Crocheted Dishcloths

I spent a lazy last night crocheting and watching reruns of Amen on GMC instead of cleaning or doing dishes like I should have been doing.  I was also eating my weight in homemade 3 musketeers bars.  I found the recipe at The Open Pantry.   If the good Lord had decided to take me at that moment last night I would've died happy :)  Not productive, mind you, but happy. 


I ended up crocheting two dishcloths, a smaller one and a larger one.  The smaller one measures about 5in. square and the larger about 8in. square.  I normally don't make them smaller than 8in. but I figured if I made more small ones I wouldn't have to fold them come laundry day.  Yes, my laziness went to the very core of my being last night.

The pattern is very simple and very basic.  For the 5in. small dishcloth I used a size G hook and a worsted weight cotton yarn remnant.   For the 8in. larger dishcloth I used a size I hook and the same cotton remnant.  Gauge really doesn't matter.

Small Dishcloth:

CH. 22, turn.

Row 1: DC in 3rd ch. from hook and in each ch. to end of row. turn

Row 2: Ch. 2, DC  in first DC st.  Continue in each st. to end of row. turn

Row 3: Repeat row 2.

Repeat row 3 until dishcloth measures 5 inches from top to bottom or until desired length is reached.

Large Dishcloth

Ch. 26, turn

Row 1: DC in 3rd ch. from hook and in each ch. to end of row. turn.

Row 2: Ch. 2. DC in first DC st. Continue in each st. to end of row. turn.

Row 3: Repeat row 2 until dishcloth reaches 8 in. from top to bottom or until desired length is reached.

Row 4: At end of last DC row, ch. 1. Do not turn. Begin to work sc evenly along the side of the dishcloth until you reach the corner. 

 Ch. 1. Do not turn. Work sc. evenly along the bottom edge until you reach the corner. 

Ch. 1.  Do not turn.  Work sc evenly along the other side until you reach the corner.

Ch. 1 Do not turn. Work sc. in each dc st. along the top edge. Join with slip stitch in first ch. 1.  Fasten off.

Weave in ends.

I FINALLY Got My Camera Back!

After many, many, many loong weeks of not having a camera, I have finally gotten a new one.  Well, it's not exactly new.  I just managed to save enough money to fix up an old one.  The picture quality isn't great (as you'll see soon enough) but at least it's something.  Who knows, maybe Santa's elves have something in the works for me for Christmas.  

The last couple of months here have been pretty busy, mostly with the usual seasonal stuff like putting up corn and freezing and canning fruit from the fruit trees and vegetables from the garden.  In fact, both of our freezers are so full of corn, peaches and cherries that I'm having extreme troubles getting to the meat that is tucked back there someplace. 

Freezer number 1 has been housing all of our corn.  I think we put up somewhere around 40 bags of corn.  As you can see it's not entirely full at the moment. The partial clearing is thanks to the fact that we have been eating corn 4 days out of the week for the last 4 weeks.  We're all so sick of corn at this point that we're starting to have nightmares about it.  I think we'll have to take a couple weeks off from corn fritters, creamed corn, baked corn casserole, buttered corn, etc. etc. etc.

Freezer number 2 is completely filled mostly with peaches and cherries along with some small amounts of pumpkin, apple pie filling, strawberries, and the occasional pack of hamburger.  We currently cannot use freezer number 2 until I can clear out some of this fruit!  Now we LOVE fruit in my house but we all seem to be getting bored with the same peach muffins, cherry cobblers and various pies.  So, I've been on the hunt for new and versatile recipes that will help dwindle down some of our surplus.  One of our favorites so far is Cherry Coffee Cake which you can make with really any kind of fruit filling including peaches and apples. 

I personally found the recipe written out on an old recipe card and I have absolutely no idea anymore which cookbook it came out of but, here it is, in case you want to try it.  I completely recommend trying it, it's good.

Cherry Coffee Cake

1 egg, beaten
1/4 c. milk
1/2 c. sugar
1/8 t. salt
1/2 t. vanilla extract
1-3/4 c. biscuit mix (I make my own but you could use Jiffy or Bisquik too), divided
21-oz can of cherry pie filling (I made my own cherry pie filling using a quart size bag of frozen cherries).
1/2 c. brown sugar packed
1/2 t. cinnamon
3 T. butter, diced
1/2 c. chopped walnuts (optional)

Combine egg, milk, sugar, salt, vanilla and 1-1/2 cups baking mix.  Stir until smooth.  Pour mixture into a lightly greased 8"X8" baking pan.  Spoon pie filling over mixture in pan.  Mix together remaining baking mix, brown sugar, cinnamon, butter and nuts (if desired).  Sprinkle over pie filling.  Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes.  Cut into squares.  Makes 6 to 8 servings.

