A Closer Look at Ottoman

Our Trip (Part 3 of 4...I think)

I tried to get some cooking out of my system while using my parents' fully-functioning kitchen. I also went to my grandparents' house to learn how my grandmother makes her famous dumplings; they are a French-Canadian variety with cinnamon and cloves as the seasoning:

Here they are rolled out and with the filling (pork) added. I ended up rolling the dough thinner on a lot of these after the picture was taken and making two instead of one. I actually needed to make them even thinner than that; I'm impressed how my grandmother can roll the dough paper-thin and put even more filling in them than I did (according to my father, the expert) and keep them together! I guess she has many more years of practice...I'd better hop to it!

Here are half of the dumplings made, with the other half of the dough ready to be rolled out.

Here's Boo's dumpling; he wanted to get in on the cooking (I love that he loves to cook) and my grandmother gave him some scrap dough and some filling and they basically played with it like play dough (my grandmother acts like such a kid...love that). This one actually ended up in the garbage because it landed on the floor. I'm pretty bummed that I didn't get any images of finished dumplings; I guess I'll have to make some more soon!

I also finally got to making marshmallows on the trip. I used this recipe, but part of it must be missing (so unexpected from Martha) because it doesn't state what kind of a pan to line the parchment paper with or how to keep the marshmallow from sticking to the parchment paper (yeah...it stuck to it and it was like skinning an animal, not that I've done that before, to get it off), but they turned out lovely with an interesting texture:

My parents' mantle was perfect to photograph these...it was decorated with cute Easter stuff.

After all the build up to make these, they were a bit too sweet in hot cocoa. However, they were great by themselves. I often cut sugar in half in cookie recipes and such, but it's sort of difficult to cut out the sugar on something that's almost entirely sugar...so maybe a dunk in dark chocolate would be nice!

Oh yes, and you may have noticed that they aren't tinted like the ones in the recipe; I also altered the recipe a little and substituted 1/4 cup of the corn syrup with honey. The marshmallows had the delicious scent of honey and vanilla.

Happy Tuesday!

A Colorful Rug

I pulled out another rug today that my Grandmother made. This one is really colorful and looks like one of those rugs that is made with t-shirts, except that the fabric is feels like polyester (but still stretchy like t-shirt). This one, like the others, is weaved. I seem to vaguely remember my grandmother using something similar, if not this very one, in her home when I was a child (maybe I should ask her). The colors are very 60s/70s to me:

I don't think I'll ever be able to use them as rugs, but maybe I'll find another way to integrate them into my home (ha - when my son is a little older).

Grandma's Handwoven Blanket

My grandmother gave me this blanket when I moved to Oregon because even though it's cotton, the weave is so tight, it's really heavy (kind of like one of those lead blankets that you get put on you when you have x-rays done at the dentist); so, she had no use for it in a warm climate.

The blanket, like the rugs in this post, were weaved by my grandmother in Quebec long ago. It's mint or seafoam green in color with some stripes made of darker variegated colors. I cherish it so!

The images are of the blanket folded:

Oh yes, and I listed Moss Lavender Pincushion (V2) 1 this morning!

Happy Monday!

Grandma's Handwoven Rugs

I own a few things that my father's mother has made, and I am totally obsessed with them. I have a couple of rugs that she made (she doesn't think much of them...they are "just rugs"), as far as I know, in Quebec - I think one of her sisters belonged to a weaving co-op and they shared looms. Anyway, my grandmother only weaved there and has never done so otherwise (as far as I know). I think the texture on these rugs are just beautiful. I'll share some more goodies she has made soon!

The images are of the rugs folded up: