Ashley English

A Bit of Math and Science

/ makingofahome / 1 Comment

IMG_0944

I am subbing in the junior high at my daughter’s school this week.  In math and science.  Oh boy.  Thank goodness for this marvelous snow day!  It’s allowing my English-major self some time to brush up on endotherms, greatest common factor and transversal lines 🙂

Join me on Friday for my “Kairos” moment from this week.  I hope you are all safe and warm wherever you find yourself on this early March day!

At This Moment

/ makingofahome / Leave a comment

IMG_0612

At this moment I am…

~glancing out my kitchen window, as the snow blows sideways across our yard.

~snacking on a bit of left over pumpkin tiramisu.  The recipe for this fabulous dessert can be found in A Year of Pies.  Yum!

~organizing volunteers for our church’s Friday Lenten Fish Fry.  Join us if you are able…It is always such fun!

~enjoying warm coffee roasted by JavaMania Gourmet Coffee Roastery…one of my favorite local coffee roasters.

~supervising another burlap project, repurposing coffee bags from the lovely people at JavaMania.  More on this activity in a few days.

~crafting a few new woolens to bring along on a winter hiking trip we plan to take in the very near future.

~beginning a new book, The Nature Principle by Richard Louv.  I have already enjoyed another of his works, The Last Child In The Woods, and hope to be enthralled with this read as well.

~wishing you a wonderful week!

What I’m Into This Week

/ makingofahome / 3 Comments

IMG_0599

Whew.  It has been one of those weeks.  I know you all understand what I’m talking about…One of those weeks where all of a sudden you look at the calendar and realize multiple days have gone by without your noticing.  Yes.  That has been my week.

I think one reason for the craziness is I seem to have had my hand in a bit of everything this week.  So, with that said, here is what I’m into this week…

  • My girls had a few friends over and they made some Valentine’s Day ornaments using the “Salt Dough” recipe from Paula Deen’s My First Cookbook.
  • I just finished reading Radical Homemakers by Shannon Hayes, and let me tell you, it is a fabulous book!  It gave me a whole new perspective on homemaking as a means of ushering in social change.  Amazing.
  • I also just picked up another book by Shannon Hayes, Long Way On A Little.  It contains great insight into the world of eating closer to the source, and also has a ton of great recipes and project ideas.  Hopefully you will see some of this in action in upcoming posts.
  • It’s not only non-fiction on my reading list this week, I also just started reading Gone Girl for my next book club gathering.  It is a bit on the creepy side, but it is definitely a page-turner.
  • A dear friend of mine just passed along this link to a great homemade fruit snack recipe.  My youngest and I made four batches already this week and they are being gobbled up as fast as we can make them.
  • I started a crocheting project with wool from this farm.  It is working up nicely, and  rest assured there will be a picture of the finished project coming soon.
  • I’ve been perusing this thrift store and this one, and this antique mall lately for some new dishes.  I’ve come home with a lot of cute sweaters…and not so many dishes…ha.
  • My oldest daughter and I are looking forward to making quite a bit of cheese today with our kit from New England Cheesemaking Supply Company.
  • I want to redecorate our main bathroom, and I’ve been looking to make this project as the focal point of the room.
  • And last but certainly not least, I plan to try out two more pie recipes from A Year of Pies, my new favorite cookbook.IMG_0610

For the Love of Pie

/ makingofahome / Leave a comment

IMG_0515

I am in love.  I am in love with a book…all about pie.  From as far back as I can remember, pies have donned the table of every family gathering.  Whether it was Thanksgiving or Christmas, Easter or Mother’s Day, or even The Fourth of July, pie seemed to take the lead as the star of the dessert show.

My husband has long known of my self-admitted pie obsession, and gave me a fabulous birthday present this year:  A Year of Pies: A Seasonal Tour of Home Baked Pies by one of my fav do-it-yourselfers Ashley English.  After just one flip of the page I knew I was in love.  Oh my.  Each pie looks better than the last, and my girls and I found ourselves nestled on our couch, thumbing through the crisp pages, vowing to make each and every pie in the book by the end of 2013.

IMG_0517

Inspired by the contents of this book, we decided to host an afternoon of pie tasting.  Yes, you heard that correctly.  We spent Monday afternoon, crowded in our warm kitchen with family and friends, eating nothing but pie and drinking mead and coffee.  (I mean, you can’t very well eat a honey pie without honey mead to go with it now can you?)  I think it was the tastiest afternoon I have enjoyed in some time.  Yum.

IMG_0516