The Girlhood Gazette

Nov. 26 update: For Miss Jocelyn and the rest of you who would like to taste this fabulous bread for yourselves:

Mrs. C.’s Irish Soda Bread

Ingredients:
4 cups flour, plus more for kneading
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup raisins
2 Tbsp. caraway seeds (optional)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking powder
1½ cups buttermilk
2 large eggs
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted, plus more for greasing pan

Instructions:Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a baking sheet.
In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, raisins, caraway seeds, baking soda, salt, and baking powder. In a separate bowl, whisk buttermilk, eggs and 2 Tbsp. butter. Stir the wet mixture into the dry ingredients to form a dough.
Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth, about 4 minutes; add more flour as needed to prevent sticking. Form dough into a 9-inch round; place on prepared baking sheet. Brush loaf with remaining Tbsp. of butter. Using a sharp knife, score an X on top of loaf.
Bake until skewer inserted in center comes out clean, about 45 to 50 minutes. Cool on wire rack before serving. Enjoy!

This is one of my absolute favorite breads! It mixes up pretty quickly and has a sweet flavor – sometimes we like to sprinkle the top with turbinado sugar (or other “large chunk” sugar) before baking. YUM!

For my last birthday, my sister gave me a friendship quilt, though it wasn’t all put together yet. It’s one of the best gifts I’ve ever been given – a quilt made up of squares that my friends embroidered for me! Tara (my sister) organized the whole thing, and my friends each handmade a square. It was very neat to open each one out and see how each reflected the personality of the giver! Anyway, I am writing this because yesterday my sister finished sewing it all together, and I thought I’d post a couple pictures of it. 

Here she is basting in the batting (that’s the back of the quilt)

The finished quilt (sorry the picture is a little dark)

And there was an unexpected benefit that came with this quilt as far as Tara is concerned – she’s found that she’s hooked on quilting!

I mentioned in my post, “Random Musings on Aprons,” that I was making myself a “frilly” apron. Well, true to my word, I did! One thing I learned – I do not enjoy sewing with stripes! But I am still happy with the way it turned out. And here are a couple of pictures:

If you like this apron, I made it with Butterick brand pattern #6816 (don’t laugh, it’s a Mrs. Santa pattern) out of calico fabric. If you would like to make it exactly as I did, I made my own ruffles instead of using eyelet trim as it calls for in the pattern (it includes a “guide for ruffle” for each of the different ruffles and I just used those as if they were regular pattern pieces, and then made very narrow hems along the bottoms). I also did two pockets instead of one, and did not put ruffles on the pockets, and I just cut my own instead of using the pattern piece provided (but you could use either).

I think the only thing I did differently as far as the actual sewing was that it said to leave one section open on the strap (by the ruffle) for turning it inside out but I didn’t and just sewed it and it worked fine (hope that made sense). By the way, for keeping the shoulder ruffles from getting caught in the stitching, it works well to sort of roll them away from where you will be sewing and pin them in place. I think that was all!

If you don’t know how or don’t want to sew one, there are some lovely feminine aprons here:www.AmeliasAprons.com and www.RosesAndTeacups.com

This is a post I wrote for our family blog, and thought maybe you girls might enjoy it too:

Here at our lovely home, we were sure that there must be hummingbirds around. We had seen a few even at our old house in a subdivision, and one would think that here, with so much open land and fewer houses, we would find more wildlife.
Well, we were right.
We have two hummingbird feeders out, and have had them filled for quite some time. We’ve waited and waited, and then we saw a hummingbird a month or so ago, but it didn’t seem very interested in the feeder. So we added more sugar, which proved more effective. We now have a little “resident” hummingbird who stays around all the time, and what is more, we see every day what is apparently rather unusual. We see it sit. Most people spot hummingbirds in flight, but our little friend has a favorite perch on our Japanese maple, right by the deck, and we see it sitting there quite often.

Here are 3 shots of basically the same view:

It was very fun for me yesterday morning, which is when I took the first two shots. The hummingbird was sitting on her usual branch, and so I grabbed the camera and decided to go outside and see if it would fly away. It did, but was back in a moment and I was able to get those pictures with our “super zoom” lens. Then it flew off again, so I moved closer and waited to see if it would come back. I was standing about 2 feet or so away from the feeder, and then the hummingbird came right up to it! What a neat experience to be so close to one of these amazing creatures. Unfortunately the camera would not focus fast enough and I was not able to get any close-up shots.
It is amazing how fast their little wings go – when they hover, they don’t make much sound, but when they move, it makes a whirring noise. Very neat!

God’s creation is MARVELOUS!!!

Last year, my father, sister & I attended the Vision Forum Father/Daughter Retreat, at beautiful Callaway Gardens in Georgia. The grounds of the resort were just lovely! On one of our walks, we passed a small pond, and at the edge was growing a lily. Looking at the picture we took of it, it reminds me of what we “maidens of virtue” are striving to be; pure, blameless, rising above a world of awful impurity and corruption. In this picture, we see the lily, white and spotless, and beneath and behind it we see the mud and grime of the pond’s edge.
I just want to encourage all of you girls out there to stay pure and faithful to what God has called us to be, and not be defiled with the “dirt” of the world.

Do you love tea? I do. I always have, suffice to say that I used to load it with milk and sugar. I have fond memories of visiting my Oma (grandma) and we would always have tea and cookies. As a matter of fact, we still do. My Oma tells me that we (my sister and I) used to ask her all the time, “Oma, can we have sweet tea?” Now, perhaps we don’t have it quite so sweet, but tea and cookies is always something we do together.
I hope you and your mother and sisters, if you have any, have tea time quite often. We recently moved to a beautiful 6 acre property, and while exploring the land the other day, discovered several picturesque little spots that would be perfect for an informal tea party; there is a little screened garden house down by the garden, and under one large evergreen, the lower branches had been cut away creating a big “room” underneath, high enough for me to stand up straight. Now, isn’t that just the perfect spot for a “woodland tea”?

Tea Time…what does it bring to mind? I think of little girls dressed up in hats and gloves, sipping tea out of white porcelain teacups with roses painted on them. But Tea Time doesn’t have to be just for little girls; older girls enjoy it too.

For me, Tea Time is the perfect opportunity to be a “young lady”. It is the time when good manners and proper posture are at their peak. What girl doesn’t love to put on a pretty dress, curl her hair, and play at being a “lady”? Sadly, girls these days are usually too caught up in cell phones and goofing off to appreciate the value of having tea. Tea Time offers a welcome rest from the hectic rush of the day. Even if you don’t “dress up” for it, Tea Time gives a sense of femininity and grace; there is a certain old-fashioned charm about pouring out tea, and asking your companions if they take cream or sugar?
Tea Time need not always be a “tea party”; it can be informal, or very elegant. Invite your closest friends, or just share a cup of tea with your mother. When girls grow older, too often they shut out their parents, and do what “they want”. What a mistake! Having Tea Time with your mother is such a lovely way to keep acquainted, so to speak. Somehow, it seems easier to talk to your mom over a cup of tea.
Don’t think that just because you are older than 10 you are too old to have Tea Time; I’m 13 and I love it! I have a tea party for my birthday every year. It’s so fun!

So, two sugar cubes or none…either way, it’s Tea Time, young ladies!

Article used with permission of FunEvents4Girls.com.