I had to make an unexpected quick family trip to California before Christmas, but before I left, I got to make soap for the first time with a friend of mine.
Behold: my first homemade soap!
Here is the cold-processed lavender soap, stamped with the image of a thistle.
Here is the Oatmeal Honey Castile soap stamped with a dragon! I got the stamps off the internet (what can't you find on the internet) and had fun whacking each bar with the rubber mallet. Both these soaps need to cure for about six weeks, so they should be ready by January 27th. Next year, I plan on making soap around early November so it will be ready to use by Christmas.
Then, it was off to LA! The reason for the trip was, unfortunately, the sudden passing of my grandmother Dori (Delores). There was no memorial or funeral, instead we had a swinging Christmas party and a great White Elephant gift exchange. Nana was always up for a good party and we laughed as a family while flipping through picture books. It was a great way to honor her memory.
The bright side of the trip included getting to spend time with Mom on her birthday. Steven and I got her an asian-styled teapot and warmer, which she can use for herbal tea before bed and Dad bought her an incredible succulent wreath. After presents, we went to see Sherlock Holmes 2 with Pete and Val, then had a wonderful dinner at the Crab Pot in Long Beach. It definitely felt like I had stolen time with my family and it was great!
While there, Mom had me work on a project- starching some tatted ornaments. Mom had been at some crafts fair with Ms. Audrey and there was an ancient craftswoman there selling these for only $3 each!--and none of them were selling. Spinning, knitting, and weaving have enjoyed a re-emergence lately and have become quite in vogue thanks in part to the new green/ sustainable movement, but (heart-breakingly), fewer and fewer people have (re)learned to tat and the skill is quickly disappearing. Apparently, the woman who made these ornaments is practically blind and knots these patterns from memory. The fact that these tiny pieces of handmade art were going unappreciated was unacceptable to Mom and she bought them all. After some internet research, we bought some extra-strength spray starch, saturated them and pinned them to dry on wax paper-covered cardboard.
It really only took a couple of hours to pin them all and by the next morning, they were dry and ready to hang on the little rosemary tree Mom had bought.
Once I returned home, I added the ornaments to my own tree. They were SO worth the time and effort.
I got back home just in time for the Christmas Holiday. Matt and I filled the chicken feeder to bursting and headed up to Beavercreek for a few days. Matt was a true champion since he took the 3am lamb checks and let Jan have two nights of uninterrupted sleep. My a fluke of timing, nothing happened lamb-wise while we were there, but we enjoyed watching the lambs that had already arrived.
Matt and I were in charge of Christmas dessert and opted for a lemon-meringue pie. Lemon is a popular favorite (it's so rare to find a dessert that everyone likes) and I had brought back several huge pink lemons from my trip to LA. Combined with the fact that after five days of no collecting, I was also drowning in eggs, it was a no-brainer. Matt and I followed a recipe out of Cooking Illustrated and managed to make this beauty:
It. Was. Good.
Matt and I also took up "Farmopoly", which is a farm-inspired Monopoly game, and played with Jan and Neil on Christmas night.
Jan totally mopped the floor with all of us- check out her Pile-o-Money!
We also opened gifts that night and Jan made Matt a complete chef's outfit! Now he doesn't need to wear one of my "loin-cloth" aprons when he's grilling. :-)
Here's Chef Matt breaking in his new outfit- homemade hamburgers and champagne was our New Years Meal!
