Old thyme Uptown youngsters Easter Brunch weekend jam




Beets for the beat. Heart shaped beets!

Our friend Brooke was the mastermind of Katie and Erin's wedding cake. Kate and Erin eloped in Canada on a ski hill. To welcome them back we made chocolate chiffon cakes, 7 minute frosting (homemade fluff), and marzipan figures.

Pi Pie

For Katie and Erin's party, Dan and Brian made a pi pie in honor of a statistician and economist getting married. It was close to March 14 (3-14), but that was just a coincidence.Dan was proud of his Pi cutout.

Book of Pockets

Dan and I made a book of pockets for Katie and Erin. The idea was that people could put things in the pockets, they could put other things in the pockets later, and mostly that we would make a cloth book of pockets. (Everyone loves pockets!)

First I sewed pockets on red felt (felt for sturdy pages).

then I laid out all the pages and pockets to decide the layout of each page and of the entire book.

The local hardware store was very helpful with ideas for book binding - we thought we would use wood, but decided cardboard was easier. It works very well to sew (with the machine) onto cardboard. A little fabric glue was needed to cover over the stitches and make the inside cover. Dan was the binder, I was the pocket maker.

cat toy

Bella, our "cat in residence" for the next few weeks was very intrigued by a wooden bird figure in the windowsill. We decided to make a version that would be better for her to play with. It is made of felt with a plastic bag and catnip inside . . .

and a cork for a beak.

Dumplings

For Katie and Erin's shower we wanted food that held some luck and some sweetness and some spice as wishes of future joy and happiness in their marriage. Dumplings seemed like a good fit. Pockets of surprises. We made veggie dumplings: Cabbage chopped finely, grated carrots, ginger and garlic and hot pepper. Meat dumplings: ground pork, grated carrot, ginger, garlic, hot pepper. And Beet dumplings (something sweet): Boiled beets for 45 minutes, peeled, grated, mixed with zest of one orange, tarragon, and a fried onion. Fillings were carefully placed in wrappers and closed by hand.

Dan in Hawaii

Trout

Trout with lemon and cilantro.

We cooked this loving trout in the oven at ~350C, stuffed with cilantro and lemon for ~ 10 minutes. Trout was accompanied by a salad. (ps - this is an added post by Anna)

Anna Jumps

Wainapanapa Cabin
Bamboo Forest
Williamsburg Bridge

Art Shanties

One of the great Minnesota winter events is the art shanties. (http://www.artshantyprojects.org/). We visited the shanty colony and explored the installations on the ice.






One of the shanties was called the "dance shanty" the name explains what happened in it.