Earth Hour 2010

Yes, it's that time of year again!

AT 8:30 pm TURN OFF YOUR LIGHTS!




We were suppose to go to a dance tonight so I wasn't sure how we would participate in Earth Hour this year. As it happens I'm not feeling very well and we will be staying home this evening.... problem solved.

Some Acreage Updates

Oh, how I have neglected this blog. So much happens around the acreage and I often just don't have the time (or sometimes the inclination) to write about it.

Our egg supply has been greatly reduced as of late - the chicken and the ducks are both molting. The hen looks practically naked, Cockzilla is looking extremely scruffy, and Lucky is looking glorious (he has made an amazing transformation after surviving the axe).

Our boxer, Kaiser, had an incident with an aggressive neighbour dog. Unfortunately we did not see it happen or we would have been complaining to the owners. Kaiser received a nice bite on the side of his ribs - enough to clearly see two deep punctures. We noticed it on a Friday and by Monday he had been moping around the house with no energy, would not eat and his side was terribly swollen. I managed to get him into the vet's office right away and he was given a large dose of antibiotics. The vet was concerned that the wound would abscess, but he was lucky and it healed quickly.

The aggressive dog did go into another neighbour's yard and attacked their dog. These people have three children under the age of 5 and are very concerned. The husband spoke with the dog's owner and we have noticed them taking their dog for a walk on the leash and he doesn't appear to be running free as often.

I guess that is one of the things we have to put up with in rural living. Luckily, all of the neighbours we know are extremely nice and responsible people, and most of the dogs are not running around wild.

Husband has been playing with seeds... Our ordered garden seeds have come in with the exception of the flowers seeds (which should arrive Wednesday). This year he purchased growing lights and has already started the tomatoes, eggplant, cabbage, and peppers in the garage. I am hoping it isn't too early - but this winter has been very mild and so spring should be coming soon. We currently still have a foot of snow in the yard, but have been sitting on the front south facing deck on sunny weekend mornings with coffee in hand (and sometimes it has even felt almost too warm!)

I have been working a lot of hours and feel that the house has really been neglected. I haven't even been working/experimenting in the kitchen much. I plan on taking tomorrow off and doing a good cleaning and catching up on some laundry.

I feel that even my recycling efforts have fallen by the wayside to some degree. That actually started over the summer when London Drugs decided that they would no longer accept plastics (other than if it came from something purchased at their store). Well, let me tell you that my garbage output increased tremendously. I'm actually shocked at how much unnecessary packaging there is that ends up in the landfill. My small weekly bag of garbage is no longer small, nor only one bag. I'm going to have to become more conscious again of what exactly I am purchasing, as it is quickly becoming ridiculous.

Paperwork

Not much has been going on at the ol' homestead lately.

I feel like I am being consumed by paperwork. It is almost 2 years now since we moved in and I have to get my paperwork together to claim back the GST we paid on building the house and landscaping last summer. I spent most of yesterday sorting out and calculating receipts, and will be finishing it off today.

Then I need to get my business GST and bookwork in order for the close approaching tax season.

I also need to update our household budget that I have let slide over the past 2 weeks or so, and organize last year's paid bills and paperwork.

Mountains of paperwork! It is my own fault, I know. I hate having to deal with paperwork so I procrastinate until it MUST be done and by then it feels like an overwhelming mountain.

Olympic Flame 2010

I know I am really behind on posting anything lately. I've been busy with work plus everything else on our lives.

On January 29th the Olympic torch passed through our city and Husband, Son and I went to watch. One of Husband's coworkers was a torch bearer, so we stood outside to see him run with the flame. He is below on the right.


Son and I with flags in hand waiting for him to run by.


The Olympics begin on Friday and it has been unseasonably warm this year - they have been hauling snow onto the ski hills. My sister said the flowers are already blooming in the lower mainland. We still have snow here, but no where near what we had over the past two winters.

Cake

I have been baking cake for the family every Sunday for the past couple of weeks. It is nice for Sunday's dessert and provides a treat for the upcoming week's lunches.

I hate using plastic containers or wrapping the cake in plastic wrap, so I checked out Ebay and won a lovely vintage aluminum cake saver. The top has an acorn handle and around the side it is embossed with oak leaves and acorns. I can't wait to use it for today's cake!

