Grey days of autumn...

I think I am a rarity. I actually love cloudy grey days. The many grey hues of the sky and the fantastic cloud-scapes. Today I have enjoyed the wind, rain and cloudy skies. But I confess, I'm all ready for the first snowfall. Being a Seattle kid by birth, I still see snow as a rare and magical occurrence, even though I've been trapped in waist high drifts =P

I'm thinking that since this is an El Nina year, it will be a wet year no matter what. I'm hoping for enough snow for a white Christmas, but not so much snow that we are over our heads in it.


We drive a bug most of the year, but have an old beater Subaru to handle the white stuff when things get REAL snowy...the bug is not a serious winter car when you live out of town on a dirt and gravel inroad and have to often plough your way out to get out in the morning...but we love our bug! so we keep the old Sube for winter.

OOOOOO!!!!!!!! I WANT a snowy Christmas darnnit! I'm crossing my fingers and hope, hope, hoping!!!

Okay...enough winter dreamin'
Have a good Halloween and be safe out there!
Have fun and light a jack o' lantern for me!

Til next time
Annika

A new recipe for the holidays

Some how or other, this boozy, festive trifle came to be called a Tipsy Hedgehog . I hope that it is some thing that some one here will enjoy!
I am one of those odd birds that cooks by feel and not recipes, so I cobbled together recipes from books and on line sources to give you proper recipes to work with... Enjoy after the kids are in bed ;)

Tipsy Hedgehog


Pound Cake
Ingredients:
2 cups butter
2 cups  sugar
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
8 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 tbsp. lemon juice (optional)
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 F.

      
Cream the butter. Add sugar and beat until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time while beating. After the third egg has been beaten in well, add 1 cup flour and stir well. Add  another 2 eggs and the last cups of flour and mix well. Add remaining eggs, vanilla and other spices as desired.
3. Pour into a greased and floured pan. Bake for 1 hour.




Tipsy Pudding

2 cups hot milk
1/2 cup  sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons flour
2 or 3 tablespoons of Sherry or Bourbon
8 ounces container heavy cream, whipped


Heat milk in top of double boiler. Do not allow to boil or it will taste scorched. Add sugar with salt to beaten eggs. Stir well. Stir flour with small amount of hot milk until smooth. Add egg mixture to hot milk. Place over gently boiling water. Stir in flour mixture. Stir often until mixture begins to thicken. It is done when the custard coats a spoon. Cool.

Add Sherry/Bourbon and stir well. Whip cream until it holds peaks. Gently stir cream into custard. Alternate with layers of pound cake in bite-size pieces, beginning with cake and ending with custard. Chill at least before serving. Decorate with sliced almonds and serve.

If you really want to get festive, you can add sherry or bourbon to the pound cake too as you alternate layers! LOL! don't do this if you plan on driving please =)

Old age and decreptitude are catching up on me

I was going to post a lot more recipes, but my back or more particularly, my sciatic is killing me and it's been hard to sit at the computer...more recipes and some crafty things coming up soon...I hope =)

So once I hit 50 , my back decided to chicken out on me and hurt all the time. I'm not amused...trying to walk and tone up, get in shape and lose some of this pudge!

Hey, all have a good Monday and thanks for the comments!

Our favorite potato cakes

Drew's Potato cakes

• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons flour 
• 1/4 teaspoon  black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic power
• 1 tablespoon grated onion
• 3 cups drained grated raw potatoes 

In a large bowl, grate potatoes and onion.
In another bowl mix eggs, flour and spices, add to potatoes and mix well
Heat skillet to medium high with plenty of oil/shortening. Make potatoes cakes about the size of an apple in diameter. Flatten with spatula and cook until golden brown. Drain on a plate covered with paper towels.  Serve with sour cream or plain yogurt if you like. We have also enjoyed them with hot pepper jelly. Anyway tater recipe #1


P.S. This is the best I can come up with from memory...I'll ask him when he gets home if this is right...I know he doesn't add the flour, but I do  =) hope I remembered it all right. Happy cookin'!

Happy Halloween from me and my kitty

An early Happy Halloween from me and my kitty Kiki! Don't her eyes look spooky? =)

Too many bills - too little income this month, so, I'm cleaning out the fridge and pantry making soup and bread to freeze this coming weekend. How are you all getting by in this economy?

Potatoes! That is going to be my main stay until payday. Good thing I love them!

I'll post some "tater" recipes once I feel like writing them all up =P

Anyway...

Have a great day everyone!

Annika

Well, I'm back!

I have had the worst health problems and they are making it hard to craft and blog.But I'm a tough ol' bird and will keep trying.

I had a long summer and am more than glad for autumn! Thinking of moving, but that is still sometime in the future. Today was and still is BEAUTIFUL!!!!!
I love watching the landlord's horses grazing the pastures, tails swishing lazily and utterly content. I could learn a lot from the horses =)

I will be organizing my home and life and starting my MaryJane's Farm , chapter, Palouse Prairie Girls again. I believe in the power of this dear lady's ways and wisdom and hope to have a lovely group of farmgirls to chat and craft with soon!

Much joy to all of you!
Annika

Fields by full moon light

I love to take photos of nature in all of its beauty. While I can't claim any great skill at photography, I think this one came out rather well.

My little manufactured home lies in a bend of the Paradise Creek and on spring and summer nights I love to go out and sit on the porch and listen to the creek bubble and chuckle its way along and the frog song in the nearby springs.

I'm in a poetic mood, happy, a bit wistful and full of life.

Smiles
Annika