Chuck has been decorated for the holidays. He's not the most spectacular tree that has ever been, but he dresses up OK. He'll do the trick, anyway. Fantastically, Dave thinks he's great! And that's good by me. If you'll notice down at the bottom right of the picture there's a vintage box of Christmas snow. My good friend Patty gave that to me. Last year when I noticed that Anthropolgie was selling reproductions of this very product! I've got a leg up, though, because mine's the real McCoy!
The other day I made bread from a recipe I hadn't tried before. Once again, it comes from my good ole' Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. It's their Artisan-style French Bread. I switched things up a bit and used seeded flour rather than the strong white they call for, and I think it made a great difference.
The recipe makes two loaves, but I split the dough so that I could get five small loaves - some round and some baguette-shaped. It's great making smaller loaves because you can freeze what you won't eat right away and have less waste!
Yesterday was an incredibly bleak day: gale-force winds (I heard on the radio that it reached up to 160mph in parts of Scotland!), rain, gray. A perfect day to stay inside and do something cozy like making cozies for coffee/tea mugs! It's actually my friend, Annie, who prompted the idea. She had seen some online and wondered if I could make a set. Well, of course! I think they turned out rather well, if I do say so myself!! I've added them to my catalogue, so if you're in the market for a cozy for your mugs, this is the place to get them! I'd be remiss not to mention that these little cozies are being worn by mugs made by my good friend, Jerry McNeil of McNeil Pottery (Peoria, Illinois, USA). Jerry is an incredible craftsman and all-around wonderful guy!
I have decided to make Christmas presents this year and I have a lot to do! So I'll sign off for now - I have a cribbage board to design!!
RSS Feed
