Week 23, Project 365

Right up front, I apologize for my lack of interesting photos this week. A bad head cold kept me cooped up for five days with only minimal forays into the back yard to hang up laundry. Life within these walls has been a tad bit boring, but I'm so happy to say I'm on the mend -- I can BREATHE this morning through my nose. Mostly. Sort of. Okay, minimally, but it IS an improvement.

But boring or not, these photos pretty much represent my life this week. This has been my location for the past 134 hours...but who's counting? I have been very grateful for the two heaters we have in the house (remember, no central heat). This is the one in the kitchen, a ventless gas log heater. It fits perfectly in the little corner. I didn't take a photo of it, but the hubby installed a small fan on the wall higher up to blow the warm air into the living room. Otherwise it has a tendency to stay in the kitchen and rise up the vaulted ceiling. I made a great discovery at Walmart a while back and forgot to share my lovely find with you. We always used flavored creamers in our coffee in the U.S. and there's nothing like that here. I miss my Hazelnut flavoring! But was excited to find (on the rack of international foods, of course) this bottle of amaretto coffee flavoring. I've been enjoying it occasionally...like dessert in a cup. Yum! You know things are desperate when I start taking photos of potatoes! But isn't this an interesting shaped spud? Despite its odd shape, it made splendiferous oven fries! I never showed you the one shopping bag I finished during our weekend in Sta. Rosa. Well, here it is all packed with things for my art class. (LOL -- Just realized I managed to get my stacks of Fine Homebuilding in Project 365 without even trying! That's what's in the background.) Final measurements are 14" high, 12" across and 7" deep. You can fit a LOT into this bag! Yesterday I started working on another bag, same pattern, and have the outside sewn but not the lining yet. I used leftover fabric bits of various lengths and widths to create a scrappy look to the front and back, and some funky paisley (that coordinates well with the colors) for the sides and bottom. I'm going to line it with the same dark green flannel as the handles. These go together quite fast and will make great shopping (or craft) bags.

FINALLY managed to load the 2-1/2 minute video of the school kids folk dancing. Here it is for your viewing enjoyment ☺


Hopefully this week will be back to normal and I'll have more opportunities to take interesting shots ☺ Meanwhile you can enjoy lots of great photos from the others participating in Project 365. Hop on over to Sara's and check them out!

Thanks for indulging me my "mama bragging rights" yesterday. I don't fall into the "mommy blogger" category but I am a mom! I wish there had been blogging when they were little because it would have been great to record all those cute things they used to say and do. Like how our son always called helicopters "holly hoppers". Or when our daughter was two and, after falling asleep while running errands, informed us quite seriously that she had "used up" all her sleep in the car and therefore could not take a nap.

At 27 and 22, I'm not sure they say cute things any more but even if they do, we're not around to hear them. Sometimes I miss my kids a whole, big bunch and it helps to talk about 'em.

Chocolate Pudding Cake

I really need to figure out how to get all my recipes in a list. Just spent half an hour going back through all my posts to see what I've already shared...'cause it just wouldn't do to repeat a recipe. Although some bear repeating twice, they're so good.

This is one of them, although I really haven't posted it before (that I could find anyway). When you need a serious chocolate fix, this is guaranteed to do the job ☺

CHOCOLATE PUDDING CAKE
1 cup flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the topping:
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon instant coffee granules
1-1/2 cups very hot water
Whipped cream garnish:
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350. Lightly butter an 8-inch round or square baking dish or casserole.
Sift together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Combine the milk, butter, egg and vanilla. Whisk together and stir into the dry ingredients, mixing just until combined. Spread the thick batter in the prepared pan.
To make the topping, in the same bowl combine the sugars, cocoa, and coffee powder. Sprinkle over cake batter.
Pour hot water over the topping and place pan on middle rack of oven. Bake until cake is firm, about 40 minutes. The pudding-like sauce will have sunk to the bottom and will be soft. Cool 15 minutes.
Whip the cream, adding sugar and vanilla, until soft peaks form. Serve the warm cake with chocolate sauce spooned over the top. Garnish with sweetened whipped cream*.

*Feel free to substitute ice cream for whipped cream ☺

**********

My Project 365 post will be mighty short this week. A bad head cold and uncontrollable fits of coughing mean I haven't been out of my house in five days except to hang clothes on the line in the back yard (and I had a shot of the laundry in a very recent Project 365 so don't want to do that again).

I suppose I could have taken photos of our neatly stacked Fine Homebuilding magazines since that's been my view most of the week, but didn't think you'd appreciate such a prosaic picture. I did take a photo of a potato though!

After a couple batches of the basic bread, today I'm trying my hand at a different one: Vermont Cheddar Bread. Which in my case has nothing to do with Vermont cheddar at all. I've mentioned the difficulty of finding cheddar before. We do have Lincoln cheese, however, which has a similar taste in our opinion. Of course, our cheese is from Buenos Aires, not Vermont.

I hope that isn't as confusing as it seems to be.

Anyway...with some of the dough in the last batch of basic bread, we made an AMAZING American-style pizza. It was SO GOOD! Thin and crispy crust, just the way I like it. Loaded with onions, mushrooms, red peppers and olives in addition to a liberal amount of ground beef and three cheeses. It made a pretty big pizza, of which we ate just over half last night. We're saving the rest for a quick and easy supper after church tomorrow night.

I'm thinking the Vermont Cheddar Buenos Aires Lincoln bread dough would make a nice pizza crust too. This batch makes 4 loaves of bread and can be used any time over the next 7 days, so maybe the last quarter of dough we'll make into another pizza.

I am LOVIN' this bread book!

**********

Just have to take a couple minutes and brag on my kids. They're grown and on their own, but they're still my kiddos ☺

Our son and his wife have two dogs, two cats and a crazy busy life. He's a partner in SabreTech, a computer business based out of Michigan. He lives in Indiana and does on-sites for business customers in Indiana and Ohio as well as Michigan. Recently he's also gotten into software design and programming. He blogs about this stuff which I cannot even begin to explain. You have no idea how glad we are to have our own personal I.T. guy "on call". And he even pays for the phone calls! Yep, he set us up with Vonage before we ever moved and he takes care of the bill every month.

You've already heard all about how the daughter was a grooms'person' in her friend's wedding recently. What you may not know is that she will graduate from Grace College in Winona Lake, Indiana, in December with a degree in communications. Her senior research paper was just accepted by the Religious Communication Association to be read at the Pre-Conference in Chicago this fall. Woot! She blogs but not very often because of her busy schedule. Which will ease up a bit when she finishes the promotional video for her local United Way.

There. Got that outta my system ☺ I don't want to be obnoxious but I'm awfully proud of my kids and a mom just has to brag every once in a while!