I had to put another picture of her on my blog. Soon I will have to ship her to her new home. I hope the little girl who receives her for Christmas will enjoy her as much as I enjoyed making this sweet gal!
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
The Big Mistake in the Recipe
Please don't shoot me. I made a huge mistake in my recipe the other day: For the layered applecake or gedeckter Apfelkuchen it should read:
4 teaspoons of baking POWDER and NOT Soda!!!
Germans don't really use the other stuff (soda). I hope you read this and don't get upset with me in case you tried my recipe and it didn't work out.
Sorry! I suppose one shouldn't try and do two recipes at once...
4 teaspoons of baking POWDER and NOT Soda!!!
Germans don't really use the other stuff (soda). I hope you read this and don't get upset with me in case you tried my recipe and it didn't work out.
Sorry! I suppose one shouldn't try and do two recipes at once...
Since the last time I have made this cake again. Everybody loved it so much that they begged for it. This time around I added the almond slivers on top. I also used chopped sauted apples instead of the applesauce. It was even better!
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Free Shipping on Flannel Nightgowns Today
If you have been looking to buy a Nightgown to put under the Christmastree this is your chance to get one delivered to you at low cost. Shipping on flannel Nightgowns is FREE today only. I have been working hard all of last night to change all listings to make them free. If you find I missed one that you wanted to order, please let me know and I can fix it. Remember this deal is for today and on the flannel only.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Fabric of the Season
I am so happy. After years of searching for the perfect Christmas fabric with Nutcracker dolls on it finally success. I found this beautiful maroon red colored fabric that has the cutest bright Nutcrackers on it.
It's only the fifth year my daughter is in the local Nutcracker production. Practices have been running since late September. Now they are in full gear as the performance date rolls closer. There must be hundreds of little girls in Nutcracker productions all over the US...Why is there so little fabric in stores dealing with the theme? Huge mistake, you fabric makers! My daughter was so excited when she saw the cloth on my table. Of course each little girl participating in the ballet production dreams that one day they may be featured as the main character Clara...It's a long shot since it takes many many years of dancing to achieve that skill level.
Pst! Don't tell my daughter that she will be getting one of these:
I was so excited finishing the first set of them. The Nutcracker doll lives in the dress pocket and can go marching about your house chasing after pesky mice and rats...=)
It's only the fifth year my daughter is in the local Nutcracker production. Practices have been running since late September. Now they are in full gear as the performance date rolls closer. There must be hundreds of little girls in Nutcracker productions all over the US...Why is there so little fabric in stores dealing with the theme? Huge mistake, you fabric makers! My daughter was so excited when she saw the cloth on my table. Of course each little girl participating in the ballet production dreams that one day they may be featured as the main character Clara...It's a long shot since it takes many many years of dancing to achieve that skill level.
Pst! Don't tell my daughter that she will be getting one of these:
Friday, November 4, 2011
The Importance of Feedback
Last year right around this time I reached the milestone of 1,000 sales in my Etsyshop. You can read the note I wrote about it here.
Yesterday I reached another one of those little milestones: I received my 1,000th feedback comment. Yay! I am actually at 1,003. Thanks so much to all of you who have helped me out in that department.
I LOVE to read my feedback comments. Even better if somebody sends me a cute picture like the one above! As they say a picture speaks a million words...Pictures make me smile and my heart go pitter-patter.
In fact I get downright depressed when somebody doesn't leave me a note after receiving a doll or package. If they don't I worry that they didn't like the doll or dollclothes I made. If you have an Etsyshop or on-line business of any kind you must understand. Feedback is like this little pat on the back that says:" Well done! Good Job! I love your work, and I am so glad I found your shop."
After all in the virtual world of selling there is often no real face connected to the customer. Unless, of course, I know you from FB. That's why everyone loves it so much, right? Still, not everybody uses their own picture...Some people sport dogpictures, cartoons, or even plants. At the end of the day contact is limited to exchanges of emails and Feedback at the end of a transaction. Yet, curiously one finds that Social Media has made it possible to add more personality to the salesprocess. If a customer comes back after over a year and orders a new dress for a doll they bought, I often instantly remember which doll and can almost see the child in front of me.
Virtual stores are a curious thing. Don't you think? So please, don't forget to leave your on-line seller Feedback if you are happy with their service. If you are not happy, please let us know, too. It really helps us out a lot. We love this little pat on the back, and it keeps us going on days when sales are not so great!
