Fiber Fool

Games were a pretty popular thing in our family. It included board games - the traditional and not-so-traditional as well as card games. We sometimes played with the extended family or with family friends. Somehow, though, when I first saw the topic I thought “there’s another one for me to miss.” But the more it rolled around in my head, the more I thought I could pull together a pretty decent list.

1. Double Solitaire - this I learned from and played most with my in-town grandma and she was pretty ruthless!
2. Blockade - was a game I played with my in-town grandpa a lot. It was a black platform with scores in it and you built fences with color plastic things that fit in the grooves. I think it had similar goals with games like Othello etc. if I remember right.
3. Smurfs Ahoy! - this is one of those balance games kind of like Topple, but only able to tip in two directions. I played with a lot with my sister. It was one where the 5.5 year age difference didn’t make too much of a difference.
4. Gin Rummy - this was one we played with mom a fair bit as she had several decks of super-large print playing cards that she could read before she lost her sight and then some braille ones. But we needed games that weren’t speed-based. Once we decided to try a different rummy game and somehow did not follow the rules right and ended up calling our new made-up rules Rummy Dummy. I wish we had written them down though because I have no idea where we went astray, though it can probably all be blamed on me because I’m sure I was the one reading directions.
5. Othello - I mentioned that one before, but I played it with mom quite a bit. It was nice and bold and easy to see.
6. Hopscotch - for most of my junior high and early high school years I babysat a couple hours a day for our nearest neighbors. During the summer it was an hour or so longer. Their eldest was the same age as my sister so she’d often come along in the summers. At some point I got a book that had all kinds of different formations for hopscotch and one summer I swear we played a different one at least each week. We’d draw it out on the long sidewalk or the small concrete pad in front of the garage if needed. Before I got that book or that I hadn’t realized there were so many different ways to draw and play hopscotch.

7. Clue - this is still a favorite of mine and I think Amber’s as well. Mom still had the 60’s set from her childhood and I still think of that as the “classic” version. I even had a VCR version that I *loved*. My sister has the DVD version which is good, but does work quite like the VCR one. But the original board game version is my favorite.
8. Monopoly - another classic, but favorite. We played with mom some again with the game from her childhood, but in the summers while I babysat we would sometimes have 1 week long games between the four of us kids. We had a whole system of bagging up all our money and properties and noting where we had houses/hotels and our game pieces so we could pack up each evening and set back up the next afternoon.
9. Uno - this was a game we played some at home, but played a lot with the extended family on my mom’s side. I remember many a holiday where we played a game or two of Uno in between the meal and dessert.
10. Jacks - I didn’t play it a ton, but what I did play was obsessive for about a summer I think. It was one of those things where I read about kids playing it in books and whatnot and decided I wanted to learn. I wasn’t terribly coordinated so I worked at it pretty obsessively, though it was always hard to find a place to practice as gravel doesn’t work too well :-) I think I played it most at my in-town grandparents house.

I’m sure I could go on and on. These were just the first 10 to come to mind. There were certainly tons more classic games we played, often mom’s from her childhood. Depending upon when you cut off “childhood” there are tons of ones I still enjoy playing today.

This was a somewhat timely topic as I have a free printable that is game-related to share later this week! It is one that I suspect would work for the whole family, so if you and your family like games, stop back later this week!

I want to thank you all for the wonderful discussion around butter in the comments and e-mail of last week’s post on how we make cultured butter at home. You all gave me the courage to put on my grown up pants and jump in. Really, what did I have to loose? Not that much really.

As is my custom, I did jump in with both feet and decided not to do something easy that I’ve done many times before. Instead, I decided to make my first shortbread. And to make it an almond one. With homemade butter. Where would the challenge be if I made a recipe I know by heart? Or made shortbread with commercial butter? Exactly!

It turned out I had nothing to fear. It was quite painless and I had no problems using the homemade butter. You just have to have a scale so you can weigh out the butter since it isn’t in handy labeled sticks.

I’ve been enjoying a bit of mid-morning Darjeeling with a sliver of the shortbread and a teaspoon of homemade chocolate almond butter. Though I would enjoy eating two pieces as pictured, I am trying to pay attention to portion control so the extra was put away after the photoshoot. I swear! They just looked nicer as a pair in the photos :-)

Almond Shortbread

serves 12

Ingredients

• 4 oz Cultured Butter, room temperature
• 1/4 C Sugar*
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1/4 tsp Almond Extract
• 2/3 C All Purpose Flour
• 1/2 C Almond Meal
• 2 Tbl Cornstarch
• 1/8 tsp Fine Grain Sea Salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 300° F with rack in the middle position.

