Dragon's Head Block

Near the food court at City Creek shopping center, there are family bathrooms. They’re large enough to accommodate wheelchairs. They have self-flushing adult- and child-sized toilets, baby changing tables, and hands-free sinks, all behind the same locked door. This means you can take care of business and wash your hands without touching anything. The best thing about these bathrooms is what they DON’T have: metal stalls. You can go in alone, with your disabled adult daughter, or with your preschool-aged grandson, and you can lock the door behind you, safe and secure. There are bathrooms like these in a few other places, but not as many as there should be. I think of them when I read about states passing laws to allow people who are confused about their sexual identity to use whichever restroom and dressing room they choose. Sexual expression, it seems, has become more important than protection from sexual predators. 

Squire Smith's Choice

“We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each others’ happiness, not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men’s souls; has barricaded the world with hate; has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical; our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery , we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.” – Charlie Chaplin, from The Great Dictator

Nine Double Nine-Patches

Leftover baked potato is wonderful in potato salad, with chopped boiled eggs, chopped onion and celery, homemade mayonnaise and mustard. If you have leftover baked potatoes, fresh greens, boiled eggs, tomatoes, green beans and black olives, you can make a lovely salade niçoise. But salads are so much better in the summertime. When the weather’s cold and damp, I prefer hearty hot soups. Sauté a large chopped onion in a tablespoon of butter until clear. Add a quart of chicken broth and bring to a boil. Stir in the coarsely chopped flesh of six baked potatoes, a cup of milk, and half a cup of sour cream. Heat thoroughly, but don’t boil. Serve hot with more sour cream, crumbled bacon, shredded cheddar, hot sauce (we like Cholula) and chopped chives or green onions.

Goober Peas

The day after I’ve served baked potatoes I usually make a big pot of chili. I save what wasn’t eaten, just like I saved the six leftover spuds from the day before. On the third day I slice the potatoes in half, scoop out the flesh and refrigerate it for another day in an airtight container. Arrange the potato halves – skin side down – on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Stick them in the oven at 400F for a few minutes, just long enough to warm them and make them crispy. Reheat the leftover chili and spoon it into skins. Sprinkle shredded cheddar on top and serve with sour cream and fresh cornbread muffins. (In the absence of leftover chili, sauté one chopped onion and a pound of ground beef. Drain and add a can of kidney beans and a jar of mild chunky salsa. Heat through before spooning into potato skins. More on the reserved potato flesh tomorrow . . . 

Four Double Four-Patches

I like meal plans that dovetail. When I serve ham, sometime during the following week I plan for ham/bean soup, chef salad and scrambled eggs with ham to use (disguise) the leftovers. Roast turkey is followed by turkey/rice soup, turkey tacos and turkey-provolone sandwiches. One of my favorite dovetailing tricks involves baked potatoes. On the first day I bake exactly twice as many Idaho russets as my family needs. (That used to mean an even dozen. These days the number is more fluid.) Wash them, pat dry and prick their skins; maybe rub them with olive oil and coarse salt. Place them on oven racks – no pan – and bake at 475F for an hour. (At 4500 feet, it takes a bit longer.) Then serve half of them hot with cheddar, peas, broccoli, sour cream, chives or scallions, ham, and bacon. What do I do with the other six spuds? Stay tuned . . . 

Rocky Mountain Chain

“We live in a troubled world, a world of many challenges. We are here on this earth to deal with our individual challenges to the best of our ability, to learn from them, and to overcome them. Endure to the end we must, for our goal is eternal life in the presence of our Father in Heaven. He loves us and wants nothing more than for us to succeed in this goal. He will help us and bless us as we call upon Him in our prayers, as we study His words, and as we obey His commandments. Therein is found safety; therein is found peace. May God bless you, my brothers and sisters. I thank you for your prayers in my behalf and in behalf of all of the General Authorities. We are deeply grateful for you and for all that you do to further the kingdom of God on earth.” – President Thomas S. Monson

Double Four-Patch

Today is National Pie Day, not to be confused with Pi Day March 14, or Pie and Beer Day July 24 (sorry, I couldn’t resist). I could bake a deep dish apple pie to serve hot with a thick slice of sharp cheddar. (Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.) If it wasn’t literally the dead of winter, I’d whip up a fresh strawberry or peach pie and serve it with vanilla ice cream. Maybe I’d make a rhubarb or blueberry or blackberry pie. But I was actually thinking of pie as a main course. I haven’t made shepherd’s pie in a long time, and it's been even longer since a chicken pot pie has graced my table. If today turns out to be too busy for either of those, I could always pop over to Pirate O’s and pick up Morrison Meat Pies to serve with tomato-basil soup. Or go with the old standby: pizza pie!

