Happy Halloween

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Originally uploaded by aviva_hadas

My little penguin in his day care parade. He wore it again tonight - nary a smile... oh well. He did look cute even if I do say so myself.

Why I keep Kosher

From this NYTimes article by Jonathan Safran Foer. Recounting a story from his grandmother a holocaust survivor.

“The worst it got was near the end. A lot of people died right at the end, and I didn’t know if I could make it another day. A farmer, a Russian, God bless him,he saw my condition, and he went into his house and came out with a piece ofmeat for me.”
“He saved your life.”
“I didn’t eat it.”
“You didn’t eat it?”
“It was pork. I wouldn’t eat pork.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean why?”
“What, because it wasn’t kosher?”
“Of course.”
“But not even to save your life?”
“If nothing matters, there’s nothing to save.”

Now I do not have an answer as to why I eat meat... I was a vegetarian for a while - because a lb. of beans is a heck of a lot cheaper & lasted a long time... So maybe I eat meat because I can. Which isn't a good answer. I am apparently out of good answers.

Is faux meat any better - isn't that giving the appearance of eating meat? We are going to try Tofu Kielbasa tonight - totally unrelated to this article or train of thought. I saw it on the shelf at the store & decided to give it a go... How else would I know if it tasted like the rubber on a shoe's sole or not?

A good mail day.

Lookie what came in the mail:

It goes perfectly with a little giftie that I got a couple days ago:

THANKS again Karen. Who may be the one to blame for me knowing about this line to begin with... :o)
If anyone wonders why I really like this line - besides the fact that it is on my sofa & looks great?
Exhibit 1:

Exhibit 2:

Exhibit 3:
This one still needs about 1 row of quilting...

What do I plan on doing with 5 charm packs?
Thanks to the wonderful AmandaJean I am going to make a twin/double sized Stacked Coins quilt. "French Francs" (I know, clever.) You see she was featured on Moda Bake Shop with this pattern for a crib sized quilt. She took the time out of her busy schedule to answer my e-mail on how much fabric (how many charm packs) do I need?* THANKS again. I will be adding in some of those fabrics from my giftie & I may try to add in some Taupes as well.

Oh & thanks to Mr. Calico Cat who authorized the purchase. (Can I get some red for the binding? I forgot about that...) The solid "Roche" will be the sashing & the print will be the backing.

When it is quilted & bound, we will be saying Buh Bye Kaffe make room for the General! (I will hang it above my sofa.)

* A layer cake + a charm pack could have worked, but there is less cutting (for my pattern) with charm packs & I think that 5 charm packs ended up being a tad bit less expensive...

441?

441?
Originally uploaded by aviva_hadas

That is the magic number for the "pattern" which would give you a 21 x 21 layout. But with a little help from my friends, I have 504 charms - enough for a 21 x 24 layout. Which based on my piecing method is a 7 x 8 9-patch layout. The charms are 5 inches square (@ 94 x 108), so I will get a queen sized quilt.

With only a few execptions they are all different. I'm not saying that I don't have more than one cat, but where I have a cat print that depicts a cat swimming, sunbathing & diving - I only chose diving to be depicted on this quilt.

& I officially have everything in there including a wash tub!

(I might need to cut some more for my scrappy back... Or maybe sew them 10 x 12 instead of 11 x 11 for a 100 x 120 back instead of a 110 x 110 back.)

Yes, you do see a baby snack food container in the background as well as my June Taylor cutting/pressing mat on my cutting, ahem dining table.

