Smaller is better?

I can't stop looking at these Tumbleweed tiny houses since a friend pointed them out to me yesterday.
I want one. But can't decide which one. I'd put it in the woods somewhere and go there when I wanted solitude. What a great little get-away-spot!

(Sarah, isn't this better than a shed??)

Cake!

Wouldn't you think I'd made enough butter cakes to know that you add the sugar to the creamed butter FIRST, then add the eggs one at a time...I don't know what I was thinking!
Anyway, the eggs went in first...then the sugar. We'll see if it affects the finished product tomorrow after church during coffee hour. The raw batter tasted great!

I looked all over the internet for the recipe...so I wouldn't have to type it all in here. I can usually find every recipe that way. But not this one and it's one of my favorites. So here goes. Copy this down Sarah. You'll want to make it someday when you get tired of my Lazy Daisy Oatmeal Cake! (This link is the exact recipe I've been making since I was in high school)

Poppy Seed Cake
2/3 cup poppy seeds (don't buy them in the little jar..get a bag full at the health food store)
1/2 cup boiling water
2 1/4 cups cake flour ( I use 2 c. plus 2 T. all purpose)
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks butter)
2 cups sugar (divided)
4 large eggs, separated
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup buttermilk

1. Put poppy seeds and boiling water in blender and blend 1 1/2 min. Cool.

Make a meringue with egg whites and 1/4 cup sugar. Set aside.
(I do this first so I don't have to clean the beaters....just use them in the butter

Sift together flour, soda and salt. Set aside.

Beat butter with 1 3/4 cups sugar. Add yolks 1 at a time. Beat well.

At low speed blend in poppy seed mixture and vanilla. Add flour alternately with buttermilk. (starting and ending with flour. Then fold in meringue.

Pour into a 13 x 9 inch greased and floured baking pan. Bake 30 - 40 minutes.

I frost this right in the pan with a really good butter cream. Read that...lots of butter with 10X sugar.

Yummmm this is one of my favorite cakes. Right now I have 4 favorites:

Brazil Nut Cake (I couldn't find this one either....every one I found had dates in it....and mine doesn't) and Carrot Cake...in addition to the 2 above. I need a new cake....but I'm fussy.
Any suggestions?

NYIGF

Ok, so here a report on NY Gift:

First an aside about the trip. I have a 45 min. train ride to NYC. I haven't taken the train for awhile, and I always forget how much I like it.














From Peekskill, its a ride right along the river.....lovely any time of year. Many abandoned factory buildings remind me of how we used to MAKE things....and now we are so much more CONSUMERS.

The fair was exhausting. all day walking around the Javits Center and 2 of the three piers.
We concentrated on these sections:

• Handmade
• Accent on Design
• Extracts
• General gift (just for Midori ribbon)
• New York's Newest

Observations:

• Extracts is back in the Javits center finally! After several yrs. of being relegated to a far distant venue.
  
• New Yorks Newest (at Pier 90) didn't have anything new...it was actually pretty lame
• SunFeather was NOT in handmade (where they usually are)....or anywhere else.
• The fair did not seem as well attended as in the past, an observation verified by some vendors.
• Accent on Design is fun to browse and there we found our friend Lisa from The Soap and Paper Factory!
  

In addition to a slew of ribbon from Midori, we bought 2 new 'handmade' items to retail at Saipua . Hopefully Sarah will post about the new items as soon as they arrive at the store. Here's a clue: we bought some metal, some thread.

It's always an exhausting, yet fun day that ends with dinner at some great NY restaurant.

Snow Day

So I should be telling you about the Gift Fair yesterday, but we're snowed in and I've spent the morning watching muppet videos on YOUTUBE



I happened upon Beaker doing Ode to Joy...and took it from there. I love the muppets.

Big Apple Gifts.

I'm off to the city this AM for NYIGF at the Javits Center.

We used to exhibit our soap at this show, but haven't for a couple of years.
Now we go as buyers to see if there's something we 'must have' for our little shop in Brooklyn.

This show is SO HUGE that you cannot do it all is a day. Some buyers are here all week.
Between the Javits and 3 of the ship piers, you have to be selective.

We plan to do:

• Handmade
• Extracts
• Pier 90: New York's Newest

Are trade shows what they used to be?

Are buyers finding new ways to scout out new and distictive resources?

How has the internet changed the way we buy?

Hmmm.....

Reporting back later.

So...

I make soap. I have access to hundreds of bars of soap in the workshop.....

yet my soap dishes often have just a small sliver of soap, which I tend to use until it can barely be held.


Think on that, Jack Handy.

It's a Brand New Day

I had to stop working just before noon to see the inauguration live on TV.

President Obama's (oh, I like saying that) speech thoughtfully laid out the work we have ahead of us as a country....and reminded us that we are all in this together and that we all need to be involved.

Here is a quote from Barack:

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We
are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."

And just in case you didn't see his historic inauguration: