Those rainbow Jello eggs.....

   I thought the pictures of those rainbow Jello eggs floating around the Internet looked super delightful and I needed to bring a dessert to our annual family Easter gathering, something the "kids would like." Well if kids don't like rainbow Jello eggs, I don't know what they like.

   But, I could not find a real recipe for these eggs. I found a suggestion of a recipe that led to a sort of recipe. But how much cool whip, sour cream, yogurt, etc. do you add? How long is long enough for the Jello to become tacky but not fully set to add the next layer? How much Jello do I need to make to make a dozen eggs? The whole box seemed like too much. So I set out to come up with a real recipe. Here is what I did and this is what happened....

   I bought 6 colors of Jello; red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. I used only half of each box for 12 eggs. Each box is about 6T of powder. So I used 3T of powder, 1/2 C hot water and 1/2 C cold water. I made all 6 colors at the same time. I sprayed the egg molds really well with Pam cooking oil spray, using my finger to make sure the whole inside of the egg was coated. Terrified I would go through all this trouble and the eggs would fall apart. Yikes!

   I used a small plastic medicine syringe, the kind that comes with kids medicine because that is what I had in the house. I put two syringes full of red Jello in the egg mold first. Then I whisked in 1T of sour cream to the remaining Jello in the bowl. I kept checking the molds every five minutes to see when they would become tacky but not be too set that the layers would not stick together...   After 25 minutes of checking and not getting a set at all, I put all the other bowls of Jello in the fridge to cool. I guess I could have done the "quick set" directions on the box with the ice-cubes but I did not know ahead of time.

   Finally at 27 minutes I added the same amount for the second layer of the red with the added sour cream. This layer mixed in with the first layer in a few eggs, but most stayed on top. I waited 10 minutes for the orange layer and squirted that in, some fell through again, some stayed on top. 

   Then my 2 1/2 year old slipped and fell and wacked his nose and cheek and chipped a tooth. Off we went to emergent care. So the beginnings of the rainbow Jello eggs, which was not going so well would not get finished. 

   When we came home, I dumped all the extra jello in a bowl and it turned brown and I stuck it in the fridge. I will probably throw it out because honestly, I am not a fan of Jello. It is full of artificial garbage and is way too sweet. I will never try to make these eggs again. If you do, I wish you great luck and patience and time to finish. 

    

Easta Eggs

   So, Desmond and I attempted this project I saw on line. Here is the link to the original -    http://littlewondersdays.blogspot.com/2011/03/shaving-cream-painted-easter-egg-cards.html. It was not all I hoped it would be. For one thing, it was very messy and the clean up was a pain in the butt. The eggs came out pretty descent  but they smell strongly like shaving cream. I am not so sure I'd do it again. But that shaving cream with the paint swirled in it sure was pretty! Here are some pictures.

The shaving cream is in the tray. 

Swirling the paint with a plastic spoon together. 

Pressing down our egg.

Lifting our egg out of the cream.

Shaving cream peaks

Ta da!

Paper egg with the shaving cream still on.

Here are our smelly finished eggs.

Photo Garland

   I made this after Christmas but you can make one anytime. This a great use of those Christmas cards you get with photographs of your friends and family. I didn't want to get rid of last year's pictures when this year's arrived in the mail. Instead of sticking them in a box, I made a garland that I could keep up all year long. You could do this with any photos or any cards. I love reusing cards as decorations. Here are pictures of the process. Easy as pie. 

I cut the photo cards and a few other pretty cards into soft cloud shapes with scissors. You'll need a hole punch and some yarn. 

I laid out the shapes on a table in the order I wanted them to hang.

String the yarn through the holes and tie a knot to keep it in place. Space them evenly apart.  This is the garland hanging on a blank spot on our bulletin board. Those sweet faces are my nieces and nephews. 

It looks nice hanging across a painting or with other photos. 

Or hung across the top of a window.

It ended up back on our bulletin board with our photos and art. 

  

Mud Kitchen

   Desmond is trying out a preschool that my friend Danielle runs out of her house called Art and Soul. She has a mud kitchen in her yard and this inspired me to make one for Desmond. There is a wonderful flea market on 9W in Ravena NY, that is a glorious junk shop with aisles and piles of THINGS. This is where I did most of my shopping, except for a couple of dollar store things. I love the idea of reusing old things and giving them new purpose. Here are some pictures I took as I put the kitchen together. I am sure it will evolve over time. I am trying to let go of the order and cleanliness that is my wish for the mud kitchen. First of all, it is not mine per say and second of all it is a MUD kitchen. 

Spidey, the family dog, checking out the kitchen. Sorry Spidey, no food here. 

