Weekend Baking and other Treasures

[lydamorehouse]

We spent a lot of time baking this weekend.  Shawn made pumpkin & cranberry muffins, some pecan pinwheels.  I made cinnamon swirl bread, pizza dough, and French bread.... Oh, and we both made a blueberry pie:



The artist flair happened when I realized I'd cracked the pie crust. So, I decided to repeat the design intentionally around the crust and then add the moon cut-out. As my friend jiawen says it's sort of a reverse eclipse pie.

I do a lot of things like this when the politics suck. Remember how right before the election I spent days and days on lawn care? Well, it's been raining here a bunch (though nothing like Houston, HOLY SH*T) and so I couldn't get out to do any weeding or mowing or raking. Thus, much baking.  This current administration is going to make me gain five thousand pounds.

On the flip side, the house smells AMAZING. And there are a lot of leftovers.

The other thing that happen is that on Friday, a gift arrived in the mail! At CONvergence, I promised my friend in Oregon,offcntr ,  that I would send him a signed copy of Seanen McGuire's Rosemary and Rue.  In exchange, he offered pottery.



This is what I got!  Lovely, isn't it? It is now displayed prominently in our dinning room next to my stamping things.  A place of honor!  If you like the look of this, you should check out the rest of Frank's wears at: www.offcenter.biz !!

The other stuff that happened this weekend is that Mason went to the State Fair with his friend Rosemary.  Rosemary and her mom always run the 5K "Milk Run" at the crack of dawn (sometime after 7 am?) and Mason is their official "purse holder." In exchange, they get him a free ticket to the State Fair and they all hang out together for as long as my little extroverted introvert can take it.  Mason is extroverted enough that he likes going to things like this, but he's an introvert at heart and he leaves the party early with decreased energy, if you know what I mean. When he came home he had to hide in his room for several hours just to recharge his people-battery.  We had been hoping to hit the Munchkin Tournament  at Mischief Books & Games, but Mason just could NOT any more people.

This ended up working out just fine for me, because we had planned a big Sunday roast chicken dinner, and the timing would have been difficult if we'd run off to do the tournament.  The food was amazing. The French bread and blueberry pie, both HUGE successes.  I tried a simple roasted Brussel sprouts recipe that was... okay. Both Mason and I like Brussel sprouts, but I have been struggling to find a recipe that's tasty.  I swear I make them differently every Thanksgiving. Everything else was delicious. Shawn is only moderately fond of mashed potatoes so we ended up having hominy as our other side.  It worked pretty well, but I missed having an extra thing to slather with gravy and so had to do with extra helpings of "gravy bread."  :-)

So. Many. Extra. Pounds.

Though, if they all come from such good food, I will pat my round belly and sigh in happy contentment.  

Comments

[wild_irises]

I totally love what you did with the pie!! Your cooking orgy is way too carb-y for me (all those things at once!) but every bit of it sounds delicious.

Alan is a big brussels sprouts fan, and I'm kind of meh about them, though I will surely eat them. The most common way we use them is in Smitten Kitchen's winter panzanella (butternut squash and brussels sprouts). Recipe is very easy to find online if you are interested. Alan makes artisan sourdough every week, and we make all three of her panzanellas (spring with asparagus, leeks and white beans, summer with tomato, cucumber, and pepper).

[lydamorehouse]

I will look up the Smitten Kitchen's panzanella. That sounds lovely.

And, I know... I almost entitled this blog All The Carbs or maybe Too Much Gluten! I do love a freshly baked bread, though. What can I say?

Thanks for the compliment about the pie. My job when Shawn and I make pies is always the crust, so I've been having fun trying out different designs (my Pi Day Pie was ringed in as much of Pi that would fit!)

[xochiquetzl]

Pretty pie!

[lydamorehouse]

Thanks!

[abracanabra]

My preferred Brussel sprouts recipe:

Melt 4 Tbsp butter in a cast iron pan.
Cook a steak in it.
Remove steak.
Halve and thinly slice Brussel sprouts. Thinly slice 3 cloves garlic.
Add Brussel sprouts and garlic to pan with the butter and steak juices.
Salt and pepper liberally.
Stir constantly over medium-high heat until Brussel sprouts are beginning to be crispy.
Devour Brussel sprouts with steak.

[lydamorehouse]

OMG, my son will love this one.