My very favorite...Salted Caramels!

As you know, it's tax season and I am so busy that I haven't had time to even put away my clean clothes since sometime early January, but, a girl's gotta eat right?

My very favorite candy in existence on the planet is caramels. Yes, car-a-mels. I am obsessed. 

One sad, depressing, Saturday I came home from working 12 (less then enjoyable) hours to find that My Hunny decided it was the perfect night to learn how to make Salted Caramels! I turned my frown upside-down, threw on an apron, and got down and dirty with him in kitchen. Making caramels, of course! 

We followed a recipe that I've been eyeballing for a while now. It is in the annual Costco cookbook that my mother-in-law gets us every year. I think this specific book was circa 2010.

I won't tell you the ingredients, because I don't want to cause you to gain any weight my solely reading this post. More importantly, I don't want to really recount exactly how many calories I consumed the week that we ate these. 


We experimented using 2 different kinds of sea salt. On the left, we used a fine French sea salt, and on the right we used a coarse Mediterranean sea salt.

After the required 12 hour cool-down, we removed the caramels from the baking dish super-easily because the recipe was written with fore-thought and used parchment paper. 

We cut the caramels into 1-1.5inch cubes. It was definitely a cut 2 eat 4 situation. 
 

We debated a little about how to package these up. We used wax paper and tried two different folds that we saw online. We decided in the packaging on the right because it felt like a better seal, was easier, and looked nicer too.

The rest of the photos are a series of self-indulgent salted caramel glamor shots. I couldn't help myself. I ate about 15 of them in the time-span of taking these photos. Woops.

Those of you that regularly follow my blog know about my Bucket List, and this definitely marks another notch in my proverbial Bucket List Belt. Check out my Flickr account and the Finished Projects page for more.

I'll ignore the obvious issues with my above photos (cough *poor lighting* cough) and leave you with my favorite shot of the night (you know, aside from the pic husband took of my shoveling caramels into me mouth rendering me speechless).

Thanks for stopping by!

HOLLER!

FWQAL Block No. 13 - Buckwheat

I did some more farming this week. It didn't take too long to whip up this block because already had all of the pieces cut out.

The fabric is from Anna Maria Horner, naturally, as I am using all of her prints and her solids for this quilt. 

 

 All 40-something pieces cut out!  Yeesshhhh that was a lot of cutting.

You'll notice that there is something so fantastic about the LouLouthi line. Look at the two different purple prints above. Well, look below. Both prints came from the same fabric piece. Anna's fabric lines really are so versatile! It just took a little fussy-cutting, and It's like I've got 2 different fabrics!

 

All of those tiny pieces became this block below. I was just beginning to think that my piecing was getting a bit better and more accurate, then, I worked on this block and that all went out the window. It was a wicked struggle for me. As seen below.... relatively sub par piecing! That's OK though, I tried reallllyyy hard. That counts for something, right?

These are all of the blocks I have completed so far. Check them out on my flickr page.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

HOLLER!

Happenings Around the House

I have been sooooooooooooo swamped at work lately. For those of you new to my blog, I am a CPA (certified public accountant) and as everyone on Earth (who has filed taxes) knows, busy season is upon us. MAN am I busy! 

You probably won't be hearing a lot from for the next two months or so, but I promise that I am constantly thinking about crafting, quilting, knitting, making, crocheting, blogging, shopping, etc.

Aside from working, I have tried to fill my Sundays with a mondo-sized latte, menu planning, and cooking for the upcoming week.  

I have also tried to make the house more home-y. I have been so slowwww to decorate. It is pretty overwhelming having an entire house to pretty-up. I have made a few small changes though...

 (Loving our new shower curtain!)

 (A new rug for our master bedroom)

 (Our most recent addition is our new bed!! I am SO excited about this bed. Our room felt more like a college dorm before we got this bed. I did buy the lamps before I got the bed, so now that we have the bed, I'm not sure that the lamps match. I absolutely love them, but I think that the linen look of them competes with the headboard too much. I also am definitely not a fan of our brown sheets anymore either, White/cream sheets are definitely a must!!!)

 (Thinking about some paint colors!)

(My mom actually gave us this gorgeous mahogany chest that was from her and my father's old bedroom. It matches our bedroom furniture almost perfectly. I am so incredibly in love with it.)

 (I have been creeping owls in an out of places around the house. lol. My husband has lovingly (or maybe not) dubbed me the "Creepy Owl Lady")

Thanks for checking in! I will try and post a few times a week, hopefully my posts won't only be about food and home decor. I am desperate to do something crafty soon. A girl can only work and eat so much!

HOLLER!