all nighter with harry

Put on another pot of joe. My lids are heavy this morning as we pulled an all nighter with Harry Potter. Sensible? No. But this is what we do. Premiere night. With our always & forever HP companions, Kalynn and Tully.

The build up has been intense. Sadie has been holed up in her room the past few days, barely surfacing for meals, rereading the series and fine tuning her command of the details. I arrived home from work yesterday to find Sadie and her pal Gillian mixing "potions" from out of date spices, old tea bags, snips of doll hair and yogurt. Each potion with a clever name and use.

We always start the evening with waffles. $24 fed all six of us!

Tully wore Harry Potter glasses WAY before Harry Potter wore them.

The long wait over. Another fine memory.

loose ends #1

I've been trying to finish up some projects that have been lingering in my studio waiting for an hour or two of handwork. This 60x60 quilt is a birthday gift for my brother in law Brian. Unfortunately, his birthday was in March. I am, however, well in advance of his half birthday.

josephine

This weekend, we stayed in a lake house named Josephine. Our friends named the house in honor of the sole prior owner. All her contents were in the place when they took possession, including her rosaries and a decoupage of Jesus on a chunk of wood. Jesus stayed. As I was doing dishes this morning, I spotted the yellowed masking tape on the bottom of a very old plate. That's the way ladies mark their plates and pyrex and corning ware when they've contributed to a covered dish luncheon at the church, or a meal for a friend. That way the dish will be returned and they'll do it all over again. Evidence of care for another. Good vibe.

lake food

Remember the bread I made in last Thursday's post?

The bread that was intended for our road trip? Well, it never made it to the lake. It was too tempting straight out of the oven. Not to worry, we didn't miss a meal.

I couldn't pass up these star spangled spuds. I'm a sucker for patriotic packaging. The purple, I mean blue, spuds were very tasty roasted with the reds and whites.

My friend Ann dropped off some homemade granola double bagged in lunch sacks and tied with twine and tag. I made some gazpacho. Click on the recipe section to the right under Labels in case you missed my recipe for gazpacho. Below is a yummy granola recipe.

What's a lake trip without a little junk food?

And some ice cold Shiner? For every true lover of life!

Homemade Granola - Ina Garten - The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

makes 12 cups

4 c. old fashioned rolled oats

2 c. sweetened, shredded coconut

2 c. sliced almonds

3/4 c. vegetable oil

1/2 c. good honey

1 1/2 c. small diced apricots

1 c. small diced dried figs

1 c. dried cherries

1 c. dried cranberries

1 c. roasted, unsalted cashews

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Toss the oats, coconut, and almonds together in a large bowl. Whisk together the oil and honey in a small bowl. Pour the liquids over the oat mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until all the oats and nuts are coated. Pour onto a 13x18 inch baking sheet. Bake, stirring occasionally with a spatula, until the mixture turns a nice, even golden brown, about 45 minutes.

Remove the granola from the oven and allow to cool, stirring occasionally. Add the apricots, figs, cherries, cranberries and cashews. Store the cooled granola in an airtight container.

weekend scenes

Olive continues to exhibit model behavior. Her first car trip was no exception. Buster, however, spent the entire car ride crying incessantly. Buster, dubbed life o' the party, was a complete wreck.

His long, panting tongue unfurled like a fruit by the foot. How does it all fit in that beagle mouth of his?

Fence toppers were everywhere. Birds were the theme and red was the color of choice.

Fossils form a heart on the chest of drawers. Check list for care of Josephine.

one trick knitter

Most crafty types (your basically calling yourself crafty. i know you dont mean it, but it sounds a litte iffy.) have a few unfinished projects in their midst. This is one of mine. A few years ago when I got this beautiful cotton yarn I had every intention of making something fabulous for my yet to be born niece or nephew. Well, Harry turns four next week. He's the middle child now, nestled between big brother Charlie and baby sister Mary Eloise. I am determined to finish this little blanket for him before he hits the double digits. I do only one stitch well. The knit stitch. I have that one down.

happy friday

Enjoy your weekend and this charming photo courtesy of Mary from itsprettygood. Click right here for a look at her lovely blog.  

wait for it...wait for it...

