"Spring" Thaw

March is not spring on Mackinac Island - it is still very much winter. That said, we do often get a few warm days this time of year. Usually it lasts just long enough to melt the snow, making riding our snowmobiles a challenge. And while most of the adults are annoyed, the kids love the opportunity to play with good packing snow (which is somewhat of a rarity here since it's usually just too cold.) Several of my students were so proud of today's recess creation, that they asked me to take a picture of  it. Meet their new friend - "Fred."

Supporting Our Community

Every year my co-teacher and I work with our students to create items to sell at Mackinac Island's annual Christmas Bazaar. 

This year they created the cutest little Christmas trees made from yarn wrapped around a cone,

complete with little felt "lights."

The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth graders made quite a few trees, which brough in almost $300, but teaching them to donate their time to important causes was priceless. (All the money raised at the Christmas Bazaar goes to support the Mackinac Island Community Foundation, the Mackinac Island Medical Center, and the Island's churches.) 

When Life Gives You Lemons

When life gives you lemons,

and you happen to have chickens,

(so needing 32 egg yolks isn't an issue)

what should you do?

 Make homemade lemon curd, of course?

One of the Island's hotels closed for the season and donated all their remaining produce to the school. Our cook pulled out the items he could use, and then the leftovers were put out for staff and parents to take (so noting would go to waste.) Not many people were interested in the big box of lemons, so I snagged enough to make two batches of lemon curd. I also got enough cream cheese to make a cheesecake for Thanksgiving.  One guess what flavor it will be!

Homemade Pop Tarts

Mackinac Island's Watercolor Cafe is well known with the locals for their Poppies - or homemade pop tarts, so when a recipe for homemade pop tart dough popped up in my Pinterest feed the other day I thought I'd give them a try. I'm posting the recipe here because for some reason the link works on my phone but not on my laptop... 

This recipe is from Jennifer Pineda (In Jennie's Kitchen). She shares the dough recipe freely, but if you want her filling recipes you have to subscribe. Rather than do that, I just used different kinds of my own homemade jam. I made peach / mango, blueberry, and raspberry, and they were sooooo good. My taste testers (thank you Aimee and Travis) told me they liked how this dough was a little sweeter than regular pie crust and slightly cookie-like.

Homemade Pop Tart Dough 

1 1/3 cup flour, plus more for rolling
1/4 cup corn starch
1/2 cup powdered sugar, plus more for rolling
1/8 tsp. baking powder
4 Tbs. cold butter, cut into 8 pieces
pinch of salt
1/4 cup + 2 Tbs cream (I used half & half)
1 egg

Additional cream (or half & half) and powdered sugar for glaze

Directions: 

1. Combine dry ingredients in a food processor and pulse to mix. 
2. Add the butter and pulse until it forms a sandy looking mix. There will still be some pebble sized pieces.
3. Pour in the cream. Pulse until you get a rough ball of dough.
4. Place dough on lightly floured surface and knead a few times until you have a smooth dough.
5. Roll to the thickness of a pie crust and cut out bottoms and tops for your pop tarts. (I used a mix of half flour and half powdered sugar to roll mine out.)
6. Beat the egg in a small bowl.  
7. Place a spoon full of jam in the center of a piece of dough and spread. Don't get too close to the edge.
8. Brush a thin ribbon of egg around the outside of the dough, close to the edge.
9. Place another piece of dough on top and use a fork to crimp the edges.
10. Use a fork to poke holes in the top piece of dough so steam can escape. (This will keep them flatter.)
11. Bake at 350 degrees for about eight minutes. (I baked mine on parchment.)
12. Cool on a wire rack and glaze if desired. (I made the glaze with half and half, powdered sugar and a dash of vanilla.)
13. Sprinkle with sugar or sprinkles if desired.

One batch of this recipe made eight, three-inch square pop tarts.

2024 School Valentines

Our school celebrates Valentine's Day and the kids really enjoy it - even my fifth and sixth graders like making and passing out cards. MIPS is so small that many of the students bring in cards for every student (and teacher) in kindergarten through sixth grade. This year I opted to 3D print flexible dinosaurs to give to my students, and the kids LOVED them! Of course I made a card to share, too. Cheesy, I know, but what is Valentine's Day without a few goofy cards?

