Apple Strudel

My mom originally found this recipe in a Pennsylvania Dutch cookbook, that she had purchased when we visited the Lancaster County area of Pennsylvania.  The area is a wonderful place to visit and some of my favorite memories are of trips I took there as a teenager and again as an adult.

Anyway, back to the recipe.  I love to bake and I love apples.  It doesn't have to be autumn for me to bake with apples, I will use them any time during the year.

One way that we love to eat this dessert, is with vanilla ice cream.  But, it is good plain too. I am going to write the recipe as it came from the book and then my adaptations, will be in ( ). 



Pennsylvania Dutch - Apple or Peach Strudel

Into the bottom of a buttered baking dish(9x9 inch), put thick layers of apples or peaches.

Sprinkle with a mixture of sugar and cinnamon.*

Dot with lumps of butter.

Into mixing bowl, combine:

1 cup sugar (1/2 cup granulated, 1/2 cup brown)

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup flour (1/2 c flour, 1/2 c quick cooking oatmeal)

1/2 tsp salt

Add one egg to this mixture and mix until crumbly. Spread over apples, bake in moderate oven (350 F) until crust is brown and apples tender. (30 minutes)

Serve plain, with milk, whipped cream or ice cream.

*Cinnamon/Sugar = 1/2 cup sugar + 1 Tbsp cinnamon.

This recipe is a family favorite, I hope you will enjoy it too. :)

Two Cars and Knitting

Squirrel - 3 points, Humans - 0 points

For the third time in 2 years, that dastardy squirrel has eaten the wires in the Blazer and tried to build a nest.

Again, we had it towed and Knit Girl (my Blazer) has now returned safely.  Turns out, this is quite common according to the tow truck driver.  On Friday, he had towed another customer's car for the same reason. It was fixed and returned home, that evening. On Monday that SAME owner called to have the same car towed back to the shop, because the squirrel had attacked again, that fast!  The tow truck driver has figured out the issue. Yippeeee!

Seems the newer cars, mine is a 2000(not so new anymore), have wires that are wrapped in a SOY (yes soy) based polymer type coating. The squirrels have discovered it and are eating like crazy. 

Watch out, no car is safe now. :) The news is out on the squirrel radio's and tv's.  They are attacking.  Never mind that they have to eat the copper wire inside that tasty soy treat, it is worth it.  :)

So, our mechanic has wrapped the wire treat in black electrical tape, in hopes to scare the squirrels off. We also put moth balls under the car in hopes that this will deter them as well.

 I finally decided what sweater to knit from my 1800 yards of handspun yarn. The Tweedy Aran Cardigan from Interweave's Knits Magazine. Sweater is started, don't know how long it will take to finish. Maybe for next winter, since I am not going to make it for this winter. Where is winter anyway?

Then, like all Americans, we have watched in horror as our gas prices have risen steadily at the pumps. The UPS Store guy, is also a Mechanical Engineer. He has been researching, for several years, what smaller older cars are still running well on the roads and watching for them to come for sale. You see, years ago in the USA, we had cars that had great gas milage. One of those was the Mazda Miata.  I now have a 1993 Mazda Miata, that gets 32 mpg. :) That should help the gas bill a bit, don't you think? Oh, and Lacy Girl (my Miata) doesn't have Soy based polymer on her wires!  Yippeeeee!

Wingspan and knitting

The Wingspan is a great pattern.  I found it on Ravelry and the pattern itself is free. To make it, you work short rows and the design is such that each row is shorter than the previous row. That is, of course, to the end of the triangle you are working on.  Then you cast on some stitches and start all over. Truly a fun knit, and fairly easy if you follow her directions and use stitch markers!

I used a self-striping yarn, so I didn't have to change colors to make the stripes. The yarn did that for me. The yarn that I used is call Poems and I used the worsted weight size with 10.5 US needles.

I made mine a little bit longer than the pattern called for, because I wanted the ability to wrap it around my neck.

For Valentine's Day, I knitted our new little grandson a red teddy bear. I put a bright lime green scarf on the teddy bear to liven him up. 

Robie House in Lego's and A New Idea

One of the knitting groups that I attend, is held in a local library.  It is actually a crafting group, and you will see various crafts being work on, from time to time. There are even free classes that are taught, should a person wish to learn a new craft.  This last month, a needlepoint class was being taught to some eager students.

Over the Christmas holidays, one of the prolific knitters in our group decided that she was going to build a Lego Kit of Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House. The Robie House, designed and built in about 1910, is in the Hyde Park area of Chicago.  Quite a gorgeous home for its time and for today, as well. It is now a National Historic Landmark and can be seen by taking a tour of it. It was almost torn down twice, but saved each time.

Phyllis's house.

Here is Phyllis with her Robie House. There are 2,276 lego pieces in this kit.  Truly, amazing project to undertake.

The top of Phyllis's Robie house.

Here's the idea.  Jane, another knitter from the library crafters group, came up with a great idea for her stitch markers, needle point protectors and anything else you can fit in this box.  She purchased a pill box and is using it to safely store her knitting and crochet supplies.  The lids are see through and they lock down securely, so she can put the box in her knitting bag and take it with her. She is always prepared!

Don't you just love seeing what others create and the idea's that they come with?  I do.

Out with the old, In with the new

As it goes with most remodeling plans, there is always a glitch.  :)  This glitch isn't the worst thing that can happen, but it happened none the less.

