Challah

We love this challah, and make it often. It's the King Arthur Flour's "Challah" pretty much as written, with the exception of using agave syrup instead of sugar. I let the braided bread have its final rise on a parchment paper covered baking sheet, because the glaze can make a royal mess out of the baking sheet, and don't have an instant-read thermometer--I find one can tell when the bread's done without one!

Arrr...parrrrrrrot....

Timson is kind enough to appear as my avatar on Ravelry, and Casey was kind enough to create the code that makes the parrots appear! I'm particularly impressed, because Timson's parrot appeared perched on his (Timson's) "frogged" shot glass. (Timson has been known to tipple.) Timson is a gnome of few words, but on the subject of Talk Like a Pirate Day, he says very quietly, if you lean in close, "Arr."

Vegan or not, lowfat or not, cormeal scones

Timson loves his cornmeal scones. (Well, Timson loves just about any type of scone!) These are really easy to prepare--the recipe below is for the lowfat, vegan version, but if you're an omnivore with healthy cholesterol levels, substitute milk for soymilk, and butter for shortening--heck, substitute cream for soymilk! (Or slather them with butter. Mmmmm.)

Mix: 1 cup flour, 1 c. cornmeal, 3/4 tsp. baking powder, and a pinch of salt.

Cut in 1/4 cup shortening.

Optional: mix in 1/4 cup raisins, dates, nuts, or whatever
Mix together 1/3-1/2 cup soymilk with 1 tbsp. agave syrup (or honey, or sugar, etc.).

Mix wet and dry ingredients together; you want enough wet ingredients to moisten the dough, yet to leave it dry enough to handle.

Pat it out onto a floured counter about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch thick, cut into eight wedges, and bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 425F for 12-15 minutes.

After a nice scone, Timson can't resist a wee tipple in his favorite shot glass.

Free Tibet bracelet pattern

This is as close to politics as this blog will ever get; Timson is rather uncomfortable about public political discussions, but he had a lot of fun making this bracelet, and would like to show it off:

I came up with this bracelet because I was looking for something I could wear frequently that conveyed this message but all I could find were those plastic message bracelets, and I'm trying to reduce the amount of plastic in my life--I couldn't find anything so decided to get creative.*

The pattern's very simple--I've made it available as an Adobe Acrobat .pdf file, for free here, but if you like it, please contribute to either The Tibet Fund (U.S.), Free Tibet (U.K.), or the organization of your choice that supports Tibet or Tibetans.

*For just one reason to reduce your purchasing of plastics, see the Discover magazine article, The World's Largest Dump: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

The turtle moved

Have you ever seen one of your favorite authors in the whole world next to something you made for them? Someone whose books have made you laugh out loud no matter how bleak the world had become? Someone who had crafted something that always brought you joy, even when your heart was shattered? If so, you know how I feel today.

I made one, wee square, the turtle from Barbara Walker's treasuries. Thanks to an amazing amount of hard work and incredible talent on her part & all those who participated, Shirley presented the Pratchgan to our PTerry. I hope so much it keeps him warm and brings him a even fraction of the joy he's brought all of us. Read all about it on her blog, Ramblings of a Yarn Junkie.

To see some of the squares in detail, check out the Flickr group, or if you're on Ravelry, start with Shirley's project page.

Wibble.

He went to...

Copia! He toured the gardens...



...and really liked making some friends.

Where's Cedric?

Do you recognize where Cedric is? Can you guess?