Card Making

Here are some of my latest cards:

The goose girl. This one turned out to be a lovely surprise. I love the colors.

I love the steampunk feel of this one-very me.

bday for my aunt. I love the center button.

Alice in Wonderland. Lots of small details that were fun. Interesting colors that actually work together.

Cathedral windows. This one combines quilting tecniques with card making.

Designing a meal

Tonight I designed an epic meal, one that we will remember for a while.

It started with a pork roast, the top of which diamond lines were cut into to allow the sauce to seep into as I applied it periodically. It was also studded with cloves. It turned out tender and tasty.

To this I added whipped potatoes and parsleyed carrots. (I'm stuffed).

I wish I took a picture, but I forgot.

Next I made this dessert:

It's a no-egg chocolate cake ( although it did not call for milk either-I did add some instead of the water. I also doubled the recipe to make a double layer). I then made a chocolate sauce and whipped cream. I poured chocolate sauce over the first layer and put on the top cake layer.  I put holes in the top layer with the end of a butter knife and poured the whip cream into them and over the top. I then drizzled the sauce over the whole thing. Yummy!!

I loved all the recipes-I will do it again.

Making cards

 My daughter and I started making cards. My mom had passed on her card making stuff to me and here are some results:

Circus-this one's my favorite to date.

circus 2

retro space

blue bird

How to build a beehive

This site has all the info on how to build a beehive kit.

Vegetable Rennet for making Cheeze

 "NETTLES FOR RENNET Boil a bunch of nettles for 20 to 30 minutes in just enough water to cover them, and strain off the liquid. Usually as much plain or pickling salt as will dissolve is stirred into the liquid while it is still warm. The salt preserves the liquid, but it may also add more salt to the cheese than is desirable, and may inhibit the ripening of the curd. Freezing 1/2 cup portions of unsalted liquid is another possibility. The amount of liquid needed for successful coagulation vary considerably, but 1/2 cup per gallon of milk is a reasonable amount."-The Craft of the Country Cook by Pat Katz


About rennet:in Carla Emery's book "Encyclopedia of Country Living" she has a small section on nettles. "combine 6c. very strong nettle tea with 4c.uniodized salt. Add just enough to get the curdling action for your cheese making." She also says boiling the nettles takes the sting out of them. And if you're really adventurous, she gives a recipe for "cream of nettle soup". Anyway there is a whole section cheese there she lists nettle, lemon or common sorrel, unripe fig sap, fumitory, and thistle. Nettle and thistle being best.Globe artichokes being in the Compositae thistle family is also supposed to do the job. You can simply take the dried purple thistle heads, put them in cheese cloth and soak in milk until clabbered. Also veggie rennet takes longer than animal rennet. She cautions against to much will ruin your cheese and could cause indigestion.

"Use approximately half a cup of the homemade vegetable rennet for every gallon of milk you want to coagulate."Read more: Homemade Vegetable Rennet | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_6787149_homemade-vegetable-rennet.html#ixzz2Idxm1Wlp

http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/Recipes/Cheese-Making-Recipes-304.aspx