If you have been reading my blog for very long, you know that we bought the neighborhood fixer-upper house.  It is one of the oldest homes in the neighborhood and really hasn't had the loving care that it should've had, from the previous owners. Now, though, it is being loved.  :)

The current room under attack is the laundry room.  New paint, new shelves, even a deep sink has gone in.  I just love the deep sink!!  Well, I have been ignoring the signs from the washer for several months.  You know the ones, wetter clothes as the come out, sometimes, not all the time.  Some weird spots on the laundry.  Then on Friday, it took 4 times to spin the current laundry load to get the majority of the water out.  I still had about 1 quart in the bottom and the sheets were dripping!  So, I tried to squeeze out the water (ever done that with king size sheets?) and then put them in the drier for a little bit and then hung them to dry.  

So, it is with great sadness, that I say good-bye to my faithful friend.  We purchased it about 18 years ago, so it needs to be retired......

AND HELLO to my new friend. :)  You know, with as much time as the laundry person(me in this house) spends at the washer, they are like a friend!  Here is my new one.  Washers have changed alot in 18 years.  I knew that. I have continued to look at them in the store, to keep up on what is happening. But, I went with the top loader that will agitate.  Mainly, cause I still want to felt and felt easily.  :)

I do have to tell you.  We purchased the new washer at Lowe's.  What a fabulous experience we had. We were told there would be a phone call telling us the approximate time of delivery and sure enough.  At 7 am, the phone rang.  Running to the phone, I am thinking, "Who is sick, who was in a wreck...ack!"  Banged my toe on the corner of the wall and answered the PORTABLE phone.(which could've been right with me, but it wasn't) The nice gentleman on the other end, says,"This is Lowe's and we will deliver your washer today, between 12:30 and 2pm."  Trying not to scream "ow!" in his ear, I just said "Great!" and we hang up.

Promptly at 12:30 there is a knock at the door and the men with the washer are here!  In they come and down to the laundry room they go.  They hook it up and even try it out!  Off they go and I am back in business!

Another Birthday!

In my last post, I mentioned how I had computer issues and that those issues had kept me away from blogging.  Well, no sooner did I post that, and our internet started having issues!  It has taken until today to get it going correctly, again. So, here we are with a new post. :) Hopefully, the computer and the internet will cooperate for a while and I can keep posting.  :)

Yesterday was my birthday.  The UPS Store guy came home and took me to dinner! We went to the Cheesecake Factory!  When dessert time came, I ordered their Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake. I love that flavor.  I have tried other flavors, but this is my favorite.  What I didn't know was, he told the server it was my birthday!  So, I was serenaded.  :)

Pretty cake and plate, isn't it? 

A couple of weeks ago, I received a box from my SIL Cathy.  There were 3 birthday gifts inside.  One for me, one for Rebekah and one for Anna.  :)  Our birthdays are within 4 weeks of each other.  We were to open the gifts together, cause that would be more fun.  The day after the box arrived, I couldn't stand not knowing what was inside, so, I drove to Rebekah's picked her and the girls up and then we went to Anna's home. 

Cathy has been VERY busy this past year.  We each opened up a quilt, made just for us.  :)  Mine is called Square Dance(because I am a transplanted New Yorker living in Texas and some of the reds look like a bandana), Rebekah's has flowers appliqued on it(she really has a pretty yard, with lots of flowers and she loves flowers!) and Anna's is blue, because this was the year of the boy.  :) 

Here we are modeling our beautiful quilts.  We get to wrap up in them on chilly evenings and we stay really warm. Thanks, Cathy!  You sure made us happy!  :)

Thanks to our photographers, the granddaughters!

It Has Been A While

Well, I hope you had a great Christmas and New Year's.  We had a very busy time and a very blessed season.  During that time of busy-ness, my computer decided it didn't want to turn on!  Maybe it was because it knew that I was already busy and didn't need one more thing to do.  So, I ended up taking out my notebook computer and did some things on that, but wasn't able to download pics to it very easily. So, my blog became a lonely site out here on the internet. 

I am back!  We think that maybe the black box will be working now and I can function as needed, again.

Even though it is Jaunuary 12, I thought I would show you some Christmas pics.  :)  

We had a very delicious cake for dessert!  Anna made us a cake and decorated it.  :)  It is always a difficult task to cut into her cakes. They are works of art and sooooo pretty. But, then we think about how good they always taste and we can't cut it fast enough.

Here we have cousins.  :) Two of our 3 cuties!!! The hat on "little C" is actually "big C's." She received it from her mom and dad, her mom Rebekah had made it for her.  The only time C took this hat off all day, was to share it with her new cousin. 

Grampa and Gramma(The UPS Store guy and me) decided to recondition an older doll bunk bed that I had found.  C will be using it for her American Girl Dolls.  The bed comes apart and can be used separate or as the bunk bed.  The UPS Store guy sanded and painted the bed and ladder.  I made some mattresses and blankets.  C had wanted to learn to sew one day, so she and her mom made pillows.  Since they had done that, I didn't make pillows.

With our Christmas tree in the background, we have N with her dad.  I made her a scarf to go with her shrug and other clothing that we gave her.  She is modeling the scarf here wrapped around her head. 

In the background of this photo, is a yo-yo quilt. That quilt was made by my Great-great grandmother.  It is a real treasure to have this quilt.

And here, I back us up to Thanksgiving.  :)  This is the family.  Yep, we have trees in Tx.  :)  That is not a false backdrop, but honest to goodness trees.  Our resident photographer, Rebekah, took this photo, while she was in it. Can you see the clicker in her hand??? I can't.