HELP please

I am no longer able to reply to comments on my blog.  Is anyone else having this problem?  I don't want commenters to think I don't read them and appreciate them.

Does anyone have a solution for me?

I will respond to any commenters that can help me fix the problem.  If I don't comment then I couldn't follow the directions, so try again!!!

HELP!!!

Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse

This is a fabulously easy dessert to make.  There are only two ingredients.  Unless you choose to top it with a spritz of whipped cream.  I chose.

The magic ingredient is Nutella.  I love Nutella and use it in a lot of dessert recipes.  I also love it in breakfast treats.

This recipe makes 4 desserts.  I got it from Tiphero.

   

Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse

1/2 cup Nutella
1 cup heavy whipping cream



It helps to chill the mixing bowl and beaters for about half an hour before you start.  I used a Kitchen Aid mixer but you can use a hand held mixer.  This would be difficult to do by hand.

   

Heat the Nutella about 15 seconds in the microwave so that it is pourable.  Stir.  If you need to, heat it a bit more.   It took me a total of 30 seconds, but it's winter.  I covered the Pyrex measuring cup with waxed paper in case it wanted to make a mess in the microwave.  Let it sit while you whip the cream so that it can cool a bit.  If it's too hot it can damage your lovely whipped cream.

   

Whip the heavy cream until it forms stiff peaks. Gently fold in the room temperature Nutella.

   

Keep mixing until there are no visible streaks.

   

Place the mixture into four small dishes.  Chill for at least two hours.

   

You can serve it as is or you can spritz a bit of whipping cream on top.  This mousse is delicious as is, but it is more festive with a whipped cream swirl!

   

This was a lovely dessert and our guests were impressed enough to want the recipe!

Two Roz Quilts!

   

I finally finished both of the quilts I made from the squares my sister Rosalind started.  She started a hand stitched cathedral window quilt.  When she passed away the pieces sat until her former husband passed away and the new wife found them and sent them to me.

   

I broke the pieces up into two smaller quilts.  I used pink sashes to bring out the pink colors and to honor her nickname, Pinky.  The green border brought out some of the green colors in the squares.

My niece had originally started a similar quilt at the same time.  She and Roz were close.  She never finished her quilt, either.  Because I was making two quilts out of these squares, I decided to give one to Natalie and keep one for me.

This one is the one for Natalie.

   

   


The only real difference between the two quilts is that my quilt has the square where Roz wrote her name and that of her husband, Arnold, in pencil. I backstitched over her writing.

   

   
 
I'm getting better at free motion quilting.  Or maybe I am just getting faster. Either way, I finished that and sewed on the border.

I sent Natalie her quilt and told her she can't open it until her birthday.  I folded up my quilt until I know what to do with it.  I don't want it to get ruined.  But putting it away doesn't make sense either.

   

So I'll think about it for a bit.

Dear Girls

   

I just finished Dear Girls by Ali Wong and it's f**king hilarious.  If my typing f**k bothers you, then don't read this book.  If you like reading books that make you laugh out loud and spit your drink down the front of you, then this book is for you.

Ali Wong is a stand up comedian, but also an actress and scriptwriter.  If you have Netflix, check out Always Be My Maybe.  It's really good.  She wrote it and stars in it.

When her father passes away, he leaves her a letter.  But there are so many things he doesn't tell her and now she'll never know.  So she writes this book to her two young daughters.  She writes that they can't read it until they are 21.  I'm not sure that will be old enough.  I'm also pretty sure they will read it way before then.

Don't think that this book is only the hilarious and slightly frightening parts of her rebellious youth.  She gives advice to her girls that you can actually let your kids read!

The Author is so honest about growing up in San Francisco and her wild child antics that she may have a hard time reprimanding her daughters in their own teenage years!  To be fair, she does anticipate their own rebellions.  She writes, " As long as you don't get maimed or contract life threatening STDs, I accept that some shit is going to go down."

As honest as she is about her past sexual experiences, and she is open and raunchy, she is touchingly honest about her love for her husband and the father of her two girls.  He writes an equally touching and honest afterword to the book.  He may not be as funny as his wife, but he respects her, seems wonderful and I would love to invite them both over for dinner.

We don't have kids living here anymore, so that should work.

Eggs!!

Our chickens quit laying eggs.  After some research and finding feathers everywhere I decided it was because they were molting.  Chickens tend to lose their feathers just before winter. This gets rid of older, tattered feathers and allows new feathers to grow in for warmth over the colder months.

But they never started laying again.  Another article informed me that chickens need 14 hours of light to form eggs.  The coop does have a red colored spotlight in it.  At first I wasn't using it as some writers suggested that it would be nice to let the chickens get a break over the winter and not force egg production.

   

But it was so cold and the light is a source of heat in the coop. So I turned it on and away they went. They must have really enjoyed their long break!

This was just a couple days worth of eggs.  After I found where they were hiding them.

   

This HUGE egg appeared a couple of days ago.  It ended up being a double yolked egg.  I felt a little weird eating twins, but I did it anyway!

   

How To Walk Away

   

I recently discovered a new author I like. Her name is Katherine Center.  I just finished her book How To Walk Away about a woman who did not walk away from a plane crash.

Her boyfriend coerced her into flying with him in a small plane to show her trust in him.  He had just finished his flying lessons and was ready to solo.  Margaret had a fear of flying, but wanted to please him.  In the air he proposed and she accepted.  Shortly thereafter he crashed while landing and she ended up paralyzed and burned.

Naturally she didn't look the same and he felt such guilt that he had to break up with her.

Family issues and overcoming obstacles get explored. There is angst, depression and happiness and it rings true to life. It doesn't hurt that there is a handsome physical therapist with a Scottish brogue.  Sadly, he doesn't wear a kilt.

I like that there are no miracles.  But maybe there is a miracle, one of forgiveness and moving on to a better life.  Perhaps that is what we should take away from this heartwarming novel.

It Never Stops

    

It took a lot longer to finish the garage/shop than we had hoped.  But that is the way of construction. Double the time estimate. increase the budget and it is still more time and money than you had planned on.

   

My favorite part is the copper weather vane.

But the shop is done and now Lee has to finish the inside.

   

He is installing peg board and building benches as I write this.

   

I'm inside because it is cold.

Next we are turning a hall closet into a bigger pantry.

   

We had the door removed and the hole drywalled in.  Now we are trying to make a cohesive floor. I'm afraid the tiles will crack when they try to pry them up and we'll need to cut and reuse a couple of them.

   

We decided to go with the wood floor on the closet side rather than the tile floor on the pantry side. We can't find tile to match but we do have some left over wood flooring.

   

Crossing our fingers.