The Cathedral of Junk

A uniquely Austin place that the boys and I stopped by on a day out of school.

Hit the gong, and the owner comes to let you in.

Almost too much to look at in a single afternoon.

I'm sure we'll come back this summer.

You could miss it from the street, but if you are persistent, it makes for a fun outing!

Gina

Firstborn - what a difference a year makes

This is Firstborn a couple weeks ago.

 Did you get your tickets?  To the gun show?

This is Firstborn a year before that. 
He's been really working hard on his physique, but he won't tell anyone that he is or why he is.  My suspicions say there's a female involved.  In any case, it's nice to see him healthy looking.  And a good-looking guy, I have to say!

Gina

Lemon Bars

It's May now, so Spring has been here a while,  but in honor of March of Dimes, I am sharing an old favorite of mine from high school - Lemon Bars!  This was a bake sale wonder and always sold out quickly.  Each year we spent the entire month of March doing car washes, bake sales, garage sales, you name it.  And the newspaper in Galveston loved the Tornettes of Ball High School:

1979 March of Dimes - Galveston Daily News

Lemon Bars
1 1/2 c. plus 3 T. flour
1/2 powdered sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter, room temp
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/2 c. white sugar
1 t. baking powder
1/3 c. lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease a 13x9 dish.  
Combine the 1 1/2 c. flour, butter, and powdered sugar 'til crumbly.  
Press into dish.

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix all else.  

Pour over crust and bake 20 minutes more.  

Cool; dust with additional powdered sugar and cut into squares.

I remember my mom requesting I bake them for the family often.  I don't make them as much any more, but whenever I do, they disappear quickly. 

Gina

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Strawberry jam

What do you do when quarts of strawberries are $1.17 at HEB?  Make jam, of course!

All that jam...just waiting for some peanut butter and bread, or biscuits, or just a spoon...

here's how I make mine:

I boil up a pot of water, with the lids and rims, then pour the water into the clean jars and set them and the lids aside.  My jars go through the dishwasher, so they just need the boiling water to help them stay hot.

I trim and cut into tiny chunks most of 2 qts. of strawberries, until I have 5 cups.  I measure out  7 cups white sugar and have a box of of pectin handy, too.

I mash and stir the strawberries and pectin in a big pot over medium high heat, adding in a teaspoon of butter to keep the foaming action down while I mash the chunks.

Once it comes to a boil, I dump in the sugar all at once and boil it hard for one minute. 

(sugar not shown here)

A hard boil cannot be stirred down.

Take the jam off the heat and dump the water out of the jars.  Then fill them with hot jam using a ladle. Wipe spilled jam off the tops of the jars and the threads.  Place the lids on and screw on the rims.  Then I turn the jars upside down for about 5 minutes while I clean up my mess.

My kitchen smells so good!

 You can see I left just about a quarter inch of room in the jar - you want them pretty full.

Then set them upright and listen for the POP as they cool and seal.    

It's called the Inversion Method and it's easy peasy!

 I estimate this batch was about $3.50 since I already had the jars.  I am saving one for my mom and a friend.  The rest will be devoured by my jam-loving peeps...

the taste of Spring in a jar and so easy - try it!

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Cookin' for my Captain
Strawberry Linky

Good Friday Thrifting 2011

It never occurred to me that St. Vinny's would not be open on Good Friday.  But the boys and I were determined to get out of the house and "bop around" as they love to say!

Stop #1 was a huge Sally Ann we had never seen before - HUGE.  I picked up a little over $2 worth of stuff that the woman rang up for $1.34, including a terra cotta sun face and some vintage fabric trims.  13 cents each  - no idea how old they are, but I would guess the early sixties - they were two for a quarter.

 Next was Thrift Town, a favorite of ours.  The boys had such a good time looking at all the "weird" stuff - they weren't even bothering to look for things they might actually want.  Creepy Stuff.  Like this cat.

Please tell me its not covered with real cat fur...

I, however, find a large bag of fabric lace and trims for $2 to add to my stash, and a box of 15 Japanese art print cards with envelopes for $1.  They are blank so they can be used for many occasions.

My total thrift purchases were less than $5!  

The blue sun got a coat of ORB this afternoon and is hanging over the mantel, and the laces and such are in my sewing box.  Check out the wide lace, perfect for making sachets.  After that, we had a great lunch at a hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant, Vallarta.

 

A fun way to spend a day off with my peeps!

Gina

Happy Easter 2011

 We had an awesome Easter - just the six of us.  Everyone got to sleep in late.  Everyone had a great breakfast. We all were ready on time and out the door for church services.  We had a delicious "Spring Thanksgiving"  luncheon.  There were plastic eggs to be found.  Easter Sussie jars discovered.  Dominoes and cards on the back patio.  And we posed for these family pics at the local park:

 

 

 

The Girl went off to work in the afternoon, and the mom got a nap, while Hubby and the boys did their own thing.  Now we are having a quiet evening and mulling over what we want for dinner.  A lovely day with much-needed family time together.  Hope yours was happy, too!

Gina

Easter sussie jars 2011

My kiddos are a little old for baskets at 21, 19, 15, and 12 and I wanted to do a little something different this year.  In fact, the past few years we haven't used baskets for Easter treats - one year it was colorful bowls from IKEA (that went directly to my kitchen afterwards), the next year was a large plastic egg with Swedish candy (again, from IKEA). 

I started with the rest of my collection of mason jars and some smallish Easter candy - jellybeans, peeps, Cadbury eggs - even pina colada tics tacs!

I filled each jar, jumbling it all together.  

I'm not a huge fan of peeps, but they look cute squished in here

I made some bunny head tags and cut around each one with my fancy craft scissors. Then tied them onto the jars with curling ribbon.  This will be a sweet little treat waiting for them when we get home from church.  And the jars will eventually return to the kitchen!

E. Bunny is a tradition my mother started and in fact, she still sends me Easter treats. You're never too old for candy!

Gina

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