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Apple Cake & digital iPad Martha Stewart Magazine Editions

I didn't remember to mention that I made Martha's (or more likely, one of her many staff writer's) Apple Pecan Cake from the latest Everyday Food mag. 

It was tasty and worked beautifully with GF flour subbed. 

And btw, if you are a Everyday Food subscriber -- you can get the issues on your iPad for free now!  I always thought it was stupid to make people pay for the digital edition when they subscribed to the print edition, so I'm happy to see this change. 

Apparently you can get free access if you are a Living subscriber too.  When did this change?  I haven't heard about it before I stumbled upon it today, but it makes me happy!

Doin' Stuff

I do not like summer.  The heat leaves me pretty miserable and somewhat lethargic, so it seems that I get so much less done during those long hot months.  Now that it's cooling down, I'm getting back to the things I love -- baking, cooking, knitting, sewing and such things.

While watching Heroes on my iPad (I'm late to Netflix, but so digging it!), I finished my orange Herbivore.  Well, I should say that I finished the knitting.  This project desperately needs to be blocked and I don't have blocking wires.  Can anyone recommend some good, inexpensive ones?

I also started socks for Maddie (who loves handknit socks -- yeah!) using Wendy's generic toe-up pattern from her first ever knitting book -- Wendy Knits: My Never-Ending Adventures in Yarn which I have owned for ages. In fact, my copy is an arc.  I can't believe I hadn't tried it before -- her description of the short row toe was very easy to follow.  

Which brings me to another Wendy Knits book:

Wendy Knits Lace: Essential Techniques and Patterns for Irresistible Everyday Lace, which I have had sitting on my desk for a few weeks, right next to my computer because I have wanted to post a review.  Let me say that this book is all fancy-like with charts and illustrations and lots of pretty photos of great lace projects.  I especially like the Stacy Shawl and I think that if I get brave, I might attempt the Vortex Spiral Shawl.  There are also hats, mittens and gloves that would be nice smaller projects.

I leave you for now with a photo of Spike, my big orange fella -- sleeping in a bankers box.  As you can see, it's a tight fit. 

Grandpa Klotz

Love this photo of my grandpa in his pharmacy.  Thanks to my Aunt Gretchen for sending this, and many other wonderful photos, to me recently.

The Calm Before the Storm

The second half of September gives us a bit of a breather -- Summer is winding down, we're back to homeschooling and the craziness of October has not yet hit. 

I'm taking some time to get ahead of the game.  Heck, I even bought Maddie's Halloween costume already!  I'm also trying to take some time to do activities that I enjoy, but have neglected becasue of the summer heat.  I actually worked on my log cabin quilt yesterday and I'm hoping to pick up the knitting needles this evening. 

Ah autumn, how I love you!

Vacation Reading, Perhaps?

I think I may have found my vacation reading for this autumn -- Reamde by Neal Stephenson.  (Or ReaMdE -- get it?)  Although at a hefty 980 pages, I think I'll buy the iBooks version so I don't have to lug a book akin to a couple of bricks halfway across the country. 

My Favorite Time of the Year

I love the autumn -- cool days, chilly nights and yet, plenty of warm sunny days mixed in.  The strawberry plants must love this weather too, because they have started to produce berries again.

And after swaddling them in bird netting (to keep out the squirrels -- not birds), the tomato plants are finally giving us some sweet, juicy tomatoes!  The basil is getting a bit long in the tooth and slightly bitter, but this was still a nice lunch.

Baking Disaster

Can you tell what I made this weekend?  Maybe this will give you a hint...

I tried a new gluten free donut recipe and despite using non-stick pans and greasing said pans, the donuts stuck like nobody's business. 

 
This one looked almost donut-like after I glopped on the icing.  And here's the crazy thing -- they were delicious despite their ugliness.  I'm thinking next time I will grease and flour the pans and if that doesn't work, maybe I'll just bake them in cupcake liners.

The recipe came from the new online gluten free magazine -- Easy Eats.