DONNA BEAR AND FRIEND.

Evelina and her furry love. Smarty pants sister in background!

 I thought I would share this funny picture of my little granddaughter, Evelina and Donna bear. She is two years old and has become very fond of him  . I have caught her sneaking into my bedroom to get him.  She does this when I am not looking . This particular day, I was explaining to her that Donna bear is very very old , ( sister, Violet, in the background, chimed in  "like Nona " ), and fragile. I tried to explain that she had to be careful or his head will pop off! He was a bear that we could look at but not really play with. She gave me  this " it's okay, Nona /get over it " look. I thought it was so funny.

I've had to put him up on a shelf , out of reach. Since then I have found her in my room standing in front of the shelf looking  up at him ! Who can blame her? After all,  he is a charmer.

A DAY FOR FAIRY MAKING !

FAIRIES GONE WILD ON THE SEWING BOX!

It has been so horrible outside for so long, that I decided to quit complaining and do something that I would only do if I couldn't do anything else. Make fairies. Yeah, I said make fairies. It started years ago, when my oldest grandchild, Chloe, was about 6 or 7. She is now almost 17.  Time flies. She was very much into fairies after her mother read her a story about them. One day she came over and was telling me all about the book her mother read her and she wanted to make a fairy house in case some fairies were living in the neighborhood. When she left, I decided to look on the internet for a book on fairies and fairy houses and came across an amazing textile artist named, Salley Mavor, and her book called "Felt Wee Folk".

HAPPY FAIRIES

  I ordered the book and when it arrived, I immediately ran round gathering up all the necessary things to start making the little fairies.  It isn't hard to do if you follow her instructions and I soon realized that your imagination can really go crazy. I was totally hooked. My granddaughter, Chloe, was also hooked. She got really good at it and soon had fairies all over her room! There are instructions for children that make this a great thing to do with them.  Now I have three more little granddaughters that love them, so I periodically take out all the fairy making materials and make them. I actually love doing this and find it fun and relaxing. It is a great thing to do with kids, boys too, since you can make Elves or even boy fairies. I've made pirate "fairies" for some of the little boys I know. Really your imagination is all it takes. As the years have gone by, I got more detailed and have had a great time finding new materials to create hats and wands and all kinds of little fun details. I really like using wool thread but I have to say that silk DMV thread is great and cheap to use. Once you get the hang of winding the thread around the pipe cleaners, it becomes easier. I send away for 100% cotton pipe cleaners. They work best. You can find them online. Most of the wool felt that I use, I also get online.  If you decide you would like to try this, I recommend you buy Salley Mavor's book. You will love it!  Remember to have fun and let your imagination run!!

WOOL FELT AND SILK FLOWERS

I LIKE TO USE WOOL EMBROIDERY THREAD 

FAIRY MAKING SUPPLIES

FIRST PART OF WINDING THREAD AROUND THE PIPE CLEANER.

FINISHED LEGS 

ADDING THE FLOWER SKIRTS

MAKING THE SHIRT AND SEWING THE DECORATION

SO PRETTY!

BLOSSOM!

PANSY

ROAST CHICKEN IN THE FIREPLACE!

DINNER OF ROASTED CHICKEN WITH RICE AND SQUASH, YUM!!

We have had the coldest, snowiest , and now windiest couple of days, that it seemed like a great idea to roast some chicken in the fireplace. I know that sounds really good!  It is my favorite way of cooking chicken because it is so crispy outside and nice and moist inside . Plus you get a tiny bit of a smokey flavor.
  The first thing I do of course, is to light the fire in my old kitchen fireplace. I let it get nice and hot,with lots of coals. That usually takes about an hour. Then I take out my wonderful BIG tin roaster, that my friend, Bill McMillen , made for me. Another name for them is Reflector oven or Tin kitchen.

 Billy  made it a bit larger then the standard Tin Roaster, so I could roast a turkey or two chickens in it. I have an antique one that I used to use, but this one is much better. The reason for that is, it is nice and shiney. The heat can reflect off the shiney tin and roast the chicken or what ever you are roasting, must quicker and evenly. You can line an antique one with tin foil, I suppose .
 
 Okay, so now that the fire is going, I next get my chicken ready. I  slide the birds onto the spit  and then skewer them onto it. I tie up the legs. Most of the time I like to keep it simple, since the fire will flavor the chicken anyway. I simply rub some olive oil on and sprinkle salt over it. Done. Skewer it and then roast. Today, however, I thought I would do a little more prep. I melted some butter in a small sauce pan and added some Madeira to the butter to create a butter sauce. I also added some sage and parsley . I then loosened the skin a little on the chicken and spooned some of this sauce in and under the skin. I poured the rest over the chicken . You could also save a bit to baste with if you wanted. I do this with my turkeys and it makes a delicious gravy when you use the drippings.  A little sea salt sprinkled on the outside of the chickens and then you are ready to place them into the reflector oven.

 I like facing the breast or top of the chicken toward the fire first , but I don't think it matters. You will notice that on the side of the tin kitchen, there are some little holes, which the spit will fit into . This is how you rotate the bird or birds. I do it about every 15 or 20 minutes. The door on the back of the oven will open up so you can see what is going on. I am always amazed at how quickly my chicken cooks. I usually roast a good size chicken and they take about an hour and 15 minutes. I just keep checking toward the end to make sure they are done and not pink inside the legs. I have taken them out of the tin kitchen and slid a knife inside the leg to see if the juices run clear. I guess you could also use a thermometer to check. If it still needs a little more time, I simply put them back in and roast a little longer.

 About 15 years ago, I went to Old Sturbridge Village and saw a kit they had for roasting chicken on a string. We were living in a house built in 1799 , that had a smaller but great kitchen fireplace. Perfect for trying out this kit. I was new at this and hadn't bought a tin roaster yet, so I thought this would be a great way to get my feet wet , so to speak.  At the time,  my nephew, Justin , was about 12 years old and he used to get off the school bus in front of my house. He would usually stop and come in to say hi before walking the 1/2 mile to his house. I always had cookies or something that I was baking that I would give him to munch on while he walked home. This particular day I was determined to try out this chicken on a string thing and had hammered a nice big rosehead nail in the middle under the mantel . Then I strung up the chicken, according to the directions, and hung it from the nail. The fire was going nicely and I had twisted the string so that the bird was slowly turning in front of the fire. So Exciting!!!!  Now you have to understand that my children were very used to my crazy obsession with the past and as they walked into the house, they hardly even glanced at what I was doing. I  even remember my daughter asking casually if THAT is for dinner. I said excitedly ,"Yes it is , do you want to help?" No Mom, as she went up stairs. She also rolled her eyes.

  I was happily watching my chicken when I realized someone was standing behind me. There was my nephew with the most horrified look on his face. "Aunt Peggy, what is that ?", he quietly asked.
Dinner! You want to stay?  I think he left skid marks on my floor, as he ran out the door.  I waited about 20 minutes and then the phone rang. It was my Sister calling to ask what her son was talking about.  "What are you doing to a chicken?" she asked. I explained. Since then I have cooked many chickens and yum is what they say!

GETTING THE FIRE READY 

THE TIN ROASTER

ANTIQUE ROASTER

SKEWERED CHICKEN

READY TO ROAST

PLACED IN FRONT OF THE FIRE

LOOKING GOOD!

ALL DONE!

THANK YOU HONEY!