Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date

  Hello Friends, I have been wanting to link with Rain for awhile but things have been kind of crazy here the last few months. 

   This is the link to Rain's blog. She has prompts for the art date if you wish to join in, or share your own art and/or the dinner date is sharing food.

  On T I shared a photo of our Christmas Eve tamales that I like to make every year. It started out for a little tradition for us around 25-30 years ago. I wasn't really familiar with them, but when I was working at the time a co worked was talking about how her and her family made 100's of tamales for Christmas eve. She told me all about, asked Larry about them-"I love tamales"   so I make them a couple times every year now.

  I found this recipe in a bag of the corn husks and have followed it ever since. You can change up the meat you want to use-beef, pork, chicken or could come up with a vegetarian alternative like veggies and beans  perhaps.

This recipe adds a little shredded cheese to the meat mixture which I like using a cheese that will melt a bit. I usually end up with way more filling and need to make a few batches of the masa.

Here is my set up:

   I usually will make a pork roast the day before, and then shred the meat. Chicken is good to or even a beef roast shredded. During the winter months especially I keep on hand several cans of the below usa canned beef-since I am not set up for canning here at the lake house-I love this product. When you open it up looks and tastes just like your own canned beef.

   So this year I drained (saved the broth for later) and followed the meat mixture in recipe.

    I do use lard instead of shortening-one year I made it with coconut oil-bad idea don't do it haha. I haven't been able to find real lard made by a butcher in years now so I use store bought. For the masa flour I used Bob's Red Mill's corn flour-gluten free. It works very nice and is a finer corn flour.

  For more flavor I like to fry up chorizo drain and add to the meat-this beef chorizo was perfect to go with the shredded beef

One needs to remember to get your corn husks in warm water early to soften-at least 6 hours is good. If you don't use them all just dry them out and store for later

beef chorizo frying-I ended up using both sticks in the mixture for better flavor

The masa dough

I am set up to make tamales now

I soak a small towel in warm water, wring out and cover masa dough to keep moist

Above needs rolled up and tied-place in steamer-steam for one hour

   These freeze very well too

   For my art portion I don't have much to show at the moment. I have been watching watercolor videos and also drawing videos on Craftsy. I learned some new things so far, will share soon. I also ordered a drawing book and also it's companion workbook-It is a world wide favorite for learning how to draw. My friend Agnes in Paris France suggested it to help me learn. They should be arriving in the mail next week sometime.

  Happy New Year!!

  Found this photo online

Thanks for stopping by

T Stands for Christmas Cards & Homemade Tamales

  Hoping this finds all of you that lost power during the arctic snow storm -  now having your electric back on. That is so difficult with frigid temperatures and no fireplace or woodstove for some heat. I do miss not having a working woodstove here at the lake house-and I would also be able to cook on it because this one has a flat top too.

  I wanted to share my lovely handmade Christmas cards and also a few others.

  This is the glass sliding door from the kitchen area into my computer slash weaving slash storage room-which gives me a lovely spot to tape up the cards. These are the cards that were not handmade.

This one below is the pretty card from Bleubeard and Elizabeth

and inside-cool stamps E and kitties

I love these vintage postcards, especially the wolf card-thanks much, I think there was one more item in the envelope too-I had already added these items to my mixed media folders before I took the photo.

Another favorite on this glass door was from my friend that meets me at the woods house to pack up Larry's scope repair shop Sorry about the flash this was the best photo of the bunch.

and this one is from my friend Cathy-sheep dressed up for winter. I love sheep and so does she-so this one had me smiling  Cathy hooks allot of rugs with wool strips-something my Mom had done when I was a little kid.

 I had a couple handmade cards and a very awesome fold out card which I had never seen before.

Isn't this first one adorable?? This card is from Rain in Canada

Perhaps some of you  may remember Agnes-or Aggie in Paris France? We reconnected again on google chat-she found me. Always loved her art. This is the inside of her card it is all folded-sorry I don't remember the name of this technique but is from Japan. Sadly she had something inside the card that didn't make it, or the large gnome sticker on the back of the envelope didn't make it through the mail, which was disappointing

This is the fold out card-isn't it too awesome?  From my slow mail friend Mary thank you

  All of these cards are sitting on the mantel with my gnomes and pottery pieces.

This beautiful card is from Carola-so pretty I love it with the cardinals and the flower. thank you so much.

