Successful Baking

I was reading the October and November issue of Taste of Home magazine and I came across a short article titled "Blast from the past". It talks about traveling back to a simpler time by visiting Kings Landing Historical Settlement in Kings Landing, NB (New Brunswick in Canada).

This settlement is especially enjoyed during the Thanksgiving festival in October "(Canada celebrates the holiday on the second Monday of October)." The staff at King's Head Inn dress up and serve a traditional 19th-century Thanksgiving meal plus Old-Fashioned Brown Bread.

My whole reason for this post is the Old-Fashioned Brown Bread. They included the recipe for the bread in the magazine and it sounded so good I had to try it out.

As far as I can tell it was a huge success. I made it last night and it was still just as good this morning.

Because of how much I liked it I think I'll share the recipe with all of you - (I think this is my second favorite white bread recipe).


Old-Fashioned Brown Bread

2-1/3 cups boiling water
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup butter, cubed
1/3 cup molasses
5-1/2 to 6-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
5 tsp. active dry yeast
2 tsp. salt

In a large bowl, pour boiling water over oats. Stir in butter and molasses. Let stand until mixture cools to 120 - 130 degrees, stirring occasionally.

In another bowl, combine 3-1/2 cups flour, yeast and salt. Beat in oat mixture until blended. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.

Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half. Shape into loaves. Place in two greased 9-in. x 5 in. loaf pans. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Bake at 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.

Hope you enjoy it as much as i did!

I'm Crafty!

I decided to try out an easy craft and look what I did:


This (It's a barrette, for those who may not have girls) will be going to a certain sister of mine who started Kindergarten this year (hence the little no. 2 pencil).

Pretty good for the first try ... things can only get better from here, right?

Oh and then I tried another type and this is how it turned out:

I probably needed to add more ribbon to this last one because it's a little sad looking at some angles but for the most part I am pleased with my first tries.

Pizza Delivery Tips

Assuming everyone is like me, everyone orders pizza to be delivered. So what do you do when the dreaded moment comes and you have to tip the delivery person.

I asked a pizza deliverer once (not someone who was delivery to my house at the time) what was considered good etiquette as far as tipping a delivery driver. She said that you should tip 15% of the order or $3 - whichever is more.

So I had that dilemma out of the way and then I came across delivery fees. So, here is my question for the blogosphere:

I order a pizza for $15.00 and then I am charged a $2.00 delivery fee. Does that fee go towards the tip I will end up paying the delivery driver (so maybe an $1 tip after the fee?) or do I include that into total amount and get my tip from 15% of $17? Or none of the above?

Help. I have decided until I know this answer I will just be picking up my pizzas from the pizza place.

Pumpkin Fun

I finally convinced Ben to carve some pumpkins so we went to the store last night and picked out our pumpkins and then hollowed them out and set to work to make them beautiful.

Here are our works of are in the light:


And the much better picture of them in the dark:
And then I started playing with the color settings and got this:


I don't think I'll ever be too old for carving pumpkins! I love getting my hands dirty in the pumpkin guts and then carving out some sort of face on the front. My favorite pumpkin I ever carved was a mummy. Too bad I don't have any pictures of that. It was quite awesome!

Ode to the Vacuum

There once was a vacuum that I really loved
I bought it when I was just 18
It was little and yellow
Bag-less and lightweight
And most importantly, it was only $20 out of my hard earned cash
It traveled with me wherever I went
9 moves total
Some across the city, some across the state and some across the west
Then one day while doing its job, it started to snort and grind
Soon it smelled like the carpet was on fire and I realized it might be the end
I kept on vacuuming because I knew the little thing would want to get the job done
When the vacuum was off the smell got worse
I sat near my little yellow friend and cried
We chatted about the things it had cleaned up over the years -
Spiders, dirt, ants, hair, any many other things I care not to remember
Now it's sitting in the closet probably never to be used again - it's dead
I'll miss its cute look, it's easy storing
But mostly I'll miss the money we're going to have to spend on a new one

The End

Isn't it lovely ...

A friend of ours suggested going on a hike in the nearby mountains. So we met up with him for breakfast and then headed to the trail. I can't get over how beautiful it is here.

Ben found a huge hallowed out tree. I tried to get him to pose in it but he wouldn't so I braved the possibility (and likelyhood) of spiders and climbed on in.

And in case you can't really tell ... here is a shot of the tree from the inside looking up. Awesome.

The worst part about the hike was that it made me realize how likely it is that winter is right around the corner. It was cold! Which is why this picture of Ben about to jump in the water is only a picture of him about to jump in. Had he actually gotten into the water he'd probably have died of hypothermia.

And lastly, a picture of us at our destination. It was beautiful.

I can't wait to go out and explore nature a little more. We've done all the touristy things and now it's time we get into the other stuff.

Oh. Did I mention how it's still sunny? I may be cursing us but I'm pretty happy with the sun still shining. I'm hoping it'll last a few more months.

New Ward = New Calling

Each time we move into a new ward there are two things I have panic attacks over. The first is having to give a talk in sacrament meeting and not really knowing when it will come. The second is getting a calling.

At some point last week we were asked to come in to church a half hour early to meet with someone in our bishopric. Ben knew and I knew that we'd be getting a calling. I was praying it would be a calling I could do without dreading each week. Well, it definitely wasn't a calling I had expected. Maybe I'd be more scared of the calling if I knew more about what we'll be doing, but for now I'm just glad I wasn't called as a Relief Society teacher.

We are now officially ward missionaries.