Friday Food 03-12-22

I have recently read a number of posts about the joys of living alone!  But nobody seems to think cooking for one person is easy or fun.  I mostly just buy groceries I have always used and each evening I open the frig and think up something to eat.  Very simple meals and sometimes just one thing - I am fond of broccoli and can cook it quickly in the microwave.   But sometimes I linger in the "day old or dented" section of the market and see if there are any bargain treats.  Which led me to purchase for 50Cents:

I am familiar with cake in a mug, but how could pancakes be "in a mug"? Of course, they cannot, this is more like a cupcake.  It tasted okay, very light and fluffy, I topped it with a little butter.  But it won't be on my grocery list in the future.  It may be tasty, but just look at all the strange ingredients used to keep it fresh.  

   Real pancakes - shaped to fit my pan. 

I do enjoy breakfast at a restaurant, but since the Covid lockdown I  rarely eat out.  I do get a craving for pancakes and I make them using this recipe for "Pancakes for One", which is sort of "Pancakes for two if they are not very hungry".  I make six pancakes and frequently eat only four, putting the other two in the frig and try to reheat them later, but they are sort of tough and soggy reheated. Half the time I just make four and pour the rest of the batter down the garbage disposal.  Sometimes I pig out and eat all six!  Recipe: 

 1 large egg, 1 Tablespoon oil, 3/4 cup milk.  Mix together in small bowl.

 3/4 cup all purpose flour, 1 Tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon baking powder, a pinch of salt.  Stir together in a medium bowl.   

           Add the liquid ingredients and mix, leaving some small lumps to make the                pancakes a bit fluffier.  Heat a frypan and coat very lightly with oil.  

         Use about 1/4 cup per pancake.  Turn when bubbles pop on the first side. 

I top with maple syrup or sometimes raspberry jam and plain yogurt.   Makes a meal. 

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An answer and a rose! 03-10-22

The picture in yesterday's Wordless Wednesday blog is copied from the Internet.  It is an electron microscope image of kidney stones, which are like grains of sand.   No wonder they are so painful.  But also rather beautiful in their precision.

                           

Also sharp, but beautiful, here is a bloom on the rosebush Suzanne pruned two weeks ago.  She left a couple small buds that reached for the sun. 

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Wordless Wednesday 03-09-22

 

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Going to quilt guild meeting 03-08-22

I haven't been blogging because I don't DO anything to blog about.  KoKo and I do our two walks each day, I toss Froggy for him, do some sewing, lots of reading, take naps, and generally just piddle around accomplishing nothing.  I understand this is considered Covid languishing.  Maybe so, or I am just old and worn out!!  But today I drove to San Clemente for the Surfside Quilters Guild meeting, the first  unmasked meeting in a long time.  Our speaker was Jenny Lyons, who, oddly enough, was the last in-person speaker we had in March 2020.  It was actually the week that the Covid "lockdown" happened and Jenny remarked that when she flew home to Northern California the airport was almost deserted.   It was good to see her again and her presentation about imperfection was excellent.  Her point was "don't worry about it" and she showed, with their permission, quilts by four or five well-known master quilters who recognize that their work seems perfect, but has small imperfections that only they know where they are located.  And now we do also!  

I am the "official" guild photographer and use my cell phone for that purpose.  I am ashamed to admit that when I was halfway to San Clemente I realized I had left my phone, and therefore, my camera, at home.  Jan Hirth came to my rescue and loaned me her phone for my photography duty.  After we got home we figured out how to transfer the entire album to my phone and I will do the editing tomorrow.  Here are a few images from a fun morning. 

Jenny Lyons in the front row waiting for her turn to present.  We had a good attendence, about 100, I think.  

We had a special Show & Tell of jackets and vests made by members.  

Nancy Ota in her 1999 silk vest made from silk neckties.  All pieced by hand and lined with large sections of ties pieced together.  

Odette Osantowski took Nancy Ota's Sashiko class some years ago and decided to make a jacket instead of a wall hanging.  

Jan Hirth used a pattern from Threads magazine to make this "chenille" jacket and went on to teach the technique to other guild members.  It is a lovely piece, but she says it is VERY heavy.  Not something that is wearable often in SCalifornia.  

There were several items made from antique/vintage quilts, including these two worn by Joann Bishop and Holly Betz.  

There was a lot of Show and Tell with some very large quilts.  I suspect these reflect the time on our hands during Covid.  If you read the SQG newsletter in early April there will be pictures of those quilts and MORE!

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Wordless Wednesday - Tragopogon 03-02-22

 

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Live and Learn 02-28-22

I admit to being a first class procrastinator, something that has come with age as I didn't used to be this way.  I was once very decisive and "with it".  Can't seem to turn back the clock on this.  One thing I have let slide has been battery operated devices - flashlights, timers, thermometers, etc.   So, last week I took a basket of things that didn't work to a shop at Imperial Hwy and Brea Blvd called Batteries+ Bulbs where a nice young man named Robert was very helpful.  I thought that a set of three identical small flashlights (car, bathroom, front door) just needed new bulbs.  What I found out is that many (if not most) flashlights no longer have replaceable bulbs.  Nothing to do but add them to the mountains of trash.  The LED bulbs are much brighter and, supposedly, last much longer.  

But Robert did have bulbs or batteries for the other items.  The clip-on book light that I only use when I travel.  Two thermometers - one for the bathroom and one for my "travel case".  Two timers - one that hangs around my neck so that I know when time is up no matter where in the house/yard I am and the three button one for general use.  The red flashlight that lives on the workbench in the garage.  The black flashlight which will now live in the glovebox.   And he sold me three new flashlights to replace those that went in the trash.  All told about $50 and, I think, $50 well spent.  Robert disposed of the dead batteries and the dead flashlights, so I don't need to go to the hazardous waste place in Anaheim.   It was a good day!

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Elizabeth Busch quilt from TCQC 02-27-22

Long an admirer of Elizabeth Busch's work I have taken four classes of varying length from her, including one in Maine where she lives.  She has done quilts, ;paintings, installations in public buildings, and taught classes all over the country.  

"Summer Walk"  Elizabeth Busch - Maine  2014   66"W X 29"L

Painted using Pro-Chem transparent and opaque paints, applied to 6oz canvas.

Machine pieced and quilted. 

This was the catalog cover quilt for Quilt Visions 2014, "The Sky's the Limit".

  

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