And this lovely card came in the day before the storm hit here at the lake, so I was able to get it out of the mailbox beforehand. From May at Salty Pumpkin. This is so pretty with sparkles too.

May also included a few beautiful Christmas tags-thank you so much May

  I want to thank those of you that wanted to share handmade Christmas cards with me this year-something I enjoy doing for the holidays.

    Christmas Day was our first warmer day since the arctic blast came through. We made it to around 20 degrees F. Yesterday I grabbed my snow shovel and worked on getting the steps cleared and a little bit of the steep hill. It was really too cold for me to be working outdoors but knowing that Monday was a mail holiday, I needed to get my mail out of the box from a few days and also mail something. Since it was very cold outdoors, I ended up doing a little shoveling on the lower part of the hill and then just walked between the concrete wall and my car-carefully got myself up and down. Middle of this week coming up, we will have a warm up.

  Because of the storm I haven't been able to get the peanut brittles made for our friends, so they didn't visit either for the other goodies I made for them and it also wasn't safe to be on the wintry roads either. Hoping I can do that tomorrow (Monday).

 Larry is still having some issues from the operation-slow healing. We see the doctor on the 30th-and thankfully all the ice and snow should be gone by then as it is an hour drive or more each way.

  I did made us homemade tamales for Christmas eve and roasted cornish hens for Christmas day. Since my post is so long already I will detail the tamales later in the week-perhaps for Rain's Dinner Date These tamales were really delicious and I made the filling different this time.

For my drink share this week I have been drinking lots of decaf teas and coffee all week but haven't gotten another photo of those, but I also have in the frig this bottle of yummy eggnog that I will pour me a shot of later on tonight. I took this photo looking into my frig-haha to the right is a big pitcher of ice tea.

   I only need a shot of this-so delicious- it has allot of alcohol in it. This is my favorite brand for an egg nog with alcohol in it.

Happy T and new week everyone

Monday afternoon update:  I am very excited as I just got notice that the handblown glass dip pen from Germany is arriving tomorrow (Tuesday) I will need to be more careful with this one.

  As Iris had mentioned that she would probably break one of these glass pens-the one I have now from Japan just snapped in half when I was taking off the plastic protector for the point sigh-I taped it together so I could still use it for balance. I did get allot of writing accomplished so far-all the Christmas cards and all the postcards I am sending out, and also a few slow mail letters too. It still is working fine being taped together but still. 

I have kept it stored in this nice box along with that thick plastic ptotector- I think I will write a note to the company I bought this from-perhaps a weak point in the stem

T Stands for Tuesday Craft Projects & Tamales & a Bit More

    Hi everyone,

       Happy T Stands for Tuesday where we gather over at Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog for T. You are most welcome to join us just share a drink related photo in your post and link up. Have fun visiting everyone

    Last week I ended up getting some things done-at least it feels like I have been busy-haha.

   I have not yet started weaving-sigh, I am too tired to concentrate in the evenings, or my days have been busy it seems-a good thing though.

  I did grab my big Yellowstone inspired quilt I made last year to try the hand quilting again. I had made the wool quilt, two gift quilts, and this very large one last year. I think by the time I got to this one I was "quilted out" for awhile. I made the  quilts--3 completed plus this one in less than 2-3 months.

  I tried using the three different sized wooden hoops I kept, but none were comfortable for me to hand quilt, and this is a large and thick flannel quilt so I had a hard time getting it tight top and bottom in the hoops. I did figure out simple line stitches as it was hard for me to manage curves for animals on this thick quilt. My hands are not as good as they once were either. So, I made room for my vintage Sears quilt frame-set it up and it's ready to stitch now. That took me a bit to remember how the frame went together and which was the right direction to work at as well.  I ended up re pinning the quilt on three times to get it right-I am getting too slow these days.

  After my Yellowstone trip back in 2017 I collected these fabrics over several years. they are quilt quality flannels or brushed cottons and I love the flannel wide backing that is all one piece and I put in a wool batting. This quilt will be warm and cozy.

and I took this photo from behind the loom--so this room is quite full now-my vintage oak desk with computer and printer are to the left of these photos and to the right are vintage cabinets, dressers, book shelving.  This room is off the kitchen and I think originally the previous owner said this was a porch of some sort that they converted to a room with a large closet-which is to the left by my desk-this room has no venting for heat or a/c but it is always comfortable to work in. It also has a door to the outside of the house-which I thought would be perfect to store firewood, when we get the woodstove working 

  I also ordered the oblique calligraphy pen, two nibs and india ink to teach myself calligraphy-wanting to be able to address pretty envelopes in the least.  The pen and nibs arrived Saturday but still waiting on the ink.  So as you can see I am set up for a few months ahead with fun craft projects.

