Weekly RoundUp 12/15/19
Hey guys! Here we are with another week down. We're oh so close to Christmas and then finishing up the year. How was your week? Are you getting a lot done? I had a tough week over all. Mentally more than anything. I think I checked out for a couple of days. This year has been good but so so busy. I'll do a final year recap before it's all said and done but I think I was just to the point where I needed some down time. But instead of doing that, I just kept filling my schedule. But then I pretty much crashed. And that was good. I took a day to do nothing. Absolutely nothing. I watched TV and knitted (more on that in a moment). I did have some fun though. Let's round it up, shall we?
First, we had our friends dinner, finally! There were 8 of us (we definitely missed the other 3 that couldn't make it). We had oysters, homemade bread, a yummy salad with salt-cured eggs, kielbasa, leg o' lamb, pheasant wrapped in bacon, and then there were desserts. If you read my post on the December pie along, then you'll know what a disaster my pie was. But the friends didn't care. They ate some anyway. But not only was my pie a disaster, so was my apple-cranberry skillet cake with rosemary crumble. I burnt the bottom. So as long as you scraped that off, which everyone did, it was fine. Anyway, cooking disasters aside, everyone had a great time! Me included!
I finished up my last class of 2019. It was a good year. I really enjoyed each and every class. I have some repeat participants, which always says a lot. All my venues are fantastic. I'll be looking to expand in 2020. I can do private parties if anyone is interested. Just send me a note and let's see what we can come up with. I'm also starting to book classes for 2020 so stay tuned for those details! I've added a couple of new classes so that's exciting. I'll also be finalizing the details of my Maple Syrup on the Homestead class so if you're interested you might want to subscribe to my newsletter so you'll be the first to know! Or send me a note and we'll discuss the details.
I think for the next couple of weeks I'm going to spend some time away from the business. Not completely away, I mean, I'll still be here. But I won't be working behind the scenes as much. Come January though, I'll be back to rockin' it out.
I received some nice notes in the mail recently. One is from my dear sweet friend Brianna. I know Brianna from Instagram and she has been so kind and supportive to me. Always. Anyway, she sent me a sweet handwritten note. And if you know me, you know how much I love handwritten notes. I also received a sticker book from our dear friend's daughter. She had a sticker book the last time I saw her and I was all googly eyed over it. So for a Christmas present they sent me one in the mail! I've already started using them in my planner! You guys rock!
In other fun news, my dear friend Shugunna nominated me for the Barnabas Award. I am so honored! I really am not very good at these awards and responding but I wanted to make sure I did this time if only to answer the questions and share a little more about me. And to recognize what an honor it is to be nominated. It's very kind of Shugunna to think of me and to present me with this award.
The Barnabas Award is presented to bloggers who encourage and inspire the community.
How the award works:
- You must thank the person who nominated you, and share their blog.
- Nominate five bloggers that encourage and inspire you.
- List five things about yourself.
- Ask your nominees five questions… why five? Because it is the number that signifies grace!
Shugunna's 5 questions:
1. How has blogging encouraged you to encourage others? I really, really like teaching which is why I teach classes and work as a librarian. So I hope that my blog encourages others to step out of their comfort zone and learn something new. Trust me, if I can do this anyone can (from blogging to making to gardening to animal husbandry).
2. How do you stay motivated to blog? that's hard. Blogging is a lot of work but I love sharing with others. So I think reading the comments and knowing that people look forward to reading what I write is motivation.
3. How do you maintain consistency in a world that’s ever changing and demanding you change with it? I don't know if I really maintain consistency, per se. I do know that change is good sometimes, but I'm also pretty confident in who I am and what I want to present to the world. For example, I'm a homesteader. I've wanted to be a homesteader for as long as I can remember. I've worked towards that for years. So that's what I write about. If I wrote about something else, say fashion, that wouldn't be true to who I am. I can appreciate fashion, I even enjoy looking nice, but it's not who I am. I hope this makes sense!!
4. What encouraging words do you have for future bloggers? Just do it. Just start writing. Reach out to other bloggers for help, ideas, encouragement, and to let them know you are there. I try to visit every blog that I can, especially if they visit mine. But just do it!
5. Your favorite motivational quote? Oh, that's a good one. I don't know that I have a favorite. Shugunna is really the QUEEN of motivational quotes. Every time I read her blog, I'm always like 'yes, girl! That's a fantastic quote". She is so inspiring.
