Salt Dough Handprint Santa Ornament

My neice just mentioned loving oil based sharpies for her craft projects - if they work on salt dough, they might be easier to decorate with than paint?


You Can Do It - Geocaching Challenge Cache

GC408QX YOU CAN DO IT! CHALLENGE CACHE


The only time we have found 6 types of caches in one day is in Boonsboro MD, during geowoodstock.  But I think this can easily be done in State College Pa...  I'm working on a plan.  I should also check to see if this can be done easily closer to where the final is located - near Duryea, PA 

You must first complete the challenge portion of this cache by finding SIX cache types in ONE DAY anywhere in Pennsylvania! The thirteen acceptable cache types are:


  1. Traditional Cache
  2. Multi-Cache (Offset Cache)
  3. Mystery or Puzzle Caches
  4. Letterbox Hybrid
  5. EarthCache
  6. Virtual Cache
  7. Webcam Cache
  8. Wherigo™ Cache
  9. Event Cache
  10. Mega-Event Cache
  11. Cache In Trash Out Event
  12. GPS Adventures Maze Exhibit
  13. Project A.P.E. Cache


W..W...W... Wednesday (Books!)


To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
 
I tried reading A Hundred Summers, but got bored.. I haven't given up, yet, but for now I moved on to The House At Riverton, which seems a little more interesting.

From Goodreads:

The House At Riverton
Summer 1924
On the eve of a glittering society party, by the lake of a grand English country house, a young poet takes his life. The only witnesses, sisters Hannah and Emmeline Hartford, will never speak to each other again.
Winter 1999
Grace Bradley, ninety-eight, one-time housemaid of Riverton Manor, is visited by a young director making a film about the poet's suicide. Ghosts awaken and old memories - long consigned to the dark reaches of Grace's mind - begin to sneak back through the cracks. A shocking secret threatens to emerge, something history has forgotten but Grace never could.

Set as the war-shattered Edwardian summer surrenders to the decadent twenties, The House at Riverton is a thrilling mystery and a compelling love story.

A Hundred Summers
Memorial Day, 1938: New York socialite Lily Dane has just returned with her family to the idyllic oceanfront community of Seaview, Rhode Island, expecting another placid summer season among the familiar traditions and friendships that sustained her after heartbreak. 

That is, until Greenwalds decide to take up residence in Seaview.

Nick and Budgie Greenwald are an unwelcome specter from Lily’s past: her former best friend and her former fiancé, now recently married—an event that set off a wildfire of gossip among the elite of Seaview, who have summered together for generations. Budgie’s arrival to restore her family’s old house puts her once more in the center of the community’s social scene, and she insinuates herself back into Lily's friendship with an overpowering talent for seduction...and an alluring acquaintance from their college days, Yankees pitcher Graham Pendleton. But the ties that bind Lily to Nick are too strong and intricate to ignore, and the two are drawn back into long-buried dreams, despite their uneasy secrets and many emotional obligations. 

Under the scorching summer sun, the unexpected truth of Budgie and Nick’s marriage bubbles to the surface, and as a cataclysmic hurricane barrels unseen up the Atlantic and into New England, Lily and Nick must confront an emotional cyclone of their own, which will change their worlds forever.


• What did you recently finish reading?
I finished all of the Royal Spy series by Rhys Bowen. 
Light, fun, slightly historical, cozy mysteries
Next in the series due out in August.

My Summer Reading Recommendations are here:

• What do you think you’ll read next?
"Time is one of our most precious resources. Each day ourcalendars are packed with appointments and entertainments. To makeends meet, we cut corners, swapping substance for speed. At the endof the day, our busyness has produced very little fruit, and we areleft feeling more frustrated and exhausted than the day before.

The way we spend our time says a lot about what we value. Whatdoes your schedule say about the things that are most important toyou? Is busyness a buffer to keep you from hearing God?

It is in times of rest that we are able to quiet ourselves andlisten for God's voice to teach and lead us in life-giving truth.The purpose of this book is to help you understand more about Godand His design for your schedule and your life. His plans for youdo not include utter exhaustion and a frazzled spirit. God haspeace, rest, and a purpose in mind for you, no matter what yourpresent circumstances may be. Each chapter includes "Time Out"questions for group discussion or personal use"

Crepes a Dozen Ways

(Recipes by category at the bottom of this post)
These may be my new favorite food.  They are really great for breakfast on the go - my kids can pick them up and eat them on the way out the door on their way to work and practices.   These are filled with strawberry jam, and with leftover pudding and whipped cream.  Just what I happened to have on hand. I've read that they are great with nutella.

