german apple cake (don't make just one)

just one bite left

Last weekend I made eight German Apple cakes. Two for a party we were attending, four for the women's shelter, and two more for... my tummy. I did share.

Years ago, when I called my Grandmother to get the recipe, she said "Now Fawn, don't make just one of these." She would always make anywhere from two to ten, and share them with family and neighbors. They are simple and delicious, like everything my Grandmother baked.

german apple cake
(makes two 9x9 cakes)

2 cups flour, sifted
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup milk

Mix all these ingredients together and beat the batter for 2 minutes.
Then add:

3 cups apples, peeled & sliced (Stayman/Winesap are my favorite for baking)

topping:
4 tsp cinammon
2/3 cup brown sugar
Mix these together well.

Grease two 8x8 cake pans and pour in the batter. Sprinkle over with the topping and dot with butter. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, til golden brown and a knife inserted comes out clean.

Enjoy munching on this tasty cake soon. It's simple enough to make a wonderful weeknight dessert surprise for your family on a dreary winter day - especially with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. And don't forget to share.

looking at America from afar, 1956

An excerpt from Dr. King's 1956 sermon, "Paul's letter to American Christians":

But America, as I look at you from afar, I wonder whether your moral and spiritual progress has been commensurate with your scientific progress. It seems to me that your moral progress lags behind your scientific progress. Your poet Thoreau used to talk about "improved means to an unimproved end." How often this is true. You have allowed the material means by which you live to outdistance the spiritual ends for which you live. You have allowed your mentality to outrun your morality. You have allowed your civilization to outdistance your culture. Through your scientific genius you have made of the world a neighborhood, but through your moral and spiritual genius you have failed to make of it a brotherhood. So America, I would urge you to keep your moral advances abreast with your scientific advances.

I am impelled to write you concerning the responsibilities laid upon you to live as Christians in the midst of an unChristian world. That is what I had to do. That is what every Christian has to do. But I understand that there are many Christians in America who give their ultimate allegiance to man-made systems and customs. They are afraid to be different. Their great concern is to be accepted socially. They live by some such principle as this: "everybody is doing it, so it must be alright." For so many of you Morality is merely group consensus. In your modern sociological lingo, the mores are accepted as the right ways. You have unconsciously come to believe that right is discovered by taking a sort of Gallup poll of the majority opinion. How many are giving their ultimate allegiance to this way.

But American Christians, I must say to you as I said to the Roman Christians years ago, "Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind." Or, as I said to the Phillipian Christians, "Ye are a colony of heaven." This means that although you live in the colony of time, your ultimate allegiance is to the empire of eternity. You have a dual citizenry. You live both in time and eternity; both in heaven and earth. Therefore, your ultimate allegiance is not to the government, not to the state, not to nation, not to any man-made institution. The Christian owes his ultimate allegiance to God, and if any earthly institution conflicts with God's will it is your Christian duty to take a stand against it. You must never allow the transitory evanescent demands of man-made institutions to take precedence over the eternal demands of the Almighty God.

I understand that you have an economic system in America known as Capitalism. Through this economic system you have been able to do wonders. You have become the richest nation in the world, and you have built up the greatest system of production that history has ever known. All of this is marvelous. But Americans, there is the danger that you will misuse your Capitalism. I still contend that money can be the root of all evil. It can cause one to live a life of gross materialism. I am afraid that many among you are more concerned about making a living than making a life. You are prone to judge the success of your profession by the index of your salary and the size of the wheel base on your automobile, rather than the quality of your service to humanity.

The misuse of Capitalism can also lead to tragic exploitation. This has so often happened in your nation. They tell me that one tenth of one percent of the population controls more than forty percent of the wealth. Oh America, how often have you taken necessities from the masses to give luxuries to the classes. If you are to be a truly Christian nation you must solve this problem. You cannot solve the problem by turning to communism, for communism is based on an ethical relativism and a metaphysical materialism that no Christian can accept. You can work within the framework of democracy to bring about a better distribution of wealth. You can use your powerful economic resources to wipe poverty from the face of the earth. God never intended for one group of people to live in superfluous inordinate wealth, while others live in abject deadening poverty. God intends for all of his children to have the basic necessities of life, and he has left in this universe "enough and to spare" for that purpose. So I call upon you to bridge the gulf between abject poverty and superfluous wealth.

