Zucchini Bread

This is all that's left! Good thing I took pictures when I did.

 Its that wonderful time of year ... zucchini and summer squash are taking over! I made zucchini bread last night. It's a big challenge cooking in my tiny kitchen. Yikes! It would have helped if I didn't have several dirty dishes sitting on the counter to wash, a large fruit bowl, my espresso machine and a Britta water pitcher. And this is all the counter space in my kitchen. T.I.N.Y. (Look! A picture of the new paint color! Hopefully soon I'll get around to updating pictures of this space).

Anyway I used this recipe from a September 1981 issue of Decorating Crafts Ideas. This has been my go to quick bread recipe for many many many years. Yes, I'm old. You can swap out the zucchini with little to no changes for carrots, sweet potato, apple, etc. Its a great basic recipe.

3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (I always double it  because I like it)
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 8 oz can crushed pineapple in juice drained
2 cups shredded zucchini (about 2 medium)

Combine flour, soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon set aside.

Beat eggs lightly in a large mixing bowl; add sugar, oil and vanilla; beat until creamy.

Drain pineapple. Stir in pineapple and zucchini

Add dry ingredients, stirring only until dry ingredients are moistened.

Spoon batter into 2 9x5 loaf pans sprayed with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pans. Turn out on a rack and cool completely. Yield 2 loaves.

This is yummy bread. The pineapple and zucchini make it so moist.  I've got one loaf to eat now and one to freeze. I also have about 6 more zucchini in my refrigerator so I think I've got more bread in my future. Next time I'm going to make them in a muffin tin for a little bit easier portion control. I can get carried away eating this! You can also bake them in a bunt pan for 45 minutes and it looks a little more fancy.

Give it a try. You'll love it!

Craigslist Score (Almost)

I usually search Craigslist every day. I use terms like brass, gold, chinoiserie, asian, bamboo, etc. I've had an out of town guest so my daily routine is messed up. I just missed out on scoring this vintage brass Sarreid chest on a wooden stand for $200. I am just kicking myself. Boo hoo.

The Great Purge - Summer 2013 Continues

I'm not sure what has gotten into me. I bought a new china cabinet and decided to not put back everything from the old cabinet into the new cabinet. And that snowballed. I've gone through every cabinet, drawer and closet in my condo. Yes its a small condo, but still. My second donate pile is HUGE! And surprisingly when you now look into drawers and closets it doesn't feel like this much stuff is missing. How can that be?

Luckily my son came home from Boston (where he was teaching computer game design software to 13 year old kids at an enrichment camp for 7 weeks) and helped me load up the car. It was full to the brim. I drove it to the local Salvation Army. And I must say I was miffed. I pull up to the donation door and there are 5 guys sitting outside doing nothing. None of them got up to help unload my car. They just pointed to a truck and bin and said to put my stuff in it. Now there is no way I'm climbing with my castoffs into a semi-truck. I just put them everything down by the side of the driveway and let them deal with it. They were grumbling about it but then again so was I. Then they made a big deal about me wanting a tax receipt. What?! I've never had that experience at any charity shop, ever.

I still have my downstairs storage locker to go through. I know I have some supplies from when I did upholstery work that I kept (like 75 yards of the black dust cover fabric you use on the bottom of furniture.) Really? What was I thinking. It will take me decades to use that for just personal use. Sometimes I can be a little crazy thrifty.

Also, I hoard boxes. You never know when you need to ship something and boxes can be expensive. Ask me the last time I needed a box to ship something. Go ahead ask. I'll tell you. 4 years ago I shipped a "birthday party in a box" to my son for his birthday while he was in college in Savannah Georgia. Otherwise if I have to ship something I use the flat rate boxes from the post office or once I had a delicate item packed at a UPS store with packing peanuts and insurance. No need for 2 dozen boxes here.

And did you catch the part where I bought a new china cabinet? Details to come.

Sneeky Peeky

I am still in the midst of "The Great Purge  - Summer 2013". I had to go to work so was delayed some. I need to finish up my Son's room (where I store extra fabrics, pillows, and tools) today and get all the 2nd load of stuff donated on Saturday. That way Sunday I can give everything a deep clean. My Son is coming home Sunday evening and I want to have everything back to normal by then.

Anyway enough about that. This rug came in the mail yesterday! I should have pictures of it in its room next week. It's not finished yet (really when is anything of mine really finished) but its a pretty big change.

The Great Purge - Summer 2013

I'm in the midst of "The Great Purge Summer 2013". Seriously I am in the mood to organize and get rid of stuff. And you probably know when the mood hits to take advantage of it. I've got the items above, plus a couple additional lamps, and a large lampshade to donate to the Salvation Army on Monday.

I still have to go thru the craft closet, my fabric stash, items I've stashed in my son's closet while he's away at college and most of the kitchen cabinets. So basically I've gone thru the bathroom, hall closet, my bedroom and the china cabinet. I've also thrown away a couple bags of trash and donated a big box of non-perishables and unused health and beauty items to a shelter. I have so much fun doing this! The only part that is a pain is that I'm on the 3rd floor and it's a lot of work carrying things out to the car or dumpster. 

It's 8:30 pm and I'm starting to run out of steam. But its been a super productive day.

How was your weekend?

Where have I been?

Gosh its been forever since I posted. Things have been busy around here. My son was home from college for 3 weeks before jetting off today to Boston for a teaching job this summer. He's working at a camp teaching computer gaming software for 13 year olds. He'll be back in a few weeks and I'll have him home for a month before he's back in school in Savannah. It's hard to believe that my baby will be a Senior in college this coming fall. Boo hoo. This is probably the last summer he will be home, assuming he gets a full time job next summer after graduation in his hoped for company in Seattle.

I've been having car trouble. My little Saturn is 13 years old and has 103,000 miles. I've been in the repair shop once a month for the last couple months now. The last time I had to have it towed in. It's to the point where I'm nervous about driving it even though the repair guys say its fine and in safe condition. I know it's just time until something else goes wrong with it. I'm dreading buying a new car and having a car payment again.

But a part of me is excited about the prospect of getting a vehicle with a hatch back and large (ish) trunk area. That will open up my furniture buying abilities quite a bit. I'm having fun reselling things on eBay. Of course my "to sell" pile is still too large. It's more fun buying than selling. I'm at the point where I can't purchase anything new until I reduce my inventory some. I probably have 8 big things and a dozen and half small things to sell. I'm always buying new things on Craigslist or at an estate sale, rearranging, and selling my old stuff. Making a profit is a happy bonus!

My job as an Elder Companion came to an end. The 95 year old lady I worked with is having health problems and is required more care than I can provide. I don't do any nursing or CNA type of activities. I've got baby sitting lined up for the summer and have been interviewing for a new nanny job come fall. Hopefully that will all work out with out too much down time between jobs. This is such a different feeling than my past life as an Information Technology Executive at a national bank. It's so nice not working 70 hour work weeks any more. Semi-retirement is nice and a lot less stressful!

So that's what has been going on around here. I have some new finds and updates around the house to share to share in the coming weeks. And pictures. Yeah, the post would be more interesting with pictures. But then I probably wouldn't post. So. Pictures in the future!

Smellavision

I wish you could smell these! I love Lilly of the Valley. They have such a sweet smell. And their little bell shaped flowers are so delicate looking. For me they are such a symbol of springtime. But be careful. The entire plant and fruit are highly poisonous.