I Remember Sept. 11th 2001

"I don't think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains."
                                                                              -Anne Frank

 I can remember where I was on Sept. 11th 2001.  I was a freshman in college.  I was with a friend of mine in the student lounge, getting a sandwich before our morning classes.  There was a big screen tv in the lounge and a group had already gathered in front of it, although my friend and I had no idea why at the time.  We got our sandwiches and as I was paying for mine, he went over and stood in front of the tv and immediately came running back telling me a plane had hit the world trade center.   I remember thinking that it must of been a single engine plane, something small and feeling horrible for the pilot and whoever he may have had on board but figuring it had done only minimal damage to the towers themselves. 

Then I walked over and saw the smoke and realized it was a full passenger jet that had hit the tower.  And we sat there, surrounded by people that we knew and people we didn't, and watched the live news broadcasts on abc as a second plane approached.  I can remember barely sputtering out "Is that another plane?" and a split second later it disappeared behind the first tower and a shot of flames, debris and smoke came out of the second tower.

I can remember sitting there watching in stunned disbelief when another friend came rushing in to announce that the Pentagon had been hit as well.  Then we went up to my dorm room and sat there watching the news reports on our little television with our door opened.  People from the hallway stopping in to watch with us.  At one point we probably had 20 people in our teeny tiny little room.  I remember seeing what I thought at first were suit coats flying out the windows and then realizing in complete horror that those were people, jumping out of a hopeless situation to certain death. 

It's interesting now to see us as a country 10 years later.  Going to the airport is an entirely changed experience.  The site is still empty.  There's a national memorial being built in the middle of what used to be someone's cornfield.  We still stop and remember at memorial events.  But life has moved on.  There's still babies and weddings.  Still cookouts and parades.  We still go to work and we still ride on planes and trains.  People are resilient.  Today, we'll honor those who lost their lives on Sept. 11th and in the subsequent wars by celebrating the all American way of life.  We'll watch our football games, we'll eat a big Sunday dinner with family and friends, and tonight we'll say our prayers for those that are gone and for the family members that remain.

God bless.

In Mourning

My brand new camera (the one that Oldest dropped a few posts back) finally completely gave up the ghost this week.  So it is in loving memory that I dedicate this post to the cameras I've loved and lost with a pictorial tribute from photos past.

Egg Noodles

Our rock candy suckers are coming along nicely, although they aren't quite done yet due to the humidity and other factors that slowed our rate of evaporation down around here the last week.  BUT, they are forming and in another few days we should be able to eat them, which is clearly the best part!

Now,  I have a message for all those out there who buy over processed, neatly packaged egg noodles at the grocery store.  STOP!   That's right, stop it.  Just say no.  Sure the so-called egg noodles that you buy in the store are edible and they come already dried but seriously they aren't nearly as tasty as homemade noodles and most of the time they don't even have eggs in them.  Instead they contain ingredients that are barely pronounceable like thiamine monoitrate. 

Homemade egg noodles are EASY to make.  That's right, e-a-s-y.  They are inexpensive.  They are quick to make.  It will take you more time to drive to the grocery store and fight your way past the crowd in the pasta aisle to pick up the store bought, chemistry lab by-products that we call noodles than it will take you to make your own at home with ingredients you likely already have on hand and can definitely pronounce.   If you are thinking about dipping your toes into the water of a more free and self-sustained lifestyle than there is no better place to start than right here. 

There are several different recipes for homemade egg noodles.  Some call for water, some for milk, some for chicken broth and all of them are great.  Personally, though, I like my simple recipe best. 

1. 1 cup of flour
2. 1 t. salt
3. 2 eggs

This recipe will make enough noodles for two people.  I usually triple it and then store it in bulk for my slightly larger than average family.  Feel free to increase the size to whatever is right for you and yours, just make sure to keep the ratios the same. 

Step 1.  Combine the flour and salt in a mixing bowl.
Step 2. Make a well in the center of the flour.
Step 3. Crack both eggs into the well and beat them up.  You could beat the eggs separately and then pour them into the well if you don't mind adding an extra dish to wash. 
Step 4. Gradually mix the flour from the sides of the well into the eggs.  Eventually you will get a nice ball of dough. 
Step 5. Turn out your dough onto a well floured surface.  Use your flour liberally on your hands, your surface and the ball of dough.
Step 6. Kneed the dough gently, adding flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking, until the ball is smooth and no longer sticky. Cover the ball in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or up to overnight.

Step 7.  Flour your rolling pin and surface and roll out your dough to whatever thickness you like from 1/4in. to paper thin, the choice is yours.  Then grab your pizza cutter (easiest) or butter knife and cut out long strips, try to stay as straight as possible. 

That's it.  You're done.  You've made noodles.  You can use them immediately or lay them out on a wire rack (faster) or dishtowel (slower) to dry completely.  Drying is usually the most time consuming aspect of noodle making and typically takes several hours . But once the noodles are completely dried you can store them in an airtight container on your shelf for up to 5 months. 