If your feeling droopy have some chicken soupy

Here is my method:

5-ish pounds chicken wings (I find that the bones hold the flavor - wings have a high bone ratio.) I have read about people using a whole bird or other cuts of meat... I wouldn't bother. Unless you were using a carcass - & even then I still don't get the flavor profile that I get from the wings. You could make an argument for using necks.
2 medium onions, quartered (You don't even have to peel them.)
Another small onion to serve with the soup if you like
2 small carrots, halved (or a hand full of those baby carrots)
another carrot to serve with the soup if you like
2 celery stalks, halved
4 rinsed and dried fresh flat-leaf parsley sprigs (I use the whole packet)
2 rinsed and dried fresh thyme sprigs (I use the whole packet)
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns

Rinse the chicken wings.
Put them in a stockpot and add enough cold water to cover by 2 inches.
Bring the mixture just to a boil over high heat, skimming and discarding the surface skim with a slotted spoon. (Make sure that you do not get a hard boil - that will mix the scum & make a cloudy soup/stock)
Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, skimming frequently, for 20 minutes.
Add the onions, carrots, celery, parsley, thyme, bay leaf, and peppercorns; simmer for 2 1/2 hours.
Strain the stock and skim off all the fat that rises to the surface.
Return the stock to the pot and simmer until reduced by one third, about 30 minutes.
Discard the vegetables & herbs. (Honestly, they have done their job - we will be cooking some more carrots to serve with the soup soon.)
Set the chicken aside to allow it to cool slightly.

When I go through the effort, I freeze some of this stock/soup, so I first set aside the portion that we will be eating immediately, I then put the rest into "individual" sized containers - @ 2 cups - what ever is on hand...

I pick the meat out of the chicken wings - I get about 2 cups of meat.
I use some of this in the immediate chicken soup meal the rest is reserved to be made into chicken salad, or to be put onto a green salad.

At this time, I boil egg noodles in water for about 6 minutes. & I boil a carrot that has been cut into bite sized pieces with a roughly chopped onion (I would throw in a chopped celery stalk as well, but my husband does not care for the celery, so it is only in the stock & discarded.) until the carrot is tender.

I make a layerd soup to serve & you can do this ahead...
split the noodles between your bowls (I do this after draining them so that if they stick to aything it will be bowl & not the pot.) do the same with your carrots (I scoop out the carrots & do not worry about the carrot cooking water being added to the soup bowls. Add some chicken to the bowls, then ladle the soup/stock on top.

When I use frozen stock - like last night. & a cold chicken breast - like last night. I heat the chopped chicken in the stock.

Last night, I did not right away get the baby because I wanted to make an apple cake. While the cake was baking, I cooked & served the noodles & cooked & served the vegetables, so that when I got home I only had to chop the leftover chicken breast & heat it in the soup. I then ladled the chicken & stock over the veggies & noodles.

YUM - not that I feel that much better today that I did yesterday, but the soup was a nice respit from the rain.

This post brought to you by the blog author:

Let me in!

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Originally uploaded by aviva_hadas

Just a random snippet in the life of a baby.

An upset kitty can be seen as well - neither one is very good at getting over or through the gates - which is why the one that blocks off the "cat room" is hig enough for them to slink under. Rhapsody has made it through the gate at least once, RB just cries...

A second video was shot of Jacob playing with that cat scratcher...

Keys

1. I have been waiting to post this all day.
2. This can probably be filed under TMI or analyzing toe lint - specifically how to get toe lint out from between these tiny toes:
(That was the first time that "I" saw him play with a ball. He had been caught playing with a ball before - no one told the Momma.)

Back to keys.

I carry 8 keys (only two of which are superfluous) 5 on the main ring & 3 on the other end of the lanyard. I knotted the middle so that the key chain would not be so long.

I did this because I got tired of leaving my office with my office keys in my hand trying to get into the car - only to have to dig into the black hole to find the car keys. & Vice Versa.

Now I have the house/car/office, etc. keys on one ring.

For the most part they are all dissimilar enough not to cause any confusion. The main office & main house key are both silver, but they are shaped differently & reside on opposite ends of my key chain.

My office has an electric pad as well, but I am not usually wearing that card, so I use the key.

Our restrooms have keys as well - The Executive Washroom if you will. In my office we each have our own key, mine is next to the office key. (Some of the other tenants have to share a key.)

So far this is a what is she blabbering on about post, right...

Let me know if I am the only one who at times has had to run to their front door key in hand so that they can take care of business. - Never happened to you, you are so lucky. If it has, I feel your pain & stay with me it gets better.

