Spring is Sprung!

A week ago, this was the view from my front porch:

Today, however, is March 1st, and the first day of spring in the Chamberlain household. My husbands protests that spring won't be here for another 3 weeks, but I was vindicated by some surprises in our backyard. The daffodils are coming...

...and the crocuses are popping up! My tulips aren't far behind. Their satiny furled tips are just breaking the surface.

So spring is here, and, per my plan, I'm changing things up around here to reflect the season. Last week I prepared. I measured and cut all my fabric, then hemmed the rough edges on my sewing machine.

Unfortunately, I'm terrible at using it. I still have to refer to the manual when the bobbin needs filled, after 5 years of ownership (in my defense, it's almost never been used). I think my machine is a bit malicious. I'll think I've sewn a relatively straight line, like this:

But underneath, the thread is twisted and looped in a decidedly mocking fashion. I prefer to sew by hand if something needs sewn.

I did just that with my next project. I'm in love with bunting flags and decided to make some mini-flags for the living room. I cut triangles from scrap fabric...

...and hand-stitched the edges. Let me tell you, these are pretty rough...but I can't complain, since I got them stitched in the time it took to finish The Social Network. More on these soon...

Starting last night, I spent hours and hours taking down my fall and winter things. My deep red plaids, my carefully pressed and framed leaves, my decorative gourds, my little dishes of acorns...all gone. Even the poinsettias got the axe. I put my spring-themed fabrics on the couches and bookshelves. I lined up all remaining houseplants on the window seat to create a soothing green space. Mostly, since this is a work in progress, I'm trying to create small "spring spaces" that will spread as I continue to work on this project...especially after the garden centers open up!

Here's an example of a small, simple green space I created next to the couch:

...and a little spring-themed spot atop a small bookcase in a very dim corner of the living room:

Marjolein Bastin is a beautiful illustrator, and I have some of her books. Here I framed two drawings that fit the season:

Closer, you can see many things that fit in with my theme: bees, spring flowers, and eggs.

The other side is a really nice depiction of a bird that I particularly like.

This frame went over the dim-corner bookcase to create a bright, cheerful space.

In the other end of the living room, we have another long, dark bookcase. I filled 3 mason jars with things that I like: white and clear buttons, pebbles, and ceramic eggs. This egg art print pulled it together, hopefully. Mason jars at Goodwill: .50 each. Art print: $10. Frame: $1 at Goodwill. I like to do these things on the cheap!

Here are the bunting flags! I just threaded a needle with multi-stranded embroidery thread and pushed through the top of the bunting triangle. I think it makes a nice look! I'm going to make another one this week.

The kitchen is still a work in progress...but I've made some headway in the sun room. I bought matching pots at IKEA (I believe they were .75 each!) and repotted all the little houseplants I had on the window sill. It needed some color, so I cut a fabric runner for underneath. Much better!

I will continue working on this for the next few weeks, in between my regular work, and my other hobbies that compete for attention. One of those is knitting, of course, and I've managed a bit of that late last week. I'm knitting mittens, and they have really clever cuffs. You knit the fabric in one long tube, with one purl row in the center of your 2 stockinette sides.

When you're done, you fold up the bottom and knit it together with the next row.

That purl row that was in the center becomes a clean bottom row for your mitten cuff.

I'm nearly done. It's time consuming to pick up each stitch and knit it together with the new stitch, but at least it's a mitten and not, say, a sweater. I'm excited to get to the next part!

I always, always make time to bake, especially with Todd hard at work on his dissertation and therefore requiring tasty snacks at regular intervals. This recipe is a little time consuming but the resulting cookie is awfully tasty! This recipe is taken directly from Bakingdom with no modifications. Let me tell you...that woman knows what she's doing! It was her idea to invent cinnamon roll...cookies.

Cinnarookies
Taken from Bakingdom
Makes 3 - 4 dozen cookies

COOKIE:

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

FILLING:
1/4 cup unsalted butter, very soft
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

ICING:

2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 - 4 tablespoons milk

Combine flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, cream your butter and sugars together until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Then add half of the flour mixture and mix until combined. Add the rest of your flour mixture and combine. Form dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap, and place in freezer for at least 30 minutes.

After the dough has chilled, split the dough ball into two halves. Put one half into the refrigerator and pat the other half into a 9 x 12" rectangle. Let me tell you, it is messy and the dough will NOT go easily. Just push it together the best that you can!

Once you've beat it into submission, spread your soft butter on top, and then sprinkle with the brown sugar and cinnamon.

Carefully roll it into a log and cover with plastic wrap. It will need to chill in the freezer for 30 minutes. After you put it there, go ahead and repeat the process with the dough ball that you placed in the refrigerator earlier. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Remove your logs from the freezer and slice them into half inch slices...you should get close to 24 per log. Place on greased cookie sheets and bake for 10 - 12 minutes.

They already look like cinnamon rolls!

Once they've cooled, mix your icing ingredients together to your desired consistency and drizzle on cookies.

They're really good...like a sweet, cinnamon-y shortbread cookie. It's definitely worth the effort to make these!

Enjoy...and happy spring!

Just (Cinnamon) Roll With It.

