Mountain Musings

Quarter-Century Birthday!

25 Things We All Love About Hannah!

Dad ~

• She loves the Lord Jesus.
• She is a real Sweetie.
• She exemplifies Philippians 2:3-4; she is super alert for opportunities to serve someone else, and she drops what she's doing to do so. We sometimes have to insist that she take care of some need of her own.
• She has a subtle but quick wit. Listen for her quiet and funny remarks. She has a smiling countenance.
• She has a humble, quiet, joyful, and peaceful spirit.
• She is modest. She is placing her trust in the Lord to provide a godly and loving spouse in His time and way.
• She is very thorough and deliberate when she is thinking and deciding.
• She likes to keep her family (especially her Dad) healthy by providing wholesome foods.
• She is very industrious, and she does excellent work.
• I could go on and on, but I'm already hogging a lot of good thoughts!

Mom ~

• She puts her plans aside to help any one of us who needs her for anything: help with meals, haircuts for all the family, proofreader, and great at figuring out computer stuff.
• She strives for perfection in whatever she does.
• She grows wonderful vegetables in the garden and works hard harvesting for the family.
• She desires the Lord and His Word--nothing interferes with her quiet time.
• Her expertise at making smoothies!

Jonathan ~

• She is a GREAT older sister!!
• She encourages me in word and deed and helps me to be a godly young man.
• She greatly desires to be a keeper at home and directs her energies to cultivating applicable skills.
• She makes great bread.
• And she grows lots of vegetables in her garden which I don't have a lot of (but should), so I suppose they are tasty, too. I just can't personally attest to the fact.

Sarah ~

• She is a diligent worker at all her many projects - indoor and outdoor.
• She is great to have late night sisterly talks with! :)
• Her attire is beautiful, feminine, and modest.
• She has an entrepreneurial spirit and has really researched different issues and applied herself to setting up her business.
• She is very encouraging to all her family and wants what's best for them.
• She can sing beautiful harmony!

And here's the menu for tonight's birthday meal:

• Spicy Peanut Chicken served over rice 
• Savory Carrot Salad with Roasted Nuts and Fresh Oregano
• Toasted garlic bread 
• Tuscan Apple Cake  

Each year's choices are always different and always exotic! Since Hannah's not allowed to do any work today, Sarah and I are going to be busy in the kitchen!

And thank you to the commenters who already left early birthday wishes for Hannah! Have a good weekend, everybody - see you back on the blog on Monday!

~Deb

West Virginia Funeral Cake

Who thinks up these names for recipes? This cake sure caught my attention!

For the past month, I've been sorting through boxes and boxes of paperwork: receipts, notes, old cards, newspaper clippings of weddings and deaths, recipes--you name it. Aunt Bunny saved a lot of stuff!

This week I found a clipped recipe for West Virginia Funeral Cake...all the how-tos but no mention of the story behind how the name came about.

Googling the cake name brought up a cookbook with the quote, "You've not lived until you've tried Maw-Maw's West Virginia Funeral Cake!"

Another site that popped up was a history page from a West Virginia funeral home with the real story behind the cake name. See below...

On July 1, 2002, Lohr & Barb Funeral Home, reintroduced the age-old tradition of the funeral cake.

Before the days of the automobile, the undertaker knew when he was called to the home of a family that had just lost a loved one that he would be spending the next few nights with the family.

The undertaker would prepare for his journey by grooming the horses, preparing his luggage, place the coffin and necessary equipment into the hearse for a home visitation and church funeral. During this time his wife would be busy in the kitchen baking a cake for the grieving family. Because all the ingredients were things she usually had....eggs, sugar, milk, butter and flour....a pound cake was the usual gift.

When the undertaker arrived at the home he would kindly ask the family and neighbors if they would gather at the kitchen to share the cake and reminisce about the good memories and stories of their loved one. He would then go to the bedroom and prepare the body for viewing and the events of the next few days.

The standard for three generations, our family offers this Funeral Cake to you and yours.

I'm wondering if there are any readers of Mountain Musings from West Virginia who can confirm this story or have experienced receiving Funeral Cake at a time of loss. This is so interesting and a story I'd never heard before.

So...guess what dessert we're trying next?

Guess again...it's not the Funeral Cake. Tomorrow is Hannah's birthday, and I have an inkling this isn't what she would pick for her special day!

~Deb

A New Year's Poll

Just an idea...and a little audience participation....

After 4 years of blogging here at Mountain Musings, some of us (well, one of us) have considered doing a little re-designing of the look of the blog. Nothing major, but I've wanted to create a new header at the top of the blog--you know, the part that is currently just a blue rectangle with some white text. Maybe something with a more unique font and incorporating a photo or two. Something inviting, but one that would still be recognizable as Mountain Musings.

What do you think? Go to the poll on the righthand sidebar and cast your vote! Feel free to add additional comments to this post.

