Fourth Day Food - Cookbooks and Recipes

I used to be a cookbook-aholic, especially the Betty Crocker and Pillsbury cookbooks that are in the grocery checkout lines. A few years ago I decided it was time to purge my cookbooks and keep only those I often use or have true sentimental value. Today my cookbook collection lives on a bookshelf on the back side of my kitchen island.
How To Cook Everything by Mark Bittman is my first go-to book when I want to know how to cook something. Another book of Mark's, How to Cook Everything: The Basics is another stand-by book.
With my recent interest in making cupcakes, my MIL gave me The Cake Doctor Returns for Christmas. The recipes look and sound yummy, but I'd rather bake from scratch than start with a cake mix and doctor it up.

I also have a small group of cookbooks with recipes and meal plans for one or two. I haven't tried many of the recipes although I'm planning on trying more of them this year.
I have the 1997 version of The Joy of Cooking and it contains my all-time favorite recipe: Butternut Squash Stuffed with Sausage and Apples comes from this book.
I used to set up my weekly menus in Excel and create my grocery list by hand from the menu. Earlier this year I discovered The Recipe Manager program. For $30 this program does more than I need and I love it. I can enter in my recipes, create a menu and a create a shopping list customized for my grocery store. I can display the recipe on my monitor and make it large enough that I can see it across the room while cooking.
What kind of cookbooks do you have? What's your favorite cookbook? What about recipe software? Use Mr. Linky and tell me about your cookbooks and recipes.

Sweet P

Wednesday Works

2010 Review

In my former career I was a data geek.  In 2007 I started keeping an Excel workbook for tracking my time spent creating and the money spent on creating.  Here are my stats for 2010.

From January 1 - December 31 I spent 556.50 hours creating.  That translates into these data bytes:

• 46.38 hours per month
• 1.52 hours per day
• August was my most productive month with 58.5 hours, most of it making this shawl
• February was my least productive month with only 25 hours
• On average my busiest day of the month is the 21st where I spent a total of 33 hours creating, or an average of 2.75 hours per month
• My least busiest day of the month is the 3rd where I spent only 9.25 hours or an average 0.77 hours per month
• My most productive day of the year was March 22 where I created for 7.75 hours.

On the money side:

• I spent $1,444.64 on creating tools (fabric, yarn, etc.)
• That's an average of $120.39 a month
• Or an average of $3.96 a day
• Or an average of $2.60 an hour.  Much cheaper than therapy, huh?

Monday Musings

A belated Happy New Year to you!  I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and am looking forward to 2011.

I am going to enjoy 2011. Why?  In October of this year I will be 50 years old and I plan on celebrating being 50 from now until my birthday and then right through my 50th year.

The celebration starts with changes in my blog.  I will be having themed posts throughout the week around different parts of like around Coffee Time Stitches.  I won't be posting every day, but I do hope to get into a more consistent posting schedule than I have been.  The posts will be:

• Monday Musings - A collection of thoughts about life around Coffee Time
• Toddler Tuesdays - Highlights of Mr. E and the smiles he shares with us
• Wednesday Works - Highlights of projects in the Coffee Time studio
• Fourth Day Food - What's cooking in the Coffee Time kitchen  (I tried and tried to come up with a food-related word that begins with TH but had no luck.  Do you know one?)
• Friday Fifty - What I'm doing to celebrate turning 50
• Weekend Wonders - The place for any topic that doesn't fit into one of the above.

I have set two goals to accomplish this year:

1. I will finish at least 25 projects.  These can be current UFOs or new projects.  They can be sewn, crocheted, embroidered or a paper craft project.
2. I will try at least 25 new recipes.  A new cupcake recipe, a new main course or maybe a new dessert recipe.

I have a few other plans for celebrating being 50 and I'll share them throughout the year.

I hope you continue to read Coffee Time Stitches and comment from time to time.  I love to hear from my readers.

Sweet P

SSCS Presents

I am finally getting around to posting photos of my wonderful SSCS goodies from Dawn of As Sweet As Cinnamon.

She made this cool round table mat.

Here is an up close view of the stitching

A gorgeous table runner (do you notice the coffee theme she followed?)

And a few extra goodies.  I haven't tried all of them yet, but will be shortly.

Here the gifts I sent to Fiona at Peaceful Threads by Fiona.  I made her a project bag, a matching tool case and a crocheted mitten ornament.  I filled the tool case with a pattern, hand-dyed threads, pens and a notepad.

I love Chookyblue's SSCS swap.  It's my favorite swap of the year.

