After the weekend...

We've had a great long weekend. PD day, Valentine's and Family Day have all been celebrated with pancakes, heart-shaped cookies and trips to Winterlude.

I'd give you the recipe for the cookies - they're a cream cheese dough with chocolate walnut filling - but it's from my best friend's mother-in-law and she (pick either woman) would kill me.

What I will do is recommend you take the kids to Jacques Cartier park for sliding and the snow sculptures. Lots of fun!

Now it's back to work. My man is at the office, kids are in school and I've got a house to clean.

Time to blast Funhouse by Pink and put on my apron...do you even own an apron?

Indulgence

No, not chocolate, books. I can curl up in the chair by the fireplace and read from beginning to...well maybe not end but pretty darn close.

I had a wonderful visit with my parents the other day and not just because I enjoy their company. I mentioned that the kids would have a book sale at their school and out came a couple shopping bags of books that my parents didn't want anymore. So of course, I brought them home and sorted through them. Like Christmas all over again.

Some were a quick pass - old cook books without much charm or interesting recipes. Others though I can't quite pass on yet. Like The Great Garlic Book or Lucy's Kitchen (that one's just a loan anyway). One of the best things about borrowing books from my family is the range in selection.

I highly recommend Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi. An interesting memoir chronicling Ms. Nafisi's experience teaching English Literature in Tehran - both for the political and social insight as well as how she relates books and their characters to events in Tehran during the rule of Ayatollah Khomeini. Her book is mine and I'm keeping it!



On a lighter note, I've just started a thriller, The Walking Dead by Gerald Seymour.

Best cookies yet

Chocolate chip cookies - yummy - and even better when someone else does the work! My 9-year-old  made these treats all by herself. She measured, she mixed, she shaped and she baked. She is wonderful.

Of course she's been working with me in the kitchen since her toddler days but this is the first batch she has done from beginning to end all on her own. (Apologies to her batch of peanut butter last Friday but she got bored before she finished baking all the dough.)

Chocolate Chip Cookies

350 degrees, 8-10 minutes until lightly browned

1 C      butter

1¹/₄ C   light brown sugar

1Tbsp  vanilla

2          eggs

2¹/₄C   flour

1tsp      baking soda

¹/₂tsp   salt

1¹/₄C   chocolate chips

Cream the butter and sugar together. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Mix the flour, baking soda and salt together. Add dry to wet ingredients and mix thoroughly. Mix in chocolate chips until evenly distributed. Drop by spoonfuls (whatever size you like but the bigger they are the longer they will take) onto cookie sheet lined with parchment. Bake until light brown on bottom and just golden on top.

We've used this recipe for years and I believe it was modified from the Crisco "Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie" recipe. They are soft, chewy and, yes, they are yummy!

How my garden grows

I try to enjoy winter - really - and sometimes I do. Crisp, sunny days covered in bright white snow are wonderful. But...I'm really looking forward to spring, to gardening and an end to kids with colds.

My Lee Valley Gardening catalog arrived the other day. Between it and my seed catalogs, it's easy to lose myself in planning my garden. I'd love to run snap beans up this trellis from Lee Valley. Isn't it gorgeous? They also have some lovely May poles.

My plant list so far includes:

• tomatoes: Brandywine, cherry and beefsteak
• green, purple and dragon's breath pole beans
• lima beans (for my man and I have to admit fresh is pretty good- I don't like the mealy frozen ones
• aspargus
• leeks from my neighbour
• romaine and leaf lettuce

It would be a long list but you get the idea...

Also, I did finish the pincushion - yay me - although it's probably smaller than it should be. I'm using it to organize my embroidery needles that are in use.

Colour my day

When I can't quite get myself working it's time to play with colour.  Beads, crayons, pencils, embroidery floss - all the raw materials with no rules about how to use them. It never fails to get me inspired. Doesn't mean I'm actually going to make something...

Today, I'm working small. My man got me a quilting hoop for Christmas after I had remarked on a neighbour's. So well designed and able to park out of the way when not in use. Made me think I could almost quilt. Well. I'm not quite ready for a full blown quilt but I do love hand stiching so I'm making a pincushion and practicing some piecework at the same time.

Blue is one of my favourite colours, if I haaaad to pick.

Bullion knots

The pink rose is done using bullion knots. It's like a more involved French knot and made by doing a backstitch and wrapping the embroidery floss aroun the needle several times before completing the stich. There are excellent directions and visuals here: handembroiderynetwork blog.

Ta da!

Handstiching must qualify as a moving meditation. The needle goes in and comes out in a slow, methodical rhythm. You pause to admire your work and imagine the finished piece. You continue - in and out just like breathing - and you swear "cursed bullion knots!" But they look so good...At least once the rose was finished my peace returned. I'm really happy with the results and looking forward to doing more.

Here's another project I need to finish.

I've done the first earring to tweak the technique and test it out. French knots are one of my favourite stitches - nowhere near the effort of a bullion but still give an interesting texture - is anyone really going to own up to enjoying stiching bullions?