Ham n' Swiss Loaf

This week I had lunch with a dear friend while our children played. Did you ever notice that when children are visiting, kids never want to take time to eat? Fidget wasn't hungry all day. That was fine with Aimee and me. We got to relax and enjoy food and fellowship and even pray together. Friendship is such a blessing.

Here is the recipe for  ham and swiss loaf . I have made this exact recipe a bunch of times from my Fleischmann's yeast cookbook. Above and below show the dough rolled out with meats and cheeses layered down the center.

I used ham, roast beef, and a Mexican four-cheese blend. I split the dough in half since it was just going to be me and Aimee eating it. And there were still leftovers. If you make the whole thing together it feeds a bunch of people, which is perfect for a lunch tea party. The other half of the dough I sent home with Aimee so she could make a loaf for her family.

After you lay the meat and cheese down the center, you slice the sides so they can lace up and make a braided pattern over top.This seals in the insides so you don't lose your cheese all over the baking sheet.

The finished product. Egg is brushed over top before you bake it. You get a beautiful glossy crust that is soft and golden. Sometimes in winter I serve it with tomato soup for kids, or a heartier soup with dinner. This time I served a pasta salad along side.

Since there is mustard in the dough it doesn't need any condiments. I am not much into mustard, but it is a subtle background flavor and pairs well with the meat.

The kids didn't know what they were missing. The fellowship was sweet and the food was good. I am going to miss Virginia.

Scramble of the Week

It's been awhile since I checked in. I appreciate anyone who looks at my page with any frequency and I am sorry I haven't put anything new on... So for you: All right, folks, here's the low down. 

We are about to move. 
We are trying to get our house ready to rent out,
trying to find a place to live in Rhode Island, and 
having the kitchen and bathroom redone because the water line to the ice maker broke recently and ruined those rooms as well and flooding the basement. 

On top of that I am getting to paint!

 Here's the adorable puppy I am working on this week for our neighbor. Hope to be finished by Wednesday, especially since I have 2 or 3 more house pictures to sketch and possibly draw. Can you see how much fun I am having at this? Can you believe people pay me for having this kind of fun?

 Here's the house I finished a couple of weeks ago.

And here is Brandy, a portrait of a dear friend's daughter. I did this in late winter/early spring. 

I started a Cookie of the Week segment but had to stop when our kitchen was off limits for the workers to rip out the floor. The oven was in the laundry room for over a week. Sometimes the best I can do for the Pres' lunch box treat is to tuck in some Nutter Butter cookies.

So instead of the cookie of the week I will show you what I am scrambling to do. From here on out I will be scrambling to find a house to live in, finish commissions, get packed up, and move where the Marine Corps sends us. I am already praying for a welcoming art community up in RI because getting to paint again has opened up a facet of me largely ignored since our little figlet came along almost 7 years ago. Now that I'm painting, I don't want to stop!

Adelaide's Treasures

As you know if you've been reading this blog, my daughter Fidget and I have an ongoing mystery to work on when we run to the Elizabeth River down at the end of our street. While we do collect clues (sometimes in the form of broken pottery, which we bring home), I am not sure this is a mystery we want to solve. It is something we expound on every time so it takes different turns.

Here are more broken items from Aunt Adelaide's sunken ship. Fidget and I were fascinated this morning, because we chanced upon low tide and there were bits of glass and pottery strewn all about. Jackpot!

I was particularly enchanted with two fragments that had back stamps pressed into them. You can see them better if you click the photo above, it enlarges the picture.

I found so much, it filled both my hands on the way home. Lately we find more and more pieces. We are going to miss the fun of finding shards of the past when we move this summer. We may never solve the mystery of Aunt Adelaide's disappearance, or find the chest with her fortune in it. We may never apprehend the pirates who posed as fishermen to steal her trunk. But I am sure another mystery is awaiting us in Rhode Island!

The Case of Aunt Adelaide

Today we got down to the river in the morning again. We have such fun playing Nense Jroo (which is how Fidget spells Nancy Drew, for the uninitiated) there. We are always on a case. The past few months we've been taken with the idea that Nense and her friends George Fayne (who is an athletic girl, I often play this part when I am not pretending to be Ned Nickerson) and Bess Marvin all have an Aunt Adelaide who went missing in the late 1800's, leaving her fortune to the three girls. Never mind that the girls would not have been born yet so dear auntie could not have known their names. Do not bog us down in details like that! Apparently pirates who posed as fishermen sank Aunt Adelaide's boat, so they could get her fortune. She had a trunk of gold doubloons. We often find bits of pottery from auntie's boat, or glass, or undeveloped film that Nense swirls in the water to develop so we can just make out the shadowy figure of a man...

You always have to be ready with Fidget. Even if you woke up in the middle of the night with nightmares and lost a lot of sleep, be prepared. She will probably wake up at 6am with another case brewing before you can even get your first cup of tea down. When this happens, I find the best thing to clear the head is a run to the river.

Arround the House

 We've been doing a lot of work and things are coming together around here. The entire time we've lived here we've benefited from the previous owner's vision and planning in the garden. We've got blooms coming out everywhere, some whose names we don't even know!

 Lately we're sprucing up indoors and out. Here's a view of the front of River's Edge with the crisply improved clipped hedges and bushes. Fidget says she wants to make a bed out of one of the bushes flanking the front walk.

This weekend we painted the siding on the outside of the laundry room. We picked a blue slightly brighter than what is on the house now. We like the brighter look even if you can't see it in this photo taken after a barbecue lunch this weekend. 

We are currently having the kitchen and downstairs bathroom redone because of the havoc wreaked on them by the broken ice maker line. Soon we'll have gorgeous inside pictures to show!

After the Storm

 Here are more pictures of pottery and glass gleanings from our walks at the Elizabeth River at the end of our street. Many days Fidget and I jog down there and back. But this morning neither of us is feeling well so we just walked. There is comfort in walking together, taking her hand just to be sure she's still there.

We weathered a sudden fierce storm two days ago. Yesterday when we went to the river there was pottery and glass scattered all over the shore, way up high where the storm waters had surged. Our streets frequently flood in stormy weather, and we saw where the neighborhood water had run over the rocks down into the river. 

We have been through a lot lately, our family. Deaths, anger, grieving, and water damage from the broken ice maker line are but some of the things that have worn us out emotionally and physically. These challenges leave us feeling weak, but ultimately point us to the source of all strength and perfection, Jesus, our Redeemer. 

It would be so nice if things didn't break and we didn't disappoint each other, if dear friends and loved ones wouldn't die. But we are sinners in a broken world, and to expect only good is unrealistic, it sets us up for despair. I was musing on these things with a dear kindred spirit this morning and she wrote : So fun for you and Fidget to find more treasures after the storm.. isn’t that how it goes with ’storms’. They unearth the deep things in us and God reveals the treasure He is in us. 

I am so thankful for a friend who helps me see that in any storm there are treasures to be had. If I cling to God, He will reveal the treasures in His time.

Cookie of the Week

Here's a look at the Pres' lunch box treat. Well, he won't have these. I just ate these. But there are more for him, I guarantee.

This week's recipe is one I clipped from a Martha Stewart Magazine in early 2008. While I could not locate it on her website, I found Barbara Bakes had it and it is here if you want to try it. She's got a lovely site to browse, with lots of goodies in no way limited to cookies.

 When Fig was in Montessori school I brought these on one of my assigned snack days. They were a big hit and I have made them ever since. The nice thing about these is they're so much fluffier and lighter in the mouth than the usual peanut butter cookie. Enjoy!