Sweet P

Toddler Tuesday

We had a wonderful holiday weekend. Mr. E was with us for quite a bit of it as we had a blizzard and a cousin came over for a visit. Today was declared a jammie day and a cleaning day. Even Mr. E got into the cleaning the act by "cleaning" out his pool.

Miscellaneous Monday Musings

Here it is Monday. The start of my weekend and the last week before Christmas. DH and I are done with Christmas shopping. All that's left is to wrap the gifts.

A few Monday thoughts . . .

1. I loved the old Bloglines. I do not like the new Bloglines run by Merchant Circle. The font is light and hard to read. I can't figure out how to organize my feeds. Plus I lost all the posts I had marked as unread to I could go back to them and leave comments or get the pattern or recipes I wanted to keep. I'm not happy at all.
2. I'm not a fan of Google Reader either. It's a little better than Bloglines. I don't like having to star items to mark them as an entry I want to go back to at some point.
3. What RSS readers do you use other than Bloglines or Google Reader?
4. I need snow for Christmas. I was ready for a snowy winter day today while sewing. But alas, the storm stayed south of us.
5. I finished Mr. Sparkles last night. He is a Secret Santa gift for a co-worker. I think he's adorable.
   

Have a great Christmas week. I have to work Wed., Thurs., and Fri. Then I am off for four days. Hooray!

Sweet P

Happy Holidays!

I've been MIA for a few weeks and I apologize. I have been in a black hole since Thanksgiving and there is now light at the end of the tunnel. First I woke up the day after Thanksgiving with a horrible, nasty cold. I was the last one in our family to get it and it knocked me down real good for about three weeks.

On November 30, my father passed away from double pneumonia. He had been in a nursing home for four years, but to the end he was my dad. The Sunday before he died he joked with my niece about how crappy the Minnesota Vikings were playing this and that their year was over!

Here are my mom and dad on their wedding day - January 11, 1947.

The entire family, with the exception of one great grandson, including my three brothers and all their children, me, my sons, DIL and Mr. E made it to the service in MN. Mr. E had his second airplane trip and loved looking out the window the entire time. He also got to spend time playing in the snow. Here he is being King of the Mountain.

And trying to make snowballs.

It was the first time in 25 years the entire family had been together so we took the opportunity to have family photos taken. Here is my wonderful family (left to right): Brandon, my youngest son, The Hotel Man, my DH, Mr. E, me, Tasha, my DIL and Geoffrey, my oldest son.
Mr. E surprised all of us with his newest behavior: saying "Cheese!". He started doing it while we were having family photos taken. He stood in front of everyone who had a camera, posed and said, "cheese". He had everyone laughing!

My whole family

This is my lovely mom. Isn't this a fantastic photo of her?

If you've made it this far I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. If you don't celebrate Christmas, then I wish you Happy Holidays!

Sweet P

Check This Out

This is my all-time favorite Christmas song. Enjoy it!

Sweet P

Foodie Friday

Thanksgiving has come and gone and I have the leftovers to prove it.The meal was our best Thanksgiving dinner yet.

The star of the meal was Bacon-Wrapped Turkey with Pear Cider Gravy. Accompanied by Sausage and Potato Stuffing, Butternut Squash with Caramelized Onions, Gorgonzola and Crispy Fried Sage Leaves, Fresh Green Beans, Cranberry Sauce, Black Olives, Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls and Apple Pie with ice cream for dessert.
I also made a pot of Thanksgiving Wassail and enjoyed it all day long.

Now it's time to think about Christmas. We are having an early Christmas Dinner next weekend as my mom will be here visiting. Time to put my thinking cap on and plan the meal.

Have a great weekend!

Sweet P

Happy Thanksgiving

May your day be filled with family, food, fun and football!

Sweet P

Wednesday Works

A few of this week's projects in the works . . .

My snowflake is ready for beading

I crocheted a hat to go with a scarf I made for my DIL

Side view of the hat

A new needlepoint project . . . Tahiti by Kathy Rees of Needle Delights Originals

What are you working on this week?

Toddler Tuesday

If you are a regular reader of my blog you probably know by now that on Tuesdays I take care of my grandson, Mr. E. In an effort to keep blogging on a regular basis and not overload you on Mr. E, I'm going to make Tuesdays my Toddler Tuesday posts.

Today, he found a box of floral marbles while we were doing laundry in the basement. The box came upstairs and within a few minutes the marbles were all over the floor. Mr. E had a blast playing with them off and on all day.



