Let me just start this post off by saying–right up front–I’m not really a quilter. There. I said it.
Oh, I have loved to sew since my mom helped me make a skirt in the 7th grade, but quilting has always been a bit scary to me. All that precision…all those pieces. Yikes. Though I have had dear friends and now dear daughters that are quite wonderful at it–this particular bug has just not ever bitten me.
So when April suggested that we go on a Quilting “Shop Hop” that would take us all over the state—the fact that I agreed had nothing to do with my love of, or ability to–quilt.
It sounded like a great adventure with some people I’m pretty fond of–so we packed up the little doo-dads and headed out.
The idea is that if we visit every shop in the “Hop,” in the end we’ll have all the little town patterns we need to make the “Around the Town” quilt.
We ended up at 10 different quilting shops today and we have 5 more to scope out tomorrow.
So far, we’ve enter 11 drawings and won two prizes, received 6 free gifts, and collected 10 of the patterns.
Not to mention the piles of assorted cookies and brownies and popcorn and homemade bread we’ve consumed—all for the cause.
Each shop has designed their own version using the same patterns in their own particular style–so we’ve tried to take pictures of them all as we go.
We had such a fun time running around to all the different stores and having them stamp our “Around the Town Passports.”
Each store is giving away $100 worth of quilting prizes–so just think—16 stores, with 3 of us entering each contest–that’s 48 entries! The odds of winning something are pretty good! Wahoo!
I remember having my first soft pretzel at Disneyland about a million years ago–I was in High School, if that tells you anything. Later that year, Seventeen magazine came out with a recipe that captured Mickey’s pretzel to the letter. Because I’m a friendly, benevolent sort–I shall share it with you.
Ingredients
1- 1/2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 package active dry yeast
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, approximately
1/4 cup butter, melted
Vegetable oil, for pan
10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda
1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
Pretzel salt
Directions
Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.
Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.
In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope.
Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel.
Now, there are a couple of ways you can do this…
The very, very wrong–bald kid way…
Or the very, very graceful and right, Jillian way.
Whatever works.
Now, place them on the parchment pan.
Next, carefully lower each pretzel into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula.
Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt.
Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.
Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.
Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.
In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope.
Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel.
Now, place them on the parchment pan.
Next, carefully lower each pretzel into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula.
Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt.Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.
Clear back in October I mentioned that our family has a book group—a sort of–everyone chooses books they are interested in reading or having the group read and we take turns leading a discussion when we’ve all finished–type group. You may recall my three page whine fest about having to read the book “Frankenstein,” back then. The bald kid led the discussion and fed us jello molded into a brain. Gak. Amazingly, we all survived.
Well, here is our most recent choice–“The Tale of Despereaux.” Have any of you read it? What did you think? It was probably a mistake for us to see the movie first because we just kept looking at each other saying, “What the heck?” through the whole thing. Seriously, none of us had a clue what was going on. So, needless to say, I wasn’t incredibly pumped to read the book. Then Jacob reminded me that I had chosen it and would be leading the discussion. Yikes.
So, after finally forcing myself to just pick the darn thing up and get going, I found–to my surprise–that I really liked it…loved it, in fact. And found, also to my surprise, that most of my family didn’t really give it a lot of points. Odd, isn’t it–how different we all are?
But then, that’s the point.
It’s a story about a bunch of characters that behave and dream a bit differently than they’re “suppose” to–a tiny mouse who falls in love with a princess, a rat that craves the sunshine, and a servant girl who aches to know what it feels like to be treated like a princess. I loved that in the end–everyone’s wishes were respected and that it was ok for them be who ever they were. It made me really happy and honestly, it was lovely to read of a princess who had compassion and tolerance rather than selfishness and pride. Wahoo for this chicky.
I think I’ll give the movie another try–now that I–you know– get it. Perhaps it won’t seem like quite the wack-job it did the first time around.
I’m a forgiving soul.
Since poor little Despereaux loses his tale at one point in the story, I gave everyone a mouse tail bookmark. Kinda sick, I suppose–but they all liked it.
Every year for the past twenty or so, our town has had an event that we call Summerfest. It’s a big deal. There is a carnival with rides and booths and enough food to make everybody sick and a parade and talent shows and a baby contest and fireworks and positively everything you could ask for in a Summer-festy type thing.
Like I said, it’s a big deal…but then this happened.
Yeah…that is a bus-load of water pouring all over everything.
We kept thinking of the poor booth guys and how soon they’d need a row boat. Our plans for our favorite day were pretty much scrapped.
But then, wait–what’s this?!
The beastly hurricane magically stopped and the sun came out and dried up all the rain…kinda like in that spider song.
We wasted no time getting to our annual parade spot. Our blankets were already there–pretty soggy, but still stalwartly holding our spot since Thursday. As I said, this is a BIG deal.
The babies had never really seen a parade or clowns or horses before.
They loved the floats…
…and sitting on various beloved laps…
…waiting for the next school band–their favorite–to come along.
Of course, men in kilts are always a good thing.
Some bald guy even showed up with pizza. He must have been raised right.
Yes, yes–we were having our usual lovely time…until…
Dude.
You see those black clouds?
I should have snapped some pictures of all the people running like they were being shot at, as those clouds cracked open and started soaking everybody—but I was too busy making a break for it myself–dragging soggy blankets and bodies back to the car.
We missed the fireworks–well, up close anyway, but it was still wonderful–as always.
Dry, wet, hot, cold–who cares? We do it any way–because to us, just being together for this silly day is so worth it.
