There are days when you just need to say to heck with the diet. Day before yesterday I officially hit the halfway point: 14 pounds off, 14 to go (and if a few more want to go besides, that’s OK by me, too). Joshua had been asking if we could make doughnuts at home, so today was the day.

Boynton McKay, an eatery on the single main block of Camden, with latte’s, great wraps, this and that to eat, has heavenly doughnuts. I’d been trying to figure out the flavors so I asked the head cook a while back….I’d identified cinnamon and nutmeg, maybe cardamom (a favorite “secret” ingredient of mine), and thought it was lemon zest. I was close…no cardamom, and it was buttermilk, not lemon zest that gave it the tangy flavor. So, I hauled out my King Arthur’s Flour baker’s cookbook (and which I’d noticed on the shelf at Boynton McKay). PRESTO! It was the exact recipe with buttermilk, cinnamon and nutmeg. Of course, I added 1/8 tsp. cardamom, too. They boys even liked the dough–which is one part whole wheat flour, three parts white flour, butter, brown sugar, egg and spices, salt, and baking soda (or was it powder?). Here’s phase 1–mixing:

We rolled out the dough and used cookie cutters to cut the donuts and the holes. With 20-20 hindsight, I need a larger cutter and hole cutter. Then, you deep-fry the dough; oil must be at 365 degrees, so I used the candy thermometer. Also almost melted the melamine skimmer, so had to use tongs to retrieve the fried donuts—will have to buy a metal skimmer (the kind the Chinese use is my favorite but I’ve never had one…) for next time.

Then the boys wanted glazed, so mixed some powdered sugar with a tiny bit of milk. Then you either dredge the donut or roll the holes. Finally, set on plate, then inhale.

I used to make donuts when I was about 5 at my Gramma’s house…my cousin Anne and I would eat the holes…yummmm! Back in the mid-60s, you could buy donuts in a roll in the refrigerator case (you know, where you buy crescent rolls and breakfast rolls now), so we made those. It has been more than 4 decades, but I still remembered how! And now Joshua wants to start a new family tradition…donuts! YEAH!

There is hope….the other day my oldest son, aged 12, called me over: Mom, look! He was enchanted by the swirls in his hot cocoa…yep, that’s my boy!

OK, so I’m not really part of Self-Portrait Tuesday. Haven’t signed up, etc., and keep forgetting to take the dang photos and post on Tuesday. But saw Rachel Kitterman’s cool photo, and Squished Piggies Don’t Squeak, so took these.

DebR–did you see I added my red slippers to your Frappr map? And to go to the other end…who ever knows what the back of their head looks like, so I decided to find out! Here’s me, drum roll, at the computer! By the way, that’s not white or gray…those are my sparkles! I do crinkles and sparkles, they’re so much more fun!

Debra asked me what the quote was, as she enjoys Orson Scott Card’s work, too. So, I decided to copy it here. The first book of his that I read was “Enchantment“, which Sue Reno mentioned on the QuiltArt list a couple of years ago. I LOVED it….it’s about the origins of the Sleeping Beauty legend, and involves time travel from current day (or thereabouts) to 9th century Kievan Rus / Ukraine…..

I just finished reading the Ender’s series of books: Ender’s Game, Speaker for the Dead, and Xenocide. OK…scratch that…I thought I had read the series, but in looking up the hotlinks on Amazon I now find (yippeee!) there are at least four more… Anyway, the quotation was near the end of the second book, on p. 370:

Olhado, who is essentially Ender’s step-son, was blinded as a child and has metal “all-seeing” eyes that can record and download events…sort of like an eyeball video-camera. He and Ender (actual name is Andrew Wiggin, nickname of Ender came from his older sister when he was an wee thing, but she couldn’t pronounce Andrew) are talking about the crisis at hand. They live on a planet called Lusitania, which is more or less a Portuguese Catholic outpost of the Hundred Worlds inhabited by three sentient species: humans, buggers and pequeninos. Andrew–the titular Speaker for the Dead–came to the planet to “speak” the death of Olhado’s father, Marcao. However, several millenia earlier, Ender had saved Earth from certain destruction by the buggers (that’s what Ender’s Game is about) –details omitted in case you want to read the stories. If I go into more detail I’d have to re-write the books, so if you’re curious go check it out…it’s way cool!

