gingerbread houses

This year I made my first gingerbread house. I followed the recipe on you tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0BrIBKrvS0) and created plans for construction based on the images on howcast. Howcast is a fun website with how- to- videos on anything. Anyway, after adding a bit more liquid to the dough and rolling it out with all my strength- It was fairly easy to construct. I made two and invited my buddies, Edee & Posey, to decorate one of their own. We never quite finished the roof I see - ( homeowners seem to always have unfinished projects even when they are gingerbread)

Oh Tannenbaum

We got our tree! This year I'm a bit obsessed with holiday nesting since I was out of the country last year. Here is the super longs tree all gussied- up.

Legally Married

Karen & I got married on October 10th, 2008 at San Francisco City Hall.

Apple Pie

My little friends Edee (ID) & Posey came over and helped harvest apples and make a pie yesterday. We used a basic pie crust recipe, but added 2 table spoons of ground almonds and a bit of honey. This is the first time I made a woven top. here is a video on how to do it.
http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Making-a-Lattice-Top-Pie-Video/Detail.aspx.
The girls enjoyed eating the dough more than any other part and I even caught them eating flour.

bulletin board

This Bulletin board came with the house and had hippie fabric covering it. We had to remove it, but never got around to re-covering it. I got some fabric from Stone Mountain & Daughter and stapled it on. Easy and looks much better.

Balance

This summer while in downstate Illinois, we stayed with Karen's good friend Lorelei. She is an amazing blacksmith ( www.blacksmithchic.com) and a cool gal. She made this piece especially for me & I knew I had to put it above my desk. There is some debate ( karen vs. me) about whether or not to center on the wall or to center above the desk, and whether or not to hang it so the word or the leaves are balanced. There's a lot of pressure with the word balance to have it well -balanced. Since it is mine I have it as I think it looks & feels best. Here are the before & after photos, I painted a rectangle to frame the art.

Applesauce

We harvested apples from our back yard and I made applesauce. I have fond memories of my dad doing this in the fall with apples from our orchard. Never the less - I needed a website to help ( www.pickyourown.org/applesaucewomill.htm). The process was basically lots of apple peeling and coring followed by simmering the apples in water ( or in one batch pineapple juice -yum) and then making a puree in the cuisinart and then canning. I made three batches - one with nothing added, one with cinnamon, and the last with the pineapple juice. In general It was successful, I think it ended up a bit thick and may need to be watered down . Adding a bit of apple juice would be good before serving. Elynn plans to try it with pork chops made with Haeley's home raised pig this weekend. I hope they enjoy it !