Finish it February: Stained Glass

This February I've been trying to get projects finished. Sometimes they get put off to the side and they sit for a while. Sometimes life gets in the way, other times you get bored. This project got shut down by the Covid 19 lockdown. I was part way through a class when the mandate came down so it sat. And without the class and the instructor, I didn't get back to it. I tried to finish it last winter, but clearly I didn't quite make that deadline. This year I tried again.

My only issue was, I had left it out in the shop so long, one of the kids at school cracked a piece of the glass. Luckily a windshield repair kit did a really nice job and I didn't have to take it apart to replace the piece. (I still notice the crack, but the textured glass makes it hard to see if you're not looking for it.) In the last week I've managed to get it finished, cemented, polished, and hung.

I don't know if I will ever become a serious stained glass artist, but I'm really happy with how it looks in my sewing room window.

One project down, 2,437 more to go...

Busy

I am often asked what people on Mackinac do to keep busy during the winter. If you went around town and asked 20 different people you might get 20 different answers, but most people would agree on one thing. On Mackinac you have to entertain yourself - or better yet, organize something you'd like to do and invite people to join you.

We are lucky enough to have a very active Recreation Department, who are always organizing activities for both adults and kids. Pre-Covid I signed up for a stained glass making class. Unfortunately, the class was shut down when Covid hit, and my project has been languishing on a shelf for the past three years. Last week I decided enough was enough - I dug out the glass making supplies and set out to finish my piece. I'm shooting to have it done by March first. Wish me luck!

Homemade

Not much makes me happier than

homemade Ben & Jerry's ice cream. 

Unless, it's homemade Ben & Jerry's

Heath Bar Crunch ice cream.

My husband had the audacity to

suggest that I added

too much Heath to this batch.

(I hadn't added it when I snapped the picture.)

I mean, is there such a thing

as too much Heath?

I think not...

My Favorite Things

One of my favorite things abut summer is fruit salad! So sweet and delicious. I love to get myself a bowl and enjoy it outside in the shade. It's the perfect summer afternoon treat.

Coffee, Scones & Conversation

My good friend, Stephanie, just arrived back on the Island from wintering in California, so we've started getting together, once a week, for coffee. I hosted this week, which was the prefect occasion to use all those things I have in my china cabinet yet rarely use. (I'm trying to be better about that. I'm also trying to note where things came from so I can pass that knowledge on to my kids - if they choose to keep my treasures.)

• The lilac china belonged to my Great Aunt Ruth. Neither of her kids wanted it and I thought it would be perfect for Mackinac Island.
• The Arklow cream and sugar set were purchased by my mom when we visited Ireland in 1985.
• The Dirigold cutlery belonged my Grandmothers. (They both had it and I consolidated it into one.)
• I bought the Dirigold platter for myself. I found it at a thrift shop for a steal and since it matched what I got from my Grandmothers, it made sense to me to nab it.

Stephanie's visit also gave me an excuse to bake. Ever since I made homemade clotted cream, I've wanted to make scones.  They're so easy, I'm not sure why I've never made them. They were so easy I made two different varieties: sweetened cream cheese and dried cherry. Hands down my family preferred the cherry ones (topped with homemade strawberry jam.) Follow this link for the recipe to make your own. You won't regret it, though one batch only makes six scones - that's why I made two.

Benefits

I have chickens. (I joke that they are my emotional support chickens.) Despite the time and effort they require, they really do make me smile. Plus, you just can't beat quiche made with eggs that are less than 12 hours old. Even the teenagers in the house claim to be able to taste the difference between store-bought and farm-fresh eggs. 

In case you're curious, that's Princess Buttercup. She is the chicken on my shoulder in this photo from last summer. Now, she's all grown up...

First Attempt

I have always liked the look of cookies iced with flow icing, but I've never tried it. Until now. My youngest child decided they wanted an Animal Crossing themed birthday party this year, so it seemed a perfect time to try. 