Yesterday I reached another one of those little milestones: I received my 1,000th feedback comment. Yay! I am actually at 1,003. Thanks so much to all of you who have helped me out in that department.
In fact I get downright depressed when somebody doesn't leave me a note after receiving a doll or package. If they don't I worry that they didn't like the doll or dollclothes I made. If you have an Etsyshop or on-line business of any kind you must understand. Feedback is like this little pat on the back that says:" Well done! Good Job! I love your work, and I am so glad I found your shop."
After all in the virtual world of selling there is often no real face connected to the customer. Unless, of course, I know you from FB. That's why everyone loves it so much, right? Still, not everybody uses their own picture...Some people sport dogpictures, cartoons, or even plants. At the end of the day contact is limited to exchanges of emails and Feedback at the end of a transaction. Yet, curiously one finds that Social Media has made it possible to add more personality to the salesprocess. If a customer comes back after over a year and orders a new dress for a doll they bought, I often instantly remember which doll and can almost see the child in front of me.
Virtual stores are a curious thing. Don't you think? So please, don't forget to leave your on-line seller Feedback if you are happy with their service. If you are not happy, please let us know, too. It really helps us out a lot. We love this little pat on the back, and it keeps us going on days when sales are not so great!
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Cooking up a Storm...
When it gets cold outside I like to cook and bake. Living in a drafty old house it's the only way to survive the cold winter. While Hubby and kids go off to work or school I must stay home in the cold cave. Once the fire in the wood stove dies I flee to the kitchen and turn on the burners plus stove. Shh. Don't tell them!
So I cooked up a storm yesterday.
1. I baked a butternut squash and transformed it into the most delightful soup for dinner
2. I made a "gedeckter Apfelkuchen". It's the closest thing Germans have compared to an apple pie.
Ingredients for Butternut Squash Soup:
1 big butternut squash
1/2 cup of dried black beans
1 liter of chicken broth
red bell pepper chopped
corn
garlic, minced
chorizo sausages or other hot sausage links
pepper and salt to taste
Cut your Butternut Squash in half. Scoop out the little pocket with the seeds. Put the two cut sides down in a baking pan with about 1/4 inch of water in it. Bake in the stove at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about an hour or until soft when stabbed with a fork.
Take another pot and throw in some black beans with water. Boil for about two hours until soft. Ah, it' s already getting warmer in the house!
Next prepare the dough for the apfelkuchen.
Ingredients for Apfelkuchen: (adapted from Backen macht Freude)
350 g flour
100 g sugar
2 eggs
4 teaspoons of baking powder
milk (recipe called for 4 Tablespoons but I added quite a bit more because the air was very dry)
150 g butter
1 packet of vanilla sugar
2 cups of applesauce, mine was homemade, I added raisins to it.
Throw all the ingredients (except for ONE of the eggs and the apple sauce) in a bowl and kneed them together. Wrap your dough ball in Saran wrap and put in refrigerator. It can rest while squash is baking. Ah, perfect timing. Now you can go and do something else. Maybe chop some wood or shovel the driveway...
Once you get back in the house the squash is ready to go. Who said they were cold? A lovely wave of heat hits me as I enter the kitchen. Beans are getting soft and it's time to deal with the squash. Pull it from the oven and scoop the meat out and reserve.
Time to get back to the cake! Get your dough from the fridge and cut it in half. Take the first half and roll it out flat to fit in a baking pan/sheet that's about 30x40 cm. Hmm, since I don't have anything that size I just took whatever came close... See picture.
Spread your applesauce mix on top of the layer of dough in the pan. Take the second half of the dough and roll it out flat. Same size as the first piece. Now come the tricky part: Moving the second sheet of dough and putting it on top of the applesauce. No different from making an apple pie really. You have to fold it up and then unfold it. Right? It's just a bit bigger...
Hopefully your oven is still nice and hot from baking that squash. Temperature needs to be about 375 Fahrenheit. So great, you can turn it up a bit more. =)
Make an egg wash by mixing one egg yolk and a tablespoon of milk. The German cookbook calls for sliced almonds on top. I didn't have any so just the egg wash will do. Brush it on. Stab the cake a few times with a fork to create some holes for steam to escape. Put it in your oven and bake for 25-30 minutes - until top is golden brown.
