Screening

My husband loves wood and it doesn't matter what shape or size it is. He'll take old leftover scraps and figure out some way to reuse, repurpose and reshape it into something useful.

And it's a good thing he's able to make some of the things for our house because it was built in 1890 and it doesn't have anything that is "standard" - like our basement windows - there are no screens for those windows and you can't just go out and buy some because they aren't any typical or "standard" size. But, that didn't stop my husband. He took some old strips of wood that he had left over from some other project and repurposed those pieces into frames for our new screen windows. Then he measured out some mesh and trimmed it down to size. He hammered the nails into place and added some hinges and...

WHA-LAH!!! Now we have new screen windows to keep the bugs out of the basement.

Thought for Thursday

Remember to put out water on hot days for the Birds, Squirrels and other animals

One Day

Sunday afternoon it was hot!!! So, we all decided to go to a movie. And, I love Anne Hathaway...but, then, who doesn't?

So, anyway, we went to see One Day.

And . . . just like Anne, I loved the movie.

But . . . , and I hate to say it, to be honest I wasn't so impressed with Jim Sturgess' performance.

Of course, he's a gorgeous guy - so that helps. And he was adorable (in glimpses) but it was definitely Anne who carried the show, at least for me. I did say I loved her - didn't I?

But, I do think it's worth seeing. And I hope, if you do go watch the movie, you'll pop back over here One Day and let me know what you thought of it. ;)

How to Make Freezer Jam

I love berries. Blue, Marion, Kotata, Rasp...but most of all Blackberry!

But berries have a very short season so I love to make Freezer Jam to make the season last a little longer . . .sort of.

And, it is so super simple to make freezer jam that anyone can do it. And I think it really tastes better than the cooked berry jam. I figure whenever you cook something, you're going to cook some of the flavor right out of it.

In case you don't know what freezer jam is, it's jam that you haven't had to cook. You usually still have to cook the pectin (which is what thickens the jam) but you don't have to cook the fruit and sugar. And, who wants to deal with hot lava sugar and fruit mixtures?

This is, like I said, super simple to make and it tastes better than the cooked jam. The only draw back is that the freezer jam won't last as long as the cooked variety (only about one year in the freezer) but it won't matter because the jam will taste so much better, it wouldn't last that long anyway.

Eastbank Esplanade Bikeride in Portland, Oregon

If you're ever in Portland and you want to see the city from a bike, here's the way to do it. You can start at the Fire Station at S.E. Madison and S.E. Water Avenues. It's the beginning of a great bike ride on the Eastbank Esplanade
The Eastbank Esplanade in Portland, Oregon, is a beautiful walking/bike riding route that runs around the city. (Turn down the sound if you don't want to hear the wind).

You can ride your bike past OMSI and hop onto the Springwater Corridor. It's a comfortable, flat terrain ride that allows you to see the city from your bike without any cars.

Well . . . there's one small spot where you have to travel on the roads/streets of Portland to make a connection from the Esplanade to the Springwater Corridor. But, it's not a very busy strip. Here's what that connection looks like:


You'll find plenty of parking on the east side. Just park on Madison and then ride your bike to the Fire station and this is what you'll see.



Then you'll ride past OMSI


Continue on the Springwater Corridor for about three miles, until you reach Oaks Bottom and you can ride right up to the entrance of Oaks Park.

This is that 3 mile ride:



So, if you visit Portland, Oregon, this is one way to see the city sights without spending any money.

I SHOULD Have . . .

I SHOULD HAVE NOT . . .

It's that one four-letter word that keeps giving me problems. But I can't seem to help it. I have a fault--maybe even a double-fault:

F. O. O. D.

That's why Fry...day is such a problem in my house. Yep, you guessed it. That's the one day of the week when all I can think about is yummilicious goodness. So once again this is another

FEEDING FRENZY FRY...Day





Can I help it if I love to bake? I guess the real problem is that I love to eat. Plus, like I said, it's FRYday! Which always makes me think of crunchy, crispy, deep-fried food.

And I've never been one to fight...my urges. So, I asked myself, why not make a few fondant flowers and create a flowerful feeding frenzy to start the weekend?


Food...food...food. . .

That's what I was thinking when I should have been at Pilates doing my hundreds.

I tried to distract myself by thinking of fields of beautiful aromatic flowers...

but then they were . . . Fondant flowers. . .

That's why I played hookey from my fitness class. I know I should have been working out but I never said I was perfect.

So, instead of doing what I should have done, which I'll probably regret at my Weight Watchers weigh-in this weekend, I sat down at the table and pulled out my dough.

And, I should have felt guilty but I guess I never do what I should. Instead I was doing what Mom used to tell me NOT to do--I was playing with my food again.

And, it was like turning back the clock four decades and enjoying that old favorite "PlayDoh" again.

I just wish I could eat like I did back then, when I was a kid: without fear. Back then, when I was around eight, nine or ten, I never worried about finding a few extra pounds. Now, there's no need for any games of hide-n-seek. No searching required, I can find those pounds without even looking.

But, I can't help it. I still love to play with my food. And baking makes me feel like a kid again.

And, if you're like me, and you like to bake too here's how I created my very own play...dough play date.

I frosted my cupcakes with my homemade cream cheese frosting (which was designed to be the flavorful glue for my flowers to stay stuck to their cupcake) then I rolled out the fondant and cut or pressed the flowers into a funciful plateful of flowerful food.


How 'bout you, is there anything you've done lately that makes you feel like a kid again?

And, if you're curious about this culinary creation, here's my own recipe for

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:

1/2 package of cream cheese
1 stick of softened butter
1/4 cup of milk
1 2 lb package of powdered sugar

Cream all ingredients slowly, so the powdered sugar doesn't go flying into the air and making a mess you won't want to clean up. After the sugar is incorporated into the dry ingredients, mix until smooth. Now use the frosting like paint and create your own little slice of delicious pie...ces of art.

And have some Yummmilicious goodness - even if you shouldn't!

Flowers, Fruit and Homemade Jam

It was a wonderful weekend filled with flowers, fruit and yummilicious freezer jam. We went for a drive out to the country and spent some time walking through the fields of flowers and, then, when we were driving home we saw a cute little place blooming with berries. We had to stop to pick some Marionberries. Marionberries are a hybrid blackberry created at Oregon State University.

It was a fun, fruity and delicious day.


But what to do with the berries?

I had to make some freezer jam.

Unfortunately, the jam smelled so good Sasha snuck one of the containers off the table. Luckily, she didn't get it open. But, if you look closely, you'll see the bite marks on the lid.




But, no thanks to Sasha, we still had lots of jam. So, then, what to do with the jam?

We had to make Danish crepes for a fun dinner.


Here's one of the finished crepes.

Then we spread some jam and sprinkled sugar over the top



Then we rolled it up


And spread a little more jam and sprinkled a little more sugar


FREEZER JAM:

5 cups of berries
2 cups of sugar (this is about half the sugar of "normal" recipes)
1 package of gelatin
1/2 cup water

Boil water and add sugar
Prepare gelatin (following instructions on package)
Combine fruit and gelatin
Cool and then keep in fridge

CREPES:

1 1/2 cups flour
4 tablespoons sugar
zest of 1/2 of orange or lemon
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 cup of beer
3 eggs

Mix all dry ingredients and zest, gradually beat milk and beer into flour mixture until smooth. Beat eggs and add to batter. Grease a flat pan (we prefer cast iron but it's heavy). Pour enough batter to make a thin coating on the pan. Fry until the batter starts to "sweat" or moisten, flip it over using a large flat spatula. Serve with jam or syrup or even a cream cheese filling.

YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!