...08.26...W.I.P. Wednesday...

...Big Sissie had asked Grandmommy for a 'real' cooking set...not a toy one...

...so over the last couple of months...I've been gathering proper cooking tools for her kit...y'all have already seen the pink tote...

...but it was filled with...

...Cookie cutters, one with animals, and one with kind of classic shapes…
...A full-size rolling pin…not a toy...
...A pastry brush, measuring spoons and cups (rainbow coloured of course), a whisk, a scoop, a silicone slotted spoon, a pizza cutter, a spatula for mixing and a spatula for cookies and things…
...and y'all have already seen the pink Pottery Barn mixing bowls...

...and then to finish out the kit...I included a cute apron...

...it was an adult sized one from the thrift store...so I found an online pattern for a child-sized apron...and cut it down to size...

...I think it would probably have been easier to just make a child-sized apron as it was a lot of trouble to unpick the seams and reattach the ties...but this one still turned out super cute...

...I’m also gonna send a separate box with a bunch of baking mixes, brownies, cookies, pancakes, pizza, sprinkles, all of those things that you would need for baking, but I’ll send those separate from the tool kit...

...oh...and a cookbook...more on that one in a bit...

...what's in your workbasket this week?...

~Have a lovely day!

...8.24...Over the Weekend...

...I found some veggie bacon in the freezer...and I cooked it in the air fryer...which made it perfectly crispy...and I put it on top of a plain bagel...

...then I added some air fried tofu and a sprinkle of kala namak and it was so delicious...

...then we did the shopping...

...and they had the Man's Silk...YAY!...they only thing of note is that they did not have the Abuelita tablets (they're accidentally vegan)...

...so I got a different kind...from Ibarra...

...it lists just four ingredients...Sugar, chocolate, soy lecithin and cinnamon...

...I hope it's as good...I'll let you know...I remember what a treat it was when we were kids and Daddy brought the Abuelita tablets back from a Mexico trip...we often had hot chocolate when we were little...Mom usually made it with Hershey's cocoa on the stove...and it was so good...but the Abuelita chocolate was very...you know...exotic for us country kids...we loved it too...

...and this week's Poppz...what the orange cream one...I shared it with the Man as he used to love Dream-cicles when he was younger and that's what it kindof tastes like...

...we stopped at the dollar store for some sheet protectors...(for Big Sissie's cookbook...I'll show it to you in a bit)...and they had one (only one) of these blue rimmed plates that I thought would go well with our blue and white ones...and I guess as the last one...they had it marked down to 75¢...

...we can of course use it as is...but it also sort of functions as a charger...

...in the garden...the August sun is just too brutal for the new little plants...so I tacked up some shade cloth over them...I ran out at the end of the row...so I just used some old cotton sheet for that bit...they do (of course) need sunshine so this is only for a few days until they get acclimated to life in the dessert...haha...

...we have had some rain...just passing thunderstorms though...

...we got another beautiful cucumber...and then just a few green beans...

...so I got out the bag of beans...

...and cooked a pot of rattlesnake beans in the porch kitchen...

...we sliced the cucumber fresh from the garden...

...and sliced one of our last two tomatoes for delicious tomato sammies for lunch...pretty sad about that...and I drank the last of my blended watermelon from the freezer...

...and finally...I got a bag of roasted barley from Amazon...and made a refreshing tea...I love it cold with nothing in it...and hot with soymilk...it's really good...have you ever had barley tea?...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your week!

...8.22...Dinner and a Movie...

...the Man made a hot dog cooking sauce...not exactly sure what all is in it...but some tomato, onion, vegan beef bouillon, and vinegar...and I imagine some spices...

...I have never had a New York hot dog so I don't really have anything to compare it to...then he wrapped them in foil and put them in the oven...I generally have a nice toasty bun...but this soft version was nice too...

...and he added slaw...of course...

...and served it with air fried French Fries...it was really delicious...I enjoyed it a lot...

...and the movie was the 1973 version of The Three Musketeers...and it was pretty good...

...I was a little bit worried by the 1970's special effects as seen here...haha...but thanksfully, they only did that during the credits...

...I'd never seen it...and was sort of surprised by it...it's pretty close to the original...not literal...but close...and it was funny...which was a little bit unexpected...the cast was pretty well-known too...

Michael York as D'Artagnan
Raquel Welch as Constance Bonacieux
Oliver Reed as Athos
Frank Finlay as Pothos
Richard Chamberlain as Aramis
Faye Dunaway as Milady de Winter
Charlton Heston as Cardinal Richelieu
Christopher Lee as the Count De Rochefort

...I enjoyed the movie too...

...what have you been watching lately?...