I would that I could be with you in person, so that I could say to you face to face what I am forced to say to you in writing. Oh, how I long to share your fellowship.

Read the whole sermon here.

resolutions, warm fingers

It's January, it's biting cold, it's snowing all the time in North Carolina for heaven's sake. It's time to knit mittens.

I just completed (finally!) the Norwegian mittens, and they have been dutifully mailed off to HWWLLB's lovely mama, belated for Christmas but right on time for her January birthday. And I am hooked. As you can see, they are beautiful, but they're also warm, comfortable, practical, and a relatively quick knit.

I haven't knitted mittens in years, because in the past I knitted them with one yarn color and found that a single layer of knitted fabric just lets too much wind through to be warm enough for me. I've been wearing fleece gloves ever since. But stranded mittens! Of course! Those smart Scandinavians know all about how to stay warm, don't they? It took me a decade of knitting to wake up to the genius of Norwegian mittens, but here we are. I think there are more mittens in my near future.

So, I have been thinking and thinking about a New Year's resolution. I like making resolutions, and in the past I've gotten pretty ambitious with them, resolving to do things like giving up plastic and practicing yoga every single day. Needless to say, they don't always stick, but I think it's a worthwhile exercise.

But I've been having a hard time coming up with resolutions this year, perhaps because I don't feel very ambitious. One of the things I noticed about 2010 is that I worked much too hard. I put way too much pressure on myself to perform, and I think it's telling that I didn't take a single vacation day all year (until December 23rd, when I realized I had been insane). The only days I took off from work were for funerals. : (

So I think this is my resolution for 2011: Stop pushing myself so hard. Expect less from myself. Do less.

I'm not going to put any qualifiers on this one. I'm just going to try - less.

season's greetings

We're snowed in at HWWLLB's parents' house in the mountains. It's wonderful.

It was such a busy, hectic fall. Being snowed in over Christmas means that basically everything has stopped. We didn't travel to see more relatives, I'm not trying to cram in any work, we're not even making trips to the grocery store. We're here with yarn and books and toys, finding little ways to have fun, and taking lots of naps. I really needed this break. It took a foot of snow to get me to slow down and relax!

I have two knitting projects going here: one secret and one decoy. The secret project was supposed to be a Christmas gift, but it wasn't done in time, so it will be a birthday gift in January instead. It's Elizabeth Zimmerman's Norwegian mittens, and they are the most beautiful things I've ever knitted by far. I keep stroking and gazing at them (which may be why they weren't finished in time for Christmas!).

The decoy is because we're hanging out with the mitten recipient, so I can't very well gaze upon the mittens (or knit them) in front of her. So I'm working on a bulky jacket for the Pea with big fat giant colorful Lang Mille Colori Big yarn. It's beautiful and soft and quick and fun.

It's hard to fit all this knitting in between naps and baking, but somehow I'm managing. I hope you're having a wonderful holiday. This is just what I wanted for Christmas!

recipe::warm & spicy winter soup

I am a firm believer in the healing powers of home-made soup. As a vegetarian, I'm always looking for the non-meat version of the incredibly comforting chicken-noodle soup. This isn't that exactly, but it is a warm, aromatic bowl packed full of vitamin C, protein, and immune-system-boosting ingredients for a cold winter's night.

If this soup is for family dinner, serve it with salad and a crusty bread to make it snazzy - but if you're feeling under the weather, a bowl by itself is nutritionally complete and sure to warm your bones. Bonus: this recipe is also vegan and gluten-free!

warm & spicy winter soup

prep time: 20 minutes
cooking time: 1 hour
serves 4-6

ingredients

1 onion, minced
10 cloves garlic, minced
1 2-inch stick of fresh ginger, peeled & minced
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 cup dry mung beans, split peas, lentils or other quick-cooking dry bean
1/2 cup millet or quinoa
1 sweet potato, diced
3 medium carrots, diced
1 bunch of fresh greens (spinach, kale or chard work well), chopped
1 quart of vegetable stock
juice of 1/2 lemon
salt & pepper to taste

Mince the onions, garlic and ginger in the food processor or by hand. In a large soup pot, warm the olive oil over medium heat. Saute the onions, garlic and ginger until the onion becomes tender and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the curry powder and saute another minute. Pour the vegetable stock into the pot.

