Things you tend to forget about yourself

I don't like wearing prints, but find I keep buying them when I'm at the fabric store. I suppose it's because fabric is displayed on bolts and prints jump out at you, while solids really kinda don't. Anyhow, I bought a pattern and made myself a dress. I'm feeling sort of meh about it, but I had an award to present yesterday and it was an award presentation appropriate dress (worn with jacket). It has also been a theatre-going appropriate dress, and it will be, I suppose, a brunch-appropriate dress at some point, too.



I made view A:

Why I find my bed unmade when I come home at the end of the day:

She knows that I've now found her out.

Joy of Cooking Carrot Cake

Someone told me that if there's only one way to do something, the method can't be patented. They mentioned both math formulas and recipes. I don't know about recipes, though, because you can most certainly patent how you make a drug, but I'm willing to take the risk. Anyhow, all this preamble is so that I can share the Joy of Cooking Carrot Cake recipe without worrying about infringement. I made it for Aurelie's birthday and it was so well received (also, I still had carrots and pineapple left) that I made it again this past Monday.

Below is the recipe with my modifications:

Carrot Cake
Preheat oven to 350'F. Grease pans.

Sift together:
1 1/3 c flour
1c sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp grated/ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt

Mix in small bowl, then add to flour mixture:
2/3c veg oil
3 eggs

Stir in:
1 1/2c grated carrots (Seriously not a big deal to grate by hand and takes about one large carrot)
1/2 cup canned pineapple, lightly drained

Put in pan. Cook for 25 minutes in 2 round 9' pans (I used one and kept adding time because 25mins wasn't enough) or put in muffin trays for delicious carrot cupcakes (25 minutes). Basically, cook until a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean.

Cool.

Frosting
1/2c cream cheese
2c icing sugar
1 tbsp Grand Marnier or vanilla
Or, modify these amounts to preferred taste and texture.
Using food processor (takes way less time), mix cream cheese, sugar and flavour until creamy.



Frost. Eat.

Needle Roll

I love the needle roll my sister made for me, and Aurelie was in need of one for her expanding knitting needle collection, so, I made her one as a birthday gift. I used a Repeat fat quarter, a Ro Fagan print, and some blue cotton.

Happy birthday Aurelie!

NOLA

Mardi Gras ended the week before we arrived, but there were still signs of the party everywhere.







I found my birthdate carved into a tomb in the Lafayette Cemetary...











...and saw Katrina sunken boats.








Banksy visited New Orleans on the three year anniversary of Katrina. Our Americor tree-planting hosts showed us one of his pieces











And we helped build a house in the lower 9th ward.

Bald Cypress and Tupelo Gum

The New Orleans trip was meant to be four days of house building for Habitat for Humanity. When we got there, the director of our host volunteer camp asked whether any of us would be interested in spending some time replanting the bayou and local parks. Hurricaine Katrina damaged forests and parks and other green spaces and unless those were repaired, too, another flood would be even more devastating. So, 7-9 of us (depending on the day) went out to plant trees. Bald cypress in the swamps and forest behind the levee near the MRGO (the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet), and tupelo gum in a state park in St Bernard Parish and at the Islenos Centre.

The trees were 2-3 years old and the soil was pretty wet, so the planting was easy enough. And nothing tops spending the day outside.

Tuba Skinny

I visted New Orleans last week. The day we arrived, we walked around the French Quarter - so filled with music - and came across Tuba Skinny (we had been standing around listening to the G String Orchestra and still had beers to finish). We sat down on the curb and stayed, until our dinner bell rang and we had to go.