...in books this week...I finished Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and I was entertained...it was a fun little book...so then I just chose another book from the 100 Best books list...and it was not a 'best' book...The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks...I don't really know what to say about this one...it's pretty horrific...and of course I read the last chapter first...so I know something I'm not supposed to know yet...it's a book about a teenaged serial killer and his family...he has a brother who tortures and kills dogs...very difficult to read...and I've got no idea how it got onto the 100 best books of all time list...I can't imagine anyone saying they 'enjoyed' this one...but then...Lolita was on there as well...and it was about as cringe-y and it could be...

...what have you been reading lately?...

~Have a lovely weekend!

...8.21...Friday Update...

...I planted my new 'second crop' of cucumbers and squash in the newly tilled garden...

...and then I thought I'd show you all of the green beans that I picked from the garden this week...we've had some rain...and they've been blooming like crazy...

...and obviously making a lot of beans...

...I often 'miss' one or two and get a shrivled up brown one...but I'll just let it finish drying and then I'll pop the seeds out of it for next year...these are heirloom beans so you can just save the seeds...

...and another day's pickings...they're not always this prolific...sometimes I only get a handful...but there'll be a big pot of beans cooking on the porch this weekend for sure...

...and we're still getting a steady supply of cukes as well...

...I'll post more about it in a little bit...but I had to get Big Sissie's main birthday present in the mail...she wanted a 'real' cooking set...not a toy one...so over the last couple of month's I've been collecting all that gear...Mom had given me the pink lidded tote to put everything in the last time I was up there for a visit...

...all wrapped up...and since it won't fit into a flat rate postal box...it's time to get it into the mail...so it can have a full month to get there...

...and since it's an odd size...I had to fabricate a box for it...and I got these two pretty bright yellow boxes at Aldi and cut them up to fit the birthday wrapped tote perfectly...

...blacked out the writing on the box and taped it all up and sent it on it's way...

~Have a lovely day!

...8.20...Delicious Vegan Food we ate...

...I think I may have mentioned this before...but this is a pretty common summer breakfast...it's just my tofu yogurt (strawberry this time) with a handful of bran flakes...it's almost like having pie for breakfast...

...and then I've been having this vegan toona salad on repeat this summer as well...it starts with drained chickpeas...

...give them a blitz in a food processor...or just mash them with a fork...

...then add chopped sweet pickes (or sweet relish - easier) and celery and strips of nori...and a big dollop of vegan mayo...

...and give it a good mix and you'll have a quick and healthy spread...I love it on homemade whole wheat bread...but it's good on top of a salad as well...

...what delicious food have you been eating lately?...

~Have a lovely day!

...8.19...W.I.P. Wednesday...

...as always...I seem to have a few things that need to be 'fixed'...

...these are the first little pair of Footlets...that's the actual name fo the pattern...they're in this FO post from 2020...and they've sprouted an actual HOLE...and a few almost worn through places...so obviously, I did not 'nip it in the bud'...to quote Barney Fife...

...and I couldn't find the exact bamboo yarn...so I mended with a similar mercerized cotton...just a little bit too bulky...but maybe it will wear better too...

...and this is Our Airman's baby blanket...and it's way...way older than he is...and it has acquired a few holes as well...I started this blanket when I was still in high school...I think the actual colour was called 'maize'...but I always called it baby yellow...and over the years I never had any trouble matching the yarn...and then since I didn't 'need' it...it kept getting put away...I'd pull it out occasionally...I can remember working on it sometimes in my dorm room at college...so funny to think about that now...so it's been toted around with us through ALL of our moves...obviously I finished it...and it actually functioned as a baby blanket when I finally did have an actual baby...hahaha...

...so I fixed all of the holes...and I had some 'baby yellow' yarn that matched well enough in my stash...haha...

...and wove in the ends...

...and now it's folded up at the foot of one of the beds in the yellow room...just for a little bit of extra warmth if a guest staying in there needs it...and it matches the room perfectly...

...I'm not sure where I saw this 'idea'...but you can make some pretty neat natural buttons from guess what...right...avocado pits...who knew...while they're fresh you can slice them with a knife...

...I'm going to be making a few to replace the Sculpey Buttons on my old Sawtelle sweater...if you look at the pattern photo on Ravelry you can see that they used some sort of natural (brown) buttons...and here you can see the original Sawtelle Sculpey buttons that were made in 2012...but over the years and many washings the Sculpey buttons have finally split and need to be replaced...

...and while they're still soft...I just used a wooden skewer to make some holes in the center...and when these dry I'll drill them out better so that a needle and yarn can go through them...

...after a few days of drying...I just left them on this sheet of waxed milk carton cutout and turned them daily...and they get really hard...

...then I took them out into the garage and drilled some nice neat holes...

...gave them a spritz of olive oil...which deepens the colour a bit...

...let that sit overnight and did it again...just massaging it in...

...just trying to decide which buttons to use...I'll have a few leftover...

...these are the right size and look nice on the sweater...

...so I stitched them in place...

...what's in your workbasket this week?...

~Have a lovely day!