~Hannah

Promenade ~ Quilt Block 6

If I were one of those people with lots of bumper stickers on the back of my car, one would surely read, "I Love Quilting."  And I do...but I aspire to be a better quilter than I am.

So...all of you real quilters out there, please don't take note of where my points don't line up and match. As much as Hannah has skilled me in rotary cutting, I'm still a "winging-it eye-guesser," and eye-guessing doesn't work well with quilting! 

Back in July, I began a Block-of-the-Month quilting class at our local fabric store. Each month's 2nd Saturday class rolls around so quickly! I always feel that I just left the last class, and it's time to sew another block! However, for this Saturday's class, I'm good--my block is already finished! Yay!

A new block pattern in the Anniversary Waltz quilt is given to us each class, and the instructions clearly indicate how to cut pieces from the fabric the most efficiently. We are using the basic Perfect Patchwork Templates (Sets B & D) from Marti Michell for this quilt.

As you can see, quilting definitely has its gadgets that make life easier. This little purple thingy is called a Little Gripper. It helps hold the templates or my ruler in place on the mat when I'm rotary cutting.

To see each of the quilt patterns already completed, click on Block of the Month Quilt Photo Album on the right sidebar, and it will show you the first 6 blocks. I'll update it with a new one each month.

And here's the machine I use--a just-acquired-hand-me-down Husqvarna from Sarah.

Actually, I bought it for Sarah for $45 at a yard sale when we lived in Williamsburg years ago, and she has really enjoyed using it for all her quilts. Recently, however, she's gone on to bigger and better things. :) 

That means I'm the proud recipient of this baby. January quilt block #7--here I come!

~Deb

Grissini with oil and vinegar

  Herbs and flowers from the garden this summer made their way into some of our family's Christmas gifts. In October, I made nasturtium vinegar from the edible, vibrant orange blossoms of the nasturtium plant, following a recipe from the book Putting Food By. When December rolled around, I strained and poured the vinegar into cruets, along with olive oil to which I added sprigs of fresh rosemary.

What to include in a gift basket to eat with the oil and vinegar was the next question. I searched for a recipe for long breadsticks and came upon the Wild Yeast blog, where I discovered a recipe for Grissini (Thin Italian Breadsticks). I used the converter at Gourmet Sleuth to change the grams of flour to cups.

Rolling out the dough, twisting the strips, and re-rolling them into long "snakes" was a fun process to make this unique type of breadsticks. I would make them again, but in smaller quantities probably. Now that we've tried them, the grissini are actually better-tasting fresh out of the oven rather than as a gift for someone to enjoy later, but it made for an interesting addition to my gift baskets.

~Hannah

Marie-Madeline Studio Fabric

Here is some of the beautiful fabric I recently purchased from the ladies at Marie-Madeline Studio. I've been planning to make a picnic quilt using old denim pieces, and for months I've been slowly collecting different reds and whites to combine with the denim. My pile of coordinating fabrics is getting higher, and I hope to soon begin the project this winter!

Right now, Marie-Madeline Studio has many of their colorful fabrics on sale, making way for new spring material. Go see what they have, as well as their original sewing patterns and the custom-made bags, aprons, and girls' clothing they carry. Also, read where Meredith interviewed the Long ladies about their family and home business.

~Hannah

New Blog on the Block

Becka's Blog is a new blog that I think you will really enjoy. Becka is wife to Rob, the IVman (instant vacation man), and she guest blogged a couple of times recently before deciding she wanted her very own blog.

Becka has already written some interesting posts: I Am An Applesauce Snob in which she shows you the process of making applesauce with her Victorio Strainer, a post on the Books she received for Christmas, and two posts on recycling your Christmas turkey showing you how to make stuffed bread bowls and a green bean and turkey casserole.

Go visit Becka's blog and welcome her!

Also, not a new blog on the block, but newly updated, Jonathan's Eugraphia, has a new look for the new year and a promise of more regular posting since he's now graduated and has a little more time to blog. Go visit him and welcome him back to blogland.

~Deb

Bake a Cake...

  ...and wait for snow! We have been quite envious of all the snow pictures posted across blogland recently; well, actually, Sarah has been the envious one.

Kathie posted pictures of the drifts piled high on Prince Edward Island ...something we don't get too much of here in Virginia with just flurries now and then, but that doesn't stop the hoping for at least a foot of snow.

Check out Mrs. GreenThumb Jean's post on Snowy Sunday; her area had already gotten 84 inches of snow before Christmas and maybe more by now! Oh my, unbelievable!

So...just in case it would help, Sarah baked a cake complete with snowflake sprinkles, snowflakes piped on the top, and the word SNOW written boldly in the center. And wouldn't you know the cake is on a plate with a snow scene complete with snowmen under the cake! I think she gets an A+ for trying so hard. 

Are you as much a snow lover as Sarah? Did you enjoy a white Christmas where you live? Or, like me, would you rather it be spring already?

Happy New Year to all our blogging friends!

 ~Deb