Back to the soup. Add chicken broth to your squash chunks and puree. Add the clove of minced garlic. Add the cooked black beans. Throw in some yellow corn if you have it. Add some chopped bell pepper. Add little pieces of your cooked hot sausage links. I don't add them to the pot since my daughter doesn't like spicy food. So you can just have the sausage in a little bowl to the side. Vegetarians can leave it out too.
You'd think there would be easier ways to keep the house warm. But not as delicious. Dinner is ready to go. Time to make some dolls...
So I cooked up a storm yesterday.
1. I baked a butternut squash and transformed it into the most delightful soup for dinner
2. I made a "gedeckter Apfelkuchen". It's the closest thing Germans have compared to an apple pie.
Ingredients for Butternut Squash Soup:
1 big butternut squash
1/2 cup of dried black beans
1 liter of chicken broth
red bell pepper chopped
corn
garlic, minced
chorizo sausages or other hot sausage links
pepper and salt to taste
Cut your Butternut Squash in half. Scoop out the little pocket with the seeds. Put the two cut sides down in a baking pan with about 1/4 inch of water in it. Bake in the stove at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about an hour or until soft when stabbed with a fork.
Take another pot and throw in some black beans with water. Boil for about two hours until soft. Ah, it' s already getting warmer in the house!
Next prepare the dough for the apfelkuchen.
350 g flour
100 g sugar
2 eggs
4 teaspoons of baking powder
milk (recipe called for 4 Tablespoons but I added quite a bit more because the air was very dry)
150 g butter
1 packet of vanilla sugar
2 cups of applesauce, mine was homemade, I added raisins to it.
Throw all the ingredients (except for ONE of the eggs and the apple sauce) in a bowl and kneed them together. Wrap your dough ball in Saran wrap and put in refrigerator. It can rest while squash is baking. Ah, perfect timing. Now you can go and do something else. Maybe chop some wood or shovel the driveway...
Once you get back in the house the squash is ready to go. Who said they were cold? A lovely wave of heat hits me as I enter the kitchen. Beans are getting soft and it's time to deal with the squash. Pull it from the oven and scoop the meat out and reserve.
Time to get back to the cake! Get your dough from the fridge and cut it in half. Take the first half and roll it out flat to fit in a baking pan/sheet that's about 30x40 cm. Hmm, since I don't have anything that size I just took whatever came close... See picture.
Spread your applesauce mix on top of the layer of dough in the pan. Take the second half of the dough and roll it out flat. Same size as the first piece. Now come the tricky part: Moving the second sheet of dough and putting it on top of the applesauce. No different from making an apple pie really. You have to fold it up and then unfold it. Right? It's just a bit bigger...
Hopefully your oven is still nice and hot from baking that squash. Temperature needs to be about 375 Fahrenheit. So great, you can turn it up a bit more. =)
Make an egg wash by mixing one egg yolk and a tablespoon of milk. The German cookbook calls for sliced almonds on top. I didn't have any so just the egg wash will do. Brush it on. Stab the cake a few times with a fork to create some holes for steam to escape. Put it in your oven and bake for 25-30 minutes - until top is golden brown.
Back to the soup. Add chicken broth to your squash chunks and puree. Add the clove of minced garlic. Add the cooked black beans. Throw in some yellow corn if you have it. Add some chopped bell pepper. Add little pieces of your cooked hot sausage links. I don't add them to the pot since my daughter doesn't like spicy food. So you can just have the sausage in a little bowl to the side. Vegetarians can leave it out too.
You'd think there would be easier ways to keep the house warm. But not as delicious. Dinner is ready to go. Time to make some dolls...
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Blizzard 2011 Round Two
A wise old woman told my daughter the other day: If we get snow on October 26th that means there will be 26 snowfalls this season. Looks like she was right!
What the heck?
We got blizzard number 2 last night. I swear these pictures are new and not last week's - though they do look kind of the same the only difference being that I have a huge pile of snowcovered sticks in front of my house...
I think I'll stay put and keep making dolls. I have no desire to drive about and see more fallen treelimbs. We lost a couple more in the backyard. I thought there was nothing left. But I was wrong. We will be adding to our pile once the snow melts. Wish me luck!
What the heck?
I think I'll stay put and keep making dolls. I have no desire to drive about and see more fallen treelimbs. We lost a couple more in the backyard. I thought there was nothing left. But I was wrong. We will be adding to our pile once the snow melts. Wish me luck!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)