I 3D printed an Animal Crossing cookie cutter and got to work. I will never again complain about how much these cookies cost! Not only are mine marginal at best, but decorating them took forever - and I only flooded one color! I shudder to think about how long it took to make cookies like these. 

K loved them, but due to Covid-19, we had to enjoy them at home and pre-packaged doughnut holes went into to school to celebrate. Despite the gigantic mess in the kitchen (and trust me, there was green icing everywhere) it was fun to give this new technique a try.

Feeding an Army

Last week the kids and I set out to make pasties.

A lot of pasties. The goal was to make enough so we could have dinner and then freeze the rest for another meal or two.

We used this recipe and were quite happy with the results.  (We did add carrots into the mix.)

At the end of the day we'd chopped enough vegetables and rolled enough dough to make 25 pasties and two meat pies. (At the end of the day we got lazy.) Plenty to share with the neighbors, feed us dinner, and stash 20 pasties and one meat pie in the freezer for later.

The only down side - I think the pasties are in league with the step stool. Just look at that smile. I would have thought they would've been more upset at the idea of being eaten...

Passing the Time

One of the things I did this week to keep busy was make eight gallons of homemade laundry detergent. Not a particularly exciting way to pass the time I know, but very practical. The best part is, I probably won't need to make any more until about August.

For me, homemade detergent is actually easier than store bought. Everything I buy has to be bagged at the store, unbagged and packed in a tote, loaded into the car, unloaded at the dock, and finally put on a luggage cart so  the ferry can bring it over to the Island. Since detergent is mostly water, dealing with the ingredients is a lot less work than lugging big bottles around. (The plumber told us not to use powdered detergent, or dishwasher soap, since we have a sewer grinder.) Plus, a few years, the Grand Hotel was getting rid of 50 pound bags of washing soda. I still haven't used even a fourth of the bag I stashed in the basement. So all I need to get to the Island are small bars of Fels-Naptha soap and the occasional box of  Borax. 

Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent 

1 bar of Fels-Naptha or Zote soap, grated (I prefer Fels-Naptha)
1 cup washing soda
1 cup Borax
Water

You will also need:

Large pot
Blender (immersion or stand) or a hand mixer
Containers to hold approximately four gallons of liquid
Funnel for filling containers

Get your biggest pot; I use the biggest pot we have - the one we use to boil spaghetti noodles. Fill it with water and set in on the stove on high heat. While the water is heating, grate the bar of soap.  Put the grated soap into the water so it can dissolve. This usually takes a few minutes (I think stirring helps the soap dissolve.) You want hot, but not boiling water. (If it boils, you'll get suds.) Once the soap has dissolved, slowly add in the Borax and washing soda - letting what you add dissolve before you add more. Once you're happy that everything has dissolved, turn the stove off and let the mixture cool. This takes a while so I usually just leave mine to cool overnight.

As the detergent cools it will congeal into a thick mass. I like to use my hands to break up the goo into smaller globs. (If you have kids at home, this is a perfect job for them - as long as you're up for lots of booger jokes.) After the mass isn't a mass anymore and more liquidy, use the blender to liquify it even more. The blender / mixer really breaks down the goo and it makes mixing in the water later much easier.

As I finish blenders full, I use the funnel to pour even amounts of the stuff into four, one-gallon jugs. Once I've got the entire pot full blended and into the gallon jugs, I fill the jugs with warm water; giving each one a really good shake to make sure the detergent and the water are well mixed. That's it. Then it's off to the basement until I need it. Usually I give the jug a little shake each time I use the detergent because sometimes it does separate a little (though as yet I haven't discovered a why one batch does while another batch doesn't.) I use about a half-cup of detergent per load of laundry.

I think for tomorrow's project, the kids and I will make pasties...

Trial & Error

I made bagels.

They were...  OK. 

Not great, but not awful either.

 We ate them toasted, with cream cheese and homemade blueberry jam. I used the recipe from my favorite bread book, but they were quite heavy. In a way it has been nice to have the time to try things like this - I probably wouldn't have taken the time to make these in "normal" times. Next time I try them, I think I'm going to try a traditional bagel recipe - maybe they'll be a bit lighter.

