Going Domestic

Desperately Seeking Susie Homemaker

I am a little embarrassed to admit that I have become something of a culinary slacker. It bothers me that I am not working and yet sometimes I can't even manage to get veggies prepared for Chris to saute when he comes home from work.  I'm not sure how other moms do it, but the thought of sticking Madeline in a play yard or her exersaucer while I take sixty minutes or more to prepare a meal doesn't really jive with my style of parenting (nor hers, I'm sure). I am hoping to find domestic salvation in slow-cooker meals.

We currently have a slow-cooker that Chris inherited way back before we were married. It's a Rival Crock Pot, and it was probably cutting-edge technology when it debuted in the '70's.  It has three settings - off, low, and high. I have little experience with such devices, but I am wondering if it would be worthwhile to invest in a newer slow-cooker.  Are any of the new features (more temperature control?  a timer?) useful, or even necessary, for modern slow-cooker recipes?  And what size is good to have? 

Tradition

My dear husband was raised in a family with a huge tea-drinking tradition. This tradition also encompasses the maintenance of the teapot, which is better described as a lack of maintenance, really. According to my father-in-law, if one washes the teapot, one washes away all of the *seasoning* that has occured to the teapot by way of hosting pot after pot of tea. So Chris doesn't wash out his teapot very often at all.

On Friday I woke up with a sore throat, and decided that a pot of warm rose-hip tea would be just the thing to sooth it.  After finishing my pot of tea, I decided to make another.  As I poked my hand into the teapot to discard the old teabag, I caught a glimpse of something white in colour in the teapot. Looking closer, I also discovered that the white spot was also fuzzy. Arghhhhh!  Mold in the teapot!!! I drank moldy tea!!! Who knows how long I have been drinking moldy tea!!! The teapot promptly went into the dishwasher, despite the years of *seasoning* that would be undone. And I am a little skeptical about accepting a cup of tea at my in-laws place, now.

I wasn't raised to be a seamstress

• Roman shade for master bedroom - mostly done, just needs a weight rod
• Sleepsack for my SIL's baby - 80% done, need to finish armholes and add applique
• Roman shade for study - not started
• Crib skirt for Madeline's room - not started, pattern pieces cut out

All this to do, and I managed to find another thing that I'd like to sew, via a discussion on IndieBride.  Voila - onesie extenders ... they can't be that hard, right?

The Elusive Diablo Cake

I am still after the recipe for the Diable Cake from the Brulee Patisserie that I adore ... I read ljc's post from Friday about Mexican chocolate and have started to wonder if maybe it's cinnamon in the chocolate mousse filling that makes the cake so yummy ..

Have you closed your garage door today?

On Wednesday night I was turning out the lights in our kitchen before going to bed when the large rectangle of flashing light coming from across our back lane caught my attention through the window.  It seemed to be roughly located where one of our neighbours' garage usually was. I asked Chris about it, and he explained that some new garage door opener systems have a feature where the light will start to flash as an alert if one forgets to close the door (presumably after a certain amount of time or if no motion is detected for awhile).  I guess it's kind of neat, but I would also suspect that it would be a hazard for other drivers passing through the back lane - it wasn't quite a strobe light, but not too far off!

Bag-aholics Anonymous

I became obsessed with lovely handmade bags about a year ago, when I stumbled upon the website for Ella bags.  Then I started seeing thread after thread on Craftster about making various designs of bags.  Unfortunately, I haven't yet found the time to embark on a bag-making adventure of my own yet, but my sister has, and I wanted to post a photo of the bag that she made for me most recently:

Back in October, I posted this photo of one of the bags that she made for herself.  My new one has a few pockets inside for holding diapers, my sunglasses, etc.

The souvenir that I picked out for myself from our vacation in Australia was a bag, too. It was from the Southbank Market in Melbourne, and it has a very cute label sewn on it that says, "Crafty Jack".  I was torn between getting this one with the large blooms or another bag with in a strawberry print!

The was a crooked man ...

I am finding myself a little baffled by my serger these days.  It's a Pfaff Coverlock 4862, and often it won't sew.  There's a little safety switch that has to be pressed "in" for the motor to run, and often the coverplate that it supposed to press the switch doesn't.  I am also wondering what on earth the little plastic foot I received with it is for - no mention of it in my user manual.  Hopefully the sewing shop where I purchased the machine will be able to help me what to do about these issues, otherwise I'll be seeking out a Pfaff users group on the 'net.

  On a related note, I have successfully sewn in another zipper, bringing my total number of zippers sewn in to two.  Yay me.  Only I seem to have had an issue with the Malden Mills fleece I was sewing stretching when I was sewing the zipper to it.  The neckline of this garment is rather uneven!  Must research how to do that better next time ...

Nuts to You

I read in the Globe and Mail this weekend that Nutella is celebrating it's 40th birthday.  I had a fling with that chocolate-hazelnut spread back when I was in grad school, spreading it on my morning toast, putting it in crepes with bananas ... then one day I realized that Nutella has a shelf life and rancid chocolate and hazelnuts are not a good combo ...

Flowers are most appropriate.

I am sad to hear that Lois Hole passed away last night.  I shook hands with her when I graduated from the U of A (she was chancellor), ordered the flowers for our wedding reception from her family's greenhouse, and covet all of the gardening books she's authored.

Weighty Matter

When I was making this most recent roman shade, I didn't bother to look at any instructions because I feel that's what caused me so much anguish when I made the first shade for our dining room.  I also didn't bother to make weight-rod for this shade; I figured that it wasn't that important. Well, we mounted the shade above our bedroom window this past weekend, and I've come to the conclusion that the reason why it sags at the bottom corners is because there's no weight rod. I hope. Will be making one of those as soon as I get out to Home Depot and buy a dowel.