Latest Project

I'm trying to get this ready for the wedding in Charleston this weekend. All I have left is the hem and clasp on the waste band.

KC

We finally left Sioux City for the first time two weeks ago. Nathans friends from college live in Kansas City so went down for a weekend visit. We had a lot of fun and it was nice to get to know them a little better since I had only talked to them for a few minutes at our wedding.

They took us to the shop where Chris works (restoring cars) and a couple places around town. We're really looking forward to going back when the weather is warmer and we can all do more.

Chris & Marjory (love her hat!)

Awesome cars!
It was nice to have a female to talk to while the boys talked cars:)

Chris & Marjory's favorite gelato spot...

...pure heaven. I'd drive 4 hours just for this!

City Market
Can't wait to see this during the summer.

Glorious spices!

The City Market also has a little Italian shop. All kinds of wonderful cheese, sausages, olives,
and octopus salad.

Thanks for having us ya'll we had a great weekend.

Butter

I finally got around to making butter last week because we got snowed in on Monday and couldn't go to work. It turned out really well and it's super easy!

After we skimmed the cream we let it sit in the fridge for about a week. On Monday we pulled it out and let it sit on the counter till it came up to room temperature.
Next we put it in the mixer and beat it at medium-high speed.

After a while it will start to look curdled and separate.

Then all you have to do is scoop the butter into cheese cloth (or clean pantyhose) squeeze the excess buttermilk out and rinse with cool water. We used the buttermilk for pancakes the next day...yummy!

Press it into a mold or dish and store in the refrigerator.

7 Inches & Still Coming Down

Tried to take Nathan to work this morning....didn't make it. Waiting for the snow plow!

Vintage Pattern Giveaway

If you love vintage patterns enter this giveaway! I have so much fabric but no patterns!!

Christmas Food

I'm finally getting around to posting about our Christmas a week later. It's been a crazy busy week and now I'm sick with a cold but at least I'm home with my husband blogging and baking bread.
Unfortunately I failed to take pictures of anything other than food but it was a big part of the day so here is what we ate! All of my recipes I pulled out of my stacks of Cooking Light magazines so I'm just posting links instead of typing out four separate recipes.

Brunch

One of the positives of living in a very cold climate is that if you forget to chill the champagne over night in the fridge it only takes 10 minutes of sitting outside to chill.

I set the table with the finest!

We started out with a Citrus & Kiwi Fruit Salad with Pomegranate Seeds and

Savory Bread pudding with Goat Cheese
I would recommend adding a little salt and more goat cheese to the recipe.

Freshly squeezed mimosas.

Dinner

Candied Walnut, Pear & Leafy Green Salad
By far the best salad I've made...amazing!

Sauteed Carrots with Sage & Pork Loin Stuffed with Herbed Bread Stuffing

I did modify the stuffing by leaving out the mushrooms, sausage and carrot and stuffing it inside the butterflied pork lion instead of in a casserole dish.