hodgepodge potluck

posted by jennifer:

my brain has been a muddle lately.  or maybe not a muddle really.  maybe a more accurate description would be... hmm... a wacked out kaleidoscope.  full of lots of little bits and pieces that are colorful and pretty.. but it is really hard to make out what it is you are looking at.

that being said, i thought i would share a few things that have been floating around in my skull.

1. my flock of chickens is down to 5 and 3 of those ladies are not laying right now.  which means i bought eggs the other day.  every now and then... usually when we have a chicken death, or some other real world issue in the husbandry of animals, i think is this worth it?...
but after cracking an egg yesterday... store bought that is.. yes, yes it is.  pale yolk, small (even though it was graded large) and $4.49 for a dozen. 

2.  i made a new dessert last week.  pear frangipane.  i had some pears that were halfway to the compost pile.  i looked through my recipe file and found a recipe i have had for a few years.  i decided to give it a whirl.  it was delicious.  fairly easy, and fun to say. not as fun as worcestershire sauce... but a close second.  the two pronunciations i found were:
   FRAN-jup-payn
   FRAWN-zhee-pan
i prefer the second.  with a thick  italian accent.

to quote the relish magazine article i found the recipe in: "frangipane is a rich pastry cream laced with ground almonds. the almonds lend a nutty richness to the custardy cream, which pairs beautifully with the fragrant pears." 
that is a little dramatic for me.  but i do recommend looking up the recipe and trying it out.

by the way.  i read that the recipe is traced to a 16th century italian nobleman.  marquis
muzio frangipani.   he introduced almond scented gloves that were trendy at the time.
pastry chefs wanted to incorporate this scent into a dessert. 
almond scented gloves?   trends have always been on the edge i guess.

3.  i forgot to take my daughter to preschool thursday.  totally forgot.

4. i am totally going to break out the ricky martin cd this morning.  my house is in a serious need of some attention. maybe if i can shake my  bonbon, i can get some shine going on. oh, can i also recommend some other housecleaning music?
   *guero    by beck
   *rhythm of the saints   by paul simon
   *sleepless in seattle soundtrack

5. so i was going to do an entire post about this... but.  i participated in a nature exchange through another blog.  it was geared towards families who have children who are collectors,
of natural objects that is. mine are... as is their mother.   anyway, i haven't received my package from whom i was paired with.  not that i am judging.  as a mother of three, who this week forgot to take her child to school, there is no judging going on.   but, i did take these photos of the objects i sent back east... and here they are:

6. i made this ornament/art piece this week.  i love it.  i made it out of a rusty spam container i found in the desert.  a slightly broken ceramic figurine and some other bits and pieces.  i call it "a parakeet called angel".

when i was a teen i had two parakeets.  honey and stormy.  once, i had their cage in the backyard to give them fresh air.  a hawk swooped down and tried to get one.  it killed the bird. but because it was in a cage it couldn't eat it.  i decided to take the bird out of the cage and give it to the hawk.  i mean i figured he or she killed it.  it may as not go to waste.
man, sorry,  i didn't mean to go down this road.  and i can't even remember. was it stormy or honey that met it's death by hawks talons?  anyway.   whichever one of you it was.... this piece of art is for you.


7.  i am making these super cute  wine  bottle bags. 

i am planning a tutorial right here in the next week.  i am aiming for tuesday.   but then again, my brain is a hodgepodge potluck jumble, so, if you don't see it here then, don't judge.

p.s.  i just received a ups package.... well in all reality it probably arrived yesterday.  anyway, it was from the family we were paired up with for the nature exchange.  okay.  disregard random thought 5.