I've just been out in the garden, weeding in the dill patch. There's a lot of love about dill. I love how my skin smells after contact with it...a prickly, pungent smell. Its soft, ferny leaves stroke my arms as I pull weeds, and I'm entertained by the tiny flowers on the seed head, fluttering open as they're warmed by the sun. As I work, I daydream about what I could make with a handful of the green sprigs...a white sauce for salmon? A spicy soup? I never make anything with dill, though. I just grow it because it's beautiful.


Here's something functional, though. My tomatoes are coming in, and soon I'll have more than I know what to do with! I see a lot of homemade sauces and salsas in my future. I liked these particular tomatoes. Each is an exact replica of the one before, slightly enlarged.


At long last, my cosmos are up! I've planted bright orange, pink, and cream colored varieties this year, and they are cheerfully nodding in the breeze as I write.


Cosmos are so easy to care for...a recurring theme in my garden plan.


When these flowers bloomed, they made a liar out of me. I'd written earlier about my mysterious self-seeding hollyhocks...imagine my surprise when these great spikes of purple and white bloomed, and proved to be mallow plants. Still, they're quite lovely, and very similar to hollyhocks. I'm pleased that they've come.


A soldier beetle (Cantharidae) marches with purpose across the head of this yarrow plant. Soldier beetles are wonderful additions to any garden. They eat a number of pests and do no damage to garden plants.


A grasshopper (Caelifera) relaxes in this daylily. I chased a lot of grasshoppers as a little girl and was rewarded with frequently stained clothing...as a defense mechanism, grasshoppers will "spit" a dark brown fluid that's distasteful to attackers. I'm not fond of large brown grasshoppers with their staring eyes and scratchy, spiny legs, but these small green ones are pleasant.


As I quietly watched, a large katydid (Tettigoniidae) clambered over the left side of the lily and chewed busily on a petal. The grasshopper fled, and after having a quick nibble, the katydid disappeared into the greenery.


I've been busily knitting this week on several different projects. A 12-pointed star is halfway done, but still lying like a deflated balloon in my knitting basket. A pair of fingerless gloves and matching neck wrap, knitted up for my swap partner on Ravelry, is waiting patiently for last-minute buttons. An accusing glare comes from my red knee socks, which have not yet been repaired. Two balls of cheerful orange cotton wait to be formed into an elephant, my first commissioned project, for a friend of my husband's. A big project has been completed, though. Eunny Jang's Tangled Yoke Cardigan, begun in January, is finally blocking in my sunroom.


I had a lot of trouble with the braid that twists across the sweater yoke. It's from a 17-line chart that requires up to 400 stitches across at times. Being off by just one or two stitches could ruin the whole pattern, so frequently I frogged back hours of work to get a correct count! I ran out of yarn several times. At the end, I had to order an entire skein just to complete my final 20 inches of work. A sigh of relief...and I think I'll take a break on sweaters for now!

Busy in the kitchen, as usual. I found a good recipe for sourdough bread on the King Arthur website. These two loaves were finished just in time for our Fourth of July celebration.


Today I felt inspired to rework an old recipe. I'm a huge fan of Cinnabon's cinnamon rolls, but I don't like the heavy, sick feeling I get after eating there, or the nagging feeling that cavities are forming at an accelerated rate with each and every bite. I decided to play with the recipe and make it a little lighter, easier, and dare I say...healthier?

Don't worry, if you're a die-hard fan who can't bear the thought of sacrificing one iota of sugar, just send me a request and I'll post the original recipe.

Copycat "Healthy" Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls
Adapted from Todd Wilbur's More Top Secret Recipes
Makes 16 cinnamon rolls

INGREDIENTS

DOUGH
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1 cup skim milk, warm
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg yolk, 2 egg whites
2 cups white flour (I prefer unbleached)
2 cups whole wheat flour

FILLING
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
2 tablespoons butter, softened

ICING
1/2 cup powdered sugar
dash of vanilla
1 tablespoon reduced fat cream cheese
Skim milk - enough to make a thin glaze

DIRECTIONS
Dissolve yeast in warm milk. Add the rest of the dough ingredients and knead for 5 - 7 minutes. Cover dough and let rise for an hour. Next, roll dough out in a long rectangle (it was easier for me to split dough into two portions and work with each portion individually). Once dough is about 1/4 inch thick (or a bit thinner), spread evenly with 3 tablespoons softened butter. Mix together the brown sugar, cinnamon, and cloves and sprinkle over dough. Use a pizza cutter to cut even 1 inch strips and roll each strip up.


Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Cover your pan and let the dough rest for another 30 - 60 minutes. It's hard to wait, but this second step really improves the flavor of your final product! You should see a fine rise before too long.


When ready, bake rolls for 10 - 12 minutes.

While baking, mix your sugar glaze. I used a pastry brush to lightly glaze the tops of the rolls after they came out of the oven. They looked great!


But what about the taste? I'm pleased to report that they're just as good as the cinnamon rolls I remember from my food court days. They're soft, chewy, and flavorful, with caramelized bottoms and sweet, sugary tops. I tried one right away, still warm from the oven. Just to make sure it wasn't a fluke (ahem), I tried a second roll. Yum!

This will be my new go-to recipe when friends are stopping by.


No one has to know that they're practically good for you!

Enjoy!