Babysitting a Six Year Old

A friend of mine had a meeting to go to with her partner. She asked if I could get her grandson from pre-school and take care of him for a few hours until they could come to get him. I've taken care of him before but not for quite a while and I tried to come up with things for us to do.


As he would be with me over dinner time I thought we could make our own pizzas. I measured out the ingredients ahead of time (and forgot to take a picture before he emptied his containers) and had everything ready before he came.


He made his own dough and rolled it out. Then he cut up the turkey slices, red pepper and fresh mushrooms (that he was trying for the first time!). We used ketchup because that is what they used at home. Then a bit of pizza spice. And after he put on his toppings he sprinkled on some cheese. It turned out quite well and he ate almost the whole thing. I'm taking care of him next week too. I wonder if he'll want to do it again. Does anyone have any suggestions for something else we can cook if he doesn't want pizza next time?

Single Serving Pizza Dough
1 dl flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
dash salt
1/4 dl milk (or more if needed)
1 tbsp oil

Pre-heat oven to 200°C. Mix dry together. Mix in wet. Stir with fork until well combined. Use hands to form a ball. Roll out on floured board. Pile on toppings. Bake until cheese has melted but dough hasn't turned too brown (according to my guest).

Candy Roll

When my son was younger I would get him a chocolate advent calendar but as he grew the amount of chocolate for each day seemed so small. So I crocheted a candy holder and put a candy or chocolate in each pocket. Then he grew older still and for a few years I bought enough licorice and small chocolate bars to hang on a bulletin board. The first year I wrapped them in newspaper photos that I had saved up but then we decided that it wasn't necessary to wrap them so I just thumb-tacked them onto the board.


He has moved out but I still asked him this year if he wanted me to put something together for him and he did. I had to get it ready in time for him to take it back with him last weekend because we don't know if he'll be home again before December. I thought of a crayon roll and decided to only make 20 pockets so that wider things could fit in if he wants to use it for something else too. Some of the pockets have more than one treat in them. It isn't too easy anymore finding 25 different small things. I wonder if he will save them until December!

I'm linking this to

Green Beans and Ham

I spoke on the phone the other day with my three year old nephew. We've only talked a few times and we've never met so it isn't always easy to think of things to say. I asked him if he liked to read and he said that he did so I asked him if he knew the story Green Eggs and Ham and I said off by heart 'I am Sam. I am Sam. Sam I am.' He said that he knew it and at the end of the story he (referring to the character) realizes that after trying them he likes green eggs after all. I thought that it was funny that he was able to jump to the end of the story without the book being there. I wonder how often he has heard it.

I haven't been cooking much. Now that I'm on my own it is easier just to have a sandwich (or popcorn). I've enjoyed testing recipes and need to do more. This Thai Inspired Green Quinoa is another of Carla's recipes. Green beans are one of my favourite vegetables but I seldom eat them. It was nice to find a recipe that was easy to make and includes chickpeas too.

Tinned soups aren't very common here. There are dry soups but they always seem to taste so artificial. So I haven't had any cream of something soups since I've lived here. For some reason I started to think would cream of mushroom soup be hard to make from scratch. One of the first recipes that I came across didn't have many ingredients so I decided to try it. It was a Fresh Cream of Mushroom Soup. Simple to make and tasted good the next day. I did use less broth like many of the reviewers suggested. I only made half of the recipe because I had bought the mushrooms before I thought of the soup. I liked it so much that I went back the next day to get more mushrooms but they were all out. Next time I'll be sure to make the whole recipe!

It Snowed!

It was my son's girlfriend birthday recently and because I don't know her that well it was difficult to come up with a gift. After looking around for a pattern for something, I found these Handy Spider Webs on Ravelry and crocheted them.


I haven't made anything for my mother and I asked one of my sisters if she could think of anything my mother might need. She suggested hand warmers because last winter Mom's hands were sometimes cold when she was at home. We agreed on a simple pattern we saw on Ravelry called fingerless mitts and I used some Regia Silk that I received in a giveaway. I'm so used to having people try on the things as I'm knitting so it is the right size that I found it a bit stressful working on the hand warmers and only having measurements to go by. Well if worse comes to worse they can send them back as they fit me!

I was given some 'winter' apples and I made some applesauce with most of them. I was looking for a snack and decided on some cottage cheese. I saw the applesauce cooling and added a dollop to the cottage cheese and it was quite good. Never had it before.

Ginger Snaps

I can't remember did we eat ginger snaps when I was growing up or did I find them after I moved out on my own. Every few years they pop in my mind (as do Fig Newtons, Cheez Whiz, etc.) and I miss them. I came across a Ginger Snap recipe from a Canadian blog and thought that I would try them. They were really good but not like the ones I used to eat. Next time I will try adding more ginger and less sugar and see how that turns out.

After I finished making the project bags I was left with the corners that I had cut out. I've been wanting a few mug coasters and I thought that I would try to use the scraps to make them.

First I cut off the rounded edges and sewed four of the squares together.

I wanted some padding but not so much that the mugs might tip over. I had no use for the rounded bits so I used them by placing them away from the seams as not to add more bulk.

Then I sewed two of the pieces together and turned them right side out and sewed in a spiral to keep the padding in place. They are just for me so I wasn't too careful how straight the edges or lines were. All that was left from the original piece of material were small scraps and I didn't feel bad bad throwing them away.

