We love mustard in our household.  I like to buy the kind that comes in funny little jars or ceramic containers because in my mind they are more authentic.  So I get the Inglehoffer brand from Ralphs (it’s Ralphs in L.A., Kroeger in other parts of the U.S.) because 1., it’s called Inglehoffer, 2. it comes in chubby round jars and 3. it’s pretty good.  Oh, and it’s pretty cheap too.

I recently discovered their Cranberry mustard.  It comes in an even tinier jar than the Stone Ground.  And, like it helpfully says on the bottle, it’s “great with turkey.”  Yum.  Especially on a turkey sandwich that also has Swiss, a pinch of celery salt, spinach and red onions.    Just had to share.

Oh, it’s available here too.

Wow, I can hardly believe Thanksgiving is almost here!  And it’s only Monday and I already feel like this week is getting away from me.  I spent my Sunday evening watching season 3 of 30 Rock on Netflix and trying to get through an early 1940s (or is it late 1930s?) dress for the holiday festivities.  Yes, I still get excited, just as I did as a little girl, over the prospect of having a new dress to wear for a special occasion!  But the sleeves - oh, the sleeves!  The puffed sleeves were really trying my patience.  I guess I can’t do puffed sleeves no matter how much I try to convince myself.  It remains my goal, however, to finish this dress but now the sleeves have been pared down quite a bit.  We shall see how it goes!

Anyway I have a couple of recipes to share with you.  The first is a Berry Crumble.  The crumble topping is similar to what you may find on top of a banana or blueberry muffin.  There’s no egg and it’s very crumbly.  I think the trick to making a good crumble is to make sure the dough clumps are not too big  and are spread out evenly over the fruit (so they can cook thoroughly).  I also don’t like my fruit too sweet or syrupy and I don’t use much sugar in the filling.  This recipe is so easy it’s great to whip some up after a trip to the farmer’s market.  (Which is were I got these beauties!)  You can vary the amount fruit depending on how much you have and how deep you want the crumble to be.

Jen’s Berry Crumble

Dough:

6 T unsalted butter, softened

1/4 t light brown sugar (or white sugar)

1/2 c all purpose flour

1/4 c instant oatmeal (the plain, unflavored kind)

1/8 t. salt

2 t. water (Optional)

Filling:

2-4 pints berries (I like to combine blackberries with strawberries)

1 T sugar

> 1/2 t. lemon juice (Optional - I usually leave this out)

Cooking spray or melted butter

Cinnamon or nutmeg, ground

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 375 degrees F.  Spray a 9″ baking pan with cooking spray (or brush with butter).
2. Cut up fruit if desired.  Spread fruit out in the pan and sprinkle with sugar.
3. Mix all dry ingredients for the dough.  Mix in butter - this might be easiest to do this with your hands.  Add a little water if dough seems too dry.
4. Crumble dough evenly over fruit filling.  Sprinkle with cinnamon or nutmeg.
5. Bake for 30 minutes.  Sometimes I flip the broiler on for a few minutes to brown the top without overcooking the fruit.

Jen’s Pumpkin Pavlova

My friend Michelle introduced me to pavlova many years ago and has since been one of my favorite desserts.  It’s so light it hardly seems sinful.  (Hee hee!)   This recipe is fairly easy as well (a recurrent theme in my kitchen).  I originally planned to make some today but at this point I probably don’t have time with all the other pre-holiday planning (including finishing up some work!).  SO, here it is, in pdf format.  Perhaps I’ll be able to update this post later with a photo.

» Download Jen’s Pumpkin Pavlova Recipe

Enjoy!

First I need to mention that my cat Spoo Kee is nestled in the front of my robe as if he were a kitten in a sling (and he most certainly is not, he’s so heavy), my hair is done up in curls (Thanks, in part, to Casey’s latest post) and I’m feeling like a cat lady sitting here in my dim craft room (gosh, the June Gloom really has taken hold this year).

Oops, there goes Spoo Kee, he got fed up with me not paying attention to him.  Oh well.

On Sunday I went over to my friend Amy’s place to make green tea cupcakes and felt.  Not the felting of knitted/crocheted things, but with roved wool (I think that’s what it’s called anyway).  I’ve never done that before so it was fun to relax and just learn (Amy was a great teacher, by the way).  Sheesh, felting is hard work!  I’ll have to show you my little (it’s so small!) project sometime.  Anyway, Amy served me some yummy homemade split pea soup and I had to take a photo because I was amused to be eating pea green soup while I looked at the pea green matcha cupcakes that just came out of the oven.

Which leads me to more pea green-like things:

This pretty, almost vintage-looking cotton voile print that I’m using for my latest vintage sewing project.  I love these colors together: turquoise and pea green and marigold and melon.  Sweet but not overly so.  Don’t you love the ruffles?  Here’s the pattern, from the Chicago Tribune, 1951, #2359:

(I love how I can post these wide photos on my new blog!) The whole neckline part has been funny to work with.  I’ve had to read the directions a few times just to understand what was going on (and because I started do it it “my own way” which was wrong).  I really love this dress, I hope it turns out okay!  I might use this vintage lucite buckle I have for the belt but I haven’t decided for sure.

Anyhow, I’m thinking of doing a series of posts about my sewing habits, mainly what tools I use and possibly walking through a simple pattern for those of you who don’t know how to sew from a pattern but want to learn.

QUESTION: Is a sew along-type of thing something you would be interested in?  What if I make another of my version of this Built by Wendy dress and document the process on this blog?

Besides sharing my projects with you (which, of course, is a lot of fun) I’d like to help some folks get started with some basic sewing.  That is, of course, if anyone is interested!

Happy Friday!  I must get back to work now.  Hope you have a lovely weekend. ♥

I think I’ve ruled out one thing: a gluten problem. I’m not 100% sure (more on that later), but I’ve been sneaking in some regular flour — though I definitely cannot eat whole wheat — into my diet to see what happens. So far I’m okay…

So, then what do I make? Cupcakes!

I had this craving, you know the kind where it’s late and you throw a coat over your pajamas and run to the market? (Ok, really, I didn’t wear my pajamas to the store! Just saying.) Anyway, I had a craving for something tart and sweet and raspberry. I got some organic frozen raspberries and white cake mix. Add egg whites, non-fat Greek yogurt (Thanks for the inspiration, Elizabeth!), a wee bit of walnut oil (for the omegas) and lots of rose water, pour into some darling (and slightly miniature) cupcake liners and there you go….something sweet, tart and raspberry. Oh, and delicious!