Lonley Blog...

I found this drawing looking for a lonely image...aww...

This poor blog has been taking it easy this summer but worry not! More posts to come this fall, starting with a ton of great new recipes from Anna Olson including Gingerbread--yum. I have issues with gingerbread. Last winter I made a gingerbread cake from Everyday Food, because I trust Martha and those recipes have never failed me, except it was too molasses-y and slightly bitter and burnt tasting (despite not being burnt). I also have YET to find a decent recipe for Gingerbread men (and ladies, and babies) I love them but my dough is always too hard and dry and I break my wrists trying to re-roll it. Again, I think the problem may be molasses. I have several friends who promised to give me their recipes and never did!

(Some, I know, would give me a "fake" recipe too, because they keep their recipes closely guarded secrets. I don't get this. I always tell people where my recipes are from or what my tips are for cooking them so that they are successful. I hope it gets written down in their recipe books as "Tasha's Easter Nests" although I am sure they take credit for it some of the time. My Mom and Baba always had the recipes as "Joyce's Pickles" "Angie's Ribs" etc--I think this is good because you remember exactly which ribs you are talking about, and that woman's recipe (whether her own or from the back of a box or cornstarch or whathaveyou) ties you to the memory of when you enjoyed it. One another side note (I won't start another parentheses so we don't get lost) my Mom had a recipe for a baked pancake of sorts that was originally called Lo-Cal Apple Pancakes. Over the years we modified the "lo-cal" part and used other fruit and even experimented with ham etc and it was always a hit with guests. We loved hearing that my cousins, when my Aunt made it for them, had renamed it Apple Aunty Donna. How sweet!)

So, back to my story, if someone has a good recipe for Gingerbread men send it my way! I will post the gingerbread cake recipe from Anna next week (so we are officially in Sept and no one can give me heck for jumping the gun.) I L-O-V-E love gingerbread cake, especially at Earls in the fall--soo good.

I will also be posting more about new arrivals in the store, we have lots of exciting new things on the way.

In the meantime, stop by to shop our end of summer clearance--we have LOTS of stuff and are continuing to add to it--grab some stuff now and stash it away for Christmas! Although it's an end-of-summer clearance, not everything is seasonal.

Till next time...