Welcome to 2019

Here we find ourselves at the close of the first month of 2019. Even though I do enjoy the excitement and anticipation of the start of a new year, January is a month that seems to linger on forever. For this post, I thought I would share a few of the stitching projects that I use to occupy my time during this long and dark month.
I've shared in several earlier posts that Shepherd's Bush is my favorite stitching shop. Having it so close to home is rather convenient, and I don't have any trouble leaving the shop a little greener than I found it. Each New Year's Day, the shop is open for a few hours for a 10% off sale. Each New Year's Day, they also introduce a new scissors fob or, as I like to think of it, a small ornament. I'm not quite sure when the shop introduced these stitching projects. The oldest one I have dates back to 2003, and I think I have one for every year since then. At any rate, I enjoy having a new small stitching project to start the new year.
Now time for a bit of a confession …
Last year, I did the stitching work, but never got around to actually finishing the ornament. During the holiday weekend a couple of weeks ago, I determined to finish the stitching on my 2019 ornament and then to complete the stuffing and finishing work for both. Here's a look at the finished squares ready to be sewn together and then stuffed. You can see that each ornament will have both a front and a back with a cross stitched design.

Now for a closer look at the finished projects. First the mermaid from 2018 …

And then this year's sheep … I continue to find it hard to resist a stitching project that features sheep.

 For fun, here are some looks back at projects from past years …

So, what exactly might one do with these small projects? Good question. I'm one who likes to have something to brighten up the house after I take all of the Christmas decorations down. I have a 6-foot alpine tree that I keep upstairs in my living room all year round and change its decorations out with the seasons. During January and February, I have it decorated with some icicle garland and these little New Year pillow ornaments.

My children tend to find this practice of mine a little odd, but I keep it up each year just the same. We will see just how many more small ornaments this tree can hold. For now, I am going to wish you blessings for the remainder of this new year. Even though getting through January seems to be an exercise in endurance, the anticipation of what God will do in 2019 still brings an eagerness. As the psalmist reminds us …

Wait for the LORD,

Be strong and let your heart take courage;

Yes, wait for the LORD. Psalm 27:14

Schnitzel with Noodles

I realize it's been quite a while since I've made a post. Here's a little snapshot of our cooking adventures from about a week and a half ago. We initially intended to participate in a German-themed event, complete with authentic German food. To make a long story short, we weren't exactly thrilled with the changes in the menu for this year so we opted to prepare our own German dinner. As you can see by the picture of what is simmering away on the stove, we prepared schnitzel, spaetzle, and red cabbage. When all was said and done, the red cabbage was really the only thing we prepared from scratch, but the dinner was still pretty good.

You might be asking, just what are schnitzel and spaetzle? Good question. Here's a little background before I go on to describe how we prepared them.

Schnitzel, or "slice," of meat originated in Austria. Wiener schnitzel actually has nothing to do with the hot dog chain. "Wien" is the city that we, in America, refer to as Vienna. Traditional Wiener schnitzel is made from veal pounded flat and then coated in flour, egg, and bread crumbs before being fried. We weren't able to acquire any veal at our local grocery store, but we did find some pork that had already been prepared as schnitzel. As you can see from the picture below, the pounding and breading had already been done.

The schnitzel is then deep fried in about a quarter inch of cooking oil. 

So then, what is spaetzle? Glad you asked. Spaetzle is actually a German egg noodle. It is typically served with meat and gravy and is typical of the cuisine of southern Germany and Austria. While a number of different recipes for spaetzle are available, we typically just buy dry spaetzle and then boil it on the stove as we would any other type of pasta. This time, we also just made our gravy from a mix. 

As I mentioned above, we did make the red cabbage from scratch. You can find the recipe on an earlier post. Ours is prepared in the Danish style without the heavier spices that are typically part of the German red cabbage.

Here is everything all served up and ready to be enjoyed. Guten Appetit!