Twenty-five Hourglass Blocks

Today is National Blonde Brownie Day, but I was thinking of making these the day after tomorrow, when my kids (and theirs) are here for dinner. I might pair them with Death-by-Chocolate Mousse Ice Cream.

Butterscotch Blondies

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter

2 1/2 cups brown sugar

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

Heat oven to 350F. In a small saucepan, heat butter over medium heat 6 minutes, stirring, until very lightly browned. Pour into small bowl; cool at least 10 minutes. In a large bowl, mix brown sugar, flour, baking powder and salt. Add eggs to cooled browned butter; stir with whisk. Pour butter mixture over flour mixture; stir just until moistened. Spoon batter into a buttered 9x13" pan and bake 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely before cutting into bars. Makes 24 large blondies. 

Atelier

Atelier is a French word meaning workshop or studio; a place where beautiful things are created. This is the fifth Moda Frivol quilt top I’ve finished. I’m hoping to pick up the January tin at the quilt shop sometime next week. The fabric line is called French General. I like the way its faded rouge looks against the somber blue-grey and oyster. This quilt pattern didn’t require any extra fabric; everything I needed (except for batting, back and binding) was right in the tin. Unlike the other Frivols, it isn’t based on a quilt block design. It’s just a series of two-patches and strips. It came together fairly quickly, but there was nothing worth capturing and sharing during the process, unless it was a pile of tiny squares and rectangles. The finished quilt (if I ever decide how I want it quilted) will be 28x31” – either a large table-topper or a small wall hanging. 

Sixteen Hourglass Blocks

Slow Cooker Lava Cake

This is absolutely the most grateful dessert recipe I’ve ever tried. You take a boxed chocolate cake mix (last weekend I used a Pilsbury Devil’s Food), and prepare the batter the way the package directs. Pour batter into a buttered slow cooker. (Here’s where my casserole-shaped Crock-Pot really shines! Thank you, Mother!) Then prepare a box of non-instant chocolate pudding mix the way THAT package directs. (I didn’t actually have any pudding mix, so I made chocolate pudding with milk, cornstarch, sugar and baker’s chocolate. But pudding mix would have been much easier.) Pour the pudding into the slow cooker, on top of the cake mix. Then you throw a handful of chocolate chips on top of everything, put on the lid and cook on high for 2 1/2 hours. Spoon out the lava cake into dessert bowls (the chocolate chips and pudding will be on the bottom) and serve with vanilla ice cream.

Red Cross

The original plan was to make two Squirrel Cage blocks like the one I posted last Saturday; one for my mother and one for myself. They’re the first block in this year’s Block-of-the-Month class at Mormon Handicraft. I didn’t choose this class because I liked the finished product (pictured below). I chose it because it uses fabric from Maywood's Graceful Moments line, just like last fall’s Patchwork Party. The twelve Patchwork Party finishing kits will still be available for another few weeks, but I’m not in love with any of them. I’ll use the twelve blocks I made last fall and make at least twelve more from this year’s Mormon Handicraft kits. Then I’ll take the Saving Grace finishing kit and redesign it to fit a queen-size bed. There’s even a chance Heather will let me use it to replace the black-and-white quilt she sleeps under now. But only if I use a LOT more green.

Aunt Melvernia's Chain

“Please remember this one thing. If our lives and our faith are centered upon Jesus Christ and his restored gospel, nothing can ever go permanently wrong. On the other hand, if our lives are not centered on the Savior and his teachings, no other success can ever be permanently right. I commend to you the revelations of God as the standard by which we must live our lives and by which we must measure every decision and every deed. Accordingly, when you have worries and challenges, face them by turning to the scriptures and the prophets.” – President Howard W. Hunter, March 14, 1989

Squirrel Cage

I’m not fond of this block, though it wasn’t particularly challenging. It seems off balance somehow. It might be that the clusters of pale pink flowers against the raspberry background are messing with the symmetry. Maybe I should have used fabric with a stronger value for the diamonds and less intense prints elsewhere. I do like the name, though. Squirrel Cage is the term for the rotating part of the most common form of AC motor. I was eleven or twelve when our garbage disposal broke and Daddy decided to take the whole thing apart and rebuild it. He tried to explain how a rotating magnetic field creates an electrical current. I don’t know how much of it I understood then, but I do remember being amused at the name “Squirrel Cage.” It was much more fun to imagine a hamster wheel powering the motor that chewed up apple cores and orange peels. 

