Happy Holidays Out of my Comfort Zone

Happy Holidays!!

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving.

I spent the weekend in Dallas with my brother's family and my mom and even my sweet son. 

Me with my mom and brother.

Growing my bangs out...ugh.

Nothing worse. 

My absolute favorite picture of the weekend.

My great nephew playing Pokemon with the Big Guy. 

Also had the chance to see some friends so it was a pretty perfect time. The icing on the cake was I got to get on a plane- not much makes me happier- and on the return trip I spent a night in Denver with my friend Diana and her very sick daughter and her not sick son-in-law.  LOVE having a place to stay in the Mile High City as the drive to and from the Denver airport is the pits. 

And now I'm back at the cozy cabin in the woods, watching the snow fall outside my window. Don't think the temp has been above freezing at all today. The pellet stove is blazing and there is chili in the crockpot for dinner. 

Mina on my lap, fire in the pellet stove.

Cozy in the woods.

Need to put the Christmas tree up.

And last week I really got out of my comfort zone. The hospital had a craft fair which I went to last year...but wasn't brave enough to sign up for.   Cheryl, the nurse I work with, does beautiful photographs that she puts on cards and canvases. She sold things last year and encouraged me to try it this year. And then she reminded me and nudged me just enough that I turned in my fee and committed.   

Honestly, selling stuff I make has always intimidated me. Lots of doubts of  it "doesn't look professional enough", it isn't "creative enough". Whatever. Lots of excuses to not try. 

So with a shove from Cheryl, I tried.   I made some beads...necklaces and earrings and fun wrap bracelets. Then I made some banana bread and apple pies. And then I made some seasoned salt. My fabulous nephew, Andrew, who is über creative and much better at computer design than I, offered to help me with a label for the salt. I had a basic idea- he cleaned it up.   So it was an interesting table of items for sale. 

Andrew's improved version of my label.

After setting up, I wandered the other tables and despaired a bit that I was not as organized, creative, professional and then decided "F*@k it. I don't care."  This was an experiment. Would anyone buy anything? Would I take everything I came with home again? 

Lots of little salts. 

And some earrings. 

Needed a little work on the display but o well.

Well, guess what?  I sold half my salt, most of my bracelets, all of the banana bread, all but one of the pies (Fools. I should have sold all of them as they are really yummy.) and some  earrings and necklaces.  I probably made a $120 profit, which, considering I had zero expectations 
and I only started working on things November 1, was not bad. I had someone come up and tell me they had bought one of my bracelets for her daughter for Christmas. Really?? I made a Christmas present?

Would I do it again? Sure. But I would plan a little more- my presentation needed work-and start creating a little sooner. 

So. If you create, share it with the world. There will always be people that are more or better but there are also people willing to spend cold hard cash on your ideas and creativity. And that is such great validation. 

Put yourself out there.   And have a wonderful holiday season. 

A Little Chemistry...

Chemistry Class: The kind you can pass.


I've been slacking on the challenges.  O well.
They'll get done.

I've actually been chatting with my friend, Cherrilla, about No. 10: Start a business that makes money.
But that's as far as we've gotten.

And I believe brunch is on the menu during a late March trip to New Orleans. That's No. 21: Go to brunch.

At least there is some planning going on.

But this post is about chemistry.  Timely since I have just come from parent/teacher conferences and one of the girlies (who shall remain unnamed) apparently is not doing too well in Chemistry. Hmmmm.

Except I'm talking about FUN chemistry here, not the kind with equations.
The kind of chemistry that ends up with something yummy to eat.

Because really that's all baking is, just chemistry.

And I love to bake.

Yesterday I cleaned out the fridge and realized there were some very overripe bananas in there.
So of course I had to make banana bread.

Here's the cast of characters for the bread:

See? Those are really ripe bananas.

Except the recipe calls for two eggs and I only had one. So I had to stop everything and drive 20 miles to the grocery store for eggs. And 20 miles back.

Then I made a huge mess in the kitchen because that's just how I roll.

A little blurry, a little messy. 

But the results are worth it.

And then I ended up with this:

                      

Not a food photographer, I confess. 

But the counter is clean and the banana bread is yummy.

This is the best, most moist banana bread ever.  

At least in Texas it is. 

Since I'm in Colorado above 7000 feet I still need to figure out the secrets to high altitude baking. With this recipe I've been adding 1/2 an egg more and that seems to help. 

So here we go:    

Best Banana Bread

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

8 Tablespoons butter softened. (That's one whole stick of butter. A quarter of a pound. Yum.)

1 cup sugar

2 eggs  (or 2 1/2 eggs if you are doing the high altitude thing)

1 cup ripe mashed bananas (about 2 large ones)

1/3 cup milk

1 tsp. lemon juice

1 cup walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together. (Or do what I do, stir them up a bit and call it a day.)

Set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar together.

Add eggs and bananas to the butter mixture.  Blend thoroughly.

In a separate bowl (ok, this recipe does use a lot of bowls) combine the milk and lemon juice. 

Starting and ending with the dry ingredients, alternately blend the dry mix and the milk mix into the banana mix. 

Throw in the cup of walnuts. 

Mix up all the mixes. 

Pour it all into a lavishly buttered 9x5 loaf pan. 

Bake for one hour. 

Yum. 

You're welcome. 

And for your entertainment, a Vine starring this very same banana bread being made in Texas.

          

If you are curious about the differences between my Texas kitchen and my Colorado kitchen, click  here for that post.

And if you have any suggestions for high altitude baking, please let me know.