Five things about me:
Here's the hard part! HA!
1. I'm an introvert. I know, you don't believe me, but in social situations I get really nervous and anxious. I like to make a good impression but am afraid I won't so I tend to turn inwards. I know. How do I teach classes? That's a little easier than meeting one-on-one
2. But I like to talk a lot once you know me! Ask my classes! HA! I just like sharing what I know and learning from others. Just this past week in my class, I didn't know how to pronounce jojoba. A student corrected me. We had a good laugh. I still can't pronounce it correctly, but it was funny.
3. I love antiques and vintage everything.
4. I love gingham. And wellies (rain boots). LOVE LOVE LOVE them. Together. Separate. I wear wellies pretty much year round, unless it's really hot in the summer. But if it's raining in the summer, I wear wellies.
5. I'm from East TN and love everything about that. And love the Appalachian mountains (pronounced AP-puh-latch-in). I try to portray that in my photography and my style. (Don't even ask me if I like Hillbilly Elegy. I don't. He's not from Appalachia and he can't even pronounce it correctly. so there).
How about a little turn in the conversation now? Whatdya say about a cake recipe? The one you all have been asking me for (I'm looking at my 13 year old nephew here who promised me he'd make the cake if I provided the recipe)? Apple skillet cake with cranberries and rosemary crumble? Yes? Good. Let's do it.
This cake is adapted from Hannah Queens' Honey & Jam cookbook, which happens to be one of my favorites. The recipes, the photography. It's just a nicely done cookbook. You can find out more about Hannah here.
For the Crumble:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon roughly chopped rosemary
To make the crumble:
in a bowl of a mixer (or using a handheld mixer), combine the flour, brown sugar, salt, butter, and rosemary and mix to combine until clumps form*. Place the mixture in a bowl and set aside.
For the cake:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole milk
1 large, or 2 small, apple(s) peeled, cored, and diced
6 ounces fresh cranberries
To make the cake:
Preheat oven to 350F. Butter a 9-inch cast-iron skillet.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or using a handheld mixer), cream the butter and brown sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Alternate adding the flour mixture and milk to the mixer bowl, beginning and ending with the flower.
Fold in the apple(s) and cranberries.
Pour mixture into the prepared pan and sprinkle the crumble on top.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 40-45 minutes. Allow the cake to cool slightly before serving. Can be served at room temperature. Don't forget to add vanilla ice cream and/or homemade whipped cream.
*my crumble hasn't been clumping lately. If you find yourself with a crumble topping the consistency of sand, you can do one of two things. First, add more butter to the mixer and continue mixing until clumps form. The second thing, which is what I do, is to add pats of butter to the top of the crumble before baking.
Let me know if you make the cake and how it went for you! I don't know what's up with the crumble not clumping.
Okay. Another gear shift here. How about an updated yarn along? I don't think Ginny posted the yarn along this month and I haven't really been reading anything nor knitting until this week. I picked up Cold Storage Alaska by John Straley. I saw an insta friend was reading another book by him so I looked it up. I recently went down the rabbit hole searching for books since I've been in such a slump lately. I was pleasantly surprised to find this type of book intriguing. I am not normally a mystery, suspense, or thriller kinda gal. I prefer fluff fiction when my brain needs a break. Otherwise I've found myself reading a lot of non-fiction lately. So when I started reading Cold Storage Alaska, I was immediately hooked.
As for my knitting slump, I need something quick and painless so I decided to make another pair of toast by Leslie Friend. I've been wearing my arm warmers almost everyday. They make such a nice addition to any outfit. I might gift these so I won't say much more about them. Except I love the color!
Has anyone watched The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel? I just discovered it. It is absolutely amazing! I love everything about it. The storyline, the characters, the setting, the 1950's! Oh my. And I do believe this is the TV show that has shot scenes at one of the big resorts near me. I need to dig around the internet and find out. I was lucky enough to find some time to sit and watch Mrs. Maisel while knitting those scrummy arm warmers above.
And one final thought since no one seems to be joining me in the book discussion and I can only imagine it's because of the book selection, how about we switch gears? I'll admit that book is a lot more detailed than I originally thought. And we've had the suggestion of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. Both Tracy and Bekah suggested the book so let's do it. I'll post the update tomorrow with all the new details and we'll give ourselves a couple of weeks to read a little. If anyone really wants to continue with the bee book, we will. Otherwise we'll start the Kingsolver book in a couple of weeks. Stay tuned.