Four Hourglass Blocks

White Chicken Chili

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 large onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 small tomato, peeled and seeded

2 32-ounce cartons chicken stock

2 15-ounce cans cannellini or northern beans, drained and rinsed

2 15-ounce cans lima or butter beans, drained and rinsed

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

A dash of ground cayenne pepper

1 pound cooked rotisserie chicken, coarsely chopped

 In 6-quart saucepan or Dutch oven, heat oil over low heat. Add onion and garlic; cook and stir until onion is tender. Add remaining ingredients except chicken. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low; simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add cooked chicken and continue cooking another 5 or 10 minutes until heated through. Serve with hot sauce or salsa, so your guests can add as much heat as they like.

Lakeland

The designer of this quilt, Brenda Riddle, said she looked long and hard for a block that would showcase the pretty floral prints of the Windermere line. She settled on the block named Ripples, also called Ocean Waves. Each block uses thirty flying geese sub-blocks. She said, “I don’t know if there are geese in the English Lake District that inspired the name of this collection [of fabrics], but I think they fit right in.” I’ve been to Lake Windermere; it was just over 80 miles (a two hour trip) from my English home. We spent a lovely day there, boating on the lake, lunching at a quaint little restaurant, and exploring the World of Beatrix Potter museum. There were hundreds of geese, as well as ducks, seagulls and enormous swans. Lakeland, though, was the name of one of our favourite British shops; sort of a cross between Sur La Table and the Container Store.

Sister Star

The tune we associate with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star wasn’t written by Mozart, but it’s frequently attributed to the classical composer. Mozart is old enough to have composed the piece. Ah! vous dirai-je, maman (French for “Oh! Would I Tell You, Mother”) was published in 1761. Mozart turned five that year, but he already had at least three documented compositions under his belt. Two decades later Mozart wrote twelve variations on the simple folk song, which is doubtless the reason for all the confusion. Ah! vous dirai-je, maman is also the tune we sing when we teach a child the alphabet. And when you sing Baa Baa Black Sheep? Yep. Same tune. If you watched Sesame Street, you might recognize my personal favorite:

“Whistle, whistle little bird. Isn't eating crumbs absurd?

Try a ham and cheese on rye and a piece of cherry pie.

If those crumbs are all you want, don't come in my restaurant.”

Four Louisiana Blocks

On this day in 1895 the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty was founded in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. (There’s a separate National Trust for Scotland. Don’t ask me why.) The Trust’s original focus was to protect and preserve English country houses, but it also holds many gardens and historic urban properties. While we were in England we visited several National Trust sites, including the Treasurer’s House in York, Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden, Hadrian's Wall and Housesteads Roman Fort, Beningbrough Hall, Moulton Hall and the old coastguard station at Robin Hood’s Bay. We always meant to visit Brimham Rocks, but we kept finding excuses not to. It was only eleven miles from our home, but it’s not exactly the sort of place you can take a wheelchair. We very nearly made it to Hilltop House – Beatrix Potter’s home in Cumbria – only the winding, bouncy ride there made Heather carsick.

Wheel of Fortune

“I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.” – Joseph Smith

“As the Church membership embarks this year in its study of the Book of Mormon in Sunday School gospel doctrine classes, our hope would be that people would read it on a daily basis, pray about it and, as a consequence, they would get closer to God than they’ve ever been in their lives.” – Brother Tad R. Callister, Sunday school general president.

Twinkle Twinkle

Jane and Anne Taylor first published their poem in London in 1806. There were originally four other verses, but most of us are only familiar with:

“Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are!

Up above the world so high like a diamond in the sky.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are!”

Fifty-nine years later Lewis Carroll wrote a parody (with slightly better grammar) into chapter seven of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland:

“Twinkle, twinkle, little bat! How I wonder what you're at!

Up above the world you fly, like a tea tray in the sky.

Twinkle, twinkle, little bat! How I wonder what you're at!”

Some think his poem may have been a reference to Professor Bartholomew Price, a former teacher of Carroll’s whom he called "The Bat." It may also refer to an unfortunate incident involving a mechanical flying bat and a startled butler. I like to think both are partly true.

5" Louisiana Block

I’m not a big fan of overblown holidays. Every year Halloween seems to get gorier and sleazier. Valentine’s Day is only an opportunity to turn the thumbscrews on your significant other. And Christmas is just plain exhausting; physically, emotionally and financially. Then there’s the sugar: candy corn, pastel jelly beans, Christmas cookies, and chocolate in the shape of bunnies, Santas, turkeys, pumpkins, and Valentine hearts. Does every major holiday need to come with a designated sweet?  The minor holidays, on the other hand, are a delight. On Monday my mother and I celebrated Spaghetti Day at the Spaghetti Factory in Orem. Next Monday is Step in a Puddle and Splash Your Friends Day. It’s well below freezing where I live, so the “splash your friends” part might be problematic. But I can definitely manage the rest. If I’m lucky enough to find a puddle with a thin layer of ice on top, even better.

