Food makes Memories

Before Easter, my mom asked us what things we remembered about celebrating Holy Week growing up. We came up with a number of things, among them music, palm branches, variously colored tablecloths, story tapes and props depicting the events of the week. Special foods also played a role, particularly challah and empty tomb rolls. These latter were a treat to make and eat on Easter morning and are a great object lesson as proved by the fact that several of us mentioned them.
We spent Easter in Glen Ellyn with my brother and sister this year and, among other things, I made the rolls to help celebrate the day.

Empty Tomb Rolls

1/4 cup warm (105-115 degrees) water
1 pkg or 2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1/4 cup butter
1 1/4 tsp salt
4 tbsp sugar
1 cup hot water
1 egg
2 3/4 cups flour
12-16 large marshmallows

Combine and let stand 5 min 1/4 cup 105-155 degree water and the yeast. In a separate bowl, place butter, salt and sugar. Pour 1 cup hot water over these ingredients and stir until dissolved. When this mixture is lukewarm, add yeast solution. Beat in egg. Stir in flour and beat until blended to form a soft dough. Let rise until doubled in a greased bowl or cover with foil and chill 2-12 hours. Punch down. Pinch off a golf-ball sized ball of dough and wrap around 1 large marshmallow. Repeat using remaining dough to form rolls. Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk. Bake 15-18 min at 400 degrees. Let cool 5 min and then scrape off of pan.

The marshmallow melts and leaves a cavity as well as coating the inside of the roll with sticky sweetness. They make a tasty part of breakfast any day but especially on Easter!

Note: The marshmallow may break through the dough covering and create a mess on the cookie sheet. This may be avoided by covering the sheet with foil or simply by soaking in water after the fact.

Challah Braids

Challah, a traditional Jewish egg bread, is a family tradition for Maundy Thursday. This year I made it a little early to serve with the breakfast treats at church.


Braided and rising.


Golden brown and sprinkled with sugar. The usual coating is an egg glaze and poppy seeds applied before baking but I wanted it to be a little sweeter so that people would try it. It's amazing to me that given a choice between store-bought danishes or cookies and homemade goodies, people will go for the corn syrup, fake fruit and preservatives every time. I suppose that with the manufactured treats, they have a better idea of what they are getting whereas the homemade food is an unknown quantity.


But doesn't this look good?

Recipe Book

Collecting recipes from cookbooks, friends and, of course, the favorites from childhood is one of my homemaking pleasures.
All of these have been written on decorative 3x5 index cards and filed (alphabetically) in a little card box. As I recently ran out of these cards and space in the box, I have looked around to find acceptable substitutes. It turns out, however, that most people would rather use 4x6 cards and that most of the books and boxes are intended for this size as well.
Enter the improvisatory spirit!

1 three ring binder
2 packs of 3x5 photo pages
5 sheets of scrapbooking paper


I think that I really want it to be spring. It turned out a little brighter than I usually go for but at least it also matches the shelf paper in my kitchen cupboards.

Adorabelle

I grew up with siamese cats but Jonathan's cats, despite their less classical looks, won me over with their charming individual personalities. Missy-cat sits either on Jonathan's lap or by his chair gazing up adoringly and rubbing her head against his leg.


This picture makes me want to take a nap.

Calvinist Romance

Fresh Beginning

The weather has been mild for the last week and the bulbs are starting to make their appearance.


I am trying to remind myself that it will probably be forty degrees tomorrow and it would be foolish to try planting anything. But I can mulch and weed in preparation.




The everbearing strawberries sent out runners all year long and I ended up digging out a dozen new starts and relocating them. It is splendid to have enough to share with friends.

Dizzy

For the most part, I am more interested in stitching than other kinds of fiber crafts. I can knit and crochet but there is something to be said for becoming really proficient in one thing. Fortunately or unfortunately, that requires a certain amount of focus. Hobbies can be expensive as well and it can be just as well to dabble in some and invest seriously in one. That said, there are so many beautiful colors and textures of yarns available that holding to that resolution can be rather challenging. In order to channel this interest, I am trying to focus on the idea of incorporating yarns into embroidery patterns or stitches.
On my way home from performing my civic duty in our court system on Thursday, I stopped in at the Weaving Works to investigate different fiber types. I came away with a decent understanding of various fiber types, two different weights of undyed silk thread and three little bits of variegated merino and silk roving. My original plan was to figure out some way to couch these either in their fluffy state as part of flowers, tree greenery and sky or somehow to twist it into a more linear arrangement. The bobbin winder on the sewing machine appeared to be a good place to start twisting--easy, controllable speed and something to wind the twisted fiber onto. It was shockingly simple and addictive and I used up most of my 0.05 oz of roving to create this:




I am letting it relax on the card a little bit in hope that it will retain most of the twist and can therefore be used more easily. But I am feeling the addictive qualities of spinning and am already trying to figure out how to rig the winder to hold a bigger thread receptacle.