In case you're wondering, nearly all of them are picked up, or at least the ones anyone has the potential to step on in the the next few days.

Sweet P

Miscellaneous Monday Musings

Random thoughts and questions on Monday morning . . .

1. Do you wash your laundry in a certain order? I wash my bedding on one day. The next day I wash the loads in this order: underwear and socks, lights, darks and then all the pants.
2. On a typical day off do you have a morning routine? I'm generally awake by 7. I eat breakfast and drink coffee and watch Good Morning America until 9. Then I spend my day playing with fabric, yarn or floss with spurts of cleaning and cooking in between.
3. How do you feel about projects with zippers? I struggle with zippers and try to stay away from projects that use them.

Well, the clock on the wall says it's almost 9 am. Time to get sewing.

Sweet P

My Winter Tote Bag

I received my Winter Tote Bag package from Sabine the other day. Unfortunately, the postal service was not kind to the box. It arrived smushed on one end of it. The result was moisture got into the package and caused the red floss in the box to bleed on a few of the pressies and the tote bag.

Luckily only one side and the corners of the stitchery are red. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to clean it. I'm going to be using it anyway. Isn't the stitchery adorable? My favorite winter scene - a snow man!

Here is the back of the bag. I love the fabric she chose to use.

Here are the rest of the goodies: there is a package of teddy bears to stitch, red floss, a package of sewing themed buttons, pins, a stitchery calendar, a beautiful red plate and Christmas candle, an adorable angel and chocolate. The cookie recipe sounds yummy and I hope to try it soon. Thanks, Sabine!
Have you received your Winter Tote?

Sweet P

Me and The Process Pledge

I took the Process Pledge because I love to think about my process when I am creating. I love the feel of the fabric as I work with it. Cutting it, pinning, sewing, snipping and pressing until I have a finished project.

I had every intention of documenting my process as I worked on swap packages. What I learned is that when I'm sewing I get into a Zen-like state and the last thing I want to do is stop to take a photo or jot notes about the process. So I though I would share a few random photos of what I've been working on the last week.

I made a puppet theater curtain for Mr. E.
I found the fabric in the remnant bin at the store and it jumped into my hands.

Here is my SSCS present . . . don't you love surprises?

This is not Coffee Time Studio,
but Coffee Time kitchen temporarily being used as a sewing space.

Yesterday afternoon I took an afternoon off from Christmas sewing and had ME time. On Sunday I found a gorgeous set of snowflakes to embroider at Polka and Bloom. I had to order the set and when I came home from work on Sunday night I transferred the pattern and yesterday started stitching it. I'm using a over-dyed blue and lavender thread. I'm thinking of adding beads to it instead of the french knots the pattern uses.

Well, the mailman just brought my 3-2-1 Winter Tote Bag package from Sabine. I'm going to sign off for now and open the package.

Sweet P

Finishes, Gifts and Smiles

Recently I joined Finn's New Year's Eve UFO Challenge. I pledged to finish at least 4 projects by Dec. 31. So far I've finished two projects. First up is Mr. E's Pumpkin Sweater. It was his Halloween costume, but it's big enough and warm enough for him to wear all winter.
My second finish was a coffee-themed table topper. I bough the panel about three years ago. The borders were added about two years ago. I was going to hand stitch it, but when I was cleaning out my stash closet I decided to machine quilt it and finish it. It is now on our dining room table.
I received two swap packages recently. The first one was a Scavenger Hunt package. My partner sent me four balls of Knit Picks allspice yarn, two hanks of hand spun yarn, At Knit's End book, spice drops, jelly beans, crochet labels, coffee and a small round frame.

I also received my FRIENDS swap package from Pam at Versana.
The gifts were gorgeously wrapped and were too pretty to open.

And here are the gifts: F was fabulous fabric. R was jar filled with red buttons and chocolate and topped with a red pincushion. I was an Indigo Bag and a skein of blue yarn. E was an embroidery book (and a Fair Isle crochet book). N was "Needful" things - two skeins of Caron Watercolor floss I need to work on a project. D was delightful cinnamon jelly beans.

S was this stunning silk painting Pam made for me. Isn't it fantastic?

And, just for fun, here is a recent photo of Mr. E and I.

Tomorrow I'll post about my Process on the Swap packages. I've been able to sneak in work time between working and taking care of Mr. E.

Have a Happy Monday!
Sweet P

Wordless Wednesday

Making Pumpkin Cupcakes with Dema . . .

Don't forget the frosting . . .