2 eggs
2Tb melted butter
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
Blend Well (I used the kitchenaid, but a whisk works)
Add 1 cup of flour
1 tsp salt
Optional - Add vanilla
Blend well

Use 1/4 of a cup of batter per a crepe
Swirl it in the pan - it should be thin
cook for about 45 seconds - until the top is solid.  
Flip, cook on other side just long enough to brown lightly


A few years ago I had this book - I can't remember how I came to own it, it may have been a gift from my mom, who knows I love vintage cookbooks.  I remember reading through it, and deciding that I must someday learn to make crepes.  Then I put the book somewhere, and got busy with the 9,000 other projects on my list.

If I had only known how incredibly easy these are to make.  I would have started working through every recipe in that book immediately!  I know lots of cooks have already said that they are easy to make, but I don't always believe others idea of "easy".  I am not big on measuring, preciseness, or paying concentrated attention to, well, much of anything.

And crepes sound so fancy.  I'm not fancy.

This morning I went to my favorite cookbook- YouTube - and watched a couple of videos.  The first had me refrigerating the batter for an hour.  Even made a joke about how if you can't wait an hour, you are too crepe obsessed.  No..  I can't wait an hour because although I got up at 5:30 am, until I steamed the carpets, fed the calf, collected the eggs, finished my bible study homework and started the laundry..  I had 30 minutes to make breakfast, before my son left for work.

I'm also a tad bit stubborn, and I had decided i WAS making crepes this morning.  So two videos later (the 2nd try wasn't in english) I found this:  http://youtu.be/C1DgmbMMOgA

Notice his reference to nonstick pans.  Problem #2 - I don't own nonstick pans.  I use cast iron skillets.  Really old, well seasoned, cast iron.

Just so you know, they work just fine.  

So now I'm looking for what else I can do with Crepes. The possibilities are pretty much endless.  Breakfasts.  Desserts.  IN place of tortillas or wraps.  In place of noodles in lasagna. 

To make a chocolate crepe, add a melted chocolate bar to the recipe above.  Do a google image search on chocolate crepes - they look amazing!


Breakfast:
a crepe with an omelet & ham inside.  Interesting!

This is a buckwheat crepe, but a "regular" crepe could be filled with egg & bacon like this just as easily


Simple Berry & Cream Crepes

Simple Cheese Crepes - filled with Cottage cheese, lemon, & sugar

Viola Crepes with Pansy Syrup


Lunch:
Tarragon & Celery seed in the batter 
Filled with Ham & Asparagus

These have a meat and mushroom filling, similar to something I'd fill ravioli with.  What I love about these is how they are rolled rather than folded

Crab meat Crepe Bundles
I don't eat seafood - but I love the way these are bundled.  I know I can do something similar with chicken!


Dinner:
Manicotti, using crepes

A crepe taco, or even quesadilla

Spinach & Mushroom Crepes, topped with bechamal sauce

Baked Crêpes Cacciatore with Parmesan Cream Sauce


Crepe Enchiladas


Sweet Treats:
Lemon & Sugar

Crepe Apple Pie A la Mode


Banana Caramel Coconut Crepes


Cakes:


Martha Stewart Darkest Chocolate Crepe Cake
Video How To - http://www.marthastewart.com/251099/darkest-chocolate-crepe-cake
Recipe - http://www.marthastewart.com/356131/darkest-chocolate-crepe-cake
(before making this, read the next one - apparently this doesn't taste as good as it should for all the work it involves)

The Real Crepe Cake


Smitten Kitchen has a recipe for Banana Bread Crepe Cake With Butterscotch here:
http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2012/04/banana-bread-crepe-cake-with-butterscotch/

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Hiding The Electrical Box



My front porch drives me nuts.  It is always dirty and dusty, it's narrow, the cement is cracking, the dogs sleep on the chairs, and often bring dead things onto the porch.  

I can't change most of that.  But that electrical box?  That I could do something about.

(the cabinet there holds all the misc sports stuff - wiffle ball, volley balls, jump ropes, sidewalk chalk, bubbles, croquet set, bocci ball...)

BEFORE:
AFTER:

To hang the curtain, we drilled into the siding and placed eye bolts in, then hung the curtain from a heavy dow rod run through the eye bolts.  We get heavy winds here, so I wanted something extra sturdy.


Grilled Bruschetta Portabellas


Portabella mushroom caps
Tossed lightly in olive oil, sprinkled with sea salt, and grilled

While still on the grill, top with Bruschetta
Add shredded cheese (montery jack is good)
and grill until cheese is melted

add a sprig of basil


Button Bracelets


This is such a quick and simple project.  For some we used jewelry cord, for some we used embroidery floss.  Cut about 18 inches of cord or floss.  Fold it in half, tie a knot about half an inch in (as shown on the right on the photo above)  Run the cord or floss through the buttons, tying a knot behind or between each button to hold them in place.  The loop on the left then wraps around the button on the right, to form the bracelet.