7th On The List

 I made a list around my birthday titled 15 Before 16. 15 things to accomplish before I turn 16. 

So far I have done one of them, I went skiing! That was quite an interesting day... 

Thankfully by the end I was getting the hang of it. 

Any ways, one of the other things on my list is to fill up a whole sketch book full of sketches, charcoal drawings, and pastels. I usually end up using my sketch books for scrap paper, practice, or end up crumpling the pages; so it's going to be a challenge to have a complete notebook, with no pages missing, full of drawings. 4 down, 71 more pages to go.

This is the first page, I started out simple and drew one of my wall hangings. 

A collection of porcelain figures, hung by a bigger one. I love the old circus like look of them! 

This is the 4th drawing. I drew it from a picture that I took of my friend Maggie,

 and she kindly allowed me to put it here, with the original below :D.

I have rarely surrounded my drawings of people with charcoal, But I like how this looks so much I think I shall do it more often...

Baking is Such a Delicious Hobby

Bagels and soft pretzels. Need I say more?

This was my test batch of sorts. I had made bagels twice before, once with success and once without, so I decided to make one batch of dough and make as many different types as possible. With half the dough I made soft pretzels, but since they weren't soaked in lye or some such thing the deep golden brown colour everyone loves so much was missing, but the taste was still there.

With the other half I made an onion, a blueberry, a cinnamon raison, and one that was heavily seasoned with habanero especially for my dad. 

Kanzashi Flowers

I just realized I have only posted once in January, and it's been a couple weeks. I have been drowning in school and SMASH (Southern Maine Association of Shakespearian Homeschoolers). But I'm not complaining, I love the busyness :). And at least nobody really cares how much I post or I'd be sunk.

Any ways, here is a project I worked on in December, it's one of the many hand crafted gifts I gave away for Christmas because of my lack of funds. Not having money to buy pre-made anything really helps with creativity, and I had a lot of fun during the Christmas season!

It's called the Kanzashi Flower (I have no idea why), and it's super simple once you get the hang of it. I lost the link to where I learned how to do it, but a Google search can get you an excess of tutorials. With that said I'll contribute my tutorial :).

 1. Pick a fabric and button that you like. Cut the fabric into 10 squares, these are 3". 

Anything smaller than about 3" is hard to learn with. 

 2. Fold one of the squares in half diagonally, then in half again.

 3. Take the open end of the triangle and fold one flap over at shown, but don't make the fold perfect. 

Having the fold imperfect helps makes the petal what it is. 

Then do the same to the opposite side, but always fold to the outside. Pin.

 4. Repeat with all 10 squares, then cut off the bottom of them all, the part that isn't gathered.

 5. Thread a needle but don't knot it at the end. 

Push the needle through the corner of the petal, making sure to catch all of the folds, 

and leave a tail of thread. Do this with all of the petals, always facing the petals the same way 

so they are in a neat row 

 6. Cut off the needle, leaving a tail, and begin to pull the threads and scrunch the petals into a flower, then knot the two ends into a surgeons know, which is just looping the threads over each other 3 times. 

You can then pull the petals all the way together and tie off the thread, making it invisible.

 Do pretty much the same thing with the other side for a secure flower.

7. Now you have a blank flower to add whatever you want to. Buttons, ribbons, clips, pins....

The first one I made I added another layer of petals, as you can see at the bottom.

Je Suis Ne Francais

About a month ago I posted about how I made, or tried to make, Ratatouille. It was a school assignment since I'm taking French as my foreign language. 

Well here I am, again, thinking I can cook, and appreciate, French food.  

My assignment was to make French Onion Soup. And in terms of accuracy to the original recipe, which the lady who wrote the book says she got while in France, and taste, I think I did pretty well. A lot better then last time when I ended up with an under-cooked, oily, and bitter rendition of what is supposed to be a classic.

My family said they liked it, but as for me... I'm not huge big fan. 

French Onion Soup

Serves 6

9 oz beef, chopped

2 onions, chopped

2 bay leaves

1/2 cup parsley leaves

2 tsp whole black peppercorns

8 cups water

1 1/2 oz butter

1 TBLS olive oil

4 large onions, thinly sliced

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup dry red wine (you can use non-alcholic)

2 oz butter

2 slices bread 

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1. To make stock; combine beed, the shopped onions, bay leaves, parsley, peppercorns, 

and water in a large saucepan, bring stock to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer gently for 3 hours. 

Strain, cool, refrigerate over-night. Schoop the fat from the top of the stock.

2. Heat butter and oil in large sauce-pan, add the sliced onions, 

cook over low heat until onions are golden brown and soft; this will take about 20 minutes, 

stir occasionally. Add the flour, stir constantly over heat for 1 minute.

3. Add the wine and 5 cups of the stock; stir constantly over heat until mixture boils and thickens. 

Reduce heat, simmer covered 10 minutes.

4. Slice the bread. Melt butter, add garlic, and brush onto each side of the bread. 

Place onto an ungreased oven tray, bake in moderate oven for about 20 minutes 

or until bread is dry and crisp.

5. Sprinkle slices with parmesan cheese, bake further 5 minutes. 

Place slices in serving dishes, top with hot soup; serve immediately.

I'm thinking that I need to eat some authentic French food, so as to give it a fair chance. But I obviously am not from France :).