Slow Work

I don't know any bloggers. Well I did know one, but she doesn't blog anymore. So I've never asked anyone how they check on the blogs that they read. I've been using Bloglines but it is shutting down next month. I had to find a new place to put all of the blogs I want to keep up on. At the moment I'm using Google Reader because I haven't looked into any others yet. It's possible to move them all at once but with over 330 blogs on Bloglines (and over 9000 unread posts) I want to go through them all. I think it would be better to only move the ones that I'm sure that include my interests at the moment. OK, and a lot of other ones too!

I had been thinking of going through them for awhile (after I noticed that there were over 9000 unread posts) and now I have to do it. It was interesting to find that some of the blogs no longer existed even though I could read the posts that Bloglines hadn't marked as read. Some had changed their site address and I didn't know. I still have 88 blogs to look through. I was hoping to cut the total down to 100 blogs but I've already moved 140!


When my son visited last time I was able to make GrannyG's Caramel Slice with the condensed milk that GrannyG sent me. It was a real treat. I still have another tin, so I have to decide whether or not to make these again or try something different.


I haven't been making many of Carla's test recipes lately. During the summer it was too hot and now, living on my own, I'm too lazy. I did make her Savory Sunflower Brittle recently because it sounded so unusual and I plan to make it again soon.


I've done a bit of sewing. Some people on Ravelry have asked for project bags though they probably would want something more modern. I had this piece of material that I was pretty sure I'd never use. It wasn't a big piece and the squares were too large for any quilting I might want to do. I've sent three off and still should get the last one sent.

First Attempt

Can you guess what I'm going to make?

Does this help?

No? Well what about this?

I made sponge toffee for the first time! I used a Hokey Pokey recipe because I forgot what we called it when I was growing up (sponge toffee). I'm going to try others because I think that there was too much baking soda (it tastes so salty) as most of the recipes I looked at after making this have about 1 tbsp of baking soda per cup or more of sugar and I only used 1/4 cup of sugar. She said not to stir it but all of the other recipes I've seen, say to stir. I didn't have any golden syrup so I used a mixture of dark syrup and honey. Why did I use honey! I even hate the smell of it! Oh well, I might eat it anyway.

Thoughtfulness

I was lucky enough to win GrannyG's competition! Some podcasts ago GrannyG was talking about the Caramel Slice she was making. It included condensed milk which I haven't seen here. I asked her if she thought that I could substitute cream for it. I haven't gotten around to trying but now I don't have to. Not only did she send goodies from the media kit that she had received, my first hand-dyed yarn that she had dyed herself but she surprised me by sending two tins of condensed milk! Now I can try the slices with the correct ingredients. Yum. It was such a nice thing to do.

I finished my son's hat in time before he moved. It was the first time I had knit a top-down hat and I found the increases fiddly. I much prefer to decrease! I wanted to do a top-down hat so I could get the length right without having to do the crown over and over every time I'd have to undo it to fix the length. If I need to do more hats like this, I think I'll do them top-down as it is easier to get the length right the first time.

I needed a new bind-off too. So after trying a few, I decided on Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off, though mine wasn't as stretchy as in the picture. I kept checking back at the pictures after every stitch until I realized that if I put the yarn where it should be for the stitch (in back for knit, in front for purl) and then just put the yarn over the needle from there and then back under the needle to where it should be, I could do it on my own.

Summer Heat is Here

I wasn't sure if we'd get a proper summer but it's 29 ºC in this room!

I went to the recycling center last week and found this cute mug. I definitely don't need more mugs but it was so cute I couldn't resist (and it was only 0.20 €). I tried out a No Pudge Brownie Clone recipe, using soy vanilla yogurt instead of fat-free yogurt and half white and half brown sugar and less than called for. Not bad for what they were and quite simple.













Last year I bought these pants from the charity store for my son. I knew that they were too short but I thought that he might like capris (are they called that for men too?) but he didn't. I was going to get rid of them and asked him again to make sure if he wanted me to shorten them for him. He suggested that I make them into shorts. So I did. He hasn't tried them on yet so I hope they are a good length.

Podcasts

I don't have a tv and don't listen to the radio as I don't like the Finnish radio style. Or at least I didn't when I used to listen to it. I'm really glad I found podcasts. I don't remember how though, or what the first one was that I listened to. I still look for new ones and now I'm trying out a few quilting podcasts but so far they aren't ones that I'll keep listening to.

Most of ones that I download are about knitting but I would like to find more sewing ones. The only professional one I listen to is Car Talk. I don't have a car or a driver's license, and at my age, I doubt that I'll every want to get one, but I find the program relaxing.

I usually prefer podcasts that don't just talk about their main topic but include the podcaster's life too. I would like to find more non-American podcasts but I must admit that I haven't looked too hard!

One podcast that I enjoy from New Zealand is Crafternoon Tea with Granny G. Until recently her podcast was one of the longest on my list. She has now divided each episode into two sections and airs them at different times. One part is an interview and she has had quite a variety of interesting people on her list.

The other part is a combination of what crafts (knitting, sewing, etc.) she has been working on and usually what she has been baking. I always feel lazy when I listen to her talking about what is in her tin that week as I don't bake that often. Now and again Granny G has a guest to talk about what's in the tins. It's interesting to hear what are New Zealand baking traditions and what baked goods have been imported. In a recent podcast she talked about making bagels. I'm tempted to try making them again as she made them sound easy to make. If you enjoy crafty podcasts, I recommend giving her a listen.