Stile and Cabinet Face Join

Filling the Seam... see Evan, I use a lot of goo too!

Windowsills

The shape of this canning jar and the "bubbles" in the glass indicate that it is old. I think it belonged to my Aeschliman grandmother. I came across it carefully wrapped in a plastic bag in the basement at my Mother's farm house. I enjoy how the light filters through it on the kitchen windowsill.

It's now January 7, time to put the Christmas decorations away. I've enjoyed these small dishes with a green design, so I incorporated them in an admittedly stark Christmas display on our dining room window. The dishes are from Mother Kreider. The wreath is one made by an Italian/Canadian friend from grape vines. (photos by Evan)

Vancouver Snow

I had a very snowy holiday. First with the aftermath of an icestorm in Ohio (and 0F weather), followed by 35 inches of snow in Vancouver (for the month of December, though most of it was in the Christmas period).

Of the two roads that go by my parent's house, this is the "main" one:

There are more shots on my flickr photo stream.

Evan's Christmas tea ring

For years I have been making this tea ring for Christmas morning. There is something nice about having the family awaken to the smell of baking that special morning. I mix the dough on Christmas Eve, usually before going downtown to sing midnight Mass at St James Anglican, a wonderful service which gives my Mennonite heart all the 'smells and bells' it needs for another year.

The dough is Mother's recipe for cinnamon buns, a recipe I once made at Mark's and Amy's for the clan. I still remember Paul walking into the kitchen, exclaiming over and over, "I know that smell . . . what is it?" I suspect Mother's recipe came from the Betty Crocker cookbook Dad gave her for their first wedding anniversary (and had I known this fact earlier, the book would never have been donated to a used bookstore).

Since Aaron is vegan, I make suitable substitutions, but give the original recipe here. I would be hard-pressed to tell by taste which is/is not vegan.

Start:
--1 package of yeast in 1/4 c. lukewarm water
--with 1/4 c. sugar. Stir and let rest until the yeast is obviously active.

Meanwhile, mix the remaining wet ingrediants in another bowl:
--2 beaten eggs (or egg substitute)
--2 c. lukewarm milk (or water)
--3 teaspoons salt
--1/4 c. melted shortening (being lazy, I use canola oil)

Combine yeast water with mixed wet ingrediants

Add flour. Start with 3 c., stir thoroughly and then start kneeding, slowly adding up to 6-6.5 cups of flour total, depending on the humidity, temperature and patience.

Kneed thoroughly until dough is no longer willingly accepting new flour, the dough becomes stretchy and has that wonderful yeasty smell and taste.

Place in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, leaving lots of room for expansion. Let rise twice, punching down between times to force out the gas (which would otherwise prevent further rising). I punch it down when I return from Mass, and the forget it until I get up in the morning.

Get out of bed. Preheat oven to 375F.

Punch the dough and divide it into 2 parts. Take one part at a time and form it into a nice thick rope by squeezing it vertically, letting it fall downwards as the rope is formed, about the length you want for the first ring. Lightly flour the work space and form the rope into the shape you want, finishing with a rolling pin.

--Melt enough butter (margerine) to be spread over the entire surface of the first ring. Spread butter with spoon (finishing with fingers--nobody sees you, they're still asleep).
--Spread brown sugar over the buttered dough
--Spread chopped walnuts or almonds and raisins (add extra raisins just for Bruce) over dough
--Sprinkle liberally with cinnamon

Roll up the dough (sidways) into a new much thicker rope on the workspace, then form it into a ring, joining the ends. Place on buttered flat baking sheet.
With scissors, cut the top of the ring at 1" intervals so the dough can rise and expand gracefully.
Bake at c. 375F about 18-25 minutes (watch it carefully so it doesn't burn on the bottom as the sugar leaks out). I suppose some folks would let this rise again before baking, but by now I'm famished and want to get the show on the road, so I simply pop the first ring into the oven.

When done, frost with white frosting sugar, real vanilla (one never ever measures real vanilla) and milk (water). Spread. Start the coffee and get dressed . . . now it's Christmas.

Inspired by Evan

Evan's Christmas Tea Ring blog has inspired me to do two things. 1. Try making the recipe myself (it may not turn out to be good as I can never leave well-enough alone with any recipe and must experiment) and 2. Go through the photo files on an external hard drive to see if I can locate pictures of the cinnamon buns Evan made at our house when we boys and wives were having a reunion in 2004.

I've located the bun picture and decided to add a few more photos of food and family from that get-together. Amy reminds me to tell you that Evan made these buns on the sly while the rest of us were down at the beach. When we returned to the house the impact of the aroma was stunning, transporting me back in time to childhood days.

Cinnamon Buns 2004

Kay, Pie Goddess

Making Ice Cream

Evan's Blackberry Shortcake

Salmon Dinner

Syncronizing Watches by the Atlantic Ocean

Shoes

More snow in Vancouver

Enough already. We are to get 8 more inches of snow today. It is beginning to drop from trees, so I took a few shots after breakfast, from the inside warmth of the house. I hope Mother can move the picture to the left and see the old plant that is parked under the deck. That is the basket of plants she and Dad sent to Janice after her cancer operation in May of 1988. Janice kept some of the plants alive for a full decade, but they were waning this fall.

Thanksgiving in Cutchogue

Thanksgiving in Cutchogue is a four day affair beginning Wednesday evening and ending Sunday afternoon. The last four years, Kara, Katherine and Bernard have been a constant. We have our Thanksgiving dinner on Friday as a tradition which gives us plenty of time to make the pies and everything else that can be made ahead. We play lots of games the favorites being long-jump chinese checkers, scrabble and bocce ball in the backyard if weather permits and this year it was beautiful. Bernard and I have our annual chess tournament when the girls go shopping at the Tanger Mall, and yes, there is plenty of time. This year they left to shop at 10 am and got back at 4:30 pm. Don't know how they do it, just glad I'm not there! They all got neat stuff, the best being Kara's opera dress. So pretty. Saturday evening after the shopping we had a fondue dinner, the wine supplied by Bruce from afar. The wine was a most unusual wine, an elderberry wine from a Kansas vintner, not sweet, very dry with just a hint of berry. It paired perfectly with the fondue of which we all ate too much.

Saturday Fondue Dinner

28 Lbs. of Cinderella Pumpkin

Kara's New Opera Dress