This 3D piece is a doll-sized Santa picnic basket. I finished it for my awesome aunt as a gift for her Christmas dolls that she sets out at holiday time. I’m sure one of the dolls will love it! The wicker basket is approximately 3 inches long and it opens on a leather latch.
This joyful Hello Spring piece was a group project with my stitching group. I worked on it at the beginning of Spring, at the Allergist’s office. I ended up personalizing it for my fabulous Allergist Dr. Peters and giving it to her as a gift.
I missed a few months, yet again. This cloudy clear day on Lake Michigan is a distant memory now, we had quite a mild winter this year. I love Spring!
Here is the opposite of technology, an ancient technique for working with linen called hardanger. It’s surprisingly quick and very elegant. It involves weaving and cutting, both of which I’ve never done before in my needlework. This is my first effort, trying out different types of threads in a simple design. The two small pieces were experiments, and I am pleased how they turned out.
The large piece, finally finished at the end of March, is the ultimate goal. I finished it into a journal cover and personalized it for a friend.
We had a very “warm” January here in Chicago. I took this photo January 24th, a crisp and clear day.
1 pork tenderloin
1 cup loosly packed dried porcini mushrooms *
3 tbsp olive oil *
1 clove minced garlic *
1 tsp salt or to taste
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place all ingredients but the pork into a food processor. Process until paste forms. Poke tenderloin repeatedly with a fork. Spread paste on pork tenderloin in a baking dish. Bake until cooked through, around 40 minutes depending upon thickness of tenderloin.
* Quantities are approximate. Yesterday I used 7 cloves of garlic, 1/4 cup dried porcini, and about 1/4 cup of olive oil and it came out very well, it was enough for 2 tenderloins.
Sweet and Sour Cucumber Chips
1-2 large cucumbers, or equivalent small cucumbers
1 tsp salt (approximate)
1/2 cup sliced onions
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tsp celery seed
Peel cucumbers and slice into approximately 1/4 inch slices. Place in a colander in sink and sprinkle with salt. Let stand 2 hours. Dry well and place into a mediom bowl with onion. In another bowl combine vinegar, sugar, and celery seed. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Pour over vegetables and refrigerate over night. May be refrigerated for several months.
This is a pickle-like recipe. They can be stored in jars and keep well. This is the first time I ever made anything pickle-like and I am very pleased with the results. I’ve made these several times and they came out well every time.
This photo is from June in Lincoln Park Zoo. There is a gorgeous swan pond, and it was in full bloom. Yes, this photo was up since June, and we’ve seen several season changes since this time. We had an extremely long and mild Fall. Sometimes in Chicago, Fall only seems to last two weeks!
Swan Pond
Note: I still can’t get the photos directly from my camera, despite the new USB card reader. Sheesh. But I went for a walk and took some photos and was excited to post a new header. Today is a beautiful, crisp winter day.
My camera started giving me problems towards the end of summer, I could no longer get photos directly from the camera onto this computer. I also got very busy in my day to day life and spent far less time online. I am very behind on this blog! I have lots of recipes that I want to add, I’ve had surprising luck with new recipes lately. I pledge today to start catching up.
59 Seconds – Conclusion by Richard Wiseman
This book ends with 10 quick things that you can do to improve your overall happiness. The bottom line of this book is that everyone is different but we can all be happier by changing just little ways in which we live our lives.
Some of these may seem a bit odd out of context but they add up when you read the book. Another very interesting section is about understanding personalities and how to best deal with different types of people. Much of that comes back to Mindfulness, paying attention!
