Last of the Single Digits!

Number 4 turned nine today which means this is his last year in the single digits. I am using a photo taken during our trip to England last summer as most of the photos taken of him lately have him dramatically hamming it up with very goofy expressions. Everyone woke up cheered by his excitement this morning and shared a large English style breakfast with sausages and potatoes before he went off to school. In the afternoon, Numbers 2 and 3 helped me to make our usual birthday cake recipe into cupcakes to share with the boys at the choir before their rehearsal this evening. Number 3 had a great day at school and revelled in the attention of his choir singing Happy Birthday! The Choir sang an Evensong at St.Georges Cathedral in Kingston on Sunday and is preparing to participate in a performance of Bach's St. Matthew Passion this coming Sunday. Along with a birthday and musical activities, Number 4 also had his first ballet exam this week and is pretty sure that he did a good job. All this activity and still only in the single digits. My blog is also a single digit and you can still enter my giveaway for another week.

Hallowe'en creativity

Number four wanted me to call this post creepy crafting but I am not sure that it is the best description of our pumpkin at the front door. My husband gets really crafty about once a year and it is with his jack-o-lantern masterpieces. Some years he has made more and they have always been with design detail contributed by the children. Some years he has been on tour with the orchestra he plays in or has a concert in the evening but this year he is home and available for fun. As we have many small children in our neighborhood it is much better to have silly pumpkins than scary ones.




Number three and number four in costume: a grime reaper and Harry Potter. I feel a little bit slack these days in the costume department as these were purchased although Number four is wearing his choir uniform's shirt and tie and a knitted vest from Nanan. Their older siblings had more creative home-made costumes: Pingu, Little Bo-Peep, knight(indoor -tabard, leggings), queen (would let me say she was a princess), fairy, Legolas(elf from Lord of the Rings), and Dark Rider (also from Lord of the Rings). I did make Number three a pretty good bat costume but when you can find some costumes for $20 or less and you know that they have lasting play value it can be pretty difficult to direct crafting time to costumes.



My creative contribution to Hallowe'en this year was a batch of chocolate cupcakes. I tried out edible decals for some of the decoration but found them somewhat difficult to work with and not quite as impressive as the packaging's photographs. I am glad that they were bought at a discount because I know that I will not be trying them again. I made these on Friday night which was a good thing as Number one started having flu symptoms later in the evening and I am feeling them now too. Number two went to a theatre screening of the Rocky Horror Picture Show with a few of her friends and seems to have had fun.

When I was a kid, after Christmas, Hallowe'en was my favourite celebration and it was not because of the candy. I loved getting dressed up and can remember all of my costumes from the age of three. By the time I was ten, I was making them myself. At number four's age, I have distinct memories of the eerie feeling that ghost stories, decorations and even the wind blowing in the trees evoked and I am pretty sure that my children have felt that too. I hope that the richness of this kind of inner life continues to feed them their whole lives.

Earth Day and Thrifting

Earth day is a perfect day for thrifting. You can bring that which you find no longer useful and find something you do. Most thrift stores support charities and without over emphasizing the psychological effect of supporting such causes, feeling good about making a small difference for someone less fortunate can certainly make it easier for us to take on more ways of making a difference in the world. If you are reducing stuff to make a donation you will be reducing the clutter that I believe is at least partially responsible for our desire to buy so much more than we need. It is also possible that lightening the burden felt by the recipients of the charity will also give them enough breathing space to think beyond survival and maybe what they can do for the world. I know that I could be accused of being terribly idealistic but changing our consuming habits and how we regard those facing tough times is something that if done on an individual basis will make a huge difference collectively and it is fairly easy to do.
When I started thrifting, I started to see that there are always many cookbooks available. Of course there are hundreds of cookbooks published every year so that number is not surprising. The books that have interested me most have been those from my childhood or earlier. Nostalgia accounts for some of that fascination as does the design aesthetic from an earlier time. Ultimately it is the content of these books which I find most useful. The recipes presented tend to be tasty, efficient and frugal and easily suited to a family. I do consider myself a "Foodie" and enjoy experimenting with new cuisines but I find that quite a few of today's cookbooks do not offer families enough favourite meals. I do cook from scratch yet
it is not realistic for me to spend hours in the kitchen just to keep the meals interesting. I would guess that many families used to eating out or relying on convenience foods would not know where to start if they chose to change that habit. I find that vintage cookbooks offer a great resource for building a families weekly menu. The Better Homes and Gardens Holiday Cookbook pictured above offers fairly easy variations on this idea and the McCall's Cookie Booklet is a quite complete cookie primer. It is also charming with its feature of the doll Betsy McCall baking as featured in Jane's Apron The tablecloth was also scored the same day and I believe that it is from the late 1950' or early 60's. I remember similar patterns on wall paper in kitchens and restaurants. There are a few stains which I am not sure that I will be able to remove so it may end up as an apron.



I also found some vintage gift wrap and gift cards. If presentation of gifts is part of the overall appeal, I definitely have recipients who will welcome something wrapped in one of these.





I can't visit a thrift store without looking for sewing and craft supplies and did not leave empty-handed on this day. I don't crochet, so maybe I am getting ready for a give away. The embroidery kit is a crewel work kit of a Trillium, Ontario's Provincial flower.






