Thursday, February 3, 2011

making and baking

hearts
We're keeping busy with our favorite activities: making and baking. There's been lots of making:  mini books, music, and hearts. The hearts were my attempt to steer my daughter into mass production mode while still maintaining the fun. No one wants Valentine burn out within the first few days of February! After wetting several sheets of water color paper with a sponge, she covered them in pink and purple. After they dried, we brought out our heart punch. It was her first time using it, and there was much enthusiasm. The excitement about the scraps almost topped the thrill of the "heart popper", as the puncher has now been fondly dubbed. I'm not sure how they will turn into Valentine's, but we're off to a good start.
hearts 2
Making an abundance of hearts is a definitely a sweet way to spend an afternoon...with the addition of my son serenading us on the piano (practice time is like a free concert these days... he's so good!), I was transported to one of those mothering moments. You know, the ones when you float out of your body and hover around the ceiling looking down at the scene thinking, "hold onto this memory... keep it safe... bottle it up... remember it when things aren't so smooth."

And so we baked. Baking is one of my favorite ways of saying "I love you" to (and with) my family. This gingerbread (via Laura) was perfect. Her daughter had baked and shared it last week  before ice skating lessons, and my kids were excited to make it themselves. The recipe is in the first Silver Palate if you have it, and I found it here, too. It's a good" throw everything in a bowl" kind of cake.  I love that there's no dairy (we avoid it when there are colds in the house), and the amount of sugar is fairly low. They ate it unadorned... no icing or dusting of powdered sugar... and begged for seconds thirds!
hearts and gingerbread Pin It

18 comments:

  1. The first Silver Palate was the best. I use it over and over again. Looks yummy and those hearts are so pretty with their wash of colors. xox Corrine

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  2. I totally agree. I have my mom's old copies of all three, and the first is my favorite, too.

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  3. I have never heard of the Silver Palate - I'm off to check that out!

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  4. Crystal- it's a classic from the 80's. I'm sure it's in your local library.

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  5. what better way to be active than homemade hearts and chocolate ...

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  6. The hearts are so sweet, it sounds like a perfect afternoon.

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  7. You are planting little gingerbread heart seeds in your children - so sweet, so simple and full of love. I can feel it right through my computer screen!

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  8. wow, what BIG hearts do you make at the paper, i have the same, but a lot smaller...

    PS: look at my aniversary-giveaway if you like

    TANJA ♥

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  9. "heart popper".........love that!

    Karen

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  10. Hearts and chocolates, fantastic tandem.

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  11. Hi! Bumped into your blog just now and I'm loving it! I read all the barn posts in one seating! Very inspiring how you and your mom repurpose all the pieces you've collected all these years. More power! I'll be following you!
    irene

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  12. I used a leaf puncher (OK, I got my houseguests to use it!) to make little leaves to scatter on the table for my wedding. When I came back into the room, I was amazed to see stacks of the rows of negative space the punching had left. People had been so careful abut making the punches, I just couldn't throw them away! I used some later to wrap around votive glasses, and others I used as gift tags.

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  13. Love the watercolor hearts (so pretty). And I also love the Silver Palate cookbook, gingerbread, and one-bowl cakes... guess what I'll be making this weekend!

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  14. Greetings from Southern California :-)

    I added myself to follow your blog. You are more than welcome to visit mine and become a follower if you want to.

    God Bless You, ~Ron

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  15. Those hearts are cute! I thought about trying to make Valentines with my son, but he is only 4 and there are 24 kids in his class. He would last maybe 5? Lol!

    Leslie @ simple-and-frugal-living.com

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  16. Loving the hearts. We just made some this morning, but I painstakingly cut each heart out with the scissors. Maybe a heart popper will be on the list for next year.

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