Olhado begins:

“It’s funny. Before you got here, the Bishop tried to tell us all that you were Satan. Quim’s the only one in the family that took him seriously. But if the Bishop had told us you were Ender, we would have stoned you to death in the praca (plaza/town square) the day you arrived.”

“Why don’t you now?” (replied Ender / Andrew Wiggin)

“We know you now. That makes all the difference, doesn’t it? Even Quim doesn’t hate you now. When you really know somebody, you can’t hate them.”

“Or maybe it’s just that you can’t really know them until you stop hating them.”

“Is that a circular paradox? Dom Cristao says that most truth can only be expressed in circular paradoxes.”

End quote.

So there you go. Which came first — the chicken, or the egg? And if the universe is finite, what’s on the other side? How can there be infinity, if the known world is finite? Isn’t there always something on the other side?

And my brain is now sufficiently addled, that I’m bidding you all good night!

THIS MACHINE WAS SOLD.

Hi all….apologies for the total tackiness of this, but it’s another way to get the word out. I’ve decided at long last to sell my Pfaff 7570 sewing machine and embroidery unit. It’s close to criminal to have such a good machine sitting in a box, so time has come to let go of it. Here’s the info:

New, this machine cost me about $3800 in late April 2001 (it was top of the line at the time)–one on-line source says the sewing machine retailed at $3500, plus $800 for the embroidery unit, plus $300 forthe PC Designer software (total of $4600).

I’m selling it plus all the”stuff” that goes with it (listed below–maybe another $200 worth of inserts, bobbin case, etc.) for $1700 plus shipping (I’m guessing about $100 or so in the continental US).

If I end up having to post this on eBay (ugh) I’ll probably have a higher reserve or BuyItNow price, but I’d much rather sell it to someone on the list and have life be easy.

–Pfaff 7570 sewing machine
–Pfaff 7570 Embroidery unit –used once in the class, please don’t ask me
what it does ‘cuz I don’t know LOL! These two photos are of some of the large programmed stitches…you can see the scale in inches on the one scan.
–extra bobbin case
–extra presser feet including cording foot, several pintuck feet
–about 20 bobbins (most of them empty)
–PC Designer software–never opened, so please don’t ask me how to use it! The photos are what I scanned from the front and back of the box, which I’ve never opened or used! I’m guessing it has probably been superseded by newer software, but it should still work; includes cable, etc.
–the included #1 Embroidery card–the picture with the two flowwer motifs, dinosaur and hedgehogs are four of the included designs on that card. At the end of this post the Lilies of the Valley and Lettering are also from this card.
–Manuals for both sewing machine and embroidery unit
–TWO Dream World plexiglas inserts (to fit Sylvia Cabinet with 7570)…it
would be really easy to cut a few pieces of 2×4, add velcro and make these
free-standing sewing extension tables–you’d have one plus a back-up.
–original packing boxes for shipping

here’s a link to some info on the 7570 that I turned up using google:
http://www.epinions.com/hmgd-review-14EA-4654AA-38C94F18-prod4

This machine has the integrated dual feed. When I bought it, I was doing a
LOT of home dec sewing for hire, and that built in dual feed that I could
use with the *zipper* foot as well as the open toe embroidery foot, the
quarter inch foot, etc., was essential. I used the 7570 for everything
until I got the Janome 6500 two years ago. I’ve had the 7570 serviced
regularly, up until I switched over to the Janome. The time has come to let
go of the Pfaff, wonderful machine that it is–there’s no point in letting a
good machine sit in a box in my studio! If you’re interested, please
contact me. Thanks!

Cheers, Sarah

PS–here’s the one and only thing I ever did on the embroidery unit, in the class to learn how to use it. I used two threads, I think…a variegated yellow and a vareigated green, plus the green for the lettering. Despite the fact that I’m totally not an embroidery person, I rather like this one….

https://www.sarahannsmith.com
blog: http://sarahannsmith.blogspot.com/
17 Pleasant Ridge Drive
Camden, ME 04843
e-mail: sarah@sarahannsmith.com