Stockings, Coconut and Corn

I like that attitude, make do and mend. Although obviously at the time of the booklet it was for an altogether terrible reason it was needed for, I think a little bit of make-do-and-mend attitude wouldn't go amiss in today's world. Though I draw the line at mending my own stockings, since even though I do fancy myself as rather a fine hand-seamstress I find the idea mind-boggling. Or maybe the stockings of the olden year were somehow different. Surely they must have been because I honestly don't know how doing this to my stockings could be in any way possible..

                  

And I have yet to find a hookie thingy like the one in the ad...but by all means, I am willing to give it a go if anyone out there can tell me where these things could be purchased from. Also, what an earth kind of thread should one use for this?

I've been having serious problems with the fit of the dress as pertains to the top. Or maybe it's just me being persnickety with it but I really want it to fit well. Anyhow, I've gotten to the point of adding the rickrack and was contemplating between three types

I think I am going to go with the one in the middle, though I like the red as well...hmm...I've also added fabric covered buttons in the front where the zipper was originally placed and moved the zipper to the side. I can't wait to finish this one since I already have a lovely 100% silk with art deco type of pattern on it for the next one waiting. I should not be allowed to enter a fabric store without a chaperone for sure...

...nor a baking store. They have finally started stocking all sorts of baking goods including ready made sugar fondant in a certain shop in here and even though I do have a wide variety of food coloring in my possession for coloring fondants I couldn't resist purchasing readily colored fondant in all sorts of weird browny and greyish colors. Why? Because I am planning a cake with sugar fondant tools on top of it. You know, hammers, screwdrivers, spades and stuff. Should be interesting as it's certainly different from making the regular roses and crew. As for the cake, I am planning something with coconut. To test flavors, I made these Pineapple Coconut Muffins with orange zest in them. End result was lovely. Not fluffy and light in my regular cupcake manner but rather moist and chewy.

On top are some little daisies cut from sugar fondant using Wilton daisy cutter with sugar pearls in the center. The topping is just plain whipped cream flavored with vanilla and sprinkled with coconut flakes. I drove around town delivering these to my Sister, the Grandparents and even my Brother at work and they seemed to be a general hit so I am actually contemplating using the recipe in making a cake base for the tool cake.

As for new food recipes, here is one for Corn Fritters I can heartily recommend anyone to try. I also made ranch dressing at the time to use with summer salads and gave it a go with the fritters and it indeed went well as an extra to the sweet chili sauce. A recipe for a home made ranch dressing can be found at Pioneer Woman. I did deviate from the fritter recipe a little though by adding some chopped green bell pepper in the mix. Worked fine.

Yes, not the lightest dish on the planet but lovely regardless...

This spring and beginning of summer have been setting me in a strangely restless mood, all new beginnings and doors opening and closing. Planting and growing. Elbow deep in dirt at the veggie patch or letting my mind be filled with theories and ideas at the university lecture hall. Letting my spirit fly high even though my feet remain rooted to the earth. The Middle Sister planted a few tulips this spring but only some of them made it above ground and I believe the ones that did are the stronger for it. She has also managed to get her orchid to bloom time and time again, a feat I can only be in awe at. I wish I had half her dedication and persistence. Come to think of it, both of my Sisters are amazingly dedicated and persistent in pretty much everything they do, be it flowers, academia or just general nature of things. Inspiring, that is. Me and the Brother tend to be of a, ahemm, slightly more adrift nature but then again, not all of those who wander are lost.

I was asked just the other day why I blog. And I did not have a ready made answer. I still don't. I am not a very public persona and do not like being the centre of attention, but nor am I shy or afraid of speaking my mind. And writing a blog is not very unlike writing a diary of sorts. But public? Well, one might very well ask how public is it really amidst the millions of other blogs that are whirring away in the ether...And anyway, I do feel that it is not, after all, such a serious issue but more on the lines of

                                        

                                                                  Indeed.

And because I am such a poetry geek I just have to again take leave with a piece of loveliness in the form of words by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

                                       I tell my secret? No indeed, not I:

Perhaps some day, who knows?

But not today; it froze, and blows and snows,

And you're too curious, fie!

You want to hear it? well:

Only, my secret's mine and I won't tell.

Spring's an expansive time: yet I don't trust

March with it's peck of dust,

Nor April with it's rainbow-crowned brief showers,

Nor even May, whose flowers

One frost can wither thro' the sunless hours.

Perhaps some languid summer day

When drowsy birds sing less and less,

And golden fruit is ripening to excess,

If there's not too much sun nor too much cloud,

And the warm wind is neither still nor loud,

Perhaps my secret I may say,

or you may guess.

Christina Rossetti