Colonial Williamsburg Dolls

Our great-aunt just gave us these colonial dolls made out of clothes pins. They are from when she went to Colonial Williamsburg, located in Virginia. You can visit Living History Colonial Williamsburg online HERE.Did you know that Williamsburg was the first capital of the USA?

Wedding Cake

This is a picture of wedding cake design. My sister and I are going to make it for a wedding in September.

Click on picture for larger, more detailed view.

Mother's Day Tea

Here are a few pictures of the Mother's Day Tea we hosted for Mother and friend.

Continental (Raspberry) Cheesecake~

For my Daddy's Birthday I made him a "Continential Raspberry Cheesecake".
The recipe originally calls for strawberries, but I used fresh raspberries instead.
By the way, he LOVED it...as did everyone else. I guess it was a "hit".



Continental ______berry Cheesecake

Crust-
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup finely ground almonds
1/4 cup granulated sugar
6 T. (3/4 stick) sweet butter, softened

Filling-
1 & 1/2 lbs. cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 & 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup sliced berries

Topping-
1 cup berry preserves (I just boiled raspberries and added sugar to taste)
1 cup slivered almonds
_________________________
Crust-
In a med. sized bowl, combine cracker crumbs, almonds, sugar, and butter. Blend well with fingers, fork, or pastry blender. Press mixture onto bottom and sides of a well buttered springform pan. Chill for 30 min.

Filling-
In a large bowl beat cream cheese, sugar, and eggs until very smooth. Add the heavy cream and vanilla, continue to beat until very smooth and creamy. Fold in the sliced berries. Pour the mixture into the chilled pan. Place the spring form pan inside of a larger pan (can be a large cake pan, casserole pan, etc...) containing 1 inch of water and bake at 325 for 1 and 1/2 hours. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

Topping-
Spread preserves over the top of cake. Sprinkle slivered almonds on top of preserves.

After chilling for appx. 1 hour, remove sides from pan.
Enjoy!

Yankee Doodle Dandy

Last night we watched an enjoyable movie called "Yankee Doodle Dandy". It's based on the life of George M. Cohan, a good old Irish American who became big in Brodway. He wrote numerous plays some of which he starred in. This movie is full of songs you will be singing over and over again to yourself, especially the song "Over There". It was written for the American soldiers of WWI.
"Send the warning, the Yanks are coming...and we won't come back 'till it's over over there!"

Shoulder Purse

Today I finished crotcheting a shoulder purse. Here is a picture.

Victorian Dresses Finished

My sister and I finished our dresses in time to wear to the "Old Fashioned Independence Day Picnic". Here are pictures of them.





Sleeve with eight buttons





Sister's Dress (note different sleeves)

An Old Fashioned Independence Day Picnic

This Independence Day we went to a friend's farm where we enjoyed an "Old Fashioned Independence Day Picnic". At the picnic there was held a pie judging contest. All together more than 40 pies were entered. Besides Grand Prize, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, all other pies received original awards. Some of which included; "Sons of the Pioneers" , "Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut" (this went to and Almond Joy pie :o) , "Sneak in the Night Pie" , "Most Gourmet" , "Most Flakey Crust" , "A Little Meringue Will Never Hurt You", "Fit for the President" etc...
Please enjoy the following feast for the eyes~

Edwardian Apron Finished~

Here are the pictures of my Edwardian apron.

Front


Back


Close up of the fabric

Syrian Bread

Today I made Syrian bread... I remember, when I was little, jumping on a trampoline with my friend eating our Syrian bread as we bounced. When we finished our pieces we would run swiftly back into the beach cabin and ask "Gram" for more. We would smother it in butter and run back out to the trampoline and repeat this over again until grandma said we couldn't have any more. "Gram" was my dear friend's great grandmother. They say that every morning she would get up and make a batch of Syrian bread.
When she passed away the family held a memorial service. At the service they passed out copies of the recipe for "Gram's Bread".

Gram's Bread

2 1/2 cups warm (110 degrees) water
2 packages of dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
2 cups wholewheat flour
6 cups white flour
1 tablespoon salt

In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients by hand, making a well in the center and slowly mixing the water in the center, incorporating the flour to form a soft dough. Knead for about 5 min. and cover the dough to double in bulk, about 2 hours. (Some cooks add up to 1/4 cup of olive oil to their dough.)
Punch down the dough and divide into about 8 baseball-sized balls. Set them on a floured towel to rise, about 45 min., and preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Place the top of a broiler pan in the lowest bottom rack of the oven. When the dough has again doubled, roll out the balls on a floured towel or board. You will slide the dough (rolled to resemble a pie crust) from a wooden paddle, like a pizza paddle (I used a spatula) onto the broiler pan. It will rise up like a ballon. Then shift the bread to the top rack with the paddle. Remove from the oven when small brown spots start to form on the top, about 2 or 3 min.
Remove and cool on brown paper bags or parchment paper- something that will keep them crisp and not let them get soggy. Store in zip-lock bags or in the freezer.

This bread somewhat resembles "pita bread".



"Baseball-sized balls rising on floured towel"


Rolling them out!




Baking...hmmm... I can't wait to eat these!


The finished product, ready to eat!