You may be looking at this last picture and wondering to yourself where all the noodles went.  Well, it's a sad story really.  You see, homemade egg noodles are not safe at my house.  They will sit there, minding their own business, trying to dry and my DH will come along and devour them one by one.  I try to protest on their behalf but my pleadings fall on deaf ears.  So I've had to resort to drying my noodles in batches.  One small batch that I keep on the counter in the kitchen, the sacrificial batch if you will, which DH spends all day picking at.  And the other batch, which I don't get out of the fridge to cut and dry until just before bedtime.  They are dry by the time I get up in the morning (usually just before DH gets up) and I can put them all away before he even notices that they were there at all.  I know it's pathetic but that's life when you are a married to an egg noodle addict. 

It's a Little Hot

90 degrees today at 2pm in the shade.  By the time the sun had set we had reached a peak temperature of 94 degrees with a heat index of 103 or 104 depending on who you ask.  But it gets better.  Tomorrow is supposed to be one of our hottest days on record, if not THE hottest day on record, with temps crawling at least to 95 and a heat index somewhere between 105 and 115.  Yep, you read that right, 115.  I think hell is about to swallow Ohio whole.

So what is one to do about the heat?  Well, for starters, we spent the day playing in the sprinklers.  Watering the critters.  Hosing the critters.  Hosing ourselves.  Sitting in the tub, kiddie pool, shower etc.  Eating chocolate dipped frozen strawberries, peaches, bananas and watermelon chunks and slaving over a hot stove.

"Wait, what!?  Did she just say 'slaving over a hot stove'?" 

Yes, yes I did.  Now you are probably thinking that I've gone all squirrely in this heat, perhaps I've lost my marbles.  Nope.  You see, there is one treat that I always associate with summer (and you really don't get much more "summer" than 95 degree searing heat).  It isn't ice cream or slushies or snow cones.  It's rock candy. 

Rock candy has a looong history dating at least back to 9th century India and Iran possibly even earlier than that!  It's been referenced by many authors and poets, including William Shakespeare.  In earlier times it was used for therapeutic purposes as medicine instead of simply as the sweet treat we know and love today.  For the life of me I have no idea why we ever stopped delivering our medicine via rock candy.  I mean, when I was a kid (probably even now as an adult) if my doctor had said "Here's your medicine" and then handed me a bag full of rock candy suckers, you better believe I would have spent much less time hiding under my bed and in closets to escape my mother and her medicine spoon.

None the less, it wasn't until about the 1700's that Rock Candy began to be widely used primarily as a sweet treat.  Rock candy is still more than a simple lollipop though.  It also makes for a darn tasty science project.  I use rock candy to teach my kids about crystals, solvents, solutes and solutions as well as evaporation.  

If you've never made rock candy before then now is the time.  It is relatively easy to do.  First, you need a few common kitchen items.

1. A couple of sterilized canning jars.
2. Some wax paper
3. A couple of rubber bands (or in our case hair ties)
4. 4 bamboo skewers with the sharp ends cut smooth.  You wouldn't want a little one to kabob their tongue.
5. A medium saucepan.
6. 1 cup of water
7. 3 cups of sugar (White or brown sugar. Either one works fine.)
8. Flavoring or food coloring if desired.  We used watermelon and grape.

The first step is to heat the water in the saucepan until simmering.  Heated solvents (water) can dissolve larger amounts of salutes (sugar) than they can when cold which makes it possible to super saturate the solution, a necessary step when making rock candy. 

Then stir in the three cups of sugar slowly, a couple of tablespoons at a time, stirring constantly and making sure that each batch of sugar dissolves completely before adding more. 

Once all the sugar is added you can stop stirring.  Allow the syrup solution to heat to a rolling boil. 

Once it reaches a rolling boil, remove it from the heat and dip your skewers in the solution. 
Place the skewers on a plate or on some wax paper and allow them to dry while you divide the solution evenly among your two canning jars.  Then add any flavoring or food coloring you want, making the solution just a bit darker than you want the finished product to be.

Place two skewers in each jar then cover with squares of wax paper, poking the paper over the top ends of the skewers.  Place a rubber band around the wax paper to keep it in place and set the jars up on the fridge or in any area that is out of direct sunlight and where the jars are unlikely to be disturbed.  DO NOT TOUCH THEM even though it's tempting.  The humidity in your area will determine how long it takes for the rock candy to form.  The less humidity there is is the faster the water will evaporate and therefore the faster the crystals will form.  You're probably wondering why it is, then, that we can't set these in direct sunlight as that should speed up the evaporation.  Well, that's correct.  It would speed up the evaporation...too much.  If the water evaporates too quickly then the sugar won't have a chance to form into those nice big crystals that become the rock candy. 

In 3 days to about a week we should have some rock candy suckers to show for our trouble.

Happy 4th of July!

For independence day this year we spent the morning cheering for Oldest and Middle as they walked in the Fourth of July parade, then we picked raspberries.  I've got burgers and chicken breasts on the grill and a yard full of friends and family.  And tonight we'll be heading to the fireworks display in town.  Doesn't get any better than that. 

Hope everyone is having a wonderful 4th of July!