Emptyknitster

Yesterday afternoon we had a visitor at our back door! And today, we are going to have VIP's visiting - the family from North Dakota will be here soon! I've doing some baking for the Tiger. He LOVES banana bread. I thought I'd share my banana bread recipe, it's the best ever. It originally came from Sunset Magazine via my sister-in-law. Banana Bread (1 loaf) 1/2 cup margarine 1 cup sugar 2 eggs slightly beaten 3 medium-sized bananas 1 cup regular all-purpose flour 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp soda 1 cup whole wheat flour 1/3 cup hot water 1/2 cup chopped walnuts Melt butter and blend in the sugar. Mix in beaten eggs and mashed bananas, bedig until smooth. Sift all-purpose flour with salt and soda. Stir in whole flour. Add dry ingredients alternately with hot water. Stir in chopped nuts. Turn into greased 9x5" loaf pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour 10 minutes. (I bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour.) Now for a batch or two of cookies!

SUNDAY afternoon we went with the Son-in-law for a paragliding adventure. Getting anywhere in California means traffic, lots of traffic... Once we got to Pacifica it was overcast but beautiful! The Son-in-law flying by.... It proved to be a busy day in the air.... MONDAY we went to the VERY popular Bakesale Betty's for lunch. This bakery has many wonderful baked items but the lunch menu appears to have only two items - egg salad or fried chicken sandwiches. That's all Betty needs to have, the fried chicken sandwich was outstanding! We also had a slushy type lemonade drink, and FREE cookies. Yes, free cookies! While we where eating at an ironing board on the sidewalk.... the line got longer and longer with people wanting to eat lunch, the lovely blue haired Betty came out and gave everyone in line a cookie for being patient! - What a great gal. TUESDAY on to the airport. We drove by the Golden Gate Bridge, and Alcatraz, After an uneventful flight I was home again, and look wh...

Enjoying the kiddos. Playing in the garden... doing up the toes... riding bikes... playing in the playground... playing in the water... and digging in the sand... reading.... crafting.... knitting!

When Hubby was in fourth grade, the winter began particularly cold and snowy. His teacher wrote a note to all the parents and asked them to send a cross-stitch kit back to school for their child to work on during recesses inside. There must have been some discussion among the parents of male students because when my Mother-in-law was telling me this little story, she went on to say that the teacher felt it would help ALL the students with their coordination. (As a teacher I'll let you in on a little secret: Almost anything will help coordination at recess time as long as it's not running around the classroom and hitting the child next to them!) It took him the entire school year. I'll wager that he was one of the few fourth graders to finish his project ...what a man.

"What do you want to do today?" "I dunno......" "If we hang around long enough, he'll feed us..."

This granola recipe was given to me by the school's Home Ec. teacher. I love it! It's great with berries and a little yoghurt in the morning... Crispy Sweet Pecan Granola Vegetable oil spray 3 cups old-fashioned (not quick-cooking) rolled oats 1 cup pecans halves, roughly chopped 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon table salt 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar (I use 1/2 Splenda and 1/2 brown sugar) 2 Tablespoons canola oil 1 Tablespoons pure vanilla extract Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and heat the oven to 300 degrees. Spray two rimmed baking sheets with vegetable oil spray. In a large bowl, mix the oats, pecans, cinnamon, and salt. In a small saucepan, combine the brown sugar and 1/4 cup water. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring until the sugar is melted. Stir in the oil and vanilla. Remove from the heat and pour over the oat mixture. Stir with a spoon until well mixed. Divide he mixture evenly between the oiled baking sheets and sprea...