Knitting and baking

 This week on Zoom with the Chicks I remembered to have them show their projects. Maureen is making the Sunnyside baby cardigan. Janna is working on a Palindrome scarf to go with the hat she made last week. Carole frogged her original cable hat because the cables drew in too much fabric making it too small. She added enough stitches for another cable and now it’s perfect. Annika is making a variegated yarn scarf and Debbie is making the ribbing for her project. Barbara is between projects at the moment. But she told us about the yummy oatmeal cookies she made which required one quarter cup of batter per cookie! 

I’m wearing my latest FO, the “Shawl With No Name” and I casted on for a second one to donate with our next round. The picture below is my shawl but the one I am currently knitting for donation will be cream, russet, and brown colored yarns.

We talked about recipes of interest and I’ll be sharing the no knead white bread recipe I found on a YouTube video tutorial. The top crust baked up more like a crunchy artisan bread, so as soon as it came out of the oven, I rubbed it all over with butter to make it a soft sandwich bread. My son declared it the best he ever tasted.

Janna told us the story of when her son was in grade school, studying foreign countries, he had to bring items that represented the country and maybe some food from that culture. She made an Ethiopian dinner which one little boy loved so much, he asked for seconds. Later when her son was in high school, he asked if a friend could come for dinner. Janna likes to cook ethnic foods with lots of spices so she warned him the friend might not like what she cooks. Her son’s response was, “Mom, your cooking is legendary!” How wonderful that he recognizes the effort and talent his mother puts into feeding him!

So as we approach another week of social distancing, I will search through patterns and recipes to see what new things I can learn. In the meantime, stay well, stay happy, stay home!

If You Give a Moose a Muffin

He will not want to go to bed!

We're trying to keep busy while we wait for Moose's baby brother to be born so Moose made banana muffins tonight for our breakfast treat tomorrow.

Mommy decided the batter was a little too dry so it needed some more yogurt. Chef Moose had a different opinion though.

He very carefully lined the muffin tins and then anxiously awaited to finished product.

They finally came out of the oven! And they were the best looking muffins!

And the best tasting too!

Even the paper liners were tasty. Right down to the last crumb.

I hope there will be some left for breakfast tomorrow!

Christmas Treats and Visits

We had a houseful of guests for the holidays. After Christmas Eve services Great Grandpa, Poppop Billy was up from Connecticut and Moose was all prepared to take his order for homemade brownies.

Uncle Drew and Moose checked out the recipe and gathered the ingredients.
I loved the expressions on Uncle Drew's and Mommy's faces as Moose cracked the eggs for the brownie recipe.
He did a pretty good job since there were no shells in the batter.
The brownies were so good we didn't even get a chance to take a picture of them before they disappeared. But we made sure to save some for Santa.

The next morning we woke up to all these gifts so I guess Santa liked the brownies.

Moose loved his Viewmaster and gave everyone a chance to see the pictures in it.

Great Grandma, Nanny Boo, and Great Grandpa, Poppop Billy had as much fun opening gifts as did Moose.

Amanda received lots of knitting gifts this year.

And Moose really is a Moose in his new hat!

We stopped long enough to get a quick family photo of Phil and Amanda with Moose but as you can see, Moose was in a hurry to get back to the gifts.

Great Aunt Jamie, Uncle Drew, and Poppop received some yummy presents this year.

Nanny Boo and Aunt Jamie finally got to open their Ishbel shawls I made and they loved them.

Then came Moose's favorite gift.......

BUZZ LIGHTYEAR! He carried that toy around for two whole days.
Sunday night Moose's best friend, Henry, came to visit and play. We all sat in the tent to hear stories just like at camp.

But all too soon it was time for Henry to go home. Moose was so happy to see him that he didn't want to let him go home.

It was a great visit with lots of family and friends and we look forward to the new year.

Happy New Year!