Saturday, April 29, 2017

The show last night was excellent, although I didn’t make as much money on the concession as I would have liked. It seemed to be busy even during the intermission but in the end it was the poorest concession (out of three) that we’ve had. We have gone from asking for donations for the coffee, tea and goodies to charging individual prices. I think for the next show I’ll go back to asking for donations. Although I have lots of goodies left from the sale, the loaves and cake were all cut into so I don’t feel they can be used again next weekend. I’ll revamp my menu and serve a bundt cake (which has more slices than a loaf), a couple of kinds of cookies, and (by requests) butter tarts and Rice Krispie squares.

I was pleased with my haircut yesterday afternoon. I don’t think a hairdresser has ever gone through all the options with me before even getting me to the sink. I generally wash my hair and go but I may try to be a bit more professional about it, at least for awhile. Michelle spent lots of time (after I thought she was done) showing me how to use the blow drier and flat iron; who knew it made a difference to your hair style whether you blew it dry with your head upside down or right side up! I even bought some “product”.

I had some running around to do today and Pat decided to come with me. Mostly I wanted to get a deposit into the bank as tomorrow is our year-end at the Hall. The Advance Polls were open today so we both voted; regular voting day is Tuesday and I wasn’t going to let an election interrupt my sewing bee. We decided not to go up to the first Farmer’s Market of the season as it was pouring rain; I wanted to see if I could get some rhubarb. I can see Bud’s (or what used to be Bud’s) rhubarb from the deck and it looks more than ready. I don’t think there is anyone in the house at the moment but if I got caught stealing rhubarb I’d have a hard time proving that Bud always gave it to me. Since it was rainy we wandered through the Home and Garden Show; we entered every draw we saw so maybe one of us will win something. We stopped for lunch on the way home; my fortune cookie suggested I’d soon have important news about my job so maybe we’ll get a new Board member to take over the Treasurer’s job or a new Guild member to take over the Facebook and blog duties.

I spent the rest of the afternoon preparing for the Cranberry Hall Board meeting on Wednesday, as well as doing a bit of Guild business. I have some hand stitching I may get to this afternoon, or I may decide to nap until supper.

Thursday, April 27, 2017

I headed out to Canadian Tire first thing this morning to get the Pour Shield for my mixer. There was only one left on the shelf; it felt so light when I picked up the box that I opened it to be sure there was actually something in it. When I got home Pat attempted to attach it to the bowl of my new mixer but it was too small; we did a bit of research and realized that even though the piece I purchased was for a 5-quart bowl it was meant for a 5-quart mini. Nowhere on the box did it say anything to indicate it didn’t fit all of their 5-quart bowls. After looking at the reviews for both this smaller shield and the larger one we decided it wasn’t worth purchasing; in over 100 reviews the best they could manage was a 1.5-star rating. Pat took the piece back and I saved myself $30. After my messes yesterday I used the Stir setting whenever I added something and I didn’t have any problems today.

The bundt cake yesterday turned out well but I had trouble getting the pineapple coconut loaf out of the pan; one came out fine but the other one fell apart in the middle. After sampling the split loaf we decided that the pineapple chucks were too much so today I made another batch using crushed pineapple. Both loaves came out of the pan fine but I guess I won’t really know if it worked until they are sliced on Friday night. Fingers crossed.

While I was in loaf-mode I made up the two packaged loaf mixes; so much quicker than preparing them myself. I made a lemon poppyseed loaf and a banana loaf; I think another time I would stick to a homemade banana loaf as the banana aroma while it cooked seemed artificial. Both loaves came out of the pans well so I hope they taste okay.

I have two batches of pre-packaged cookies to make tomorrow. I hope to get an early start on them as I made an appointment for the early afternoon to get my hair cut. I’ve wanted to get at it since before the quilt show but never took the time out of my days. Since I’m not getting a lot done except baking I decided to get it done before the show on Friday.

The show tomorrow is sold out so I made lots for the Concession. Anything I don’t use can be kept for the following weekend when Pat does another show; he also has a Song Circle a week early to keep Mother’s Day free for the people who attend.

We’re off to the movies tonight – I think tonight is the last in the Cinematheque series.

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Today I started baking for the concession at Cranberry Hall on Friday night. I went grocery shopping first thing this morning and found cookie and loaf mixes so that immediately made my life easier. I had a recipe for Coconut Pineapple Loaf that I wanted to try so when I got home I decided it would be the first thing into the oven.

I have had Mum’s Sunbeam MixMaster for several years; Christy had it before me and it is the only mixer I remember Mum using. I’m not sure how old that makes it, but it has definitely had many years of use. Over the time I’ve had it I have had trouble keeping the power cord attached and there was a small part of the electric cord that I wasn’t certain was safe (although it always worked). One of the beaters was rather bent out of shape, but it worked so I didn’t worry. One of the glass mixing bowls had already been replaced with a stainless steel bowl, or was it the other way around?

Today as I went to do my mixing I had trouble getting one of the beaters to click into place but it didn’t fall completely out and it seemed to be okay once I started using it. Just as I finished mixing, the beaters stopped and I wasn’t able to eject them. Pat eventually got the beaters out but one of them still didn’t insert properly so we decided it was time for a new mixer. It just happened that Canadian Tire had them on special so we went right out and got a lovely new one.

I still had a bundt cake (from Mum’s Recipe book) that I wanted to make so it gave me a chance to try out the new machine. It looks lovely and works fine; there are some adjustments I need to make in my processes though. I was adding dry ingredients into the mix and the power setting was too high and I had dry ingredients all over the counter and myself. Starting at the stir speed worked much better. I should have learned my lesson from the first mess but when I added the eggs (one at a time, luckily) the first one popped right out of the mixing bowl. I guess the stir setting should be used for everything that is being added.

We saw the pour attachment while we were shopping but I said that I didn’t think I needed a pouring spout as I’d have to use a spatula to scrape the bowl anyway. Apparently the pour attachment is actually called a Pouring Shield and “fits on top of the bowl to prevent ingredients from splattering”. I think I’ll go back and get one.

For now Mum’s mixer is sitting on the floor of the laundry room awaiting disposal of some kind; I think I’m going to have trouble getting rid of it even though I have saved both of her mixing bowls.

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

I had everything ready for the bee this morning but it just didn’t happen. I was awake about 2 AM with a headache and it took me almost an hour to go back to sleep. Around five the crows outside were raising quite a ruckus but when I got up to see what they might be upset about I couldn’t see anything; they were certainly raising and lowering their voices in unison and, had it not been five in the morning, I might have been more impressed. Shortly after they calmed down I heard a loon, which is always a welcome sound no matter what time of day or night. When my alarm went off at seven I wasn’t ready to get up; I lay there for about fifteen minutes and decided I’d get up, have my coffee and I’d probably feel better. The few minutes that I managed to stay up left me feeling even worse so I went back to bed and slept until noon.

I haven’t had a bad headache for awhile but it was likely triggered by allergies. The worst time for me is Spring and, although I don’t see any cottonwoods shedding, I know there is lots of other stuff in the air. There were quite a few women at the Retreat who were fighting allergies; if I get another headache relatively soon I’ll try some allergy pills.

I’ve puttered around this afternoon and accomplished very little. I had a bit of cutting to do for the project I worked on yesterday so I finished a portion of that. I planned to drop a card in the mail this morning but since that didn’t happen I got a few more ready for the mail tomorrow. The show that Pat is presenting on the weekend is already sold out (70 tickets) so I’ll have to make a few extra treats for the Concession. I haven’t even figured out what I’ll make, let alone getting a list together.

Since no cards were done at the bee today I’d better get started on at least one of them now.