Finally fall

Yesterday was the first day of fall. And for Vienna, that means chestnuts roasting on an open flame. Well, not really an open flame. More like chestnuts roasting on a grate that's on a metal barrel that probably contains a flame. I don't know the specifics of how it works. But I do have a photo. It's from one of last year's Christmas markets.


See those two black barrel-thingies? That's where you'll find the chestnuts. And potato wedges. The potato wedges always look yummy, but I've never tried them. I did try the chestnuts last year and I wasn't a big fan. They're ok, just not something I would seek out or crave or whatever. But they do smell tasty, so I like having the stands around.

It's only September!

Do you know what happens in countries where there are no major holidays in October and November? Christmas candy starts appearing in the stores in September! September! Surely it's not for sale in the U.S. yet, is it?

To the dark side -- and back again

I have a problem. An addiction, some might say. I like coke. A lot. In the U.S., it was Diet Coke and nothing else. Mainly because the only other option in the dark cola category was Pepsi. And if you've ever had a meal with me, you probably know that Pepsi isn't really an option. I didn't really mind regular Pepsi back in my pre-diabetic youth, but Diet Pepsi is vile. I would drink it maybe once or twice a year and only in dire situations. Like when I ate at Hideaway Pizza because you have to drink cola with pizza.

In Vienna, things are a little different. Diet Coke is called Coca-Cola Light and it has a slightly different (some would say better) taste. Plus there's Coke Zero, which I believe is (or used to be) available in the U.S. The problem here is the price. A 2-liter bottle of The Real Thing is almost $2.50. We just can't afford to support our habit at that price. So we made the switch. Not to Diet Pepsi (Pepsi Light), but to a generic brand from a local grocery store. Now I know you're probably thinking that a generic brand of soda couldn't possibly be better than Pepsi Light, but I tell you, it is. In fact, I believe that this generic brand has stolen the recipe for Coca-Cola Light. And a 2-liter bottle is about 85 cents (U.S. dollars).

But a few weeks ago, something awful happened. The store that carried this generic brand closed. So I was forced to try all of the other generic grands to see if I could find anything close. And eventually, I was forced to buy Pepsi Light. Let's have a moment of silence.

I had just about reached the point of despair -- the point where I suck it up and make the 15 minute walk to the next closest store of this chain -- when the clouded parted and the good news fell upon my ears. The store across the street from me was not closed for good, it was just closed temporarily for remodeling! It's opening again tomorrow.

And just in time too. I'm running low on coke.

Staying current

In case you haven't heard, Rickrolling is out... Barackrolling is in.

Almost here

Can you believe that fall is only about two weeks away? One of my favorite things about fall is baking. I've been bookmarking a lot of recipes that use pumpkins or sweet potatoes. I was hoping to be able to use the produce growing on my balcony, but it looks like I'm going to have to purchase the pumpkins. It's still unknown whether there are any sweet potatoes buried under the soil in my containers, but the vines have enveloped about half of my balcony and I'm taking that as a good sign. There's one rogue vine that is growing up and around a post on the balcony. That's my favorite vine. There's another vine in the left corner of the photo that's thinking about climbing the pole. I think that's a pretty cool vine as well.


Do you see the rogue vine there in the back? Here's a close-up.


I was planning on harvesting the sweet potatoes this weekend, but during some last minute research on what to do with the potatoes after I pull them from the dirt I discovered that you're not supposed to water sweet potatoes for two to four weeks before harvesting them. So I'm going to wait another week or two.

In the meantime, I bought a couple of sweet potatoes at the grocery store and made sweet potato bread over the weekend. It was really good. I think it would make a nice cupcake with whipped cream cheese frosting. Yummy!

An alternative disposal method

It happened again. I found a moth in my bag of flour. I'm convinced that the moth was in the bag when I bought it, but I guess there's no way to be sure. I used to keep my flour in the freezer, but there's just no room. And just for the record, this is a different brand of flour from a different store than the last time this happened. But instead of throwing the flour out, I decided to use it. And now I'm going to share the recipe, PW style.

Homemade Playdough, or How to Use Moth-Infested Flour

This is a fun and simple recipe. Let's take a look at the cast of characters: Flour, salt, cream of tartar, water, vegetable oil, and food coloring.

Oops! There should be some food coloring there as well. Unless you want to make beige playdough.

Toss 1 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of salt, 1 tablespoon of cream of tartar, 1 cup of water and 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil into a pot.


Stir and then place pot on the stove over low heat.


Keep stirring. I stirred for about 10 minutes. Eventually it went from this:


... to this:


You want to heat it a little more. It shouldn't stick to your fingers when it's done.

Now set the dough aside to cool. Once cool, divide the dough and add food coloring. The food coloring may get all over your hands when you're first working it into the dough, but it shouldn't be messy once it's all worked into the dough.


Now play to your hearts content. Store in an airtight container.




Homemade Playdough

• 1 cup of all-purpose flour
• ½ cup of salt
• 1 tablespoon of cream of tartar
• 1 cup of water
  
• 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil
• food coloring

1. Mix all ingredients except food color in a pot over low heat. Continuing stirring until a dough forms.

2. Remove dough from the pot and set aside to cool. Once cool, divide and add food coloring.

3. Store playdough in an airtight container.

Apron swap -- Halloween edition

This has been quite the domestic week here on the blog. Baking, gardening and today, sewing. I'm participating in a fall-themed apron swap over at Sassy Apron Swap. And you know how I've mentioned that the fabric selection in Vienna is not so grand? Have I mentioned this? I think so. There's just not a lot of selection. Or, if there is, I haven't found it. Maybe that's why no one my age sews. Every time I mention sewing to someone my age they're all like, Sewing? Oh yeah, my grandmother does that. But I'm starting the revolution, baby. Sewing is going to sweep across the city like... like something that sweeps across something else.

Uh, where was I? That's right -- fabric selection. I wasn't able to find anything remotely fall-ish. I bought something I thought was fall colors, but when I started sewing it up it turned out to look not fall-like at all. So I went back and in the three or four days since my previous visit, they (meaning the Ikea fabric folks) had added some orange and black solids. My partner said she was up for a Halloween themed apron, so the ideas started churning. And this is what happened.


It's a rather simple design, but I really like it. I probably tried the applique two or three different ways before I settled on this method. I wasn't working from a pattern, so it took a lot longer than it should have.

The swap also included a potholder. I had originally planned on making a pumpkin applique for the potholder, but then I decided to cut strips from my three fabrics and piece them together. I think it turned out way cuter than a pumpkin applique.


I don't know what I'm doing with that ridiculous look on my face. The sun was really shiny and even though it was behind me there was some major glare coming off the window in front of me. Plus, I didn't think my head was actually in the shot. I guess I could have cropped the photo.

The potholder, by the way, nearly sent me over the edge. The actual potholder part was easy to make and my sewing machine handled the layers quite nicely. But when I tried to add the binding, my machine wasn't cutting it. I tried several methods and while I was able to get the binding on, it never looked good on the back side. And since there really isn't a back side to a potholder, that just wouldn't do. I finally decided to hand sew the binding in place and it turned out great.

I think this will be my last apron swap for a while. I enjoy it, but I'm ready to get started on Christmas sewing. I'm determined to make something other than coasters this year.