Rinse the beans and grains well and add them to the pot. (If you are using quinoa, soak it first and rinse it thoroughly to remove the bitter husk). Bring the pot to a boil, then turn it down to a simmer and cover the pot. Let it simmer for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, peel the carrots and sweet potatoes and dice them. Add them to the pot, and continue to simmer, covered, until the vegetables and beans are tender (another 20-30 minutes).

Once the veggies and beans are tender, add the greens, stir them in and let the whole pot simmer until the greens are tender, another 5-6 minutes or so. Salt and pepper to taste. Before serving, add the lemon juice.

tips & variations
- Chopped frozen spinach is a fine substitute for fresh, especially when you're in a hurry.

- If you have some leftover cooked brown rice, you can add that instead of the millet or quinoa. Cooked grains should be added about the same time you add the greens.

- If you like thicker, creamier soup, try this: Just before the point when you'd add the greens, scoop about 1/3 to 1/2 of the pot of soup into the food processor and puree. Return the puree to the pot and stir it in well. Then continue with the rest of the recipe.

- If a little extra heat makes your runny nose feel better, consider adding 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper or hot chili paste to the onion saute along with your curry powder. Serve with a bottle of hot sauce on the table, too.

- I like to make a big batch of soup and then freeze containers of one to two servings for another day. If you do that with this recipe, I'd suggest leaving out the greens and lemon juice. Add them instead when you defrost and re-heat the soup to get a fresher taste, brighter colors and more nutrients out of your leftovers.

I hope this helps you through your winter colds!

free pattern friday::soxxy dress

Here's a dress for the Scrappy Doll, made with some sock yarn leftovers. The pattern is knit from the bottom up, and quite simple, so you can adapt it for dolls of all sizes. Make one in each of your favorite sock yarn leftover colors!

size: one size (to fit a 10.5 inch doll)

gauge: 7.5 stitches/inch

materials:
small amount of leftover sock yarn (shown in Curious Creek Wasonga)
US Size 1 DPN's
stitch marker
tapestry needle

Cast on 124 stitches. Join to knit in the round, being careful not to twist. Place a stitch marker to mark the start of the round.

Knit 4 rounds in stockinette stitch.
R5: *K1, P1. Repeat from * to end. This ridge will stop the edge from rolling further.
Continue in stockinette stitch until the piece measures one inch.

Next round: K2tog every stitch to end. 62 stitches remain.
Continue in stockinette stitch until the piece measures 3.5 inches.

Next round: Knit 31, placing all stitches on one needle. Knit the next 31 stitches onto another needle - now your work is divided into 2 pieces.

You will knit flat from here up, working back & forth on one needle only, knitting every row (garter stitch). As you go, be sure to slip the first stitch of each row, with the yarn held in the front (wyif), in order to keep a tidy edge. You can hold your stitches for the front of the dress on a needle, scrap yarn or a stitch holder as you work the back.



back of dress
Row 1: BO 3, K to end.
Row 2: BO 3, K to end.
Knit 4 rows.

Next row: Slip 1 wyif, K2tog, K to 3 stitches before end. SSK, K1.
Next row: Knit.
Repeat these last 2 rows until 21 stitches remain on the needle.

create the straps
Next row: Slip 1 wyif, K2tog, K1, BO 13, K1, SSK, K1.
Now you have 2 straps begun, each with 3 stitches. Hold one on your needle or a piece of scrap yarn while you knit the other. Work 21 rows on each strap, continuing to slip the first stitch of each row wyif. Once you have 21 rows, bind off all stitches, trim the end, rejoin the yarn and work the other strap the same way.

front of dress
Rejoin the yarn.
Row 1: BO 3, K to end.
Row 2: BO 3, K to end.
Knit 4 rows.
BO all stitches.

finishing
Weave in ends and trim. Fold the straps over from back to front and sew them down very firmly on the front of the dress (see photo).

recently

I knitted a smooshee man as a gift for one of the Pea's friends. She enjoyed taking him for a test run in the backyard.



Instead of trick-or-treating, we spent Halloween playing at the state park just outside city limits.



If you guessed that all those pom-poms I made were for a broccoli costume, you were right (and also, you are amazingly psychic!). She liked the costume for about the first 15 minutes, but spent the rest of the afternoon pulling on the pom-poms saying "OFF! OFF!" The broccoli looks a bit steamed in all of the pictures. HA HA! Steamed! Broccoli! Ah, just made myself laugh. Whew.



I can't believe it's November already. November 7th, to be exact. Holy moly. I hope you're having a great fall.