In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth and light. Add the vanilla and almond extracts.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the remaining dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and mix just until combined. It will kind of resemble wet sand and not be a cohesive ball of dough.

Tip dough out onto a sheet pan lined with parchment (do not use a silpat liner!). Gently knead into a ball of dough and roll out to about 3/4″ thick, forming an 8″ circle. If desired use your fingertips to create a fluted edge much like you would on a pie. With a sharp knife, cut into 12 wedges, but leave in place.

Bake shortbread in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, or until a light golden brown color is achieved. Remove from oven and let rest 5 minutes. Then re-cut the shortbread following the lines created before baking and move to a wire cooling rack to continue cooling. Separate and enjoy!

The chocolate almond butter recipe is in development for Nourishing Knits. I’m *really* close (this is batch #5), but I have another idea or two I want to try first. It’s rough having to make things over and over, trying to perfect them. Okay, not so bad since it is all edible, but not at it’s best. And really, how can you go wrong with chocolate and almonds?

I’m slowly getting back to the pre-holiday swing of things. Though I think I’m trying to come down with something so I’m pretty sluggish and things feel like an uphill battle. Despite my low energy and a very overcast day with snow yesterday there was a photoshoot. Above is a bit artier shot from the batch. Sometimes you have to feed your soul in addition to getting good “product” shots.

Finally catching up on my blog reading from the holiday hiatus works pretty well when you are feeling worn down. I finally caught up by weeks end. So, linkity returns. Though for 2011 I think I’m going to be more discriminating so I don’t overwhelm you with links. I could change my mind later, but it sounds like a good plan to me now.

Kitchen Klatsch

• Greek-Style Quinoa Burgers - we’re going to have these this week sometime, though I’m going to put mint in the yogurt sauce
• Vanilla Lime Pound Cake - given my citrus love you know I’m going to have to try this recipe soon!
• Honey Nutella Rice Krispy Treats - these are marshmellow free and thus vegetarian! Plus a little unique and grown up. They are going into the “make someday” folder for sure!

Printable Freebies

• Printable 2011 Calendar - yes we’re well into January, but it isn’t over yet and it covers the entire year! It is painterly and softly colored.
• Valentine Postcards
• Fun Valentine Tags & Candy Wrappers - dots abound on these designs!
• Valentine Treat Box - this would be great for holding some homemade candies

Natural Living

• DIY Foot Balm - I don’t know about you, but the heating is really taking a toll on my skin, I think this is just what my feet ordered!
• Winter Hair Care Tips - from Ashley English, my hair is too fine so I don’t think I can get away with the washing schedule she suggests (it gets really flat and greasy looking at about 30 hours post-washing), but static is plaguing me horribly this year and I wonder if one of these treatments might not help a bit?
• Cosmetics Database - I’ve added a link to my phone’s home screen to this web site so I can look up beauty products to see how safe or unsafe they may be. It is super helpful since a lot of cosmetic packaging is such that you can’t see ingredients until you purchase them.

Lusted List

• Old Film Negative Bangle - this is too cool and a must have if you’re into photography!
• Lotta Külhorn - I am loving the bold graphics of this Swedish designer
• Swedish Thermal Carafe - so simple, yet still striking
• Hus & Hem - I think I’m in love with everything highlighted in this blog post! If only I were in the UK, but alas, shipping will keep my money firmly in my wallet.

What has caught your eye in early 2011?

This is a plate of all the goodies I contributed to the Christmas Sugar Fest of 2010. Front is center is what I am most proud of - my aunt Karen’s chocolate covered caramels. I swear she is not allowed to attend any function between Thanksgiving and New Year’s without a plate of these in her hand. I had tried to make them two other times in my 12 holiday seasons here in CO and they were both flops. But, it seems the third time is the charm and I nailed it!

Despite being closer to 5000 ft I adjusted the temperature to 4000 ft this time and it worked perfectly. It was my first trial with a digital temperature probe with an alarm and I have to say it was so much simpler to make these caramels than I remembered. I’m not sure if it was the temperature gauge or being alone in the kitchen or what. But these may not be a holiday season only treat.

Because I can’t leave well enough alone I did add flaked sea salt to the tops of 1/2 the caramels. It was a wonderful crowning touch if I do say so myself.

Other items on the plate include dark chocolate dipped orange cookies, chocolate macaroon cookie bars, and two kinds of chocolate bark.

