Dreams of Glory

This signifies my first attempt at macarons.  I have recently become fascinated by the PBS show The Great British Baking Show, which is actually a BBC show but nevermind.  I love how they all seem to know how to make these complicated dishes as if we all just knock off a trifle for Wednesday night bible study.  So I thought I might up my game a little by trying a few more challenging things for fun and just to see if I could do it.

These were delicious.  I have had macarons from bakeries but these were so fresh.  Crispy on top but chewy inside.  I made 24 halves and sandwiched them with ganache for 12 cookies.  Mmm. good. The recipe and instructions are from Tartlette's blog of the same name.  If you Google it, you will get restaurants.  Just be sure you click on the blog.  I should also warn you the recipe is in UK measures which means a scale will be involved.

So what to try next?  Custard tart?  Creme anglaise? Brandy snaps?  We'll see.!

Time passes so quickly

It's been over 2 years since I've posted anything here.  I'm sure no one comes here anymore- including me.  But this has been a big year and I feel the need to say something to the world. Something about love and loyalty.  About people and the passing of time.  On April 15, 2013, my father passed away.  He was a good man.  Not a perfect man but I am not a perfect mom to my kids.  People are not perfect, they can only do their best as they see it.  But he was of a different time, a veteran, a career civil servant.  Warm and charming, quiet and strong.

The last time I saw him was after Christmas.  He was in poor health but trying to be strong for us.  He knew he was dying.  We knew it too. Saying goodbye to him as we left to go home was the hardest thing.  We both understood it would be the last time.  

So now my mom, his partner for more than 50 years has to manage on her own.  I'm very proud of her.  She handles it all so well.  She's much stronger than she realizes.  She's handled all the financial changes, the household maintenance.  My older sister lives 40 minutes away with her husband and son and grandchildren.  

So at least there's someone nearby.  Mom alternates between selling the house and moving closer to town and fixing up and staying where she is- depending on her mood that day.  There's no rush to decide.  

In any case, it's been a dramatic change for everyone even though we knew it was coming.  Which brings me to this blog post.  When people reach their latter years, they have tendency to retreat from contact with others outside their family.  As a result, they don't make new friends and old friends pass away.  My parents did that.  The result being almost no mourners at the end.  It was very sad.  So I wanted to post this on the web for all to see.  To those who knew him and those who did not.  His life mattered and he deserved better.  

If you've got the notion...

www.When did the word "notion" go out of style? Wanna see somebody get a blank expression on their face, just ask about notions. I was out thrifting yesterday, and I asked the woman, not young, ahem, if they had any notions in another area of the store. You would have thought I had grown a third eyeball by the way she looked at me. I had to explain that I was collecting old buttons, spools, etc. I had to explain it twice more before leaving, empty handed as it turns out. There was a time when every store had a notions department. Now it is only in specialty fabric stores.

When I was young, I worked in a quaint little "variety" store. We called them five and dime stores back then. Even they had a notions department. That was back in the day. Does anyone else feel like they had multiple lives? I know in my head that I'm the same person as that one, but it was so long ago it feels like it was someone else. Anyway, off the subject again as usual.

So long for now. I am off the buy some strawberry plants to put in a colander I picked up at a flea market. I'll show it when it's done. The idea is not original. Credit goes to the February issue of Southern Living magazine. I don't think it is available online. Sorry.

Auto-mania

So to begin, I never did make that reusable lunch bag. maybe this weekend. When you work full time in addition to being a wife and mother, you tend to compartmentalize your time and stuff like sewing and crafting are weekend things. Meaning you don't have time to do anything but chores during the week. Oh! I did find a job by the way. Around Thanksgiving. Directly across the frigging street from the job that laid me off last year. Yeah. Forgive my sentence fragments. I tend to think that way, at least today.

Anyway, one of the chores I had to do today was going to the courthouse to get tags and titles and such for 2 cars. Yes 2. Like we're the Rockefellers or something. More like we operate a used car lot in our front yard. About a month ago, our lovely 21, almost 22 year old daughter had a small subcompact car that she has had since she was 16 suddenly throw a rod through the engine block. That's it. Gone. Too expensive to repair. So for a week or so, we shuffled 3 drivers among 2 cars. Then we "helped" the 24 (25) year old buy a car so that freed up the car she was driving for the other child. Since then Dad found a great deal on yet another late model used car so we could eventually get rid of the older child's car that she has had since she was 16.

If this is confusing for you, just imagine how our insurance agent and tag office feel. So to make a long story not even really any shorter, we are now the owners of 5 cars for 4 drivers. Tags and insurance included. Let this be a cautionary tale for all you parents of small children out there. So I spent my afternoon after work on the phone with the insurance and at the courthouse transferring titles and buying tags. Which is why I don't have more hobbies. I can't afford them.

Snow Day!

It's a snow day here in NE Georgia. A rare occurrence any year, but especially this late in the winter. I'm sorry I've been away so much, but I started a new job around Thanksgiving and then the holidays and well... In any case, these are some poor photographs from this morning. I am an amateur using a point and shoot obviously. Hopefully, I will be able to improve my skills enough to warrant a better camera in the future, but for now I am content just to document the goings on here in whatever small way that I can. I realize these pictures are difficult to see in detail, but that's all I could get before my camera got wet and my battery died. Sorry. Now I am going to have a cup of tea and get on with the rest of my day which I hope will include sewing a reusable lunch bag for myself because I am tired of plastic Walmart bags every day. Stay tuned.

Zebras on the Loose

I recently finished a little project for my daughter. I thought I'd share it with you. It came from a book I bought a while back but never used until now. It's called Stray Sock Sewing by Daniel. It is a book of exactly what it sounds like. Animals made from stray socks.
This is the head of the zebra made from one sock.

And now ears have been added.

Now a second sock is used for the body with legs.

And it's almost finished. He just needs some arms and maybe some eyes.

So this is how it came out. The picture is not very detailed but considering who this is intended for, it's ok. I mean it's gonna get quite bit of abuse, so it doesn't need to be perfect.

See what I mean?

Gripes

I know I haven't posted in a while, but I've not had a lot to say. Until now. This morning I was somewhat appalled to see not one but two disgraced former governors on television as guests. On my cable MSNBC comes between CNBC and CNN. All the news channels are grouped together. For some reason, CNBC had Gov. Rod Blagojevich hawking his book and CNN had Gov. Eliot Spitzer on talking about Wall Street AT THE SAME TIME. Why would anyone care what these two have to say? Just my opinion. Are there not any better qualified guests that they could have chosen?