Fairs 2014

     It's that time of the year again! I am all booked up for fairs this year and will be pushing my wares all over southern Maine and New Hampshire. Please come see me! Get a chance to touch and see everything in person...except me of course. You can't touch me. You will definitely see me though, you can't miss the bright pink hair!

     I will again have my hand made neck and back wraps, perfect for hot or cold therapies (microwave or freezer use) and soothing eye pillows. I will have a few small quilts, accent pillows of all sizes, draft stoppers, stadium seat cushions and so much more!

Oct. 25th, Saturday, 9-4, Standish Baptist Church, Standish, ME
Nov. 1st, Saturday, 9-4, Hampstead Mother's Club Fair, Hampstead Middle School, Hampstead, NH
Nov. 15th, Saturday, 10-2, Steep Falls Elementary PTO Holiday Fair, Steep Falls, ME
Nov. 28th, Friday, 9-4 &
         29th, Saturday, 9-3,Christmas in the Country, Bonny Eagle High School, Standish, ME

    UPDATED DATES IN DECEMBER:
Dec. 3rd, Wednesday, 4pm-8pm Salt Water Grille Holiday Artisans Show, So Portland, ME
Dec. 6th, Saturday, 9-2, Peaks Island Craft Fair at Inn on Peaks Island, Peaks Island, ME (no link yet, Peaks is easy going come take a winter boat ride and get some nice gifts)

Thanks for all the support everybody!

Simple City Sam

Two Kids. Two Hungers. One Nuker.

     There's always that day, at least once a week, where I've managed to seemingly starve my children. We've all been there, right? It's super late in the afternoon, like 11:26 a.m., and the kids are either going to pass out (as threatened) from hunger, or annoy you to death asking when lunch is. Reminding them that they ate a "snack" of an entire apple, a cheese stick, and a handful of peanuts less than an hour ago is futile, don't try. Thinking back in wonderment to breakfast, not more than 4 hours ago, when they each devoured 2 eggs, bacon, a piece of toast ("with jelly!") and then split a pear because they were still hungry, will get you nowhere. Having them drink yet another glass of water won't do the trick. No. They need something hot and now!

     These are the days when I reluctantly forgo the oven or stove and plug in the microwave (Nope, ours does not stay on all the time. No need to suck energy for something we rarely use.) and heat up left overs from the night before or maybe soup. Today's installment features the ever popular, though not very nutritional, pizza left overs.

     Now don't forget one of my daughters has a dairy allergy, so their pizzas stay separate. Go ahead...YOU decide which one has to wait while the other gets her piece cooked. Then, TELL her she's the one who has to wait.  Mwahahahaha! Good luck my friend.

     Fear not! I just add a second level. Stick a small coffee mug in the microwave and place the second plate on top of that. Our microwave is so small that the cup has to be placed on the first plate. Either way, now there are two, different, plates in the microwave at the same time. Each kid gets her lunch, at the same time.

     Crisis: averted.

 

     Of course this never would have been an issue if I'd just feed them!

Simple City Sam

We Do The Mash. We Do The Pumpkin Mash.

     We are at it again. You saw that we went apple picking a few weekends ago. Well, I'm certain none of you thought that's all we got! Of course we walked away with quite the pumpkin haul as well. We are a tad pumpkin obsessed around here. Undoubtedly, one of the greatest things in all the world is pumpkin soup. My hubby happens to make one of the absolute best too! Totally planned it that way.

 

     This year we got the ONE pumpkin that I allow to be sacrificed in the name of Jack-o-laterns and 3 little Jack-be-littles for the girls to color and tattoo. Yep, you saw it here first. We tattoo everything around here and the pumpkins are no different! Temporary tattoos work like a dream on the pumpkins and are far less messy than paint or other craft supplies. The white pumpkin that we "splurged" on this year was especially nice for this technique.

 

     Now let me just preach for a quick second. Purchasing, even these few, pumpkins that will inevitably be wasted (in terms of food) still makes me nuts. That is why we only do the small ones for painting and one large one for carving. I don't want my kids missing out on what can arguably be a rite of passage, but I also don't want them to become complacent about waste. Adding insult to injury is the fact that they are too young to care about making it look like anything but a scribble or a "design". There is simply no need to spend hundreds of dollars on pumpkins that will just be thrown out a few weeks later after rotting on the front step! Ok, whew, thanks.

 

     Now don't forget,  even that Jack-o-latern will yield a good amount of seeds. Roasted pumpkins seeds are divine, just a little olive oil and salt. My youngest prefers sweet "pepitas" (so called because that's what they are called at her favorite Mexican restaurant), with brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and paprika, so we always end up making a few batches. They keep for a solid week, especially in air tight containers, and make really excellent snacks.

 

     Back to the pumpkins...We break down the remaining pumpkins and freeze the "meat". Halve the pumpkin and scrape out the seeds (use them!), I usually use a spoon and elbow grease for this.

 

     Place the pumpkin halves face down on a parchment covered baking sheet. Placing them face down helps trap the natural moisture in the pumpkins. Roast low, at 275 degF for around 2-2 1/2 hours.

     For best results we've spoken to our local farmers and tested a few theories. We find that the pumpkins that are about the size of a basketball yield the best meat to seeds and skin ratio. They are also more manageable at that size and are never hard to get on a tray or in the oven. In this case bigger isn't necessarily better.

