Fall

I made this little (14 1/2" x 16") quilt using Jane Sassaman's guidelines -- from her workshop here one Friday & Saturday in November. If I remember right, on Friday we made shapes & on Saturday we played with them. But it's not that simple. I did most of the work at home. Jane told us to use three colors (I chose brown, gold, purple.) and then to simplify and exaggerate three natural shapes. I used leaves I'd picked up in Phipps Park off Miller's Landing Road. The swirl I copied from Marsha. I call it Fall and decided to make a series of the seasons at Phipps.

A Different Life: Growing Up Learning Disabled and Other Adventures by Quinn Bradlee
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I love to see learning from the viewpoint of the student, the learner. From Quinn Bradlee I learned "It's just hard for me to find motivation sometimes" (109). He's son of Ben Bradlee, who was editor of the Washington Post during the Watergate era, and Sally Quinn, the writer. He says he'd trade all his wealth  for "a brain that worked right." (110)


But I didn't find much more here. Quinn's life reminds me of what someone --whose name I mercifully forget -- once said of me: His life might be worth an essay, but not a book.


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Angel Trumpets for Sale

I would pay a lot for an angel trumpet.
(Sign beside N. Meridian Road, taken in November, when I thought an angel was on my quilt)

Winged woman

36 1/2" width
35 1/2" length

Commercial and hand-dyed fabric, lace, ribbon, paint. Machine quilted.
Took me so long that I barely have anything left to say about her. She started out as Grief, turned into Angel, and then I finally realized she is a Winged woman. I do love her.
Inspiration: Hendra Gunawan's The Snake Dancer, Natalia Sergueievna Gontcharova's Archange, NYTimes photograph by Paul Banks on June 16, 2011.
A long time ago I wrote a poem in the voice of Noah, about his daughter who stayed behind to make room for others on the ark. She had wings.

Mocha fudge cake

Patrice wanted me to get to Miami a day early so I could make this cake, which used to be my contribution to Christmas Eve dinner. I didn't, and thought this would be a season without chocolate. But when I met Grace at Pam and Joe's, her face lit up. She remembered my cake, from  many Christmases ago. Memory prevailed: I made it for New Year's Day.

Mocha fudge cake

Set oven to 250°.

Butter a round 9-inch pan with a removable bottom. Line it with heavy-duty foil. Lightly but thoroughly butter the foil.

In a large saucepan combine:
1 C. strong coffee
1 lb. semisweet chocolate (I use Kallebut semisweet. Don't use bitter.)
2 C. sugar
2 C. unsalted butter

Cook over medium heat until it is the temperature of a warm bath. (Lately I've been putting it in a glass bowl and using a microwave. Watch it, because the chocolate can burn.) Take it off the heat. Let it sit, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate is melted.

Beat eight eggs lightly and then add the chocolate slowly.  Mix until well blended. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake 1 1/2 hr. The center will be shaky. It firms up. Let the cake cool, then refrigerate it overnight.

Serve with 1 1/2 c. cream (I use organic. It tastes better.), whipped with 1/4 C. confectioner's sugar and 1/2 tsp. good vanilla. You can garnish with fresh strawberries, or a couple spoonfuls of crushed raspberries.

From the Frog cookbook.

Happy New Year!

This morning Zing! and I walked the foggy beach at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. Zing! chased fiddler crabs and I watched fish jump. It was a dreamy beginning to 2012. Clark stayed home and cooked sauerkraut (which was delicious).

As each year goes by, I note things big and small that make a personal difference. 2011 was the year for:

1. Cedar Key
2. French press coffee
3. Ballet
4. Old friends
5. Clark gave me a fine sharp knife.
6. I joined a health club (and one month later it closed).
7. When I had to make a choice I picked the easy way.
8. I sold quilts. Someone loved my quilts.
9. A poem came to me complete in the middle of the night. And I remembered it in the morning.
10. I was walking Zing! and a man drove by, then stopped abruptly and backed his truck to us. He rolled down the window and I swear he tipped his hat. "With all due respect, ma'am, you are beautiful," he said. Rolled up the window and drove away.
11. Wow! Clark and I just switched our daily New York Times and Tallahassee Democrat from paper to iPad. We have cherished our morning coffee and newspaper moments for 30+ years, and were certain we'd be the last to relinquish newsprint. (Maybe we are.)
12. My cousin Mary Jo died. She was the first (in adulthood) of my generation to go.

Grandma Krumm's Vanilla Strips

Grandma made these every Christmas, but you could make them for New Year's Eve. As I remember, hers weren't this good. They were kind of flat. Must be my Kitchen Aid. Could be our Serenity Farm eggs ... I do remember an awful-smelling henhouse out back, so Grandma had natural eggs too. But that was a long time ago. This is half of Grandma (Josephine Krumm)'s recipe. It's German.

Vanilla Strips

4 egg whites at room temperature
1 lb. confectioner's sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 C. toasted walnuts, ground fine (I use the Muehli mill that is a gift from Dale, but a food processor should work too. Or just chop them like crazy.)
3/4 C. fine, sifted bread crumbs (I had some in the freezer, made from leftover stale bread.)

Start beating the egg whites. Gradually add sugar, while beating them for about 15 minutes. (The old recipe says this, but Grandma's mixer was different. I've done it in less time. This year, though, I followed the directions, dribbling sugar in slowly.) It should be fluffy and stiff and almost intolerably sweet.

Divide the mixture into two equal parts (says Grandma -- I do 1/3 to 2/3.) Add crumbs and nuts to the small part and vanilla to the other. Roll out the crumb/nut mixture on a floured board to about 1/8." Cut in trips 1" x 2." Put them on a cookie sheet covered in parchment. They don't spread, so you can put them pretty close together. Cover with the vanilla mixture. I just use a spoon, but you could use one of those press things for a professional look. Bake at 325° about 7 minutes, or until just lightly brown.

Note: This year I ended up beating another couple of whites with more vanilla and sugar.  I must have been extra generous with the topping; I needed more. Also, I forgot the bread crumbs, but added more nuts. It was delicious, maybe a little crisper than usual.  It made three nicely crowded cookie sheets.