So there I am needing to use the loo, but wanting to finish "X" first. I grab my keys and run for the restrooms only to find myself bewildered at why the key is not working... I am trying to use my house key to get into the restroom at work. Funny enough. (Happened more than once - not funny.)

I gave up counting how many times I either have the office key at the ready at the lavatory door or the restroom key at the ready at my office door.

Its happened so many times that probably 3 or 4 months ago, I made a deal with myself that if I made it through a day (my day ends at 3) without a key mishap that I could treat myself to a slice of cheesecake.

It finally happened today. I was drinking my tea, reading a few e-mails & blogs. (& thought I have not had a key misshap yet.) Went across the hallway to chat with a colleague, used the necessaries as necessary through out the day. I never tried to use the house key at all. I also never tried to use the office key in the ladies room or the powder room key in my office door.

The worst part of this story is that for quite a few visits, I have been consciously thinking about which key I needed & still messed up regularly.

Seriously - tomorrow I may have to switch keys every time I leave my office - that is the awesomness of this statement.

My GF & I are getting together next month - for a girls day out, we may need to go out for Cheesecake - or crepes - those are good too.

Am I the only one who blunders with her keys? regularly?

61 - that is how many I SPY charms that I cut today! I cut everything from cowboys to helicopters, I am excited to look through my charms again when I count to see how many I have verses how many I need. (I have never figured out how to do that smartly - but then again I like to look at the pieces, so shuffling them is not that great of a hardship.) Heck right now I am not sure exactly how many I need. I am using the numbers that are given in one of those Nickel Quilts books, but I have changed the "pattern."

I also worked on a binding! I would have done more but my lap kitty did not want to move. :o)

I almost forgot Blogtober 24th. Today we went to a local toy store - non-chain. :o) I left wondering one thing....

Why are almost all toys labeled 3+? 

I know about the small pieces that we don't want babies to swallow, are blocks that small? "No." & yet they are labeled 3+. Oh well, we just went in to look... Jacob already has some blank blocks & he loves to play with them.

I am not sure when we will get his ABC blocks... (In the mean time, his Charlie Harper ABC book should be arriving soon.)

Wooden Toys

I have already purchased several wooden toys for Jacob. (I prefer the banging of wood over the noise of plastic.) Before my grandfather went blind, woodworking was his hobby, so Jacob inherited several of those toys too. Including this one - both guys used the same pattern. No biggie, quilters use patterns all the time.

Why was I looking at wooden toys? Jacob has been invited to his first birthday party & our present has not been shipped by Amazon yet. (If I did not want it for a party, I would have had it already - that is just how my luck works out.)

& My almost walker needs some pull toys :o) So I am shopping for him too.

& Husband thought I was foolish when I bought those wooden toys - Jacob likes them. :o) (Almost as much as the cat toys.)

Happy Blogtober 23rd.

I promise this is a quilty post

Have you heard of Margaret's Hope Chest? They are the current benefactors (Project 5) on Craft Hope. Two quilter's with "popular" blogs have donated patterns - Stitch in dye & Pink Chalk Studio. But they will accept any quilts & they will accept tops (with everything necessary to finish the quilt) and finish them for you. So I am donating 3 tops with all of the accoutrements.

The deadline to participate is looming so check it out & get cracking if this is the way you like to contribute.

You all know that quilters are very generous - in that vein, I must thank Sheridan for sending me some of the internets most coveted fabrics - Munki Munki - If you have not heard of it - do yourself a favor & avoid all knowledge. & I must thank Rose Marie who sent me some novelties for my I SPY quilt. "Doe a Deer" was missing from my selection - so while you may think that I or someone else collecting for project "X" has everything, you never know... (When I was collecting for my cat charm quilts, I had several people send me some kitites - many were "new" to me.)

Today Jacob is scheduled to get his H1N1 vaccination after which he will return to Day Care & I will go home & hopefully cut some more fabric! (I know "bad mommy" I'll get over it right after you do.) What you thought I would go back to work, bwah ha ha ha!

