Easiest dessert ever

Toasted slices of poundcake - homemade or Sara Lee, doesn't matter, this one is homemade
Mascarpone - dolloped on top of cake
Apricot jam - heated gently and spiked with Amaretto
Almonds - slivered or sliced, but definitely toasted

Add coffee and fork.  Thanks, Giada de Laurentis.

Felt Food

I started making felt food for my niece and nephew after my niece got a kitchen set for Christmas. To go along with her kitchen set, we bought some of the nice food sets at Target. They are well made, however, the selection is limited and they are a bit pricey. On Craftster.org, lots of people have been making felt food. They are on, I think, round five of a swap. Inspired by all the variety, I made some felt food items for the kids. They are pretty easy to make. It is taking some experimentation to figure out what type of sewing I prefer. I want the sturdiness of machine sewing, but it sometimes looks too thready, if you know what I mean. Anyways, here's what I've made so far:

Half square triangle quilt

I trimmed all the squares last Friday while chatting with a friend. Over the weekend, I put them together in pairs, then in 4's. Here they are laid out on the floor waiting for the rows to be put together. While it's a simple project, I needed something that I didn't really have to think about. It's also been a bit of a lesson in giving up control. I only paid attention enough to not have the same fabric next to itself. I did try to not have color concentrated in the final layout, but I only swapped a few sections, for example, when I had 7 reds in a vertical column. I really love the way it looks. Hopefully, I can get the top together this weekend. It will be a lap quilt size, unless I decide to add some large borders. I don't think I will.

Pop Tarts

Over on eGullet, they've been making pop tarts. One of the teams at work won breakfast last week, so we have to deliver on Monday. We laughed at their request for Eggs Benedict, but I think they will like these brown sugar, apricot, and nutella poptarts. These are unfrosted, but I also frosted some with a 10x sugar and milk glaze. They taste almost exactly like pop tarts, but are more tender and buttery. The brown sugar filling is excellent. I haven't tried one of the Nutella ones yet, as they are in the oven now.

Jack and the Beanstalk

I finished this quilt over a year ago, but forgot to take pictures before gifting it. I borrowed it back to snap a few pics. This was another collaboration and was started after the Princess and the Pea quilt for Sofia. LBK drew the pattern for me full size on bulletin board paper. I cut apart his drawing and used it as a template for the applique pieces. It is all hand appliqued and machine quilted with hand embroidery details on the house, the bean stalk, the giant's hands and Jack's face and belt.

Saturday is baking day

While it was 80 yesterday, the nights are very cool and Fall is definitely coming. LBK asked for some soup on last week's grocery trip. He takes soup for lunch most days in the winter. When I started baking bread last winter from the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, he thought I was going to keep him supplied with yummy bread all winter. Unfortunately, he never really expressed that to me, and in a an effort to keep all those carbs from piling on the pounds, I tried to resist baking bread very often. However, he recently made a comment about wishing for bread to go with his soup, so I'm stocking the freezer with bread for him. He can grab one in the morning for his lunch and just give it a quick refresh in a toaster oven or eat it as is. It will be thawed by lunch for sure. Here are the results of today's baking: 8 mini loaves like these and 2 larger boules.



I have to work on sizing and slashing. I think these are a bit too big, though he may think they are fine.

St Basil's Serbian Festival

Saturday, we went to St. Basil's Serbian Festival. It's not so much a festival as it is a feast. Roast lamb and pig, grilled sausages, cabbage rolls, and lots of desserts. Pictured above is the best dessert we had: krempita, a vanilla custard lightened with whipped cream, then sandwiched between superthin layers of puff pastry or filo. It looks like it might be heavy, but in fact is very light.