We have different sized bowls with spouts to practice pouring, a pot, some muffin tins, fun utensils, a funnel, a big bowl for water, plates, cups and forks, knives and spoons. I have since added a couple of strainers, mustard and ketchup squirt bottles, some wooden spoons and a bench for sitting.

I tied a few hooks to twine and made a place to hang things on the fence.

Lookin' good!

Oh! Chalk! 

Desmond jumps right in. We fill the big yellow bowl with water and he tries out the ladle. 

He adds water to a bowl of dirt. "Watcha makin', Desmond?" 

"Bread," he says.

Happy day! Happy mud kitchen!

Irish Soda Bread

   Happy St. Patrick's Day! I got my clover garland up from last year which I still love. When Desmond gets up from his nap, we'll make a leprechaun trap! I filled his head with leprechaun images on youtube before he went to sleep....  And I want to share the very best irish soda bread recipe with you. My mom's. Although I don't know where she got it and she didn't come up with it herself. But it's easy and so delicious. Please make some, you won't regret it! This recipe makes 2 round loaves. Here it is :

4 C flour

2 t salt

1 1/2 t baking soda

1/4 t baking powder

1/3 C sugar

1 3/4 C raisins

2 T caraway seeds

1 3/4 C sour cream

2 eggs

   Sift dry ingredients in a big bowl and mix together. Add in raisins and seeds. In a separate bowl combine sour cream and eggs. Make a hole in the flour and stir in wet ingredients. Mix until moistened and a ball forms. Spilt into two round loaves. Place both on a floured baking sheet not touching. Slash cross on top with sharp knife. Bake at 350* for 45 minutes.

   I usually substitute whole wheat flour in every recipe and honey or maple syrup for sugar but I haven't tried it with this. If you do, will you let me know how it turns out?

.....Made our bread, some rainbow sugar cookies cut into clovers for our traps and set our traps outside! Tomorrow Desmond will find a pair of leprechaun shoes filled with green jelly beans in exchange for the pretty fool's gold and cookies. You can't fool a leprechaun.

My Irish Soda Bread. The raisins that fall off are the best part.

YUM

My attempt at rainbow colored, clover shaped, sugar cookies.

Spray painted tuna cans, leprechaun blankets, cookies and fool's gold.

Desmond adds colorful umbrellas, because, leprechauns love rainbows.

The cookies, comfy beds and fools gold are in place.

When Irish eyes are smiling!

Leprechaun shoes and a note for Desmond.

Awaiting Spring

        I am anxious for Spring to come swinging back to town. Thinking about my garden and the things I want to do outside. Reminiscing about the magical things that happen when it's warm and things grow....

The chicken who laid this egg must have been in love. 

Our pumpkin vine was in love with our Japanese Maple, reaching up to hold it's hand, I mean branch. 

The hay we laid down over or grass seed started to sprout!

The view out our kitchen window when our sail shade was up over our patio and Desmond's birthday flags were strung up around the shade. Look at those green leaves... yum

Thanksgiving

  Yes, it was a couple of months ago but I wanted to show you something. I got to host Thanksgiving at my house this year. Our usual plans of being on Long Island for Thanksgiving with friends on Thursday and then our traditional second Thanksgiving on Saturday with family were not going to happen due to a wedding in CA and my cousins new baby in Boston! Hello Oliver! So, we had some friends at our house and we all cooked up a storm to create a collective of amazong dishes. That was a typo but I think it is fitting. They weren't just amazing, they were amazong.

  Of course I could not let the opportunity go by without relishing in the table setting. I loved putting out a vintage table cloth and vintage dishes and cloth napkins, along with our fancy glasses my husband and I bought in Venice Italy on our honeymoon. Oo la la! Of course I had to have a chat with Martha (in my mind) and tried out her candle holders made from radishes? no. parsnips? no. What are they called? Ah yes, turnips. They were supposed to be made with a melon baller but mine had disappeared so I used a paring knife which did not work as well as I think the melon baller would have. But it was still a nice touch.

   Then I had my own idea to make place cards by printing out some vintage Thanksgiving greeting cards on parchment style paper and sewing our names with my sewing machine on the cards. I have never tried to write with my sewing machine and I think if I had had some more time to practice and had planned ahead, buying a better thread for contrast, these would have been even better. But as a last minute thought, they were fun to make and the finished product was imperfectly sweet.  I think my first idea was to embroider our names in the paper but I did not have a lot of time so I tried the sewing machine. Not bad!

A simple but pretty place setting.

My place card with a chocolate turkey. Yum.

Even prettier when you held it up to the light....

My husband Joseph at the table.

My little one, Desmond, two socks short of a Risky Business moment....
He doesn't last at the table long.