Sinister Ransom Note

I...ummm...get my sense of humor from my dad.

Have a good weekend! I'll be...y'know... dealing with this.

The Valley Road

{Please note: the photos below have been taken from my home valley in Northern Maine.  I held the camera behind my sunglasses lens to get these shots.}

While I was sweeping my kitchen floor this morning, an interesting train of thoughts chugged though my mind (I suppose I should clarify "chugged." "Chugged" could sound like slow, steady progress or messy drinking. I meant the former).

I looked at the blah linoleum in my kitchen and envisioned wide wooden boards in its place (think George Washington would have walked on them). Then I switched to the image of large, heavy tiles, perhaps slate-colored. I wondered At what point in the road will I have the kitchen floor I dream of now?

I surprised myself with this question. I wasn't upset that I didn't have the floors now, because I was content with the inevitable goodness of my future? Weird. Sounds awful, doesn't it? Not in the way that something tragic sounds awful, but in the way that something too wonderful, too sweet can sometimes sound forced or fake. I don't mean to come off in a saccharine, unapproachable way.

It's just...

In February 2010, I walked into this place while it was empty. Ready to be moved into. But I wasn't at a point in my life where I could do that. I was alone and unemployed. I loved the lay-out, the wood moldings and comfy sun room. I wanted to live in this place so badly. I just couldn't.

In February 2012, I moved here with the wonderful. Mr. UpCountry. It's my home now. I couldn't have it two years ago, but everything fell into place for me to live here in this moment.

So at what point in my life will I get the large, slate tiles? I don't know, and that's pretty intriguing to me. I might never get them, but back in 2010, I didn't think I'd ever live here. Yet here I am, sweeping the linoleum floor I wish I could replace.

I've become increasingly curious about my own road. Mostly because it's obvious to me now that I cannot predict (at all) what's going to happen to me and (honestly?) so far I've been mostly pleased by these surprises. I never knew so many things in life could just happen.

I realize there's suffering in the world and that I'm bound to experience it every day (at least on some small, minor level). But today, I'm not thinking about the pain ahead. I'm looking forward to all the other things that will fall into place and delight in those things that already have.

(Did I just hear you say "Aww, shucks? :smirk)

Ode To My Porcelain Sink

There's something about a porcelain sink that says "farmhouse." I've always wanted a porcelain sink. And, in the my new-ish (to me, anyway) home, I finally have one!

Bathtubs are porcelain and I love baths. When I wash my dishes in a porcelain sink, it's like I'm giving nice little baths to all my plates and cutlery. I don't have any children to bathe, so I let my dinnerware serve as my babies. It's not weird at all...

Porcelain is made out of ceramic, heated to an extremely high temp in a kiln. My sink's finish is made from clay that has gone to hell and back.

I love how, every time I approach it and touch its surface, it feels cold.

Filled halfway with water and soap, bubbles and porcelain are the same color.

It's soft in the way that it makes you feel comfortable and at home, but don't be deceived! Porcelain can chip when something hard bangs up against it, but (as of I've proven to myself more times than I care to admit) when it fights glass, it always wins.

This owl friend (and his little owl kid) is the sink's proverbial guardian. He makes sure I do the sink justice by keeping it empty most of the time and washing with diligence whatever falls into it.

Now, how's that for an ode to a pearly, white basin?

Sweet Sally's Soaps

One of my good lady friends has a birthday coming up, so I decided to nose around on Etsy in search of a perfect gift for her. Just to describe her a little bit: she's pretty, petite, runs around barefoot all summer, and somehow always smells good (even when her baby boy was spitting up and drooling all over her). Also, she's recently decided to take on the challenge of eating a vegan diet. I wanted to support her, so I searched for vegan products on Etsy.

The first thing I noticed was that vegan soaps are available from numerous sellers; they do not contain any animal products and are typically made with olive or coconut oil. The soaps I found, on sale from the seller Sweet Sally's Soaps, were made with both of these and palm oil as well.

I wanted to get her a sampler pack (since variety is quite exciting... hello, buffet!) and I thought the price was pretty good, so I placed the order.

They came in yesterday.

I know. Right?  They came tightly wrapped in bubble wrap and before I could get the tape off, the fragrance of them was wooing me.

Every. Single. One.... Is Amazing. They all have their own unique scent. I can definitely tell the different between the Lavender Swirl and the Rosemary Lavender. The Charcoal and Tea Tree bar made me want to run outside and take a shower in the rain.

They are perfect. Sweet Sally's Soaps received positive feedback from me on Etsy, but, unbeknownst to them, I wanted to use my own soapbox to declare that this is a product with high class and high quality. Well done!

If you have any lady friends who like to smell good and also like the luxurious experience of washing with handmade soap, I would give Sweet Sally's Soaps a look. One can't have too many successful shopping experiences, can they?

