April 10, 2011

Malasadas

Greetings, all! I've spent the day toiling in the yard and doing garden prep, so this will be short since I need a nap now! Why is it that working in the yard/garden always sounds like so much fun from the safety of one's desk, but in real life it's tedious and exhausting--and downright dangerous what with the brown recluse bite I got a few years ago.

Stitching is both safer and more satisfying. On Stitch Night last Wednesday at In Stitches I started this new design: "Roses de Mai" by Reflets de Soie.


It is charted for either Gloriana or AVAS; I'm stitching it using AVAS on 40 count Lakeside in vintage magnolia, one of my favorite Lakeside colors. And to those who wonder how many WIPs I have--well, I'm not really sure, since they're scattered around the house in various bags.


I indulged a little sweet tooth today, with a small batch of chunky peanut butter cookies (the recipe made seven cookies) from "Small-Batch Baking" by Debby Nakos. I highly recommend the book. All of the recipes make small desserts--layer cakes no bigger than an easy-bake oven cake, chocolate cream pies that fit a tart shell, a batch of brownies that yields just three treats. My cookies called for, among other things, just a bit more than 1/3 of a cup of flour, 1/3 of a cup of peanut butter, 4 tablespoons of sugar, 2 tablespoons of butter and roughly half an egg. Damage containment! What I have a craving for is a malasada (sort of a Portuguese donut) from the Portuguese Bakery in Provincetown, MA, which I intend to satisfy at the end of the week with a trip to the Cape. I'd also like a stuffed quahog and a cup of quahog chowder from the Green Harbor Fish Market. Mmmmm. I'll be heading out of here on Friday and posting pictures of all the fun stuff I eat.


Speaking of which, these are my parents, swiping some "wild" beach plums from a neighbor's back yard. My father appears to be the lookout. Bad enough to steal the neighbors' beach plums, but we drove to an upscale neighborhood and parked along a beach plum hedge when we went to visit a lighthouse a couple years back. My mother got that gleam in her eye; she loves free stuff. Mother, I said sternly, we are NOT helping ourselves to their beach plums! But they aren't using them, she protested, and we could make jelly! Typical Cape back yard--sand, scrub and the occasional dead fish deposited in the marsh. Some years ago I did a photgraphic study of the various decomposing fish in the marsh and posted them on my work bulletin board.


Pink: "I don't suppose you'll be taking the bunnies." *Sigh*.


Happy week ahead.

31 comments:

Jan said...

I really like Roses de Mai. Very pretty. I'm going to have to find that cookbook. Sounds good.

Laurie in Iowa said...

You've picked another pretty sampler. Poor Pink!
Enjoy your weekend at the Cape.

Giovanna said...

That's one of my favourite RdS samplers - saw Isabel's model and had to have it. Love the border!

Nicole said...

Beautiful start Glenna! Those cookies looks SO good! :)

Dani - tkdchick said...

What a beautiful new start!

Deb said...

Such pretty colors Glenna. You've picked another winner (and another one that I have to add to the stash pile!!)

barbara said...

That's a lovely new start, Glenna!! The cookies make me hungry, though!

Jules said...

Lovely new start!

Margaret said...

This is another one I want to start sometime. Thank goodness I actually have it so you're not enabling in buying terms at least! Gorgeous! I'm going to have to look up that baking book. Sounds like such a good idea!!! Thanks for the tip! Have fun come Friday on your trip!

Nancy said...

Love the new start, it is lovely! Thanks for the tip on the cookbook, a small batch of indulgence is much better than a large batch of 'forever on the hips'!

Enjoy your weekend away!

marly said...

Thanks for the cook book info. Found it along with her Small Batch for Chocolate Lovers online - can't wait to get them. Sounds like fun things on your schedule this week - enjoy!

RG said...

Good grief - if you are going to make a batch, make a BATCH!

Don't go Pink. It's no fun traveling and the food's no good.

Cari said...

Another WIP....you go...a true stitcher after my own heart. Thanks for sharing. Hey, those cookies look pretty good too! Hugs

Annemarie said...

You got bitten by a spider? Sheesh. If that ever happened to me, I would never, EVER venture outside again...

Your new start is SO gorgeous! So pretty, so girly, so French!

Sylvia said...

Oh, Reflets de Soie has the prettiest samplers. If the dollar ever recovers against the Euro, I will order the floss kit from her for the two that I have. Your start is beautiful.

Your mom is a woman after my own heart. I just read an article on how foraging is really coming into vogue. I have been doing it since I was a little girl. Its so much fun to harvest nature's bounty in the wild.

Anna van Schurman said...

Your sampler is so much prettier than the photo on the package. Love the colors.

I've been craving a linguica roll for like three years. Can you pick one up for me? Enjoy.

Nancy said...

Such a pretty sampler you're stitching, and the colors are so springlike! The cookies look delicious! Cute picture of pink too!

Melody said...

That sampler is beautiful. We have that small batch baking cookbook at our library. It sounds dangerous to me..ha! Altho, how much trouble can you get into when you only make 7 cookies?? :)

Have fun on your visit to the Cape. Sounds like heaven.

Annie Beez said...

Your mother is hilarious! Let her have her beach plums! I admire her resourcefulness!! Love that new sampler!

woolwoman said...

fun story about "beach plums" I 've never heard of them before. Your new Reflets de Soie start is gorgeous - I've been lookings at Isa's new designs lately - so french and so elegant. Hope you have a lovely time and many happy stitches. Melody

Chocolates4Breakfast (Terri Malinovich) said...

Your new sampler is lovely!

Great pic of your folks - too funny!

Have a great time on your trip - I'm jealous of all the good food you'll enjoy!

Bring the buns a treat.....

Sue said...

I feel the same way about gardening :). Your new start is beautiful.

Michelle said...

Roses de Mai is gorgeous! How could you resist? Love the idea of baking for just one or two servings. Nice! Enjoy the Cape, can't wait to see your photos.

Daffycat said...

I really like the sound of that cookbook. I often don't bake because I really can't have two dozen cookies or an entire freakin' cake sitting around, and calling to me...

Melissa said...

Your Roses de Mai is very pretty!

Valerie said...

Ooohhh, I love the new start, Glenna! The pinks and roses are gorgeous. Such a pretty piece!

Great pic of your folks...so funny! I can see my grandmother and mother doing the same thing!

Siobhán said...

ROFLOL! You crack me up about your parents, and your dad being the lookout. LOL!! Enjoy your trip--I can't wait to see the photos!

Your Roses de Mai is beautiful.

Aer Conditionat said...

Nice cookies and i am sure that tastes delicious. Last picture it is beautiful, i like a lot that white rabbit.

Katrina said...

Oh wow gorgeous!!!!! And I love that you have so many WIPs, it's wonderful for enabling ;-).

Natalia said...

Glenna, you are funny about your parents !!! I laughed... I love Roses de Mai, very pretty colors.

marylin said...

really superb this model will be a great success!
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