urban earth mother

If you wear a bra and lament things like underwires shattering before the rest of the bra has worn out, or just want to try your hand at DIY undies, the Bra-makers Supply site rocks! I haven't yet ordered from them, so I don't yet know what there customer service is like, but that will very soon be remedied. I spend close to $100 EACH on my bras so not tossing keeping them going is a big concern for me. Now that I've got a working sewing machine, I may try my hand at making my own dainties and save a little money, as well as having custom design.

Spouse came home from his house-call yesterday with a big black trashbag which he set on the kitchen floor and said, "This is for you." Inside the bag was a 17 pound turkey. Raw. Thawed. Apparently the person he's gone to see had two and they hadn't been kept frozen. One was cooked for Thanksgiving but the other needed to be cooked soon. Guess what I did today? If you said, "Roasted a Turkey," you would be correct! A couple years ago I found a 1924 Boston Cooking-School cook book at a flea market in excellent shape and only $12. It's a great reference book if you can get over some of the rather vague instructions. Here is how to roast a turkey (emphasis mine): Dress, clean, stuff and truss a ten-pound turkey. Place on its side on a rack in a dripping pan, rub entire surface with salt, spread breast, legs and wings with one-third cup butter, rubbed until creamy and mixed with one-fourth cup flour. Dredge bottom of pan with flour. Place in a hot ove...

We were invited over to a friend's home for Thanksgiving dinner yesterday. While bringing a dish wasn't required, I offered and brought a large salad, complete with home made dressing, plus a bottle of wine. Many hours of h'ordeuvres, wine, a HUGE meal and dessert later, we were driven home, sated and ready for bed (at least I was ready for bed!) For a wonderful day, I most heartily thank Tim and Susan for hosting, Katherine for bringing us there and Bari and Terry for taking us home. Like in the US, turkey tends to be a once per year food in the UK, in their case at Christmas. And like here, one of the joys of cooking something so massive is leftovers. Spouse apologized for his presumption, but asked if he could take a little turkey home with him. Given that there was HALF a turkey left in a home with one meat eater, they happily obliged. He was looking forward to turkey sandwiches. "In England," he said, "we have them with sage and onion stuffing. Do we h...

I didn't get pictures of all of it as by the time everything was cooked I just wanted to sit down and eat. The menu was: Salad of cabbage, spinach and carrot Roast Quorn with Roasted potatoes Mushy peas Yorkshire pudding Bread with homemade butter Steamed pudding with custard Peas soaking Potatoes await their fate Another gorgeous loaf of bread Fruit was leftover booze-soaked fruit (kept in the freezer) from the Christmas pudding With Custard