 

     When we take them out of the oven, we let them cool and then scrape out the meat. We store it in gallon size freezer bags (about 1 whole pumpkin per bag) and stick them in the deep freeze. The mash will be pulled later and made into soups, pies, breads, sauces and whatever else we can fathom. Which is why we didn't season it prior to roasting, we want nothing but pumpkin flavor! One pumpkin, or one bag will yield roughly 4 quarts of creamy pumpkin soup. Don't worry you'll get that recipe later...probably.

 

I can't wait!

 

Simple City Sam

 

 

Apple Picking

     This past weekend we got to partake in one of my favorite Fall rituals. We went apple picking and pumpkin picking. It also happened to be the first time the four of us got to spend time together as a family unit in several weeks. It was LONG overdue. 

     How do we let the time escapeus that  easily? How does it get away from us so quickly? 

     Summer is my most favorite time of the year in Maine, yet somehow I end up really not getting to enjoy any of it. I work every "spare" moment I can find. So does my husband. We make the money while we can, seasonal Maine work is very short lived. Nonetheless we miss each other all summer. Constantly we are ships in the night, just missing one another. We give more "see you soon" kisses than I care to admit. 

     Fall marks the return of family dinners, Saturday excursions, and family dynamics at their best. For these reasons I love Fall. For the impending Winter doom, I hate it. 

     But for now I'll just take our annual picking trip as a sign of good things to come. (Extra good this year, our Fall picking day was 80 degrees!)

     Now on to sauces, jellies, pies and crisps. Mmmm. 

Simple City Sam

Charging Station Change

     By and large we do not have that many electronics...at least that's what I try to tell myself. Nevertheless, within the household we have at least 2 cell phones and a tablet that need to be charged, often. This doesn't even include the various other portable devices we use on an occasional basis. 

     Even the few that we use regularly pose a clutter problem. Each has it's own charger, in addition to the other accessories. Our counter top was constantly cluttered with the chargers and other daily debris. I needed something to keep everything neat and tidy. 

     Hubby mounted a thin piece of scrap wood we had kicking around to the wall above the outlet we typically use to charge. I had extra hooks from the jewelry hanging project, and we screwed those into the piece. Presto Change-o! My counter was clear and the chargers were all neatly hanging where they could be easily found and put away. And, they are out of reach from little hands. Bonus!

     This solution literally cost us nothing because we used all leftover supplies. My favorite kind of of project!

Also good for goggles. 

Shopping Hack

     Well I know I haven't been around much. But here we are. Summer has been crazy so I finally am getting a chance to get back into writing. Let's start off slow...a quick little shopping hack. This is one I use every single time I go grocery shopping. I park next to the carriage corral; it's as easy as that. Usually there are a few sprinkled around the parking lot so you have a few options. But either way I try to pick one of the ones further out, it gives me a wee bit of excersise and helps me teach the kids that a little walking is good, keeps us from getting lazy. Look at that, two hacks for the price of one.

 

     This also makes life infinitely easier when you actually go to unload your groceries. We all know I have a couple of small kids, I'm sure a bunch of you do too. Getting them in and out of the car may as well be exercise in itself. Between the shrieking,and the shouting,and the crying, and the jumping up-and-down, and the one who wants to jump through the back of the vehicle where I'm getting my reusable bags,and the one who wants to unbuckle her self, getting in and out of the car can be a challenge. When you've returned to your vehicle and are laden with bags of food and children, efficiency is key. Quick, strap the kids in their car seats and threaten them quietly so you can get them to sit nicely for a hot second! Unload the groceries into the car. Now is where you become riddled with concern and guilt if you have to return your cart to the corral far away from your strapped and trapped children (or worse leave it in a parking space!). Fear not, you're right next to the corral! Gently lob that sucker in with his friends and call it a day. Hop in the car and silence the uncontrollable toddler song making by popping in the FROZEN soundtrack (if you haven't broken it into pieces yet) , unwrap that York Peppermint Patty descretely (down by your hip),and Let It Go. 

 

Peeps Jousting

      Alright so Easter, Passover and Mother's Day have all come and gone. There are no more, huge, official Holidays that we need to worry about for at least a couple months. Yipee! Go ahead, take 30 seconds to breathe. It's really nice.

 

     OK, but what to do with all that left over candy and sugar? Most of the hard candies are brought to work, you can always find someone who wants a piece, or a bowl to leave at the reception area. The chocolate never lasts long, so no problem there. Then there are the Peeps. Honestly, I can only stomach about one at a time now (despite my adoration in childhood) so there are always a few extras lying around.

 

     There's simply nothing else to do with left over Peeps but to make them joust. Yep, Peeps Jousting is now an annual event to which we all look forward.

 

     Take the left over Peeps, stick a toothpick into the belly of each one. Pair them off, place them on a paper plate, make them face each other, and stick them in the microwave.

 

 



 

 

     After a few seconds (depending on your microwave this will take anywhere from 15-45 seconds total) the Peeps will begin to swell and one will pop the other, reigning victorious over the other defeated jouster.

 



    

     If bold enough, you may consume both the victor and the loser, they won't mind. The kids really love this little game and I must admit so do I. Remember the paper plate though. Believe me, cleaning Peeps up off the microwave plate is NOT fun.

 

Good luck to all the jousters!

 

Simple City Sam