than the weedy-looking things.)

Then, I thought, for added effect, I should light the candles and take a picture of that as well. Seemed like a good idea at the time, too. I lit one candle, and moved to light the second one. As I backed away from the wall, I tripped over the piano stool, which in turn fell on one of the dogs. She began to scream and yelp and ran away from us on three legs. Closer inspection revealed not one, but TWO cuts on two different paws. Fortunately, they were both shallow scrapes but they were definitely bleeding. Good for her that the first aid kit was well stocked.

Doesn't she look grateful?

Somehow, I don't think she fully appreciates my mad vet skills. Or my decorating attempts.

The Laundry That Time Forgot

Last evening while attempting to conquer the mountain of laundry that seemed to have taken over every corner of my house, certain things were brought to my attention. My son's pile seemed unusually sparce and my daughter's pile was missing several rather important articles of clothing, prompting me to go on an expedition into their rooms to search out undiscovered heaps of wrinkled unwashed garments. There, in the depths of the bottom of my daughter's closet lay the mother load - several weeks worth of clean clothing that sadly, never made it to the safety of the dresser drawers or closet hangers. The situation was dire in my son's room as well. Socks, stranded from their mates, were strewn in little balls and hidden in the dark corners of his room and hanging out with his wrestling trophies. Soon, the veins started to pop out on my forehead and coherent speech was lost to me. Infuriated is not too strong a word to apply to this situation. Once I returned from adding the Laundry That Time Forgot to the many, many baskets vying for the attention of the washer and dryer in the basement, I regained most of my cool and returned upstairs to do what I could to remedy the situation.

While most of the laundering issues were completely avoidable, some of the problem seemed to be an accumulation of outgrown clothing taking up much needed space. Once the too-small clothing was removed, and there was a lot of it, there was plenty of room for the clothing that fit.

The last time (in the fall) we sifted through the clothes, I helped organize a clothing swap - which was fun and worked very well, however this time of year really doesn't lend itself to planning events as you never know what the weather might be like. So, Plan B is that I'll try to Freecycle the clothing first. Freecycle is a great way to give and get items within a local area. You simply post an e-mail on the main site, it is sent to all of the members and if anyone wants what you have or has what you want - you're in luck. We've been members for over a year now, and have had a lot of fun with it.

I still haven't found the solution to finishing the rest of the laundry, though.

How I Spent My Weekend

We began the process of redecorating the dining room this weekend. My HGTV privileges may be revoked if I continue to come up with ideas, but it looks a little better already. Just so everyone knows, I love color.

When we first moved into our house seven years ago, I was so tired of semi-gloss white walls that I went a little crazy with the painting. Here are a few shots of the dining room taken last week.

Very, very blue. I liked the color, but it never felt warm enough for a dining room. Also, please note Exhibit A a/k/a weedy, vaguely berry-ish things hanging on either side of the picture. I think these testify to the fact that Interior Design is not my calling. In the photo directly above, you can see the absolutely beautiful corner cupboard that my dad built for me as a Christmas present two years ago.

Now for some after shots:

The color looks a bit orange in the pictures, but it is actually caramel brown. I've also included my favorite picture of the kids, taken nine years ago. I can't believe how small they were then.

For the record, not all of the residents of our house were thrilled with the home improvement activities. Midnite's bed was moved and panic ensued. Here she is relaxing in her pajamas and clinging to her favorite ball for comfort. We haven't told her that the living room is next.

Post-Christmas Decorating Crisis

The last of the indoor Christmas decorations are now safely stored in their respective boxes in the basement, leaving a wasteland of barren surfaces. Now, to be very honest here, I am most certainly lacking the interior decorator gene that so many women seem to have. My mother and two sisters in law seem to effortlessly create magazine quality tableaus throughout their immaculate houses. At the other end of the spectrum is my house, where I have good ideas and better intentions - just not the ability to pull it all together.

So, now that all of the Christmas glitz and glamor (ha ha ha) has been put away, I've had plenty of time to stare at my walls, which I last painted seven years ago when we bought our house - I think it is time to repaint. I'll post some before and after pictures some time next week when we get around to painting. Painting always seems like a good idea until I get stuck doing it by myself.

I think I'll try to do something to perk the curtains up too, I just don't know what. If only there was some way to get on one of those home shows where I get a vacation and get to come home to a newly decorated house. It doesn't hurt to dream, right?