Teacher Halloween 2019

This year for Halloween, the Mackinac Island teachers decided to dress up as if we were characters in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinny.

We thought about just picking characters from the book, until I found this site - Wimp Yourself.  It's a fun little site where you can personalize a character. Some poster board, black Sharpies, tape & paint stir sticks and quick as a wink, we were wimped!

Impressed

My daughter loves to draw. She often does it after dinner, when the screens have been shut off and everyone is settling down for the evening. She also loves to read. Recently she has started free-hand drawing some of her favorite book covers. I may be a little bit biased, but I think she's pretty darn good...

Tutorial: Homemade Faux Hogwarts Wax Seals

A few years ago at MIPS we celebrated March is Magic Month and I posted the photo above on Facebook. Recently, I got an email asking how I sealed 45 Hogwarts acceptance letters with red sealing wax with out breaking the bank. (At about $1.00 per stick that wax is expensive.) I'd read about using crayons in a glue gun, but I didn't want to ruin mine, so I had to get creative. The truth is, I didn't actually use red sealing wax...

I used hot glue.

I also used a Teflon pressing sheet, a button, cooking spray, and red spray paint. I could have bought a real Hogwarts seal, but I was on a budget...

I started by gluing the button onto an old empty thread spool so I could hold onto it more easily. Not exactly the Hogwarts crest but it was close enough.

Next, I used my glue gun to make dabs of hot glue on the pressing sheet, which I quickly sprayed with Pam cooking spray and then squished flat with the button. The Pam spray is really important - otherwise the glue will stick to the button. I also discovered dipping the button into cold water between each press helped it release from the glue more easily. It wasn't exactly a quick process, but it was March, on Mackinac Island, so I had the time.

After the seals cooled, they needed a good washing with Dawn dish soap to remove the cooking spray. I also needed to cut off those little glue tails you get with hot glue.

They were done after two quick coats of cheap red spray paint - which cost about $5.00.

A quick drop or two of Elmer's Glue  and the envelopes were sealed and ready to go...

Busy

We had such a fun baking extravaganza this weekend!  My mom, a cousin from Indianapolis, two cousins from Ann Arbor, the kids and I all baked up a storm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

We made most of the family's traditional cookies; many of which my great-great grandparents brought with them when they emigrated from Germany. I have clear memories of making many of these with my mom and grandma when I was a little girl, though as a kid I was blissfully unaware of just how much work went into some of them.  

 

Some of the recipes are amazing. A couple are so old they still call for baker's ammonia, and others just seem like they would have taken an incredible amount of work. The springerles, for example, need to be beaten for 30 minutes. I can't even imagine doing that before the invention of the electric mixer. Even with a hand crank mixer - doing it for 30 minutes would get really old really fast. I guess that's what kids were for, and why these cookies must have been such a special treat. They definitely weren't something mom was just going whip up.

I'm listing what we made here so I'll remember who liked what.  The only bad thing about them is that we're enjoying them so much there may not be any left for Christmas!

 

Springerle - molded (and then dried overnight) traditionally flavored with anise; we also made lavender

Nuremburger - slightly citrus flavored rolled and cut cookie, decorated with sugar (the kids' favorite to decorate)

Chocolate nuts - meringue-based drop cookie made with chocolate and hazelnuts (my mom's favorite)

Zitronenherzen - lemon flavored, heart-shaped, glazed cookie made with almond flour (my son's favorite)

Zimtsterne - cinnamon flavored, star-shaped, meringue based cookie made with ground almonds and hazelnuts, topped with meringue

 

Mandelberg - meringue based, drop cookie made with slivered almonds (my daughter's favorite)

Scottish shortbread - baked in a ceramic mold as well as cut out; not German, but still a long-time family favorite  (Liz and Allen's favorite)

New Toy

Allen got me a Silhouette Cameo cutting machine for our anniversary and yesterday I finally felt confident enough, and had enough time, to play with it. (You know me, I had to read the manual and watch about 15 YouTube videos before I dove in.)

S and K each chose a design and now have brand new, customized shirts made with heat transfer vinyl. This thing is going to be so much fun. One guess which shirt is for the 12 year-old girl and which one is for the 14 year-old boy...