Twin Pillow Cakes

My idea for Twin Pillow Cakes was to take two sugar cookies and sandwich them around a raspberry whipped cream filling. Sugar cookies, especially little button-sized ones, are so easy to pop into your mouth, it's pretty much hateful. I wanted to pair a fresh-fruit taste with the butter and sugar of the cookies to create a delicate, rich balance.

I used a recipe for "Ethel's Sugar Cookies" from Betty Crocker's Baking for Today; a version of it is also available on Love Feast Table.

Sugar Cookies
You'll need:
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup softened butter or margarine (I used butter.)
1/4 cup shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs

Soften butter. Add a teaspoon of sugar.

...and a teaspoon of vanilla.

Add shortening and eggs. Mix together in a bowl.

Now you'll need:

2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Stir in these ingredients.

Cover and refrigerate for one hour.

While that's chilling in the refrigerator, you can set about working on the

Raspberry Whipped Cream


Joy the Baker made a strawberry version of this whipped cream.

You'll need:
2 cups of heavy cream (mine was ultra pasteurized).
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon of confectioners sugar

Pour the heavy cream into a bowl.

Add sugar, confectioners sugar and vanilla. Start whiskin' away. The cream will start frothing up. Guess what? You're not even closed to whipped cream yet (I didn't know this).

Keep whisking. As far as I can tell, it took me about 6-7 minutes of intense whisking to get it to the right consistency. I started whimpering after the first five minutes. Little yelps of "Oh my god!" and "Seriously?" were bouncing off the walls of my kitchen. But, the hard work put in, after what seemed like five million whisk revolutions, the heavy cream became whipped cream.

You'll need:
a food processor
2 1/2 cups frozen raspberries

I have a 6-cup capacity food processor. It's the perfect size for this kind of thing.

Add all 2 1/2 cups of frozen raspberries to the food processor.

Pulse the living bee-jeez out of it. Then add the raspberry flecks and crumbles to the bowl of whipped cream. Stir with a frenzy. Actually, don't. Because that's what I did, and it was raspberry red confetti all up in my face.

You'll get to see how pretty and pink it turns out in the final photos.

Now Back To The Cookies!
Relax for the next forty-five minutes or so while your dough continues to chill. (Get it? When your dough chills, so do you.)

When your dough has a few minutes left in the fridge, preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

After the hour's up, take the dough out of the bowl and place it on a well-floured surface. I didn't "flour" my surface well enough the first time (love that "flour" is a verb), so the dough stuck to my rolling pin. I'll go ahead and call that a classic mistake. :smirk

So, flour that surface up better than I did (my boyfriend showed me the proper technique for my second try; he also graciously volunteered to knead the dough while I shot photos).

Knead the dough with some flour to create a soft surface to the dough so it's easy to roll.

Roll out the dough with a rolling pin till it's about 1/8 inch thick (yes, he rolled it out for me, too...).

If you have a cookie cutter, now's as good a time as any to get that sucker out. If you don't (as in my case), wander around your house looking for something small and circular that you could use as a cookie cutter. We found a shot glass. Hurray!

Cut out wonderful little cookies and place them on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 5-8 minutes, or until they're just the slightest tinge of brown on the bottom.

Once removed from the oven, let them sit on the cookie tray for a couple minutes. Remove to a wire rack to cool. Hypothetically. I don't actually own a wire rack (worst baker ever), so I place them on a clean stretch of countertop (which also happens to be the same color as a sugar cookie).

Let them sit and cool for at least 15 minutes. Spoon up half a teaspoon full of some fresh raspberry whipped cream and dab on the bottom of one sugar cookie. Take another sugar cookie and place them bottom-to-bottom, creating a Twin Pillow Cake (because I like the sound of it!).

Enjoy! They're only about 120 calories a piece... (so it's perfectly fine to eat four Twin Pillow Cakes, right?)

Bakery complete! It was a really fun experiment. I made a mess, I tasted often along the way and I even got the man around the house involved. I consider that a success.

Project Idea: Baby Stage

I've had it on my mind lately to recycle my shredded paper (beyond just bringing it to a recycling bin). I want to  pulp it out, mush it up, pour it in a frame and make some new paper out of it. Also, I'm going to sprinkle some wildflower seeds into the set to it can be used as plantable paper. This project idea is still in its baby stage.

The tulips in my bedroom are past their prime and the petals are starting to curl and soften. I have a hankering to press them, so over the next couple of days, I'll likely be putting together a flower press. At that point, my project will be in the toddler stage.

I'm okay in the baby stage for today though. All I want to do is keep the petals as they are for just a little longer. I've read it's best to press flowers at their freshest point, but I'll have to sacrifice color sharpness and finer edges this first time around.

Beyond the toddler stage is putting the dried, pressed petals into the pulp mixture while I'm making plantable paper. Won't these gorgeous petals add value to the paper's aesthetic? And I'm thinking that flower petals are biodegradable... :smirk

But for now I'm going to let the petals soften a bit more, because I just can't let go of their company quite yet. More on this to come!

Seedlings

I'm ready and anxious to get my seedlings started this weekend!