Today's recipe was found on Uncle Phaedrus, Finder of Lost Recipes and is a white cake with pineapple filling.

WHITE CAKE
Ingredients :
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. Crisco or oil
4 egg whites
2 1/4 c. plain flour
1/4 tsp. salt
3 tsp. baking powder
1 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla flavoring

Preparation : Cream sugar and Crisco together, add egg whites one at a time. Sift in 2 1/4 cups plain flour, add salt, baking powder and milk; mix well. Add the vanilla flavoring. Bake at 325 degrees until done (approx 30 minutes). Makes three layers (I made two 9" cake layers).


PINEAPPLE FILLING:
2 c. crushed pineapple
3 tbsp. plain flour
1/2 stick butter
1 c. sugar
Preparation : Cook in double boiler until thick enough to spread between the layers.

WHITE ICING:
2 egg whites
1/3 c. water
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. vanilla flavoring
Preparation : Put egg whites, sugar, water and cream of tartar and mix thoroughly in double boiler. Place over reapidly boiling water and beat constantly with rotary egg beater until mixture will hold a peak (about 7 minutes). Remove from fire, add vanilla, and beat until cool and thick enough to spread.

I had some difficulty with the icing as the original recipe was very imbiguous - they must have assumed the reader would know how to prepare it. I was about to throw it out as I couldn't get it to thicken. I began looking through another cookbook and realized it had the same ingredients as Seven Minute Frosting. So I put it back in the double boiler and followed the instructions for this frosting and it worked! The icing instructions above are for the Seven Minute Frosting.

The Finished Product

This is a very yummy cake! The icing was very sweet, but the cake itself had a very nice flavour.

New Vintage Blog

I decided to start a new blog that will focus on vintage interests, instead of mixing it up into my family's blog. There will be some cross posting going on, especially when it comes to recipes and cooking and possibly some other items.

I will slowly start moving the sidebar items that concern vintage clothing, cooking etc over to the new blog during next few days.

If you want to check it out you can find me at Carpe Diem Vintage.

The Carpe Diem Acreage blog will continue just as it has over the past few years.

Bread

For the life of me, I cannot bake a reasonable loaf of white bread. I've been trying for about 16 years and just can't get it. Oh sure, my loaves look great on the outside, but once cut the interior is a damp heavy mess. It doesn't matter what recipe I try, they always fail.

Husband's mother baked great bread so last weekend he decided to give it try. He emailed his sister for the recipe and went to work. Of course HIS bread turned out wonderful - light, fluffy and very tasty. Guess what he will be doing every weekend from now on!

The bread was so wonderful that I didn't even want to give the heels to the chicken, so I saved them up for bread pudding. I used a wartime recipe from The 40's Experiment and it really is the best bread pudding recipe I have ever made.

Here is husband putting this weekend's bread into the oven....














Here is my mother-in-law's bread recipe which I think may have come from a Purity cookbook:

White Bread:
Yield: 4 Loaves (use 8 1\2" x 4 1\2"bread pans.)

Scald
2 cups milk

Pour into a large bowl and add
1\4 cup sugar
4 teaspoon salt
1\4 cup shortening
1 cup water

Stir until the shorting melts. Cool to lukewarm.

Meanwhile, dissolve 2 teaspoons sugar in 1 cup lukewarm water
Over this sprinkle 2 packages active dry yeast*

Let stand for 10 minutes. Keep at a temperature of about 80 degrees. Then stir briskley with a fork.
Add softened yeast to the lukewarm milk mixture. Stir
Beat in 5 cups Pre-sifted all-purpose flour
Then add another 4 1/2 to 5 cups pre-sifted all-purpose flour
Work in last of the flour with a rotating motion of the hand. Turn dough onto a lightly floured board and knead for 8 to 10 minutes.
Shape into a smooth ball.
Place dough in a lightly greased bowl. grease top slightly. Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk-about 1 1/2 hours.-keep dough in a warm place.
Punch down the risen dough and turn onto a lightly floured board. Cut into four equal pieces and form each into a smooth ball. Cover and let rest for 15 minutes.
Shape each ball of dough into a loaf. Place in greased pans and grease the tops. Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk (about 1 1/4 hours).
Bake in preheated oven 425 oven for 30 to 35 minutes.