The 49...

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Originally uploaded by aviva_hadas

squares that I cut came directly from this pile. Mostly from the bottom. I cut the ones that were half yards or fat quarters & that did not need fussy cutting. I did not want to wrangle a large piece of fabric & I did not want to fussy cut while catching up, checking out what everyone else was up to, & eating... I think the next cuts will be from the "Pillow Panel" type prints. (aka easy fussy cutting.)

I am hunkering down at work today... Today my supervisor is off - so what was the point of staying home? :o)

BTW It's Blogtober 21st! & I have barely had to dip into my "blog fodder" list.

49

I counted the squares that I cut before putting them with the others. I cut 49, I don't righty recall how many I had cut previously but I want to cut 121 in total.

I got my stitches removed - I'm going to have a great story & an ugly scar.

I am on my sickbed, so this is all that is fit to tell.

Menu Plan Monday

I've been writing down the plans at home, but I forget when they say while thinking about whether or not I need to buy anything for dinner, so here goes nothing.

No specific days, because the pasta dishes are not set in stone & because I end up with unforseen leftovers.

1. Beef Goulash - we already had it, but I want to tell its story & share the recipe. (I picked up beef stew meat while running errands, because I knew that nothing was thawed.)

Once upon a time ago, I must have asked for recipes (No, not last Thursday, before that like in 2007!) because I have a couple from Martha in my e-mail recipe folder.

This goulash is one:
beef cubes-bottom round or bought stew meat, carrots and onions-some peas if you want to add at the end-can of tomato sauce, worsteshire sauce and ketchup(how much is up to you-we like it spicy) -six to eight hours
make egg noodles and you have goulash with a kick

I liked that the beef & veggies were cooked in the crock without liquid, which is why I decided to give this a try. Next time I will eliminate the ketchup completely & I added a lot of hot paprka.

2. Salmon Patties My husband will cook these, but you basically open a can or two of salmon, chop an onion, beat an egg or two, mix them with bread crumbs & salt & pepper - form into patties & fry them in a frying pan.

3. Orange Cranberry Turkey Breast. This is a crock pot meal from an honest to goodness cook book. I have not tried it yet & do not have the recipe handy to share...

After this my memory of our plans is fuzzy, but Pasta is a stand by as are Pierogies.

I CUT

YAY - I did not count how many 10.5 inch squares that I cut but I know that I cut a bunch of them!

YIPPEE!

(The best part, I now have the roughly 8 x 10.5 portion from which I can cut my 5 inch squares!)

Saturday Blogtober 17th

I almost let this one get away!

Anywho - not so many errands, but errands nonetheless. Who really cares?

I baked 3 coffee cakes, one for my sew-n-tell group! YAY. I have packed my fabrics that need cutting, so I will only have chatting & eating to get in the way of progress. (Jacob will be with his daddy - so that they can have some man time.)

Our dinner out last night went well - the secret - pack enough PUFFS!

In the crockpot for tonight... beef goulash. 

The weather - more of the same rainy & cool.

Hope this drivel finds you well. (I off to nibble on some coffee cake.)

(Yes, that means that my plan to bake the apple cake did not come to fruition - yet.)

The Rest of the Story

Part of my "growing up" occurred in the middle of Texas. (I may have mentioned that previously.)

My father got paid once a month. So we went grocery shopping once a month. (Maybe a slight exaggeration, but only slight.)
I remember that we bought a lot of canned goods & frozen foods.

We also had chickens & a garden. & he had a friend who had a cow - yech.

So that fact that I regularly travel to a multitude of shops is an interesting outcome.

Going from a farmette to a condo is a similar outcome. (Growing up in the summer I swear mowing the grass was a constant chore - now my condo fees pay for lawn service.)

The future

In the future, as in this weekend I hope to make an apple cake.

I want to try this one.

I will not be travelling south tomorrow because this will be clogging our roads. Nevermind, I thought they were talking about Motorcycle Bikes. :o) Oh & I officially have not touched my own bicycle since before I got pregnant!

