Head above water: check, barely.

Laundry loads washed but not folded: 5

Number of smoke alarm batteries changed in the middle of the night: 2

Time today that I ate lunch: 10:20 a.m.

Time today that I ate second lunch: 12:10 p.m.

Number of songs downloaded from iTunes: 3

I truly appreciate all your comments. Everything came crashing down last week and I felt like poo. So your comments were like cherry-chocolates and a diet Coke…great for the soul.

Lift of Rachael Chamberlain:

Do you ever go back and look at your previous work and think wow, I really really suck, why am I doing this, I am the hugest poser in the world and then you wonder if people even like you because they say mean things that are thinly veiled as jokes and then you realize that you are annoying and always have been and that was the whole problem on that playground in England in 1984 when your "friends" decided not to be your friends any more and then you wonder what counts for anything in this world.

 

ScrapGal newsletter:

Picture-A-Day for December: Self Portrait:

Orange Roll Recipe for the fabulous Carol:

Orange Rolls

1 ¼ cups milk

½ cup butter

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon active dry yeast (approx. 1 packet)

2 eggs, slightly beaten

½ cup fresh orange juice

3 tablespoons orange peel (orange zest)

5 cups flour, approximately

2 cups powdered sugar

Scald milk, then add butter, sugar and salt.  Cool to lukewarm.  Add yeast and stir.  Stir in beaten eggs, ¼ cup fresh orange juice and t tablespoons grated orange peel.  Add 2 cups of flour and beat well.  Stir in additional flour until dough is stiff enough to handle, do not add to much flour – keep dough soft and pliable.  Place dough on lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic.  Place in a greased blow.  Cover and allow to rise in a warm place until double in bulk (about 2 hours).

Knead down.  Divide dough into 3 equal portions.  Roll each piece of dough into a circle about 12 inches in diameter.  Cut circle into 12 equal wedges.  Roll up each wedge, from wide end to small.  Place on a greased baking sheet tip side down.  Allow to rise until double in bulk.  Bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until lightly brown. 

Glaze:  Combine powdered sugar with ¼ cup fresh orange juice and 1 tablespoon grated orange peel.  Stir until smooth.  Drizzle over warm rolls.  Serve rolls warm or cold.

Got this recipe from Leah over at ScrapGal…I loved this pie. It was apple-y but without the traditional cinnamon. It’s tart & light and yum!

Apple-Cranberry-Ginger Pie
from the Williams-Sonoma Kitchen

Crust:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar (I added a bit more sugar than this to the crust to make it sweeter)
16 Tbs (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut in pieces
3-4 Tbs ice water

Filling:
4lb golden delicious apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced (Leah suggested using half goldens and half granny smith apples, so that’s what I did. The golden delicious turn apple-saucey in the pie so it’s nice to have some firm granny-smith chunks to bite into. I also didn’t use 4 full pounds of apples…I used 4 grannies and 4 goldens)
1 1/2 cups cranberries
1/4 cup chopped crystallized ginger
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3 Tbs all-purpose flour
1 Tbs fresh lemon juice

sugar for sprinkling

1. Make the pie crust.

2. In a large bowl, stir together all of the filling ingredients and transfer to the pie shell (9")
you can cut a lattice top, or roll out the top crust and cut out shapes (small circles or stars or leaves). Tuck the top crust under the edge of the bottom crust and press to seal. Sprinkle the top with sugar.

3. Bake at 400 for about 1 hr (until the crust is golden and the filling is bubbling), cover the edges if they begin to get dark.

4. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool 1 hr before serving.

Yes, I’m alive and just coming out of my thanksgiving caloric coma. The highlight of the meal was the Apple/Cranberry/Ginger pie…so good.

Remember my Alphabetica Swap journal that I sent out into the world 18 months ago? It’s baaaack, full of fun art done by many talented artists:

      

      

I didn’t pick up the camera once…too busy cooking, I guess. Hope your turkey day was stuffed full of love.

We’re doing a Turkey Day giveaway on the GalBlog (the idea & inspiration blog for ScrapGal). It’s the 2nd post down…check it out!