I was planning to do a re purposing project with some of the contents of this laundry basket. It is full of pyjamas, t-shirts and corduroy pants that have holes or tears that cannot be repaired. When I actually get to it I will be making throws for the kids using fabric from the garments. It is a variation of the idea of using baby clothes to do the same. My youngest is very concerned about being environmentally aware and is very excited about this project. Think about the little ways we can make changes every day.

Thrifty week

I do not thrift everyday or sometimes even everyweek but some weeks the thrifting fairies are on my side. It seems that a lot more people are thrifting or all the good stuff is not being donated. I get more excited about less. I am happy about how I did the week before last. In this photo there is new(tags still on) Echo silk scarf, Fall 2007 MSL, vintage English binoculars, and a unseasoned Pampered Chef mini-multiple bundt stoneware pan. I have been looking for binoculars for a while and the bake ware should be perfect for mini (6 inches across x 6 cakes) pumpkin loaves and especially gluten and egg free baking.


Also found was a lovely for spring silk chiffon blouse in a lovely robin's egg blue. I had to add some new Tag soap that look like duck eggs. A cute satin evening purse was something I was also delighted to find. It reminds me a little of a Faberge Egg in construction and the handle detail is something I would like to try on my purses.

The best find for my family was a new set of vintage dishes. We have been more than a little frustrated by our current set of stone ware as it is chipping and quite heavy to lift. This almost complete service for eight is Noritake's Progression China in the Arunta pattern. It was made between 1966 and 1974 as everyday china and is microwave and dishwasher safe and the serving pieces appear to be atleast somewhat oven-safe. Does any one know more about this range of china? Replacement pieces are available online and I will keep my eyes out in the thrift stores for more. I find it interesting that the plate size today is so much bigger. If you have an older home with an original kitchen you would be unable to store today's dishes in most upper cabinets. We are becoming a more overweight society and plate size will not help that trend if the plates stay bigger or get bigger still. I have read that even in cookbooks the portion sizes are bigger than 50 years ago. One other recent thrifted find (not photographed) was a 1950's Good Housekeeping cookbook. It has sound nutrition advice for feeding your family and interesting practical meal plans for weight reduction that would seem to work far better than most of today's fad diets.

Irish Soda Bread, better late than....

Here is the soda bread I made earlier today. Given the Irish heritage on both sides of the family, the kids wanted me to do something for St. Patrick's Day. While I find the whole green beer and everyone "being" Irish a bit ridiculous, I do like the opportunity for people to reflect on their heritage and appreciate the traditions of our immigrant society. I used my Mum's family recipe adapted for gluten and egg-free requirements but in the end, they kids did not want to eat the bread. My husband and I are enjoying the soda bread very much; for me, it was pure comfort food. I placed the cooling rack over a Irish linen tea towel that I thrifted. I have often wondered why such items end up at the thrift store: why would you not use such a useful item that is also beautiful? Of course I am just as happy that they do especially as new linen tea towels are nearly impossible to find. Here are some Irish facts about me: my middle name is Irish for Mary, I have grey eyes, I play the flute (which after the harp ties with violin as the national instrument of Eire), fish and chips would be my favourite comfort food if I could still eat it (anaphylactic to seafood, fish and eggs), I have been told that I can tell a story, my beautiful sister looks like she is a cast member of Riverdance (I missed out on the red hair) but I hate drinking beer!

Yellow and Chocolate Polka-dot Birthday Cake

My youngest is now eight! The baby years seem so close but far. It is amazing how busy-ness really alters our preception of time. My memories of being eight are fairly clear. I remember what I liked to draw and read. I remember baking cookies and sewing at my Singer Junior Miss sewing machine. I remember the winter skies and the smell of the outdoors.
Making birthday cakes are now a family affair. I made the cake using a standard Moosewood recipe. I used Bob's Red Mill All-purpose Gluten-free Baking Flour(1 cup) and Light buckwheat flour(1/2 cup) in place of all-purpose flour with 3/4 tsp. xanthan gum and 1/4 cup of flax seed-water mix as part of my total liquids. It is a naturally egg-free recipe but I find that it holds together just that little bit better with the flax egg-replacer. Number 4 insisted on doing the decoration, so after smoothering the cake with chocolate frosting, I let him go at it with the M & M's (his sister did the yellow edging around the top). The control freak part of me got to pick out the materials and sugggest not to overdo it with the M & M's. He picked out the spacing and pattern and I think is design sense is pretty good. Numbers 3 & 4 have always been interested in baking and crafts and we plan on creating a baking birthday party for the birthday boy. His parents are not keen on the package birthdays and he is keen to share his interest in baking with his friends.

Bake a Cake, part 2

I really think I should give my substitutions to make the cake gluten and egg-free. The original recipe comes from Everyday Foods, October 2004 and can be found here . I use 1/4 cup flax seed water egg replacement (1/4 c. ground flax seed with 1 c. water) to replace and the gluten-free all-purpose baking flour for the flour. I believe you could make your own mix using chick pea flour and rice and potato flours. Don't forget xantham gum you will soon be enjoying a delicious treat.