With that talk about driving, lets hope that we do not have a marathon errand running session like we did on Monday -

After taking Jacob for a sick visit to make sure that his bug bites were in fact bug bites & nothing to worry about & then taking him to day care we were off! (I may have already forgotten some of our steps since I have had time for the agony to have worn off.)

1. Donations at Salvation Army - Baby Stuff & clothes & other miscellaneous stuff - but you can't tell by looking... Ugh.

2. Costo - where we managed to forget Formula, so we will be going back there tomorrow - kill me now. But we got fish & produce.

3. Target - gotta print those baby pictures... (& other stuff - who am I kidding - including some "retro" Fisher Price toys! YAY!)

Caveat - we like specific brands/flavors & not all stores carry all brands or flavors

4. Supermarket G - pizza shells, etc.

5. Supermarket W - produce, plain Yo Baby & Yo baby meals, etc.

6. Supermarket M - produce, pizza cheese - yes they have pizza cheese at the other markets, but I did have a caveat..., etc.

7. Supermarket T - produce, cheese, cake, etc.

then we went to pick up the baby so that we could go home & start dinner

whew that was exhausting.

Please tell me that your errand runs sound vaguely familiar... What you don't go to 4 supermarkets?

Not that I am going to use this as a basis for anything...

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 23--Dec 21)
This child is a boisterous scatterer of energy. He goes straight to the point but doesn't always stick around to reap the benefits. He's cheerful and optimistic, perhaps expecting too much from the world. Generous with friends, he will share without counting the cost. He is courageous and loves to explore in every sense of the word. A tendency to over-eat can be counter-balanced by a love of sport.
Personality key: Optimistic, full of expectation, friendly, generous, indulgent, fair, free, philosophical, playful and energetic.
Parent power: Committed parents can teach Baby Sagittarius focus and application.

I was going to share a link so that you could check out your childs horrorscope, but alas I am an idiot & "X'd" out of that page after copying the bits that I wanted.

Reverse menu plan monday

While you were trolling along in the blog-o-sphere, you probably saw at least 1 menu plan. Chances are the blogger posted it on Monday & they may even participate on a Mr. Linky post...

We have started to menu plan - awesome idea in my humble opinion. We still have the plan too much, but I add in things like pasta - if we have leftovers the dry pasta & jarred sauce don't care. Case in point - Monday was salmon with edamame, we had leftover salmon, so that became Tuesday's meal too only we had brussels sprouts instead of edamame. (I baked the salmon with salt & pepper, I followed the instructions on the box for the edamame & I roasted the brussels sprouts - easy peasy.)

As I mentioned previosly - I am pretty simple & can get into a rut with what we eat.

SOOOOOOO

I want you to suggest menu ideas. Kind of like sentence starters for emergent writers.
(Caveat, I don't eat pork, shell fish, or cheese/meat combinations - which includes all of those lovely "cream of" soups - though the simplicity of those recipes is what I want.)

I am looking for things that are simple & things that use simple ingredients.

Let me have it! (Links are o.k. as well as complete recipes or use this as a sentence starter for your blog & tell me to come look at your recipe. Heck, you can cook it tonight & take a picture if you like. - That BTW is the kind of recipe I want, "She asked for it this morning, so let's cook it tonight." Especially if you are not at home over a hot oven stirring or waiting for yeast to rise.)

If you previously shared a recipe with me, remind me. My brain is like a sieve & my pile-o-recipes is long.

Fall (Or Autumn if you must)

I must have a Rockwellian ideal image of fall in my brain.* I must think that it should all be about those showy bright leaf changers... Well in my neck of the woods, that is not it at all.

On Saturday, we went to Cumberland, Maryland "The Mountainside of Maryland" in search of fall. We decided to go to the C&O Canal & specifically the Paw Paw Tunnel. We had a nice time hiking & the drive was nice as well.
This photo was taken in West Virginia on our way home.
The tunnel.
The C&O tow path at a particularly fallish spot.
So we stopped to capture the moment.