  Saturday, we finally had no wind so I could start the long process of burning leaves. There are soooo many here for such a small lot. In the woods I only raked away from the house and never burned them.  Here, I need to burn them or figure out a way to compost them-but then we have allot of black walnut trees and those are not good for the soil-so I need to research that out if after burning or composting if safe for the garden or not. Do any of you gardeners know? Black walnuts have something in them to prevent seeds and plants from growing around them, but not sure about the leaves

A friend gave me these, and I thought they were the strangest thing-but they work sooo well scooping up lots of leaves to put in above burn pit

My water bottle

  

    Friday, My  husband finally got brand new tires-his were bald, two needed to be aired up frequently, and when he had gotten a flat-I said that 's it please order tires-so he has safe tires now. 😀 My car is really old and has some issues and living so rural,  we need one very reliable vehicle.  

   I made tamales one day last week. We really like them but they are time consuming to make. I made around 30 and then froze the rest to make later.

I also made a batch of Chex mix with all gluten free cereals, crackers and pretzles, and I use less salt-I don't add in the salt that is in the recipe except for the Worchester sauce.

Pre sunrise photos over the lake this weekend

Sunday morning early, I did a big food shopping trip and saw these amaryllis bulbs and brought one home with me. I love them and haven't had one in awhile This came in a pottery pot too. They either had red ones or Minerva I chose the later as it looked like a more interesting bloom color.

    My herbal tea cup is in front. I have been adding a Bigelow green tea and lemon tea bag along with the two herbal teas which makes a delicious tea.

Happy T everyone.

  and Update Happy Thanksgiving to all those in the USA

Tamales

   I thought I would pop in one more time before Christmas

    I finished up making the tamales today. I had prepared the meat yesterday and did one steamer full of about 20 tamales. Today I made up the rest and ended up with 40 more tamales. I will keep out some for tomorrow and freeze the rest.

  This year I shredded a part of a beef roast and added that to browned ground beef sirloin and two long chorizo sticks. Added a jar of Paul Newmans salsa and a little bit of shredded cheese.

  We like our tamales with more meat than corn, so I lay down a thin layer of the masa mixture and pile on meat in the center-roll it up and tie. Steam for an hour.

T Stands for Tuesday An Ozark's Winter Wonderland & Tamales

Merry Merry Christmas Everyone,

I am posting also for T for Tuesday hosted by Bleubeard and Elizabeth where we share a drink related post-find link in my right hand column.

  Yesterday (Saturday) morning we woke up to a winter wonderland with a bit of ice here in my part of the woods.  I bundled up early and grabbed my camera as I figured most would melt off by afternoon.
   We did get allot of melt off from roofs and trees and a bit in the grasses, but we are in a deep freeze now so most of the 2 inches is still here and we got another inch today.  I know not allot of snow, but here where I now live we do not usually get a white Christmas. This weather drop is quite a change from the high of 70 degrees f on Friday. Typical for Missouri though these huge temperature drops.

  All photos will enlarge just click on them for much better viewing-one has a lovely reflection in the pond.

:Looking down our 1/4 mile driveway

     Probably around 25 years ago I decided to make homemade tamales a tradition for Christmas Eve. They are fun to make and sooo good. This year we invited our friend Mr L over to enjoy with us.
   Here are photos of the process-tamale dough made with corn flour-masa-shortening or lard-water. For the meat this year I used three different meats-chirozo and spiced pork meat from a Mexican market that a friend brought down last November (I had extra so stored in freezer), and shredded pork loin and of course dried corn husks soaked in warm water for around an hour or so

This is the basic recipe I use

The meats sauted and ready as the filling

I am enjoying a hot cup with cream of my decaf herbal beverage

I have a two layer big steamer that I use for my tamales-they steam for one hour

Refried beans with mushrooms, and green chiles

Tamales out of the steamer

I served with sour cream, my own canned salsa, and melted cheese.

For my Christmas Eve beverage I made Jo's Poinsetta Cocktail-we loved it! thanks Jo   
   This is a keeper recipe-1 part orange liqueur, 3 parts cranberry juice, 3 parts dark red wine

   
Merry Christmas