Sweet P

The Process, Part 1

I was blog surfing the other day and came across The Process Pledge on r0ssie (fresh modern quilts) blog. I thought about it for a while and then decided I would participate in the Pledge. Here is my shaken and stirred Pledge:

I, Sweet P of Coffee Time Stitches, pledge to talk more about my creative processes, even when I can't show and tell every step of the way.

So, where do I start with the pledge? I have thought about this for a few days. It's next to impossible for me to describe every action or step I take in working on a project. I create under one of two circumstances. I'm either creating because I have a deadline (usually a swap deadline) or I'm creating because my muse has told me to create a project.

I suppose you may be wondering why I say I "create" instead of sew or quilt or crochet. Webster's defines create as a verb meaning: to evolve from one's own thought or imagination, as a work of art or an invention. I don't want to sound egotistical about my creations. Every item I create comes from my heart and becomes part of me. My inner muse expects me to create a little bit each day. If I don't spend time creating I can be one cranky person.

I decided to share my process as I create three sewing projects. Two of the projects have mid-November deadlines. These projects are going to be called Project A and Project B. You'll have to excuse the anonymity, but these are gifts and the recipients could be reading. The third one is a set of goodie bags designed by Monica Solario-Snow of Happy Zombie. I have been mulling over what to make for these projects for several weeks. I've changed my mind at least a dozen times and now I'm ready to start working in my studio.

This afternoon, I took advantage of Mr. E's nap time and wandered into Coffee Time Studio. Will you join me?

First up, you'll notice the sound track in my studio. I'm super predictable in my sound track choices. Nine times out of 10, Gettysburg is running on the DVD. I've played this movie so many times that the DVD is wearing out. Sometimes I put on Gods and Generals. If I'm in the mood for music then I play Jesus Christ Superstar. Each of these soundtracks provides just enough background sound so I can focus on my work.
Although I have written directions for every project, I often make my own set of cutting notes in a format that's easy for me to follow. This allows me to jot notes or changes I make to the project. Here is one page of notes for Project A. I have a similar page for the goodie bags.
Project B's directions were written well enough for me. I was able to start cutting the fabrics and pinning a few blocks before Mr. E woke up from his nap.
That's as far as I got on these projects today. I hope you continue to follow me as I work on these projects.

Sweet P

Australian Stitchery Kits for Sale

I am de-stashing and am selling these six Australian stitchery kits I bought last year. Each kit comes complete with the embroidery floss, fabric and patterns. I am charging $20 per kit; plus $5 for shipping, if you live in the US or Canada; $10 shipping for international shipping. I will invoice and accept payment through PayPal. Send me an email at coffeetimestitches @ comcast (dot) net if you would like to purchase any of them.

Kits #1 and #2

Kits #3 and #4

Kits #5 and #6

Mr. E graciously let me take a photo of him trying on his pumpkin sweater before I put the final trim on it. It is big enough that it will last him a couple Halloweens!
I'm off to clean the house and work on swap packages. I hope everyone is having a great day!

Sweet P

Playing With Fabric

Last Monday mommy and Mr. E spent the day with me. Mommy and I wanted to begin planning our Winter Totes. Mr. E was interested in what we were doing so I had mommy get a bag of my fabric scraps for him to play with while we were looking for our fabrics. She showed him all the scraps and he was interested for a few minutes, then went off to play.

Isn't this cupcake fabric yummy? It came in this week and two yards yelled at me to come home with me. I couldn't resist. After all, cupcakes go well with coffee you know.

My MIL sent me a wonderful birthday present last week. It started with the lovely sewing basket. Inside the basket I found a gorgeous seam ripper, a small pin and a glass thread bobbin for hanging in a window.
This small box was also in the basket. It's the perfect size to sit on the sofa table next to me and hold the items I don't want Mr. E to get into: my camera, our Flip video, cords for those items, my small notions tin, a container of stitch markers and any small items to keep out of little hands.
I finished my mittens earlier this week. I love how they turned out and they fit perfectly. I have one more end to weave in and they are ready for winter. I have enough yarn leftover to make a beret and hope to have it finished soon.
We had our first Nor'Easter of the year yesterday. Lots of rain, wind and snow in the higher elevations. Today the sun is shining, the sky is blue, but the wind is still whipping around. I'm off to play in the studio for a few hours before I head into work this afternoon. Tomorrow I'm off. It's the first Sunday I've had off when I can watch all of the football games! Hooray!

What are you up to this weekend?

Sweet P