I learned (or rather was reminded of) some tricks of chocolate dipping since I did not stop with the 84 caramels, but then went on to dip 5 dozen orange cookies in dark chocolate.

1. Work in small batches, taking only what you can dip in 5-10 minutes out of the freezer at a time. This is especially helpful if your kitchen is warm from other baking and candy making!
2. Along similar lines as #1, pre-freeze the container you’ll put those small batches into. I used two bowls and rotated them - took out out and filled it and put the other in to re-chill. It kept everything nice and cold for the dipping.
3. If everything is kept cold enough, the chocolate sets up FAST! If you’re adding stuff (like salt) after dipping do it quickly, perhaps even before placing it on the waxed paper.
4. Keep the dipped piece at the very tip of the dipping fork so there is less surface drag to get it off the work and onto the wax paper to set up.
5. Use two forks to dip - one to turn and fish out the caramel or what is getting dipped and keep one handy to help slide any stubborn ones off of the fork. It minimizes the damage to the chocolate coating. If you use your fingers you will get at a minimum fingerprints and often will take off a small portion of the chocolate.
6. If dipping cookies, use a soft bristle brush to remove crumbs before dipping to keep the chocolate as crumb-free as possible.
7. If storage will include stacking, re-freeze before packaging up and use parchment or wax paper between the layers.
8. Chocolate is expensive, especially if you use good quality, fair trade and/or organic brands. To not waste chocolate, turn the leftovers into a bark by adding your favorite dried fruit or nuts - or both! You can even add a touch of extract or liqueur to the chocolate. After dipping the orange cookies I added a splash of orange extract, some dried cranberries and toasted whole almonds, stirred it all together. Then I poured it onto a parchment lined sheet pan and sprinkled with a bit of the flaked sea salt since my almonds were unsalted. Then I just froze it for an hour or so and then broke it into manageable pieces. It was that simple. I just used what I had on hand in the pantry.

Do you have any tricks for dipping things in chocolate?

I finally made a decision on a cover. Wait, that isn’t quite true. I narrowed down the choices to two different M-Edge covers that are nearly identical except for the spine placement - the Executive (book style on the left) and the Platform (steno style on the right). I decided I just couldn’t be certain about which I would find more comfortable for reading. I also decided that the bare Kindle is almost too slim for comfortable reading so the sleeve option was thrown out.

And no, those who know me well you do not need to adjust your monitors. I’m thinking I may still get a skin, just to personalize it a bit. I poured through my photographs and finally decided if I do a custom skin that I’m going to use the shot of my neighbor’s front tree from early this fall. It is mostly season-neutral to me. Being both somewhat anal and creative I wanted the skin and the covers to coordinate and red was the best option. I’m wondering if I’ve just hit the magic age when everyone loves red though. I’ve always shied away from it, but over this past year I’ve been drawn to it more and more. I could blame Amanda for talking me into buying the red Eco+ yarn for Aralia last winter. Or it could be all the reds I’ve worked with for Nourishing Knits. Or maybe because photographing them is no longer an exercise in hair pulling? I don’t know, but red is creeping in.

I think my plan of attack on trying out these cover will be to give each one three days or so. After I’ve done that (hopefully including at least one walk on the treadmill at the gym for each) I will weigh them and see if there is a weight difference. I think it will be negligible. The executive has a larger spine since it is along the long side of the case so it might weigh a bit more. But I want to see if I perceive the difference during everyday use without knowing if or what the difference may be.

Before they arrived I was edging towards the Platform because it can stand up easel-like. While that is not something I require when reading at home it seemed like it would come in handy when traveling. It would allow me to set it up on the tray in the airplane and read and knit, but now that I’ve set it up that way I think the angle would not be great for reading from. I’d probably be better off either using my travel pillow or my i-Phone to prop up the top just a bit.

I am a tad disappointed in the extra width of the cases on the left hand side. I’ve tended to hold the Kindle in my left and that moves the page turn buttons to a spot I think won’t be terribly great (we’ll see after I have a bit more reading under my belt). I understand that it is there so you can store M-Edge’s reading light there in the case. The reviews and some comparisons I’ve seen in light output has me thinking their reading light is not the way to go if I should decide I need on in the future. Thus it is extra size and weight I do not actually need. I’m still not convinced I’ll need one since I sync with my iPhone and can use the backlit display of that to read in low light conditions.

I am impressed with how secure the Kindle is in the cases. It is much more secure than I expected, yet easy to remove too should I decide to read the Kindle in its bare state or need to put it in a clear ziploc to bathe or cook. I’ll have my ruling in about week.