Getting ready for a road trip can be a whipping. Food always involves the most planning. I decided to make a loaf of bread for our lunches. Although it isn't a difficult recipe, it does take time, so I needed to begin today. The photo above shows the first step. If you've ever been intimidated by the thought of making your own bread, this is a great recipe to try. You'll be so happy with the results and entirely impressed with yourself. This recipe has been passed around the internet for a few years now. You might already be familiar with it. Let me know if you make it. I'd love to see how yours turned out! More on our weekend road trip tomorrow.

No Knead Bread - Jim Lahey, Sullivan Bakery, NYC

3 c. all purpose or bread flour + more for dusting

1/4 t. instant yeast

1 1/4 t. salt

water

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 c. water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temp.
2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it. Sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest for 15 minutes.
3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.
4. At least a half hour before dough is ready, heat over to 450 degrees. Put a 6 to 8 quart heavy covered pot (cast, enamel, pyrex or ceramic) in the oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under the towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but it's okay. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed. It will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes; then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack. Yields one loaf.

Photo via Dylans Outlet

the fairest tchotchkes of them all

My sister Dori has a sweet collection of salt and pepper shakers. Not sweet, as in precious, but Napoleon Dynamite sweet. With two kids and five dogs doing indy laps around the tchotchke shelf, there were bound to be casualties. Dori couldn't bear to part with the bits and pieces of the fallen. She salvaged the best and made this super cool mirror for her girls room.

everything is a quilt

I see quilts. All around me. Sadie's lego tower, postage stamps, eye shadow palettes, flags, the wall of brightly colored hangers at work, Sophie's array of nail polish, book spines and brick patterns. They all inspire. Some by color, others by shape, proportion and typography.

One of the girls ordered this drink in a coffee shop a few weeks back. I think the can is just beautiful. The colors are so happy and and the drink is delightful and fizzy. I've cut out a baby quilt inspired by it. I'll post a photo when it's finished! Now, if I could just bring myself to recycle the can...

camp people

Some kids like camp. Some kids don't. It's love or misery. No in between. I went to sleep away camp just one time. It was a church camp 20 miles down the road. I managed to cry my way through inner tubing, arts and crafts, the mess hall and kumbayah. I hated being away from home. I loved my safe, tiny world and all the people in it. I missed my comic books, my bicycle, my friend Penny, but mostly my family. In hind sight, I wish I could've enjoyed myself. I couldn't get my head right. My girls had a 50/50 shot at loving camp. As it turns out, they are happy homebodies, just like me.

Click here for a wonderful episode of This American Life called Notes on Camp. It originally aired in 1998.

This is Sophie's blog. I don't let her post during the school week, so summer gives her a chance to have fun with it. Ditto with Sadie. See below.

Happy camping!

Top and bottom illustrations by Sadie

i ♥ america

Enjoy this 4th of July music post from Ken over at Hit It!

photo by Michael Johnson from the Endangered Landscape series

summer salads

Click here for some great looking salad recipes from a really fun blog called smitten kitten. New twists on some old favorites.

Broccoli slaw photo from smitten kitten

eighteen pounds of sweetness

Last week, we took Olive with us to free movie night. They even named a street in her honor.

Buster couldn't come. Crowds cramp his style.

Olive behaved like she's been watching movies amongst hordes of families her whole life. Our first month with Olive. Score.

just peachy

I got up extra early this morning to bake Alan's favorite birthday pie before leaving for work.

The East Texas peaches have been great lately. I threw in a few cherries too. I spent a small fortune in cherries last summer. This summer, I'm eating a lot more bananas. 49 cents a pound spends a little easier than $5.99 a pound!

Pour the cream mixture over the peaches, dot with butter and in the oven it goes.

Houston, we have a problem. Cream topping is spilling out the side. I build up a sort of retaining wall with crust scraps.

Time to leave for work, I tag team with Sadie. I know I can count on her to finish the job.

Minimal spillage. Awesome.

Peaches & Cream Pie - Colorado Cache Cookbook from the Junior League of Denver

3/4 c. sugar

1/4 c. flour

1 c. heavy cream

1/4 t. salt

8 peaches, peeled and sliced with a dash of salt to taste

squeeze of lemon juice

1 unbaked pie crust

Mix together sugar, flour, cream and salt. Slice the peaches, sprinkle with a dash of salt and a little lemon juice and place in unbaked pie crust. Pour other ingredients over peaches, dot with butter and sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, then turn oven down to 300 degrees and cook an additional 45 minutes.