Boxing

Boxing is an art...or maybe I should say making boxes is an art.

See, I love books and boxes....decorative boxes. And anyone who knows me, knows I love to craft. So this book of decorative boxes was the perfect gift from my friend Caren.

It comes with the pretty punch-out papers and instructions on how to make the boxes.
What could be easier?It's kind of like origami for beginners. I love it.

Plus, I feel like I'm giving two gifts in one when I wrap a present in my homemade box.

How 'bout you? Do you make things to give your gifts in?

April Fool's Day!

Hope you have a happy one filled with good humor and a lot of laughter.

And it's not only Americans who will be celebrating today. April Fools' Day is celebrated all around the world on the 1st of April. Some people call it All Fools' Day.

This is the one day of the year when people are supposed to allow practical jokes and general foolishness.

It used to be celebrated on New Year's Day and in some countries like New Zealand, South Africa and the UK the jokes can only last until noon. If you play a prank after that, you will be called an "April Fool".

Here in America, we play pranks all day long - even into the evening.

But no matter how you celebrate April Fool's Day - I hope yours is filled with good humor.

Knitting in the Round

Knitting in the round looks a lot more complicated than it is. I was telling my husband, while we were driving my son back to UofO (which is when I knit-on car rides, plane rides, etc.) that I was going to knit six more rounds.

He looked at me like I was crazy. "What's a round?"

"When you knit completely around the circle," I told him.

"So why don't you say 'I'm going to knit around the circle?'"

"I don't know, because you just don't."

Now, life is too short to argue about knitting - especially when you're supposed to be knitting to relax. But, even though knitting is easy, you still have to concentrate...a little. Just look to see.

I took a knitting class and told the teacher that I kept losing my place whenever I was talking or watching t.v.

She told me (and I paid for this) don't talk or watch t.v. when you're knitting.

Anyone else get any great advice from a teacher?

Answer to Word for Wednesday

The word ramekin means a small dish in which food can be baked and served. If you want to read more about it, check it out here.

Word for Wednesday - Game for Writers

Guess what the word means then come back around 3:00 to see if you were right or wrong.

WORD FOR WEDNESDAY: Ramekin

Yarn Winding

Knitting takes time and winding yarn is some of it. I like the knitting part but not the work part. And, I wanted to make some fingerless gloves so I went to get some new yarn. While I was at The Yarn Garden, I watched the sale's lady wind the yarn on this handy-dandy little machine.

Mouthwatering Monday

Lemon Meringue Yummiliciousness

I’ve never been a meringue maniac – not like my husband - but this weekend was the end of spring break and my son, who was home from UofO, loves lemon too, so I decided to make a homemade pie. That's something I usually do in the summer but this pie was pretty perfect for the seasonal transformation from winter to spring!

If you want to try it out here’s the recipe:

Sweet Flaky Pastry Dough:

2 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 sticks cold butter
¼ cup oil (not olive oil-it has too strong of a flavor)
1/3 cup water

Mix ingredients quickly to prevent butter from warming. Mix dry ingredients and then cut butter into mixture, add water until it is dough-like but not pasty. A pasty dough will turn out dense and thick instead of buttery and yummilicious!

Roll out thinly. Then place into a glass pie pan. Weigh the dough down with another pie pan or beans or rice while you bake it at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes – first cover with foil (in a tent-like formation) so the crust does not get too brown – as it will need to be baked again with the custard filling inside for another 25 minutes.

Lemon Meringue Pie Filling:

5 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
½ cup water
½ cup milk
¾ cup lemon juice
3 tablespoons lemon zest
2 tablespoons butter

Separate eggs (using 5 egg whites first) beat until fluffy then add in the five
yolks, add sugar, cornstarch and whisk together then heat milk and water over low heat. Slowly add the liquid to the egg mixture, whisking continuously. Add lemon juice and zest, return mixture to saucepan and warm, stirring continuously. Heat until starts to thicken, add butter and fill pie pan.


Meringue:

5 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Beat egg whites then add in sugar and cream of tartar. Blend until it peaks (beating fast and continuously for about 10 minutes)

Drop dollops over the custard and bake for 25 minutes – you can add butter to the crust to brown it to your personal taste.

You can throw it under the broiler if you want to brown the tips of the meringue a little more but I loved the look of the tan top too. Hope you try it out and, if you do, let me know what you think.