On Sunday, Jacob & I went to a local Fall Festival - with every other resident of our county. The weather was perfect so who could blame us.
"I can tell we are going to have some fun!"
"Next year I will be able to join the big kids jumping in the hay!"
"Pumpkin."
"The Great Pumpkin."
Look at my big boy standing tall. :o)
After our fun was over, I decided to go to the farmer's market that is also located at this farm. That is where I slid down hill hurting my knee. (Which is begining to feel better - thanks so much for all of the well wishes.)

* I "grew up" mostly in Central Texas where this is not the image of fall, so I am not sure where my theory began.

Computer woes

My computer is sick. Clicking hyperlinks does nothing. So while I really like to go visit the blogs of people who leave me a comment, I cannot... Also if in bloglines, you only show the first three lines of your text, I can not clock on the post to read the whole thing. Which also means that I cannot clock onto a post to submit a comment either... not a good computerday at all...

With that said, I have been reading the blogs that show the whole post & I can read & reply to my e-mails.

None of that even begins to delve into the associated maladies that accompany Tylenol 3...

Here's to tomorrow being better. (From my computers point of view, it can't get much worse.)

Thanks for all the well wishes on my knee. I am so very greatful.

For everyone who visited me for the first time during the quilt festival, thanks. If you came back for more THANKS again!

I on the other hand did not get around near as much as I would have liked - the computer problems started on Friday...

Luckily, I will have an opportunity to see the aftershow once thigs get sorted out. (Yay for Mr. Linky.)

Happy Columbus Day

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Originally uploaded by aviva_hadas

I hope that your Columbus day Weekend is healthy & happy.

Yesterday I fell with the baby - he is fine, I got 10 stitches under my right knee. OWIE!

The fall photos are still in my camera...

So I guess this is Blogtober 12th... No cutting on my pile of 71, I still hope to get those cut by the end of the month...

First word? You decide.

First word? You decide.
Originally uploaded by aviva_hadas

I've decided that the first word should be deliberate & since I was holding the camera this is not deliberate - just lovely baby sounds.

What do you think?

Fall story & pictures tomorrow.

10th day of Blogtoberfest

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Originally uploaded by aviva_hadas

(Another favorite quilt) Kristie (Quiltingcowgirl.blogspot.com) asked, "What is on your bed?" A cat charm quilt is on my bed. It is backed in flannel and toasty warm.

Well we are off to Cumberland, Maryland to see some fall foliage. Enjoy your Saturday.

Blogger's Quilt Festival

This is a Kaffe Fassett design that was pieced by me from a kit so the fabrics & placements are very close to the original & professionally long arm quilted. If I had not purchased the kit, the center large square would have been done with a different print, that would have been my only change.
I like this quilt of mine so much that it hangs in my living room above my couch! I am particularly smitten with the polka dots!

Here is a smaller photo, since the medium one is getting cut off...
I think you can click on it & see it better in flickr... (I think.)

On sitting

MOV08807
Originally uploaded by aviva_hadas

The other day, I saw that from a crawl (rolling around on the floor) my sone can go into a sit! YEAH!

He can also sit from standing. Although last night while I was making videos, he would not sit. He just got frustrated. Maybe he forgot that just two days ago, he would put his hand on the ground first (like a 3 legged stool) and then sat down. On the otherhand, his squat tring to sit move is new & apparently rather unsuccessful. :o)

Meanwhile, he still loves that new toy. & in a later video, he is even playing with the stacking rings.

Kind of related, but not really. I recently got a new computer at work - the videos do not play nicely on this one at all! Its like they only buffer 3 or 4 seconds at a time... Which really "sucks" when I have to watch a work related videocast.

Yes, ladies & gentlemen, I am blogging about the baby so that noone notices the lack of quilty content on this little quilt blog.

I really hope to change that real soon - after we take a drive to Western Maryland to see the fall foliage on Saturday? (I doubt it, in the Evening on Saturday we will be celebrating Simhat Torah - "Rejoycing with the Torah" where we conclude the reading of Deuteronomy & start the reading of Genesis again.)