Plain Folk

Last June a West Yorkshire couple lost their beloved boxer Dylan to a brain tumor. They paid £67,000 (almost $100,000) to have him cloned by a South Korean firm. Last week two surrogate dogs each gave birth to a puppy with markings that precisely match Dylan’s. The cloned puppies were named Chance and Shadow after characters in the Disney movie Homeward Bound. They’ll be able to go home to the UK in July, after their quarantine period has ended. I find myself wondering; if money was no object (it is, believe me) would I have chosen to reproduce any of the dogs I’ve owned? As much as I’ve cherished every one of them, I’d have to say the answer is no. Chance and Shadow might grow up to look exactly like Dylan, but they won’t BE Dylan. They’ll each have their own absolutely unique personality – the very thing you miss the most when your best friend is gone.

Tannenbaum

New Year’s Resolutions for the whole family:

1. Eat together regularly. The meal doesn’t need to be elaborate or even home-cooked.

2. Create a new tradition: birthday breakfasts in bed, an annual camping trip or a weekly movie night.

3. Select a ‘stay active’ goal: a daily dog walk, weekly Saturday hikes or a family 5K.

4. Try something new together. Take a family cooking class or select a different spot for this year’s vacation.

5. Set a savings goal. Sit everyone down, talk through the family budget and come up with a goal together.

6. Designate a device-free time. Choose a time of day when everyone can take a break from devices, like mealtimes or bedtime.

7. Improve one aspect of the family diet. Try a new vegetable, ditch the greasy takeout, or make and follow a meal plan.

8. Be better listeners. Everyone wants to be heard and understood, but loud voices can drown out others.

Jack Sprat

I’ve accepted the challenge to read twelve books in 2016:

A book published this year – Star Wars; the Force Awakens, Alan Dean Foster

A book you can finish in a day - The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

A book you’ve been meaning to read - The 5th Wave, Rick Yancey

A book recommended by a librarian or bookseller – A Wish Your Heart Makes, Charles Solomon

A book you should have read in school – Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut

A book chosen by a friend or family member – The Book Thief, Markus Zusak

A book published before your birth – The Odyssey, Homer

A book that was banned at some point – Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury

A book you previously abandoned – Death Comes for the Archbishop, Willa Cather

A book you own but have never read – The Talisman, Sir Walter Scott

A book that intimidates you – The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien

A book you’ve read at least once – The Harry Potter Series, J.K. Rowling

Nine Pinwheel Cabins

“Mothers and fathers who anxiously await the arrival of a precious child sometimes learn that all is not well with this tiny infant. A missing limb, sightless eyes, a damaged brain, or the term “Down’s syndrome” greets the parents, leaving them baffled, filled with sorrow, and reaching out for hope. There follows the inevitable blaming of oneself, the condemnation of a careless action, and the perennial questions: “Why such a tragedy in our family?” “Why didn’t I keep her home?” “If only he hadn’t gone to that party.” “How did this happen?” “Where was God?” “Where was a protecting angel?” If, why, where, how—those recurring words—do not bring back the lost son, the perfect body, the plans of parents, or the dreams of youth. Self-pity, personal withdrawal, or deep despair will not bring the peace, the assurance, or help which are needed. Rather, we must go forward, look upward, move onward, and rise heavenward.” – Thomas S. Monson

Four Ripples

 Beatrix Potter was always a shrewd observer of society, but a reluctant participant. Her first passion was art, and her second was nature. She turned the third floor schoolroom in her family’s London home into a menagerie where uncaged rabbits, ducks, frogs and mice became her first models. “Why cannot one be content to look?” She mused, “I cannot rest, I must draw, however poor the result.” She was a voracious reader with a razor-sharp wit, a delightful imagination and delicious sense of humor. All these skills made her an excellent teller of stories; her talent for drawing and painting made her their perfect illustrator. When Beatrix was a child, her family summered in the Lake District. As an adult, she moved there permanently, working tirelessly to preserve the farms and the wildlife. To ensure her legacy would live on, she named the National Trust as the main beneficiary in her will.

Year's Favourite

As of today I’ve maintained this blog exactly five years. It was meant to be a twelve-month challenge, to see if I’d run out of designs or interesting things to say (to myself, at least) before the year ran out. Today’s block is number 1388. Many of the rest have become bedspreads, lap quilts, wall hangings, table toppers or hot pads for friends or family members. Several hundred were made into quilts and donated to wounded veterans, cancer victims, survivors of terrorist attacks and natural disasters, hospital workers and volunteers. Yesterday Heather and I mopped our muddy front entry, caught up with the laundry and baked cookies to bring to some friends we haven’t seen in far too long. Today we’ll clean out the fridge, take down the tree and bake a couple of pies to share with some other friends. Not a bad way to end a year; or to start a new one.