Last night our power was out ... twice ... for about half an hour each time. I was going to blog but that wasn't going to work so I looked around for something crafty to do instead. I ended up at my spinning wheel and got a nice chunk of spinning done. I hope to finish off that project and share it soon. While I was spinning I was thinking about crochet. In particular I was thinking about the crochet stone pattern published on the Purl Bee a few days ago.


Of course while the power was out all I could do was think but by the time it came back on I'd remembered where my balls of purl cotton were, found my tiny crochet hook and decided which of my sewing weights* would look best covered in crochet. I plunked myself and my supplies down at my desk and pulled up the pattern. Unfortunately my camera battery died so I wasn't able to take any in progress pictures (but at least the power was on so I was able to charge it up).


I love how quickly crochet goes. Even with a few mistakes to frog back and redo I was showing my finished stone to Rob only a little while later. I love the way it turned out and it makes a special stone even more lovely.

*My sewing weights are a collection of ocean smoothed stones from the beach in front of my great-grandmother's house. I use them all the time for holding down patterns and fabric. They live in a small basket in my sewing room.

The Fifth Annual Jane Austen Fancy Dress Tea Party was held about a month ago. As usual it consisted of good friends, good conversation and lots of food. In fact I think I broke my record for food provided to a known number of people.


I also, somehow, only really took pictures of the food. In the course of the whole party I took two very bad (and I won't be posting them) pictures of my guests. We did get Rob to take a group shot of us but since I know a few of the ladies attending would rather they weren't all over the internet I won't be posting that either (it's for the scrapbook).


There were six of us at the party this year and everyone looked beautiful. Pink and white seemed to be our theme. Not only did we have lots of pretty dresses, we also had some pretty fantastic hair-dos (not me - I was still putting food together when the others were arriving); curls and ribbons and everything - so cute!


Here's the menu for this year:

Murchie's Afternoon Blend Tea
Pink Lemonade (very popular - it was a hot day)

Cucumber Sandwiches
Ribbon Sandwiches (I use dark rye bread and pink salmon cream cheese)
SouleMama's Ambrosia Salad (adjusted to Canadian canned goods sizes)
Cucumber, Radish, & Mango Salad (Martha Stewart Living, May 2010)
Devilled Eggs (plain and Dill and Caper)

Almond Macaroons (I didn't bother with the filling.)
Cherry-Almond Tea Cakes
Thimble Cookies (The All New Purity Cookbook)
Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies
Ohio Lemon Pie (The Joy of Cooking)

Wow ... even looking at that list now I feel stuffed. I took a lot of leftover goodies into work on Monday for my office mates to finish off.


Most of the recipes are tried and true but two were new to me this year. The first was the Cherry-Almond Tea Cakes. The recipe is in a cookbook I got for Christmas and I've been waiting ever since for cherries to be in season so I could make these pretty little cakes. They look so special and taste really good. I nearly messed them up completely when I was baking. Somehow I forgot to add the flour. I was trying to set the cherries into the batter in the muffin tins and thinking it seemed runnier than I was expecting when I finally realized what had happened. I scraped all the batter back into the bowl, stirred in the flour and they came out fine (and the cherries didn't fall over).


The second all new recipe seems to be just about foolproof. Ohio Lemon Pie is on the same page as Key Lime Pie in my copy of The Joy of Cooking. I've looked at it whenever I've made Key Lime Pie and thought it sounded interesting. I was thinking of making Lemon Meringue Pie for the party but when I read through the recipe it sounded a little too easy to mess up when I was on a schedule. Ohio Lemon Pie involves slicing lemons (the recipes I've found online seem to leave the peel on but the Joy of Cooking version has you cut it off) and letting them sit in sugar over night; the next day you add eggs, pour the lot into a pastry shell and shove it in the oven.


The pie wasn't as tart as I was hoping but it was easy and came out beautifully. It was really good well chilled and especially with a dollop of sweet whipped cream on the side. Next time I make it I might try cutting down the sugar or adding another lemon or using one of the online recipes that leaves the peel on the lemons (the pith is bitter and might balance the sugar better). I like the look of this one from the Smitten Kitchen.

 

And the best part ... Three more jars sitting in the freezer.

Actually, by the time I'm posting this there is half a jar in the fridge and one jar left in the freezer. I'll be making more soon.