29,627

That is how many comments (as of when I last checked) the Pioneer Woman got the other day when she was giving away a Kitchen Aide Mixer. I have a Kitchen Aide stand mixer that is not as new & shiny, but it does the job well. & I am so happy that my husband let me get it when we were getting wedding/new house hold stuff. I wish I used it more, but I don't have the counter space to leave it out & it is heavy/sturdy! & the cabinet that it is in is not easy to get into. I even have 2 sets of verything for it so that I can make dairy and non-dairy confections - one set can take butter & milk the other can not.



This post is about comments, because Kitchen Aide has not plied my with a mixer to give away, sorry. For the few of you who read me, you would have had great odds in winning that one.



Do you reply to every comment? I think that I reply to a rather large proportion (not hard when you never get more than 10 comments a day) but I know that for one reason or another, I do not get to all of them every day. I do appreciate them all. Because while I yammer on for the yammering on of it, I do like to know that you are reading... (I can not promise that I will ever learn to type, so I am sorry about the typos - in my head what I type is perfect, so I am not the best proofreader - just ask my boss. He is a very good proofreader.)



Do you read the comments that other people leave? My husband claims that the comments are the best parts. I can probably count on 2 hands the number of times that I have read comments left by other people on someone elses blog. I can definately count on 1 hand the number of times that I have gone back to see if a reply to me is in the comments. My brain just does not work that way. Also when I reply to a comment or when my comment is replied to, it often segues into a new conversation, so I am not 100% sure that commenting in comments works for that...



Also there are quite a few blogs that I read but do not comment on. (Some of those are the ones where I "assume" that the author will not reply - based on volume or past experience.) Does anyone else lurk on some & comment on others? Do you have a rationale? I am totally curious about this side of blogging.

ALSO

Our friend Blogger seems to have hiccoughed (I have no idea how to spell that, but you know what I mean.) & some people who previously showed their e-mail address with their comments now have them shut off. I too fell victim to this ailment. Libby let me know & I fixed it for myself. Not that I can quite explain how to do it so that you can do a self exam & fix yourself.

Happy Blogtober 7th!

Since this is a quilt blog...

I have to start by stating that I did a grand total of ____ cutting last night. Can you guess the number?
Let me give you a couple hints. I worked until 4:30 instead of 3 - after getting in at 6 instead of 6:30. So I picked up my son at about 5. We went to the grocery store where we did amazingly well with keeping to the list. I got home & started dinner & laundry while my son hung out in the exersaucer. Since he was not happy with the exersaucer idea we went to his bedroom where I pulled the tearable books off of his bookshelves & placed them in an under the crib box. While my son played on this new toy:
(Photo taken over the weekend right after we put it together.)
We then read 3 books while waiting for the timer to go off so that Mommy could flip the chicken. ETC!

FYI since this isn't a food blog, this is the chicken that we had last night & it was VERY good! Funny thing about it - we are not big mustard eaters, so I assumed that we did not have any & got a bottle at the store. We had some in the fridge. Just my luck. With that said, we'll be eating out chicken like this again.

Happy Blogtoberfest day 6!

Butternut Squash & Sweet Potato soup

This will be part of the soup swap! Get your souper recipe posted & play along!

soup
Originally uploaded by aviva_hadas

To begin, this is my type of recipe. 1 pot, simple preparation.
Caveat, I liked the soup, my husband did not. I think the ginger "makes" it, he definately did not care for the ginger.

Butternut Squash & Sweet Potato Soup
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 pound butternut squash, peeled and diced
1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 medium-size Yukon gold or russet potato, peeled and diced
6 cups chicken stock
Salt & Pepper to taste

1. Heat the oil in a heavy soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the ginger and stir together until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the squash, sweet potatoes, regular potato, and stock, and bring to a boil. Add salt to taste, reduce the heat, cover and simmer 1 hour, or until all of the ingredients are thoroughly tender.
2. Using an immersion blender, puree the soup. Adjust salt and add pepper to taste.

