Five Things Friday 7/31/26

 Goodbye, July. Writing this a bit in advance but July was actually a productive and creative month, personally.

Five Things Friday February 21, 2025

 What a long, dreadful February. How can a short month be so annoying? Good thing Fridays always come, and the weekend beckons.

This one took me a moment.  Brain is gone.

Art is always a balm, unless it’s surrealistic and a tiny bit disturbing.

Then again, spring, birdhouses and flowers.

Also, relax and enjoy the pink paper dolls. Nothing could be more soothing.

Attention, shoppers! Here’s a guide for the bargain hunter in you.

Five Things Friday February 7, 2025

 Seven days into the month! Go go go! We got this! 

Look at this! Two of my favorites in one picture, Batman and the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Although I have a lifelong dislike of wearing anything on my head, I love looking at 1940s fashions, particularly hats.

It’s Cat Scale time! Which of these represents January 2025 for you? My answer? All Of Them.

1954 Minneapolis. My favorite thing about the picture are the Guernsey cows.

I don’t remember ever having school lunch pizza. Pizza Burgers, yes, and yum! In case you did have lunch pizza, now you can make your own.

What's Cooking February 3, 2022

 It's February, unofficially Chocolate Month because of all the chocolate that goes out around the fourteenth, right?

So, dark, dark chocolate is here for you:

https://www.loveandoliveoil.com/2022/02/sour-cream-chocolate-cake.html

 

Lovely Pyrex!  Still a great gift :)

I'm craving fudge, how about you?

How about....Chocolate Pound Cake?   Needs frosting.

https://www.southyourmouth.com/2021/07/chocolate-pound-cake.html

 

 

 

Mom had the canisters and the big covered cake plate.  I wish they still made these.

What's Cooking January 13, 2022

 I loved dishes like these.  They could make a child feel so grown up.  If only I'd still had a set when I got my Easy Bake Oven, also a real treasure😉

 

From Vintage Recipes, variations on biscuit dough.  The Individual Chicken Shortcakes with "hot creamed chicken" sounds like a nice way to use leftovers.

I wish I had a cabinet like this, and colorful dishes to display inside.

Pass the chocolate!

https://bromabakery.com/easy-chocolate-mousse/

 

Here's a hearty soup for this cold weather from Spend with Pennies.

https://www.spendwithpennies.com/vegetable-rice-soup-21-day-fix/ 

 

 

 

What's Cooking January 6, 2021

 Look and you will find!

She has a perky attitude towards the cleanup, but her pal, hmmmm. Get that apron on, man.

Start your 2022 off right, with chocolate!

https://brooklynfarmgirl.com/gooey-chocolate-butter-cake/

 

 

Here's a nice hot sandwich from The Salty Pot.  When I looked at it I thought it was made with Puff Pastry, but it is Crescent Rolls.  I'd honestly want to try it with the puff pastry first.  I wonder if it's a bit more flaky and sturdy to allow perhaps two kinds of cheese?  Or, adding some turkey as well as the ham.  

https://thesaltypot.com/easy-hot-ham-and-cheese-sandwiches/

 

What’s Cooking December 22, 2021

Cookies for Christmas.  Just the basics.  I used the Hershey's Peanut Butter Blossoms recipe which called for shortening and had a bad moment where I thought to substitute butter.  I'd have to wait for the butter to soften though, and who am I to fool with the original?  These are one of my favorites. How do the Kisses stay soft even after the cookie has cooled?

https://www.hersheyland.com/recipes/peanut-butter-blossoms.html

 

 Also on the cookie menu as it always is, Mel's Kitchen Cafe Soft Sour Cream Sugar Cookies.  I like my cookies pillowy and soft.  These are the ones!

https://www.melskitchencafe.com/soft-sour-cream-sugar-cookies/

 

I always make Taste of Home's Chocolate Sandwich Cookies as well.  They're like two brownies with frosting in the middle. 

https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/chocolate-sandwich-cookies/

 

I purchased some Pizelle's last year at this time, and thought I'd like to make my own.   I ordered a Nordic Ware Krumcake Iron and it just came a day or so ago, so I may not master it before Christmas.

 

 I am also looking to purchase a Rosette maker.  I love those.

Department of elegant gifts #1  Vroom, Vroom! Who wouldn't love their heart to be gladdened by a new vacuum cleaner?  Make sure to wear your pearls while you work. 

Flocked trees were a thing at one time.  Even my parents bought one one year.  From a lot. I can't imagine them using their vacuum cleaner as a power tool.  Maybe mom, you're right.

Here's what happens when you can't get to your china cabinet to get your pastry brush (which has to be hidden from the cat).  Tasty, though!  I used the Natasha's Kitchen Chicken Pot Pie Recipe for my second time. I substituted (as suggested) a russet potato for mushrooms, which I thought smelled and tasted overpowering the first time.  The potatoes were a fine substitute. This is a Pillsbury crust, which is not as good as Natasha's crust recipe.  Use Natasha's crust.

https://natashaskitchen.com/chicken-pot-pie-recipe/

Ladies think of little else than the gleaming toaster that makes breakfast perfect.  Don't stint, get the nice one.

And, looking ahead to New Years Eve, Hot Buttered Bourbon from Spicy Southern Kitchen.  Butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.  

https://spicysouthernkitchen.com/hot-buttered-bourbon/

 

Book Notes December 20, 2021

 Ho Ho Ho! Santa looks rather sketchy.

From PenguinRandomHouse The top 50 Trending Books of 2021. Something for everyone?

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/the-read-down/the-top-trending-books-of-2021/

 

CrimeReads chooses their favorite debut novels of 2021.

https://crimereads.com/the-best-debut-novels-of-2021/

 

Currently Reading:

Leviathan Falls by James S A Corey, the final novel in the Expanse series.  I'm also watching the final season of the Expanse on Amazon Prime.  It is nowhere near caught up to the books in the series.  I wonder how the TV show will end.

For the novel, I'm about halfway through.  I believe the crew of the Roci and humanity in general deserve a  good fate, but I'm not certain they're going to get it.

Finished Last Week:

The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan.  It's tomorrow's review.  I really loved it and bought the next three in the series in hardcover. These are fat books and its hard to hold a paperback copy open.  Reading while eating is really tough.

I've been watching the Amazon series side by side with reading the book for the first time.  I feel the series (up until episode five) has done a great job of translating a long, incredible journey of four friends into a fast paced film version.  In episode five, so many things veer from the story and it's telling, I found myself saying over and over "that's messed up".

I highly recommend the books themselves if you've never read them.  The world is rich, the writing just lovely, and the characters are all unique and well fleshed out.