Today...

My house looks like this:

Wanna come help?

Cornmeal Crust Dough

A regrettably long time ago, I was having lunch with a dear friend and having a conversation about cooking. She mentioned she had this great idea for a pie (which I cannot remember at the moment) but was having trouble because traditional pie crust just tasted off when paired with her magnificent filling. I suggested she try a cornmeal crust dough. WHAT? Cornmeal crust pie dough?

Anyways, I told her I had seen it in Southern Living, had made it once and loved it and promised to get her the recipe. Oops. That was like 2 (?) months ago. Sorry Elizabeth!

Now, for your enjoyment:

Cornmeal Crust Dough, from Southern Living and you can make the Homemade Apple Pie to go with it (YUM!)

Ingredients

• 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup plain yellow cornmeal
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup cold butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1/4 cup cold shortening, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 8 to 10 Tbsp. chilled apple cider

Preparation

• 1. Stir together first 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Cut in butter and shortening with a pastry blender until mixture resembles small peas.
• 2. Mound flour mixture on 1 side of bowl. Drizzle 1 Tbsp. apple cider along edge of mixture in bowl. Using a fork, gently toss a small amount of flour mixture into cider just until dry ingredients are moistened. Move mixture to other side of bowl, and repeat procedure with remaining cider, 1 Tbsp. at a time, until a dough forms.
• 3. Gently gather dough into 2 flat disks. Wrap in plastic wrap, and chill 1 to 24 hours.

I hate caulking

Anyone else feel the same way? Caulk is my absolute least favorite chore, next to folding clothes and scrubbing toilets. Now it's warm enough and dry enough to do some caulking in the bathrooms, gutters and windows for general home owner maintenance. Thank you Dad for teaching me the ways of responsible homeownership.

As I was caulking our bathrooms this week though, I did learn a nice little trick. Let's start at the beginning, silicone caulk should be used in kitchens and baths. The one I used (2nd from the left) is GE brand, silicone in white and it's 3 hours to shower-ready and has a 5 year mold and mildew resistance guarantee. FAB! Why should you use silicone? It is flexible, doesn't crack and totally waterproof. It's also a big pain in the butt to apply because it is not water soluble and therefore, a pain to clean off your finger as you smooth the bead of caulk and a pain to clean up if you mess up. BUT... (thank you youtube) if you dip your finger in soapy water before running your finger along the bead of caulk it won't stick and you get a nice smooth line. To clean it up, just use mineral spirits. Above all else, before you do any caulking, remove all of the grody old stuff with a putty knife and exact-o knife.

That liquid nails is for the front steps, those tiles that had been dropping like flies are going to be re-stuck, regrouted and given a new lease on life. More on that in the future.

I'm off to break out the caulking gun and get back to it.

Baby got back!

The back of our house has seen a major transformation over the last year.

This is a picture of when we bought it in 2009. Notice the massive rose tree in front of the patio. And the "deck" under the window (and blocking the window). The beds were overgrown and vines climbed up the side of the house.

Here we are in summer of 2010. We cut the lady banks rose down to the ground, pulled all the fig vine off the house (except for below the window on the patio), cleaned out the bed in front of the patio and transplanted a couple of crepe myrtles. We also took down the part of the "deck" covering that window (the third window from the left).

And 2011... well, hello Back of the House, nice to finally meet you! Notice the deck is all gone, there is a new bed in place with a new brick border (thank you to my super sweet Mom & Dad who came for Easter and of course Eric!) with more crepe myrtles and sun loving plants like day lillies and lantanas.

Soooo much better and BONUS. Our house looks huge now!

Just in case you are wondering, we live in a one story, raised ranch built into a slope so that the crawlspace is actually a one car garage with a large workspace. There is a door you can't see just to the left of the AC unit in the last picture.

A quilt for nephew-to-be

I'm going to be an Auntie! I'm going to be an Auntie! (name that movie)

So I'm doing what best aunt's in the world do, giving my sewing machine a workout.

First up, a scrappy rainbow baby quilt. I got the inspiration and am quilting along with Comfortstitching, a lovely talented quilter blogger in the UK.

Here are my blocks: (these things are ADDICTING!)

I'm a little late in posting about it so they have actually been pressed, cut and framed. I'm going to wrap up the quilt top soon and will be sure to share! It's not too late for you to join either. These blocks are perfectly suited to my quilting style, very little cutting and measuring!