71

DSC08793.JPG
Originally uploaded by aviva_hadas

This is what a stack of 71 novelty prints looks like. I need to either cut a 10.5 inch square or a 5 inch square (or both) from each of these. I hope to accomplish this task this month. :o)

So far I have just moved the stack around.

With that said, yesterday I did some obligation sewing - aka something quilty!

Now I have a stack of things to mail out!

Yet another cat toy. This one the cat's never touched.

Yet another cat toy. This one the cat's never touched.
Originally uploaded by aviva_hadas

As you can see he has baby toys - in reach no less, but he has found an abandoned cat toy to hold instead. :o)

Loving that it is long sleeves season! Happy Blogtoberfest day 3.

To continue my conversation from yesterday

No this is not a food blog but... (There really always is a but.)
I am a plain cook even though I don't necessarily cook the same things over & over. And while I "can" cook "fancy" I prefer simple.
I eat way differently that I cook - If you make parsleyed potatoes, I'll eat them. However If I am cooking the potatoes, they will be baked (& served plain) or boiled (& served plain). I gave it some thought last night, most of my vegetable sides are boiled, steamed or roasted/baked. On occasion I get a hankering for fried potatoes - hopefully the clean-up afterwards reminds me to not bother in the first part...

I also regularly bake fish & chicken plainly as well.

When I do go beyond, I like for the preparation to be simple & easy to clean. (I hate to admit it in public but I bake/cook on aluminum foil pans.)

I try to menu plan - do you? I am about 1/2 way successful. I plan way more than we eat...

For example - & I only recently caught on to this one.

If I buy a rotissery chicken (I Know I could bake a whole chicken, but I am lazy & someone has already done all of the work...) we can get 3 meals out if it easily. I used to think it was only 2 meals so I would think of something else for the other meal - over planning.

How do I spread out 1 chicken into 6 individual meals you ask?
The first meal is chicken leg quarter & wings with vegetable & starch.
meal 2 could be the same but the breast is split in half - or it could be a chicken sandwich with the breast still split in two.
Meal 3 might be my favorite -
chicken mushroom soup with rice.
chop up the remaining breast & pull off all of the rest of the meat from the carcass (I throw it away at this point, but I am aware of the fact that you can boil it to get a mildly chicken flavored water) cook some rice - or use leftovers (I got precooked rice in 2 serving sized bowls at Costso - happy!) buy a box of sliced mushrooms, buy a box of Imagine brand portobello mushroom soup.
If you want chop a small onion...
Saute the mushrooms & onions (I use a non-stick pot & since the mushrooms give off their own water, I usually don't even hit the pot with PAM). Add the soup, the rice & the chicken, heat till warm.
Thank me when you are finished.
(We sometimes even get 4 servings out of this one!) So that would be 8 individual meals out of 1 chicken. & I don't feel like, "Oh my gosh are we really eating chicken again."

I do something very similar for corn chowder - right down to the Imagine brand corn soup!
(I also like their sweet potato, & butternut squash soups.

Blogtoberfest

Hey two posts in a row & I got a "thingy" to work. (Does this count as a first post?) Ihope to do something "quilty" everyday in October & post it here - even on the weekends & holidays.

Wish me luck.

I will of course be posting random drivel as well. Like the soup that I plan on cooking on Saturday - I am so excited!

Which reminds me:

Do you cook the same things over & over?

When does a recipe that you tried become one that you cook more than once?

Are you a plain or fancy cook?

Do you collect recipes?

How often do you try out a recipe that you clipped?

No this is not going to become a cooking blog, but cooking has been on my mind & I am no longer substituting cooking with watching cookery shows, but I may have substituted collecting recipes.

With that said, I tried a beef barley soup recipe last night that was good - especially the way it played nicely with my leftover beef brisket! (The recipe was very close to the one on the Quaker quick cooking barley box. But I also saw it on a blog. Mine was somewhere in the middle.)