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Friday, April 19, 2013

Bunny Egg Covers...Success!

Every year when holidays come around people put up on the net some fabulous handwork ideas that are so cute I just have to make them.  Most often I see these too late to get them created for all our grandchildren and others I might want to gift with them.

This year I found this:Huggie Bunnies!  The pattern is very easy to knit and works up in perhaps less than one-half hour.  Here are some shots of the ones I made.

First basket of bunny egg covers


After knitting up many of these cute things and giving out quite a few, somehow I lost the batch of huggie bunnies I planned to mail to the non-local children and grandchildren.  This was so irritating and I almost gave up, but then thought again about how cute they were and how much the rest of the family would enjoy them, Cadbury eggs being a family tradition of many years.

SO...I picked up my knitting needles and began knitting again.  Since they were going to miss Easter by at least two weeks, I decided to do something a little different.  The previous bunnies which were given out on, or before, Easter,  had not had eyes because I thought no one would want someone watching them eat a whole Cadbury egg at one go, even if it was just a little knitted bunny. 

Since I found a package of wiggly eyes when looking for other things, I purchased a bag.  And installed them.

Installing wiggly eyes with a hot glue gun can be quite an adventure, let me tell you!  May I say I have never been an expert at a hot glue gun.  In fact, I have probably only used one three times before the wiggly eyes.  To my great chagrin,  I discovered it is VERY easy to raise blisters on the ends of one's  fingers...which brought me to a new technique for installing the eyes on the bunnies.  Tweezers can be quite helpful, even though a bit awkward with the pick-up.

This is the end result:

Huggie Bunnies with wiggly eyes, but no Cadbury eggs in the tummy...

It was suggested I make some for next year and put them in an Etsy show.  We shall see.

Preemie, Kid, and Chemo Hats Finally Donated

In February ladies in the Relief Society participated in a community service project to knit or crochet hats for preemies and kids who needed hats for a variety of reasons.  Finally I turned in the hats to the White River Yarn Shop who was sponsoring the project. I  had thought they might not want all of the hats because they were focusing mainly on the chemo hat section.  When I arrived at the store this week with a heavy bag of hats, they accepted every one!  Thanks so much, ladies, for all your work.  Many children of various ages will love their new hats.








Probably these hats should have been displayed on hat stands...something I do not own.  Maybe next time....

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Not a Spicy Meatball...

If you are pretty old you might remember an advertisement on television, or maybe it was on the program I Love Lucy where Lucy was trying to act in an advertisement...and the statement to be heard was: "That's a spicy meatball!" but it never came out right.  Well, I didn't make meatballs, but instead made some spicy fried rice.

We had some leftover long grain brown rice in the refrigerator and I wanted to use it up, as well as many other ingredients/bottles of flavorings that were in the refrigerator, so this recipe is what it turned out to be.

Spicy Fried Rice

4 cups cold cooked long grain brown rice
2 Tablespoons canola oil
1 Tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 tablespoon Red Curry Paste
1 Tablespoon Black Bean and Garlic Paste
1 Tablespoon Sambal Oelek (ground chili paste)
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 cup warm water
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 cups frozen green peas put in strainer and rinsed with hot water to quickly thaw

Put the canola oil in very large skillet and heat.  Pour in rice and stir to coat with a wooden spoon and begin warming.  Add the green peas and stir well.  Mix all the other ingredients in a medium bowl and stir well until smooth.  Pour over the mostly warmed rice and peas then stir for 2-3 minutes until thoroughly warmed.  Let sit a few minutes before eating.  Garnish with grated hard-boiled egg and chopped scallions.

Very nice.